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The Upstairs Archives

~ A random repository of how-to-write and geekery, with an occasional snippet of accidental wisdom.

The Upstairs Archives

Monthly Archives: July 2015

More frustration.

31 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

captain america: the first avenger, emile zola, history, history is cool, history stuff, mix-ups, small rants

Your attention please.

This, is Arnim Zola.

He’s Swiss.

zola's ugly mug

And this is Emile Zola.

He is French.

He is a novelist.

He famously wrote the “J’accuse” letter in the Dreyfuss case.

Emile Zola

He…. looks a bit like Dr. Erskine, actually.

Please, please, PLEASE, internet.

Get your facts straight.

STOP CALLING FREAKING ARNIM ZOLA EMILE ZOLA OR I WILL COME AFTER YOU WITH A MOP AND A FRYING PAN.

*goes off into a corner and sulks*

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Chilly Peppermint Shakes

19 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

food, fun stuff, life, milkshakes, recipes

This is a blog of many pursuits. As proof of this, I present my latest culinary attempt. A triumph? Well, that’s up to you to decide!

  • 1 2/3 cups milk (I used low fat, but two percent or whole milk would also be lovely!)
  • 14 peppermints, crushed
  • Approximately two pints vanilla ice cream
  • A couple more crushed peppermints, for garnish; alternatively, several small candy canes or a few fresh mint leaves

To begin, pour the milk into the blender and add the peppermints. You can either give it a pulse or let the peppermints sit for a moment to dissolve a bit. Scoop in the ice cream. Don’t forget to put the lid on the blender!

Begin running the blender at a lower speed, then increase the speed slowly so that all the ice cream is blended in. Pour into glasses and add garnish. Serve immediately. Makes about four servings.

My siblings loved this, but I’d love to get more feedback! Comment and tell me how the shakes turned out.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Warning: This Post Generated By Extreme Frustration.

18 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

can i have my turning space back now?, life, long rants, people are dumb sometimes, this problem slot has been a problem slot which people park in FOR YEARS

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This is a car.

This is my garage door.

This is my garage door.

This is the relation of the car to my garage door.

This is the relation of the car to my garage door.

I drive a ’96 Volvo 850.

Not mine, but almost identical to mine.

Not mine, but almost identical to mine.

It is a longer vehicle than a sedan. Thus, it can’t turn as tightly as a sedan.

Because I need more turning room, it’s very difficult to pull out of the driveway with that sedan sitting there.

If your feng shui is headed for the dump like that, please just don’t park there. There’s a whole stretch of street up the sidewalk where you could park without being in anybody’s way, yet you save yourself walking thirty feet at the possible cost of a totaled car. What gives?!

(I have another rant about the man who consistently parks eight feet from the stop sign, but that’s one for another day.)

Thank you for your attention. God bless you, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Camp Nanowrimo: More Art-y Stuff

16 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Uncategorized

≈ 12 Comments

I was bored before going to work yesterday. Ergo:

Scanned black and white, pen on sketch paper, and colored in Paint.

Scanned black and white, pen on sketch paper, and colored in Paint.

If you were curious, you might want to zoom in on the drawing. There’s some detail around the face that doesn’t show up well if it’s not close-up.

Anyway, so this is what happens when I’m bored. Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Gallery

Camp Nanowrimo Art Dump 2

14 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Artwork, Bound to the Flame, Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales of a Wandering Bard, Uncategorized

≈ 34 Comments

Tags

a. a. milne, artwork, avengers, bound to the flame, doctor who, dragons, fan art, fantasy, frozen, marvel, novels, star wars, stefan, winnie the pooh, writing

This gallery contains 17 photos.

Some of this, again, is not from camp, or was completed as part of camp. A lot of it, though, …

Continue reading →

Doctor Who fanfiction

07 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

doctor who, epistolary style?, fanfiction, i don't know what i'm doing with my life anymore, short stories

I don’t know what to title this, really. Maybe “Unsent?”

Anyway, Doomsday broke my heart. *hugs Rose* I want Rose to come back to the show…

This is me, trying to think of what the Doctor would’ve wanted to say. I’m a bit embarrassed about it all, but if any of my followers are Doctor Who fans… perhaps a bit of critique would be in order?


Dear Rose Tyler,

Here I am, writing a letter you’ll never read. Sometimes I’m braver that way. It’s easier to say these things when you know that no one will ever hear them.

I just wanted you to know: You were the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time. Even by my standards, a very long time. You gave this jaded old Doctor something to believe in. I’d like to thank you for that. I’m a better man for having known you.

In so many ways, you saved me when I needed you most. So I just wanted to finish the sentence I never got to say.

