I am suspicious about the origins of this meme, because nobody's said where they got it, AND YET somebody on my flist/rpage was soliciting lists of "favourite" tropes the other day. CURIOUS. Also, I don't know if I'm supposed to just talk about my general feelings on these tropes, or specifics about writing/reading them??? Idk. Blind memeage!

I got it from kanata, anyway.

( trope meme! )

Probably I'll do the end of year one in a little bit. First, I have to heat up some roti and veggies'n'squash-in-jalfrezi.

...I am suddenly craving crusty cheesey bread sticks. Wtf?

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. I Twittered and Facebooked LJ's genderfail, because I knew I'd be preaching/outreaching to the choir if I wrote about it here. But, yes, fail. At least there is backpedalling--for now.

(I read a comment on a friend's LJ from someone who's like, "Eh. This doesn't bother me." And I was so enraged. I just. GENDER RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS, GUYS. Yes, you have privilege, you identify as one of the two proffered options--that doesn't mean the lack of other options isn't harmful to you! Also! You have the right to keep your gender to yourself!!! Christ on a cracker! Exclamation points!!!)

2. [Self-bashing rhetoric redacted. Placeholder for future reference.]

3. People who've decided I don't like them and I'm going to try to screw them over, and then ask me for advise or clarification on things, and then get all het up no matter what I say/do can go suck on a lemon. A crate of fuckin' lemons.

4. I'm reading some Agatha Christie short stories. She was totally a closet romance writer. ♥

5. Today, Matthew Good tells me to "be the sea instead." Sounds like a plan, man.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

Left over from last night:

1. So, you know what, sure the snowflake cookies are free, but I don't have the attention span to give all of you snowflake cookies, nor all the people who aren't on this journal. Obviously, I'm a terrible internets friend, but I'm just gonna take credit for some of the anonymous ones, okay? And when I make the snowflake sugar cookies, I will take pictures and share them with you. Okay. ♥

2. I had a little whiskey earlier and then I came home and put on my "I Like That Song!!!" playlist, which is just random nonsense, mostly singles the radio doesn't play often enough, and my current music came on [nb: Rise Against - "Audience of One"] and I just started laughing at myself, because this song is totally all about Tim McIlrath's bitter and tragical love for Pete Wentz (incl. the ridiculous bass solo, because they both play bass, omg). I know I've talked about this theory before, but I love it a lot, so I'm gonna mention it once in a while.

Today:

3. Dude, we should all be super happy I don't have a little whiskey more often. Christ on a cracker.

4. I has a holiday icon! \o/ From this post, which does not have nearly enough "all I want for Chanuka" iterations. Whatevs, I like this one!

5. I know what I'm wearing to the wake tomorrow. This is very much of the good, except that the tie I want to wear a) isn't tied, and I dunno how, and b) needs to be ironed :/.

6. Time for curry. Bye!

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. Okay, I'm not in AI8 fandom (or whatever it's called now, don't care, just give me the porn), and obviously my opinion doesn't matter (nor should it!)--not that either of those things has ever stopped me from having or expressing an opinion before--so, anyway, here's my opinion: I'm less in favour of cheating than your average person (thus: polyamory), but it's really annoying to be reading a perfectly good story and stumble into a random telephone conversation with Katy Allen inserted for the sole purpose of showing she consents to Kris and Adam doing it. That is all.

2. When you're not sure if the sappy thing you're thinking would be appreciated said aloud? Put it in a poem! I feel this is a grand tradition dating back centuries. Sappy things make excellent poetry.

3. Headache-be-gone tea is amazing, omg.

4. Average Cats is anti-lolcat macros. Written by cats to spread cat lies and make us all stop paying so much attention to cats' nefarious doings. VIKING CAT WILL TOTALLY PILLAGE YOUR VILLAGE. LOOK AT HIS HAT, FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

I just spent an hour writing a comment on this post (about the One True Way to Write Kinkfic), when I could (SHOULD) be cozy at home with Rafael and some hot leek stew. Obviously, I need that "someone is WRONG on the internet" xkcd icon.

