Title: Jealous Much?
Pairing: Oliver/Hermione
Prompt: Dither Dather
Rating: G
Word Count: 250
Summary:
Hermione knew there was only one way to get Oliver out the door on time. It wasn’t nice, but it was necessary.
Author's Notes: I’m enjoying Oliver as a character. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this set of drabbles.
Link to Prompt Table: ( Click Me! )

( Jealous Much? )

We have a new kitten.
She is made of magic and fur and cuteness.
I love her. Even when she attacks my toes and tries to eat them, I love her. Even when she crawls along the back of the sofa and jumps onto my head with her claws fully out, I love her. Even when she boxes with my legs when I'm trying to get to the kitchen, I love her.
Kittens are yummy.

When Barry asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I said, "I want a kitten. Bring me pint-sized, fuzzy adorableness so that we can take pictures and write LOL Catz captions beneath them."

So last Sunday, we went to the kitty adoption bus that I frequent on my weekend walks. (Yes. I am one of those people. I sit and hold every kitten and cat and wonder just how many animals you can have before you fall into that eccentric category and start wearing housedresses with socks and having a wallet with a chain of fold-out pictures of all your pets that you show to strangers on park benches while telling them how much you've spent on various kitty medical procedures: "This is Mr. Fido P. Beagle, who has incontinence and that's why he's wearing a diaper in this picture. Now, Matilda Poufytail is a calico and will only eat wet food because of her intestinal surgery...")

Anyhoo, we adopted an eight-week old tortoiseshell kitten with a face like a bat's and a purr like a revving hotrod and brought her home whereupon Little Squeak GLARED at me and did everything short of holding up a paw and saying, "Oh hell to the no!" In the past week, Squeak has been playing Bette Davis's part in "Who's Afraid of Baby Jane." I have not heard that much hissing and mewling and growling since I attempted the Barney's Warehouse one-day sale ages ago. I found cigarette stubs in front of my house yesterday, and I'm pretty sure they're Squeak's.

I had also forgotten that having a kitten is a lot like having a new baby, and nobody gets any sleep. Hoo boy. We kept the kitty in Josh's room, away from Squeak, and not only did she do that cat thing and sleep during the day so she'd have plenty of energy to play and knock things over and make noise in the night, but she somehow learned how to climb the ladder to Josh's loft bed (I'm telling you this runty thing fits in one hand) so that she could pounce on him while he tried to sleep. This resulted in much waking in the night and a zombiefied household for three days straight. My favorite thing, though, was the day I was sitting on Josh's floor and I watched his Ugly Doll Wedgehead being slowly dragged into the mysterious closet lair of the kitten-monster. Wedgehead was four times her size but he didn't stand a chance.

The naming process took a few days as we all attempted to see what would stick:

Kitty Pryde (my first choice)
Bandit
Scamper
Shellshocker! (Josh's choice)
My friend Tortoro
Kitty McKittykins
Trixie Superhero Fuzzkins III (my choice. The boys graciously looked away into the distance when I said it)
Moxie (an early Barry offering due to kitten's intrepid nature)
Daisy Danger (thanks, Shannon)
Killer (another Josh choice)
Sugarpie
Wolverine (X-Men names ran fast and furiously)
Godzilla Jane, Rodan, Mothra-Kitty
Sweetpea
and so on

And finally, Barry looked at her fuzzy chocolate face and said, "Cocoa?" which I am spelling "Coco" in my head, just like Chanel, and we all agreed. Not that it matters. I'm sure I will resort to calling her "Kitty" just like I do Squeak. (My favorite stuffed animal from ages ago, a pig, is named...Pig. Really, it's a miracle that Josh is not named "Kid" though I do call him "Boy" a lot of the time. It's good he has a father.)

So our days and nights have been occupied by all things kittenish, because you know what? Kittens are an instant cure for what ails you. They are adorable and funny and fun. And even Squeak is slowly coming around. Last night was their first sleepover together and I did not come down this morning to find a fat Squeak licking her paws amidst tufts of brown fur. It is, however, very funny to see Squeak playing mean girl cat. She likes to flick her tail, knowing this will draw Cocoa's attention. Predictably, Cocoa will try to play with Squeak's tail and then Squeak will act indignant and hiss and look at me like, "You see? You see what she did? Why am I being tortured by this interloper?" And I will say, "Squeak, be nice." And she will glare at me as if to say, "No one here understands me. I'm going to my room to listen to Radiohead" before sauntering away to sulk in the big chair.

Cats amuse me.

BTW, thanks for all your thoughts about MySpace versus Facebook. It was enormously helpful. I realized I am far too lazy to have more than this one blog on LJ for now, but I probably wouldn't have been able to come to that conclusion without your invaluable input.