Rose Tyler, thank you. Never stop it—whatever your secret is… I guess I’ll never know. Never stop being you. Never stop giving people hope and something to believe in.

I hope you’ll have a good life. You were among the best friends I’ve ever had. Even when I sent you home, you didn’t give up on me. Now go turn around and do that for someone else. Someone who needs help.

Oh, never mind. You know what to do.

Rose Tyler, you were and are fantastic. (Never forget that.)

Sincerely,

Your Doctor


 

*cries again* Yes, this is my life.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Gallery

Camp Nanowrimo: Art Dump

05 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Artwork, Living Life with Passion, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

artwork, avengers, camp nanowrimo, camp nanowrimo july 2015, captain america, cats, doctor who, dogs, jack harkness is licking all over the doctor because he can, marvel, nanowrimo, national novel writing month, original fiction, star wars

This gallery contains 11 photos.

  Hello, everyone! This year, in an attempt to be witty, I decided to rebel for this month’s Camp Nanowrimo. …

Continue reading →

What IS Art?

04 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

This is a lot easier to understand than my art teachers’ versions! Also more pertinent, in my opinion 😉

Dark Link/Light Link

I had a couple of hours to kill in the bath and decided to try and answer the unanswerable question – and found out pretty quickly why it’s considered unanswerable. Nonetheless, I came up with my own crude answer, and I’ll try to summarise the key points of my reasoning here.

Disclaimer: I have not read anything at all on the subject. This entire train of thought has probably been conceived of and subsequently debunked a thousand times before! I’m just a kid with some time to kill and a few ideas.

View original post 865 more words

Writing Prompts

01 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales of a Wandering Bard

≈ 136 Comments

Tags

bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, captain america, doctor who, fanfiction, fun stuff, marvel, plot prompts, star wars, the avengers

I found a grape when I went to bed last night. (Thanks a lot, Harold.)

Anyway, that was actually my sister’s doing. We were watching Doctor Who and sitting on my bed and she was eating grapes. (Fortunately, there were no grape stains, thanks for asking 😉 )

But I had an idea.

It’s not something I usually do.

Okay, here are some prompts for fanfiction and/or short stories!

First of all, the universal fandom prompt:

Character you don’t often write. Random household object. Random cameo by anyone (from that fandom, real life, or other fandom, I don’t care which.) Love it, hate it, take it, or leave it?

Go!

Bruce stared tiredly at the salad spinner. It might have been staring back at him, but he wasn’t certain. If it had eyes, he couldn’t tell where they were.

Behind him, the kitchen door opened and closed. The footfalls were evenly spaced, light, but with weight behind each one. Bruce rubbed his eyes. It was just too late for this.

“I never did get the point of that contraption,” Steve Rogers said, nodding at the spinner. “Why crank something up or pop batteries in when you can just…” He mimed tossing something into the air. Bruce cracked a smile. Instantly, Steve honed in on the tiredness emanating from his fellow Avenger. “Doctor Banner… are you all right?”

“Fine. I just need to sleep for a week.” Steve half-smiled, but his concern was still obvious. It was… nice, for a change. “But I can’t yet. Delicate experiment, hours setting it up, still not quite done… Talk to me. Where have you been?”

“West coast.” Steve leaned back against the counter top; it creaked softly. “Some maniac thought that he could ‘accelerate to the next stage of evolution’ by just setting off a bigger and better bomb. Believe it or not, we actually pulled out the inner workings of the bomb–after it was deactivated–and locked him inside the casing until the cops got there. Tony offered me to stay the night in Malibu, but…” The helplessness in the younger man’s eyes pulled at Bruce’s soul. Steve and Tony were friends–he would even go so far as to say that, if they had been switched as children, they would have grown into each other–but that very likeness sometimes drove them apart. They were both stubborn, with quick tempers and often said or did things in anger that they would regret later. Steve was struggling to connect, quite literally taken aback while he tried–probably futilely–to think things out.

“I’m sorry.” Bruce sighed. He had been running too long, and while he had been away, emotion and human relationships had gotten even more complicated.

“It’s not your fault.” Steve said.

Back at the Battle of New York, just after the end, Bruce remembered looking at Steve and seeing him, twenty-seven years old, and looking very lost. Next to the rest of them, he was practically a kid.

“It’s too early in the morning to be philosophical about a salad spinner,” he said.

Steve laughed.

Now for the actual fandom prompts!

Star Wars:

Before the prequels: Obi-Wan has a rough night (is the kid sick or just not sleeping?) and Qui-Gon is trying to ignore the television in the background.

