I'm ending the decade where I began it; in a small town in Canada with my family around me, but there have been changes.

Lauren's only nine, so that tells you one of them.

Stoke are back in the Premiership.

And it's hard to believe but back then I hadn't written any fiction and slash was a verb with a single meaning for me.

I'd been writing reams on various newsgroups (damn good training for being concise, witty, and accurate since any failing in the latter meant that you got toasty feet pretty soon) of course, and so I suppose it was inevitable that once I discovered fanfic I'd have a moment of tremble-kneed bravado and mutter fiercely, I can do this, too, I CAN! And in MY fic, Buffy and Spike WILL get it on, they WILL.

But, umm, not for a while, because writing kisses made me blush back then. Yes.

This decade, I got published. Non-fiction first; The Heinlein Journal published two articles by me in its January 2000 edition, and in the years that followed, printed several more. Then I achieved a lifelong ambition and had a novel published and got to hold the paperback edition of 'Drawing Closer' in my hands. Now I have a shelf with paperbacks on it that have my name on the spine and wow. Just wow. Sheesh. YES! ::pumps fist::

Live Journal has been a home for me since 2005. I got here curious, ignorant, a typical newbie, and as prone to kerfuffles as a puppy is to puddles on the floor. I made friends and enemies (and Fandom Wank, heh) but it's been a while since I made waves. I guess maybe I did learn some sense along the way. I love that friends from those newsgroups are here too; the net isn't separate islands, or if it is, they bump into each other and people can visit.

So I guess for me, this has been the decade where I discovered a new passion, a new home, a new talent, a new addiction -- or an old one, reading, viewed from the other side.

I love writing, I love what I write, and I love being here with all of you.

I'm sorrowful that over those years, some of my LJ friends have died, leaving behind memories, comments to come across on old posts, icons to smile over. Too many names on that list. I miss you all.

In the spirit of the night:

"Here's tae us.
Whae's like us?
Damn few
And they're a' deid"

Happy New Year. Here's to the next decade being a good one for us all.

Changing the batteries on the TARDIS playset is a pain, isn't it? The whole thing falls apart, so it's a bit of a design flaw. Although you could argue that re-powering the TARDIS always tends to result in disaster, anyway, so, yeah, maybe they're just being realistic.

Although. That wasn't why I'm posting. I'm posting because one bit of the set seems to be broken. Even after I'd fixed the batteries and after the Doctor and the Masters had been having magical ritual sex on the console to bring it back to life. Can you guess which bit magically stopped working?

The dematerialisation.

That's right.

I'm expecting my Doctor to start turning into Jon Pertwee any minute now. I hope Roger Delgado comes along and points and laughs.

End of voting is midnight New Year's Day, Central Time USA. (Countdown shown on Best of Twitter site.)

Team_Barrowman is currently on page 16 (close to 17) out of 270. Here's the link to the site: Best of Twitter 2009

The site says you can vote every 20 minutes, so you have approx. 5-1/3 hours, which gives you...101 votes to get in for them! Go for it!

Would a brain injury at birth caused by lack of oxygen show up on an MRI/CAT scan in an adult? Setting aside the fact that obviously they would have developmental issues, would the damage be visible on those scans or does the plastic nature of the brain "remodel" it by adulthood to such an extent that you couldn't see it? Is there even a "change" you could see?

So far I've searched for-
"anoxic brain inury long term" "anoxic brain injury" "cerebral hypoxia at birth" "HIE" "hypoxic encephalopathy" and checked wiki, as well as a few books at the library whose titles were complicated. Are there other terms for the diffuse brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen?
I've searched every variation I can think of, but the only thing that ever comes up are ambulance chaser websites and websites devoted to adults who got brain injuries during their lifetime, not during their birth.

Round 5 is now open for nominations.

If you want to read regular posts letting you know when we are updating the site or contacting authors you can follow us on Twitter. I'll just be doing weekly posts here letting you know how many nominations we have up and how many are pending.

For those of you that have asked, there will be fewer posts asking for help/opinions/comments here and therefore fewer explanations of what is going on in the mod side of things because it wasn't working out. It is simply less stressful for us if we stop trying to explain every step of our decision process. If you have a question you are more than welcome to use the contact information on the website or PM me with your questions though. Same with suggestions, we are still willing to hear what you have to say we simply aren't doing posts to ask anymore.

My last story of 2009, a VERY silly 100-word BtVS / Battlestar Galactica crossover...