Now I am off to buy another cat dancer so I can enjoy me some kitty insanity this afternoon. Will post a picture of Miss Cocoa as soon as I can.

seek_abroad
Meet people from all over the world.

fotojournals
Post your photos for other photographers to see.

food_ish
Share successful, disastrous or otherwise amusing food stories, photos and recipes.

Title: In an Instant
Pairing: Oliver/Hermione
Prompt: It was a dark and stormy night…
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1156
Summary: After marrying Oliver because of a law enacted by the Ministry of Magic, Hermione is surprised to find herself falling in love with him. And even more surprised when something takes him away.

Author's Notes: Inspired by my lovely nephthysmoon and nyruserra. Written for the rarepair_shorts Challenge #2.

( And the earth and sky grieved with her. )

EDIT: Would anyone be interested in betaing this for me? I'm considering submitting it to MNFF. Thanks!

Name: Shevi

Email Address: skd11404@yahoo.com

Fandom Category: Smallville

Title: After Smallville

Rating: T

Genre: Romance/Drama

Relationships: Lois and Clark

Predicted Total Length: Around..20 chapters

Summary: Did you ever wonder what could happen after Smallville?

Additional Comments: The story will be posted on fanfiction.net as well as livejournal. My pseudonym for fanfiction is writrfreak_15.

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately due to some unforeseen complications with my pregnancy, I am being admitted to hospital on May 12th 2008. I'm not sure how long I will be gone for. I imagine I should be home again by mid-June, but I make no promises. It is only precautionary, and the baby and myself are both healthy. I'll just be stuck there for a while.

Because I am the main administrator for the site ,and this has happened unexpectedly, the site will be a little less organised than usual. Test marking and mentoring, preliminary emails and automated systems should run as normal.

The main delay I can see is that there WILL NOT be a new test published in June. I shall endeavour to get one done as soon as possible, but since I cannot guarantee it I would rather warn people that there may be a wait.

I hope you're all well, and I shall see you when I get back home.

All the best,

Asli

kinokofry
Art and comics by Rebecca Clements

wii_kartonline
All about Mario Kart Wii: challenge, chat & have fun

the_polaroids
Post and peruse Polaroid photos

This month is Mental Health Awareness Month, so the LiveJournal team is offering users a chance to support the Depression and Bipolar Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping improve the lives of those suffering from mood disorders. Proceeds from purchases of the Emerging Sun v-gift during May will be donated to the DBSA, so feel free to buy one. Or, if you really want to rack up some good karma points, get a bunch!

And don't forget: Mother's Day is this Sunday. Be a dear and check out the v-gifts shop. Send something that'll make her smile.


L to R: Emerging Sun, #1 Mom, Gift Basket, Chocolates, A Dozen Red Roses


We know how you salivate over the prospect of new themes, especially when they're designed by users with a unique handle on both form and function.


L to R: Shiny, River at Night, Live and Learn, Vector Drips.

( Winners of the HP 'What Do You Have to Say?' Theme Design Contest )


We'd like to remind you that the nomination process for LiveJournal Advisory Board user-representatives has begun. If you think you're fit for the job, now's the time to nominate yourself! After all, you're the only who can do it. In two weeks, on the 22nd, the voting process will begin; we'll remind you about it again here.

If you're interested in keeping up with the nominations, watch lj_election_en. We'll post the results and announce the winner by the end of the day on May 30th. The new user-representatives will be seated on June 1st. Further details can also be found in lj_2008.

Only in Florida, the bonafide freak state, could this occur. A substitute teacher was fired for performing wizardry. I shit you not. He did a little slight of hand, making a toothpick disappear in front of students.

I'm literally speechless (which is quite rare).  Has the world gone insane? 

Read the article

Thanks for all your sympathies on the bird poop story. I have to admit, when it happened—well, after the skeeve factor—I laughed and laughed. It was pretty funny. In an icky, I-have-poo-on-my-head sort of way.

I have been remiss in letting folks in the NYC area know that I have two readings this week. Here’s the scoop:

***WEDNESDAY, MAY 7TH***
6:00-7:30 pm
Jefferson Market Library
425 Avenue of the Americas (i.e., 6th Avenue off of 10th Street)
New York, NY 10011
(212) 243-4334

Teen Author Reading Night with:

Tara Altebrando, What Happens Here
Libba Bray, Up All Night
Erin Haft, Meet Me at the Boardwalk
Cheryl Klam, The Pretty One
Nico Medina, Fat Hoochie Prom Queen
David Levithan, David Ozanich, and Chris Van Etten (aka David Van Etten), Likely Story
Lizabeth Zindel, The Secret Rites of Social Butterflies


***THURSDAY, MAY 8TH***
5:00-7:30 pm
BOOKS OF WONDER
18 W. 18th Street

Super fun book party for the short story collection, UP ALL NIGHT (bunny slippers optional), featuring:

Peter Abrahams
Libba Bray
David Levithan
Patricia McCormick
Sarah Weeks

I may read from BOVINE on Wednesday night. Technically, I’m scheduled to read from my short story, “Not Just for Breakfast Anymore,” but I’m reading from that story the next night at the UP ALL NIGHT party and frankly, I don’t want to read the same thing two nights in a row. I’m perverse like that. So it’s possible if you show up on Wednesday night, you’ll get a preview of BOVINE. Or not. Maybe I'll read from THE CARE AND FEEDING OF PENGUINS, a guidebook I wrote in sixth grade. Maybe I'll stare meaningfully at the audience until people begin to feel uncomfortable. Oh, readings are such fun.

