Selenay's Ramblings

I'm still on a bit of a high from yesterday's Tour stage. OMG, Brad's in yellow! And he's got nearly two minutes on Evans! I'm trying very hard not to do the counting chickens thing, but there are only two ways for Wiggins not to win now:

1) Evans suddenly discovers climbing legs and goes into the final time trial with at least three minutes on Wiggins despite his team being not as good as Sky in the mountains and Wiggins being a rather decent climber
2) Wiggins has horrendous crash and has to abandon

Please, please don't let 2 happen. Or 1, really, although I think that 1 is unlikely :-D This is an awesome Tour!

Also, yesterday I typed what I think (hope) is the final sentence on the 5 Things fic. I even typed in the title, which I've had in my head all the way but it's been fun to see "Ridiculous glittery fic I blame Fahre" at the top of the page while I've been working :-D It's officially "Five Times Clint Had To Explain (And One Time He Didn't Need To)". I've got some edits that I want to do on Things 3 and 4 and it needs at least a week of rest before I dare to go through and work out other edits/revisions so it will be a while before it gets published, but the first draft is officially done. Phew!

And so I've now opened files titled "Marvel Big Bang Outline v1" and "MBB_Chap1_v1". So, you know, I've actually got started on this. Admittedly the chapter one file is still a blank page and I'm still fleshing out the outline, but that's about where I thought that I'd be today. I've got until early September to have a first draft of this, right?

My fic ideas log is starting to acquire some distinctly cracky ideas including at least two short things for the Damage Limitation series. Expect those to start appearing when I get stuck on the Big Bang and moan loudly about writing being haaaaaard. There may also be an AU idea that I swear will never see the light of day and a sequel to 5 Explanations that Fahre threw at me despite not having read 5 Explanations *shakes tiny fist*

It's been so long since I had the ideas to really write. Even though most of what my brain is sending me is either crack or just plain ridiculous, I'm thoroughly enjoying the feeling of having ideas and inspiration and motivation again.

PS. Thanks to people pointing out that I’m doing the “not wanting to be a bother” thing I’ve called Awesome GI Guy and moved up my appointment. Sadly, he’s not got any appointments until August 2nd, but that’s still earlier than end of August and I can cope until then because I’ve definitely been worse. Ugh, stupid body.

I have got to get myself back into the habit of posting about things that aren't Unix scripting issues. Although the good news is that I now know much more about scripting than I used to and have a good idea of what I'm doing and what I need to learn. Yay?

I've been thinking about conventions. To wit, the Redemption 2011 prices go up in September and I think that it's time to stop being in denial and just buy myself a ticket. I'm going, I was crazy to think about pretending that I wasn't. It's my favourite con on the calendar. If I plan to arrive in England on the Thursday and travel straight up to Cov then I could spend a few days with my family afterwards and still have three vacation days left for other things that year. And in June that year, it will be a new vacation year and I'll finally be up to three weeks vacation. Woo.

Also, it's Worldcon in a couple of weeks and I can't go. Boo :-( This made me think about cons for next year, though. Hal-Con is in my own little home town in October 2010, so I'll definitely be going to that. But if I don't go to something in the first half of next year, then I'll have been con-less for eighteen months. I really miss geeky fannish gatherings, there isn't a space like it anywhere else.

Are there any cons that folks would recommend happening say March-June next year? Preferably something reachable in one flight from Nova Scotia. I love the relaxed, fannish gatherings like Redemption far more than the big media cons. I have a feeling that muskratjamboree is only every two years, isn't it? And that would mean it happens in a Redemption year :-( But really, some recs for cons that people love over here would be awesome.

In other news, the Tour de France was awesome. I cannot express enough how much I loved it. The racing, particularly in the final week, was great. There wasn't even a sniff of a drugs problem. Contador absolutely deserved to win. Best of all, there were Brits in the race doing fantastically. Mark Cavendish was amazing and, with 6 wins in one race, rather deserves the title of fasted man on two wheels. Bradley Wiggins was the revelation of the race and he's made me very excited about the future of Brits in the Tour. Next year he'll be going in as a viable favourite - how cool is that?

In knitting news, I finished some stripey socks in merino and may never want to knit socks from anything else every again. Oh, so gorgeous. My lacey sweater continues apace: I finished the front last night and got some ribbing done on a sleeve today. I am actually slightly worried about how quickly it's knitting up, but it's fun.

I also cast on for a shawl this week. It's going to be a warm, snuggly shawl from DK weight yarn rather than a lacey thing, suitable for cool autumn days and overly enthusiastic AC at the office. I'm using Malabrigo Silky Merino and it's possibly the most amazing thing I've ever knitted. I've never knitted with yarn this soft, it isn't even remotely splitty and the fabric feels smooshy and gorgeous. The shawl is very simple, alternating bands of stocking and garter stitch whenever I feel like a change, so it shows off the sheen and the slight variations in kettle-dye beautifully. It's 50% silk and the reviews say that it grows a lot with blocking, so wouldn't be good in a sweater, but in this kind of snuggly shawl it's just amazing. I'm in love.

It's so gorgeous that I keep reaching into my desk drawer to feel my shawl. Oh, dear, you're not going to part me from this shawl when it's finished.

My father hasn't watched yesterday's stage yet, so I have nobody to express my glee to. Woe.

( Cut for race spoilers )

I love July :-)

Today I've had to be up and around early to take Da down to a rugby match. Not that I am in any way jealous that he's getting to sit in a corporate box watching an excellent match for my favourite team or anything...

Anyway.

On the way back, as I reached the crossroads at the centre of the village, all the traffic stopped. I looked ahead to work out what the hold up was just in time to see around 100 cyclists zoom round the roundabout followed by their support vehicles. It reminded me of why I'm a cycling fan - the speed, the bright colours, the flashes of reflected sunlight on their bikes, the dedication.

We have a few local bike races and I'm guessing that this was one of the larger ones. I used to often see the races on the way to or from church in the mornings, although it's been a while since I did that! Last year, one of the races was even broadcast on Eurosport.

It was a beautiful day for a race, though, and a really cheering sight. Even if the other motorists didn't look too pleased. Co-incidentally, I bought a copy of Cycle Sport yesterday to get myself caught up with the goings on in the pro world before the grand tours start. Hmmm.

I really need to remember to book my day off in July. The Tour de France starts in London this year and I plan to be on the roadside for both days, but then I'll need the Monday off to recover. Better get that one in the work diary before anyone else thinks about snatching it :-)