Ok, so i know there is a similar topic to this over at YTDAW, but sometimes a person needs a little anomity from the whole board. Hence the rant going here. My rant is not from the POV of a reader or a writer, but as a beta reader. Because, yes, i will, quite gladly on most occasions, beta pretty much anything given to me, even if i don't really know the fandom. Heck, when i was in 6th form, i helped beta a CSI fic for a friend of mine when i didn't watch the show and had no clue who any of the characters i was supposed to be reading about did, acted with each other on the show, nothing. But even then i was able to point out grammer, spelling, general flow of the thing.

I digress.

I now, and have done for a number of years, beta CSI fics as a hobby. And i would like to repeat that last bit... as a hobby! And so it really irks me when i come home from a 2 week holiday to Canada with my family to find the same person has emailed me 5 times, and sent me 3 PMs on various sites, all 'asking' me to beta a chapter of their WIP. Only the entire thing is all in capitals, with !!!! after each sentence, making it seem like i'm beign shouted at, and then they go on to 'ask' why i havent answered any of their previous emails and PMs, 'threatening' to get someone else to look it over instead!

Now, for those of you who have asked me to beta in the past, i usually get back with an answer to their request within a couple of days. And if i don't, there is ALWAYS a pretty damn good reason why i have not replied. Being out of the effing country and away from PCs and therefore having no access to email accounts seems like an effing fair reason to me. I may not be feeling this way if, just once, they had asked if everythign was ok, but there wasn't a hint of concern as to my late replying.

It just really irks me when us beta reders, who volunteer our time to help others, get this kind of...i don't want to use the term 'abuse', but in a way that's what it is. I mean, we're not robots chained to our desks 24/7 waiting for the requests to come in. We're human beings with our own lives to lead, and if and when we get a chance we can choose to spend our time helping other people develop their skills as writers if we want. There is absolutely nothing stopping us from walking away from fanfiction if it no longer excites us.

It's just really pissed me off, because i had a wonderful time in Canada over the last 2 weeks, came back feeling happy and refreshed, and now i'm all angry and pissed again!

Is it just me?

So far i'm not having the best of days.
In the last 24 hours, i managed to pull my laptop off my desk and it fell the 2 1/2 feet or so the the floor. Not the best of things to do, especially when it lands in such a way to give the surround of the onitor such a bash that it manages to disconnect slightly from the rest of the frame.

Bad move. So, i turn it off, and set about fixing it to the best of my ability. And (luckily) it was just a case of having to clip the side back into place, and it was all hunky dory again. And the fall didnt seem to have done much damage as i could turn it on without any problem whatsoever.

Turn it off, go to bed, wake up next morning and yeah... it wont turn on. Now, this is an inconvieniance at the best of times. But let me paint you a bigger picture. I am in my final year of university, and i have until the 9th April to write up an 8 week laboratory project to submit to the school for my disertation equivalent. (because i'm doing a science, we got the choice of doing a wet lab or a systemic review of other peoples work... i like doing my own work when i get the choice.) Anyway, either one we chose has the same weighting; 30% of our final degree. Not 30% of the year, but of the FINAL DEGREE!

So that's what i've been doing recently (when i havent been writing/reading fics...) Now are you beginning to see the small problem i have presented myself with? It gets better... Because i have been home for the past 2 weeks, and not going to and from university every day, the work i have been doing has been saved on the hard-drive of my laptop. Before, i was saving everything to flash drive, so i could transport it to and from uni. But these past 2 weeks i havent been doing that.

And, of course, it is only in these past 2 weeks i have had the time to sit down and work on writing what i have done up. Before, if i wasnt researching into the techniques i needed, or if i wasnt in the lab,i was reading articles and journals... basically getting all the background information i needed to be able to write a concise introduction, and have some idea of the work i can comment on in the discussion.

(That would be the introduction and discussion i have been working on for th past 2 weeks. The one sitting on the hard-drive of my laptop. The laptop that wont turn on.)

Oh Fucking Shit. I am so screwed. 

So today i have been working at my sisters PC. Because, unlike my laptop, that one DOES turn on. And so far today i have written, from scratch, my introduction (and from what i remember of my pervious version this one actually follws a cohesive throught pattern, and makes more sense than the first version, not to mention is shorter (and when you have an 8000 word limit, the shorter the better as it gives more room for the discussion), so this may actually be a blessing in disguise... have to see...), the methods, the results i have processed to date, and the references. Yay me! There may be light at the end of this really, really, crappy tunnel.

*sigh*

Back to the grindstone i go... Lol

Title: Intimate encounter
Author: chibs_87
Rating: T
Genre: Angst/romance (but in a GOOD way!)
Pairing: GSR
Length: 1436 words
Spoilers: GD
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: What counts as intimate, anyway?

A/N: Response to a challenge over at YTDAW, set my milla. Thanks to inner_urge and butterfliedgsr for beta-ing this.

Title: Understanding science
Author: chibs_87
Rating: K
Genre: Humour
Pairing: GSR
Length: 490 words
Spoilers: Through 8.06
Disclaimer: Not mine.

Summary: He was pouting.

A/N: I found my fluff muse!! AND she’s writing GSR! (Be very nice to her… she may run away again, and I don’t want that!) Not beta’d. Also, could be OOC for the way they were acting in the ep, but well, so what?!

So i wrote this yesterday, but didn't post it here or at Gf cos of the smutathon going on... i was going to wait till the weekend and post it at GF then, but well, i got impatient, and it's going here for a few day before i post it to Gf.

Title: Saying the words
Author: chibs_87
Rating: T
Genre: Angst
Pairing: GSR
Length: about 700 words
Spoilers: Through 8.07
Disclaimer: No characters or any quotes in this fic belong to me.

Summary: He had so many chances to tell her, but now they were gone.

A/N: TPTB have broken my muse. This is the latest in a line of fics that have been GSR angst. If someone out there has seen either my GSR fluff/smut muse, can you please let them know I’m looking for them? Thanks to butterfliedgsr for the beta.

(For those who may have missed it, my SMUT-a-thin entry, Show Me, is here.)

Title: Moment of Truth
Author: Chibs_87
Rated: High T
Genre: Angst
Pairing: GSR
Length: 2040 words
Spoilers: Nesting Dolls
Disclaimer: Not mine. Glad about it.

A/N: You know those fics that just won’t stop badgering you until they’re written? This is one of them. I think it goes way OOC. A huge part of me never sees this happening in the first place. But well, what if it did? Thanks to inner_urge and butterfliedgsr for the beta, and telling me to post it already!

Title: Helping Out
Author: chibs_87
Rating: T
Pairing: Wedges
Genre: humour
Length: 830ish words
Spoilers: Lab Rats; Chick Chop Flick Shop
Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: This is in response to a request for a sequel to Concerning the Ego from Hodges POV… Hodges mind is a SCARY place to be… Not beta’d.

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Title: Concerning the Ego, companion to Helping Out
Author: chibs_87
Rating: T
Paring: WEDGES
Genre: Fluff/humour
Length: 670 words
Spoilers: Chick Chop Flick Shop, Lab rats
Disclaimer: Not mine… kinda glad atm…

Not beta'd.

Title: Obvious signs
Author: chibs_87
Rating: T (couple of bad words)
Genre: Angst
Pairing: GSR
Length: 305 words or so.
Spoilers: Committed
Disclaimer: Not mine. (Nor is Firefly… if you catch the bit I mean, give yourself a clap. Lol)
Summary: The signs were all there, waiting for him to piece together.

A/N: I have no idea where this came from… thanks to butterfliedgsr   for the beta.

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