That Dan Rydell is such a bright young boy [entries|friends|calendar] phoebesmum [ website | thrown roses ] [ userinfo | insanejournal userinfo ] [ calendar | insanejournal calendar ]

Lost in a good book [16 Oct 2009|10:08pm] [ mood | blah ] Every day, for a week, you will post about one of these things in your entry: Day one: a song Day two: a picture Day three: a book/ebook/fanfic Day four: a site Day five: a YouTube clip Day six: a quote Day seven: whatever tickles your fancy For the book I am, once again, going to sing the praises of The Rainbow Opera by Elizabeth Knox. ( And I may as well do so by saying exactly what I said before. ) As a bonus, a fan fiction recommendation (I have never read an e-book in my life, and doubt I am any poorer for the lack thereof): Title: Weekend Author: raietta Characters: Dan; offstage Casey, Lisa; Charlie McCall Rating: G Category: Gen, but I like to think pre-slash and so, she once told me, does the author; angst. Note: Sports Night has produced a handful of classic fanfics, and this is one of the best of them: a simple concept (but unique; there's been nothing else quite like it written in the fandom), beautifully conceived and executed. And gen, no less. It takes place post-Draft Day; Dan is alienated from Casey and in a place where he can't see that situation ever changing. Stepping into the gap in Dan's life comes Casey's son, Charlie, momentarily forgotten by both parents, and as much in need of companionship and reassurance as Dan. Dan's affection for Charlie is canon, as is his essential kindness, his thoughtfulness and his care of others, and this story captures all of those things to perfection. Weekend by Raietta post comment

Sports Night ficlet: Restless Nights [05 Oct 2009|08:40pm] Title: Restless Nights Fandom: Sports Night Characters: Dan Rydell, Casey McCall Prompt: slashthedrabble prompt #225: Fight. Thanks to lovelythings for vocabulary help! Word Count: Ficlet, 500 words ( It's four in the morning, and Casey is snoring gently. ) post comment

Slashthedrabble prompt #224: Flight - Flight Risk (Sports Night) [30 Sep 2009|08:38pm] [ mood | busy ] Title: Flight Risk Fandom: Sports Night Characters: Dan Rydell, Casey McCall Prompt: slashthedrabble prompt #224: Flight Word Count: Triple drabble, 300 words "I so nearly ran when I first met you," Dan says. He's never admitted it before, always had this superstitious fear that if he says it out loud then something bad will happen. All those years, all those miles; it's only now, with Sports Night and fame relegated to their past, that he feels – almost – safe. Casey glances up from his book, raises a lazy eyebrow. He doesn't seem surprised. "I was that scary?" "You were that hot," Dan says honestly. "And, yes, that was scary. I'd never wanted anything as much as I wanted you. And then I met Lisa – " "Enough to scare anybody." "It wasn't that. I didn't want to be – you know – that guy." The one who cheats; the one who lies. The one who breaks up his best friend's marriage, rotten marriage though it was. So he'd made himself back off, forced himself to keep his mouth shut, keep his distance; made himself into the friend Casey needed, not the lover Dan had longed to become. The effort had damned near killed him. But it had been worth it. In the end, it had all been worth the cost. "I'm okay with the guy you are," Casey murmurs, and puts the book down. "What would you have done?" Dan shrugs. "I don’t know. I never planned that far ahead." "M'm," says Casey. "Well. You'd've been okay." "I guess." "Plenty of opportunities for a bright young boy. You could’ve sold insurance – " "Thanks a lot!" "Flipped burgers, bussed tables, parked cars ..." Dan grabs a pillow, throws it at Casey's head. "But I'm glad you stayed," Casey tells him, ducking. Dan glowers. "Yeah?" "Yeah." Casey looks back up at him, and smiles. "I'm glad you stuck around." "Yeah," Dan says again, and lets himself relax. "Me too." *** post comment

Slashthedrabble prompt #224: Flight - Fly Away Home (Sports Night) [29 Sep 2009|10:40pm] [ mood | confused ] Title: Fly Away Home Fandom: Sports Night Characters: Dan Rydell; pre-series, A/U. Prompt: slashthedrabble prompt #224: Flight Word Count: Double drabble, 200 words It's cold in the departure lounge, numbing his face and fingers; the seating's hard. The bag between his feet, hurriedly packed, lumpy, awkward, digs into his ankles. It's a metaphor for his life, he thinks, and wrinkles his nose. He wants a cigarette. He wants a cup of coffee. He wants to stop thinking in clichés; he wants to stop thinking at all. Winners never quit, and quitters never win. It's true: he's quit his job, his apartment, this town; gained nothing, lost everything – his reputation, his career, his friends, their respect. The man he could have loved. Oh, Casey … No explanation, no apology; he just got out as fast as he could. It's over, finished, done. He has no idea where he'll go next, what he'll do. He'll spend a couple of days at home, break the news to his parents. His dad will yell and his mother will cry, but he's used to that. Afterwards? God knows. He doesn't. The only thing he knows for sure is that when the hand that reaches for your own wears a wedding band, all you can do is turn away. And if you find yourself hesitating, then you run. You fly. *** post comment