Except that they're not entirely wrong? Just--I don't know. The demanding, knowledge-ier-than-thou tone bugs me. I've been doing kink with other people pretty intensely for almost six years, and I don't think I know everything about it--certainly not enough to tell the whole of fandom how to write it properly/appropriately/safely. I barely feel qualified to do a Gchat consultation about kinky phone sex, lol.

IDK, IDK, IMMA GO HOME AND HAVE SOME LEEKS NOW, K? BYEE.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

Updating for the sake of it? I have a lot of things to do in the meat world, and I don't want to do any of them (not because they are unpleasant, but because I just generally don't like doing things), but the internet is failing at distraction (thanks!).

Oh, wait, these things:

+Sainthood is amazing;
+I bought the makings of a Chanukiya yesterday, whoo;
+I'm andchimeras at AO3, with BJ Garrett, allcanadiangirl, thepurpleswitch, and azurejay as registered pseuds. I think that's all of them, anyway. No works yet (see above, re: general dislike of doing things);
+Butchmilf is the cooking video blog of a friend of a friend of a friend, and she is adoooooorable. Also, informative!

And a question: if the tattoo I want to get is a ridiculously simple colour band around one arm, do I need to go to the Best People Evars, or would the Generally Highly-Recommended (Just Not By My Bodymod Guru) Folks be okay?

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

eta: 0. Because this is actually the most important thing: I would really, really like my BND package to arrive tomorrow or even on release day. That would be stupendous. Avoiding the spoilers is already killing me. Shipping gods, hear my plea. (ALSO, Patrick Stump, you're ridiculous[ly lovely and awesome]. I feel your nickname-correcting pain so, so deeply.)

1. I just completed my random, month-long review of Sports Night. Seriously, guys. Seriously. I miss that show so much (I miss Dan, a lot, and also Casey a little bit, and Dana! And Jeremy and Natalie's Jeremy/Natalieness. And I don't like to think about how much I miss Robert Guillaume in general, so), and I didn't even watch it when it was on TV. Why don't they make 'em like that anymore?

2. I signed up to get an AO3 beta account. I want to state for the record that I find the OTW's name to be pretentious and annoying, but I'm interested in seeing and being part of a resurgence of archive-based fandom.

Also, while characterizing transformative works-based fandom as a "predominantly female culture" is technically true, I don't like it. That's a personal thing, and I doubt it (the descriptor or my feelings about it) will change. I don't necessarily think the phrase needs to change (see above re: technically true), but I do think it's important for trans and non-female fans to speak their presence when the phrase and its less-kind kin get thrown around.

3. I'm going to buy a corkboard tomorrow. Because I need it for planning stories (I have a three-page skeleton outline for the LTROI AU, oh my god) and my life. Being/getting organized scares me, because it presents huge potential for failure, and also huge potential for success. Nonetheless, important. I think I need a new hammer, too.

4. "Breaking, Standing" - ¡Forward, Russia! (Because other bands don't have enough punctuation in their names.) "When it weighs too much, think of it as seven times the weight! But when it costs too much, consider it, but don't come to me for aid."

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. So Yuletide is having an amnesty year for people who've been bandinated fer defaultin in the past. I defaulted in 2006 or 2007, and I'm wibbling about signing up this year. Skimming the fandoms list, I can totally see some things I can offer as a writer, so. Idk. I kind of want to do it just to have done it, and have the slate clean so it's not this black thing hanging over my head: I had a shitty winter one time and defaulted on Yuletide oh nooooooes. You know.

Anyway.

2. If you don't know who Rachel McKibbens is, you're missing out! estrellada introduced me to her a while ago with this spoken word duo piece (can I claim "dirty little stepbrother" as a role? I think that should totally be allowed!). So, yes, I Youtubed her the other day, and this piece, "Central Park, Mother's Day," actually made me cry. Nom nom, spoken word, nom nom.

