King Arthur

  • Please Don't Bring Merlin Back

    I'm growing very impatient with the Bring Merlin Back groupie thing. I joined to watch what's going on partly out of morbid curiosity, because I have a sociology degree heavily anchored with anthropology and psychology. I've never observed a live cult group before, although I've seen a few from a distance. And I have to say, this one comes as close as any to weird obsession. I have bets on that if someone instructs them to drink the koolaid, a few of them just might.

    In the real world, one fan does not hold the power to make a staff of hundreds of people do his or her bidding. The group leader ~seems~ to understand that millions more dollars would have to be dredged up and a number of lives would have to screech to a halt and go in reverse to get back to an intersect point where they could pick up where they left off. But the group leader also seems to epic fail to see that playing fan politics like this looks like a mental affliction gone wildly awry. To expect the world to behave this way because a very few people (compared to the entire fandom or world audience) 'work hard' to make it happen isn't much different from a toddler throwing a tantrum or a teenager manipulating relationships or an adult refusing to deal with reality.

    I'm not wanting to be mean. I love Merlin so much that I spent good money procuring all 5 seasons, plus a calendar and a t-shirt. There are other fans out there spending much more than I have, buying collectible toys and apparel and traveling to film sites and conventions. IF these kinds of things are what keeps a show from ending, then Merlin would never have ended. Its international success exceeded so many expectations, and most of us feel so lucky to have seen it or been a part of it. But c'mon. Investing one's emotional belief system into remolding a television show via a fan army of swooning believers isn't how the rest of us want it to go. I do NOT want Merlin back if it means a handful of fans become the boss of everyone who ever created Merlin, and I especially do NOT want those fans to be the boss of Bradley and Colin.

    I love the way Merlin ended. I bawled my eyes out, yes. I've seen a lot of Arthurs and Merlins come and go, and this creation was such beautifully crafted story about such a deep friendship, and how that friendship survived through thick and thin and eventually led to the United Kingdoms. We watched a core belief system rebirth through the seasons and in the end came down to a serving girl on a throne because of the utter kindness of her king. THAT is what Albion is all about. Albion is a dream that we are ALL equal, that we ALL matter, and that we treat each other with respect and courtesy, not drawing lines at status. Because Arthur had such good friends, he was a good king.

    I do not want obsessive fans to change that. Arthur dies in all the legends, and I think this version of his death is fantastically beautiful and symbolic. Everything in the last two episodes is very symbolic- Merlin stuck in the dark cave while the battle begins in the dark, brother and sister both dying by swords forged in the dragons' breath, an actual dragon being Arthur Pendragon's pall bearer, and much more. I wept not just for the death of Arthur, but for how absolutely beautifully done that entire last stand was executed in film, how wonderfully uplifting the entire series was, how much it has actually helped me in my personal life to believe in good things during rough times.

    I thank Bradley and Colin very much for being Arthur and Merlin. But I never want to see them do those roles again any other way. I vehemently do NOT want obsessed fans to change what is in MY head by bullying the market with faked email accounts and spamming. I'm sorry those fans need that to hang onto, and I do understand that sometimes we really do need something concrete when our lives need meaning. I don't want to make anyone feel like I am making fun of them, because I'm not. I have observed and not said anything for a long time. But as an American who has watched this 'international' group execute 'actions' to bring Merlin back before some of us have seen season 5 aired in our country (or even season 3 in some countries), I think they do the rest of us fans the discourtesy of not caring what WE want.

    I want Arthur to rest in peace for awhile now. I want to make up my own fantasies about him rising out of Avalon again to join Merlin. I want that sparkling effervescence of 'maybe'. I want to move on and become the sort of person who would also be noble and patient and true like the rest of the supporting characters in Merlin.

    I have been part of a number of fandoms, and while I appreciate that fan support can sometimes bring a show back long enough to bring a little closure, I also understand that sometimes a show really is simply over, at least in the real world. In my mind I carry on to my own amusement, as is should be. Stories give us something to occupy our thoughts while we get through mundane or difficult stuff, and stories can even help us with problem solving our own relationships and decision making. To turn a story into a production on demand taints the joy of those creating the story to begin with (after all, it WAS someone else's idea), and neglects the feeling of pride in their accomplishment.

