sixwordstories
Whether you're in the mood for a creative challenge or you're short on time or attention span, this semi-addictive community is perfect for those who find flash fiction way long. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be able to stop. The prince turned into a frog. The girl ran home to mother. Tough to write. Easy to read. It's a double threesome of fun.

dailyfoodie
Delicious, ambitious, and occasionally nutritious dishes make for an eclectic, all-you-can-eat feast. Whether you're searching for recipes for your next dinner party or you're jonesing for a late-night brownie fix, your cravings are sure to be well sated. A warm and inclusive community that welcomes all orientations, from carnivores to vegans, from gourmands to junk-food junkies. Guaranteed bias-free, food-positive, and pan-epicurian.

Thanks to an online friend, I just discovered GivesMeHope.com, a new site that is meant to be the antithesis of F My Life.

And despite my tendency toward being a bit of a cynic, the most recent post on there really won me over.

This is what it says:


"I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and often have flashbacks. My best friend was with me when I was having a bad one. After I kept apologizing to him, he held me and told me "If I can't handle your past, I'm not worthy of your present or your future." He stayed up with me all night. His love GMH."

Damn if that isn't one of the sweetest things I've heard lately!! And you know that's something if you take into account the fact that I re-watched Some Kind of Wonderful last night!

Anyway, I thought it was nice, and wanted to share.

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )

So I got to meet Dawn's baby last night.

I know I hinted that I'd probably have a lot to say in the wake of this moment, but honestly, I don't.

Not sure why, but I just can't put into words what it felt like to cradle his perfect, sleeping form.

And since I can't, I'm not even gonna try.

Some moments are best kept to yourself, I guess. This was one of those.

aiyatheydidnt
The Chinese version of ONTD, AIYA is a dynamic international community that welcomes users who share a love of contemporary Chinese pop culture. Dedicated to celebrity gossip and entertainment news, you'll enjoy gorgeous photos and breaking stories featuring the glitterati of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

wendylady2
Designed to rescue fashion victims everywhere, this Brit-based community reads like a rag-ezine. Published once or twice weekly, you'll view bizarre highlights of the global fashion scene through captivating photos and delightfully snarky editorial. Sit tight for a virtual fashion tour from the runways of New York to Milan to Paris and back home again to London in homage to the adage: you can't buy good taste.

soldiers_heart
A passionate community for veterans of all ages (mostly American), plus families, friends, and supporters. View poignant snapshots detailing life in combat and back on civilian soil in the form of original artwork, personal narratives, poetry, and photos. Be forewarned that members don't shy away from describing their disappointments, disabilities, and struggles.

Man oh man, where do I even start?

I mean, this story kind of goes back to June or July, when my friend Max e-mailed and tipped me off that Hulk Hogan was going to be doing a book signing at the Borders where he works. He didn't have specifics, but if nothing else, his message put me on notice, and gave me something really cool to anticipate.

Flash forward to the end of September, maybe the beginning of October. I got another e-mail, this time from a colleague who works in special events and who is a fellow wresting geek. His message firmed up the date of the Hogan signing (October 29, 2009 at 7 p.m.), and made the possibility of standing inches from my childhood idol that much more real. I jotted a note about the event on the paper calendars at work and home, and started wondering what this sort of experience would be like. I've met other wrestling legends over the last few years, and while most of them were super cool, one particularly disappointing encounter with Chyna had me a little worried about the possible hazards of seeing Hogan live and in person.

Flash forward again to Wednesday night, when my excitement and sense of anticipation reached an all-time high. I started thinking of what I should say to him, debated bringing along my camera, and even considered gifting him with a printed copy of my novel prologue - so as to show him how he helped inspire my subject matter (part of one of his WM IV backstage promos is shown in the scene). Ultimately I decided to keep my writing to myself, one because I didn't want to feel embarrassed if he refused to look at or accept it, and two because I figured it would be better to wait until I had a complete story to share, rather than just a self-contained chapter. I looked up the details of the signing in my new issue of TimeOut, and learned that I needed to call the following morning to reserve a wristband for admission.

When I arrived at work the next morning, calling Borders was the first item on my agenda. I waited and waited and waited for a live person to pick up, and on the twelfth ring, someone finally did.

