Stolen from rhienelleth...

( Here there be icons )

Nicked from chrysalitron...

( So much TV, so little time )

Because I am bored... Pick 5 of my icons, and I will explain what they mean. Icons can be found here.

Tagged by monimala... This was actually more difficult than I thought it would be--perhaps I'm too picky even when it comes to fictional characters?

List ten fictional characters you wouldn't kick out of bed (in no particular order) and tag five people to do the same.

1. Captain Mal "Tightpants" Reynolds
2. Bright Abbott
3. Special Agent Seeley Booth
4. Bond, James Bond (the Daniel Craig incarnation)
5. Julian Sark
6. Ryan Atwood
7. Sam Winchester
8. Alex Karev
9. Bruce Wayne (the Christian Bale incarnation)
10. Indiana Jones (the Harrison Ford/River Phoenix/Sean Patrick Flanery incarnations)

I'm not much for tagging people, so anyone feel so inclined, join the fun!

Snagged from mrs_boyscout...

Reply to this post and I'll pick seven of your interests for you to explain in your journal. Post this with your explanations so others can join the explaining fun!

ETA: The interests that mrs_boyscout chose for me to explain...
( Reasons )

Nicked from leobrat...

Post the first lines of the first fic posted each month in 2007
(I missed a couple months, unfortunately)

January
(Technically, When the Cupcakes Aren't the Best Part was the first fic of January, but it was co-written with monimala, and she wrote the first lines! This is the first fic that was just mine.)

For once, Serenity was living up to its name. The ship was quiet, only the hum of the engines breaking the silence.

But inside River's mind, there was no quiet. She could hear the sleeping thoughts of the crew, scattered throughout the ship.

Landing, River/Jayne

February

Don Lamb contemplated the ice cubes slowly melting in his glass of Scotch. It was his birthday, and while normally that would be cause for celebration--particularly with a woman of the slutty persuasion--this year it was hitting him hard.

Christ, he was 35. Thirty-five years old, and what did he have to show for it? No wife, no kids, no prospects. He was stuck in this shitty little town that really only had good weather going for it.

Unwrapped, Veronica/Lamb

March

Eli Navarro was bored. He was home alone for the weekend, with no miscellaneous relatives around to ratchet up the noise level. He'd watched all three Terminator movies back-to-back-to-back, and then couldn't find the remote, so he watched the last hour of Legally Blonde. It didn't hurt that Reese Witherspoon was hot.

He'd ordered a large pepperoni pizza, the remains of which were still sitting on the coffee table. He'd gone through half a box of Thin Mints, a bag of microwave popcorn, and most of a fifth of Jack Daniels. He'd jerked off to alternating fantasies of Jessica Alba and Veronica Mars, but even that got old after a while. If that didn't scream "bored and pathetic," he didn't know what did.

Pity's Optional, Veronica/Weevil

April

The rec center at Hearst was nearly deserted on Saturday night; most people were at frat parties or on dates. Even Mac, her trusty girl-power sidekick, was out living it up with Bronson.

There was no one else in the women's locker room when Veronica changed into her bathing suit, and she hoped the pool would be empty as well. She preferred to swim alone.

The Shallow End, Veronica/Lamb

May
(Again, the first fic of May was co-written with monimala, this time our VM/HP crackfic sequel, All's Ferret in Love and War. And again, she wrote the first lines! So we'll skip to the next one.)

Veronica Mars glanced up from her lunch and nearly choked on her lemonade. What in the world was he doing here?

She stood up and made her way across the room, weaving among the small cafeteria tables. Plunking herself down in the seat across from his, she asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

The Education of Veronica Mars, Veronica/Prof. David Wilder

June

none :(

July

Ryan knocked on the door and waited, his hands thrust into the pockets of his pants. He was just about ready to walk away when the door was flung open.

“Ryan? What are you doing here?” Summer asked.

“It’s your birthday. We always get together on your birthday.”

“But Seth and I broke up.”

