A Note for those following Alternate Decisions:
I haven't fallen off the planet. I have very limited internet access right now, as I'm at the tail end of six months of fairly major renovations on my house, and most of the furniture is in storage. I've ported the story to my laptop (no wireless internet, sadly), and am overhauling the remainder of it completely.

On a side note, the request that people sign their reviews if they want an answer was directed at "No one." I am attempting to take that review in the spirit of concrit, but it felt overly harsh and has made me question the direction the story takes in later chapters, hence the overhaul.

Another side note: I may have "invented" the word prophy (short for prophylactic). "Condom" seems too Terran to me.

My name is Jen, and at the time of this update, I am older than I care to admit to the public. I will say that I can recall seeing ROTJ in its original theatrical release. I am female (as the name Jen implies), though in no way would anyone describe me as "girly." I am quite a geeky tomboy (the two are neither mutually exclusive, nor co-requisites), and proud of it. I know what both a Marrette and a gas chromatograph are, and I know how to use them. I am fashion challenged, though I can dress suitably for nearly any occasion with the help of an honest salesperson. I have strong opinions on many things (including everyone's right to their own), am prone to rant at the slightest provocation, have little use for trolls/flamers, and tend toward verbosity, overuse of em-dashes and parenthetical statements, and obviously, using large words. I have written a great many original fiction and fanfiction pieces that will never see the light of day. I have posted (to date) exactly one (completed) piece on the internet. I have read thousands, however. I am an avid reader (I've actually used the expression book-slut) and am not easily offended. In my opinion, I am just open-minded enough to keep my brains from falling out altogether. I have read more than my share of het and slash romance and PWP, epic dramas, ficlets, viggies and one-shots, and, unfortunately, far more than my share of fics with great promise that just died. I do not believe that a plot is a necessary story element, but if there is one, it must be written well.

I am Canadian of British descent, and thus notoriously fussy with the correct usage of English, and my sense of humour tends toward sarcasm and dry wit. I am willing to accept without prejudice the invention of a word to describe something, so long as there is not already a perfectly good word that would suffice. A few of my strongest literary pet peeves are improper use of homonyms (there, they're, their; hanger/hangar), punctuation in general (semicolons are not just fancy commas), apostrophes (many Bothan's died to bring us this information), and tenses (we should have went). There are a great many more pet peeves, but those are the ones that make me cringe/cry/rant/scream. I am aware that sometimes English can be extremely awkward when properly used, and am willing to let things slide if they sound better that way (see Churchill quote below for an example of correct, but ridiculous-sounding, grammar). I believe that characters speak the way characters speak, and they should not be forced into correct grammar, but that the narrative should be as correct as practicable.

I agree that to read without reviewing is a fanfiction sin, but most major religions would consider me a sinner, so why should I change for the sake of the internet? I have no problem with people requesting reviews at the bottom of their chapters or in their profile, but I feel that begging for reviews just makes the author look insecure and childishly desperate for approval.

My take on the EU, you ask? I stopped reading profic shortly after the death of Anakin Solo, and from what I've read on the internet about subsequent events, I have little desire to resume. I have not read any of the PT era EU, nor do I particularly wish to do so. I have not been captivated by the PT, though I will read stories involving PT characters in the OT era, or OT characters in the PT era.

I appreciate the clean-up of special effects that Lucas and crew did for the re-release of the original trilogy, but do not agree with all of the changes and/or additions he made. I believe that Greedo did not shoot first. I liked the yub-nub song. I don't like CGI-Jabba in docking bay 94, but I do like the additions of CGI creatures in the cantina and desert scenes. I don't think the extended entertainer sequence in Jabba's Palace (or was it the cantina? I can't be sure, as I haven't watched the special edition in a while) was necessary.

Is this starting to feel to anyone else like the soliloquies in Bull Durham, or is it just me?

Want to know more about me? Ask in a PM. I won't necessarily answer. Want to know less about me? Why are you still reading this?

A few of my favourite quotations:

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."
—Dorothy Parker

"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put."
—Winston Churchill

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."
— Mark Twain

"If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron."
--Spider Robinson, line of dialogue in "God is an Iron"

I am currently working on my second story (Alternate Decisions), a longish one, and not at all like my first. It will be posted chapter-by-chapter as the beta process completes. It's an AU H/L piece, rated M for language and adult themes (alcohol/drug use, implied violence, sexuality). On temporary hiatus--see note at beginning of profile.

In an Author's Note, I refer to the following links:

Women's Health Questions 1

Women's Health Questions 2