"Hi!" I said. "I saw in TimeOut that it's possible to call and reserve a wristband for tonight's Hogan signing?"

"You need to buy a copy of his book to get in on the signing," Borders guy explained. "He won't sign anything else and if you have any other memorabilia with you in line it will be confiscated."

"Okay, but will buying a book guarantee I get a chance to meet him?" I asked. "I don't want to show up and find that the line is full and I've bought the book for nothing."

"Actually, there are people lining up right now," said Borders guy. "They've been here since this morning and are out the door and down the block."

"So you're letting people line up already?" I asked.

"Yeah. I would get here as soon as possible if I were you," advised Borders guy.

I thanked him for this information and hung up, feeling really frustrated in knowing that I might get shut out of the signing due to my unwillingness to stand in a line for 12 plus hours. Luckily though, the Borders in question is just a ten-minute walk from my office, so I thought I could head there to get a lay of the land during my lunch hour.

Lo and behold, there was absolutely nobody lined up when I arrived a little after noon. So either Borders guy was full of shit or the line he mentioned was just a bunch of people lined up in wait of a book purchase.

I bought my own copy of Hogan's book, and was also given a silvery gray wristband. Hoping for good news, I asked the cashier, "Does this mean that I'm guaranteed to get my book signed?"

The girl smiled. "Oh yeah! You're actually part of the first group that will get to see him, so just make sure you get here around 5 and you'll be totally fine."

I was soooooo relieved to hear this.

The workday flew by, and I got clearance to take off a few minutes early, so that I reached the Borders entrance at 4:55. I followed some other people carrying Hogan's book up to the third floor, where the floor was lined with Scotch tape arrows indicating the path the line was to follow. One of the staff directed me to a roped-off section of the floor for people with silvery gray wristbands, and I got in line behind about thirty people who had shown up before me.

From there, it was just a matter of enduring the two hours that lay between me and the start of the signing. I planned to keep myself entertained by getting a jumpstart on reading the Hogan book, but then I realized that I'd have much more fun observing my fellow wrestling fans.

Like the guy in the yellow Hulkamania shirt and matching red sweatband. He kept doing a godawful Hogan voice impersonation, and boasting about how he was going to tear the shirt off for Hogan when he went up to get his autograph.

Or the guy in the sleeveless Eddy Guerrerro shirt who had a very detailed tattoo of Hogan in all his shirt-shredding glory on his upper arm.

The coolest thing though, was when Jimmy Hart unexpectedly showed up, and spent a bunch of time interacting with the fans and signing autographs. At first it was just him, but he was soon joined by a small camera crew, who set about filming fans who wanted to cut promos about Hogan's newly inked deal with TNA. Jimmy was coaching some of the people on their delivery, and my favorite moment was when he was trying to coerce more enthusiasm from a ten-year-old boy who was suffering from a little bit of stage fright.

"You gotta act excited," he urged. "Say something like, 'Hulk Hogan's coming to TNA? I cain't wait!'"

All of this, combined with my note-taking and Twitter dispatches, was enough to make the time go quickly. My pal Max showed up with a few minutes remaining, and he informed me that he was assigned the unenviable task of assisting with line traffic, and making sure no one snuck any cameras up to the signing table (we could snap pics from our place in the line, but close-up shots were forbidden, and Hogan also wasn't posing with fans). We chatted until he had to go clock in, and when he left I noticed the excitement in the air was thick and palpable.

Jimmy returned with the camera crew, and announced that Hogan was due any minute, but he wouldn't come out unless we chanted his name. They recorded some crowd shots of everyone getting all hyped up, and then there was a line of Chicago police offers that appeared followed by the man of the hour.

As jaded as I am when it comes to wrestling, I couldn't help but feel a surge of giddiness when he came into view. He was ENORMOUS!!! He towered over his entourage, so much so that his head seemed only inches from the ceiling. And he just ate up the adulation. Walked through the throng of people, giving high fives and letting fans slap his back. At one point he even caught sight of the guy with the tattoo, and he brought the camera crew over, instructing them to capture his ink for posterity.

