bayb43

A/N: Pardon the exposition dump:)
( Part 4 )

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Comments and Constructive Criticism always welcome:)

( To Catch a Thief (Part 3) )
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Comments and helpful criticisms always welcome:)

( Part 2 )
Comments and helpful critique always welcome:)

Title: To Catch a Thief (Part 1)
Author: Bayb43
Rating: PG currently, but will likely hit R later on
Warnings/Spoilers: Totally AU, so no spoilers really, but lets just say season one just in case
Summary: Merlin steals things for a living and he's really very good at it. Except when complications arise in the form of hot, blond men, secret formulas, and sordid plans for the total annihilation of Earth. Or something. He knew he should have thought twice about stealing from a Pendragon.

A/N: I have no beta at the moment, so if anyone's interested I'd be forever grateful!  The story isn't completely written yet, but it is planned out and so I should be updating every couple of days, time permitting.  Right then, on with it!

( To Catch a Thief (Part 1) )

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Right.  So comments/criticism/happy thoughts? :)

Ok, so I'm leaving for Ireland/Europe tomorrow! It's all very exciting I actually thought I was leaving on Friday, so this was somewhat of a ridiculous and hectic day. Yay, though, because I'm definitely going to Sectus in London while I'm there! Woohoo!

Point of this post being, if you have any interest at all, I've created a new journal for my travels. It will have pictures, etc etc. If you'd like to keep in touch, it's:

http://masterplots.livejournal.com/
I'll still be on this one for all HP related endeavors, of course, but if you want to know the goings on of my adventures, feel free to friend.
Hugs and Kisses!
L

I've been completely asocial today. I didn't really feel like going out at all. I still have a take-home final to finish and I want to finish it tonight. Tomorrow I need to study for the in-class I have Monday. Yay for tests.

On a positive note, while I haven't been doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I have written the first 3500 words of my new fic. I'm actually liking it a fair bit more then the last one. It will probably need some serious beta work, but on the whole I think it will actually end up pretty good. I guess we'll see when it's finished. I don't know how long it will end up being yet. I've yet to write a novel or novella...not sure if this will turn in to one or not. I don't even really know how long it has to be to qualify. I have parts of it planned, but I've been changing my outline quite a bit, so we'll see how it turns out. Let's hope good:)

So after finals there's lots of stuff to be done. This might sound strange, but I kind of just want to hang out for a few days at least and not see my friends. I'm not a particularly sociable person anyway, but I'm going to be spending the next 2 months (from May 25-Aug 2) with two of my good friends. While this should be a lot of fun, I'm hoping I'll get some time to myself at some point. I figure I'll need to take some time now before I go to get ready for it, get in my fair share of alone time. At least the first 6 weeks I'll have my own dorm room. The last month we're going to be living on top of each other. I'll definitely have my computer with me, though, and I'm going to start a separate livejournal for the trip as a log.

Hope everyone's doing good!
L

Ok, so here goes...

I just went back to reread what I'd written so far of StH and have realized, inevitably, that it's really quite crappy and I don't much like it. So I think it's going to have to go on permanent hiatus. If I do decide to post it again and continue, it will go under massive edits before I do. That being said, I am working on a new story that I think will be a lot better writing-wise and plot-wise as well. It will be multi-chapter fic. Most importantly, however, I won't begin to post it until it's finished so that I can avoid this kind of situation happening again. Apologies to anyone reading StH. I hope, if I do rewrite it, it will be much improved and worth the wait. My writing has improved significantly since then, and I'd like to spend more time improving it, and more time on each chapter as well.

On another, kind of amusing note, I found a bunch of recordings I made when I was 15...thank god I don't sound like that anymore. It's horribly amusing to hear now. It's not terrible, other then being breathy and my voice sounding, I don't know, completely different now! My recital was moved to May 11 because I got sick (as often happens around final times). I'm almost completely memorized now (yay!) so it should go smoothly. I'm off now to work on that story.
L

We have had guests, friends and the like, in and out of our house for the last few weeks. Whenever we have people over, I always eat too much. Particularly when it's A, because he likes to cook and loves Japanese food. It seems like we're always eating. I've been good about going to the gym but I haven't gone the last three days because my schedule gets a bit thrown off when we have people here (people who don't have cars).