(but also) [26 Aug 2009|10:09pm] It doesn't happen all that often any more, but there is sometimes still really good 'Sports Night' fic. And that helps. post comment

Before the day even starts ... [14 Aug 2009|08:01am] Penguins. In rubber. (Only one penguin so far, but perhaps he'll start a trend.) post comment

Other search engines are available [13 Aug 2009|09:18pm] [ mood | blank ] So, sorry about that, FL: two whingey posts in less than a week, but things have been poo on a fairly regular basis (although I suppose that's the best sort of poo, at least you can save on Actimel) round here and yesterday they were SUPER poo - home, work, even the people in the computer rose up and conspired against me - and I spent quite a long time at work blubbing in the loo. And you would have to have been in not-very-close proximity to the office loos to know just how bad it must've been to come to that. Doing a bit better today, thanks to everyone who made kindly noises, and also thanks to a very nice, relaxing yoga session such as I could have done with last week too, although I am still sorely inclined to run away and live on my tiny imaginary Facebook farm. So today, by way of variety, I have questions. (Oh, yes, I still want something.) One is for my fannish friends - book-y fans, for once, not telly-type fans. I don't know why this came into my mind, but does anyone know a science fiction (fantasy, horror, the boundaries were blurrier in those long-ago days) story about a jazz musician who somehow got hold of Gabriel's horn and started inadvertently raising the dead? I think that was pretty much all there was to the story, but I can't remember the title or who it was by: I read it when I was still living in my parents' house, and that was many, many, many years ago now. And the other one is for persons who make cake. You know I've been making the same banananana cake recipe, albeit with different bananananas, for years and years and years: well, lately I've been thinking it's really too sweet, even though I've been cutting down on the sugar in the recipe. Someone sent me what sounds like a really good alternative recipe, only it's all in cups. Is there a low-fat/light banananana cake recipe out there that's written in Imperial measurements - or metric, at a pinch I will deal in metric? We have a set of cups, but I've never had the energy to try to work the things out. ( For the record, the recipe I use goes as follows: ) Judy is watching something on the telly that shows every sign of being a live-action Tough Guide to FantasyLand. I am sure there are BOOTS and CLOAKS, and pretty soon there will probably be STEW also. post comment

But feel free to disagree [10 Aug 2009|07:58am] [ mood | blah ] Change the gender here and throw in a few cats and you pretty much have me. post comment

It's not as though I didn't pretty much sleep 9-5 every day as it is [09 Aug 2009|08:24pm] [ mood | sleepy ] It isn't a waste of a weekend to spend most of it sleeping, is it? Not if you're tired? Did very little today other than a trip to the local garden centre (seriously: that's what qualifies as 'fun' around here) to look for a birthday pressie for Sabine, Bicestershire being something other than the retail capital of the universe - other than charity shops, of which we have, at last count, eight. Do not know how successful we were as I don't really know S that well, but I am proud of myself for not having bought myself a pink suede cowboy* hat. You don't know how close it came. I might have succumbed if I hadn't just bought another and rather nearer-and-dearer birthday pressie online this morning. And if I wasn't going to be short around £150 this month on account of those sick days I had. Bastards. I'm scritching around the yuletide website in the vague hope of finding something I might be able to write on there. I am sure that some of my current level of discontent is not having any writing challenges to pursue, and I thought that might help. I was reasonably happy with the Howl-Chrestomanci fic I wrote last year, after all. Unless anyone else has any better ideas, and/or requests. Y/N? (I don't know why I ask, I don't really think that me and my writing endeavours - or even my writing endeavours and I - are of any particular interest to the rest of the world. But you never know, someone might be able to ***inspire*** me.) ('Inspire' would have had sparkly skyrockets around it there, if only I knew the HTML to make that happen.) Bizarrest Facebook contact ever today, from one of the little girls who used to live next door to us in High Wycombe 40-odd years ago. Presumably not a little girl any more ... Upside: no throwing up this weekend. Win, I say. * Not sure if it was technically a cowboy hat as it was made in Australia, but I suppose they have cows there too. post comment

Today - [09 Aug 2009|12:22am] [ mood | apathetic ] - Brownies were more-or-less successfully made, even though I forgot the baking powder - Mother was visited* - Penn Bookshop, disappointingly, was not - Indian food was had by way of compensation - And the last few episodes of Leverage S1 - A rather hurtful and thoughtless comment on my LJ FL was, with some difficulty, filed under 'probably not deliberate'. See how grown-up I can be. * My sister and her husband were there, so it wasn't as awful as usual. I didn't have to clean the bathroom, just for a kick-off. post comment

