riadsala

I had a headache today and for once I successfully remembered to take drugs for it, so I spent the rest of the day feeling like a super genius for my ability to take care of myself. I am a functional adult, you guys.

The building I work in had its annual local businesses block party yesterday, so mmeguilotn and I went and availed ourselves of a bunch of free food and pens and bumper stickers. There was also free local wine or Bud Light Lime, so we of course grabbed some of each. I'm always so surprised at how decent Bud Light Lime is, considering it's, you know, Bud Light Lime. And fortunately, in stark contrast to last year, the restaurant attached to the building didn't burn down this time, so that's always a positive!

Ever since just_katarin posted this picture of Carey Price rocking the glass cutters, all I've been wanting is fic where PK discovers this sensitivity sexually. Like, hobviously he's aware of it since they share a locker room and everyone enjoys ribbing Carey over it, and sometimes when the two of them wrestle PK will catch him there and cause him to flail hilariously. But the first time they have sex for real, not just drunken handjobs, PK brushes his thumb over a nipple and Carey just about loses his mind, shuddering super violently. PK of course then takes extreme advantage, licking and biting at his chest while Carey thrashes around and generally loses the ability to think. And it goes on like that.

I started compiling this picspam when someone maligned Claude's taste in formal dress and then it kind of expanded to any picture of him in a button-down shirt. Please no comments on how embarrassingly gingersexual this entry reveals me to be.

( Lots of pictures of fancy suits )

Hay lj, I'm currently sitting on my back deck, watching my cat watch birds and drinking iced tea + iced tea vodka, aka the the pinnacle of human contentment. I have never been more smug about my circumstances on a Friday night. I am so stoked for all the summer nights in my future.

Speaking of summer, now is about the time that all the year's big summer jams start getting released and I die of happiness because there is basically no music I love more than giant, bouncy, beat-ridden ultrahits. What are the songs you guys most love blasting at max volume in your cars/bedroom dance parties? Quality pop music is always something I want more of. (If you're thinking about telling me about One Direction, joke's on you because I already downloaded their album after hearing that one song on the radio once.)

In the last week I have on the same day seen The Avengers, which was vastly entertaining, and Pirates: Band of Misfits, which was very cute and Aardman-y, and spontaneously gone to the last Flyers game of the season, which was both fun and a bummer. I'm excited to see what new directions Avengers fic goes in now that there's an actual movie to go off. By which I mean the amount of time I have spent daydreaming about the Clint/Natasha Eastern European backstory movie is large.

Clearly Cabbie loves me because his podcast the night before I fly halfway across the country is with Scott Hartnell and Wayne Simmonds. I expect it to be full of gems.

Can we take a minute to talk about how the Flyers apparently think it is the height of hilarity to name hoagies after each other and then eat them in a sexually suggestive manner/joke about eating each other's meatballs?
( 'Eat his meatball sub' is now my go-to euphamism )

Hockey players are a fount of wit and refinement, you guys.

I have barely calmed down from the last Pens/Flyers game, just in time for there to be another one tomorrow. If things happen that could happen, but that I'm not going to talk about, I don't know what I will do with myself. Drink alcohol, I expect. I don't bet that it will be anywhere near as bananas as the last game, but then again, that's also what I thought after game 2. Let's just aim for fewer disciplinary hearings at the end of it.

In conclusions, I want to wear Kimmo Timonen sneakers.

So here's a fun story about me. When I was 11 or 12, I chipped off a good quarter of my front tooth on the bottom of a swimming pool, which was horrifying to me at the time, but it got fixed pretty quickly and I mostly never think about it. Except for today when I bit into a chocolate caramel at work and the false tooth part stuck to it. So now I have an appointment with the dentist on Friday, and until then I will have to try not to bite through my lip with my newly sharp tooth.