3. In the real world, I am tired of getting my hopes up for people I'm not already in love with. I'm scared of doing the math to see how many hours I spent writing the rules people are already breaking. I'm looking forward to a weekend full of strangers and learning and yelling. I'm already dreading coming back next week (but it'll be better if I can actually get a ticket for MG on Tuesday). My body doesn't feel good and I know exactly what's wrong and I need to close my eyes and do what's right.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

"In One Easy Lesson" by ladyjanelly. CW RPF, Jared/Jeff, Jared/Jensen. NC17. Warning for kink.

This isn't quite a rec, and not quite an anti-rec, either. The writing is good, the characterization is good, but the author is doin kink rong in so many ways.

( Not in the usual ways, though, and I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. Possibly TMI kink talk within. )

The moral of the story is that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a bad mentor! And that I like to complain!

*
Today, I'm going to estrellada's church and being on a panel about LGBT things for the youth group. WHOO. No, I'm actually pretty excited about it. I like talking about myself. Also, I grabbed my union's LGBT resource pamphlet in case I need a quick definition or something.

Happy All Saints'? Lol.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

Whenever I consume a non-Earth-based "future of humanity"-type scifi/specfic thing (BSG, Firefly, Space: Above and Beyond, etc. etc.), I like to pretend that the new worlds and civilizations were discovered because of the stargate network (and/or intelligence derived therefrom). I wish I had the patience, imagination, and self-confidence for committed writing in any of those fandoms, because duuuude. Best crossover(s) ever.

Anyway. Working my way through S:AAB on DVD. I totally forgot I shipped Vansen/Hawkes the first time I watched this. Lol my secret het past. ALSO, my thing for authority figure/subordinate relationships goes back further than I thought, see: McQueen/Hawkes (n'aww, science experiments in love).

...So, yeah. In current fandom news, which people might actually care about, I'm on the fence regarding this idea about doing a sex- and kink-positive challenge/meme where the positivity must be of a certain kind and is enforced and mandatory, etc. I mean, totally go have whatever challenge/meme you want to have, and if it's encouraging well-written sex- and kink-positive fic, that's totally awesome.

( this got kind of long and text-blocky and really has nothing to do with the first part of the entry. so. cut! )

I think I'd rather do another iteration of sosodirty, to be completely honest. *shifty eyes*

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. I've been the Acting Chief Job Steward for the last two weeks, and have a week-ish left to go, and I've come to the conclusion that I am a really, terribly ineffective union representative. People either don't know me or don't like me (I'm in the office right now, and somebody just walked up to the door, made eye contact, and walked away, wtf? Whatever, I don't like her either). I've never been invested or interested in being popular, but it still stings when I try something new and nobody likes me this time either (except for the other three or four people at the office, but they don't count. And at least one of them wants in my pants, so he doesn't count twice).

2. I was thinking the other day that IOH has definitely fallen to the bottom of my personal FOB album ranking, but then I put it back on Patrick the iPod, and, well, okay, it's still #4 of four, but! I quite enjoy it nonetheless, and it still totally has some of my favourite lyrics ever. I'm newly committed to having some art (body or otherwise original) around "I could write it better than you ever felt it." And the non-album tracks are so amazing.

3. Do you really care what my FOB album ranking is? Seriously? Okay, whatever: FAD (probably because it's new), FUCT (because it is sooooo dark omg, and also it was my first one, so I'm attached), TTTYG (lol baby band), IOH (idek what's going on half the time). Or you could see it as two tiers of two-way ties, also. I'm bad at making decisions, guys.

4. Uh. General fandom time? I just wanted to give a big word up to this post about commenting on kink fics, or fics with kink in them. ( Two cents, I have them. )

Anyway.

