Does Russia Even Have A Volleyball Team?

Another NaNo class character sketch - this one of a 22-year-old volleyball player who grew up on the run from the Russian mafia. Yes, I /know/. I kind of want there to be more of this, if only so I can try to capture that feeling I always have watching surf movies that show them on the beach in the late afternoon, with the heavy, pink-golden ocean sunlight.

 

( there was a place on Ocean Avenue, where I used to sit and talk with you )

I don't know what it is with me and hooker!fic lately, but I'm pretty sure this is leading into how Alex hustled to support himself in California.
 

I AM EPIC FAIL

Bad: staying up until 3 in the morning because I decide that reading SGA AUs and writing about volleyball playing Russian hookers is more important than sleeping.

Worse: somehow accidentally turning my alarm off, so that instead of getting up at 11, eating lunch and going to Japanese class and Linguistics section, I wake up at 3.00 in the afternoon. *headdesks* My roommate was surprisingly unperturbed that I woke up and immediately started swearing profusely. I /hate/ days when my first words are "son of a motherfucker!"

I did manage to make it to work. I was supposed to start on the phones tonight, but HR hasn't added me to the books yet, so I couldn't get on the system. I ended up just listening to calls with this really nice girl who was always from New Mexico, always a nice surprise. Hopefully when I have my shift on Saturday this will all be sorted out. I really want to do some calls!


Some Songs Mostly About Feminism (but also robots)

1. A Thousand Ships by Katy Droge

And again of me no one did ask
Whether I would want to start a war,
whether I'd fulfil my fate-set task,
whether I did truly wish for more.
Now the master of my fate is young.
He has brought me to the walls of Troy.
When the deeds of war are fin'lly sung
Who will call him selfish, lovesick boy?

An Illiad song about Helen of Troy, because for all the she's the "face that launched a thousand ships" what she thought about it all doesn't get much play.  Katy Droge has a song about Morgan le Fey up for a Pegasus Award this year that I am trying like mad to get ahold of.

2. Archetype Cafe - Talis Kimberly

And before Lady Mac thanked the speakers
The questions rang out from the floor
We challenged our daughters' perceptions to change
And we challenged our sons' even more
Oh they'll tell you Boudicca took poison, Circe was
Wicked, and Sovay was hung they'll tell you
Evita was idolised, Mary was holy &
Pure, Juliet was too young

Archetype Cafe is where all the misrepresented women of history meet for dinner on Wednesdays. This is apparently a classic, and well deserved, too.

3. Ladies Don't Do Those Things by Escape Key

I was born of a storm as my kind tend to be
But I'd never look more than mere woman to thee
For "woman" in this world means captive and slave
But freedom's the power that my heritage gave

'Twas in my first lifetime it came to a head
When the man I called father would force me to wed
"But it's travel I want, and to see the wide world!"
I still hear him now, saying

"Ladies don't do those things!"

I've put up lyrics to Michelle Dockrey/Escape Key/Vixy & Tony songs before, and for good reason - her voice is /amazing/, and she writes some really fantastic songs too. The Girl That's Never Been and Persephone are probably two of my favorite songs ever, and Mal's Song is a great Firefly filk. This is a strange but very interesting song that incorporates Queen Elizabeth, New World settlers, and dragons.

4. Collars by Escape Key

Catherine's mind was racing as she went to look for Flynn
She hoped it wasn't trouble with the Ministry again
She knew that he'd been working on an artificial mind
Computer-based intelligence, to think & learn designed
He was focused on the registry AI's must undergo
For what these "collar programs" really did, no one seemed to know

And the tales of our creations never change with what we tell
How we dream of something better than ourselves

This song is about two scientists who create an AI. Very nifty, and a little bit heart-breaking. And again, Michelle Dockrey love!

5. I Kissed A Boy by Cobra Starship

Me and my bros that’s how we roll, you never know how far we’ll go
I’ll grab some chump that I don’t know
And plant one right on him
You’re only here for our amusement

I kissed a boy and they liked it
Got all the honeys in the club excited
I kissed a boy just to start shit
That homeboy was not about it

Yes, I /know/. This is a /very/ silly song. And my brain is really sad and perverted - I've listened to this song ten times in the last few days, and I still keep hearing "she wants a secure dude" as "she wants a 'suck your dick' dude". *blushes*

Speaking of Escape Key, my brain has apparently decided that Persephone is a Clark/Lex song. WTF? The weird thing is, it does work kind of perfectly.