You may not have been aware of this, but the playoffs start tomorrow omg. I am not going to be able to handle it. It's weird, but I can't decide how well I actually think the Flyers are going to do. Like, two years ago everyone was happy when the Flyers even won a game in the first round, and last year they were the second seed and had just been to the finals. But this year, even though they technically have the third-most points in the conference it's not that hard to imagine them losing to Pittsburgh in the first round. OHHHHH WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?

Other than the games, though, my favorite thing about the playoffs is the blogs that various media outlets make some poor players write. They are universally super boring because a) hockey players aren't professional writers for a reason and b) the lives of hockey players during the playoffs is shockingly super regimented and focussed. I love reading them so much.

This year it's Matt Read's turn.
I even had to give a little speech before we showed a video for the crowd there.

I didn't even know I was going to talk, but as far as I know Lavi asked Claude Giroux who was the best speaker, and I guess he said me for some reason - I took public speaking in college and didn’t do very well.

Protip, Matt: it's because you went to college.

And here is Zac Rinaldo's.
With all of the emotions facing Pittsburgh, discipline will be huge. It’s always big in the playoffs, in every series. I think it works to our advantage. In the regular season, refs are usually calling the Philadelphia Flyers more than any other team.

It just means I can probably get away with a little bit more.

lol Zac Rinaldo. You're going to get your face pounded. And then suspended.

One week until I'm in Chicago! I am the most excited, even though I have to do every single thing at work before I go. mmeguilotn and I made some plans for some touristy things to do (the Field Museum, the Art Museum, Rick Bayless's cheapest restaurant) while Team Chicago has jobs and school and things, but we are more than open to being told what else we shouldn't miss. Otherwise we might end up just sadly wandering the loop Nick Leddy style.

I assume that everyone who's in hockey fandom knows who Cabbie Richards is, but in case you don't he is technically a member of the hockey media, but mostly he is extreme bros with most hockey players in the NHL. Like, he goes out looking for girls with them and crashes on their couches and everything, which means he knows the best questions to ask them when he interviews them. Youtube all his interviews if you haven't already. Anyway, he has a podcast now for TSN where he basically just calls up his NHLer friends and gets them to tell stories. He asks the questions we all want to know the answers to, like when Baldzlaf is going to finally shave his head and which month Joffrey Lupul would be in an NHL pinup calendar.

His most recent episode is with Dustin Penner and Mike Richards. And omg, you guys, if you care anything at all about the true love of Richie and Carts, you must listen to it. Richie's half starts around 36:30 if you don't care about Dustin Penner and his pancake injuries. Cabbie legit asks him if being in Columbus was killing Carter's soul. Other highlights include the exact circumstances of Richie learning about Carter to the Kings, lots of talk about Arnold, and a description of text conversations between Richie and Carts. Richie may be sullen and passive aggressive with most media, but Cabbie is his boy and so he can trust he won't write critical stories about him.

This is the iTunes link or you can listen on TSN.

This Flyers/Lightning game is going stupidly, so I've decided to talk to the internet instead. (In addition, really, who am I kidding.)

Can I just say, getting natacup82 to move in across the driveway from us will stand out as one of the shining accomplishments of Team Carriage House. We can go visit without putting on pants or having to finish our drinks, it is the perfect life.

Everyone should stop what they are doing and go watch this video of TPanotch meeting Fake TPanotch. If you're not a Flyers fan and as such have not has as much exposure to noted beat writer/professional grumpy old Italian Tim Panaccio, he has been covering the Flyers basically since they were invented and is somewhat crusty in personality. He and Pronger used to get into very entertaining verbal sparring matches before Pronger died (;_;) and his twitter is a highly enjoyable combination of Flyers news and updates on the kind of wine he's drinking the antics of his cat (also named Pronger). He has a distinctive way with words and his tweets can be very... idiosyncratic. FakeTPanotch is a twitter parody of such perfection that it is often impossible to tell who is real and who is fake. Check out this sporcle quiz for an example of their twitter stylings. So at the last Flyers home games the two finally met, and somehow managed to avoid the implosion of the known universe. I feel like this paragraph is not super clear because the Flyers have tied the game so it took me like an hour to write, but I have confidence in all your close reading skills.

Speaking of Chris Pronger, he surprise showed up at the Flyers/Habs game the other night looking like this:



I am so pleased he is well enough to leave the house and sit in a loud, bright arena for any length of time, I can't even tell you. Also, look at his fabulous mane of hair. He looks like a pretentious English professor with his beard and his glasses. Even if he never does play hockey again, I am hopeful he will also not have to spend the rest of his days lying down in a darkened room.

Beth and I got to the arena last Monday and ended up waiting in line for an hour, which brought back many memories/flashbacks. We did get to watch two girls in a Poulin Hawks jersey and an old Lemieux Pens jersey get majorly side-eyed, though. Once we got in everyone was divided up via colored wristbands, and we headed straight to the bar. The fact that the drinks line was before the food line, plus the heavy hand of the bartender, meant that we were perhaps not fully sober at the start of the first event. I think this worked out though, because it meant we did not mind looking like fools.

( A description of events )

Look at this awesome description of the activities me and mmeguilotn will be participating in next Monday when we go to the Flyers "Hockey N Heels" event next Monday.

Hockey 101: Philadelphia Flyer Ian Laperriere and Broadcaster Steve Coates will be leading Hockey 101. This station will focus on the X’s and O’s of hockey. Learn about the different rules and regulations that govern the game and the sport, along with an insider’s view on how the Flyers put together the best team for you the fan! Learn everything you want to know about the Flyers and hockey to impress your friends or family!
Virtua Health: Flyers Athletic Trainer Jimmy McCrossin and Virtua Health Doctors and Fitness experts will lead the Virtua Health station. This station will focus on Heart Disease awareness, Osteoporosis prevention and nutrition tips. We will even show you a Hip-Hop dance that helps you shed some pounds! McCrossin will offer an insider's look at how the Flyers stay strong during an 82 game NHL season.
Locker Room Tour/ Flyers Wives Q & A: Get a behind the scenes look at the Flyers locker room! You will get an exclusive sneak peek at where your favorite Philadelphia Flyers prepare for home games at the Wells Fargo Center. After your tour, you will gain some insight about the life of an NHL family from Flyers Wives Kristen Laviolette, Doreen Holmgren, Rhonda McCarthy, Linda Mullen, Lisa Hanrahan, Elaine Reese and Nadine Coburn.
Women in Sports: CSN Anchor and Reporter Lisa Hillary will lead the Women in Sports station, along with Vice President of Marketing for the Philadelphia Flyers Lindsey Masciangelo. This station is designed to enlighten you about the different roles that women play in the sports industry. Find out about how they got their start in sports and their journeys throughout the world of hockey and television broadcasting as well as what it’s like to be a female professional in the sports industry today.
On-Ice Activities: Flyers Ambassador of Hockey Bob “Hound” Kelly will lead the On-Ice station. This station is designed to allow you access to multiple activities on the ice including a chance to shoot on goal, take pictures from the team bench and penalty box.
vir tu' Mini Spa: Sit back and relax and allow professionals from the vir tu' spa to pamper you. You will be able to select from chair massage, hand massage, Yoga session, and meditation. Also, everyone will be able to experience the relaxation of the aromatherapy bar. PLEASE NOTE: Services for each group are filled on a first come, first served basis. You can select your mini-spa experience at the registration table starting at 6pm.

I am genuinely looking forward to this, because even if it turns out to be condescending and terrible, it will still be super entertaining in a different way. My only sadness is that they're making us pay for our alcohol. :((( They did specify that we shouldn't actually wear heels, despite the name of the event. Although if they taught us how to walk on ice in enormous banana heels à la Mrs. Sopel, I would not turn down that knowledge.