I am thrilled because one of my best friends has decided to fly in March 25, rather spontaneously. I really can't wait to see her. Haven't really seen her since California. It doesn't seem like that long, but it's actually been over a year. Crazy how time flies.

My TA drove me back to my car today. He's pretty cute, actually. He's going to Boston for a few months starting next month, though. It seems everyone I make friends with goes there at one point or another:) I rather miss it. I think I'll end up back there someday for a while. I have his email, though, and who knows...maybe we'll actually get friendly anyways.

The summer, or at least 6 weeks of it, is officially being spent in Dublin. Anyone live there, or have any suggestions about weekend trips or fun places to go?

I'm meeting a new friend on Saturday down on Atlantic. That should be fun. I don't usually actively look for new people while I'm in class because I really do like to concentrate, but it's nice when you actually do hit it off with someone. I guess we'll see how it goes.

I've set a date for my voice recital, finally. It'll be April 15. I'm singing about 17 songs and rather looking forward to finally getting it done with. The only problem with recitals is that I always find about 30 more songs I want to sing but I have to concentrate on the ones I'll be performing. Then by the time the performance is done with, I've already got a whole other recital's worth of music to learn. I'm thinking I'd like to do some Irish songs next time. I really love that song "She Moved Through the Fair". There's a fair bunch of them I'd like to sing...I think it'd be a nice detour from my usual classical route.
Well, then, I'm off:)
L

So, I've been lurking like crazy the last couple months, I know. RL can be a bite on the ass sometimes. However, I am getting out more, which is probably a good thing since up until this point my social life has been virtually consisted of my voice teacher and my Japanese teacher. On the other hand, having friends leaves very little time for computer time. However, I am working on it. We all make time where we can, I suppose. Also, I'm hoping my muse will feel the desire to whip me into shape, which just hasn't been the case lately. *sigh*

On a more positive note, I was browsing Borders on Valentine's day and I found this poem in an anthology. I reread it about five times because I couldn't believe how utterly H/D it was.

"Serpentina"

In my dreams of love, I am a serpent
I slide and twist like a current;
My eyes are two pills of insomnia and hypnotism;
The centre of my charms is my tongue…
And I lure like the sound of weeping
I am an infernal fruit.

My body is a ribbon of delight,
It slides and twists like a caress

And in my dreams of hate I am a serpent
My tongue is a poisonous fountain;
My head is a brilliant crown
Shedding rays of death, in fatal symmetry with my eyes;
My jewelled body is a sheath of lightning.

If this is the flesh I dream of, then so is my mind
A long, long serpent’s body
Pulsating eternally, sensually.

Delmira Augustini
Translated by Candida Taylor

So what do you guys think? Was this woman channeling Slytherin or what?

I was totally excited when I heard that Blood and Chocolate was being made into a movie and even more so because that really hot French guy was playing Gabriel. Then I read a review beforehand in which I find that every part of the book that made it original, interesting, and one the best books I read as a young teen have been changed. This includes the ending. So instead of the girl embracing who she is, she turns away, declares it evil, and apparently runs away to Paris with the WRONG GUY.

Why do movie makers insist on taking great books and turning them into crappy movies? Don't they know that it doesn't make them sell better? Very rarely, if ever, do changes made in the book-to-movie process improve the movie. In fact, I believe the reason LoTR was so successful is because Jackson stayed so faithful to the story. There were little differences, sure, but the spirit of the books stayed. So now I'm upset because I don't know whether or not I should even waste my time with seeing it. I might wait til it comes out on video and then rent it. What do you guys think?

Yay!

So I've not been very active in anything online lately except for some lurking. I was away for most of my vacation and school and lessons have been taking up quite a bit of time. I'm preparing for my voice recital in about a month. It will be 17 songs, mostly classical and foreign language (which can be a real bitch to memorize).

On the other hand, today was my brother's birthday. I got him a real quill with ink and a stand in honor of HP, which he thankfully loves as well. Also, I finished my HPVampentines entry and I'm pretty happy with it. So I have, thankfully, written something in the last couple months and therefore am not completely useless. Hope everyone has a good weekend and hopefully I'll be back and kicking in the community soon enough!
L

So today is my birthday, which is lovely.

I woke up with the intention of going to a swimming aerobics class that I couldn't convince myself to get out of bed for. I had Japanese at 11 and my tutor brought me a birthday card, which made me really happy. And then when I got home one of my best friends sent me a huge thing of decorated cookies (one of those cookie-bouquet things) that had me smiling for the rest of the day. I had to take a test in my least favorite class (it was open book) but thankfully it was the only one I had to do. I got my nails done as well. All in all it's been a really nice day. Mom's getting me a cat and D is getting me a snake so by the end of this I'll have my own little menagerie:) Plus, I'm planning out a funny H/D one-shot to do along with the one for Vampentines. And of course there's StH, which I am still working on. Thankfully, winter vacation starts after next week and I'll have lots of time to work on them.
Happy day, everyone!
L

Title: Stairway to Heaven (8/?)
Author: Bayb43
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Word Count: 1943
Summary: An accidental trip down a stairway leads to unexpected and sexy results.

Previous Chapters Found Here: http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=bayb43&keyword=Stairway+to+Heaven&filter=all

( Chapter 8 )

Jewish holidays are never anything but stressful around my house. Particularly because I'm not entirely interested in them. I'm very interested in them from a cultural and anthropological perspective, but not personally. And yet, every year, I get sucked into the temple going, the eating too much, and the requisite small talk with family friends I don't particularly like. Joy.

Yesterday, though, was pretty much the icing on the crap cake. A very good friend of my family's (one I actually adore) had gotten into an accident a few months ago. She fell from the fifth floor of her apartment building. It's a miracle she survived and after almost seven months she can still barely walk by herself. My mother, sister, and I flew to D.C. yesterday morning just to see her for a couple hours and then flew back last night. She'd lost so much weight and her there are problems with her liver (as well as with practically every other part). She still had her bags...it was just so awful. I want to kill her bastard of a husband who is undoubtably responsible. It was an extremely trying day and I can only imagine how horrible it must be for her. She's one of my favorite people in the whole world. The only person I've ever been willing to really talk to when I was home that I felt like a could genuinely trust. She's another older sister to me. She'd better be ok, or I swear that man...

Anyway, other than that, I've had midterms, which I did very well on and thank god they're over. Now I'll be able to finish the next couple chapters of StH, which I've been so awful with timewise. I will finish it, though. It's just taking me an embarrassingly long time. Oh, well.

My sister's home for a bit this week. Her birthay is Wednesday. I'll have to bake her a bunch of Gluten-free stuff. She has ciliac-spru, was just diagnosed this past January, actually. So we've had to take that into account some in the house as well. At least, when she's home we do. I don't mind...I like baking. I'd really love to take a cooking class because I've got no idea how to make anything but pasta, George Foreman meats, and desserts. I can follow directions from a cookbook but I don't always know what they want me to do. I feel like I'd be really good at it if I just knew what I was doing. We shall see if I can find someplace to learn. I'd best get moving or I'll never get to sleep tonight.
L

So, I've been thinking.

I've decided that college, such that it is, is not really teaching me much of anything, so I've decided to take my education into my own hands instead of depending upon my classes to teach me the things I need to know. I think it's most important to be able to read these books and understand them on my own. I don't really think that college teaches you how to think for yourself so much as it tries to make you think in a certain way.

So, in response, I've decided I'm going to follow the cues in the book The Well-Educated Mind and take to reading the classics and developing those skills myself. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in reading these books at the same time? I don't know if a group would be popular or not, but I figured I'd throw it out there and see if anyone is interested.
L