Obi-Wan doesn’t like these new shoes.

Siri is going undercover as “Miss Corellia”. Obi-Wan tries on her heels in an attempt to cheer her up but probably also succeeds in incurring injuries.

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon don’t always understand each other. Of course, that’s only to be expected when their minds work on entirely different wavelengths.

Prequel Era: Anakin notices something he didn’t before. Padme lights candles. Obi-Wan writes. (Any or all of the above. Is it wrong that I love the thought of Obi-Wan with a pen and ink?)

Original Trilogy: Han makes no sense when he has a concussion. Leia hates it when people give her new lingerie pieces. Luke/Books OTP (‘nough said.) Any or all.

Avengers/Marvel:

Hair cut. Reading aloud. Cooking. Generally being domestic.

Sam Wilson being awesome.

Steve Rogers being a dork (because let’s face it, he is. He is representative of the best side of America. ^_^)

Tony Stark inventing a new language (which only Pepper can understand.)

Coulson plus hat.

Loki falls down the stairs. And sulks. And turns himself into a cat.

All the Avengers dress up as each other for a day.

Any or all, whichever you like.

(Please note: I like adding Peter Parker to the Avengers, especially when he brings out Steve’s little-kid side *winkwink*)

Doctor Who:

The Doctor has an allergy (otherwise known as the Doctor needs a doctor.)

Rose Tyler makes her own jewelry. Turns out that her mad skills with needle-nose pliers come in handy.

Mickey Smith is not a tin robot dog. He’s the only sane person aboard the TARDIS.

(This one’s for Iris!) Donna Noble is not having a good day. The Doctor tries to cheer her up, but (predictably) things don’t go as he had planned.

Window boxes are the third item on the list of things the Doctor loves about Planet Earth.

the Doctor/Owl City music OTP.

Merlin:

Merlin has a cold. This has bizarre effects on his magic. (As usual, Gaius is looking into it.)

Gaius is feeling down. Merlin tries to cheer him up. Naturally, pandemonium ensues.

Merlin cheering up Gwen/Guinevere.

Merlin is Gwen’s wingman.

Merlin ships Arwen (for those of you who haven’t heard the term before, that’s Arthur/Gwen).

Merlin vs. the Orange.

Merlin vs. the Grapefruit.

Gwaine doing ANYTHING (because the man is ridiculous and an incorrigible flirt. Seriously, he’s like they recycled Captain Jack Harkness and then added an extra gallon of ridiculous.)

Gwaine/Food OTP.

Sherlock:

John takes up photography. Mrs. Hudson gets a new photo album. Sherlock re-invents color film.

Sherlock has a new hobby.

John can cook.

John knocks Sherlock out cold.

A goat tries to eat part of Sherlock’s coat.

Lestrade is a secret musician.

*rubs hands together* There we go!

Okay, if these prompts inspire you, then please send me a link to your finished pieces–I’d love to see what you come up with!

Ready. Set.

GO!

Archivist of Selay’uu’s Journal: Fourth Of July Shenanigans

01 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by erinkenobi2893 in Living Life with Passion, Story Dynamics, Tales from Selay'uu, Tales of a Wandering Bard, Uncategorized

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

avengers, because food, brian jacques, c.s. forester, cressida cowell, doctor who, enthusiasm, fireflies, fireworks, food, horatio hornblower, how to train your dragon, humor, i have been neglecting my fandoms, independence day, j.r.r. tolkien, john flanagan, marvel, novels, ranger's apprentice, redwall, selay'uu, shame on me, shoes, star wars, taysee is the goddess of mischief and loki is jealous, the lord of the rings, writing, YEAH!

The Selay’uu Mansion has never seen such a hubbub since its founding. Not even at Christmas were things this mad (well, especially given that, on Christmas, the Doctor was probably off saving the world again; Obi-Wan was trying to arrange the New Year’s Ball on Coruscant–I swear that someone in the Senate must hate him, since it’s not protocol for a Jedi to be named Master of Ceremonies–when he wasn’t trying to restore order to the Jedi Order; Will, Gilan and Halt were celebrating in Araluen with Pauline, Alyss, and the now-royal family {Duncan, Evanlyn, and Horace}; Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship were celebrating at Sam and Rosie’s; and just about everyone else went home to celebrate with their families. I actually invited Horatio home to celebrate with us and pretended he was my date when going to some college-sponsored thing. It was all good fun.)

And the reason?

Not one, but two, of our friends’ birthdays were coming up, on the Fourth of July. Of course, one of those birthdays is pretty obvious (Steve Rogers’), but the other might surprise you.