    I would invite the fans who demand a different sort of closure to create and publish their own stories. Instead of just demanding that everyone else drop whatever they're doing to please them, grow up and put the work into it yourselves. Invest your own money, dedicate your own hours of labor, form your own teams and produce something wonderful for the rest of the world to read or watch. The whole Merlin and Arthur field is wide open, anyone can interpret it any way they want. But don't think you can dare to turn our Colin and Bradley into puppets that you pull the strings on. Not cool. They have so much potential to go on and do so much more, and I want to see them continue to excel in other work. Please accept that they are actors, not dolls, not the real characters, not enamored of themselves as the fans are. They are simply men who get paid to fill roles. And we love them, that's ok.

    I rarely cross post my stuff, but this one is going on multiple blogs I have strewn across the ethernet. Those of you wonderful lurkers who stalk all my stuff, sorry for the redundancy, but this feels important. Thank you for your time.

     

  • the smooshed together survey

    I'm smooshing together and totally redoing a couple of ancient surveys I found from 2007 on a retired private blog, some of these questions are worth revisiting.  (:edit: 5-10-14 I just destroyed all the video codes fixing a single typo in this survey #sadpanda I forgot that the Xanga migration rewrote the video codes and the only way they stayed intact was NOT TOUCHING THEM, so I'll come back later and replace them. I'm sorry, I saw this post getting hit a bit lately, and one typo sucked me in... Give me a few days, I'm on vacation right now. Sorry.)
    1. You're in the hospital, who on your top 8 comes to visit you?
    Please don't jinx me and say I'm in the hospital... I used to have the Priceline Negotiator in my top 8 on one of my old myspaces, might be a little weird if he came to see me. Even scarier, his daughter... (wow, remember when people fought over being in the top 8?)
    That's one of those new embed code iframe tubes so you can see it on a smart phone but it won't play third party through just any ol' blog... I pray for smoother interface in the very near future, perhaps to be announced at the next E3?
    2. If alcohol were banned, what would your reaction be?
    There goes my fave Listerene, 'real' vanilla, and Port Wine cheese balls. I think I'd be pretty ticked. I know, what the crap! I lead with a COMMERCIAL??? I promise you guys, I'm not being paid to do that, I just really have this thing for the Priceline Negotiator. Like Bruce Campbell says-
    3. You cd collection is reposessed. you can keep one?
    My luck I'd be stuck with something like TV Theme Songs from the 70's. Repo'd? Who thinks of questions like this? Do people still melt their cd collections in hot cars? 
    4. Do you believe world peace is possible?
    I believe we already have world peace. Think about it. 90% of about 8 billion people are pretty peaceful. It's the other 10% that just don't 'get' it. THEY keep trying to disrupt world peace. I blame the Goa'uld.
    5. I'm a genie. Name your wish.
    I am so ready for this weird ladybug infestation to be over. They are on *everything*. Yeah, you think they're cute, you've never had a thousand ladybugs inside your house. This little guy was nearly in my mouth before I noticed him.
    6. Name one thing about the opposite sex that turns you off?
    I've never understood the whole Elvis Presley thing, but I really really REALLY want a Flying Elvi t-shirt.
    7. Name one thing about the opposite sex that automatically turns you on?
    At the risk of turning this one question into an entire survey of its own, let's just please note that Andrew Lee Potts is AWESOME, and if you wanna see more of what he's doing *right now*, you need to click on the twitter linx I'm about to provide.
    He was nerdy cool in Primeval.
    I like his Hatter waaaaaayyyyyy better than Johnny Depp's. Gah, there are so many good Hatter vids, it was really hard to choose just one. Fans do incredible stuff on youtube.
    And Andrew Lee Potts is making a film that you can all practically live follow the progress of on Stolen Light Film on Facebook and Stolen Light Film on Twitter and Stolen Light Film on Tumblr. There is no excuse to miss this, here's your teaser. Stolen Light - Teaser 1 on VimeoSo if you want more live updates on what Andrew Lee Potts is doing, be a good fan and follow these other twitters, too.
    8. Speaking of same sex, what did you think about Brokeback Mountain?
    Ok, that's so outdated that I have to change it. What do y'all think of Merthur? Or Brolin, as some are wont. (For the less well read, wont is a real word.) If you don't like gay stuff, skip this question and go on to number 9, thanx. I thought this vid was just darn cute, and the fan who put it together did some really brilliant editing.
    9. What are you obsessive about?
    Proper comma placement. Oh, what the heck, that's all going out the door with twitter, right? Life is too short to twitter stress, just hash it up and throw it out there in 140 characters or less.
    10. Leather face is in the kitchen. (the guy from texas chainsaw massacre)
    He can kill that big spider and do my dishes while I continue watching the Web Soup marathon on G4. I am quietly dying inside over whether all that E3 and Comic-Con coverage will be parseled out to other media vendors now or what, but we're talking HOURS AND HOURS of possible lost coverage. *tears* *catching my breath* Back to Web Soup with Chris Hardwick to assuage my angsty feels. (In case you got lost in all that, G4 is rebranding soon.)
    I did not know what the heck was up with Chris talking about his 'ex-wife Barbara' on the show until I got a twitter account and she followed me. 'Barbara', for the rest of you who don't get it yet, is Ann Sandretto, and if you wanna know more you can look her up yourself.
    11. Do people underestimate you?
    Nearly every single super awesome scifi series ever made about earth destruction, takeover, and sheer human survival has been canceled. What are the odds that Defiance will also be canceled? And people not having a clue will go to look it up and run right into a film about Jewish brothers escaping from the Nazis instead of a multi-platform shooter MMO that interconnects with a global television program on Syfy... Personally, the mangled Arch in the graphics is freaking me out. I've been up at the top of the St. Louis Arch, it's *terrifying*.
     
