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Harvard referencing ... (no, it's interesting, honest)
Today I got another new copy of the library handout on Harvard referencing (because I never can get it right without the pattern in front of me).

Example used by CCN library?

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Television programme:
'Title of episode' (Year of transmission) Title of programme, Series number, episode number. Name of channel, Date of transmission (Day Month).

'A Day in the Death' (2008) Torchwood, Series 2, episode 10. BBC2, 5 March.

---

:-)

Useful!

I dreamed I made a universe
I dreamed it was the end of the universe and the remaining people were using up the last picoseconds with their awareness stretched so it seemed like lifetimes. Then someone started dancing, and they got bigger and bigger, and they had 6 arms and kept changing, like they had green skin or blue skin or were a muscular man or a giant woman, but they were using up the last of the universe with their dancing so the end of time had come. But I smiled, cause I'd realised something. I put a drop of my blood on a cloth and gave it to a cute guy, and I smiled, and then I spun and jumped and went into the heart of a star, and took all that shine, and Became, and there was a new universe and it was me. And that was pretty blessed cool, I can tell you. Big SWOOSH and spinning out out out and every bit of me becoming every bit of everything. Joyous.

And then I made some people, all the people I carried in my heart, many many of them. But I made them new, because it was a new universe. And that was good too. I made some of them red and some of them gold, because I thought it was pretty. But then I realised they'd gone and made up stories about it, like they'd seen that the burgundy was genetically dominant so they'd decided those people were my chosen and the saffron was there for them to dominate. Which made me *facepalm*. They had this big story where the burgundy people were the real people and the saffrons were from the outer darkness and technically giants, and all that story meant was they'd made up a reason they could be mean as they liked and be the most people and still think of themselves as the little people and the others as the big bullies. You go and make up people, and they go and be people all over again. Made me sad. Especially since there was this one person, one of the ones with 'giant' ancestors, and I liked him really rather a lot. And he looked like Julian Bashir and he was a doctor and he cared for everyone even if they didn't want his kind around. And I figured there was some stuff I'd never got around to doing in the first universe so one of me could have a go at it now. And while I was down there I could go explain I loved everyone, and they could all be happy.

And that worked pretty good until someone put a spear through my heart, and it was made of a sliver of the old universe and it burned like the heart of that star, and we all burned up, BOOM, bright light. That was sad and scary for a moment. But it didn't destroy the universe, so it didn't destroy me. And the rest of me remembered so I was saved, and the me with the spear in figured out how to make it part of me, and it stopped blowing up the universe. And then I remade that bit that got blown up, all the people in it, all remembered all saved by all of me that was there with them. So they weren't blown up any more. But it had taken a while, and the rest of the universe had kept on going after wondering what that big pillar of fire was, so now there was this whole bunch of people who were at least a hundred years out of step with the rest of the universe. And that was going to be interesting, to say the least.

All the people had free will, so I couldn't just put it in their heads to stop killing each other please, because then that person I loved wouldn't be there any more, just more me. And I couldn't take their choices or their consequences away, even if they hadn't understood them, because then they wouldn't be free and they wouldn't have power over what will happen and they'd just be little puppet pretend people again. To be proper people they had to have free will. And that unfortunately meant them making really big mistakes and keeping on doing them in my name.

It also meant they didn't have to believe I was me when I turned up to explain.

... I'm feeling pretty sympathetic to god/dess right now. It's a tough gig.

But I still don't feel those limitations explain volcanos or hurricanes or many other bad things. Unless they were as new at making universes as I was. I guess it might be their first time too.

I win again
employee arrived only 5 minutes late (or 15 if you believe the other clock)
I got all the papers printed out and filled in and stapled together (and forgot the CD, but I care not)
I handed in the essay</i>. It no longer matters that it's shit, it's finished and done and handed in and on the right word count. I hope. ANYway. Done.
I filled envelopes, addressed, and sealed them.
I went around Norwich discovering more places that wouldn't be terrible to live in.
I went to the mall and used the post office with the numbered tickets and talking to the post office counter lady and getting the right stamps and all. My stamps were Not Right in all cases. Boo. Stamps are complicated.
I went to Burger King and ate a little bag of fries.
... before the BK bit I was in a stompy bad mood. After I was talking veryveryfast and walking fast and HAPPY and, er, wondering what they put on those things...
Then we went up to the TV and Movie Store
I bought Sarah Jane Adventures and asked questions about fresh batteries for DW toys (poundland do an all sizes selection of win) and also asked about paywave. It's supposed to be a very clever machine for paying for small cost items with just waving your card over it. They have one, but they've never yet made it work. So. I use the chip and pin as usual.
Then we wandered back past the Big Brain and the Eye and I bought a rainbow studded belt from the shiny things stall. I don't know if I like it but for £6 I can find out. Also my trousers will stay put.
Then we were all done bye bye
but the traffic was solid
so it took 45 minutes to get from Inside to Outside Norwich, which is a long time.

