The Thing That Goes Doink

My muse has a seriously case of Attention Deficit Oooh, Shiny!

She's currently been wrapped up in the Gundam Wing fandom and the Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom, leaving poor Haven high and dry.

But season three started shooting a few weeks ago, and Eric Balfour and Emily Rose are constantly tweeting photos and updates from the set. Suddenly my muse is all about finishing "Boxes in the Attic." This is a good thing, seeing as I'm down to the final chapter and the epilogue, and I started it early into season two.

I've always known how the story would go. I always knew it was about Nathan's journey, about making peace with his past, with his relationship with his father and his mother, and his developing feelings for Audrey. Obviously this became AU fairly early on as the fic developed its own path away from the series. And while a good deal of the problems have reached a decent amount of resolution within the first couple of chapters, I still feel that there are some things that he'll be sorting out in the last chapter, with the epilogue wrapping everything up. And yes, the goal is to get this finished by the time season 3 starts (which should be some time in June or July).

So! Onward!

Actually it's a Shock Top Belgian White - but since I usually don't drink beer, this is a big deal.

So the Seahawks are playing the Rams on Monday Night Football, and here's an interesting stat - apparently the Seahawks have the most shutouts on MNF, period. With three, but apparently shutouts on MNF are rare. Or something.

Anyway, things are pretty chill around here. I still need to get at least one more gift for my husband for Christmas, as we generally set a limit of spending $100 on each other. That said, we usually spend no more than $20 per family member, though if we spend less on one person, we can spend more on another. (For example, I spent roughly ten dollars on my baby brother, so I didn't feel terrible about spending $30 on my baby sister.) I still have no idea what to get my parents and my mother has yet to call me back. Well, whatever it is I hope to God that I don't have to order it online. Augh.

Since I got stuff for work done today (still has to be sent out, but I can do that tomorrow), I can spend the rest of the week trying to determine what to get, or just ask my mother to send me a text with ideas. I'm also getting together with desertkitsune to watch the PNB's The Nutcracker - the theatrical release they did back in 1986. I figure this is the best option as she's never seen a production of The Nutcracker, and we missed the Mid-Columbia Ballet production. After that we'll watch the Christmas episode of Haven and I might have her watch selected portions of A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride. We'll see. I kind of want to have her watch the Christmas episode of Eureka because it's hilariously awesome.

Anyway, methinks its time to watch me some moar foozball.

Go Seahawks!!

And this one, called A Very Merry Daughter of the Bride which stars Joanna Garcia (from Reba) and then a boatload of people who have been on Haven. (It's a Canadian production, what do you expect.)

Including one Lucas Bryant in an awesomely bad Canadian goose sweater and shaggy hair, as a freelance photographer.

In other words the complete antithesis of Nathan Wuornos, which is of course, the only thing I've ever seen him in. It's refreshing to see him is someone so goofy and lighthearted. He's utterly adorable.

And I will never stop giggling over that sweater.

Still accepting Christmas card requests via this entry! Go ahead and drop off a request and an address if you feel so inclined.

And now a meme.

Stolen from both earthstar_moon and dqbunny.

1. Think of up to 20 ships you support.
2. List them using descriptions of the characters involved rather than their names.
3. Have your f-list guess as many of the ships as they can.

( See tags for the fandoms. That might help a little. I don't think they're too hard, though. )

I only had one glass of wine with dinner, I SWEAR.

Anyway, I've watched about half of the commentaries for Haven. And they are *hilarious* if you haven't seen them already. Only two of the episodes have cast in on them, "Welcome to Haven" (1.01) and "Ball and Chain" (1.05). Nothing is more hilarious than listening to Eric Balfour, Lucas Bryant and Emily Rose joke about scenes and how they interact with each other in real life. It's a little disconcerting to listen to Lucas Bryant especially, since I've never seen him in anything else and I really only know him as the taciturn Nathan Wuornos. So to hear him laughing and joking with the writers and his cast mates is surprising, but nice.

By far, the best commentary is on "Ain't No Sunshine" (1.08) because Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn are collectively twelve years old and they keep making sex jokes. It was kind of informative in terms of character, because they rather candidly discuss that Nathan is a thirty-something year old man, who hasn't always been numb, and so yes, he's had sex. It's not like Jess was his first time. Hilariously, the two were at odds as to if Jess and Nathan actually did the deed, with Sam saying that yes, they did while Jim was adamant that nothing happened beyond some heavy petting.

