I know I should post this yesterday, but I spent about....9 hours with some classmates, in their room, watch Who and some other TV shows, I thought I 'made' at least two Who fans, one of the girls is really looking forward for a trip with the Doctor...... And she said the doctor (10th) is handsome, clever, and interesting, she also said that David Tennant is the second actor she loves, after Johnny Depp. That's really great to me, for you can't find so many people who is interested in Who here, most of them even never heard of it.....

Anyway, they're using my computer yesterday, so I can only post this today:
The thing is, there is a bank in my country, and they have this service that you can 'design' a credit card of your own, of course you can use photos only, for some copyright thing. But at least you can 'try' some other pictures, just don't apply for it and that will be fine, so I made some 'Doctor who credit card', just as Xmas gift for you, Happy Xmas everyone, a bit late though.


http://xy1123.livejournal.com/514.html    sorry I don't know how to make the link like 'more here' or something and I thought the whole entry will be too large to post here, so I just put the link, I know I'm silly, sorry......

Happy holidays everyone! "Sherlock Holmes" the movie is opening Christmas Day, and I just managed to finish this painting in time.

Completely original painting of Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes, looking very steamy (in more than one way), with a curved pipe (even though they won't be using a curved pipe in the movie).

Preview: 



For full painting and details, please visit my entry here.

The painting is available as a limited edition 11x14" print, faithfully and masterfully reproduced by fine arts printers on Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper. The print will be priced for a limited time at $20, not including shipping. It will look absolutely lovely matted in black and framed, making it a steamy addition to your home.  If you are interested, please message or comment!

This is a note intended to my wonderful, delicious, delightful, marvelous Yuletide Writer, who wrote me a magical character study about Hyacinthe that makes me very, very, very happy. *hugs it!*

Alas, the archive won't let me post my glee in a comment, nor will it let me access the Madness sub-collection, for that matter. Grrrr.

So. THANK YOU, dear Yuletide writer. And as soon as I'm allowed to throw my glee at you in a comment, I will.

I'm most likely going to be AFK until the 26th, though.

To you, and to everyone else...



And to you, dear flist, more on today's going ons when I'm not about to keel over.

These past few moths have been hard on everyone it seems, so I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a blessed and happy Christmas. No matter what holidays you may or may not celebrate now, no matter what the coming year may bring you, I pray you all are granted joy and peace.

Whether I talk to you all the time, or haven't left a comment on your journal in years, I count you as a part of my life. I read every entry that you post, and I hold you in my throughts and prayers.

My Love to you and God Bless you all.

OK, so everyone in Yuletide probably knows the archive isn't loading properly right now, but here are my first thank-you notes anyway in the case someone is looking here to see what I think because posting comments is well nigh impossible!

So, thankyouthankyouthankyou Yuletide authors!! So far I've gotten a notice for two fics, but I know from the number on my dashboard last night I'm being spoiled by even more, so once I can get on the archive to look I'll post about them all. Only one of the two has loaded so far - a Tanz fic, a pre-canon Alfred character study, which is completely adorable and lovely and Alfred. Thank you so much!!! Judging from the post time I'm thinking this was the pinch hit assigned after my original author defaulted, and the other fics are treats - in any case heaps of appreciation to both the pinch-hitter and

And the other fic is also an Alfred fic, which makes me very happy though I can't get to read it yet. I'm very curious to see what else I'm getting spoiled rotten by and I will read and comment as soon as possible! Heaps of appreciation both to the pinch-hitter and to other writers who'd write up fics for my beloved requests on such a short notice!

Now back to trying to get the archive to work and rereading the one story that did open...

ETA: Found out Yuletide Madness archive isn't yet open due to server load, so that's probably why I don't yet know what the rest of my gifts are. Anyway, thanks for them, too! I guess I have the whole Christmas Day to hit refresh occasionally and try to get to my fic... Eventually the Americans will go to sleep and the load will be less, there are advantages to being European...

ETA2: The other one opened, too! It pays being patient... A lovely Alfred/Herbert fic, thank you so much! Alfred is so delicious when he's confused and being corrupted. *grins* I'll post link to all my stories once the Yuletide Madness archive is also open, so that they can be found in one post.

Story title: Feels Like Snow
Fandom: Maurice, the novel
Pairing: Alec/Maurice
Rating: Slightly racy, with some gore left over from the war at the start
Word count: c. 2500
Summary: Book is canon, as ever, although there is a certain nod to the film, can you spot it? (Thanks to sweet_fallacy for the idea)
Feedback: Concrit and any other comments welcome :)
Notes: The irony!! I wrote this when snow was nothing but a seasonal dream, and yet it looks like we could have a Christmas just like Maurice and Alec's. I bet by Friday it's all gone and it'll be raining or something!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

Feels Like Snow

For so the children come
And so they have been coming.
Always in the same way they come
Born of the seed of man and woman.
No angels herald their beginnings.
No prophets predict their future courses.
No wise men see a star to show
Where to find the babe that
Will save humankind.
Yet each night a child is born is a holy night,
Fathers and mothers-
Sitting beside their children's cribs
Feel glory in the sight of a new life beginning
They ask, "Where and how will
This new life end?
Or, will it ever end?"
Each night a child is born is a holy night-
A time for singing,
A time for wondering,
A time for worshiping.

- Sophia Lyon Fahs

***

The church service tonight had me vaguely weepy all over the place for some reason. It was at the church I grew up in (I'm home in California for Christmas for the first time in three years - have I mentioned that?), which is always an emotional experience, anyway. The faces are different, or their older, or I don't recognize them, and the minister isn't the same one we had when I was a kid, and the congregation even meets in a different building now. But it's still my home church, and it tugs at my heart and always will.

But the weepiness came from something more than that. It wasn't the bad kind of weepiness, just the kind that means that certain chords in your soul have been hit, chords that maybe need to be hit. I've been pretty emotionally fragile lately, and again, I can't entirely claim that's been in a bad way, though I can't say it has been easy, either. But that has made hitting those chords easier, too.

Our minister said at the beginning of the service, "All the stories worth telling are pilgrimage stories." And that kicked me right in the gut. I don't talk about religion and Unitarian Universalism much here, not in specifics, but with that, and with the rest of the service, something hit me: I belong to a religion for which the journey itself is sacred and the symbol is, quite literally, a flame in the darkness. And at this point in my life, that's a very good thing to remember.

Merry Christmas, darlings.