"Who do you wanna see me fight in TNA? Sting?" he asked while the camera rolled.

"Samoa Joe!" called a girl next to me. Getting a little caught up in the moment, I echoed her sentiment, but Hogan didn't respond, either because that didn't fit in with his booking plans, or because we were too far back for him to hear.

He mixed and mingled a few minutes more before taking a seat in a tall-backed leather chair situated behind the signing table.

The media photographers were allowed a few minutes to take some shots in rapid succession, and then the line started moving and the signing began. It was all very efficient, with each person being ushered along as if they were on a conveyor belt.

The couple in line just ahead of me asked if I would mind snapping a shot of them when it came time for them to approach the table. I told them I'd do my best and managed to get one off right before I crossed into the signing area and was told to put the camera away.

Next thing I knew, I was handing my book to Max, who handed it to his co-worker who in turn handed it off to Hogan himself.

"Well hello there, pretty lady," he said. He smiled and motioned me forward, maintaining eye contact as he began signing his name.

"Thanks." I could feel the heat rising in my face, and struggled to find words after it sunk in that one of my all-time favorite wrestlers had just called me pretty. I tried not to stammer and managed to blurt out, "It's so great to finally meet you."

"And I appreciate you coming out." The way he spoke, it was like we were the only two people in the world, that's how good he was at making the interaction seem personal and genuine. Though as friendly and warm as he was, I couldn't help but notice the sadness visible behind his blue eyes. They were eyes that maintained the sparkle of youth, but also reflected the soul of a tired, lonely man that had seen way too much ugliness (some of it his own doing) and tragedy throughout his lifetime.

I only glimpsed that for a split second before he was back to being the consummate entertainer. "Lemme ask you something. Can you cook?"

"Yeah, a little bit." It seemed like a strange question, but any question directed at me from Hulk Hogan was gonna be strange by virtue of the source.

Hogan smiled, and looked back at the security detail and his group of handlers. "See? That's what I'm talking about!"

I wish I could remember if there was anything more to that, but everything was moving so fast and was such a blur that I don't know if anything else was said. I suppose he was simply expressing excitement over meeting a woman he deemed nice looking who could also cook? Coming from anyone else this might have inflamed my feminist sensibilities, but from him it was kinda nice to be perceived as the total package of womanhood, I guess.

Hogan thanked me again for coming and I thanked him for his autograph, and he handed my book off to another border employee, who in turn handed it to me and directed me toward the exit path. I walked away from the table in a bit of a daze, and met up with Jimmy Hart who was signing autographs for the couple ahead of me. I handed them their camera and the woman was very happy with the shot I'd managed. They used the camera for a photo with Jimmy, and then he offered to sign my book as well, saying graciously, "Here you go, darlin."

I picked up my checked bags and found my work colleague, who was lined up in the second color-coded group.

"You get to meet him?" he asked.

I nodded.

"You get to shake his hand?"

I vaguely recalled our fingers touching, so I nodded again.

"I'll see if I can get a picture. If I do I'll send em to you." (I had mentioned to him earlier that I forgot my camera at home)

"Have fun!" I said, and his line moved forward. I wanted to say farewell to my friend Max, but I knew he was going to be too preoccupied with crowd wrangling so I buttoned up my coat and headed out into the night.

I treated myself to dinner at Soupbox before I hopped the train back home, and all I could do was replay the encounter that I've been waiting for since the age of six.

"Hello there pretty lady." Pretty lady. PRETTY LADY! AND HE WAS REFERRING TO ME!!!!! I couldn't get over it, even though I'm sure he says it to lots of girls.

It made me glad that I hadn't let the morning's conversation with Borders guy discourage me from attending. Made me proud that I'd withstood two hours alone with a bunch of wrestling fans. Made me appreciate my decision to show up in business attire rather than changing into the jeans and t-shirt uniform that almost everyone else in line was wearing.

Most of all, it made me feel good about myself. And I've been walking around with an extra spring in my step ever since.

EDIT: If you're reading this, our maintenance is OVER! The problem was not found on our equipment, which means we'll have to work with our ISP to fix this small problem -- which also means another maintenance window in the future -- but at least we have eliminated our side.