5. GBBB: 20256/28000. I don't know if I can make the word count (blame heyginger; she's the one who said I didn't actually need a bunch of scenes for which I had notes), but by gum I'm going to finish this motherfucker in three days. Hahaha.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. Today's XKCD is a birthday present for me, and I won't hear otherwise, dammit. BAGELS???

2. I wasn't fishing for happy birthdays with my last post, btw. Not this one either. And I should have stated that this year's birthday will be better than last year's simply because my dad's not in the hospital this year. So there's that.

3. BJ's Succinct & Awesome Movie Revue for Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt fix World War II and possibly period war movies in general. The end!

( spoilery reaction is spoilery and also thinkity. )

4. Travis has a PSA for fandom-types regarding a recently-posted survey.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

1. I just got a spam with the subject: "Sensation. Hitler was a woman!"

...I'd read it, ngl.

2. I'm on such a Ten Second Epic kick, idk. Obviously I need to get their new album or something.

3. This week's Sunday Secrets is chock full of bandomy goodness, yay.

4. Saying that your recs post contains "0%" f/f slash is the one way you can guarantee I'll get pissed about the fact that your recs post contains 0% f/f slash. FYI.

5. My advising appointment for SFU is on Tuesday at two o'clock. I'M NOT NERVOUS AT ALL, NO REALLY. I still have to find something to do this fall, 'cause I'm too late for SFU admissions. Probably a drawing, design, or book arts course at Langara (which is where I'll end up going if I can't get in at SFU, most likely--whoo SkyTrain access and ADVANCED TYPOGRAPHY zomg) or Emily Carr. When I get my new work schedule in late August, I'll be able to pick a class.

6. I have to leave now so I can get my bus keys from the 'rents' place in Richmond before heading to work. They fell out of my pocket when we went for dinner for my mom's birthday last night. My life.

This is a DW-origin crospost, oh noes. Feel free to comment on LJ or the original post here.

Two oldish/obscure FOB interviews: Joe (December 2003; notable for Joe wanting you to say no to heroin!!!), and Patrick (February 2005; notable for being conducted during the UK tour where Pete wasn't, and also for Patrick being a rambling rambler who rambles and makes no sense. And Prince).

I suppose it's good I found these, not just 'cause they're neat, but because I went to put them in my FOB ma.gnolia, and discovered that ma.gnolia is no more. It would've been nice of them to e-mail me with this news. At the address I supplied to them every time I logged in to the damn thing. Ugh. So many random interviews, gone. And some good non-LJ fic, too. Bleh.

In another vein: "Sizeism in Fandom - My Thoughts," a post prompted by an spn_j2_bigbang story that I saw, upchucked a little over, and then didn't say anything about. I'm wondering why I didn't, now.

(Also, tiiiiiny quibble with the above post--she says we talk about gender in fandom, but we don't. We really don't. Recently, somebody posted a whinier version of my ancient open letter regarding "genderswap"--??? We don't talk about gender in fandom. We talk about sexism, feminism, misogyny, gender in our source texts, and whatever the fuck "community of women" means, but we don't talk about gender in fandom itself. If we talked about gender, we wouldn't be talking about cisgender women all the time. Just saying.)

( note to self: regarding october trip. )

I need a "gender rights are human rights" shirt. And this one.

1. I'm about seventeen minutes into the FOB Artist Confidential transcript. Joe and Patrick need to stop talking over each other, Jesus fuck. Also, having done a few of these (I only finished the Peterick Podcast one, though), I've noticed Patrick has an adorable little habit of forgetting small words--"a" and "in," and things like that. It's annoying to transcribe, but ugh. So cute.