The One Where Nobody Believes The Accident Report

Title – Won’t You Guide My Sleigh, Tonight?
Author – laurab1
Pairing – Nine/Jack
Rating – PG
Length – 355 words
Spoilers – New Who 1.10, the BBC One idents for Christmas 2009
Summary – Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!
Disclaimer – alas, none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!

North Pole, Christmas Eve, who knows what year. Someone’s taking an unexpected break.

Title – Won’t You Guide My Sleigh, Tonight?
Author – laurab1
Pairing – Nine/Jack
Rating – PG
Length – 355 words
Spoilers – New Who 1.10, the BBC One idents for Christmas 2009
Summary – Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!
Disclaimer – alas, none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!

North Pole, Christmas Eve, who knows what year. Someone’s taking an unexpected break.

Short year in review.

Nothing big happened for me in 2009, other than my sister moving back to Texas. \o/ Sad about not getting to visit Portland anymore, but I'll take the trade to have her closer to home.

Friends around me all had life changing events - finding love, buying houses, getting engaged, having babies, getting deployed. My dad had the lap band surgery and his life is changing by the day. Evil started high school and dyed her hair blond. She's getting along better with her father now and has accepted that he's remarried and she's got step-brothers.

I made it through another year with no major health problems (no strokes) and was diagnosed with polycythemia vera. Which is a good thing, since now we can keep an eye on my blood counts and prevent any further problems and/or strokes. Fit into size 8 jeans, which I haven't done in years.

Went down to Austin to go to the screening/premiere of Christian Kane's movie "Donner Party" and attended the after party/concert.

Was an extra in the movie Minuteman that stars Riley Smith, Willa Ford and Christian Kane.

Got through compiling and publishing our director's book at work (done every 3 years), which was a pain in the ass. Took over writing an additional two-page column in the magazine.

Discovered and fell in love with Aion.

All I hope for in 2010 is that I can find someone to love me. I'll even settle for some romance, if love's out of the question. I'm done with being the booty call of choice. I don't want to get married or even cohabitate - all I want is for someone to ask me out on a date where we talk and enjoy each others' company, fully clothed. I know it's an age-old plea (and not a new one for womankind) but dammit, it's still valid, right?

My new year's celebration is up in the air. I was going to spend it home with Evil, watching Anderson's Big Gay party on CNN and eating black-eyed peas and cornbread, but her dad called and wanted her to come over. So instead of spending it in front of the tv alone, I think I'll go to the karaoke bar, instead. I know all my friends that I usually hang out with there are either still out of town or celebrating elsewhere, but it's something to do. I'll sing some bad 80s pop songs and have a couple of beers.

Here's to hoping 2010 will be an upgrade!

I've tried Googling "British peerage," "line of sucession," "dukedom inheritance," and "what happened to a duke who was injured beyond recovery?"

In my book, the eldest of two brothers becomes the duke after his father's death, but only a few years later he is thrown from his horse during a fox hunt. He doesn't die, but he suffers permanent brain damage.

Would his younger brother take over his title, even though he's not technically dead?

I'd really appreciate any help anyone could offer!

Happy New Year!!!

The I Am Meme. My thread is here. There’s also the End of the Year Appreciation Meme. My thread is here.

From Mental Floss: 5 Ways Doctor Who Made A Difference.

Two more clips from The End of Time Part 2 have been released. The first one is here—the second one is here. And two new images have been released, as well.

Hi everyone,

I believe this is my first time posting here.

I just had a question for anyone who may be able to assist me.

I'm currently working on a novel (fiction - thriller). The opening chapter is to begin with a 911 call being placed by a woman in distress. The novel is written in third-person perspective, past tense. So, how would the conversation take place?

Every time I try to play it out, I think of news segments or scripts in which it is written something like this:

Dispatch: 911, what's your emergency?
Caller: Someone's been shot.
Dispatch: Who's been shot? Where are you calling from?
...etc.

This, obviously, won't work in my novel...so...what are my options?

I tried looking through previous entries and tags and found nothing that fit exactly what I'm looking for. Hopefully this is allowed and on-topic.

Any and all advice, criticism and/or opinions are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks!

Tried googling "withstanding torture," "surviving torture," "how to survive torture," etc.

I'm looking for websites, books, etc. that detail specific techniques used to withstand torture. Everything I've found on Google is geared towards recovery from past torture/ritual abuse, rather than techniques used while torture is taking place to stay sane. I know that military personnel are taught this kind of thing, but I can't seem to find a resource that gives details on what they are taught.

I've got a character who is an experienced spy, and he is waterboarded and interrogated/emotionally abused early on in my story. I want to establish how horrific the torture is, but I also want him to come across as someone who's been tortured before and knows how to deal with it.

Any help would be appreciated!