I have been reading a lot of fic set in England recently, what with Sherlock, some Harry Potter, a little Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and getting super irrationally mad at characters who don't know how to make tea correctly. I mean, I know that the way I was taught to make tea is not the only way to do it, or even the only way British people do it, but let's be serious here, the milk goes in first. >:(

Unfortunately for you all, that is about the most interesting thing that is going on in my life right now. mmeguilotn, quettaser and I are a week behind on pretty much every show we watch, so I can't even talk about Top Chef or Revenge or Southland etc. Actually, we caught up on White Collar after the game last night, so I guess I could talk about how enjoyable and silly that show is. It's very enjoyable and silly, fyi.

I have pizza and alcohol and hockey and hilarious friends and it's 2 in the afternoon. This is the best day ever.

Last night Team Carriage House took shoemaster out for dinner and had one of those really great conversations where we talked about anything and everything and it was super satisfying. I mean, I love living with mmeguilotn and quettaser, but it does mean we already know all of each other's gossip.

Other than that I'm basically just watching all the tv (Sherlock! Revennnnnnge! Top Chef! Leverage! Other shows!) and trying to catch up on my google reader. And I have to remember to buy my brother a rice cooker for his birthday.

natacup82 and I were lamenting over the weekend that the internet had not provided us with a copy of Score: A Hockey Musical, which prompted me to do some rather thorough googling last night. And so I present for anyone who's interested a download of that same movie. I haven't watched it, but I clicked through and it seems to play and have sound and all that. I also make no promises about its quality as a piece of cinema, but come on, how can you not want to watch it.

We're watching Once Upon A Time right now and nothing on this show ever makes any sense. Just bananas from top to bottom.

LIfe continues apace. Work is kind of a drama party the last couple days, with a lot of whispered hallway conversations and angry lawyers, so that's been fun. I bought rain boots last week and coincidentally/as a direct result it has been raining solidly the past 2 days. These are the first pair of rain boots I've owned since I was very small, and I must say the intervening years were sorely lacking. Stomping through puddles for daze.

PS I am josiepye on tumblr now, if that interests you.

Send me your addresses so I can send you cards! If you are comfortable giving me your address, I am comfortable sending you a card, so don't be shy. The comments are screened, so feel free to tell me any other information you think I might like to know, too.

I know everyone who has to drive a car is going to murder me for saying this, but I can't wait for it to snow. Winterrrrrrrr.

I don't know if any of you have been harboring a secret desire to hear Stephen Fry roleplay bsdm sex as a horse with a French accent, but if so, boy do I have a treat for you. Warhorses of Letters is a four episode radio play about the epistolary love story of Marengo, (Napoleon's horse) and Copenhagen (the Duke of Wellington's horse). Each episode is less than 15 minutes long and is about as ridiculous as you'd expect a starcrossed gay horse love story radio play to be. I've zipped up the whole thing for you here.

I hope you all have a restful Thanksgiving full of more food than you can comfortably eat. I am so stoked not to go back to work for four days, you don't even know. And in a totally uncharacteristic move for me, I have already bought Christmas presents for my whole family. This is somewhat misleading productivity though, as I have not yet actually bought a plane ticket home to deliver said presents. Perhaps I should get on that.

I bought pumpkin spice cream cheese on a whim for my lunch bagels the other week, and let me tell you, it was not the best choice I have ever made. It tastes like bad cheesecake and is not an attractive shade of orange. I am going back to chive and onion as soon as possible.

In other news: questions.
( let's do this, babies )

Title: Stick, Gloves, Shirt
Pairing: Paul Bissonnette/Daniel Carcillo
Rating: Sex happens.
Wordcount: ~1,100
Summary: Takes place after the upcoming October 18 game between the Coyotes and the Blackhawks in Phoenix. Biz and Carbomb fight on the ice, and do something other than fight off it. No warnings as far as I can tell, but let me know if I’m wrong about that. For the pass_shoot_porn prompt “black and blue.”


( CarNasty 4ever! )

I tag doctor_denmark with the prompt “desperation.”

Playing D&D with my friends this afternoon. Actually, I guess technically it's Pathfinder, but every tabletop role-playing game in D&D to me. Currently we're fighting a ghost door.

I have been leading an exceptionally boring life recently. I did almost exactly nothing over Labor Day weekend and it's been raining for what seems like the past 400 years of my life. The rain has being making me miss all my transit connections on my commute, and so it's taking me twice as long to get to and from work, which has been less than fantastic. On the other hand, the Dunkin Donuts guy at 30th Street knows me and my order on sight now.

I've been watching Project Runway and hating everyone and watching Top Chef Just Desserts and not remembering who anyone is. Soon all the fall shows will be back, so I'll have to start remembering which of those I was watching.

Why hello there! Didn't die in the hurricane, and in fact apart from a few brief power flickers saw pretty much no effects at all, for which I am extremely grateful. Team Carriage House split a bottle of wine and watched The King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters while it passed by, which may have been the best decision we've had in a while. I really love supernerds.

In terms of fandom, I'm mostly trying to pare down all the scads of fic I've had open in tabs for months (and in some cases years) and waiting for hockey to start up again. I'm glad it's Doctor Who time again and almost time for Downton Abbey as well, even though I've forgotten a lot of what happened the first time around. I started following a Texts from Avonlea tumblr a while ago, and as a result downloaded all the old CBC tv movies for a rewatch, even the threequel from 2000 that I didn't know existed and is reportedly not that good.

I also watched Thor over the weekend and it just made me want 400 more movies where bros wear intensely ridiculous helmets all of the time.

In closing, it probably makes me a bad person, but I do enjoy calm, well-reasoned takedowns of Sady Doyle's more self-righteous, absolutist rants. (possible mild spoilers for ASoIaF, maybe. idk, I haven't read them.)

So the thing about not really being fannish about the Flyers other than in the sports way, is that when you somehow come across, as a hypothetical example, Sean O'Donnell's unexpectedly adorable wedding photos, you don't quite know what to do with it. Because OD has a reputation as such a stoic, measured veteran usually, and yet here he is kissing his bride in the sunset and carrying her down the street. (Though the bros at Broad Street Hockey are right: he does have a sexy voice).

In other news, this is the worst tumblr in the world. I love pretty much every goalie, and ih when they're sad. Even sometimes when it's the goalie the Flyers are currently playing and thus making sad. And Ryan Miller's Sad Olympic Face! ;____; Who would want to enjoy his pain? Communists, probably.

Speaking of communists, Nik Zherdev got waived today, and was apparently so pleased about it that he ran out of the rink after practice with a huge grin on his face, refused to talk to reporters, and jumped into a waiting limo and sped away. LOL. I guess on some level you have to admire that much commitment to not giving a fuck. I don't believe he'll go unclaimed, but if he does end up in Glens Falls I will laugh my face off. I can't imagine he'll do well on a shitty team in the Middle of Nowhere, NY.

So way back in November, shoemaster asked me to tell her a story and I, being lazy, said something like, "Once upon a time in high school, Duncs was an angry goth kid and Seabs was a happy country kid, and then they dated." Now it's almost four months later and that story is over 30,000 words long. I don't imagine there's anyone who's interested that doesn't already have Shoe friended, but just in case:

Title: Extra Curriculars
Authors: riadsala and shoemaster
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~31,000
Summary: According to every TV show Brent's ever seen, every school has a guy like Duncan Keith: the weird outcast who wears all black and listens to metal. High School AU.

Notes: Not only is this a 'they're all the same age and went to the same high school' AU, this is a 'we completely disregarded the existence of Junior level hockey for our own fun and profit' AU. And by profit, we mean porn.

Thanks to beatperfume for the beta!

On AO3
In shoemaster's journal

I woke up this morning way bored, so I spent a bunch of time fucking around on tumblr and now I'm going to tell you about Sergei Bobrovsky, the Most Adorable Goalie.

( Primer-as-excuse-for-picspam, basically )

Okay, so the Flyers/Kings game starts soon and I'm going to go watch and hope I haven't jinxed Bob's play by talking all morning about how great he is.