    12. When you're in a bad mood, what will always put you in a better mood?
    Offer me food. Never fails. And I like watching the weather screen on my phone at night when I can't sleep. I can pick a city and watch it rain or snow or glide over the clouds in the moonlight.
    13. Honestly, do you talk about myspace in real life?
    The old 2007 answer- "It's scary when someone walks up to me and tells me what they negatively commented on someone else's myspace just before that person shows up to a party at my house. Yeah, myspace can be pretty volatile and must be negotiated delicately." Ok, that really happened, and it got ten times worse when facebook came along (imagine me living next door to in-laws, yeah...). I'm not sure that it's psychologically healthy for people to get so wrapped up in using technology for their interpersonal interactions, so maybe it's best if I just nip this question in the bud and tell all the wandering souls reading this that I love you, I know it sux and none of it is fair, and I think you're awesome. I suck at facebook because I hardly ever go over there, but I find that much less stressful than feeling compulsed to check it all the time. I truly dig not getting comments, even when a post gets over a thousand hits. I'm like the magazine you find lying around at the doctor's office, you pick it up and read it, sometimes you tear a recipe or coupon out, and then you walk away. The best magazines are the ones that look the most shredded, am I right? And then you get all frustrated that the end of an article is missing, or someone tore out the joke page. Speaking of that, I try to go back and check youtubes every little bit and replace them if they don't work any more. I'm cool that way.
    14. Have you met someone online in person?
    Every time I go to the fitness center, locker #17 is empty, so that's the one I always get. I'm about ready to claim it as my own and tape up pictures of my boyfriend. That's right, I *finally* caught Scott in his underwear.  Despite knowing my intentions, all he could moan about was how fat his back looks, but dang, he's pretty hot for a guy his age. Now you can see what the big deal is when he walks around distracting me. All the cougars passing by in the locker room will gasp in shock but secretly be jealous.
           
    15. What do you hope to have accomplished by the end of the school year?
    I keep getting app promos for Candy Crush Saga and I fear that if I fall for that, I'll abandon everything else I'm doing and disappear. I got pretty caught up in Cascade one year until I was literally shaking from the super intensity I was able to focus into. Click the pic to go to the app for droid.

