Update: I'm not dead!

[hells_half_acre]

I survived the flu!

I'm nearly back to health now, I just have a slight issue with not being able to eat much of anything. I'm really really hoping this resolves itself in the next day or so... otherwise, I'm going to have to buy a blender and figure out how to make protein shakes or something, because there's no possible way I'm consuming enough calories in a day right now. It's not like I'm throwing up or anything, it's just that my stomach doesn't like food anymore. I have two bites of something and it triggers the same brain response as though I just ate an entire buffet table and will explode any minute.

ANYWAY... while I was sick, I had a rare night of insomnia and wrote (sady, only in my head) so much of the goddamn Merlin fic that I've been working on that my motivation is on that fic right now. I want to get all the dialogue and ideas that I thought of that night typed while they're still relatively fresh.

Originally, I wanted to have it done by Christmas day, which is going to be the one year anniversary of the Merlin finale (which I hated)... even if I work on it as much as I can between now and then though, I'm not sure I'll get it done in time.

There's also the fact that I MIGHT want to get it beta-ed, not necessarily for story, but for grammar, spelling, and using-too-many-words-when-fewer-would-do. That being said, I'm HORRIBLY impatient and since this story is already going to be "late", I highly doubt that I'd be willing to wait for a beta. So, yeah, conflict!

So, we'll see.

And yes, I still have a whole 11 more episodes to go through on S8's rewatch. This is the slowest rewatch I have ever done, and I apologize. I don't know if it's because I'm being way too wordy, if I just don't manage my time as well as I used to, or if I'm actually just busier than I've been before, but... yeah, I wish things were different. The slower the rewatch is, the longer it'll be before the S8 clothing catalog is updated. At this rate, it'll probably be up by the time S9 is over and then people will start asking me when S9 will be up. :P

But hey, could be worse, I never did finish my rewatch of Sherlock S2. :P

Anyway, I hope you are all well!!

Oh, and if you guys weren't aware already Mark Oshiro, who runs Mark Watches and Mark Reads, started watching Supernatural back in October. He just finished S1 (the last two episode reviews will be going up this coming week). I talked about Mark here way back when he was still reading Harry Potter, but he's a really nice guy. His shtick is that he basically comes into books and shows almost completely unspoiled and not knowing what to expect, and then you watch him slowly descend into madness as he discovers the beauty and/or horror of whatever he whatever he is watching/reading. Anyway, I'm having great fun watching him watch Supernatural. (You can download videos of him watching the show). It's all the fun of introducing a friend to Supernatural, with none of them yelling at you to stop looking at them while they try to watch. ;)

If you weren't aware of Mark, and head over there to check him out, please pay attention to his spoiler policy before you comment. Even something as vague as "you'll understand that later..." is considered a spoiler. I think, the only thing Mark is spoiled on when it comes to Supernatural is the existence of angels (he knows there will eventually be an angel character) and the fact that the show can sometimes be problematic and that the fandom can sometimes be absolutely horrible. (Because Mark is active in many fandoms, and not shy in calling out problematic aspects of shows, characters, and writing, I find he tends to come across the worst people more frequently then usual.)

Okay, so, there's an update from me. Alive, drinking orange juice, and still trying to eat a muffin that I bought 6 hours ago.

Comments

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Sending you lots of feel better thoughts! Looking forward to you rewatches whenever you get to them!

I am in Nashville for granddaughter Kira's first Christmas :)

Happy Holidays and hugs!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm hoping to get back to the rewatches soon. :)

Yay for first Christmases!! I hope you have fun with your family!

Hugs and Happy Holidays to you too. :D

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, that Mark Watches thing is absolutely charming! I hope he doesn't end up hating Show; that would be unbearable.

Glad you feel better. Intestinal things (not the flu, technically, since the flu is a respiratory illness) are SO UNPLEASANT.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Oh trust me, it was the flu. The stomach thing is a weird side-effect, caused by the flu, but not a symptom of the flu. Thankfully, it's a stomach problem without being an unpleasant intestinal thing... it's more a problem like, you know, if you've been fasting for three days, you've got to reintroduce foods very slowly and carefully. Basically, that's what happened to me. I spent 3 days mostly unconscious and it's just taking me a bit longer than I'd like to remind my stomach how food works.

Mark Watches is really great! I, too, hope he doesn't end up hating the show- but if he does, that's okay. I'm not too concerned about S1-S5. I've had friends love those seasons but not like S6 enough to continue. Mark, of course, will watch the whole thing, and he's usually pretty reasonable, so I figure even if there's a season or two that he hates, there will be episodes he likes here and there. We'll just have to see how it goes!

He's also watching Veronica Mars right now, which is another show that I love. So, yeah, I've been having a lot of fun over at Mark Watches these days!

