Can I Call in Run Over?

[itsallovernow]

Dragged my ass out of bed this morning at 8:30 a.m. (technically I'm supposed to be at work at 8:30 a.m.) because I'd spent half an hour batting the cat away and contemplating calling in dead. Exhaustion + allergies is a hell of a thing. But once you actually get out of the bed ( a requirement for me to either call or e-mail in dead, not coming to work), it's hard to convince yourself to not get dressed and go to work. So here I am. Admittedly, I still have eyelash glue gumming up my upper eyelides, but my butt's in my seat and I'm marginally more functional than I expected to be.

Cairo Carnivale is over, and the show went far better than expected, went better frankly than it should, although I'm appalled by my body in the photos and have cancelled my unused gym membership so that I can join the Hollywood YMCA and start scheduling my life around getting less puffy. I'm in decent shape (you can't dance four times a week and not be in decent shape, but decent is a far cry from good and I hate the fat. I don't want to be starlet thin, I just want to not have fat in unseemly places. It's one of the drawbacks of being so much bigger than everyone anyway. I don't want to be a giant, and be BIG. Healthy, sure. I want my hips and my ass, and my breasts, but I don't want this pooch on my tummy - unearned - or this flab on my arms or on my thighs, and it makes me feel like a virulent anti-feminist to CARE so much about how I look to other people, but to a certain extent, I've come to terms to what it means to me. I use my body. I like what it can do, and I'll like it more if it's shape can bring me more work.)

Since rubberneck was drinking the crack Kool-Aid that is SGA, I ended up reading several SGA stories this weekend ( a direct line which can be traced from _minxy_ reccing frostfire_17's Here is No Water which is insanely hot Mitchell/Shephard and I wanted more of that, but there was none to be found and so I went seeking SGA because I find Mitchell/Daniel sort of off-putting and have read all the other stories in SG-1 for Season 9 that hit my particular kinks. And while I've no interest in the real crackfic, I do finally get the appeal of McKay/Shephard in the right hands. And yeah, it gives me all sorts of slashy thoughts (not writing, but appeal thoughts, why some, but not much, of it works for me, and why this pairing in particular works for me in a show I don't watch and don't much care about but most Jack/Daniel bores me to tears, and why most early SG-1 also bores me but those are totally different discussions).

And it also makes me think about gender and attitude, and the prevailing adoration in fandom for asshole geniuses - i.e. House and Rodney McKay - and whether that adoration would be equally lavished on a female genius who was also an asshole and it cements my feeling that I just don't like that trope. It doesn't ping for me because I know a lot of incredibly bright people, and while very few of them suffer fools gladly, they're mostly not assholes unless pressed, and well, most of them are women, so there's that. But I've also known academic geniuses and the absent-minded professor stereotype is far more prevalent than the asshole one. I just, I don't like people who are cruel because they can be. And petty arrogance is a needless type of cruelty. While I am generally fond of the cranky, I don't think it's a quality to emulate and I don't like the way that it tends to be... indulged in certain shows and in certain fandoms. I think a character like Anya is tolerated because she's been set up to have no brain/mouth control, but she's not cruel, just self-involved. Shrug. I'm not sure where I'm going with this truthfully, but it's definitely something that occurred to me lying on the couch like a slug last night watching the pilot of House because I was too lazy to turn the channel and the Tony's were over.

Finally, I have Vala/Mitchell porn 98% done because crankygrrl wanted Vala porn and I'm just not invested enough in Daniel to reward him with sex. The pairing's a stretch, but it's porn, not love, so... and I wouldn't mind another (would welcome in fact - HELP HELP) another set of eyes to tell me whether or not it's wildly off base or a total failure or what. Volunteers?

Comments

[raithen.livejournal.com]

oooh! Thea Porn....

ahem. Moving on ;). no wait, first. **smooches** to Cranky for eliciting this ;)

I'd offer eyes, but I haven't seen S9. they insist on reairing the same 12 eps from S2 on our local channel, so that is all I've really seen, except for the ahemed first two S9 eps...

So I'd be no help, and I'll wait for the "official" posting ;).

also: calling in dead. what an appealing thought. Instead, since I am here, and it is lunch time, I am going shoe shopping! ;).

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, shoes!!

Mostly I need someone to tell me if it works AT ALL, and sadly, one sort of needs to see the eps:) But thanks dear!

[raithen.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it works. (there is porn, right? it works. TRUST me ;) *evil laugh* :D).