Horatio Hornblower was born on the exact same day the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Ever since Alex, Siri, Rose and I had come to that conclusion, we had concluded there was only one thing to do–naturally, to hold a combined double birthday party and Independence Day celebration!

Of course, Gandalf was in charge of most of the fireworks, but other than that, it was up to us. Siri attacked the kitchen with gusto, explaining American staples such as potato salad to Rose with grave attention. Alex showed her artistic side with her inventively gorgeous decorations.

But now–this morning–the morning of the Fourth of July–we were into the last-minute crunch zone, and we still weren’t ready.

I was in charge of the cakes and had a corner of the kitchen to myself. Chocolate ganache was cooling on the stove, as was a coconut and pecan concoction in another pan. When in doubt, go with German chocolate and strawberry shortcake. The shortcake and strawberry sauce were already hiding in the refrigerator, Bucky was making short work of the whipped cream (with nothing other than his metal arm), and Obi-Wan, who we had taken into confidence, was outside working at the grill with Connor and Nat, who was trying to teach Connor the finer points of lighting a grill with no fluid.

I poured the last of my concoction onto the cake, shouted at Bucky that if he made a mess he’d have to clean it up himself and then make more, and heard a hiss. I whirled around and almost burst into tears as I saw the pudding I had attempted emitting black smoke. It had burned on. Hurriedly, Siri grabbed the pot and rushed it to the sink. “Boiled dry,” she said.

“I guess I’ll just have to do custard, then,” I said in defeat.


 

The Doctor finally brought Steve back from wherever it was they had gone, and Horatio was back from buying new shoes with Archie (we wear out an awful lot of shoes around here–mostly, I blame the Doctor). Both the Doctor and Archie were in on the surprise, so they delayed the two birthday boys outside until Bucky texted Archie to tell them that we were ready. Then they guided them inside. Bucky bulled into Steve in a tackling hug and Archie put his hand on Horatio’s shoulder as everyone shouted in unison. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Then it was chaos.

Tony Stark produced a pie tin filled with whipped cream out of nowhere and smashed it into Steve’s face– “a little white to go with your red and blue!” Horatio tried to escape, but Bush caught him–and hugged him. Steve caught Tony around the waist and picked him up, threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and then sat him firmly down on the sofa next to a laughing Pepper. Will jumped on Steve from the rafters and gave him a hug. Someone started tickling Taysee, the resident youngling and purveyor of pranks and mischief, and the resulting shrieks of laughter threatened to deafen everyone. Obi-Wan clapped Horatio on the shoulder and then got tackled by Siri.

Dinner was no calmer. I pulled the pot roast out of the oven, and we put together our tremendous buffet. Fortunately, there was more than enough food for everyone. Clint Barton stuffed a whole bread roll in his mouth just to prove a point, to a chorus of “Ewws” from the girly-girls who were mostly marginalized. Calypso got over-excited and did a handstand on the table, nearly falling into the over-sized punch bowl full of lemonade. Sandy demonstrated a complex flip over the table, somehow not destroying anything as she went. Meg had expressed a desire to eat nothing but ice cream for dinner, but we convinced her to at least eat a roll first.

And then it was time for presents. Tony (of course) insisted that they open his presents first, to which everyone responded with an eyeroll and a “Sure, Tony.” But he had gotten them both lovely warm scarves, so we all chorused “Awwww”, deliberately, to embarrass him.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut had given them both incomprehensible drawings. Hiccup had entirely redesigned Steve’s gear harness with a more secure clip for the shield and a loop that would prevent it from shifting around when he did backflips. Will presented Horatio with a new pair of socks and forever debunked the myth that knitting is unmanly. The Doctor, who had recently taken apart Horatio’s watch in an attempt to fix something else, presented him with a new one, fitted with miniaturized navigational equipment, as an apology. Matthias gave Steve an IOU for lessons on how to better use his shield against opponents with bladed weapons. Everyone had come up with useful and fun things to give them. (I had knitted them each a throw, over a long stretch of time and with no little difficulty.)

At the end of the night, there was not much incident with the fireworks, except that there was a Dragon Incident (as always.) This time, though, it was not Merry and Pippin–who behaved themselves and limited themselves to setting off fountains–but the twins.

At last, we all had s’mores, even though it was a second (or even third) dessert for most of us, but who cares? S’mores don’t count, because there are always more of them.

At the end of the night, Horatio had a pocket full of fireflies and Steve had to carry Obi-Wan inside–I guess I’ve been working him too hard lately.

All in all, it was a lovely Fourth of July, and went off with surprisingly little fuss. I suppose that should make me worry about the future, but for now, I think I’ll just enjoy the moment.

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