I also have some technical questions I’ve been struggling with and suddenly it dawned on me: take it to the people. You guys are techno-geniuses—I CAN ASK YOU!!! So I am.

1. Okay, anybody with a Mac out there want to tell me how I upload pics to LJ? I thought it might be fun to start doing that but strangely enough just clapping my hands and saying, “And…NOW!” “Shazam!” “Hit me baby one more time!” does not get the job done. If you can walk me through it as if you were educating someone with a brain injury, please do.
2. What are your thoughts about MySpace and Facebook? I was thinking I could have a blog on one or both, but should I? I’d basically be posting the same blog just in different places (cause we all know I’m not always on top of the bloggage thing…) I don’t know. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, pros and cons. Speak to me, people.
3. I don’t actually have a number three but things just look better in threes.
4. Oh, wait--I do have another techie question: Some of you have left me messages in my LJ inbox. I have tried to reply to them and gotten some kind of automated response saying, "You're icky and we don't like your shoes and we're not letting you play our reindeer games so there!" Okay. It didn't actually say that, but it did tell me that there were some parental controls or some such that wouldn't allow my message to go through. I don't really know what to do about that. So if you've left me a message in my LJ inbox can you please make sure that it is possible for me to respond? I'm not ignoring you--promise.
5. Also--anyone know how I do polls? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? That might make counting for the Viewer's Choice Blog a lot easier.

By the way, I went to see IRON MAN on opening day. GOALLLLLLLL!!!!! Loved it. Love Robert Downey Jr. with a passion. I will be going again. Two thumbs up.

Here’s hoping your weekend was bird poo-free.

Advisory Board Nominations Begin

This morning we are opening the nomination process for the user-representative positions on the LiveJournal Advisory Board. A full description of the process can be found here.

To get you started, here are the basic things you should know:

- You may only nominate yourself
- Each nominee will need 100 motions of support in order to be eligible to be a candidate
- We ask that you keep your comments on the nomination posts to "I support this nomination" or something to that effect; be kind to those who will need to count the "supports", please.
- Although the nominations and election poll will take place in lj_election_en, you do not need to watch the community in order to keep up with the election; we'll announce everything here as well.

Everyone here at LiveJournal is looking forward to this first-ever User-Representative election! We'd like to thank everyone who is participating. Some words from our current Advisory Board members:

danah boyd: “LiveJournal is filled with very passionate users. These users have helped shaped LJ's various communities over the last decade and it gives me great joy that LJ is recognizing and incorporating users' voices into the decision-making processes. Having user representatives from different parts of LJ on the Advisory Board will help make sure that the company is meeting the needs of its diverse constituents.”

Esther Dyson: "I'm sure we'll learn a lot from the process, and later on from the two users selected as well. Especially, I hope that the discussions before the voting will be more meaningful and more focused on policy than those in some offline campaigns."

Brad Fitzpatrick: "It's cool that SUP is getting users involved with the LiveJournal decision-making process. I look forward to seeing who the community elects and the results of our efforts working together."

Professor Lawrence Lessig: “The user elections will provide a critical check on LJ's process of maintaining a valuable and trustworthy environment for the LJ community. The mandate of the elections will give the user representatives pride of place among the members of the Advisory Board. Each of us will look to them to guide us in our judgment about how best to make LJ the community we all aspire that it will be. I look forward to welcoming the user representatives, and learning a great deal from them.”


chasethestars has also made some banners for you to use, if you'd like to show your support for the candidate of your choice!

( Banners + code for you to use! )

Hello everyone,

This is just to let you know that we have now added the following fandoms to the beta reader listing:

Beyblade, CSI: Las Vegas, Final Fantasy VII, Fullmetal Alchemist, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pokemon, Rurouni Kenshin, Stargate: SG1, Star Wars, Teen Titans, Twilight and Yu Yu Hakusho.

You can add beta profiles for any of these fandoms by logging into the site and going to your account, before selecting the "Add a Profile" link.

Hopefully I have isolated all the major ships. However, if there's a ship in any of these fandoms that's not on the list or any character names spelled incorrectly then please let me know, and I'll get straight on it.

Also the site should be fully functioning and operational. If you find any bugs or glitches then pelase let me know, with the error message, and we'll set to repairing it.

Thank you,

Asli xxx