I desperately miss writing things that do not have anything to do with fluorine chemistry, which is coinciding nicely with rediscovering my love for Hikaru no Go, though I was too late to sign up for blind_go. Pictures of the anime series draw up the kind of really good nostalgia reserved for those sweet golden days when school was easy and you had great weather and all the time in the world, but pictures of the manga draw up the kind of drug addicted jonesing for my volumes that are, well, halfway across the world. The Touya/Shindou love can still give me the warm fuzzies, however, and more tellingly, Ogata/Touya and Ogata/Shindou still gives me the violent urge to break things.

Fic Rec: Harry Potter fandom - From the Brink of Twilight, H/D, NC-17 by furiosity for serpentinelion's Secrets and Wishes fantasy fest 2007. furiosity is a good writer, and more importantly, she's prolific; I've followed several of her series diligently and she rarely disappoints. This, however, has to be my favorite fic by her so far; there's something about the melancholia of it, the dark and dusty sense of lives left forgotten on the shelf for years and the quicksilver flashes of life that begin to quicken it. The pacing is excellent, the pining is heartbreaking and it's a fantastic read, one of the few HP fics I've felt compelled to rec in recent months.

Fic Rec: Star Wars:TPM/Georgette Heyer fusion - Episode One: The Quiet Padawan, by flambeau. (Summary: A spirited young student and a world-weary Jedi master are equally determined that they have no interest in each other.) I haven't followed Torch's fics for a while, besides her Coldfire Trilogy fics, because I have little to no interest in popslash, but I was overjoyed to find this one. I have never read a Georgette Heyer book, but you don't need to have to read this fic; if you've read enough Austen, you'll recognize the genius of this delicately nuanced comedy of manners. All the characters are precisely themselves and caricatures of themselves at the same time, and the overall effect is delightful and delightfully farcical. It was great fun to read.

Half-a-fic Rec: Harry Potter fandom - Counting the Steps, H/D, R, 1/2 (INCOMPLETE) by 1ightning, also for the Secrets and Wishes fantasy fest 2007. If you really like Pride and Prejudice and are a masochist, you should read this. 1ightning is a great author and I've recced her fics a couple of times before, I believe. This H/D done Pride and Prejudice-style is a great read so far, but it's killing me that it's unfinished. Caveat lector, and all that.

Three YouTube links:

The Free Hugs Campaign, the winner of YouTube's Most Inspirational video award, and which had me fighting back tears.

Kiwi!, the winner of the Most Adorable award, which boggles my mind, because I found the end of this video horrifyingly depressing (I'm too cynical to believe there was a mattress underneath at the end). Also known as the video Some People Just Do Not Get.

Otters Holding Hands, winner of my personal Most Awwww-Inducing Video, please to watch through to the end because it's worth it.

PS. Re: Latest Chapter of Bleach - WHAAAT. Argh, Kubo Tite! Just... argh! Rukia! Someone do something.

I don't know if it's my connection or LJ, but while it's working, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! *confettis* Here's to looking forward to 2007, may it be a better year for me than 2006. Allergies are under control for the time being, thanks for all the well wishes! Christmas swag will have to wait until my server deigns to speak to my FTP again. To ramp up to the opening of the Yuletide archive, here's a list of some of the best H/D stories that have been posted this Christmas, to be further updated later:

My Favorites:
Gone Down The Angel On A Lonely Night
Summary: Eight years after the end of the war, Harry stumbles upon Draco in an unexpected place: Islington.

Waiting for Life to Start
Summary: The Tri-Wizard Tournament is returning to Hogwarts to mark the ten-year anniversary of the defeat of Voldemort. Harry is asked to help ensure the safety of the students, a task he finds difficult, not only because he's not sure he can do it, but also because the tournament itself is unearthing emotions in him that he has kept suppressed for most of the last decade. When Draco walks off the Durmstrang ship, Harry is thrown by an unexpected attraction. Over the course of the next year, he will have to deal with those feelings as well as the aftermath of the war, something he has put off for far too long.

Good Reads:
The Reckoning
Summary: Settling the score was never so sweet.

Good-bye to Yesterday
Summary: Draco felt ready to face even a million years in Azkaban as long as it meant that at the end of it all, he would make Potter pay.

Comfort Food
Summary: Harry never falls for the nice guys.

A Test of Character
Summary: Draco Malfoy is nearly finished his Auror training. However, something comes up in his character testing which may prevent him from qualifying: he is required to befriend an old enemy.

Noticed Him Fading
Summary: Draco hates France, the Ministry, owls, and Harry Potter.

Business As Usual
Summary: Harry's Christmas isn't shaping up the way he'd imagined it would.
(NB: Cute but not necessary.)

Their Kind of Forever
Summary: The final part of Harry's Auror training forces him to walk the line between truth and lie, between the wizarding world and the Muggle world, between the life he thought he'd have and the disappointing reality. And through it all, he finds unexpected solace in a most unlikely person's company.

Take Your Silver Spoon and Shove It
Summary: So they're clones. It's not weird. (Except maybe it is.)

Paradise is a lazy, restful Sunday, particularly when bolstered with Belgian Grand Reserve beer made by Trappist monks, Hédiard blend tea and fresh fruit. To share the joy, have a few recommendations.

( Movie Trailers )

( Harry/Draco fic recs )

I was introduced to Honey and Clover last night by ill-meaning parties. More specifically, I was introduced to Hanamoto-sensei, who is an amalgamation of Spike (Cowboy Bebop), Hughes (FMA) and Wolfwood, aka I was doomed to fall in love with him from the moment I saw his loosened red tie. I fear for my soul.