The Alternate, Ryan/Summer

August

Dean took a sip of his beer, his eyes never leaving the somewhat weary-looking stripper gyrating on the stage. Dillon, Texas didn't exactly offer the finest in nighttime entertainment, but he'd never been too picky when it involved naked women.

There was a commotion near the door, and he turned, senses kicking to high alert. Too many years of hunting.

Texas Two-Step, Dean Winchester/Tyra Collette

September

Veronica massaged her temples with her fingertips, and tried not to scream. Second semester had only been underway for a week, but the professors hadn't wasted any time piling on the work.

It was Thursday night, and she was working the late shift at the library, while trying to get some of her own work done.

Aiding and Abedding, Veronica/Lamb

October

People say that men and women can't be just friends, that it always turns into something sexual, but Cooper isn't buying it. He and Violet have been friends for years, and they've never so much as kissed. Sure, there have been friendly pecks on the cheek and the occasional comforting kiss on the forehead, but no honest to God, lip to lip contact.

Incidental, Cooper/Violet

November

none :(

December

Dan still felt awkward walking into the Palace Hotel. The fact that he and Serena had been almost-but-not-quite dating for two months didn't seem to matter. The concierge still glared as though he expected Dan to start taking hostages at any moment, and Mrs. van der Woodsen treated him like he had the plague.

And then, of course, there was Blair. Blair, Serena had patiently explained, was part of the package. They were BFFs, even on days when they hated each other, and if Dan wanted to date Serena, he had to deal with Blair.

Play Nice, Dan/Blair

Because it's Saturday night, and I'm bored, and Torchwood doesn't start for another fourteen minutes, a lyrics meme.

1. Heaven on earth, we need it now, I'm sick of all this hanging around

2. ...I bet it's lonely at the top/She hesitates, but the beat will never stop

3. I took my love and I took it down, I climbed a mountain and I turned around ("Landslide," by Fleetwood Mac or Dixie Chicks, guessed by pathstotread and leobrat)

4. I'm gonna take you down to the railway line ("Runaway Train," by Kasey Chambers, guessed by pathstotread)

5. Time time time, see what's become of me

6. You say yes, I say no, you say stop, I say go go go

7. Girl you're looking fine tonight, and every guy has got you in his sights

8. Saturday night and the moon is out, I wanna head on over to the twist and shout

9. Another day is almost come and gone, can't imagine what else could go wrong ("Bring on the Rain," by JoDee Messina, guessed by leobrat)

10. I saw a girl, she reminded me of you/She did the things that a girl like you might do

11. We drove all night to get to Corpus Christi

12. I feel stupid, but I know it won't last for long

13. Had to get out of my mind, had to destroy my old life

14. The sun goes down as the city lights pave their way through the darkest night

15. Warden threw a party in the county jail, the prison band was there and they began to wail ("Jailhouse Rock," by Elvis Presley, guessed by leobrat)

16. All the waiters in your grand cafe leave their tables when you blink

17. I'm changing lanes and talking on the phone and driving way too fast ("Days Go By," by Keith Urban, guessed by pathstotread)

18. Try not to get worried, try not to turn on to problems that upset you

19. I remember hearts that beat, I remember you and me, tangled in hotel sheets

20. I'm not feeling alright today, I'm not feeling that great

21. If I can hold you tonight I might never let go

22. Someday when I'm awfully low, when the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you ("The Way You Look Tonight," by Frank Sinatra, guessed by pathstotread)

23. There is something exciting about leaving everything behind ("Another White Dash," by Butterfly Boucher, guessed by pathstotread)

24. He stands alone outside the blooming yards, all is calm there on the street

25. Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine ("Mr. Brightside," by The Killers, guessed by pathstotread)

Stolen from rhienelleth, tell me the book from which each first line came. I had to leave a few out, like The Hobbit, which uses the word "hobbit" in the first sentence. Annoying, that.

1. The late twentieth century has witnessed a scientific gold rush of astonishing proportions: the headlong and furious haste to commercialize genetic engineering. (Jurassic Park, guessed by spiraling_surya)

2. In the corner of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr. Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in the Times.

3. Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof. (Anne of Green Gables, guessed by spiraling_surya)

4. This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it. (The Princess Bride, guessed by monimala)

5. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.

6. "Captain Pellaeon?" a voice called down the portside crew pit through the hum of background conversation. "Message from the sentry line: the scoutships have just come out of lightspeed." (Heir to the Empire, guessed by monimala)

7. A mile above Oz, the Witch balanced on the wind's forward edge, as if she were a green fleck of the land itself, flung up and sent wheeling away by the turbulent air. (Wicked, guessed by spiraling_surya)

8. Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares. (A Little Princess, guessed by monimala)

9. The big kitchen of the Murrys' house was bright and warm, curtains drawn against the dark outside, against the rain driving past the house from the northeast. (A Swiftly Tilting Planet, guessed by monimala)

I've been interviewed by leobrat! The way this works is you leave a comment in someone's journal and they ask you five random questions, anything goes! If you want me to interview you, just say the word!

1. You've just won the lottery, 487 billion dollar jackpot, and you are set for life. What is the first thing you do that's 'fun' (i.e., after the boring stuff of paying off school, giving family money, getting yourself set up for life)? Like, what's the first 'toy' you buy?
Hmm. For just me, I'd probably go with a cherry 1957 Corvette convertible (here), but I'd also love to take all my friends and the family members I actually like on a cruise or something.

2. If your life was a movie, who would play you?
Good grief, that's hard. Okay, even though she's quite a bit younger than me and looks nothing like me, I think I'll go with Emily VanCamp. She's an exquisitely talented actress, plus we already know she can play depressed. :P

3. You're not winning the lottery, but you can have your absolute dream career for the rest of your life and make excellent money. What is it?
I would love to be able to write full time.

4. In fannish news, how does Rob Thomas eventually write Weevil and Veronica's happy ending?
Hmmm. See, right now I don't think they're in a good place to be together, even though it would be totally hot. But I guess I like the idea that, somewhere down the line, when Logan is just a distant memory and Weevil is further removed from jail time, Veronica realizes that one of the only people she relies on besides Wallace, Mac, and Keith is none other than Eli. Which, technically, is already true. But with that realization comes the knowledge that she trusts him with everything, including her heart. And yeah, that's totally schmoopy, but then they have hot sex on the back of a motorcycle or something.

5. What is your ideal date?
From a more realistic standpoint, dinner at my favorite restaurant followed by a couple rounds of mini-golf sounds just about perfect to me. But if we want to go with an all-out fantasy, being whisked off to Disney World would pretty much rule. :)

Huh. This is pretty accurate.

Stolen from monimala, since I had such fun helping fulfill one of her requests...

Give me one of my own stories, and a timestamp sometime in the future after the end of the story, or sometime in the past before the story started, and I'll write you at least a hundred words of what happened then, whether it's five minutes before the story started or ten years in the future.

All of my fics (except the co-fic posted yesterday) can be found at Manifested Delusions.

Snagged from inkstainedskin:

BOOKWORM:
1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest."

Warm blooded animals carried rabies. Were the compys warm-blooded? He wasn't sure.
-The Lost World, Michael Crichton

As requested by leobrat and screaming_mimie, a few of my top 5s...

Top 5 Candies (in no particular order)
1. Three Musketeers
2. Bulls-eyes
3. Twizzlers
4. Green Apple Jolly Ranchers
5. Chocolate-covered cherries