Slow wyrms [08 Aug 2009|08:36am] Sorry. These two are taking forever to fledge and mature, and I don't want to lose them, especially the multihue. A few extra views should do it. post comment

Sports Night drabble for slashthedreabble prompt #217: Black - Black Dress Shirt [07 Aug 2009|08:42pm] Title: Black Dress Shirt Fandom: Sports Night Characters: Casey McCall/Dan Rydell Prompt: #217: Black Word Count: 100 Since her promotion to head of Wardrobe, Maureen’s shown a decided fondness for dressing Dan in black shirts. Casey considers this insensitive, but Monica seems oblivious to historical connotations. To be fair, so does Dan. It’s also only fair to say that Danny looks really good in black, albeit somewhat gangster-like. Remote, though: aloof, sophisticated. Casey's always glad when the show's over, the shirt comes off, and Dan reverts to himself: everyday, affable, likeable Danny. If they happen to be changing clothes in private, so Casey can take Dan's shirt off for him – well, then, that makes him happier still. *** post comment

So far beyond 'not funny' that 'not funny' isn't even a distant memory [06 Aug 2009|07:12pm] [ mood | pissed off ] It's been a shitty, miserable, black-doggish few days (months, weeks, lifetime), so I was really looking forward to yoga tonight, just in the hope of being able to relax for an hour or two. But: we got held up by maybe three minutes (traffic, rain, plus Judy's car didn't want to let me in for some reason) getting there, and by the time we did get there the instructor had already checked the door for the last time (she can't hear the doorbell from the classroom). But by that time, Judy had already gone. And when I got my phone out to (a) call the instructor and, if she didn't answer, (b) call Judy to come back and fetch me, it was completely dead. So all I could do was walk home. In the pouring rain. In sandals, and no coat, just a small shrug. Yes, I fucking did cry all the way, and I don't care who knows it. This town sucks. Oh, and you know what else isn't even remotely funny? If I hadn't wanted to go to yoga instead, I could've gone out for a drink with the people from work tonight. I thought yoga would be better for me than alcohol and the same people I see all week. So much for that. post comment

"Just wait 'til Fat Freddie puts on his stereo headphones!" [04 Aug 2009|07:37am] [ mood | sleepy ] Yesterday evening I put de-wormey stuff on the cats' necks - Jenny and Molly, that is, the ShadowCat did a Houdini and got away. This morning there was a neat pile of sick on my bedroom carpet, just where I'd have to walk to close the window*. COINCIDENCE? I think not. (Also? WTF, subconscious. Dreams = weird by definition, but why was River Tam (a) my step-niece and (b) living in my parents' airing cupboard? And BJ, you were there too. Although not in the airing cupboard.) * I saw it in time. Ha! These NuKitties are no match for my age and experience. post comment

Am sick, send ... actually, there's nothing I want except to be not-sick. Send that. [02 Aug 2009|07:07pm] [ mood | annoyed ] Today started off fine: got up, faffed on pooter, went shopping (Buckingham Tesco and garden centre, Homebase - our lives are just that exciting), came home, had lunch, went for a lie-down. Woke up. Threw up. EWWWWWW! There are two main suspects in the case: (1) swine flu redux, and (2) lunch, which was a Quorn sausage roll. I'm inclined toward (2) as I've been sick before after eating Quorn - but that was years ago, and I'd hoped I'd imagined it, or got over it, or they'd improved the recipe, or something. Guess not. Now I am drinking ginger beer to try to make my innards happy. (Ginger beer for nausea always reminds me of Danny in that lovely story laylee wrote some years back. I have to have some light in my life.) But even this may not be a good move, as for some reason we only have diet, and if there's one thing in the world I can depend on to give me a migraine it's Aspartame. But this says it's (squints) 'sucratose', so maybe it's safe. It would be nice not to be so bloody fragile, or, if I must fall apart at the least little thing, if I could at least be pale and waiflike by way of compensation. Will anyone blame me, or think I'm wussy, if I go back to bed now? Perhaps with a bucket, in case of need - I'm sorry, was that TMI? post comment

Tea and sympathy [02 Aug 2009|11:20am] [ mood | contemplative ] Secret message for wannabedolphin: to avoid confusion next time you visit, please note that the Redbush tea is now in the larger jar with the funny angles, regular tea is still in the red tin, the blue jar now contains lemon and ginger teabags. However, the pellet with the poison may or may not be in the vessel with the pestle. Granted that I am horribly easily emotionally manipulated - now, there's a sentence that needed an editor, if ever there was - but the Ginger Darlings, or rather their mum, made me cry buckets this morning. And not just because she can't spell 'eaves' or 'drawer'. If that hadn't done it, ( the Carol Ann Duffy poem she links to: ) - certainly would have. One really should direct one's energies toward the living rather than dwell on the tragedies of the past which, after all, laid the groundwork for the way we are today. (On reflection, perhaps that is only cause for yet more sorrow.) post comment