    16. Do you believe minimum wage should be raised?
    I'm actually thinking about the word 'carafe' at the moment. It doesn't sound as graceful out loud as it looks in print, but I think it's a better word than 'coffee pot'. I wonder if everyone I know will think I'm a dork if I start referring to our coffee pot as a carafe. I think more than one person will automatically have to say something about a giraffe after I do. Funny what a big deal something this little is.
    17. Do you have any really crazy relatives?
    Literally or figuratively? There are both, but I'm curious what we're looking for here, some kind of tongue in cheek or some admission of family genetics gone bizarrely awry. I'm the one with the chickens, and if it weren't for this nasty cold weather, allergies, and a rabid fear of spiders, I'd probably be hanging out in the chicken house with my girls (my peeps, haha) right now because Scott wired it for electric. Cool, huh? #crazychickenlady
    18. Pretend you're 15 deep in beers. Describe what you would be doing?
    If they were in those tiny little "baby" mugs like you used to be able to get from A&W, I'd be passing around tiny little root beers to all my friends and loved ones. I really actually own one of those. They are so cute.
    19. Does everyone in your life know the real you?
    They are terrified to know the real me. The real me never seems to shut up. That's probably why I'm doing so well on twitter... Being on twitter is kinda like being part of the Borg, all the tweeting going on all the time, being part of a Collective, all our minds tied into timelines and 'feed', we're never alone. You can follow me on twitter at PinkyGuerrero on Twitter.
    20. Last thing you said about a guy/ girl?
    If I were ever being tortured for important information like my passwords, I would never be able to remember them. I'm one of those people who meticulously creates wild and crazy passwords that I constantly have to look up. But what I ~could~ do is easily rattle out my lengthy library card account number. I've typed it in so many times over the years that it could almost be my own name. I'm only saying this because I can't remember what the last thing was I said about anybody. That kind of stuff tends to fall right out of my head.
    21. What is the most ridiculous fear you have?
    That I might have a spider riding on my head at any given point in time. Don't laugh, this has really happened. After a softball game one night, a teenage turantula jumped off my head into my bathwater with me. I never sat on or leaned against the bleachers the rest of the season. It's terrifying to think you can't really feel something that big on your head the whole trip home in a car. I wear ballcaps now, yeah, like duh, THAT'S what they're for...
    22. Do you know anyone in prison?
    'Twitter jail' cracks me up. You hit an hourly or daily limit and suddenly you can't tweet any more, but experienced users just switch to alt accounts and keep going.
    The only thing I can think to compare twitter to that makes sense for people who don't have it is like being able to hear the baseball game on the radio when you're stuck in traffic, or like being able to have multiple conversations with several people all at once while you also read the paper and watch tv, there is no other media that so immediately connects you to everything that is happening right *now* that you are interested in. Like the Superbowl blackout. That. was. awesome.
    Sorry, I get a little carried away with twitter talk. Here, have a scary video to finish melting your mind. Close your eyes and plug your ears if you don't want to suffer brain damage. 
    23. When is the last time you ate Peanut butter and jelly?
    I'm allergic. Hey, have you guys seen The Americans? Scott got so freaked out he started thinking maybe all our neighbors are Russians spying on us. I reminded him the tv show is set in the 1980's. Probably doesn't help that we marathoned through all 8 seasons of 24 again a couple of years ago. Wonder if there are still any good Jack Bauer videos hanging around youtube... Oh, here we go, hadn't seen this one yet. 
    24. When did you last have a home cooked meal?
    I'm having trouble wanting to eat this week, hoping it's just a bug. Hurt weird all over, kinda rubbery, nothing sounds good. Scott had to go pick up his own Superbowl munchies this year. Sorry, no food pix this round.
    25. Have you ever gotten naked at a party?
    Here's the latest ultrasound my oldest got just today! I've never been a gramma before, but I have chickens and I think that will make me the cool one to come visit. Scott is already planning out a trip to take both the girls and their kids to the big Star Wars thing that Disney will have, but it might be a few years. Gotta finish manufacturing the new humans and get them somewhat functional first.
    26. Name who you miss.
    I am always blown away at how far people will go. I mean, LARPing South Park???
    27. Are you named after a grandparent?
    I have answered this so many times in surveys, will you people please stop naming your kids after grandparents? It's apparently bugging quite a few survey creators.
    28. Who loves you?
    My chickens think I'm the bomb. I wish I was twitter linked to their little minds and could catch what they were thinking in a timeline feed.
    29. Do you throw up gang signs?
    Better watch yourself, never know when you're going to get sucked into a time vortex and run into this guy.