5 Best TV Kisses
5. Bright/Hannah in "Where the Heart Is" (Everwood): Mostly because it's Bright, and I love him, and because Hannah is so very much like me. I just couldn't help loving these two.
4. Veronica/Logan in "Weapons of Class Destruction" (Veronica Mars): Sure, they annoy the crap out of me now, but in the halcyon days of S1, I adored L/V. That first kiss on the balcony had me squeeing and flailing.
3. Angel/Cordelia in "You're Welcome" (Angel): I had pretty much stopped watching the show by that point, but I tuned in for the return of Cordy. The end of this episode had me bawling. Pretty much the best goodbye kiss ever.
2. Ross/Rachel in "The One Where Ross Finds Out" (Friends): This would have been number 1 if I hadn't grown to hate the couple by the end. But I still remember watching this episode my freshman year of college. When they finally kissed in Central Perk, you could hear the whole (all-girl) dorm cheering.
1. Pacey/Joey in "Cinderella Story" (Dawson's Creek): This kiss had been building all through season 3, and I was on the edge of my seat waiting for it to happen. I loved Pacey's frustration and desperation, the way he pulled the car over, and the fact that he couldn't help himself--he just had to kiss her. *swoon*

5 Best TV Friendships
5. Sydney, Will, and Francie, Alias: These three were the glue of normalcy that held the show together, the bastion of reality in Syd's crazy world of wigs and Rambaldi. When the show lost the anchor of their friendship, things went downhill fast.
4. Gibbs and Abby, NCIS: Yes, Tony is hot, but I mostly watch the show for this odd pair. Their affection for one another is obvious, and I love that she's not intimidated by him.
3. Jack and Jen, Dawson's Creek: The show really sucked in the later seasons, but at least Jack and Jen were there for comic relief. Their farewell in the series finale was just beautiful, and I loved that they were soulmates in the best, non-Dawson/Joey sense of the word.
2. Harold and Andy, Everwood: Sure, they started out bickering over parking spots, but...well, actually, they kept bickering. But they were there for each other when it mattered most, and it was awesome.
1. Bright and Ephram, Everwood: This show did relationships--platonic, familial, and romantic--better than pretty much any other show. Sure, they started out beating the crap out of each other, but they reached a turning point when Colin attacked Ephram. Eventually, there was pudding, and it was awesome. Whether it was Bright giving hysterically funny yet usually spot-on advice, or Ephram forcing his friend to do the right thing, they were a joy to watch.

5 Best Love Songs
Okay, this one was really hard. I love music, but a lot of my favorite songs have lyrics that aren't necessarily romantic. So I did my best.
5. "Shameless," Billy Joel: Billy Joel was my first "real" concert, when I was 16 years old. I don't listen to him as much anymore, but I love the way he lays it all on the line in this song.
4. "Can't Help Falling In Love," Elvis Presley: Since he died the day I was born, I kind of have to include him. Plus, a cover of this song was used at the end of my favorite 80s movie, Some Kind of Wonderful. And it's just a great song.
3. "All I Want Is You," U2: I had to include something by my favorite band in the world, but they don't really do traditional love songs. This one comes close, and I love how plaintive it can be.
2. "Collide," Howie Day: Yes, it's been used in every movie and TV show under the sun, but I can't help it. I absolutely adore it.
1. "Have a Little Faith in Me," John Hiatt: Just...yeah. I love this song beyond reason. If you've never heard it, find it now. It's not just a great love song, it's a great song, period.

Snagged from leobrat...

Ask me for my Top 5 list of anything, be it fandom, real life interest, whatever. I'll even do '5 Best' or '5 Worst'. I'm that bored.

Nicked from pathstotread...

Top fives! Give me a topic and I'll list my top 5 things. If it's pictures I'll provide them, same with songs. It can be anything you want.

From pathstotread, 5 songs that start with the letter 'N':

Never Leave Your Heart Alone - Butterfly Boucher
New York State of Mind - Billy Joel
No Sleep Tonight - The Faders
North And South Of The River - U2
Not Pretty Enough - Kasey Chambers

If you'd like to play, leave a comment and I'll give you a letter.

Stolen from shealynn88

Bold all of the following TV shows which you've ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime.
Bold and italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it.
If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).

I added Life Goes On, seaQuest, and Keen Eddie.

( TV meme )

Doing this made realize just what a ridiculous amount of TV I've watched in my lifetime...

Stolen from mrs_boyscout

( meme about me )

Snagged from mrs_boyscout

( All my beautiful friends )