Sorry I'm a little tardy with the greetings, it's been more than a tad busy here  Congratulations!! to all the winners and nominees - you're all winners in my book.

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! to you all, too. We'll be staying in, I expect, watching Graham Norton or Jools, anxiously waiting for Big Ben so we can go to bed. *g*  We live a quiet life around here. Love to you all.

So, a quick glance at the flist tells me it's that time of year again. As I've said more than once these past 12 months, my squee is not what it was. The loss of dear friends, scrapping the website, a sense of moving on and a general lack of desire to engage in fannish activity have rather dented the shiny and there is a distinct 'back to school' feel, a sense of the nights drawing in for me whenever Fandom is engaged in these days.

But hey ho the nonny, I am certainly not above joining in when the awards come around! Yes, I really am that vain! I am nominated and managed to stay out of the angst and dark categories this year, which, considering my usual output, is a thing to be celebrated indeed. ::nods::

Blue is up for slash H/C, Established relationship and Post TSbyBS - all new categories for me, which is pretty exciting. It got nommed in a couple of others, too, and I had to prune so thank you, nominators, for your perfect loveliness to what is still (to me) a slightly dodgy story. You're all too kind.

Chasing Rainbows is nommed (again! lol! Will it never die!) for gen H/C

Wind Whispering is up for gen novel

Most amusingly of all, I am up for gen outstanding author. Oh my. I mean, whoever nommed me it's just gorgeous of you and blessings be upon you but lawks a lawdy, talk about not worthy! I've been giggling since I got the email.

Fanfic Hospital (on which I collaborated) is up for a few categories too.

Anyway, I thank you all and bow obsequiously in your general directon.

 A sensible, thoughtful, intelligent and non-judgemental article about fic from none other than the marvellous and mighty John Sutherland! - he even quotes the fabulous sheenaghpugh ::approving nod::

Thanks to hafren for the finding of.

OK, day made. Tea! Then to grips with the novel. ::stern face. looks keen::

I’ve been musing a lot on fandom of late – what it used to mean and what it means now. I’ve spent time over the weekend, talking about it with another old fandom-friend who feels much the same and think the time has come for me to bare my breast and bottom to the snowy wastes and admit that  my fandom glory days are probably past.

( Bearing the Breast, or - A Former Fangirl Confesses )

When everyone's agreeing with you, it's called squee, when they're disagreeing with you, it's called wank.

Ah, fandom.

Where I spent a most pleasant long weekend at fluterbev 's from whence we all drove down to Liverpool to get picked up by drunken Irishmen have dinner with Garett.

I can't say more right now as I'm feeling very poorly sick and about to get into bed, but words and pictures should be forthcoming just as soon as I can raise the energy.

In the meantime, fluterbev ,  fingers and I have committed fic. Jim has Flu. Only Blair can heal him.

Where Hilary, my sister, was spending a day working on a show-reel for voice-over work. It’s something she’s wanted to do for a long time and she found a studio in Nottingham that specialises in that very thing. They’re also an agency and they’ve put her straight on their books. Talking to the sound-engineer after, it appears she impressed everyone mightily with her talent for characterisation – apparently it’s really hard to get voice-actors to characterise, they tend to want to do everything in their own voice - and Hilary is really good too, with a massive range. They’re sending her audition disc up for a couple of ads, talking books and the new series of Creature Comforts, which is most excellent news indeed.

I took my lappy assuming there’d be a green room where I could sit and work since I was only there for the moral support. There wasn’t, so I spent the morning in Starbucks, had a browse about (its been years since I wandered the streets of Nottingham) and passed a very long afternoon in the Costa in Waterstones where at least they had comfy sofas and a host of students and academics similarly occupying space for hours on end on the strength of a pot of  Earl Grey  and a ginger snap. *g*

I got a goodly bit of my sitcom worked out and some interesting ideas for the novel, switching to notes when the lappy batteries finally failed – a productive day, if a tad tedious and massively tiring, but there are far worse places to spend a day than drinking coffee, writing and browsing in a bookshop.

In other news, I got my first ‘where’s this story then?’ email from one of my Moonridge winners today. Gently worded but a prod nonetheless. Gentle reader, if  you too are one of those poor, patient souls waiting for the next update to the Academy tale (and/or waiting for Rainbows 3 to start) I can only tell you what I told them – I'll be back with you as soon as I can. I’m truly sorry, but the muse just isn’t dancing in that direction right now. I guarantee I will finish them  – barring death or coma – but I honestly can’t say when that will be.

Needless to say, I’m not offering anything for Moonridge this year.

And as my fannish life continues to diminish, I dropped another 23 communities from my flist – the bulk of them fandom and fic-related -
doctorwho, crack_van and the like. My morning sojourn on LJ hasn’t been this quick, easy and stress-free for a very long time. (o:

Oh yes. I am. Bigtime. Worse today, if anything.

This is a really nasty bug - not so nasty as to completely prostrate; I could walk round to the shops if I needed to, but I'd probably be in a state when I got there. If the other sicklings on the flist want to compare and contrast, I has big headache, ache like a bugger, feel intermittently sick and just so damn tired.

And bored. Incredibly bored. I have a ton of stuff I want to read, on the lappy, on the palm, not to mention the pile of EDAs awaiting my attention, but reading is turning my already-monster headache into something from the M25 route to Hell (and Bev, baby, I am reading TNT and just loving it but circs are keeping me from reading and I don't want to comment till I've read it all but, oh lordy, I do love it so and wish I were able to finish it!) There's a heap of things on my palm I'm aching to read right now but any kind of screen is strobing on my retinas like one of  Michael Fish's jackets. This does not make me feel good. Ergo, I cannot read - or write - or even spend much time on LJ. This is making me sad. And bored. Oh so bloody bored...

So I'm kinda stuck with the radio and telly (for 'telly' read downloads and discs; there's bugger all on t' telly that I can see, not even on ITV3 or 4 shock horror; not even an eppy of Randall and Hopkirk today. )o:)  I've been enjoying Funland, for all its twisted darkness; re-watching Blackpool of course, and LOM and The Lakes and Mighty Boosh 3 but I'm running out of stuff...

So, any recommendations? Stuff that's either on TV in the UK; terrestrial or satellite - or something downloadable; something glorious I might have missed?

And now I have to stop because this is making my head explode.

(t_verano - sugar, thanks so much for your lovely and insightful comments! I will get back to you as soon as my head stops feeling like it's about to make a new home for itself in a crusher.)