Thank you everyone, and a special shout out to rekoil for giving me a great suggestion AND also the opportunity to feel like I've just called in to a local radio station.

Have a great day, night or afternoon wherever you may be.

---

Hi everyone, sorry for the late notice but I'm going to have to do some testing on 1 of our 4 internet circuits TONIGHT; Friday night or Saturday morning depending on which time zone you're in.

Most of us shouldn't notice any impact, though there may be some slowness or lag when I switch traffic on to our other ISP circuits and then another hit when I stop the tests. If a page won't load or times out, try hitting refresh 1 or 2 times and it should load then. If it doesn't work at all... trust me, I'll be typing really really really fast to try to undo whatever I just did. Hopefully you'll have some Halloween candy (if you're in the USA and celebrate that kind of thing) nearby to take away the bitterness of a small site outage. :(

Here's the handy-dandy Website That I Always Use to get a feel for when the maintenance will start in your area. Our site traffic historically dips on Friday afternoons until Saturday morning which is why we tend to pick this time for maintenance work.

( tech details )

status.livejournal.org will, of course be updated before and after the maintenance window. Or else marta will get mad at me. :D

bt

In response to user comments from last week, we want to let you know that we'll remain LJ cut-free for the next month in order to get more eyeballs on our evolving newsletter. As for product coverage, that continues to be our top priority. For more granular detail, however, we recommend you join lj_releases.

Super-tweak for Yandex search

Some of our beta testers expressed privacy concerns using the Yandex search engine. Here's why: Last week, when you ran a search, you could see the usernames (and only the usernames) of everyone who commented on an entry, even if that entry was switched to Private or Friends Only after it was originally indexed. You could NOT see the actual comments from Friends Only or Private posts. In response to your input, we've implemented a fix to keep all user activity currently marked Friends Only or Private completely hidden. If you'd prefer your public content not to be indexed by Yandex, click here and use the settings labeled Search Inclusion (this covers your entire journal) and/or Comment Search Inclusion (which covers comments only). To test drive Yandex search now, click here.

Postcards from the edge

Several years ago, we asked LiveJournal users to send postcards to help us decorate our dull, white-washed offices. Since a good idea warrants repetition, we're at it again (same issue, new address). We hope you'll surround us with LiveJournal love by sending your postcards to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. We'll post snapshots right here. Be sure to include your username, since we'll randomly pick 10 lucky recipients to win free paid account time.

Conquer Writer's Block

Here are some excerpts from this week's most popular question of the day:

If a friend or relative makes a racist or homophobic remark, do you tend to confront them or let it slide? Are you more likely to confront them if it offends you directly or someone else who seems reluctant to speak up?

1. I find it easier to stand up for other people, and i wouldn't let it slide if they made a rude or hurtful comment.
2. Usually if a friend makes a racist or homophobic remark, I tend to let it slide. I think that while i would not say such things myself, I have no right to censor those around me.
3. This happens all of the time. I confront some relatives, but I refuse to if they are drunk or watch Fox News.
4. I'd let it slide if it was just a private remark... As much as I despise bigotry and intolerance, I know that you can't change people-they have to change themselves ...
5. Confront! confront! confront! Politely, but without equivocation.
6. SPEAK UP. Always, always, always speak up. Letting something slide lets ignorance win. No matter if it offends me directly, or someone else, I will confront the speaker and let them know that's not ok.
7. I don't get offended personally. As an immigrant, woman, gay and person of color if I took every single potentially offensive remark seriously I wouldn't get anything done.
8. I punch them in the balls. With my mind.
9. I do speak up, but often very timidly because I feel that I'm white and therefore I don't really have any authority to lecture someone on what's racist and what isn't...
10. Generally speaking, I do not let this shit fly, because it reduces me as a person, to this non-person and it replicates the destructive discourse that makes sure that sexual minorities, racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, trans people and every intersection thereof into something other than human... And sometimes... I'm just too tired to deal with it, so I roll my eyes, make a sarcastic remark and hope the conversation moves on quickly.

For more daily questions and user comments, join writersblock. FYI, we don't want to invade your privacy, so we haven't credited individual users for their responses. We'd appreciate your feedback on this!

