The Band Gazebo

Fic meme!

2025-11-12T20:35:03Z

Seen on shallowness's journal, the Dreamwidth fic meme...

( here be fic )

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helsinkibaby @ 2025-08-05T13:43:00

2025-08-05T12:45:33Z

So the daughter has decided she wants to look at One Tree Hill. She is now 10 episodes into season one, and is refusing to talk to me about it because I'll have an opinion, and she'll know what it is just by looking at my face. Which, you know, valid.

In fairness, she did ask me if she was allowed to look at Dawson's Creek at the same time as she asked me about OTH and I told her that she could look at it but if she preferred Dawson to Pacey, I would disown her.

Edit So she likes Lucas, hates Nathan. Likes Peyton. Likes Lucas and Peyton, hates Lucas and Brooke. Likes Haley but hates Haley with Nathan. Hates Nathan's dad which, and this was my only comment, is pretty much the universal OTH opinion. Otherwise, would anyone like an almost 16 year old, very pleasant disposition, lovely straight teeth, great little baker?

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AO3 meme

2025-03-03T22:06:46Z

I haven't done a good meme in ages and the AO3 one that is going the rounds looked like fun!

1. Most Hits - Not Quite Elsa (NCIS, Nick/Ellie)
2. Second Most Kudos - Legitimate Excuses (Criminal Minds, Garcia/Luke, AU meet cute featuring Roxy and Henry)
3. Third Most Comments - Four Moments - Harry Potter, Fred/Hermione
4. Fourth Most Bookmarks - Better Together (NCIS, Nick/Ellie, the single parents AU)
5. Fifth Most Words - Circle Unbroken (CSI Miami, Speed/Calleigh, an AU where Calleigh goes back home when her dad dies, using her backstory from the original CBS bios - remember them? A fic so old it can drink alcohol on both sides of the Atlantic)
6. Fic with Fewest Words - Things that Don't Change (word count 40) The Flash, Joe/Caitlin. A one sentence fic, which I usually don't do but there we are!

Quite interesting to me that out of 6 different criteria, I hit on five different fandoms. Not so big a surprise that the fandom with two stories is NCIS Nick/Ellie - it's the closest I've got to a canon pairing in a very long time (and no, I will not discuss how they ended it, instead I will be forever bitter and that's just fine with me) and it is/was a fandom/pairing with fans who shipped it and fans who wrote for it and that really is a rarity for my pairs!

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All that I can see is just another apple tree

2024-08-15T21:22:30Z

Adventures in cooking continue… Abigail made more plum jam at the weekend, this time using a sugar thermometer. We thought it might be too runny but we trusted the equipment and lo and behold, perfectly set jam! That also tastes amazing. And passed the Mammy/Nanny test so yay! She also decided to make lemon drizzle cake on a rainy Monday and oh my lord it was the nicest thing I’ve eaten in ages. Anyone who tried it said the same. She was delighted.

She also had fun with Grandad and went out with him to buy an apple tree for the back garden. (Their back garden, as in my home house back garden, not the house I live in currently). Which was duly planted and then Dad got an idea. Why not pull down the rotten trees on the property line between our house and my uncle’s next door (they’ve been in flitters since an unfortunate bonfire incident about twelve years ago and oh boy is that a whole ‘nother journal entry) and put apple trees in their place? Long story short, five more apple trees are being delivered tomorrow. Abigail is delighted. Mam thinks we have all lost our minds. Considering Abigail spent a fair bit of today driving Dad’s ride on lawnmower, I’m not sure she’s wrong, but at least she’s happy!

And in fandom news, my copy of “What’s Next” The West Wing book written by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack arrived on Tuesday. It is almost 600 pages of behind the scenes anecdotes (seriously, it’s huge!) and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I’m enjoying it so much that I feel a rewatch coming on. Himself has never seen an episode - I know! - and I’m almost nervous to show it to him because if he doesn’t like it, I will simply have to divorce him. We shall see.