    30. Have you ever broken a rib?
    If I did, no one has ever known. We didn't go to doctors much growing up, and my parents didn't tolerate puny whiners. I could be mangled by a crazed farm animal and still have to go do my chores. I stepped barefoot on a copperhead once. I'm no wimp. Yeah, it wasn't on purpose. Snake was just as freaked out as I was, zoomed like the snake devil was after it while I cleared a 4 foot gate.
    31. Last song you heard?
    I just found this on youtube, I wanna see it really bad. Comes out in June 2013.
    32. What was the last thing you ate?
    Oh, people people people. Chocolate chip cookie dough. THAT'S RIGHT, I'm making cookies!!!! I multitask like a maniac. It's really sad that I can't just hand you one through your screen as a thank you for visiting my site. Thank you, though, I really appreciate you stopping by.
    33. How do you feel RIGHT now?
    Waaaay better than yesterday. Remember I couldn't answer the what's the last thing you ate question? And I said I wouldn't have any food pix this time? Guess what...
    34. Have you driven anywhere today?
    Ok, that was cruel. But I really do make the awesomest chocolate chip cookies ever. Hot, soft, melty gooey chocolate chips....
    35. Whats your hair like?
    This is the first pony tail I've had in about 5 years, growing it out. There was a time it was over two feet long, lately it's been short and fun. Kind of in a transition stage right now. You can easily find the t-shirt by putting 'Wesley Crushers t-shirt' in your search bar. A young lady at my bank cracked the biggest smile when I walked in, great way to tag the nerdy people in your life, just wear a cool tee. 
    36. Would you ever work for the border patrol?
    Scott checks the yard for what the neighborhood dogs leave behind. I get full reports with great enthusiasm about how he's going to get even.
    37. Who's car were you in last?
    My own. And since this question is so boring, I'll tell you a true story from my old car days. Our former neighbor, well off older man with a nice house, traveled a lot, also into wood carving and composting, but he had a terrible time with mice getting into his house. An entire nest of them lived under the compost pile he so carefully nurtured. After he died and the compost pile croaked off, the mice moved around a bit, and one got into the trunk of my car somehow and made a nest, which we didn't find until later. I drove into town one morning, stopped in at McDonald's, was inside eating my breakfast when customers stood up shouting, Look, a *mouse*! And I looked up to where everyone was pointing out the window, and sure enough, there was this big monster mouse running across the parking lot toward the building, and of course, I can clearly see that if he's going in a straight line, he must have come from MY car. omg. So I quietly finished my breakfast and left as quickly as possible and have wondered ever since then whether that McDonald's had to go through an extra inspection and pricey extermination over me bringing the biggest mouse anyone ever saw into town unawares.
    38. Where did u go?
    Oh, I had no idea the above question would be continued. I'm so glad now that I entertained you, because this one would have had no answer.
    39. What High School are you going to?
    I'm surprised to find myself running with a twitter gang, and I'm not sure there's a way out. I think I made it through initiation, not sure when I'll have to get the tattoo and cut off someone's thumb, but it's nice to belong, and I get perks all over their territory, and you can, too, come play with us!  Click the banner to go check it out.

    40. Are you going to homecoming?
    With my last batch of chickens I was able to figure out who laid which eggs, but I'm having a tougher time with this bunch. See that pretty speckled one? No idea, but I'm pretty sure it's not T'Pol's because she's not a heavy laying breed and we get one of these nearly every day. I'm betting it's Myka's, she's a production cross called an Indian River. The rest I'm pretty sure about.
    41. Have you ever been in an interracial relationship?
    I used to have this duck... I got a kick out of how badly the hens beat the crap out of him, but it never stopped him from trying again, over and over and over. I caught one of their fights on camera and put it on a youtube called Menage a Trois Gone Awry and didn't realize for years that it got all those hits because people thought it was a sex video. Sorry, it's gone now.  I'm dumb and deleted it.
    42. Is your birthday on a holiday?
    I was born on United Nations Day, which is one day after Weird Al's birthday.
    43. Are you old enough to vote?
    There was no vote, the groundhog said spring WILL come early this year, and no one can stop it. He's probably part of a crime fighting group hellbent on stopping an evil overlord conspiring to force us all into submission. I say Go Groundhog, yeah! 

    44. Do you have any friends or family in the war right now?
    The best way to eat bbq ribs is right over the pan they just cooked in. I just stopped and ate some. Live action survey here, folks! Ew. Oh, nevermind, that's just sauce on my keyboard. Little bit sticky now. And yes, I know people in the military. They rock. I hope they get awesome bbq ribs, too.
    45. Are you a vegitarian?
    No, but I'm an excellent speller. I do like vegetables, though.
    46. Do you worry about global warming?
    I worry more what's going to happen when I am forced to drive an electric car and desperately need a recharge and I'm still a mile from my house in very inclement weather. It'll be as fun as running out of gas all the time. I'm answering this question while I watch Nemo coverage on the weather channel. 
    47. Do you like polar bears
    I've heard that if you eat polar bear liver it will kill you because the vitamin A is so toxic. So if I have to eat a polar bear, I will probably stick to the filet mignon part.
    48. Do you like alligators?
    I have eaten alligator tail, and somewhere there is an alligator running around with a stub. I feel sorta bad about that.
    49. Which of the Marley brothers do you like best?
    I wanna change this. Which of The Sklar Brothers do you like best? I tend to go for glasses.
    50. What slang word do you call marijuana?
    Ha, this survey was written by a teenager on pot. How funny.
    51. Do you have to get your wisdom teeth out?
    No, but I bet you do, you rascally survey creator. Ask me if I've ever had heart surgery or something.

    52. Ashley or Mary-Kate?
    Kathy Griffin This pot smoking survey creator with a wisdom teeth problem has a crush on the Olsen twins. Of all the things I've ever put into a survey that could lose me followers, it's probably Kathy, but it's not like I inundate you people with her, so jump down to 53 if this annoyed you.

