A huge round of applause for all who participated in this year's Switcheroo! Santa would like to thank everyone for their hard work--you guys ROCK. ;D

And now a roundup of this year's entries! \o/


◊ Fold Part II [Naruto] by myrafur

◊ Untitled [Starfighter] by admiral_yen

◊ Untitled [Katekyo Hitman Reborn!] by octavius_x

◊ Why Crossovers are Not On [D.Gray-man] by crazy_toffee

◊ Fusion Time [Naruto/Star Trek XI] by tonko_ni

◊ Sasuke [Naruto] and Neji [Naruto] by sarolynne

◊ Confidence [Star Trek XI] by green_bird_

◊ Oh I know the silence was the loudest thing I ever heard [FMA] by questofdreams

◊ The Suuuuper Five! [Naruto/KHR/Oofuri/One Piece/Bakuman] by erisabesu



Congratulations to everyone for another amazing fest! \o/

( Psst! Members be on the lookout for info on: Summer Fest 2009)

Why oh WHY are there some people in the world who will try their hardest to get something for free even if it is a dirt cheap kids' ride? (And when i say cheap, i DO mean cheap. At 70p a ticket for everyone, i think it should be pretty obvious that you aren't getting ripped off!)

To the moron who turned up without a ticket and bawwed at me for ages seriously...SOD OFF!!!!! No i'm not going to give you and your kid a free ride. Everyone else has to pay so why the hell do you think you'd get treated differently?!
Moaning at me in a really whiny manner (that was rather remniscent of a six year old, let alone a grown man...)
"OH C'MOOOOON! Its his birthday!" isnt going to faze me one bit. I highly doubt that it was his birthday, and even if it was, i don't give a crap. In the time you spent moaning at me, you and your kid could have bought tickets, come back and got on the ride! Seriously get real and GET A LIFE!!

And to the parents who have a go at me because you have to pay for babies to go on the train as well (this happens nearly every time i work there) if you've got a problem with it, instead of harassing me/making sarcastic rude comments/ shooting me a nasty look when you think i can't see/ READ THE FRIGGIN SIGNS! It says everywhere that every rider has to pay so don't act all pissy and bitchy about it when i tell you what you should have already read. And if you HAVE already read the sign and still have a problem with it, GO AND SPEAK TO THE MANAGER! I just work here temporarily, and guess what, i dont make the rules! So for love of god stop giving me grief about it!!

with no love -
your local fair attendent >

(This description makes it sound much more complicated than it actually is... I just wanted to be clear, but the story - hopefully - explains itself as you read it)

Title: How We Met Barney
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the show “How I Met Your Mother” or to any of its characters. But I did make this story.
Summary: AU. After Ted finishes telling the tale of how he met their mom, they wonder how Barney’s doing.
Character: The entire gang of course as well as a few others; offsprings who are introduced and some OFC and OMC. later on. 
Pairing: I want to point out that I am a solid BRotp fan.  However, this story involves Ted/Robin, Barney/Robin, and etc.
Setting: Two timelines, one in the year 2030 - where Ted has just finished telling his kids how he met their mom - and the other around the year 2019, and onwards, where the story of how they got to where they are in 2030 is explained.  The sections in the past - with respect to the year 2030 - (2019 and onwards) is italized.
Beta: roland44 ROLAND is awesome =)
A/N: I actually have an ending and wrote most of it already!  No waiting months for an update, yay!

Part 1

Barney does something he's never done before- not OOC, but put in a weird position. Also, there is a OFC, but definitely not a Mary Sue. Or even a Marty Stu. Not that kind of a first time, people. Reviews are always welcome.


http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5214342/1/Barneys_First_Time

I'd like to thank everyone for their opinions and advice on my last Death Knight thread. So many people were recommending female orcs, but I tried a few of them in the preview window, and it just didn't work for me. But the other suggestion I received was for a tauren. I'd never had a tauren anything before, so I began to think that it was time.

So here is my newest character:
( Read more... )

I don't know why it is that my characters seem to become more and more unhappy over time. First character -- cheerful and flighty. Second character -- still cheerful, but much more pragmatic. Third character -- gentle-natured, and constantly distressed by the violence of the world. Fourth character -- ruthless, joyless, revenge-driven and power-mad. Now this one. I'm almost afraid to think what the next one will be like...

So last night I had my first successful raid with my guild, as well as my first session using Ventrilo. My primary toon is a male tauren druid, and generally speaking I play male characters for many of the same reasons I'm sure other gals do - case in point, "Hey, are you a fattie? My friend is into fatties."

Me: ¬_¬....... No.

That said, though, this is the third time I've startled guildmates in an MMO. What made this time especially amusing though was the double-whammy... a long time friend of mine who also plays a high-ranking male character in the guild also participated in the raid - also using Vent for the first time.

The conversations essentially went as such:

"Okay, got it all set up? You on heals, Hal?"
"Not a good idea, I'm balance, not resto."
".... what the crap, Hal's a girl too?!"
(random other femme guildie) "Whoo, more estrogen in the raid!"

Yay for Gamer Girls! And on the upside I managed to keep all but one idiotic DK alive for the raid, since our Raid Leader was made of awesome.

I was looking at some of the old discussions on DKP, and various loot roll systems and am looking for new input on the subject.

Currently my guild teams up with another guild to do 25 man content. We've pretty much got Naxx on Farm status and are gearing people up from both guilds. 

Currently, the system we have is  main spec, off spec and greed rolls.  If you win an item, it counts against you on your next roll.  Basically anyone who wins an item defers automatically to the next person down who has won less items regardless of the /roll value.  If I have 2 wins, Jill has 1, and Pat has none, Pat wins even if their roll is the lowest.

Its GREAT for gearing the most amount of people quickly.  The problem we're running into is, a perceived unfairness when a pugger comes in at the end because someone has to leave.  We apply to Puggers a penalty of 1 roll each for coming in Late so to speak. But they still have a good chance of picking something up.

But it Irks folks who have been IN the run for 6 hrs, when someone new comes in for 1 fight and walks out with a tier piece.

Anyway, its been brought up that maybe we need to start doing a formal Loot System like DKP, or SWAP, or something in order to compensate the folks who have been there consistantly for run after run and put in the time.

My problem is, my experience with DKP is 5+? yrs out of date, as a guild I was in, back in the days of Everquest used it. And it was a HUGE hassle keeping track of points.

Does anyone have any suggestions on Add-ons, that will track peoples presence in a raid, AND allows that data to be shared between two guilds?

Any other pointers/suggestions on Loot Systems would be greatly appreicated.

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Darius, Marcus Constantine, Gen
Length: about 3700 words
Author on LJ: none
Author Website: Amberleewriter on HL Fiction

Why this must be read: How often are you going to run into a story featuring Darius and Marcus Constantine? The answer is not often, and too bad because they are in my opinion two of the more compelling minor characters from Highlander: The Series. These two characters never met in canon, but it seems likely that they did know each other in one context or another. In just a few words this story shows us the start of a complex and redemptive friendship.

( An excerpt: )

Gods Above and Below

I understand it's very easy to get this wrong (I did, myself, for quite a long while), as it's only shown once, in Turn Eight of R2, and previous to that people probably got used to whatever their chosen fansubs used, but... Euphemia li Britannia's nickname is spelled E-U-P-H-Y. Not "Euphie" or "Yuffie" --- "Euphy".

/small, nitpicky, kind of YMMV issue that nevertheless bugs me.

[edit because for some reason livejournal didn't let my chosen icon work at first...]

Today, I had to work at a store a couple of towns over from my own store. They are currently undergoing a renovation, and need all the help they can get, since the grand re-opening is tomorrow.
The front of the store is completely made out of windows and glass doors. On every window and door are giant poster saying "CLOSED DUE TO RENOVATION FROM JULY 6TH - JULY 13TH, RE-OPENS JULY 14TH!"
Being as this is customers_suck, I wouldn't be here if the customers wouldn't look twice at the posters and just walked on. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

I don't know WHAT is wrong with you if you don't notice the giant posters ON EYE-LEVEL, and just try to open the damn door for a good 20 seconds. WE ARE CLOSED, WE OPEN TOMORROW! LEARN TO READ! at some point, the district manager had to get some stuff out of her car, and the door would be unlocked, but closed, for a grand total of MAYBE 40 seconds. People would just walk into the store and act completely and utterly confused when we told them "I'm sorry, we're actually closed at the moment, we open tomorrow *smile smile*"
No, you can't just "come in really quick and buy whatever it is you want to buy" WE.ARE.CLOSED. Did you not see the giant posters at the window? Do you not see us working our asses off to try and make the store look presentable again?
Also, when you see the poster, looked at it for a good 2 minutes, then have tried to open the door, and then press your face against the window to look inside what's going on, we will think you're really annoying, and we will make jokes about you amongst ourselfs (customers could not hear this, due to the fact that WE WERE CLOSED)
Yes, that's the only door right there, the rest is glass, please don't try to push against every freaking window to see if maybe that "door" is open. WE.ARE.CLOSED.

honestly, when my own store was undergoing renovations in january, the posters that were announcing it were up for about a month before it started, the windows were sealed off, and people were STILL trying to get in.
Say it with me now "WE.ARE.CLOSED"

the stupidity of the human race never ceases to amaze me.

Dear Sailor Moon xover authors...

Please stop bashing Mamoru just so you can hook Usagi up with other characters from the crossed-over fandom. Mamoru, for all his faults, isn't an abusive jerk-off who beats women for fun.

Hello. I was wondering if anyone knew where I might be able to find a used overhead projector in the city. Thankss.

I've been 80 since sometime in May and gotten myself what I thought was half decently geared. I can do normal instances quite well, I was actually proud of my healing abilities. Then I tried 2 heroics and am feeling completely inept. I tried heroic AN a month or more ago and wiped on the first room with the constant pulls several times until i gave up and told them I was sorry, but this wasn't working. Then the other night (having got a bit more gear since then) I decided to try heroic Nexus, which I heard was the easiest of the heroics. It was a PUG (which may have been my first mistake, who knows) and my tank would regularly drop from full health to 1/2 - 1/3 and I would have to spam greater heal and OOM regularly. We wiped so many times the tank got disgusted and called it.

I would completely appreciate any constructive criticism towards my spec or gear. Also, is there any way I can get my crit up without sacrificing any of my good (spell power, spirit, intelligence, etc) stats? My armory

So I got my first guinea pig two weeks ago. He is now 7weeks old and I call him Pickles. I use Healthy Pet Superior Odor Control as bedding and I just want to know what  it means to 'Freshen' daily verses 'Change' weekly?

Also, I intend to get another male piggy so the one I have now wont be too lonely. Since my piggy is turning 2 months, which age group should I try for the other piggy?

( and a pigture of Pickles under the cut )

For those of you whose SOs play as well: do you ever get annoyed at how often they play, leading you to wonder if you're one of Those girlfriends?



*Inspired by being a bit annoyed that the boy is running Ulduar again tonight, after he said last night that he wasn't going to, seeing as how he has raids scheduled for Tues, Thurs, and Fri and ran one for six hours last night. I really don't want to be one of Those girlfriends who get all huffy over a game, but I can't help but feel a bit bothered--though I do admit that part of it is because since he joined this raiding guild and quickly became their top tank, he hasn't been playing with me very much. My main is only 74 and he has an alt that he plays with me on. I want to get up to 80 so that I can raid with him and stuff, but seeing as how we've run the past 70 or so levels together (without RAF--we've been leveling these characters for over a year, now), I really don't want to start doing quests on my own because that just takes half the fun out of it for me. I'm not really sure what to do, though, outside of being demanding and bitchy and making a fuss over him raiding all the time (which isn't going to happen cos I'm not in the practice of telling him what he can and cannot do).*

Alright, So just a little annoyance/suck.
 So I work at a grocery store, etc...I know a few of the same stores in my chain have cigarettes located in the courtesy booth, how ever, we do not. In fact we have a huge sign over our desk that says what we offer, and we have a cigarette center with a huge sign over it that says "CIGARETTE COUNTER!" Everyday we get customers that feel the need to come up and the following conversation ensues.

Customer: Yeah, um, can I get a carton of Marlboro 100 light?
Me: The cigarette center is down at register 16.
Customer: *looking around the store* Where?
Me: Register 16, underneath the big cigarette sign...
Customer: Oh! Ok byeee!

Ok, can you not read our clearly labeled signs? Guess not.

Also on the cigarette note, I understand cigarettes are expensive, I smoke too. You aren't alone, HOWEVER.
When you call my store and ask how much a carton is, I am sorry to inform you that we can not give prices out over the phone. It's company policy. What's that? Oh you're driving all the way from MA? I'm sorry i still can't do it. As far as I know you're only 5 minutes away, since you know, we border MA.What's that? Ohhh, you don't care about compant policy? Sorry I do. OH I'm being unreasonable, I appologize. You need to know the prices so you don't have to drive if they're too expensive? I DON'T CARE! And an FYI calling me names and shit yeah it's still not going to get you anywhere. K thanks, BYE!