sariagray

First - Thank you to

xrai_namere for the yummy jellybeans! ;)

Often, my family is ridiculous and I can't wait to get away. But sometimes, they are very considerate and helpful. Like when they buy me Real Food. Like fruits and vegetables and chicken and SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS OMG NOM NOM NOM NOM. Right. Anyway.

In other news, I'm working on writing the following things:

1) How Rhys Williams Saved the World. And Also, A Kitten - In which Rhys saves the world. And also, a kitten.

2) The Trope Machine - In which...well, tropes happen. Because of alien tech. Which is a trope in and of itself. METATROPE!

3) And That Is How I Laid the Memory Down - In which there is porn and poetry, trust, and thinky thoughts.
4) Strange Little Girl - In which I ramble about Plot Device Girl to the song "Strange Little Girl" as sung by Tori Amos.

And by "working on writing," we all know that I mean "creating titles and naming Word Documents and then ignoring them forever." Oh well. It's a nice idea, right?

Also...

I got more words from

analineblue. Because I'm a dork.

Rhys

Every morning, on my way to work, I pass a big sign that says "RHYS." This is, apparently, a real estate agency rather than my daily reminder to think on Rhys Williams and perform the proper devotions. "Rhys Williams, who art in Cardiff, hallowed be thy name," and so on.

Most of my Torchwood Favorites are not the main five (or, previous main five. Whatever). I mean, yes, I adore Ianto in that "Yeah, yeah, I'm codependent too, love" sort of way. And I am so in love with Owen it sometimes boggles my mind. BUT. RHYS. I would marry that man in a heartbeat. I need someone who could love a person so completely and yet still put them in their place. I swear, when he raged at Gwen in "Adrift," I nearly died. Of joy. And not from any dislike of Gwen, but because she listens in a way that she doesn't with anyone else. And that is beautiful. I want a relationship like that. Hell, I need someone to tell me shut up pretty frequently, truth be told.

To rant a bit, this is why I can't really see Jack/Gwen working longterm, and why Jack/Ianto and Gwen/Rhys fit so well, in my head. All four of them are strong-willed individuals, but Ianto and Rhys diverge from Jack and Gwen in methodology and temperament.

There really is this element of fire and water. Too much fire and you've got nothing but holocaust. Too much water, and there's a flood. Epic in the short term, but for the long haul? It's devastating and tragic. But fire and water? Well, you know where I'm going with that cheesy metaphor. Yes. Steam. Shut up.

Conversely, though, fire could evaporate water and water could extinguish fire. So there is still an element of danger, which is fun and exciting. Really, though. Ianto and Rhys need someone to rile their passions; Gwen and Jack need someone to temper them. IT WORKS.

And wow. I really digressed there. Sorry.

Also. Jonathan "Rhys"-Meyers. Has Rhys in his name. Is hot. Yay. Or something.

Mango

My ex was Indian. Our first date was to an Indian restaurant, where I had no idea what I was doing/ordering. My father isn't fond of Indian food, and so I had little experience in that culinary tradition. It was delicious. I had a mango lassi (my first). It was amazing. I have since developed a love of mango. Anything mango forever. I cook it with meat. I eat it plain, or with raspberries. I blend it. I chop it up with cucumber. Oh, mangoes. You are sweet and juicy and vibrant.

There is a story in Hinduism about Hanuman who, as a baby, saw the sun and thought it was the largest, ripest, most delicious mango anyone had ever seen. He tried to jump for it, but had to be rescued from, you know, dying in the sun or some such. Look, my grasp of this story is tenuous at best. It comes from a children's book from India. And also memories of my ex's telling of the story. It was a long time ago. But the moral of the story is...don't confuse the sun for a mango. Which loosely translates to something like, "Sure, it may look good and familiar at first, but you should consider and study before diving right in." More succinctly, "Look before you leap." This is something I need to learn to do.

Or maybe it means something along the lines of the foolishness reaching for something inaccessible.

Also, I told Kai Owen to eat something with mangoes. This is neither here nor there. But he got thai food, so I'm going to imagine that he listened to me.

In conclusion, mangoes are delicious. And also my favorite fruit. And also not the sun.

Rewatch

I NEVER DO THIS EVER. I don't reread stories. I don't rewatch movies or television shows.

Except, the past couple of months. I exposed the beauty of Velvet Goldmine, Titus, Moulin Rouge, and The Philadelphia Story to

thebuttonontop and sometimes

xrai_namere. And I was reminded of why I love these movies so very much.

And then there is the glory that is Official Rewatch (by which I mean the Transcontinental Torchwood Tea Party with

analineblue) which has made me so very happy and reminded me...why I like Torchwood so much. I think it was supposed to make us excited about the new series, but it really has served to underscore how important the old team was to us? It's interesting that we joined fandom at the same time, so we have this sort of differing perspective on it. And we straddle the fence between Season 4 Joy and Season 4 Melancholy, which makes watching just so wonderful. Keep the team alive and all of that, in our hearts and on our computers? ;)

But seriously, it is good to discuss with someone who has similar ideas and ridiculous moments. And it makes for interesting story ideas. Like...the Trope Machine. I still need to write about that. It starts like this, though: Owen found it passing strange when Jack proposed to Ianto. He didn't seem the type to do long-term commitment and even if he did, Ianto didn't seem the type to gush about it later. But when Ianto came into the Hub with wings, cat ears, and a tail, he realized something was off. But of course, because Jack was in his second trimester, he could hardly focus on Ianto's current feline predicament. And what with Gwen constantly rubbing her breasts in Jack's face, checkups on the twins growing in Jack's temporary uterus were difficult at best.

Ahem. Anyway. Rewatching episodes is amusing. ♥

Data

Once upon a time, there was a sweet, shy, poetic girl who fell in love with data. She was beautiful.

Her name was Toshiko Sato.

But this isn't about Tosh. This is about me. And I love data. Seriously. It wasn't supposed to happen. Data is concrete, factual, and I don't do that sort of thing. I think in metaphor. And yet, here I am. With my sordid love affair. The quality of data, perfecting it, polishing it, analyzing it. It was an accidental sort of relationship. We are from different worlds. And yet, we work so well together.

Prior to my new employment (which still centers heavily around data - just in a different capacity), my job was mostly data quality and reporting analysis. I found that I had a (vague) head for it, and people seemed impressed. I still don't LIKE it, but my employer does not offer a position in their imaginary poetry department, so I'll stick with it for now.

Besides, data can be beautiful and poetic in its own right.

Gathering

This makes me think of so many different things.

I gather wool, I gather people (work spouses and fic wives?), I gather ideas.

The Gathering - is a creepy episode title. It also makes me think of "A Gathering of Old Men" by Ernest J Gaines, which I read in high school, which makes me think of "Little Amsterdam" by Tori Amos, who pretty much makes me think of my life these past 7 or so years. And that, as they say, is that.

And it is this word that hit it home for me -

analineblue totally just stole these words from our emails. ;) And yet, they are absolutely perfect.