    53. Do you wear your sweetie's clothes?
    My sweetie crawls under the car and climbs all over the roof, there is no way I'm putting those clothes on. I fuss at him a lot for bringing spiders in. They hitchhike in and drop off in the kitchen as he walks by me, can't tell you how many times this has actually happened, and even though he might have *just* got back from deer hunting through all kinds of brush and wilderness, he never believes he's the one bringing spiders in.

    54. Do you have a tan?
    If you're into white Irish actor/directors named Eoin, there's a whole pinterest full of him at Eoin Macken. If you wanna know more go to his site at Blank Canvas Pictures. I'm mostly doing this because I like to irritate him, he retweeted me the other day, and I made a new friend on twitter because of it.

    55. Where were you one hour ago?
    Just one? Probably in the kitchen looking for something to eat.
    56. Life.. how do you feel about it?
    It sux, but I don't care. What the heck, I'll take it anyway. I kind of think pain is what drives us and makes us human, and I defy some wimpy alien to come inhabit THIS body.... BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!
    57. Have you ever logged on to your bf/gf/crush's Myspace page?
    Scott is so paranoid he won't even let me watch him type in a password to one of his fantasy football teams so I won't be able to sabotage them after he took my team over and made me LOSE. >=l
    58. Which do you enjoy more: Soccer or Hockey
    I think I'm at zero on both. There is no 'more' than the other. However, I'm interested in Celebrity Soccer 6 because Team Merlin was at and near the top the last two years, and that's Team Merlin from the tv show Merlin, not the plane and helicopter stuff. You can get updates from SoccerSix on Twitter "The worlds biggest celebrity football tournament. 2013 dates coming soon!" SoccerSix recentaly retweeted me, too, pretty cool.
    59. Name someone you love.
    This is the other grandbaby under construction, 13 weeks. 
    60. Would you rather have a million dollars or true love?
    I've already got the true love, working on the million bucks. 
    61. Which of your MySpace friends has a naughty piercing?
    Every time I see the word MySpace in this survey I have flashbacks to what the world was like before facebook. MySpace was so a hundred years ago. That was even before I started following Wil Wheaton on twitter. I started following Anne (his wife) last month because I discovered it adds so much more depth to Wil's tweets. That very tweet Wil made right there is the one that compelled me to follow Anne on twitter, I couldn't imagine what he was talking about.
    62. Is your boyfriend/girlfriend a marine?
    "Scott is a workhorse. He is TOUGHER than a marine. He can carry a hundred pound river rock up a hill and then go get another one, and do this for a couple of hours before he even stops to get a drink. And he's not even a great big muscley guy." --Ok, I wrote that 6 years ago, before he wound up having hernia surgery... 
    63. Are you currently in a relationship?
    I *nearly* got Xander Bennett's book Cages for 2 cents on Amazon.com last November. That's right 2 pennies. I'm sure it was a typo. The order went through just fine, $4.01 with shipping, got notice of a ship date 3 days later, waited and waited and waited... Finally contacted Amazon in January and said Hey, whadup, didn't get my book, so they refunded. I looked it up again, discovered there are both new and used copies going for over $100 (one is currently at $169). Granted, some new and used are still under $40 (I got a good used one for about $30), but I think maybe those sellers just aren't aware other sellers are asking for way more because it's out of print. And I think the 2 cent seller I accidentally found must have panicked when my order came through and saw the 2 cent thing, held onto the book, entered a fake ship invoice, and sat back waiting for me to be refunded. It's all kind of funny, too bad it didn't slip on through, because I would have loved being able to say I got it for 2 cents. I asked Xander if he gets anything at all out of the copies going for over $100, he said not a dime from anyone. I looked up the publisher, they went out of business in 2010, and I'm thinking what a good lesson I'm learning for my own future. Mainly, if my publisher crashes, buy the books back up myself and relist them for collector prices because they're rare and out of print... Anyway, Cages is a cool story in the form of a bound comic (Melanie Cook illustrated), would love to see it as a movie, and here's a teaser.
         