I still have commentaries to watch on "The Trial of Audrey Parker" (1.11), "Resurfacing" (1.12) and "Spiral" (1.13). I'm excited by the commentary on "Spiral" in particular, since I'm hoping that they'll discuss some of the choices that they made, and perhaps clear up the timeline. Maybe. Or not. They really do like to tease.

Those bastards.

Aside from that, still dealing with writer's block and trying to plot out this year's NaNo effort (remember, my NaNo LJ is here while my NaNo profile is here - feel free to follow and add). I've recently updated my NaNo LJ to give a little update about what I'm planning for this year. For those of you who will be expecting fic, I'll apologize when the latest chapter of "Boxes in the Attic" is uploaded with a note stating my intended hiatus.

I think that's about it. Things are delightfully boring around here. I'm gearing up for Halloween, though anymore that doesn't involve me hauling boxes out of the closet in the basement and then lugging them upstairs. Instead I show up before dark in costume and do what my parents ask. Pretty simple, really.

Boxes in the Attic
Pairing/Characters: Nathan, Audrey, hints of Nathan/Audrey
Rating: T, for Audrey's less than chaste thoughts about her partner and Nathan being a bit of a naughty boy
Words: 3,454
Disclaimer: As far as I know Haven is owned by Jim Dunn, Sam Ernst, and SyFy/Universal. If I did own it...well...I wouldn't be writing fan fiction, would I?
Author's Note: "How do you make cleaning a kitchen interesting?" was the question I kept asking myself as I wrote this chapter. Frankly, writing a scene about scrubbing bathrooms or a kitchen seems boring, and trying to draw from my own experience really made it boring. (Aside from, you know, the fact that my husband cleans the kitchen...but I have to clean the bathroom so all's fair, I guess?) But I think it gave me an opportunity to explore what the relationship between Nathan and the Chief was like during Nathan's childhood.

That said, I really want to thank my readers. You guys and gals are amazing. Thank you for all of the nice reviews and all of the story alerts. (So many story alerts! Those are what really keep me going - all of the readers anticipating more!) Hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint.

Read it HERE.

So eleven episodes into season 2 of Haven and all I know for sure is that "Holy crap, I love this series." Check any post that has "Haven" as a tag and read the gushing praise for the show. SERIOUSLY.

Anyway, I'm working on chapter six of "Boxes in the Attic," trying to flesh out the character of the Chief through Nathan's memories, which is taking the story down some interesting paths. Primarily chapter six is really starting to show the Chief as someone who could be shaken and rattled, especially if Nathan was involved. The fun part was determining just how competent the Chief was in the kitchen. I already had it in my head that he was good a grilling, but I wondered if he was a chef at all, or if the best he could do was sticking things into the microwave. I placed him somewhere in the middle - there are a few dishes that he's good a preparing, but anything that could be defined as "complex" usually resulted in setting off the smoke alarm. It's been pretty fun to imagine what the Chief was like when Nathan was a kid, as well as give life to his yet to be characterized mother.

I also have this insane urge to do a sketch of Audrey and Nathan. I suppose it would be anime-esque when all was said in done ('cause that's how my art style rolls, apparently) and they'd probably look like they came from an animated show rather than a live action one. Other insane urges include making up a fanmix. I have a ridiculously large amount of music (especially if I raid the HTPC for my husband's music) to choose from, though there are a couple of songs that stand out in particular. The first is "Into the Dark" by Melissa Etheridge, which was used in the ending sequence from "Who, What, Where, Wendigo?" and the other is "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon. I suppose it's less of a generic Haven fanmix and more of a Nathan/Audrey fanmix. Seriously, those two need a little musical love. Musical love I'm more than happy to provide. XD

With the season finale on Friday and still no word from SyFy on if it's been picked up for season 3 (never mind that they've already announced that Eureka has been cancelled, while Warehouse 13 and Alphas have already been renewed), I'm starting to worry that it's on the chopping block. Admittedly they seemed a bit gun shy about renewing the series last year, but I had hoped that this year would have a strong enough showing to guarantee that it would easily be renewed. It seems to average around 2 million viewers, which I would consider pretty good for a Friday night. But what has me bothered is that the ratings were consistent for the first and second seasons. While the second season saw a ratings increase, it isn't by a wide enough margin to ensure automatic renewal. They must be watching and waiting for international ratings to determine if the series will get a third season. If it doesn't it's seriously going to suck because according to Eric Balfour, there's *another* serious cliff hanger at the end of "Sins of the Fathers." Because apparently the cliff hanger at the end of "Spiral" was too tame. ::eyeroll:: Actually, that's pure conjecture. Honestly, it's the best way to keep an audience hooked so they'll tune in for the season premier is to leave them wanting resolution to some big, unanswered question raised in the season finale.

In the meantime, I'll amuse myself by writing and coming up with a fanmix for Nathan and Audrey that may or may not make it to the communities. ^^;;

Boxes in the Attic
Pairing/Characters: Nathan, Audrey, hints of Nathan/Audrey
Rating: T, for mild language
Words: 3,288
Disclaimer: As far as I know Haven is owned by Jim Dunn, Sam Ernst, and SyFy/Universal. If I did own it...well...I wouldn't be writing fan fiction, would I?
Author's Note: Okay, not to freak any of my readers, but, uh, I'm feeling the steam running out. Now, I'm still have unexplored ideas that I want to work with, and I'm certain I can get a few more chapters from that. But to get through all of the rooms in the house? I may gloss over cleaning the bathrooms. It may prove more entertaining to let you all imagine what the Chief's bathroom looks like. I imagine it looks like my ex-boyfriends - you'd need a biohazard suit to go near it. Anyway, I'm going give this the old college try and see this out to the end, mostly because I feel that there is something about the relationship between Nathan and Audrey can be strengthened by exploring their pasts, together. Annnnnnnnd, I'm rambling. On with the story!

Read it HERE.

Boxes in the Attic
Pairing/Characters: Nathan, Audrey, hints of Nathan/Audrey
Rating: T, as in this chapter Audrey and Nathan suddenly become a couple of teenagers
Words: 3,353
Disclaimer: As far as I know Haven is owned by Jim Dunn, Sam Ernst, and SyFy/Universal. If I did own it...well...I wouldn't be writing fan fiction, would I?
Author's Note: Okay, it's not Monday, but I count Tuesday morning as "Monday-ish." I was wiped after this weekend and it took me a bit longer to recover than I had originally anticipated. But the chapter is complete, and let me just say that I really like the sudden turn it took. I hadn't really planned on it going the route it eventually did, but I liked it enough and I felt that it really helped move things along. Also, this takes place after "Love Machine" but before "Sparks and Recreation" and let's just pretend Chris never asked Audrey out. (To quote Adam Savage, "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" I also quote Joss Whedon: "There's a time and a place for everything; I believe it's called fan fiction.")

Warning: Major Audrey/Nathan fluffiness with Warm and Fuzzy Feelings.

Read it here.

So my brother graduated from college today. Only took him seven years, but he did it. His university only gave each graduate four tickets to the event, which meant that I couldn't go down to see him. However, his university was smart enough to broadcast the ceremony live via the internet, so I sat on my couch and sewed the tassel trim on to the caps of my Steampunk costume and watched it on my laptop. I wanted to watch it on the HTPC, but that would have required kicking my husband off of his computer, something he clearly did not want to do. So even though I wasn't sitting in the arena to watch him get his diploma, I got to watch it live online and in real time celebrate with him. I'm sure he's out partying with the family tonight, which hopefully means that my parents are getting along for a change.

Anyway, I think the coolest part of the night was watching an 87 year old World War II vet get his PhD in history. Yes, you read that right. He was a freshman in college when the war broke, and he put his education on hold to join up. After the war he finished his bachelors, got married, and had kids. After his retirement, he decided to further his education, enrolling in a Masters course, ultimately leading him to start for a PhD at age 80. 80 and he started the process of getting a PhD. Seven years later, he got it.

It was awesome. I will admit I got a little misty eyed as the president of Florida International detailed his story. Further more, his wife and three daughters were there to watch this. It was a pretty cool thing to witness.

Anyway, aside from sitting and sewing tassel trim, I've also been researching engagement rings for my latest Haven fic. I had teamspyder look at them with me in order to get a man's perspective, but also because I really needed a second opinion. You'll read all about the ring in the second chapter of "Boxes in the Attic," but if you're super curious, you can see the inspiration here. Stupid pretty, am I right? I had about four rings the choose from, the main criteria being that it had to look like an heirloom piece. But ultimately this one won out, and will be described, sort of, in the story.

And now back to the writing because I'm feeling inspired.