I was just going through my inbox and I realized just how many people have taken the time out to email feedback. Thank you! All of you have done so much to contribute to the emotional well-being of this author and I appreciate that you take the time not only to read, but also to let me know how you feel about the piece or the site. So thank you again.

Fanfic recommendation for today: The Christopher Ryan Scully Series by Jori Remington. Can I tell you how much I adore this series? Along with RivkaT and MustangSally's "Iolokus" series, this was among the first I read in the "X-Files" fandom and wow, oh wow. It's baby-fic and 'shipper fic with a kid who is simply too cute for words, but never gets on your nerves. Plus, Jori has an intricate plot woven through the 'shippy stuff, including a conspiracy runs circles around anything the folks at 1013 can come up with. This series - some 30 stories long - is soft, poignant, funny, romantic, angsty, dramatic, heart-stopping - and a whole lot of other adjectives I simply don't have time to list here. Anyway, go, run, read. And if you've got time, Jori also writes "West Wing" fanfic that is absolutely brilliant.

Site of the Day: The Six Wives of Henry VIII Tell Their Own Stories A lovely, original site from my friend Christiana. She basically took the convulated Tudor history and made it simple - having each of the wives tell their stories in a straight-forward simple way. A great way to get started on Tudor history; drop by and sign Christiana's guest book. And if you're really up to know everything and I mean everything about the Tudors, then Lara Eakins' site, Tudor History site is the one for you; Lara's got everything you could possibly want to know, including some extremely rare pictures of the Tudors on her site. Which makes me think I really need to get my site back up and running. One of these days...

Things that make you go huh:

So I'm at Barnes & Noble yesterday killing time before an appointment and I've got my coffee frappuchino from the ubiquitous Starbucks and I'm looking over the magazines and I see the darndest thing. Those enterprising Full House twins - Mary-Kate and Ashley, remember them? - have their own magazine now! Go figure. It was called (surprise) Mary-Kate and Ashley. Anyway, the frappuchino actually gets put down while I browse. Truly mind-boggling. They have a list of the top ten reasons why they have a magazine and number one is my favorite: Because we can. At least they're honest about it.

Anyway, just because I'm feeling kindly towards the sticky sweet duo, I'll give the site of the day to them: Mary-Kate and Ashley.com These are two very busy young ladies: their own books, movies, television shows, clothing line - Good God, I'm lucky if I can roll out of bed in the morning and put lipstick on. Anyway, go check out the bubblegum-ish site - yeah, purple and yellow are grotesque but then Mary-Kate & Ashley know what's hip, right? Of course right.

Yet another update. Why I love Vermont politicians.

Lovely article on photography in India.

BTW, my computer is dead as a doornail. I have no access to the website, except through blogger. So not to worry - you'll still have the benefit of my witty thoughts;-) However, until my brother (bless his heart) builds me a new computer, access to email etc is sporadic. Hopefully, by this summer, I will have a new machine. In the meantime, join me in a moment of silence for the dearly departed Aptiva.

Yo! Looky here! http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/05/23/jeffords.senate.reax/index.html Wonders never cease; watch out, Dubya!

Exclusive! An interview with Jeeves of Ask Jeeves fame. Truly enlightening.

According to Newsweek, driving while talking on a cell phone causes accidents at the same rate as driving while legally drunk. Wow. Now there's a statistic to take a closer look at. I can't even count the number of times I've nearly been side-whacked by a cell-phone talkin' SUV drivin' person. The most recent incident happened just this week. I was heading home and a car tried to merge into the same spot my car occupied. You see the problem? Thankfully, I wasn't driving too fast and he came to his senses and retreated to his lane - he then ran a red light and then merged in front of a truck just a few feet in back of him. Scary. And the whole time he was talking on his cell phone. You can argue this one with me, and maybe I'm simply incompetent, but I have yet to conquer driving and talking on the phone at the same time. In fact, I scare myself the few times I've attempted this feat; so I can only imagine the fear others must feel when they see me.

On a lighter note, this made me laugh: AT&T To Lay Off 120 percent of Workforce

Hey, President Bush blogs!

Site of the Week: Test your political bent. I'm a 10 - which puts me in the same league as Hilary Clinton. Those of you who know me shouldn't be surprised by this revelation ;-) Merci beaucoup to Paul for the link.

Paul, btw, is one of my buddies at the Alternative to Onslow Forum. I'd explain the title, but it's really not worth it. Bottom line? This is a fun forum to hang out in. All that's necessary is a fairly wacked sense of humor, an easy going attitude and the ability to offer group hugs/web design advice/help as needed.

I realized I haven't posted in a while. I should have a good excuse, but I don't. I don't even have anything to rant about. Amazing since I thrive on melodrama.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me on ASC and ASCEML awards; it's much appreciated. I'm only just now coming back down to earth.

Maybe I'll have an opinion next week. Maybe. Watch this space.

Things that bug me. Some people say things better than I do, so I'm going to let them talk. Take it away, Joel!

This morning, I came to the sad conclusion that I simply cannot iron. I tried, really I did. At 6:45 am, it was me in the laundry room with the iron and a pair of khakis. It was so not pretty. Anyway, I put more wrinkles in than I took out. Finally, I decided not to put in the crease that runs down the front of pants; I'm strangely envious of people who can do this. You know who I'm talking about: people whose clothes never have a wrinkle and in fact, are so starched that clothes can possibly stand on their own. I look at a dress wrong and it wrinkles. Hence, I spend lots of time talking to my closet, hoping that my good feelings towards my rayon and linen clothing radiates outward. I'll let you know how it goes.

Mr. Spammer,

Thank you for your letter today, offering me a "diploma, delivered in days, from a non-accredited university"! Too bad I didn't know that I could get any diploma I wanted - MBA, Bachelors, PhD etc - by just calling your phone number. I probably could have saved the parental units money and gray hair. They're really ticked about the gray hair (most of it due to a concussion received one semester, but that's another story entirely and I don't suppose you care) and now I'm really bummed to find out that you could have helped me out with this. I probably could have avoided the concussion too.

By the way, since you were so nice to tell me about this stellar service, I thought I'd return the favor. Click here to find out how you can improve your business!

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Seema

So here's the deal. I know y'all think I've been AWOL. I have a good excuse, really I do. It's called the GMAT and the racket that's known as ETS. Where else can you possibly pay $190 for the test, $60 for various test preparation materials, $6 on gas - all to take a 3 1/2 hour test that is about as fun as standing in the rain? You also learn in the course of preparation for this test that no one in the world does the same things to English grammar and sentence structure that the GMAT does; you also know that no one, and I mean no one, reads lengthy discourses on the economic conditions of sub-equatorial African nations with a population less than 1 million, for fun. But you can pay to read these things (yes!) and what's even better, these interesting essays are stuck at the end of the test when your eyes are starting to blur so that all of the letters look the same on the screen so you might get Nigeria mixed up with New Mexico. Yes, it can happen. Anyway, just a minor little rant about this money-making operaton. ETS ought to be ashamed of themselves. Really.

Site of the day: speedle.com Go, have a fun time, laugh at the silly pictures. You'll enjoy it.

Fanfic of the day: In the Space of Seven Days by Jenn. NC-17. A great Tom in command story. This one will turn your insides upside down and then smack you around for good measure. More angst than you can shake a stick it.

I'm very happy about Michelle Kwan's win on Saturday at the World Championships. A beautiful skate, filled with all of her lyrical and graceful artistry. A gorgeous job and bravo all around. Now here's to that Olympic gold medal...

Kudos to Russell Crowe and Julia Roberts :-) Very glad about their wins at the Oscar. Russell Crowe pulls off that skirt look so well. Also, fashion faux paux goes to Sarah Jessica Parker (for that short black number) and Bjork for that strange swan thing. Catherine Zeta-Jones , Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt and Laura Linney looked fabulous. Not that Oscar is really about fashion...

In Seema news (yes, everything is about me!) - no, I haven't written anything recently, but I have cleaned off my hard drive and finally posted some stories that have been sitting around since last fall. No, I haven't finished "A Fugue in Blue Minor" though I do plan to once my creative streak comes back. So far, I'm caught up with all submissions to the Write Connection (wow!) so I hope you're enjoying the new arrivals. I've even caught up with my email (finally!). If I've missed you, please email me. There was a brief period of time when I couldn't keep up. Life is better now.

Really.

The power of the Internet, wow, to affect you, to make connections with people you never knew, with people who never knew you knew them. One of those people, Leyla Harrison, an X-Files author of amazing talent, passed away in February. I would stop by Leyla's page for a quick "X-Files" fix now and then and would read about her battle with melanoma. Leyla's great attitude made me think she could beat this one. Unfortunately, not. The Working Stiffs Fanfic page has a great tribute to Leyla and it's worth stopping by if you ever had the honor of reading Leyla's work. For those of you who haven't, here's Leyla's site.

I'm really getting annoyed with radio people. This is not an understatement in any way. What put me over the edge yesterday was a silly poll where people called in and gave their opinion on whether Tom Cruise gay. For crying out loud, who the heck cares? What do differences does it make in anyone's life that they feel the burning desire to weigh in with this opinion? Then today, the poll was: which celeb would you most like to see nekkid? (Nekkid, for those not in the "know," is apparently how you say "naked" in these parts). The answer to this question gives me more information about people I don't know than I care to know. Intelligent radio. Is it a myth? Or do we, as listeners, get what we deserve? .

On a positive note, here's a fanfic rec for you: "Ashes to Ashes" by Yvonne Harrison. I adore this fanfic in so many ways I can't even begin to start listing them all. This is Tom-torture, incredible angst, and character growth as you've never seen before. Truly a tour de force, not something you see often in Trek, let alone VOY. Definitely a must read. Run, don't walk, over to Yvonne's site and take a look. You won't be sorry.

Ashes to Ashes by Yvonne Harrison (aka "Fanfic Chick")

On another note, if you're reading, drop me an email. I'm curious who reads these web journals anyway and I know mine aren't particularly exciting or entertaining. Plus, you'd make my email very happy:-)

Check out how much you would weigh on another planet.