    64. Would you rather date someone 2 years younger or older?
    I always sucked at dating. It was such a relief to get married and not have to go through the angst of dating any more. The few times in the past that I thought of divorce, just the fleeting thoughts of having to date again were enough to move my contentment back up a few notches. Way past that now, Scott and I went out on a date to AutoZone this morning and it was pretty awesome.  It's nice being best friends.
    65. What's your favorite junk food?
    Coffee. I know that's weird. I can have only half a cup a day because I'm so hypersensitive to caffeine, so I buy really nice expensive coffee for a beautiful experience.
    66. Who was the last person who messaged you?
    A twitter friend. I am ~really~ digging this commercial. I have to use the new iframe code so if you're on a computer you might have to click out to see it, sorry, but it's worth it. 
    67. Do you know what your wearing the 1st day of school?
    I just had a sobering thought. You know how it's always happy hour somewhere in the world? It's always the first day of school or training somewhere in the world.
    68. Are you taller than 5'6?
    Fernando doesn't seem too worried about it.
    Let's have a good day!  
  • New Year Survey- 2013

    So, are you excited for the new year?
    New year, all new surprises. This last year was kind of like the Hercules reruns I've been watching on The Hub (and the New Year's Eve Hercul-EVE marathon coming up), culminating in idiots being thrown into village wells and such. Who does that? Why do they throw dirty sweaty bodies into the drinking water and think they did the village a service saving them from bullies? They still have to haul some pretty cranky bullies out of the well and then drink that water. I think I'd find that a little insulting. Now if it was Hercules that got thrown in, it would be a little more pleasurable pulling him back out, but when he's the one who walks off after throwing the icky guys in, I think I'd be a little grumpy with the son of Zeus. So this year could go in any direction, really, depends on how you look at it- if your well is half empty or half full, either way it's got a hairy body in it that needs hauling out.
     
                      
     
    What was your favorite thing about this past year?
    The Merlin fandom, hands down. Even though I live streamed the 5th season direct from BBC One while I watched distraught fans freak out live on twitter, I still can't wait for it to start over again in the U.S. on Syfy.
     
     
    Who was your best friend(s)?
    Scott told me to go outside and get pictures *during* a microburst last week when I texted him the roof was coming off. A few days later after repair and clean up, he let me know if I had, it would have killed me because the edge of a shingle gouged a chunk right out of the new deck. See??? I *know* when it's stupid to go outside, duh. He thought I was just being wimpy. He thinks he's superman because he climbs all over carrying heavy stuff, kinda backfired this time. He's on ice packs missing work, not the young thing he used to be. Poor chickens are still missing half the roof over their pen. They skipped laying the day that happened.
     


     
    Did you fall in love this year?
    Did you miss this guy in the last survey? Now's your second chance to follow him on Twitter, just in time for season 5 of Merlin to start airing on Jan. 4th in the U.S. on Syfy. He doesn't tweet much, which makes it even more exciting to put him on mobile alert.
     
     
    Did you get your heart broken?
    If you'd rather get mobile alerts from people who tweet more often, follow the Knights of the round table!
     
     
    And follow Mordred and Gaius as well.
     
     
     
    Did you get a new car?
    Better, I got new chickens!
     
     
    Go somewhere exciting?
    I survived 8 hours in a car with my dad through Amish country and didn't throw up on anybody when I got carsick, but it *could* have gotten really exciting.
     
    Did you have a resolution for this year?
    I'm coming to grips with my severe arachnophobia for the first time in my life, which is huge considering I live in the woods and regularly get tarantulas and brown recluse in my house. I nearly gripped a spider as big as my hand when I reached out to grab a door handle, and nearly stepped on one as wide as my bare foot in my kitchen in the middle of the night. I feel about spiders the same way Xena used to feel about slaughtering thousands of people while she was a warlord.
     
     
    Did you keep it?
    So, resolution for 2013- Keep rebuilding my t-shirt collection! I have started off already with these two after-Christmas purchases, and got Scott the third for Christmas. Click pix to get to the websites.
     
           
     
    Did you dye your hair?
    I'm trying to grow it back out. It's slow going.
     
    Lose any friends?
    Jaizzy finally died. She was pretty old.
     
     
    Make any?
    The coolest friend I've made is a webmaster in the Netherlands. If you're a scifi fan, this is your ultimate pitstop.
     
     
    How much do you think you changed?
    I bounded back out of being a complete recluse that no one could find or get hold of to splatting my web presence all over the internet. My spell check is still trying to capitalize internet. 
     
    Did you grow any?
    I went ahead and slapped out a little over $500 to expand my little universe in a myriad of ways. And Scott totally upgraded my techability, that was cool.
     
    What month was your birthday?
    I'm the scorpioist scorpio you ever met. Brian Diva Cox (BrianDivaCox) on Twitter is on holiday break, haven't been getting any horoscopes this week. He's a nut.
     
    Was it special?
    The cosmic irony that is my life dictates that any special day must be made *more* special with other people's dramas and traumas until my special day is so piled on that it turns into the worst day ever. I don't look forward to birthdays and holidays for this reason. If I am to survive this life without taking any kind of bitterness to my grave, I have to let go of the whole idea that I could ever have a special day just for me and hoping that everything is wonderful and goes right and I feel great about the world.
     
