therapeutic thump

Hi, everybody!

Things have been hectic around here. I officially caught swine flu from my boss, who insisted on dragging himself to work while he was sick (in hopes of netting some "what a brave little soldier!" comments, I'm sure) and then kept having meetings with me (and others) in which he basically would cough up a lung. So, yeah. I've been sick for several weeks, and am slowly recovering. Mostly, at this point, I'm just exhausted.

In the midst of that, I hosted Thanksgiving for my family. It was mostly fine - no fights broke out, and it seemed like everyone had a good time - though my oven decided to quit halfway through. So the veggies, which had been marinated in preparation for roasting, had to be transferred to pots and finished on the stovetop. Fortunately, all the things that actually did require the oven - mushroom pie and caramel brownies - were finished before the oven had its temper tantrum. I'm going to test it out tonight with frozen food, safe in the knowledge that my microwave oven has never failed me.

In fannish news, my story "Sunshine State" has been translated into Russian by the wonderful rassda, and eviesad made this incredible vid to illustrate it! (It took me a few watches and then a little imdb-ing to place the actor she selected as Ben - he's not what I was picturing, but he is awfully cute.) Also, in case you missed it, my original story posts now have illustrations by vengefuldemon69 woven throughout, and they are worth taking some time to marvel over.

In other fannish news, my hands-down favorite new show of the season is Community. I laugh so hard at every episode, and it has brought me delights like Joel McHale (yum!), Danny Pudi (he looks like my dad did forty years ago!), and especially Yvette Nicole Brown, whose Shirley is a sheer delight. Give it a try, won't you (NBC, Thursdays at 8 pm Eastern)? The fandom thus far seems to tend more to icons and screencaps and annotated picspams than to fic, but the fic I've seen has been very, very good. Plus, it's a fandom you can multiship in, and the women are as interesting and complex and funny as the men! Personally, I'm pulling for Jeff/Shirley, but the gen is phenomenal, since the show keeps pairing up people in unexpected and hilariously rewarding ways.

Elsewhere in TV land, I'm being disappointed by How I Met Your Mother and Bones. I'm refusing to watch Glee because I find it so aggravating and unwilling to live up to even its own low standards. Modern Family is quickly growing stale, despite some fantastic performances - that's a show that's been cast beautifully but is not written as well as it should be, I think. I gave up on Flash Forward and House weeks ago.

I'm still kind of vaguely enjoying The Good Wife, but I'm waiting for Kalinda and Will to reveal their super-hot relationship and for Alicia to be the third in their crime-fighting unit. Castle continues to charm, and I am ridiculously excited for Chuck to come back in January! And White Collar is still adorable, though I feel like the only fangirl who's not seeing OT3 when I look at Peter, Elizabeth, and Neal. To me, Neal seems more like their wild and willful child, and they're simultaneously charmed, proud, and distrustful. And, of course, Supernatural is still my top priority, and I want them to end the show this season and go out with a hell of a finale.

Anyway. How are you guys doing?