and absolutely no one's dead! (except the cat...)

I'm at the point in my Quiznos job where I am no longer enthusiastic about making subs and sweeping floors. Part of it is that both my managers are quitting soon, and therefore they feel no need to be conscientious, and I take my own work ethic from them; part of it is that it's very hot outside and it makes me lazy and tired; part of it is that our particular shop is seldom busy and there's only so many dishes to wash, so one gets used to sitting around drinking Dr Pepper with nothing else to do.
I've run out of books to bring, so I'm taking pens and borrowing fax paper to doodle on. (The fax doesn't work, so it's OK.) So far, I've started writing a rather sad love song inspired by an idea drworm had and hasn't posted yet, and a Tim/Danny comic that ran to three pages long. The story was quite good, and I think I'll try to write it as a semi-original story (the best way to make sure your characterization's not off is to write it as an original instead, that way if someone criticizes your characterization you can say, "Hey, they're my characters, fuck off!" Anyway, I feel guilty about not having written anything original for ages, and it would probably be fairly groovy as an original fic...and it's perfectly OK to be derivative of a fandom (right? Yes), as long as you do it well. I use as my example Joanna Russ, who wrote a Kirk/Spock slash and got it published in Asimov's when she scraped off the copyrighted modifiers. Or so Michael Swanwick says...can anyone confirm this?) Did I mention that I can't draw? 'Cause I can't. I can't even draw stick figures. It's kind of amazing that I can't even draw stick figures.
I make up for it, though. I can make jewelry. I made this set of huge cartoony purple-and-black spiral earrings a few months ago that are very gothy-crafty, and which I should take pictures of sometime. I'm waiting until I have something appropriately gothy to wear with it, or am able to assemble a passable spooky outfit from the randomly colored objects in my closet.
I haven't played dress-up since I went to Movement (a huge electronica/techno festival that the city of Detroit holds on Memorial Day) and tried to dress like a raver. I was quite understated as a raver, actually. One tends to ignore how loony members of certain subcultures dress. Sparkly? Colorful? Try completely covered in fluorescent pony beads. I somehow neglected to include thousands of pony beads in my raver outfit.
Lannon thinks I'd look good in a dominatrix outfit. She actually wanted to go to Noir Leather and help me pick out spiky things to wear. Noir Leather is expensive, though, and I don't have much money. I don't even have enough money to buy my brother a birthday present. (Emo tear.) His birthday is today. I think he's sixteen. The only thing he seems to want is more spikes for his jacket, but there's nowhere near here I can go to get them, and I can't order them online because I don't have a credit card. I better go cash my paycheck and get to Noir Leather really damn soon. Preferably with Lannon, who seems to know what looks good on me.

Speaking of jewelry and dominatrixes, it's time for Rachel's Half-Baked Anthropological Theories!
Way back in Ancient Times (because everything after the extinction of the dinosaurs and before Charlemagne is all the same thing), when slaves were a normal part of everyday life, the wealthy would give their slaves collars or pierce bits of their body with tags. The more wealthy you were, the nicer collars and tags you could afford to give to your slaves, make them out of gold and put jewels on them and such. It became a source of pride to give your slaves (or wives) really elaborate collars and tags, and eventually became a source of pride among slaves to be owned by someone who could afford to give you a gold collar studded with diamonds instead of just a bit of iron or something.
This is where jewelry comes from, and although we haven't really retained the same concept of slavery (unless you're really into the whole BDSM scene), some associations still remain. It's the concept behind wedding rings (insert historical rant about marriage being a medieval way to transfer land ownership) and other such pieces, and it's also why it's most socially acceptable to give jewelry to your sweetheart and not to your friends. It's also why I usually feel vaguely uncomfortable wearing any jewelry that I haven't made myself.
The odd thing is that I don't extend this to jewelry that I make and give to other people. If I make something that I intend to give to someone else, they're usually my actual inspiration for the piece, and so I consider it to be already theirs, even before I give it to them. Does this sound artiste-flaky? So be it, then. (Note: I am not above whoring out my art. Earrings are still $10 if you feel like giving me money.)

Anyway, I've finally figured out how to work the new version of Kazaa. Whee, soundtracks! I assuage my guilt at piracy by telling myself that as soon as I win the lottery or get an advance on something, I'm going to go out and actually buy the CDs I'm downloading for free. I did that with Crispin's CD (and fuck, am I ever glad I actually got it!). Did you know that there's a Boingo tribute CD? With people doing covers of Boingo songs. I want to get this. Oh, and listening to Jack Skellington sing without the movie as background is...just so goddamn cute. I want to write really fluffy Tim/Danny. Someone slap me back into my own fandom please? No crossovers, bad Rachel. Bad Rachel. I've spent years as a fanbrat writing Sues and unjustifiable crossovers, I don't want to backslide.
Perhaps it's time to get "Half-Blood Prince," crack open "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," revamp the "system of magic" idea I had a while back, and make up some plausible scientist characters to explain everything (drworm, at least, says she wants to read it). I need a break, eh? Too many of my ideas now are half-baked Sues or wangst. Let's clear out some of that. Oh, and I should have posted this earlier, but I forgot--new vocabulary. "Plot Ant" is a plotbunny that repels or annoys you and that you don't actually want to write. Such as an unwanted Mary Sue, or a crossover that would be just painful to read instead of interesting.
Or I could take another stab at a sequel to "Reeling Off the Years." Oh, you remember that one--lots of dialogue, published authors making up whacked-out theories, original characters that people actually liked. I've got whole backstories for these people. Or the meta-RPS with Crispin and Michael, which I have new insights into that completely change the original dynamic (and also has Nicholas Cage now. Did you know that he was in a rather cute BttF-ish movie called "Peggy Sue Got Married"? Did you know that I am physically restraining myself from writing some kind of crossover?) I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point. Probably going daffy because I don't have my own computer to mess around with, and I have to do everything longhand.
Well, Dad says he's ordered a new computer for his own, so he's giving me his old laptop. It'll cost a bit to get the hard drive installed, but it's worth it. My life is on that thing. All my music, my stories, my little doodles...more importantly, all of my archived conversations. MY ENTIRE SOCIAL LIFE IS ON THAT HARD DRIVE.

Yes. Ahem. Time to go do real-life type things. Mom's finally turned the air-conditioning on because it's one hundred and three degrees outside my God, and she says I need to get some exercise. Which I do, of course.