    How were you in school?
    I was awesome, school sucked. My fave thing about twitter is tweets like these- "I wish my iPhone would stop correcting 'omg' to 'OMG', I'm not that shocked" The little chuckles get me through my day better than anything else on the planet.
     
    Do anything you regret alot?
    The problem with regretting a lot is not moving forward because you clog up your brain with angst and dismay and bitterness and all kinds of other negative emotions that don't do anything but drag your day down. I hold my regretting down to wishing I hadn't had that second cup of coffee so late in the afternoon kind of thing.
     
    Anything you regret NOT doing?
    That is Scott's specialty. It's redundant, but he seems to need to reiterate his list every weekend (for years and years), and once he gets past the list, the rest of the day is fine. He tends to multitask through this kind of stuff while he's defrosting frozen pancakes I've made ahead, till I'm ready to pull my hair out. All he has to do it zap the pancakes on high for 30 seconds, but he'll literally spend 5 minutes defrosting them in the microwave *first* while he goes over his regret list until I'm shoving him out of the way and stabbing buttons for him and telling him to get the syrup and shut up now. He says I suck the joy out of griping. I have ways of getting even. He asked me if you spell Mayans "Myans", and without looking up I just said yeah, and later ~after~ he sealed his Christmas cards, I asked him why he needed to spell it and laughed at him and he was all crap now everyone will think I can't spell, and I'm all why don't you look it up yourself in a search bar kind of thing. I used to let guys cheat off me during tests in high school, too, and they never learned. I don't regret any of this. You don't go marry a college girl so you can ask her how to spell. Or maybe you do, whatever. Here you go, have a celebrity apology for something deeply regretted.
     
     
    This is the thing he did that he apologized for.
     
     
    Was it a leap year?
    I actually had to go look, and yes it was. Next leap year is 2016, when my debit card expires.
     
    What are you most thankful for this year?
    Live streaming! How did we LIVE before live television from the other side of the world???
     
    Did anyone you love die this year?
    Since U.S. Merlin fans may not have seen season 5 yet, like I did live streaming this fall, I have to respect the whole spoilers thing and not tell you who all dies on Merlin. Remember, starting back up on Syfy on Jan. 4th! Ok, ok, I'll spoil a little- the queen of Camelot looks pretty dead slung over the horse unconcious like that. For hours and hours. On the same horse her husband, King Arthur is on... I laughed so hard. I mean, I love Gwen, but that was the most practical man scene EVER, poor thing. If you want any more, you have to watch the show.
     
    How many significant others did you have?
    Does anyone else ever wonder if Alicia Bridges was the springboard for Billy Idol's look?
     
     
     
    Did you get in trouble alot?
    We didn't know what to do with our old Halloween pumpkin and it was going all soft, so Scott busted it in half and we set it in the chicken pen, and those girls ATE it. *wow* Well, except for the shell, but they got it down to the flat rind. Took 6 chickens only 2 days to eat a whole pumpkin.
     
    Who are you going to kiss at midnight?
    This Emrys pic can double as a Father Time, how's that? And guess what- I'm getting TWO new year babies! Both my daughters are pregnant.
     
     
    Who do you WANT to kiss at midnight?
    Scott and I have the coolest lunchboxes. Mine is Spiderman, and it goes everywhere with me because of all my food allergies.
     
     
    What is your resolution for next year?
    Avoid the rocks.
     
     
    Who's house are you going to party at?
    I tried this nail polish from the Sinful Colors Professional line, # 927 'Nail Junkie', because I wanted something for Christmas without looking too perky, and this was cool, with all the glitter and dark green it was like lizard scales or something. And then a week later they all peeled right off in one piece, easiest polish removal ever.
     
     
    Going to watch the ball drop on TV?
    We'll probably look out the window at the lights in the yard before we hit the hay around 8:00. We're so used to getting up around 3 a.m. that it kills us to stay up till midnight.
     
     
    Will this year be better than last year?
    Oh, I hope so. This year was pretty monumental. I'd share, because it would make really awesome gossip and stuff, but then people would fling things at my head when I walk into their houses. Not a good way to make next year better.
     

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I've started transferring my survey posts over to Surveypalooza so people coming in from search engines on mobile devices will be able to see the surveys.

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Apologies for the missing vids, another upgrade during the server migration swept through like a scan sweeping through the Enterprise. I'll fix those later, kinda busy...

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