All the christmas lights are up and they are SHINY. I like best when they make the trees be made of light, though the very twinkly Forum is pretty good too.

Then we went to Dereham library and totally didn't meet anyone for the writers group.
That part doesn't work so good.

But everything else worked.

I win.

stupid fucking false alarms
I am awake. I did not wish to be awake. I especially did not wish to be woken with worrying in quick succession if I was about to be burnt to death or if I was about to have a heart attack. The fire alarm only went off for a count of 8, the worrying if what was happening in my chest was qualitatively different to mere panic this time went on for much longer. The fire alarm repeated a lot though. I just feel kind of sick. I ran out of easy food and I've had less than 4 hours sleep so kind of sick is pretty much usual.

Then the fire alarm engineers knocked on the door and wanted to check the fire alarm sounder. I had to get up and get dressed. I checked their ID card thingy and it matched the vans that always come out when the fire alarm goes off. And all they wanted to check was literally if the alarm was still there. Because people take them down??? I realise how tempting that's got to be, but you'd have to be thicker than bricks to actually do it. ... ah. Yeah. ANYway. All the repeated false alarms are just training us to ignore the thing anyway.

I like it when fire alarms save us from fiery doom.
I very much dislike it when they just make everything all jumpy and horrible and match the permanent eeeeeeeeee in my ears.

funny ts
cafepress has got some better autism/aspergers t-shirts in, AND has got better at search terms so you can avoid the 'cure' set (hiss).

Who decided we was puzzle pieces? Bet it wasn't us. I'm not a puzzle, I'm a people.
I like being a spectrum though.

There's also the duckling sets, the one with the distracted duck at the back wandering off after a butterfly, or the green duck looking goofy at the end of the row, or 'I get flappy when I'm happy' :-)

Someone with some decent art skills has started making autism acceptance shirts since last I looked. There's some awesome designs in tribal or old school tattoo flash types, and a twirly lotus design, and a bunch of others.

Some shirts need to consider they're going to be worn on the chest though. There's ones turning up saying "Yes this is a service dog" with an arrow... but it's on a woman's t-shirt, so it's basically pointing to her left tit. *facepalm*

I like this one although knowing what it's for in advance makes it a bunch easier to puzzle out.

I very much dislike any combination of puzzle piece + heart. Because it combines poorly with the standard missing piece on other representations. Autism acceptance/pride shirts do not leave out a missing piece. I am not a puzzle and I'm definitely not missing pieces and my heart has all it's pieces thankyouverymuch.

I love the "Keep staring at me, it might cure my autism! Then we can work on your social skills!"
Also the set with the big :-) have fun comments. And the 'eye contact is overated' one with the eyeroll looking up works double well on a woman chest.

oooh, cool, peacock!

I think I mostly want a neurodiversity rainbow brain without words on. because then it doubles as 'can't even think straight'.

Hard at work
I've been trying to figure out if erotic dreams about authors are either rather missing the point or rather inevitable, because of going to bed with their work for years.

... Today I must work on my essay, yet as per usual I cannot stay awake. I'm rather fuzzily trying to do the math on how many percents I'd automatically lose if I handed it in as it is now. I keep on coming up with 'all of them' and therefore must keep going... if I can stay awake at all at all.

It was a very meta dream for a sex dream. Also it was mostly about getting him to quit smoking and getting kidnapped from the smokers corner. But the meta parts included a diversion where I was wondering if I could file the serial numbers off and write it without being RPF. I concluded that while the clothes fit a general description of 'author', wearing black on black with many sorts of t-shirt as long as they're black, the hair that might well be a free willed entity might just give it away. :eyeroll:

accessibility: little things
also today at college: the lift was busted
this took me quite some time to ascertain, because it makes teh right noise when you press the button, so it sounds like the lift will be on its way soon. But nooooo. I timed it for several minutes of not moving and then gave up.
... several minutes because it has time delay doors at the best of times so you never know how long it will be.

So I set off slowly down the stairs. (I can go up stairs pretty okay, but I have a tendency to trip and fall. Facing up, I just land on my gloves, no problem. Well, small problem. Facing down... lets not do that.)

