Happy Birthday tiamatschild!

Happiest of birthdays to tiamatschild! Many happy returns of the day, my friend.

In a very hobbit-like gesture, Nanni has foregone the getting of presents, and has provided presents for her friends instead :) So, as my present to her, I offer feedback and recs all around!

Firstly, she's written Jeeves and Wooster fanfic! It's Bertie's birthday, and a certain valet has subtly arranged for a present to be delivered. It's adorable and warm fuzzy-inducing. Go and love her for this.

By following the same link, you can also see some Discworld fic, starring Sam Vimes. Lovely.

Symmetry of Silence is a series of Horatio Hornblower vignettes from Archie Kennedy's POV. Her Archie voice is spot-on, and her writing reveals such poignant insights into this complex and multi-faceted character.

Scroll down in that post to find Nor One Keep Warm Alone, a Deryni Novels piece written for the Contralemontre 60-minute fic challenge. I don't know the context for this story, as I haven't read those particular novels yet, but I don't need to. It's less the situation than the characters that matter here, and the characters are what I love and what tiamatschild is best at (and the style, and the emotion, and the...oh heck, she's good at it all). She's made me fall completely in love with Denis and Thomas (especially Thomas, I just adore him). This story made me squee and sigh and finally sit and bask in the warm fuzzies.

I feel glutted and happy now, a welcome feeling after a rather trying day which I will post about later. Thanks, Nanni. You should have birthdays more often ;)

What a day...

Thank goodness for LJ, fanfic, and other online escapes. My nerves feel so much better now.

Today was a bit rough. One of my special services kids was a terror, both in reading group and math. He wouldn't sit still, wouldn't leave his folder or his pencil alone, kept tipping back in his chair, fell *out* of the chair, and whined the entire time. He can do the work when he tries, but getting him to sit down and try is like running a marathon. Oy. I think my boss is going to refer him for ADHD testing.

Even worse on the nerves was an incident this afternoon with my two kindergarteners. We usually take the elevator, but today we took the stairs, as it's good for their motor skills. The little boy was faster then the girl, and was almost a flight ahead, and decided that when he got to the top he was going to hide behind the stairwell. He does the hiding thing all the time, and I don't mind it too much b/c I always know where he is. This time, we had a problem. He decided to jump out and try to scare the little girl, who of course jumped backward just as she was getting to the top of the stairs. It was a miracle that I was right beside her and managed to catch her, or else I just know she would have toppled backwards and fell down the concrete steps. I'd rather fall down them myself than to watch a 5 year-old do that. I told my boss about it, and we informed the teacher and sent home a note to his parents. He was a quiet little angel the rest of the day, but still, my heart didn't need that.

Tomorrow is Friday, therefore I go to Mayfield, another elementary school, for the day. I hate going there. I don't see the kids often enough to really get a feel for what I'm doing, and the SS teacher is rarely around to let me know if I'm doing it right or not. I just feel uncomfortable there.

Hmm, just realized this is going to be a rather somber post. How to liven it up...ah, yes. More praise for Katherine Kurtz and her Deryni series. I'm almost halfway through it already; it's going quite quickly, really. I think this is another series I'm going to devour in a hurry. Helps with the forthcoming lack of new Jeeves, actually. Also, Thomas/Denis is my new OTP :)

Also of note (well, of note to me, and the few other people who actually find this interesting), I've come across some new articles regarding infanticide and its relationship with evolutionary biology and psychology. It's interesting info, which I can incorporate into my old thesis on the subject. At this rate, I may be able to turn it into a decent master's thesis and maybe even a doctoral dissertation, if I ever get around to getting those further degrees in biology.