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the shine is off the medals…

2024-08-11T20:43:38Z

I have spent most of today and yesterday following the Olympics and the Jordan Chiles floor bronze medal saga. I spent yesterday thinking how insane it was that CAS was able to find that the inquiry was four seconds late and therefore the inquiry should not have been accepted never mind upheld… and now US Gym have put forward video footage that shows the inquiry went in 47 seconds after the score was posted? So they’re apparently relying on video feeds, it doesn’t look like there was an official with a stopwatch to say nope? Well, that’s just stupid.

I’m with Adam Rippon who did a little talky video where he said if it was him, they could take the medal out of his cold dead hands.

And! Romania and USA had agreed to share but IOC said no? Utterly ridiculous.

Also gotta say, I love how it took two and a half years for CAS to sort out the Beijing team event medals but can do this in a week.

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Further adventures in cooking

2024-08-08T21:37:52Z

Dad got another batch of plums off the tree yesterday which lead Abigail to ask the question, "What else can we make with plums, Nanny?" Mam duly suggested plum crumble, possibly because Abigail's apple crumble is the food of the gods (seriously lads, this home ec business is great) so that is what was done this afternoon. Crumble was duly taken over to my parents' house this evening and devoured with gusto by all. Abigail was delighted!

Have also spent more time looking at the Olympics - Noah Lyles ran the 200m with covid? *shakes head* I do not get that at all. I don't know how he did it, I don't know how he was allowed to do it and I'm furious that it was allowed to happen. What happened to isolating when you know you're infected?

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seo libh canaig Amhrán na bhFiann...

2024-08-06T22:40:16Z

Very late post tonight but I didn't want to miss my streak... late because myself and Abigail were sitting down to watch Kellie Harrington's boxing match, to see would she win back to back Olympic gold medals... and she did. It's a measure of how freaked out I was over the whole affair that even when Abigail was jumping up and down on the sofa at the end, I couldn't find it in myself to tell her to sit back down!

Chicago Med has announced some new faces for the new season... after the disappointment that was season nine, I'm hoping that things will improve. I also saw on twitter or instagram, I can't remember which, that Med Student Naomi - she's played by the girl who played Sydney LaForge on Picard and I cannot remember her name for the life of me right now, it'll come back the second I press post - is also back and I'm happy about that. I like her.

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defying gravity… or not

2024-08-05T21:37:45Z

Abigail and I sat down for most of the morning and looked at the final day of Olympic gymnastics. Wow, was that a mistake. Well, not entirely, there were some great moments. But there were so many women falling off the beam (on the same spot) that I was having Sydney 2000 vault flashbacks and the high bar was not a whole lot better - so many missed catches and four (?) falls on landings where the landings looked fine but then they pitched forward when they hit the mat … Rhys McClenaghan was on twitter saying to check the height of the bar so it wasn’t just me wondering!

But then Alice D’Amato won a surprise beam gold after being fourth twice, keeping her balance when all around lost theirs. And Rebeca Andrade won the floor for a much deserved gold medal, and Jordan Chiles and her inquiry lifted her to a bronze and her reaction and Simone hugging her was delightful. And then the two of them kneeling before Rebeca on the podium was so sweet. The ladies have been so supportive of one another and so much good sportsmanship on display, it’s been a pleasure to watch.

Then tonight we watched the athletics. Mondo duPlantis having won the gold already at 6.10m decided to go for 6.25 to break his own world record, just for the craic, and made it. And then we had some surprising skin in the game because it turned out the British girl, Keely Hodgkinson, who was the favourite for gold, races for Leigh Harriers. “Leigh?” says Abigail, because that is where Himself used to live and sure enough, a quick Google reveals that Leigh Harriers are based in Leigh Sports Village, right beside the Holiday Inn where we stayed for a week last month, and around the corner from the Whistling Wren, the pub where we had some meals (currently busier than usual, watch party anyone?)So then we had to shout for her like she was one of our own and she won! Fingers crossed we will get to do the same for Rashidat Adeleke in the 400, she looked good in her heat today!

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The Olympics and other things that are my jam...

