sundries

It looks like we may pop up to Boston for a couple of days in a couple of weeks.

Gardening is full of perils! Mysterious plant problems! Wind! Birds! Damn. There are days where I think it will be a miracle if we get to eat anything from our garden, but this is our first try, and it's outside of both of our skill sets and we've had hell weather and all that. But things are still growing, in spite of it all, so I have hope.

Man, I'm just rolling around in the Torchwood. Reading one of the new tie-in novels now, still working my way through one of the audio books (listened to the other one last week). There's awesome meta; the radio plays start tomorrow; there's all the TARDIS Big Bang fics I've not even had time to look at, and a million press articles. It's awesome! Also, I forget, because Harry Potter was such an emotional solace to me, and Torchwood is so cracky, how much Torchwood is an emotional solace to me too.

Also, this insane fic I'm working on is sort of kicking my ass, to the point I might need to write something quick and dirty soon, as lord knows when I'll finish this insane thing. Have I posted about this? It's AU, set in America, and is basically The West Wing/The American President as a Torchwood romance. I'm not even kidding. It's pretty batshit insane. Current summary that might amuse you:

Chief of Staff Suzie Costello is found dead after having been hit by a train outside BWI, and the lives of the president and his closest advisors descend into chaos, both personal and professional.

Ianto Jones, the White House press secretary, is perfectly certain his life doesn't need to get any more extraordinary than it's already been: born to diplomats and educated around the world, he now spends his days in front of reporters and television cameras hiding his accent and explaining the administration's policies to hordes of not exactly gracious reporters, all while trying to get over the brutal murder of his fiance, Lisa, two years earlier. So when President Harkness dumps the Acting Chief of Staff role in his lap, the last thing he expects is for his "I serve at the pleasure of the president" to be taken literally and prove that the nation is even less ready to deal with its widower president dating than previously suspected.

Faced with charges of both corruption and moral turpitude thanks to the blossoming relationship between Jones and Harkness; besieged by the representatives of a floundering two-party system; haunted by scandal from the president's past (why do the people around him keep killing themselves?); and unbeknownst to nearly everyone (except Secret Service agent Gwen Cooper) hunted by an old army buddy of Harkness's -- can the administration survive?

Yeah, I have no idea why I'm writing that. BUT I AM. And it's going to be so cool. Included characters at this point are, other than those mentioned above -- Tosh, Owen, Andy, the Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Rhys, Donna, Martha, Yvonne Hartman (as the VP!), and John Hart.

I've been bouncing this off invisible_lift as I go, and he's going to read this summary and be like "woah, WHUT?" as I've made a few things more central than they were previously. Muhahahaahah.

Also Rhys? is the White House chef.

You know, speaking of Harry Potter, I'm actually pretty damn excited for the HBP movie. There's so much wrong with the films, but they've always gotten physical settings right in a way that takes my breath (Kali and I went nuts for Grimmaud Place, as an example).

Amma is back in New York next week. The timing feels chaotic for me (yes, because of the Torchwood frenzy), but I'm going to try to find a way to make time to go.

After over seven years, I am now debt-free as regards the IRS.