I've had a number of emails, etc., lately, wondering what's going on and why I haven't been around. The short answer is that I have, quite simply, been overwhelmed with so many RL issues that I simply haven't had the time or energy to post anything. I've occasionally read a few posts and I've got a few flagged in Read It Later (a Firefox extension that's absolutely irreplaceable), but that's been about the limit of what I've been doing online. I've done a bit of writing, off-and-on, but there's nothing that's had sufficient progress to be ready for posting.

The details of what's been going on are far too many to get into - just thinking about listing them makes me tired - but I will list a few, just to give everyone some idea why I've been (and will probably continue to be) so quiet.

October and November were busier than I'd anticipated but that was about it. December was when things started to get out of hand. I'd planned to do podcasts of a few of my fics for Christmas but unfortunately I ended up with a cough and cold that just wouldn't go away, from about mid-December through till New Year's. I then managed to get thrown by a horse (not one of my own) and spent several weeks drugged up with prescription anti-inflammatories/muscle relaxants/pain killers. The only thing that I actually broke was my helmet but I banged up my back and ribs pretty thoroughly; lots of soft tissue damage and most likely bruising or maybe even cracking of bone, particularly my lower ribs). There's still a fair bit of tenderness in some spots but thanks to chiropractic and massage therapy treatments, I'm healing up pretty well. Also in that late December-present time period, I became an aunt for the first time (my niece is adorable but she's been high-maintenance pretty much since my sister-in-law went into labour), our barn roof deteriorated to the point where heavy rain outside means a steady drizzle inside (right through the hay loft and down into the stalls below), my dad's heart problems worsened which, in addition to the stress and worry, meant that I had to take over caring for the horses, our refrigerator died on the Sunday afternoon of a holiday weekend, a cousin had major knee surgery, another cousin's kid had a bad tobogganing accident and ended up needing surgery for a badly broken leg, work got insanely busy and stayed that way (winter is usually a fairly slow season), and our area got more snow dumped on it than we've experienced in decades.

Yeah, so far, 2009 sucks - and definitely not in a good way.

So... I'd really like to be able to say that things are settling down and that I'll be around more but... I don't think that would be the truth. I'm going to have to come up with the cash/credit to either re-roof the barn (a huge, 70-plus-year-old gambrel-roofed monster that would cost $16,000-20,000 just to re-roof - and it needs new clapping (siding) too, plus electrical and plumbing work) or to build a new, much smaller, more modern barn (probably around $20,000-$25,000, if I'm lucky). The cousin's kid will have to have more surgery later this year. With some medication adjustments, my dad is doing better but he's still not going to be able to do nearly the same things that he was doing before, even after he gets his defib. implanted, which means a lot of changes around here.  I'm pretty much permanently tired and overwhelmed and I can't see that changing until after I get the barn issue dealt with and my dad gets his surgery safely over with. 

In summary: yes, I'm still alive and still interested in fandom (as much as I can summon up the energy to be interested in anything). No, I haven't given up on any of my writing but I haven't got anything ready to post, either, sorry. No, I'm probably not going to be around much for the foreseeable future. Yes, I do intend to come back just as soon as possible.

And, yes, 2009 does indeed suck. Big time. :P 



P.S. My apologies in advance for the fact that I probably won't be able to find the time and/or energy to respond to comments. Sorry, folks.

*props eyelids open and waves wearily* Hey folks. Long time, no post. And (probably) will be a long time till the next post, too. :P We've been super-busy with summer horse shows, fall fairs, etc. and that's not going to change till, oh, mid-October or thereabouts. In the past eight weeks, for example, we've competed with our horses at two ploughing matches and four horse shows (some of which ran over ten hours!), driven in two parades, and taken part in four trail ride/drives. And that doesn't even include the non-horse-related stuff (church picnic, family birthday parties, etc.), or the two horse shows that were rained out (*after* we had everything cleaned, packed, and loaded to go, of course :P ), or all of the practice time for the horse shows and ploughing matches. *keels over from exhaustion*

