Whining, links

Attempts to fix computer: still not working. I seem to make headway, but nothing progresses toward any real goal. At this point, I'm fighting with the urge to just reinstall Windows. I know it's stupid and would lose me all of my data (which is, apparently, recoverable, if I could just figure out how), but I want so much to just be able to use my computer again.

Link Recs:
stagesoflove is starting up again. Go claim a pairing. I'm debating it, myself. I'd like to sign up, because I had so much fun with it last year, but I don't know who to write. I feel like I should leave the obvious answer, Tsuzuki/Hisoka, open for someone else to get a chance to play with it.
Also, go participate in a discussion about how to organize yaoichallenge.
Ne Me Quitte Pas by louiselux. Gojyo/Hakkai, R, and oh, this one hurts in the best of ways.
The Dragon's Tale by harukami. Saiyuki, PG, AU. Gorgeous, fairy-tale retelling. With sequel! The Bard's Tale
Coffin Nails by daegaer. Gojyo/Hakkai, Jeep, PG. Funnnnnnnny.
Next to the Moon by louiselux. Koumyou/Ukoku, NC-17. Is everyone aware of how much I absolutely adore Koumyou? Yes? Then why is there not more fic for him!

...it is really disturbing that I don't have a Sanzo rec today. What has happened to my reading habits? Feel free to enlighten me by pointing out new Sanzo fic I missed.

DaVinci code

...Terry Pratchett's new novel makes fun of The DaVinci Code. This is the greatest thing ever. I'm so sick of that book; I can't figure out why thousands of people who do not normally read have chosen it to embrace as the greatest new work of fiction slash astoundingly revealing expose of the Vatican.

Let me tell you a story about me and The DaVinci Code.

In Nevada this summer, we often hung out at a little general store/bar, since it was the nearest place and didn't take forty-five minutes to get to. Since it was often on our way back to our camp, we'd stop there for a few minutes before heading up to make dinner, in order to buy a drink, buy an ice cream bar, use toilets that actually flushed and had sinks with running water, or to see a human face other than the ten we lived with twenty-four hours a day. The place was technically part of a town, but to give you an idea of how small a town it was, I did not realize that it existed until I'd been there for four weeks.

Obviously, in a place that small, everyone knew who we were, and often came up to us with stories about some artifact they'd found, or a story about their grandparents and the local Indians. We got chased home early one day by a thunderstorm (carrying metal shovels and screens on top of a ridge while monsoons sweep in? Not the best idea! Also, we'd parked the van in a gully that was just waiting for a flash flood to come along and strand us in the middle of nowhere), and we ended up at the bar, along with several locals. An older man came and joined us at our table and asked a few questions about we did.

And then proceeded to regal us with a tale of the "DaVinci caches located around here". I do not remember exactly how an Italian man from the Renaissance managed to hide treasure in Eastern Nevada, but it involved pirates. Supposedly, if you knew the right people to ask in town, you could discover untold heaps of gold with special, perhaps magical properties. I think the main reason no one laughed was that we were too surprised to even speak.

Still, the most exciting night was when a guy told me about how he used to rob drug dealers in Las Vegas by threatening to slit their throats.