I am a woman of few and simple needs [31 Jul 2009|11:15am] [ mood | hopeful ] So: the The "You Should Write..." Meme! I'm not starting a thread as (a) I would probably not get any replies and that would make me woeful, and (b) even if I did, I still owe stuff from memes from yonks ago. But if you've posted there ... I think it goes without saying what I'd like you to write. Please? I haven't had anything new to read for aaages*. I would try to look pretty here, but I would fail. * Yes, I know Remix was only a week ago, but - that was a week ago! post comment

- insert subject line here - [29 Jul 2009|11:59pm] [ mood | blah ] I was going to go to bed early but I can't, as the imaginary strawberries on my imaginary farm are going to ripen soon and if I leave them they will imaginarily rot away. La. What can I talk about to fill the time? I might mention what a bad start today got off to, with Specsavers phoning me - don't go to bloody Specsavers, they screwed something up when I got my new glasses last month and have been harassing me ever since - literally as I was heading out of the door to go to work (I put the phone down on them); and then I fked up logging in at work and the computer locked me out, which IT Boy said kindly "Happens all the time" but not to me it doesn't. Which meant that I was waiting all day for the other shoe to drop and the third bad thing to happen. I could quote a couple of things that made me go "Bzuh?" from book reviews today. Such as this: I recently finished Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. It's not really my sort of thing, not enough zombies for one. - yes, yes, I felt exactly the same about Little Dorrit. Or this, on Julie Powell's Julie and Julia: My only real beef with this book was Powell's use of "goddamn." I'm not sure I have ever read a book where this offensive word was used so often. The mark of a true writer is the ability to spin wonderful stories without overusing obseneties [sic]. - fuck, yeah, don't you hate it when people fucking swear all the fucking time for no fucking reason ... ... which reminds me of one of the few bright moments of my otherwise ghastly schooldays. The teacher - probably the English teacher - was giving us the speech about "Using bad language is a hallmark of illiteracy" - you know the one, your teacher probably trotted it out too. "Bollocks," came a mutter from the back of the class. It wasn't me, either. I almost never understand XKCD, but this is So True. Scaryduck considers conspiracy theories. One of the Ginger Darlings seeks a missing builder in a bucket. The Bronte sisters disagree on their ideals of manhood. Harry Potter: lager lout? And a meme - an oldie but a goodie: List the first lines of your last twenty stories. See if you find any patterns. ( Behind a cut, as I can't see how this would be of any possible interest to anyone but me. ) ... nope, no pattern, other than that I'm still remarkably consistent in my fandoms. And am sometimes someone else. And haven't actually written very much recently - #15 is from my yuletide fic, so that's only fourteen fics - including drabbles, including my other self's - this year. In happier news, I have tomorrow and Friday off. I can go into town and kick Specsavers up the bum. Also, unrelatedly, wannabedolphin has landed a job, so should be settled for the next year, at least. Which, yay! Okay, harvest time! post comment

Sports Night fan fiction: What's Left Behind [28 Jul 2009|08:22pm] [ mood | accomplished ] Title: What's Left Behind Author: A S Lawrence (phoebesmum) Fandom: Sports Night Pairing/Characters: Rebecca Wells, Lisa McCall, implied Casey McCall/Dan Rydell (unrequited) Rating/Category: PG-13/Slash Word count: 3,570 words Prompt: Dan/Casey, the ex(es) Spoilers: None; assumes knowledge of the entire series. Summary: Two strangers meet at random to discover they have more than a little in common, and a secret is uncovered. Notes: Written for smallfandomfest 05. Many thanks to kmousie for beta-reading and excising Britishisms. ( What's Left Behind ) post comment

Sports Night fan fiction: Plus Seventeen: Mutatis Mutandis (Flux and Flow Remix) [26 Jul 2009|05:53pm] [ mood | accomplished ] Title: Plus Seventeen: Mutatis Mutandis (Flux and Flow Remix) Author: A S Lawrence (phoebesmum) Summary: The more things alter, the more they remain the same. Until, that is, they finally change completely. Seventeen connected ficlets, shifting points of view. Rating: PG-13, word count 4,620 Fandom: Sports Night Spoilers and/or Warnings: None; assumes familiarity with the entire series. Notes: Written for remixredux09; remixed from 17: Both a Constant and an Ever-Changing State by mardia. Many thanks to kmousie for beta assistance above and beyond the call of duty. mardia also wrote It's A Wonderful Life (Ghosts Grown Old Remix) from my fic, The Gods Grown Old, and kmousie betaed them both - and never said a thing!! ( Plus Seventeen: Mutatis Mutandis (Flux and Flow Remix ) post comment

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