On floor 0, and only on floor 0, there's a big sign up - "Out Of Order. Reported. Repair arranged".
:eyeroll:

So I got lunch (they had my vegetarian burger! yaay!) and then on the way back up I stopped at every floor, got a sheet of paper out my notepad, and put it up on the lift button. Took me a few extra seconds. Don't know how many people I saw stopped waiting for the lift, let alone how many would have all since it broked.

Why they no think of this thing when they put the sign up?
Eh. Maybe it was a wheels person who thought of helpful sign at all.

College lift still very amusing. It says 'doors closing'. No matter which way the doors are going.

I win again
My me works better when it has had sleep. But today worked anyway.
I went to meeting. Employee did not arrive to bring me to meeting. I went anyway. I win.
Person we were meeting had not done what they said they would done and so meeting had no content. It lasted 45 minutes anyway. If they had brought a typewriter or used a library computer or something they could have done what they'd said they would in 45 minutes. I am puzzled at time allocation.
Then employee took me to Tesco. I got my favourite chocolate pancakes, and an extra pack, and bought two of Star Trek on DVD. Employe dropped me off at mum's house.
It is my autistic brother's birthday, so he is back at mum's for the evening, to have birthday things. I bring him my best favourite food, because I don't know what his best favourite is and he might like mine, and I bring him Star Trek on DVD because he liked all the others so he'll probably like it. It turns out mum had also bought him that because it is new and therefore about the only thing he don't got. But then I realised he buys several of everything anyway so he probably not mind. Win!
... he has 5 copies of Lost in Space, the movie with the CGI. On video. He had 4 copies of Armageddon. That I could see. Mum says there's more. Basically if he likes something he sees no reason to stop buying it.
Eh, fair enough. He not run out of money doing it, is plenty fine.
So I give him present, and he looked at it, and then went back to playing on the Megadrive.
... mum fixed his Megadrive with spare bits for his birthday. He very happy now. Plays those games plenty well, much fun.
Mum keeps trying to talk to him and get responses while he's playing on the megadrive. Not going to work. Only thing he'll respond to is "Can you pause?" And then he will pause, next time the game lets him, and look at you and then you can talk. no other request will work.
Mum known him many long time now and she not know that.
Also she kept trying to interrupt him to do social ritual when he's having fun and its his birthday. :-p Give him day off!
So I watch him play a while - he wins, it's good - and then I ask, shall I stay and we watch film, or go home? He says "Go home" so I say okay and go. But mum is *facepalm* because she thinks it's a Thing and I should stay for pizza. I did not point out I cannot digest pizza because I wasn't staying anyway. I think it was a good evening because brother interacted well for a games player and had clear opinion and said reply with words. Mum think it *facepalm* because his opinion was not her opinion. :-p mum.
... I like mum, I'm just glad brother moved out somewhere.

So brother got birthday happies and presenet and food, and mum got food too, and even the cat stayed away from me so we got on, so I call that a win.

And then I got a taxi home. Because my upright was not consistently working - I don't feel sensation of dizzy, I just slowly keel over - so walking home in the dark was probably not a grand plan. Taxi cost £3. Good investment.

Home now. Did all the things. Win.

bleurgh
I don't know where my sleep went but it came back with some weird shit. I know I was still awake at 0830, probably much later, and got woke up repeatedly with letters and neighbours and stuff. And my employee wondering if we're meeting at 2 or 2.30 (we've a meeting at 3. We wrote it down. 3. Not 2 or 2.30. *sigh*)

The weird bit though was the dreams: Cooking Is Scary met up with Daleks Is Scary and had a strange, strange effect. Like there was a kitchen full of knives and dirty getting mixed with clean and things that should cook in hot oil and cookers that turn themselves on. And there was a Dalek. In the kitchen. Just kind of sitting around looking weird. And dream persona didn't know from Daleks but knew kitchens, so she was tidying up this stupid kitchen, and me knew Daleks and couldn't care less about the stupid kitchen and was all trying to get out of there but noooo, and then the Dalek's eye stalk started to glow. And then dream person knocked over a deep pan full of uncooked donuts in oil and realised it was hot and the cooker was heating up and she didn't know what to do so she went looking for Nanny Ogg.
... nothing Oggish happened to the Dalek. I'm rather glad about that.
What did happen was the persona came back full of goddess power. She tried the vision impairment plus mirrored corner trick, but mostly had to pour lots of power into the Dalek to make it stay there (especially since new Daleks are very mobile in sections), and then ran away. And it started out ranting about 'my vision is impaired, I cannot see' in Dalek voice, and then it gradually turned into cranky man voice, and followed her out the building. And she's trying to hide the other side of the bay window, but noooo, Dalek! It turns, it gets lined up, it... starts looking like a cranky man too, bends over, picks up a big tray of garden herbs, and trundles along to the tunnel to the back garden.
... WTF?
... even in the dream, that was teh dominant reaction.
... usually dreams with Daleks involve things blowing up or being blown up. This one was about being turned into middle class domestic bliss with a comedy cranky man. *blinks*

So, now I have to get up and dressed and stuff for a meeting.
Clearly I will be bringing my brains to this.

I miss sleep
so, tomorrow I have to get up at 0630 for college
today I'm about ready to head to bed at 0700.
... *facepalm* ...

also, because of clever scheduling and the way the breaks are compressed, if I miss the morning I miss at least part of both of the weekly lessons for the 20 credit unit. Which would be bad.
... I'm sure it would be bad. And not at all a good thing.

2440 words in my essay
out of 1500 to 1650

yes it needed to shrink and it has grown.

I will be spending the rest of the week wrestling with quotes and trying to get my phrasing as economical as possible.
And, lets face it, deciding which bits are pretty much not the point and chopping paragraphs out.

Bride and Prejudice
is fun! There's colors like rainbows, and singing, and dancing, and lots of shiny. And we know how the story goes so there's more room to notice how they're telling it this time and how it wraps around the differences real well.

I like the dancing with the sticks. That looks practical. Stinky drinky guys would get crunched.
Also it would look really good with glowsticks.
... and now I'm thinking of morris dancers, and hence Dalek morris. My brain is a strange and scary place.

I liked it when they went to London half way through the movie. We're funny looking!
Also I was trying to figure out what it was about the light that just didn't look British. I think it's light that assumes the proper color of the sky is blue. How weird is that? ;)

now I am cheerful and have a head full of songs and pretty outfits I wants.
... I don't think I'd get the hang of the floaty wrap bits, but the trouser and dress things are practical and colors and shiny all at once. I likes.

oh balls
I have 1550 words for my 1500 word essay
but the essay needs to do close reading on two texts, and I've got all them words about just the one.
:-(

Right. Onwards. I shall write an equal amount about Eveline (blah) and then throw them at each other and keep the best bits.

... I remain unconvinced there are best bits. Since what we've been taught this semester has on teh whole struck me as utter rubbish sprinkled with trivia it's hard to make an essay out of it.

ETA: 2000 words and this bit does not in fact belong in my essay so I shall put it here:

… This shit is really depressing. Is there any cheerful modernism? Stuff with a bit of color in it? I mean, futility and death is all very well but there's life and rebirth or really, why do we bother? And since we've got another year and more of course to go we really should continue to bother.

ETA2: 2212 words. I made a different conclusion. I wrote only 1 paragraph on the second text. The conclusion still involves calling modernism depressing. Because it is. And since that's all I can think of at the moment I'm going to give up on it for the night and do something else.

Really I was relying on Doctor Who to be a mood lifter.
*sigh*

Television
Today was Merlin, and
my recorder box noticed that Defying Gravity had a new episode tonight, not just Thursday like the other weeks. BBC scheduling at its best? I heard them say new timeslot, I didn't realise they meant today.

Merlin... is kind of irritating. ( Read more... )
I'm bored.

Defying Gravity ... I missed the first couple episodes cause I'd never heard of it, and now I'm seeing what they're trying to do with the storytelling, and there's a whole slow unfolding of consequences thing that I feel like I ought to like, plus there's lots of female characters and two of them even talk to each other about work. But... ( Read more... )

I like stories with lots of women in. I think though I'd like the stories to be about stuff other than being girls. Like saving the world and stuff.

I have 1096 words! I only need 1500!
... they're all about 1 text when I have to write about 2, and they have a small problem with being crap and pointless, but I have words! I call that a win.

I will continue to work on this some more. Just as soon as I get more chocolate.
... I eated all the chocolate pancakes for the week already. boo.

Disabled actors and performers, BBC
In a discussion the other day someone mentioned how, when disabled people say a part should be cast with an actual disabled person, no names come up. Plus that one where they say 'but the character has to stand up sometimes!' or whatever. So I went looking for names.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/disabledtalent/
BBC pdfs of Disabled Actors and Performers Directories

bunches more people than I knew. So far I have found 'the uk's only disabled pro wrestler' who also does wheelchair basketball and uses sticks. Dan Edge. And that's just someone I clicked fairly randomly. I'm thinking perhaps he isn't quite like people think of when they think disabled performer. And neither are the rest of them, really.

additionally found
http://www.visablepeople.com/
UK's first agency with the sole objective of supplying professional models, actors and presenters with disabilities to the television, film and advertising industries.

and already knew
http://www.amputeesinaction.co.uk/aboutus.html
cause they did some TW and DW and films and stuff.

All this is UK and the discussion was about the US so *shrugs*

But lots of people in big lists, existing and everything.

oh dear
sleepings no workings.
I was awake until 0430 yesterday. Since I refused to acknowledge any part of the day after about 0130 I didn't do anything with the last three hours. And by didn't do anything I mean I refused to put my glasses on and think awake thoughts or choose a channel, so I ended up watching sign languaged documentaries very blurrily. Which doesn't really help. Though I now know some about Montezuma and have further object lessons for the Master on why reign of terror is a teensy problem in the long term. And Cortes was a jerk. Which, you know, I think I knew.

Then I sleeped for 11 hours.

I woke up in the middle to chug fruit juice and check the mail. The letters thudded heavier than usual and I was sleepy convinced that it was my script sent back by the BBC, but it still wasn't. Only now I'm also convinced that mentioning it will make it so and they'll send it back with no comments. Only the longer it has been the less likely it is it'll be a no comment, and... I have not actually prepared for the possibility of success...

The letters were from Big Finish. One reminded me to renew my subscription. Did that already. When I eventually move house I'm going to have to remember to change that address right quick.
... my entertainment budget is all DW all the time. But fun.
Also, today? Turlough! On CD! Yaaays!
... I likes and there's hardly any.
I went and watched all the 5th Doctor stories, unprepared for how :( it feels when there's no new ones. Yaay for Big Finish audios then.

I sleeped and I dreamed a nice little song in two part harmony that was also a clue to the rebellion's secret escape routes. I now can't remember the song cause the dream kept going. Turned into the usual run hide escape nearly get ate by the floor run hide drop kid brother off with friendly mechanics run hide run fall out the ship colony and commandeer a salvage ship. On a world that looked all alien and made of sand, but the salvage ship blows the sand to get at the metal, and it's all road signs leading to Los Angeles. I woke up when I'd persuaded the ship to keep following the road east until we reached... something.

My dreams are not very restful.

Today I need to write my essay. I've needed to write my essay for quite a lot of days now but I made a rule to do nothing except work on my essay. Only now, according to the rule, I either finish my essay or don't watch Doctor Who. Plus I only have 5 days left anyway. And I've already failed for more days in a row than that. So I should write my essay.

... it would really help if I knew what to write in my essay...

*hugs my laptop* *considers adding a security chain*
The tech support place, having heard about the ongoing problems, say they "feel perhaps the fastest way for us to help you would be to collect the machine and have it sorted here for you."
!
!!
!!!
Last time I sent it in to be fixed - which was to be a 5 minute job, I was told, to put new memory in it - they scheduled collection on Wednesday 2/9/09 and returned it to me on Thursday 22nd October. 7 weeks! Not five minutes! And they want it back? And they're the ones that caused the problem in the first place! And they told me that when they take the computer back they wipe it! I don't want them to wipe it! It's taken me this long to get this much back on it! If I send it back god knows what they'll do next! It might come back with Windows 98!!!

... there's no logical reason it would, but there's no logical reason it had XP + service pack 2 without any of the Toshiba programs either.

I definitely have a full backup now. I made blessed sure. And double triple checked.
I have most of the files in more than one place even.

But I don't want to give them the computer to muck up even worse!

... but then how can I get it fixed...

:-(

Midnight fire alarm
I hate this building
I hate this building
I hate this building

someone set the fire alarm off and ran again.
I was in pyjamas but there's nothing quite like running out in the middle of the night to make you realise how low the neckline is.
Also now my pyjama trousers are wet at the ends.

I looked under the building and I can't see a fire. I looked where the bins are and there wasn't smoke or fire. I looked where the cars are and I couldn't see a fire.
My neighbours took my word for it.

The alarm is turned off - the guy from 109 has a key to turn it off, how did he get that? But it's still going eeeeeee in the hall. Someone else said they'll phone the landlord to get it reset.

There was sort of a comittee in the hall where long term residents explained to newbies that this happens every couple months but you have to get out the building every time because also sometimes people have actually set it on fire.

But we couldn't find any fire, it's just the alarm button by the front door.

I very much and very urgently wish to move to a new building, with far fewer people per front door, and none of them inclined to let people in after pub out.

I also very much wish the blessed painkillers would work to get rid of my headache, which was a problem even before the alarm siren went off.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee