jedibuttercup

So, it's August already is it? Wow.

I'm mostly settled in my apartment now, adjusting to the shift in finances and missing my niblings like crazy. I've seen them a handful of times since the move; Tiny Man is now crawling! My mom has also acquired a full-time job for the first time in ... probably longer than I've been alive, now that she's finally admitted she has to pay for the upkeep on the house and maintain health insurance somehow before Dad's 401(k) runs out, or she'll be broke before his social security payments kick in. That's been a stressor and a half, and other family drama on top of that has been a major stressor on me.

In happier news-- mostly-- I went hiking with MaeveBran and her husband last weekend at Mt. Thielsen. She made it about three miles up the trail, near the crossing with the PCT; he and I kept going up the West Ridge route until the base of the summit pinnacle, at about the 9,000 foot level. It was amazingly beautiful, and the butterflies were migrating that week; we saw swarms of them even up that high! I had an attack of dumbass on the way down, though; when we reached MaeveBran again I took my eyes off my feet and lifted my walking stick to wave hello, and caught a foot on a rock. Cue instant massive contusion the size of my fist on my left shin, just below the knee, with miles of walking yet to go. A week later, there's still a sizeable knot there, and discoloration all the way down to my ankle; but at least I didn't break anything. And to make up for it we did dinner that night at the lodge at Crater Lake, since it was only about an hour away. Sunset views there: spectacular. Still, I think we'll plan a less difficult mountain next year. :)

Anyway, so what am I ficcing as I recover from all that plus the recent heat wave? I'm about 16,000 words into another Ichabod/Abbie het big bang, for which I'll be looking for an alpha reader soon; and I'm sort of half-way participating in the August Twistedshorts Ficathon as ideas occur. So you'll be seeing short crossovers pop up over the next few weeks. Other than that, we'll see; I missed the end of the signups for crossovering while I was on the hiking trip, but I'm considering fandomgrowthexchange.

I'll get to backagainharry again by the end of the year; I swear it. It's just. Trying to wrap my head around that behemoth with other stressors going on never goes well. Same with the last of my wishlist fic; just can't do the pressure right now. September, October maybe? *squinting at calendar* Yeah, maybe.

Hope the rest of you are doing well!

I AM HOME FROM ROADTRIP 2012! \0/

It was amazing, but I am so exhausted: two weeks, four states, nine hotels, three thousand miles, innumerable attractions both man-made and natural visited, over 1100 pictures just in my camera...

...but I had virtually no 'net contact while I was gone! I'll put pictures up for everyone tomorrow, but in the meantime: what happened while I was out? I'll try to skim my f'list, but there's no way I'll catch everything, so feel free to leave links here to flag me on stuff from the last two weeks you think I shouldn't miss.

*yawn* And now to pet my kitty, play with my nephew, and start sorting souvenirs....

*yawn* I am so freaking exhausted, you have no idea. But at least it's a good-exhausted!

I've been busy every single evening for the last I don't know how long; I've been trying to pack for my vacation all week but things like Relay for Life, my dryer breaking down, stopping up my toilet by accidentally flushing one of those disposable scrubby things that aren't supposed to flush, a last-minute geocaching run, Father's Day, etcetera, and so on have totally gobbled up my time. I get home from work today at 6, I have to be at Mom's so she can drive me to the airport at 6:30, and the packing's still not done. Argh.

At least I have all of the necessaries bought (including smaller clothes!) except for some cleansing face pads and sunscreen, which I just remembered on the way to work this morning and can totally be picked up when I get to Florida. I'm going to be Internet-AWOL tonight and all of tomorrow; I'll have a few hours on Thursday on my brother's laptop while he's doing his last full day at work; and then my connection's going to be really spotty until about July 10. (Basically, a few borrowed minutes at whichever hotels we stop at on the drive back which happen to have wi-fi).

So. I hope to post another short fic today; but then I'm gone, and I'll probably miss most of what happens while I'm on our Grand Cross-Country Adventure. I'll have to ask for Recs of Awesome (including self-recs, for those of you authors reading here) when I get back. Don't have too much fun without me!
~