But I can't actually TELL you that. And there are FAR more capable eyes out there than mine....

eat food, then SHOES! Need. Sandals ;).

[geekturnedvamp.livejournal.com]

How long is it? I would love to read it (and will of course read it anyway when you post it), but I can't promise to be able to get back to you fast if it's too long for me to get to before I leave work in a couple of hours... whatever, feel free to email me at my username at yahoo if you haven't found anyone yet because Vala porn by you is a GOOD THING.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Thanks!!! I've got some details to iron out, and a few other volunteer betas!! Thanks so much for offering though! It's much appreciated! And hee - I hope the confidence in my porn skills ends up being justified:)

[kernezelda]

I can look at it when I get home around six-thirty CDT, if you like. :)

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Thanks honey!

[sevathediva.livejournal.com]

Yay! Vala porn!

I'm totally with you on the feminist/self-perception thing, except that for me it's makeup. I shouldn't have to put on a fake (though prettier) face to influence the way people perceive/judge me. I've been spoiled in this in that, as a night nurse, nobody cares what you look like as long as your hair is brushed and you look clean and groomed.

Now that I'm working days, though, I find that a nice coat of paint...er makeup...really unfluences the way I'm perceived as a professional, and this in turn influences how compliant patients and/or family members are. And compliance is the key.

Still....I shouldn't have to be pretty (or make the attempt) to be perceived as a skilled professional.

So, yeah...will quit spamming you now.

seva

[loligo.livejournal.com]

Oh! I am so looking forward to the Vala/Mitchell porn!! Frankly, Daniel bores me, too. (I'd love to see a story where Vala and Cam meet John & Aeryn, and it triggers an existential crisis -- and porn -- for the SG-1 characters.)

I've only seen one episode of House, but his obnoxiousness struck me as more offensive, whereas Rodney's is more defensive, but that could just be because I've seen so much more of Rodney, including his good side. I would be thoroughly enchanted by a female arrogant genius character along Rodney's lines. (Um, actually, that would pretty much be my college roommate / matron of honor, and yeah, I've been friends with her for nearly 20 years.)

[rubberneck.livejournal.com]

I agree with Loligo, that Rodney's totally a dick as a defensive mechanism. Not that I have more than a passing familiarity with the canon character, but it was pretty clear in the few eps of SG-1 that I saw him in that he put people off to save time and injury and having to deal with people who likely wouldn't want to understand him even if they could. A hermitage built entirely of abrasive personality traits.

I think he works so well paired with Sheppard because Sheppard has a similar deal going, only his defense shield is made of charisma and sarcastic calm; a totally different flavour of hard-shelled nut to crack, but still, nearly nothing penetrates. The idea of them knowing about or figuring out the secret door to the other's personality is intriguing.

[cofax7]

See, y'all are getting Daniel version 2, also. He's always been arrogant, but his arrogance comes across as complacence nowadays, which almost no one finds attractive. In earlier days he was a bit more excitable. Plus, the chemistry with Jack was undeniable.

However I am vastly amused by the Daniel/Vala dynamic, since she rattles his cage something awful. Heh. And yeah, sometimes you get porn with that.

[fialka.livejournal.com]

Funny, I'm the opposite. After two years of both House and Rodney, I can understand why House is the way he is - not just the emotionally stunted genius, but as someone who's in constant physical and emotional pain. Rodney's whining, OTOH, has just gotten increasingly grating to me, to the point where I don't enjoy watching SGA anymore because I all I want to do whack him over the head with a nail-studded two-by-four.

YMMV, of course *G*

Have you tried Bones for the female arrogant genius? For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, that one's working very well for me.

Oh, and T?? Shout-out here, if you still need beta. Otherwise I'll have to go on editing this conference paper for next week, and frankly I think a good distraction will be more productive than further tinkering.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Bones is working very well for me on that level:) And you know, it shouldn't. The pacing of the show is odd, and I often can't tell if the characterization is Emily Deschanel's weird speech patterns or actual acting, but something about the show makes me grin and grin and grin.

And hee - Cofax and Kerne are already stabbing at it with their respective sporks!! But the offer is much, much appreciated! I'd be happy to send it over though, if you want to give it a once over! It certainly can't hurt. Thank you!!

[fialka.livejournal.com]

Sure, go on, though I'm sure they're doing their sporkalicious best already.

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Hee - yeah. Kerne has politely (she's always incredibly polite) said that my prose style is... repetetive:) And that commas are my friends.