The association meme

[lizbee]

misscam gave me five things she associates with me, and now I get to ramble about them!

Book stores

"It must be lovely working in a bookstore," customers say occasionally, "you get so much time for reading!"

Yes! That's why, whenever you enter a bookstore, you'll find the staff lounging around with books in their hands.

Maybe it works differently in small, independent bookstores where carefully selected new titles share space with high quality secondhand books, and mellow alternative pop music plays, and there's a cat on the counter. (Although from what I've seen of those stores, they have fairly primitive point of sale systems, and fewer employees, so the staff probably work even harder than in a chain store.) But in my experience, we only get to read the books when we're putting them away, and by "read" I mean "the blurb", plus maybe a bit of a skim if it looks interesting.

Having said that, I love bookstores. I just find it difficult to browse in them these days, because I find myself eying up the displays, picking over the new releases, and sniffing at the staff reviews.

Romana rules the world

I'm not really sure Romana does rule the world, or that she should. Her time in the office as president of Gallifrey was marked by some pretty considerable fail, a lot of it her own fault. She would probably tell you it's the fault of the older, more conservative Time Lords who don't know a good idea when they see it. Occasionally I wonder if maybe someone at Big Finish was using the Gallifrey series to parody liberal politicians; also it has some dodgy subtexts re: women in power.

Despite her overwhelming fail as a politician, Romana certainly rules my world, as evidenced by the way I'm currently organising my budget to prioritise the purchasing of the E-Space trilogy boxset when it comes out next month.

I seem to return to the same themes and ideas in my Romana fic: motherhood, loss of identity, loss of background. None of these are particularly inherent to the character c.seasons 16-18, but they sort of fit the post-Time War universe. prof_pangaea once suggested that I'm working towards some sort of uber-Romanafic, but I don't know what that is, yet.

Tim Tams

A Tim Tam is an Australian chocolate biscuit consisting of two layers of chocolate-malt biscuit, joined with a layer of chocolate creme, covered with a thin layer of chocolate. Maybe that doesn't sound like much to you, but it's bliss in a biscuit form.

I don't buy them very often, because I tend to eat whole packets in one sitting; also, while the Tim Tam is the better biscuit, I have fond childhood memories of the Mint Slice, which is of comparable price and quality.

If you don't mind a bit of mess, you can indulge in a Tim Tam Slam. This involves bitting off both ends of the biscuit, then using it as a straw to suck up the beverage of your choice. The usual options are tea, coffee and hot chocolate, but some prefer Baileys, and I once had a manager who said the best kind of Tim Tam Slams involved cheap red wine.

Bad summaries

When I think of bad summaries, I think of mctabby, who came up with HP Summary Executions. I mostly think of a bad summary as a sign that there's a bad fic to follow, because if you can't construct, spell and punctuate a couple of descriptive sentences, what hope do you have with paragraphs?

Ironically, I have a lot of trouble writing summaries, and usually have to run my ideas past cesario or prof_pangaea to make sure I'm not embarrassing myself.

Sometimes I find mediocre fic more offensive than outright badfic. As mediocre fic is more common, this means I spend a lot of time being offended, especially if I've been doing the Teaspoon queue. Sometimes I read a mediocre fic, and I think, "You could have made this really extraordinary, and you obviously have the ability to do so, but you clearly couldn't be bothered. You obviously hold your readers in contempt, and I shall treat you with the same disrespect." Then I close the window.

Braxiatel in ur icons

My extra userpics expired last week, and I haven't had the money to buy more, but I was quite lucky to keep my Brax icon. To make it, I had to scan my "Panacea" CD cover in high-res, as it was impossible to find a large-enough picture of the cover online. (People seem to think Romana and Leela are the important aspects of the series. WHUT?)

Because I am lame, I also tried to make a Braxiatel cross-stitch pattern out of the cover for Life During Wartime, but it didn't work out.

For Unexpected Naked Brax, have a close look at the cover for "Mindbomb". He's standing in the background, but he's very small, and again you'd probably need the actual CD, or a high-res scan to see him properly. It's extra sneaky because Brax wasn't listed in the credits, nor was there the usual "Irving Braxiatel created by Justin Richards" note. But there he is, LURKIN IN UR ARTWORKS. Cunning, I know.

Comments

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I stubbornly refuse to accept the President Romana!Fail as canon, dangnabbit.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

It makes a good basis for fic, gives her a role to play in the Time War, and she gets to wear amazing robes and be important. But I mostly pick and choose the bits I like from the spin-off canon, and make up the rest.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much my approach as well (You forgot: Makes for even hotter Time Sex).

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

It happened, but in a way entirely unlike what we were shown in the books and audio. Like, in the way all the book and audio adventures did happen but... just a little bit different.

[kerravonsen]

Exactly. She was in E-Space all this time. (Except when I'm writing ex-President Romana fic, of course)

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Nonsense, she joined a subsversive anti-war group! Except when she needs to have hot presidential sex with Eight.

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Yay for Mint Slice! I think I like them better, actually, though you really need a Tim-Tam for a Tim-Tam Slam. Mint Slice don't have any corners.

[kerravonsen]

Mint Slice don't have any corners
Not only that, there is only one biscuit rather than the Tim-Tam's biscuit-sandwich, which means it can't really make a "straw".

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Yes! It's true! Clearly this is why we have science, to better understand biscuit technology.

[bruyere-75.livejournal.com]

"It must be lovely working in a bookstore," customers say occasionally, "you get so much time for reading!"

Hahahahhahahahahaaahahahahaaaaaa!

If anything, I read less now than I did before I worked in a bookstore.

(Although from what I've seen of those stores, they have fairly primitive point of sale systems, and fewer employees, so the staff probably work even harder than in a chain store.)

Amen, sister-friend. I have never in my life been as overworked as I am at my current workplace. I do about five peoples' jobs, and sometimes, when I can find the time, I do my own, too.

[ravenskyewalker.livejournal.com]

"It must be lovely working in a bookstore," customers say occasionally, "you get so much time for reading!"

Yes! That's why, whenever you enter a bookstore, you'll find the staff lounging around with books in their hands.

*headdesk* Why are people so clueless? *headdesks some more*

Honestly, I've worked in libraries and bookstores, and do keep hearing that. People have no clue how much work goes on. For example, once a week, I change out the bestsellers, which involves pulling the stuff that's gone off the list, hunting down the stuff that's gone onto the list, getting everything set up, putting away whatever needs it... Once a month, I change a certain large display of paperbacks; that requires pulling all the old titles, finding all the new ones, reshelving all the stuff that I pulled. You know, actual work, and it never ends -- nor is it supposed to end, because if it ends, you're out of work!

I read whenever I can... when I'm not working, or at the computer, or helping my old parents. I somehow managed to read 100 books in 2008, despite the complete disruption of my life, so there was that, at least...

[stephiepenguin.livejournal.com]

I miss tim tams and mint slices. There is a gluten-free and vegan alternative, and it is tasty, and similar, but not as good, alas!

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Oh, a Tim Tam is a bit like a Penguin. I had always wondered.