2024-08-04T21:02:39Z

Well, our adventure in jam making was a bit of a mixed bag. It would appear that in our attempts to make sure that the jam was properly set, we ended up over setting it, because the texture is definitely thicker than it should be. (I am choosing to push the narrative that too set is better than the alternative of the jam oozing everywhere.) However, the taste is yummy. Abigail baked scones today and then we went over to my parents' house, where scones with plum jam on top were duly devoured and fulsome praise heaped upon her, so happy daughter. We have agreed that next time when we make jam, we just won't do it for as long. Or buy a sugar thermometer to take out the guess work.

In other news, we sat down to look at the uneven bars final today, because that's Abigail's favourite event. We were delighted for Suni getting her bronze - I loved her reaction! Kaylia Neymour soundly deserved the gold, but I was heartbroken for Becky Downie. Falling on your own element should be an automatic do-over.

Then this evening we watched Daniel Whiffen swim to a bronze medal in the 1500m - it was very interesting, watching the RTE commentary because they were all gutted that he didn't win. Clearly a case of heightened expectations because he'd won the gold in the 800 earlier in the week and as one of the pundits said, if the medals had come the other way around, everyone would be jumping up and down. But as someone on Twitter pointed out, in the last sixty odd years, Ireland has won 6 medals. (I think they're discounting Michelle Smith?) This week alone we've won 7 and it's out most successful Olympics ever.

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Olympic fever

2024-08-03T21:32:35Z

Despite my best plans, Himself coming down with bronchitis on the bank holiday weekend, necessitating a trip to the out of hours doctor meant I couldn’t sit down and watch the Olympics as planned. I know the vault results and am about to sit down and watch it now, but I did get to see the pommel horse live which, let’s face it, with Rhys McClenaghan going for gold, was the big one for me. ( “spoiler )

In other news, myself and Abigail attempted plum jam this evening! We shall see how it tastes tomorrow. I’m slightly worried it may set a bit too much… it was very runny til it wasn’t but fingers crossed!

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It’s not just a story, said Little Johnny Dory

2024-08-02T20:51:38Z

I spent this afternoon at the cinema with Himself and Abigail seeing Despicable Me 4. Very enjoyable, got better as it went on. Minions funny as always and Abigail loved it so that’s all too the good.

Saw yesterday online that BBC are making an animated version of Julia Donaldson’s Tiddler to be shown over Christmas… I am more excited for this than I have any right to be, I used to read that to Abigail all the time and do all the voices and it was one of her favourites, slightly behind Room on the Broom. I am hoping for the Christmas afternoon slot, it’d be just lovely to sit down and look at that.

A day off today from Olympic gymnastics but Rhys McClenaghan goes in the pommel final tomorrow so I shall be seated for that. I was nervous enough because of Max Whitlock but then I saw Stephen the Pommel Guy in the mens team so I’m twice as bad.

And In other news, the IOC denied the figure skating appeal of the Canadians so Russia will get the bronze medal from the 2022 team event. Despite the fact that Russia didn’t even officially compete in that games. Flying in the face of all precedent and common sense - in what other team event does someone get DQed for doping and the rest of the team keep their medals? Please!

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return of the prodigal...

2024-08-01T21:31:35Z

1st of August seems like a good time to try to get into the habit of coming on here again... not crossposting to LJ because that truly seems to have gone the way of the dodo, but we shall see...

I spent much of this afternoon/evening watching Simone Biles try her very best to give us all heart failure with the Olympic gold medal. ( Let's see if I remember how to spoiler tag )

I saw on twitter that Francine Pascal, creator of the Sweet Valley High books passed away. Those books were a huge staple of my teenage years, I devoured them. I think I might still have some up in the attic somewhere. This is a really good interview about how she came up with the series and how they were written.

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Gen Prompt Bingo Round 23

2022-12-19T19:13:23Z

In an effort to push start my muse for next year…

Vacations and Holidays	Cherished	Midnight	Winter	Kittens and Puppies
Formidable	Takeout	Pets	Day-in-the-life	Autumn
Terrible	Honour / Prestige	Wild Card	The Early Hours before Dawn	Sunrise / Sunset
Ambiguous	Echoes	Journeys and Quests	Forever	Playing Cards
Pipes and Beer	Chosen One(s)	Artifacts (Alien and Otherwise)	Science	Hats, Hoods, Hairstyles

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Taking the win…

2022-12-03T20:35:40Z

Not had too many writing wins this year but allbingo had a drabble challenge (for fills of 100-500 words which is not a drabble but I digress) and I decided to make my life a little harder by ensuring all my fills were on either hundred or the fifty word count. I got a blackout on a 5x5 card by the skin of my teeth so yay me!

Links are I hope under the cut… fandoms are Law and Order SVU, RFDS, Magnum PI (2018), FBI/NCIS Los Angeles crossover, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist

( Read more... )

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crying in old

2022-05-20T17:40:24Z

Scrolling through ye olde friends list and scanning down today’s comment fic post, “Old Fandoms”, when one of them caught my eye…

Friends, I cannot believe I have lived long enough to see Supernatural classed as an old fandom.

(Although I think it’s a mistake because the post specified pre-2002 and I know SPN was later than that… I want to say 2005? But still. An old fandom.)

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AO3 madness

2022-04-04T12:55:29Z

I got a lovely comment this morning from someone who had read one of the old fics that I posted to AO3 back when the rumour was going around that LJ might be disappearing from the internet, which reminded me that there were about 20 drafts that were going to die come Sunday so I sat down and tided and posted them. And then I noticed that there were certain pairings that were missing stories, so I tracked down my AU100 table and found more stuff that apparently I posted to that comm, but not on my LJ because apparently crossposting must not have been a thing for me? IDK. So I imported a whole load of those too. And then I remembered other stuff up on LJ that didn't get moved over so that's on my list for tomorrow!

This is to say, basically, that anyone who gets about 50 backdated notifications from me? I'm so sorry!

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NCIS season 18 finale thoughts

2021-05-26T21:46:14Z

I wrote this for tumblr earlier today which is where most of the NCIS/Ellick fandom appears to be, but I find tumblr a hell site for being able to find anything so I’m also posting it here.

There are spoilers for the finale that aired in the states last night, although I’ve not seen the full episode and am going from reviews and one particular scene that’s been posted to tumblr and Twitter. It also contains a very brief reference to NCIS Los Angeles and their finale from Sunday night.

( “spoilers )

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Trope Bingo

2021-04-22T19:43:51Z

Name: helsinkibaby
Fandoms: The Mentalist, NCIS Los Angeles
List of Prompts: AU: Fantasy, Future Fic, Seinfeldian Conversation, Inspired by Poetry, In Another Man’s Shoes
Link to Card: My Card
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
( Read more... )

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Trope Bingo Round 16

2021-04-08T15:31:37Z

I got this card months ago and only just realised I hadn’t put it up here... considering fills need to be posted by the end of the month, I should get on that.

( Card )

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Gen Prompt Bingo Card (Round 18)

2020-04-02T15:45:36Z

Reunions	Afternoon	Catching Snowflakes	Treehouse	Sunrise / Sunset
Homesickness	Home-cooking	Worst case scenario	Lazy Day	Feathers
Truth or Dare	Summertime (and the Livin' is Easy)	Wild Card	Being Helped	Curtainfic (and similar)
Rescue me: Damsels (and others) in distress	Day-in-the-life	Imprisonment	Winter	Being Silly
Snowglobe	Furnishing the Home	Knitting and Sewing	Mistaken Identity	Teenagers

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And so it continues...

2019-06-02T20:01:57Z

So the daughter has discovered “Victorious” (Nickelodeon tv show, for those of you who don’t know) - not the first show she’s loved but it’s hardcore this one, We I’ve songs on heavy Spotify rotation, she loves Beck, it’s a true fandom thing she has going on.

To the point that she has looked it up online because she’s just been telling me about Bade vs Bori and explained in serious detail that some people want Beck with Jade and some want Beck with Tori but there are some people who think that Tori and Andre would make a good couple...

