So after a few false starts and work crises (sigh), I am actually diving into Nicky 3. I've got about 20 pages so far, and I feel like it needs to be read (and raked over the coals) by someone who knows the Nicky-verse. Any takers?

(you know I'm looking at you, janissa11...)

Crap -

Is there any mention in canon of Nick's family's names? I'm thinking sisters and/or brother(s). I started out with Pete (brother) and Carrie (youngest sister) in the Nicky-verse, and I'm at a point where I want to start naming more of them. Anything I should be using? As a sort of after-the-horses-have-gone nod the canon?

So at work today, I received the following spam:
- 14 offers to by watches
- 6 offers to make my penis bigger

Since when do watches beat out trouser snakes turning into pythons? This is starting to worry me. What does this say about our society? I have a reasonable expectation of good spam!

So I essentially got kicked in the head watching some old(er) CSIs, and found myself thinking, "You know, the root of Nicky3 is somewhere on my computer..." Funny how these things are triggered.

I'm working on the first part of N3, and will probably be posting it in chunks, like I did N2. I think the original Nicky might have pre-dated my figuring out how to use LJ. Possibly. If not, then it certainly predates my memory of LJ at that time. Thingy. Um.

Yes. So for anyone interested in the continuing saga of Nicky and Nicky 2, watch this space.

Otherwise, have fun. Don't play in traffic. Wear a helmet.

(PS: I think I actually remembered the html codes for this! woo hoo!)

So it's the end of January 2009. Ooops. Technically it's my birthday, too, but I'm hiding under a rock for the next week and a half so I'm pretending that my birthday isn't just yet.

I'm also working too hard, not doing enough writing (although Tim McGee visited me the other day, so who knows...) and generally not eating enough chocolate. That should be my new year's resolution.

Also, I haven't disappeared (for those who were wondering), just hiding. Five classes and 20 hrs/wk work is a full load. Hopefully after next week, things will return to something approaching normal, and I will actually get to do a little writing and reading and watching tv for the hell of it.

Fingers crossed.

Sera the gerbil (grey, smart, friendly and wonderful) died yesterday of a heart condition and pneumonia. I miss her.
(sniffly sniffly)

Made it through the weekend more or less intact (minus the gallon or so of blood that the mosquitos took off with), and I managed not to kill anyone in the process of playing stupid communication and teambuilding exercises... and I didn't even get snippy.

Although honestly, when they make you do something ridiculous and then ask you, "So what did you think of this activity?" what are they expecting to hear? "I feel like my needs have been satisfied by this exercise involving sticky notes - my life is worth living again..." ?!

But I was polite and politic and not even a little bit rude. Mostly.

And there was a lake and it didn't rain, so that's good. I got to leap enthusiastically off a dock several times, so that's good.

Now I just have to survive NEXT weekend - a conference with an organization I'm not sure I support, and all my bosses will be there... fun. And it's in Toronto, so there's no convenient lake at the bottom of the hill to throw myself into (well, there is, but it's a gross lake so no go).

Sigh.

...and I'm about to get kidnapped by the student fed for a weekend of cottage bonding. In the rain. All weekend. Straight back to work on Monday. I'm going to need another weekend to get over this one.

Oh, and next weekend? Kidnapped again by the fed for a trip to Toronto: drive for four hours to stay in a student res in Mississauga for three days and have MORE ridiculous meetings.

Why did I think this job would be cool?

...I seriously contemplated kidnapping. Just for a moment, and then it passed, but GUH.

There was this adorable little girl in a stroller with her mom sitting ahead of me, and she was just the most perfect thing ever. You could see how smart she was, and how interested and curious: she was making eye contact with people, and smiling with them, and engaging them, and trying to figure out the zipper on this guy's bag... too, too cute.

I don't even WANT kids. Ever.

And it's not like I'm accidentally going to knock someone up, but if I were ever forced to have a kid, this little girl would be the one I would want.

...this had better not be some variation on a biological clock. Seriously.

So I'm taking a summer course at Algonquin in ASL (American Sign Language), and I am LOVING IT. The teacher is hilarious, the class is cool, and the language - god, I don't even know where to start. It's fun, it's fascinating (linguistically) and it's just so COOL.

So it takes eight courses to get the certificate of proficiency, and I'm only taking the first level now (sighhh) BUT I'm already thinking how cool it would be to do graduate work at Gallaudet, in Washington. I mean, I'm thinking of doing an MSc in Speech Language Pathology anyway, and wouldn't it be friggin' awesome to do it at an ASL school? Wouldn't it be AWESOME?!!!!

...okay, back to the real world again...

....that Estra is (probably) a female, that Viola is (probably) not pregnant, and that I should put them back in the same cage.

Apparently, little animals sometimes get ovarian cysts and have false pregnancies. This is what we've decided is probably happening, so there may, in fact, be no babies gerbils on the way.

So points for me for correctly sexing Estra the first time!

(the vet did, however, admit that sometimes it's hard to tell, and that hermaphrodites do happen... oy)

So the saga is suspended again. Will keep you updated as things progress.

For those who have been following the gerbil saga(s), here's a doozy: I'm 98% certain that Estra - sweet, innocent Estra who I rescued from a life of solitude in the pet store and put in with Vicky and Vi - is a male.

I say this because I'm 98% certain that Vi is within a couple days of giving birth, and that Vicky's not that far behind - maybe a week, or so? God. Vi's got a hell of a bulge, and she has prominent nipples, which she has never had before.

I didn't WANT to have baby gerbils! (I mean, they're utterly adorable, but but but - dammit, I don't WANT to have baby gerbils right now!) And I've got potentially two litters about to sneak up on me! Grrrrrr.

Anyway. I've moved Estra out (I know, I know, the barn door's closing after the horses are fled and all that lovely stuff) into her (his, I guess) own cage, because males mate again within HOURS of the female giving birth. It's NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

We've taken as close a look at Estra's gonads as we can, and we think that maybe we see where there are two tiny testicles hiding. But you really have to be looking (and be willing to get nibbled in irritation) to see them - and kinda squint - so I don't feel entirely responsible for thinking he was female when I bought him.

Phoooey.

Anyone want to stake a claim on some gerbils? Please?

So I'm lounging in bed, eating Conversation Hearts - you know, those kind of chalky sugar bombs with silly platitudes written on them?

Well, I've found my absolute favouritest one ever: "Hope less". I strongly suspect it's supposed to say "hopeless" as in "hopelessly devoted to you", but no. It says "hope less", and that makes me inordinately happy.

Title: Fences
Fandom: Jericho
Author: Evan Nicholas

Pairing: Jake/Hawkins
Summary: There are some conversations that Jake isn’t looking forward to.

Warnings: Nothing in particular.
Disclaimer: Oh, if only it were mine… for one thing, we wouldn’t be fighting to bring it back next year. Deep sigh…

A/n:
(1) Follows very shortly after A Safer Kind of Danger. That said, you can probably don’t have to have read it beforehand to get what’s going on here.
(2) Cheers to everyone who feedbacked (fed-back?) on SKD – y’all sure know how to make a Canadian boy feel right at home here in Jericho.


( Jake isn’t sure which would be worse. )

Title: A Safer Kind of Danger (2/2)
Fandom: Jericho
Author: Evan Nicholas

Pairing: Jake/Hawkins
Summary: The world – all of it, everything – is hanging in the balance.

Warnings: Takes place during (and after) 2x07, Patriots and Tyrants. You may recognize some of the dialogue.
Disclaimer: Oh, if only it were mine… for one thing, we wouldn’t be fighting to bring it back next year. Deep sigh…

A/n:
(1) This has been poking at me since I saw the season (I refuse to concede series) finale, and saw the looks, the simmering eye action between these two, and my throat went dry. I need another fandom like I need a hole in the head, I know, and yet. And yet, and yet.
(2) I sincerely hope that micehell doesn’t mind that I’ve borrowed her Texan hospital room. Imitation as flattery, and all that…

( He ignores most of the city they pass through. )

Title: A Safer Kind of Danger (1/2)
Fandom: Jericho
Author: Evan Nicholas

Pairing: Jake/Hawkins
Summary: The world – all of it, everything – is hanging in the balance.

Warnings: Takes place during (and after) 2x07, Patriots and Tyrants. You may recognize some of the dialogue.
Disclaimer: Oh, if only it were mine… for one thing, we wouldn’t be fighting to bring it back next year. Deep sigh…

A/n:
(1) This has been poking at me since I saw the season (I refuse to concede series) finale, and saw the looks, the simmering eye action between these two, and my throat went dry. I need another fandom like I need a hole in the head, I know, and yet. And yet, and yet.
(2) I sincerely hope that micehell doesn’t mind that I’ve borrowed her Texan hospital room. Imitation as flattery, and all that…

( The soldiers are distracted, tired, restless. )

I'm watching CSI right now - new episode, plot, whatever...

( Spoilers! ...ish... )

SQUEE!

There are less than two weeks left of class before exams start. Please stop giving assignments and tests.

Evan
(on behalf of all of us in Sabourin's SLA class)

...he's back. (cough cough)

Wish I had something interesting to report for the past gestational period, but alas, I don't. A year of school, homework, work-work, volunteering, poorly-timed exams, etc etc... no new writing.

BUT! Come and play in Evan’s archive!

It's new, exciting, fantastic, wonderful, etc etc... mad props to twospots who did all the hard work getting it finished, and I invite everyone to come and investigate. Fun fun fun!

...and nag me shamelessly into finishing the things I said I was going to finish, and then never did. Guilt is a powerful motivator as far as I'm concerned, and I'm all about power!

Ciao,

Evan xxxx

Yesterday was an odd day. But I meant to post:

Happy Independence Day! for all of my American friends. So if we could just sort of pretend that I actually got around to it, and I'm not a pathetic excuse for a person, then I would be hip-hop-happy.