We've still got at least two (possibly three) more horse shows and two trail ride/drives yet to go. *cringes at thought* So, while I hopefully will get a chance to pop in at some point before then, it may well be Halloween before I get a chance to say more than 'Hey, still alive, muses have actually been talking to me again lately but unfortunately no time to write down what they have to say.' :P

A small ray of light in all of this is the fact that we've actually done pretty well at a few of the events: second at one of the ploughing matches, a couple of firsts and handful of thirds in driving classes, a Best Horse on Grounds in halter class at one show (wow, was that ever a pleasant surprise!), and even a couple of ribbons (one third and one sixth) from riding classes, which we usually don't enter at all. All of the practice even paid off, as we managed to not only survive our first-ever tandem driving class but actually managed to place third in the next one. Oh, yes, plus I finally dropped the major cash (about $250) to buy a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses, as I was having an awful time driving (cars and horses both) due to extreme squinting and eyestrain. Very expensive sunglasses but worth every penny, as I went from serious eye exhaustion and headache pain after half an hour of driving to having no headache *or* eyestrain after two hours of driving to a show, plus all day out in the sun, then another two hours of driving home (driving into the sunrise in the morning and into sunset at night). Now I just have to save up the even more major bucks (around $550) to afford a prescription pair of the same, for the days when I don't want to wear my contacts.

Also got a new toy - an Asus Eee PC (the 2G Surf model) - for free, courtesy of the Royal Bank. I had to change my account to a different type and fit a few other criteria (all of which I already had covered), and they gave me the little sucker for free. The new account type costs a little more per month, but then again, it also covers the fees for up to three other accounts, so I actually come out even or a little ahead in the end. Haven't had time to actually play with it much yet but, so far, it seems surprisingly responsive and easy to use considering how tiny it is.

1. Zines are priced at $15 each, or three for $35, with one exception: the Extra Touchy Frisky zines are $5 each. If my price seems too high on a particular zine, let me know and I will check its current new value.


2. Shipping cost will be the actual postage from Ontario, Canada, to the buyer's location.


3. Buy six or more zines and I'll give you a discount of $5 off of the shipping cost.

Note: All of the following TS zines are slash. Single-story zines are Jim/Blair; all anthologies are predominantly Jim/Blair, though some have a story or two that contains another pairing. 

I've grouped the zines into several posts because there are so many of them.  I have included cover scans; please note that some images are not work-safe!

( Titles Beginning with W through Z )

Edit: Updated June 2/08 to remove sold/reserved items.

1. Zines are priced at $15 each, or three for $35, with one exception: the Extra Touchy Frisky zines are $5 each. If my price seems too high on a particular zine, let me know and I will check its current new value.


2. Shipping cost will be the actual postage from Ontario, Canada, to the buyer's location.


3. Buy six or more zines and I'll give you a discount of $5 off of the shipping cost.

Note: All of the following TS zines are slash. Single-story zines are Jim/Blair; all anthologies are predominantly Jim/Blair, though some have a story or two that contains another pairing. 

I've grouped the zines into several posts because there are so many of them.  I have included cover scans; please note that some images are not work-safe!

( Titles Beginning with S through U )

Edit: Updated June 2/08 to remove sold/reserved items.

1. Zines are priced at $15 each, or three for $35, with one exception: the Extra Touchy Frisky zines are $5 each. If my price seems too high on a particular zine, let me know and I will check its current new value.


2. Shipping cost will be the actual postage from Ontario, Canada, to the buyer's location.


3. Buy six or more zines and I'll give you a discount of $5 off of the shipping cost.

Note: All of the following TS zines are slash. Single-story zines are Jim/Blair; all anthologies are predominantly Jim/Blair, though some have a story or two that contains another pairing. 

I've grouped the zines into several posts because there are so many of them.  I have included cover scans; please note that some images are not work-safe!

( Titles Beginning with H through R )

Edit: Updated June 2/08 to remove sold/reserved items.