And all I’m thinking is “my baby is old enough to tell me about a ship war, when did that happen?!”

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Trope Bingo Card

2019-03-16T20:29:12Z

So I signed up for trope bingo a long long time ago and need to get started into it.., anyone who sees a prompt that can leap out at one of my ships, feel free to shoot, I’m still at the “can’t see the wood for the trees” stage!

( Table under the cut I hope )

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My list!

2018-05-02T19:07:04Z

Pulling this out of mothballs to remind myself of various challenges I’ve signed up for or am interested in...

intoabar - assignment received, due May 20th. Nothing writtten yet but I have a notion and a vague timeframe that may or may not work with canon but an AU tag fixes much.

1_million_words monthly challenge Rare Pair. Which on first glance is right in my wheelhouse - when do I not write rare pair? However for the purposes of this challenge they are defining it as a pair that’s new to you. Which makes it harder. Still thinking on this one.

Gen Prompt Bingo - need to check deadline but fairly new card. Two stories written, not put up anywhere yet. Notions for others. Unsure if any of them are in the same bingo line. Ah well.

Ncis Big Bang - due some time in the summer. I have not a notion what I will write for this, however since Nick Torres and Ellie Bishop have stolen my soul in the last few weeks, I fancy my chances. It’s also a low minimum Big Bang of 5000 words so there’s that.

whatif-au May challenge - fandom fusions. Still thinking on this one too.

I am not sure if there is anything else that is on my radar. I will edit if anything occurs to me. Possibly with language unbecoming.

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Rant ahoy...

2018-01-27T22:05:23Z

Ok so I'm not trying to be a bitch, OK. I'm trying really hard.

But I just opened my gmail primary email folder, the one I only check every few days because all the fandom stuff gets usually diverted into the "social" tab?

And I find 4 reviews from Fan fiction.net for 4 of my Warrick/Sara stories.

Copied and pasted so you know I'm getting the quote right.

Story: Walls Falling
Chapter: 1. Default Chapter

From: Wanda (Guest)
-------------------

Wanda:Nice try. But the episode will forever be remembered for its 'chalk' scene! It's Sara and Grissom, as simple as that.

*

A new review has been posted to your story.

Story: Home Truths
Chapter: 1. Default Chapter

From: Wanda (Guest)
-------------------

Wanda:Warrick ruined the story totally. He's never anything more than a colleague to Sara.

*
Story: Ordering the Chaos
Chapter: 1. Default Chapter

From: Wanda (Guest)
-------------------

Wanda:Sara was half of the GSR. Grissom would have been the right one in this story. Not Warrick. It didn't work. Not one bit.

*

Story: Dollar Thoughts
Chapter: 1. Default Chapter

From: Wanda (Guest)
-------------------

Wanda:Knowing how Cathetine felt about Warrick, Sara was too smart to get close to Warrick, but more important reason was Sara only had eyes for Grissom!

Warrick had a cordial working relationship with Sara. Nothing more.

Now, I've just checked on far fiction.net because it is literal ages since I have posted anything there and all those stories were posted in 2002 or 2003. They are buried DEEP in the bowels, y'all, this girl had to LOOK for them. Who does that for a ship they're not in to? And actively anti, what's more? Do you not have a life? Friends? A job? A family? Fic of your own to write for a ship/the ship you enjoy so much? Why waste so much of your time being so negative, so small, that you post reviews like that to stories that are SIXTEEN YEARS OLD?????

And of course, since she doesn't appear to be a registered user so there's no right of reply, I can't say any of this to her so I'm venting here about it!

But seriously, if you don't ship the ship, don't read it! What's so hard about that?

And if you do read it and it doesn't convince you of the worthiness of the ship? Click that little X in the corner and block me from feed, don't search for the ship and live and let live!

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helsinkibaby @ 2017-09-08T23:53:00

2017-09-08T22:54:51Z

Seriously. Any time this week would like to fucking stop, that'd be great.

RIP Troy Gentry.

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