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry! I know many people who think they have "stomach flu," which doesn't matter except when they say their flu shot didn't work because they still got the flu. Sorry to lump you in with them! :-)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

No worries! I know a lot of people who do that too... and pretty much everyone I talk to automatically thinks that I mean that my eating problems are related to gastro-intestinal issues caused by a "stomach flu" when it's more of an eating-disorder issue. But, you say the words "eating disorder" and people tend to overreact - and then continue overreacting for the rest of your life. :P

[ramblin_rosie]

Sorry you've been feeling bad! A surgeon friend of mine recommends the BRAT diet when you're dealing with stomach stuff: bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. (Not all at once, mind. ;) ) Stash White Christmas tea might also be good, if you get that up your way--it's white tea with ginger and peppermint, and besides being very tasty, it really helped me when I was dealing with an upset stomach last week.
And YAY for Mark Watches! I came across him when he was doing The Hobbit and LOTR for Mark Reads, and I've been enjoying reading his reviews and his occasional o.O when he says something totally innocent that gets the SPN old-timers laughing.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm dealing mostly with portion-size problems right now, but it definitely doesn't hurt to have things that are easy on the stomach. That White Christmas tea sounds nice too - and also would be handy to have on hand.

Oh, now that I've actually read LOTR myself, I should go back and see what Mark had to say about it! That'd be fun to read.

I just finished watching the video of him watching the S1 SPN finale (I love watching his SPN videos and seeing his reactions in real time - they're so good!) I can't wait for the review to go up this week... talking about getting the SPN old-timers laughing.

I usually don't watch the videos ahead of time, but man, I couldn't resist in this case.

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you are feeling better! And thank you for reminding me about MarkWatches. I was going to check that out and your reminder was just the right timing that I could go right away. I love his comments on Dead Man's Blood. I'm so glad he enjoyed it and for the same reasons we do aye? Oh God...

I wanted to let you know too that I finally finished my video and I think it is good enough for public consumption so if you have time between thinking of your fic and drinking orange juice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlAa5oo9kZE

Merry Christmas :D

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Thanks. MarkWatches is tons of fun. I'm REALLY looking forward to his review of Devil's Trap (I am so impatient).

nice video! I love the song choice. You've got a bit of an empty space problem at the end, but yeah, good job! I've only ever made one video in my life and that was enough of a trial for me. I like the early-season focus of your video - makes me all nostalgic.

Merry Christmas!

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for watching! I was able to fix the blank bit at the end without a redo so I did that right away ;)

[sylvia-locust.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing me to Mark Watches! I was going to check out his Supernatural posts but got sidetracked by the s1 Veronica Mars goodness :)

Feel better!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Mark Watches is the best! I too, often go there to read his Supernatural posts and then get sidetracked by s1 Veronica Mars! Haha, I loved Veronica Mars, so it's been super fun reading his reactions to the episodes - it's been years (YEARS) since I've watched VM though, so it's a trip down fuzzy-memory lane. :P

[phyllis2779.livejournal.com]

Based on your mention, I went over to read Mark Watches SPN. It was a lot of fun and now I'm hooked. One thing I don't understand is what Mark does in his "video commissions" when he watches an episode. Is it any different from what he does in his episode commentary?

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

His "video commissions" are a video of him watching the episode for the very first time. So, you see his reactions in real-time (and hear the audio of the epiode). They're better than they sound. It's how he pays for the site hosting/maintenance - someone will pay $20 for him to record his reactions on video, and then it's 99cents to download (though people are welcome to share them for free, for those who can't afford it, in the comments - so if you want to check one out for free just to see what they're like, you could maybe find a link for one.)

I like the videos, because Mark's reactions are the best... but it really is just watching someone watch the show. So, if you're looking for interesting commentary, it's better just to read what he posts on the site. :)

[phyllis2779.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info.

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you are feeling better. I hope your stomach gets better soon, as well. Sometimes that takes an extra day or two to get back to a more normal feeling.

No hurry on the S8 rewatch. I am still trying to get through the reviews for the aired episodes of S9 that I want to comment on. Once I finish those I will start my S8 rewatch.

I just recently found Mark Watches as well. His reviews come up on my Google SPN search. His reactions and commentary are very interesting. Some I don't completely agree with, but he is entertaining. I haven't watched the videos. You have to pay, and that's just not worth it to me. Plus I have a very short attention span when it comes to things like that. So,I'll just stick with the written reviews.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm back to eating full meals. So, seems everything has recovered nicely. I've got a bit of a lingering cough, but that always happens.

I'm glad you're enjoying Mark Watches! He's human, so opinions and interpretations are always going to vary - he brings his own history and biases to his viewing experience, after all.

The videos are really just for those of us who frequent his site a lot and want to help support it (I have adblock on my computer, so I know I try to give indie sites money in other ways if I can figure out how). The written reviews really cover everything, so you aren't missing anything by not getting the videos - besides seeing him jump out of his chair and say "What the F-!!?" a lot - and laugh/cringe at Dean's jokes. :)

The other thing that's going on these days is that I'm cat-sitting on the side to bring in a little bit of extra money now that I'm working reduced hours at the main job... and MAN, I'm swamped with Christmas visits. It's basically a full time job at the moment, so yeah, finding time to do rewatches is a little hard. Things will start dying down after Christmas though, and then I should have a bit more time on my hands.

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy reading Mark Watches! reviews. Just read his review for 'Devil's Trap' - so fun. Knowing what we know, eight seasons later, it is fun to read his comments and questions about what might happen.