Spotlight community of the week

We can't resist making one last midnight trip to the ol' pumpkin patch. If you adore crazy costumes, fiendish festivities, and bottomless candy consumption as much as we do, this community has just what it takes to light up your jack-o-lantern.


halloween_fan

Photos of the week

We received so many incredible photos, we had to close our eyes and point. We uploaded a selection of awesome images at our new lj_photophile community. Please join and start posting (try to keep the width at around 625 for the sake of consistency)! We'd love for you to tell us more about your photos! You can help us select spotlight photos by commenting on your favorites. Once again, we thank you for making our online world more beautiful!

shutter	pancetta	ilya_gorokhov

Curtains

Thanks, again, for tuning in. We look forward to seeing you next week.

There's a new man in my life.

I haven't met him yet, seeing has how he's only about 15 hours old, but I'm proud to announce his arrival and send sincere congrats to his parents, one of whom is my best friend Dawn.

I'm hopeful that I can find a way to get out to Downers Grove to see him in the next couple days, after which I'm sure there will be a lengthy entry, but in the meantime I can only express my excitement by posting a video of his namesake.






In a way, I feel indirectly responsible for Dawn choosing to call her son Jericho, because I was the one who got her into wrestling in the late 90s. What's funny is that she and her husband chose this name without my having told her that I would have also picked that name if I ever gave birth to my own son. Seeing as how my chances of being a mom are looking more and more unlikely, I'm thrilled that someone close to me is using my idea.

I guess that's all I can say at the moment. I know the prospect of holding this little guy in my arms is going to make it hard to concentrate on work today!

So I guess it's time for all that Tamale Hut gushing that I promised, eh?

Where to start? Well, I suppose it's important to mention that Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday of the year, so naturally I was especially excited to be hosting a reading themed around ghouls and ghosts and things that go bump in the night.

My first order of business was putting together an appropriate costume. Bear in mind that I've only done myself up Halloween style a couple times as an adult, and in general I feel weird calling attention to myself. In this case however, I figured it was my duty as hostess/emcee to invoke the spirit of the season, and so at the beginning of the month I hit a halloween shop, not really finding much that appealed to me. Up until the morning of the show my plan was to simply spruce up jeans and a black collared t-shirt with a cloak and tiara, but before I left to go buy them I gave my closet a cursory glance, on the off chance that some other sort of inspiration might hit.

It turned out to be the right move....whilst shuffling through my non-work garments I laid a hand on one of my favorite dresses, a black number with white skeletons. I felt an idea forming, so I tried it on with my calf-high black boots, and realized that I could expand upon my original idea to create a look that was costumey and cute and also punk rock in a modest, Jenny Seay kinda way:





I was thrilled with the results, though I had to visit two Halloween shops in order to lay hands on the tiara, which was kind of irksome.

What wasn't irksome, however, was the drive to pick up a couple friends, and my lovely special guest, Claire Cooney. I rented a car specifically for this purpose (and for all the errand-running I mentioned in my last couple entries), and really enjoyed helping people without their own transportation to arrive at my little show.

Though I have to say, the show this particular evening wasn't all that little. Just about every seat in the house was full, and everyone sat at attention once Claire got rolling with her vivid tale of the land where children go after they die.






It was sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, always captivating, and further enhanced by a decorative raven that seemed to instinctively know when to chime in with a few well-played squawks. Or perhaps Claire coached him ahead of time?





When she was done I kicked off the open mic with my Henry Lee Lucas-inspired short story. Chris, who usually tells of UFO's honored the theme with a chapter from his novel introducing a voodoo woman, and some ladies from the Berwyn Arts Council Committee kicked off Poe-Fest with a dramatic reading of The Cask of Amontillado. Again, our friend the raven offered some dramatic sound effects.

All in all I couldn't have asked for a better way to honor Halloween. Claire even dubbed me Queen of the Wolves, and we ate lots of yummy tamales and chocolate.

I could probably go on even more, but instead I'll leave you with an image of one of the audience members, whose costume was probably my favorite of everyone there. I'm still not sure how he was able to see in this thing, but he pulled it off well in any case: