The bright corner

Motherbrain: The problems with plot-based RP versus character-based RP

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:19:39 GMT

\

I have seen two very divergent styles of role play in my text-based RPGs. One of them is driven by plot, the other driven by strong characters. I prefer the latter. I also write character-driven stories. The reasons I do so are myriad. However, today, I'm thinking about collaborative writing, especially as shown in RP. ( Read more... )

comments

A first collaborative story: ThingLit

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:48:19 GMT

DH found a board that is used with a LeapFrog Tag pen. We don't have one of those. However, we bought the board anyway. The reason we bought the board was that it had rows of adjectives, adverbial phrases, nouns and verbs with which to make sentences. My children have taken to this like they take to sugary substances, that is to say, extremely well. Here is their first collaborative story (with a little bit of editing and editorial compromise from Mom).

( The Princess and the Pig Monster )

comments

This is what I'm talking about

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 22:35:16 GMT

( Political stuffs. Read at your own risk. )

comments

Motherbrain: Isn't it enough?

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:00:49 GMT

( Political Stuffs Here. Beware the Jabberwock, my son. )

comments

Motherbrain: Check your privilege

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:15:19 GMT

I am on Tumblr, though not as commonly recently as I had been for a while. Today on another site, I was reminded of something they say often on Tumblr. I will preface my post with two things: firstly, I understand their point. I get what they're trying to say. They're trying to say that often, in many parts of our country, things are radically different for someone who is different in specific ways. And that's true. Not universally, but in places, it's true. Secondly, this may offend some people, but it is not intended to offend. It's my rant about what "privilege" really means.
( Rant under the cut )

comments

Meme

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 05:44:45 GMT

Because hearing about my life right now might squick some of you out... (TL;dr=teeth issues. Maybe resolution, maybe more dental fun. Tune in when the antibotics are done) ... have a meme!

Pick a number from the list and I'll answer it in the comments.

1 - Your current OTP
2 - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind
3 - A pairing you have never liked and probably never will
4 - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t
5 - Have you added anything stupid/cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what
6 - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom
7 - Do you remember your first OTP, if so who was in it?
8 - Do you prefer characters from real action series or anime series
9 - Has the internet caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?
10 - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr your social network sites
11 - How do you feel about the other people in your current fandom
12 - Your favorite fanartist/author gives you one request, what do you ask for
13 - Your favorite fanart or fanartist
14 - Your favorite fanfiction or fanauthor
15 - Choose a song at random, which OTP does it remind you of
16 - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas)
17 - A ship you’ve abandoned and why
18 - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships
19 - Show us an example of your personal headcanon
20 - Do you remember what your first fanwork was?
21 - Self-rec: What's your favorite fanwork you've created?
22 - Are you one of those fans who can’t watch anything without shipping?
23 - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms
24 - 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms
25 - A fandom you’re in but have no ships from
26 - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go

comments

Thoughts

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 14:11:38 GMT

This will get long and rambly, probably, so I'll stick it under a cut.
( Discussion (read - rant) about my eyesight )

comments

Motherbrain: Legacy

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 05:54:44 GMT

( Read more... )

comments

Motherbrain: The Power of Motherhood (Poetic Prose)

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 11:25:27 GMT

( Read more... )

comments

Seven things Meme take 3

Sun, 27 May 2012 02:17:19 GMT

The way this works is if you want me to give you a personalized list of things to talk about, leave a comment indicating so. I'll give you some, and you can pass it along. lin71 gave me this list.
( Read more... )

comments

Birthday!

Fri, 11 May 2012 04:19:08 GMT

Thank all of you for the good wishes, virtual hugs, virtual gifts, promises of fic, etc, today. It really helped. I did want to make a note about the virtual gifts. You all decked me out nicely. From ferneberga, I got a bright and cheery sunshine to walk under, from hinky_hippo, I got a lovely tinfoil hat to wear, and from josgotglock, I got a yummy chocolate cupcake. Very nice. :D

I've been very tired today. Part of it is the rain, I think, and part of it is that I didn't sleep at all last night and only got like four hours today. So, sleepy. However, since R is gone, I didn't have a lot to do today. So, a nice sleepy day was okay. :D

comments

Seven Things, Redux

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:26:01 GMT

So, once again, if you're interested, leave me a comment saying so, and I'll give you seven questions to answer in your journal. Here are the ones magdarko gave me.

1. Your top five Gibbs/DiNozzo must-read fics

This is hard. I have a lot of must-read fics. However, the ones I keep coming back to are these. It might be cheating to use series as one, but deal with it. :D

* This is one I read every couple weeks. Figuring It Out series by kesterpan
* Box Steps Series by ksl
* Captain Oblivious by taylorgibbs
* Shallow Waters by yzba
* "Andy" by xanthestories.

There are so many amazing authors in this fandom / ship that I have a plethora of pearls to pontificate on ... (now I'm just being silly). But these are my favorite authors and their favorite stories of mine. I think. With Xanthe, it's hard for me to decide.

2. The book you keep going back to

So many.   So so many. Again, though, the one that comes to mind right now is Xenocide by Orson Scott Card.   It's packed full of philosophy, crazy characters (in some cases literally), and inventive thought. I was rereading Speaker before my reader went dead, and I realized how deeply Ender feels everything. He literally takes the weight of worlds on his shoulders. He has sort of a social, ruthless instinct that makes him act in cataclysmic ways (the literal meaning of huge change).

Other books I come back to a lot: The presidential years in Clancy's Ryanverse, Lawhead's Avalon, Zahn's Vision of the Future, and several others.

3. Your favourite Abby moment

I'm not sure specifically. I love watching her and Gibbs sign. It might be the one where they're communicating while she's in the office and he's on the outside. I don't even remember the episode.

4. A habit or hobby you dropped that you'd like to pick up again

Two. Playing piano and crocheting.

5. A place you visited that stayed with you

In 1998, I got to spend three weeks on the Shankhill Road staying with a church while we were on a mission trip to Belfast. We slept on the floor of a big warehouse type building. I loved Belfast. I loved the lively people and the history, the attempts my friends were making to bridge gaps, and the hospitality they expressed to relative strangers, though their lives weren't always roses. I want to go back and show my babies Belfast.

6. An item on your bucket list

That. I want to take my children to the UK, visit Germany and Ireland. Visit the lands of my ancestors, show them where their family (at least on my side) comes from.

7. The last movie you saw

Um, I'm not sure. I haven't watched a lot of movies lately.   I watch more tv episodes than movies. The family watched Iron Man the other night.

comments

Motherbrain: The Bill of Rights (pt 1)

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:56:40 GMT

Two posts in two days! Don't fall over, guys.

There have been comments made by politicians lately about 'amending the bill of rights'. I am becoming less of a strict conservative as I age, but this is something every American must remember: The Bill of Rights is the core of the American system of government. The Constitution itself sets up the specific shape of our government, but it is the Bill of Rights that defines much of the practical application thereof.

( Read more... )

comments

Motherbrain: Bullying and practicality

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:07:04 GMT

http://kdvr.com/2012/04/18/9-year-old-suspended-after-he-says-he-stood-up-to-a-bully/

( Read more... )

comments

Seven questions meme

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:13:08 GMT

Okay, kiddos, here's how this works: comment on this post, asking for seven questions to answer, and I'll ask them to you. Then, you post this in your own journal along with the answers. ferneberga asked me my seven, so ( here you go: )

comments

Crossover / Self - Cest Kink Meme.

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:02:42 GMT

So, I saw this on the Crossover community on LJ, and I loved the idea. I posted several prompts there, and then decided to make a banner for it. So, my minions! (or friends, or dear readers,whichever), go check it out!

comments

Meme

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:04:45 GMT

Here's a little meme to see who's reading my posts. So, if you read this, leave me a one-word comment about your day that starts with the third letter of your LJ USERNAME. Only one word please. Then repost so I can leave a word for you. Don't just post a word and not copy - that's not as much fun!

comments

Precious

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:26:42 GMT

In the desert,
Water is precious.

Every drop of rain that falls --
A tiny prism of beauty,
A gift from Heaven to the world --

Is something to be treasured.
Hoarded.
Shared.
Preserved.
Utilized.

We do not begrudge the earth her share:
  From her comes our food.
  Our clothes.
Our fuel.
Our life.

When water falls with wild and furious abandon
down around us,
We fear.

The deep canyons that set our high, majestic mountains
  Apart from the shifting sand
Were carved
And formed
By water.

However, those moments are rare.
Like unexpected changes
That bring new growth.

For

In the desert,
Water is precious.

comments

WIP Meme

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:04:07 GMT

Post the first sentence (or three) from every WIP you're currently working on, even if it's very short. Then invite people to ask questions about your WIPs. With any luck, you'll get talking about writing, and the motivation to take that WIP one step closer to completion will appear as if by magic!

I've seen this all over, and am posting it just to DW, since my LJ is fanfic free in entries. I won't post bits of the ones that I have posted already, cuz those are out there. Working on the last chap of H&T, and I actually worked on Displaced Replacement last night, shocking even myself. (HP/Dresden Xover)

Here goes.

comments

POEM: Myth

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:45:58 GMT

Myth

We reach backward into the mists of time,

Scouring the histories for things we only vaguely recognize

With our hands shaped from our looks back,

We peer hesitantly at the world around us.

Nothing makes sense alone.

Too many sights, sounds, smells, touches,

Everything tastes the same

Nothing to compare.

Shaped by history, mystery, trickery and time,

We stride forward,

The happy, imaginative

Children of myth.

comments

Motherbrain: My thoughts on SOPA / PIPA

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:08:59 GMT

I am leaving this cut-less because I want it to be visible today.

I will admit flat out that I have not read the bill myself. However, in most cases, that puts me in the same league as those men and women voting on the thing. Not sure if they have broken their streak and read the provisions of the bill themselves on this one, or just made assumptions as usual.

Firstly, those people whose job it is to monitor the internet for trends, pulse and the like pretty much on the whole think it's a stupid idea.   I believe there are several assumptions being made that make this a very bad idea.

One assumption is that we people on the internet aren't set enough in our ways that something like SOPA will prevent us from finding ways to do what we do anyway. I'm not touching piracy. I'm talking about talking freely to strangers about subjects we'd never mention to our family. Now, that's not specifically addressed, that I know of, but if the bits and pieces I am hearing are true, it would definitely change the way we could do it. We started the internet culture when we were counting the ones and zeroes as they beeped down the phone line almost slowly enough for us to hear them. We discovered a wider world out there with people with different ideas, different ways of communicating those ideas, and different thresholds of politeness within our greater communities. If I'm hearing and parsing things correctly, our blogs, microblogs and community places could suffer for very little reason at all. If they are torn down, I predict another means would arise pretty quickly.

My first experience with Internet Community was with my friends who ended up calling themselves "Vagrants". We started off on another message board (or at least where I joined them). However, we ran into two problems:  moderation of our chosen topics, and bandwidth. We'd 'break the board' on a regular basis. It got to the point that we were chomping at the bit and branching out to other services to get our messages from one point to another. Two of our number took pity on us and decided to make our own space with fewer restrictions and more bandwidth. The Vagrant Cafe was born. It has since closed its doors, but for ten strong years, it was a small community of specific members who developed their own mini-language and culture and means for dealing with life.

The internet is full of ... 'vagrants'. There are many different boards and places where once a person becomes fully acclimated, he or she begins to speak a whole new language. We don't 'make friends' anymore, we 'friend' or 'unfriend', 'follow' or 'unfollow'.   Every site develops its own mini-culture. This is inevitable and healthy. However, if many of these sites are forced to alter their means of operation (in very real, very invasive ways), our little mini-cultures either overload or over-mod. In either case, however, our little world goes from near-democracy to tyranny pretty damn fast.

And, yes, 'it's just the internet', but increasingly, people are living here. There is no soil, but with the advent of 'the cloud', there may as well be. It still is -- and I believe always should be -- a wild, untamed place, built and maintained by the dreams of people from varied parts of the world.

There are dark corners. There are places filled with the 'evils of men's hearts'.   However, much like prohibition, this move won't clean out those corners at all. In fact, it may well highlight them, making them more interesting, raising the 'coolness' factor. This isn't something we want done to those black corners.

At the risk of sounding too much like my father, "you can't legislate morality." A person's moral code and the code of law they live under are two very separate things. 'One size fits all' isn't going to fit with the internet, because we cover such a disparate gamut of cultures, religions, ideas, worldviews and languages.

In other words, it's not just the execution that's pretty flawed, it's the very idea, at least in its current incarnation.

comments

Song: Or I'll Fly

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:53:18 GMT

So, between worrying about friends (yes, you, don't worry about it, I'd do it anyway), reading angsty fic and a bittersweet RP tonight, I am, apparently, writing music again. I've actually got a tune for it, but since it's recorded on a cheap logitech mic and into Audacity, I'm not sure I should post it. Just me singing. Heh.

Here it is: Beware. I think I stole the angst stick from onur6boss.

( Or I'll Fly )

comments

Trillian instructions (reposted from you know where)

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:55:23 GMT

I'm missing you in the chat room, so here is my article on Trillian. I saved a hard copy. I'll append with a web server thing for those of you who don't want to use it, or can't.
( Trillian: How does it work? )

comments

Author's Notes Poll

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:08:09 GMT

Hey, guys and gals, for those of you who wanted another A/N chat, I've been trying to set one up. I wanted to have one this week, but the room seems to be down (X is aware of it and has her friend looking into it, I think). So, I got to thinking. Would any or all of you like to do a typed chat via skype instead?
My reasons:
Most of us have Teh Skype anyway.
We have options on skype that we don't on IRC. (vice versa is also true, but those are more sparkle than substance, I think.)
I want to have this chat, and am worried about the current reliability of the room.
We can go back to IRC any time.
Voice is an option, though I'm not sure for a chat like this. Plus, y'know, transcripts.

I think that's most of them. The chat I wanted to host would be on 'characters', and pulling them out of the plastic, or, more clearly, how far from canon do you stray? Other general character development could be discussed as well.

So, having said all that, whaddya think?

comments

Pony!!

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:14:13 GMT

So, catwalksalone put this up on her LJ, and I thought, why not? Here is the generator, should you chose to get creative yourself: Pony creator!!

( aaand, here is mah pony: )

comments