2. Here's a fannish thought about Andy Hurley that I've had for a while but keep forgetting to post, regarding his "anarchoprimitivist" politics. ( Or is it 'anarchosavagist'? Idk, whatever, zealous The End Is Nigh!!! people bore me. )

3. Working on "Praise You" right now, 'cause that's what wants working on. I think I might have to change the summary from "Patrick knows everything" to "Patrick is more fucked up than Pete, but gets laid even less." Is that too self-referencey? Are people who haven't read "Lord Knows" even going to read it? Important questions.

What's so awesome about the Bordies (and about my old time fandom friends in general) is that the nonsensical, context-free ficlet I posted the other day is the kind of thing they eat up (and expect from me, let's be honest). Not one person who's actually in band fandom commented on it, though I'm sure many read it (and went "wtf???"). It kind of reminds me of when I used to workshop fic at my old writers' group--nobody knew what the hell I was on about with the characters and story, so it was the writing, the work that was of interest. It's neat.

(Uh. Not trying to say anything about anything, and I'm sure as hell not bitching about feedback. Just making an observation.)

---

I hung out with some people and a five-year-old today, and it was nice. Lots of fun. There was zero processing, which was very refreshing. I have to remind myself, from time to time, that actually being in relationships is way more fun than analyzing them all the livelong day.

---

( some floofy stuff about a body ritual i did last weekend. )

---

Uh. Yeah. Insert unpopular fannish opinions about Patrick's hotness when he's singing Prince, Patrick's hotness when he's playing a song he obviously doesn't know very well, and Patrick's hotness when he's wearing ucking fugly glasses. (Sad: I'd still do him. What the hell, man.)

[Standard Faux Nice Person Disclaimer: my flist is awesome and I totally respect their opinions and views, etc., excepting those which involve eating babies and/or denying the Holocaust. I just generally like to have a policy of speaking honestly about things, especially when I'm posting in my own journal.]

I've read some recent posts regarding the bandflesh wank--from people outing themselves as non-asshole members of the comm (whoo! Good for you! Thank you! No, seriously!), from people calling the self-proclaimed "nice kids" on stuff (*thumbs up*), and from survivors of meat world "mean kids"/ex-"mean kids". All of the posts I've read have left me with some rather more thinkity thoughts on bandflesh/"mean kids", and I would like to show you them.

I'm not a nice person. I try, because I honestly believe that nice is better than not-nice, but I'm not. I've said some pretty unjustifiably mean things in my tenure on this planet, on and off the internet. So when I bitch and say mean shit about hate comms, "say whatever you want" comms, "for the lulz" comms, and/or anonymemes in general, I'm not speaking as someone who has right to, investment in, or desire to claim an identity as a "nice person." Because I'm not one.

( is it therefore hypocritical of me to bitch and complain about 'mean kids'? TL;DR. 14A for language. )

Anyway. I'm pretty sure those are all of my thinkity thoughts. Hopefully it makes sense, even though it doesn't really go anywhere besides the "how much can we really ever know about ANYONE???" place. I haven't tried to write something that flowed logically in, um. Five years? No, only four. Still.

The made-up fandom verb "chinhand" has returned to my flist, and I am pleased by this.

My ten favourite MG/B songs post has turned into a miniature primer. At least there aren't any pictures?

(Yet. Argh.)

Late to comment as usual, but: Patrick, Patrick, I could read your ramblings for DAYS. Seriously. His hot, intelligent, thinky little brain, you guys.

It's interesting to me that people wish he'd been doing this many and these kinds of interviews all along, because really--who wants to hear an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old spout off about art and product? These opinions and beliefs and philosophies have been percolating all these years, and frankly I think, in today's Western culture, it's a rare person who should be taken seriously* (as an artist or otherwise) before they're twenty-one or twenty-two. That's just my opinion; I could be wrong.

And now I have to go to work. Where I drive a bus. Because I flunked out of college. It's all relative, yo.


*For values where "taken seriously"="get to be famous/published/recorded/etc." Because I'm not a complete asshole, and I was a teenager who liked to spout off about art and product, and while my opinions were valid among my friends and the adults who supervised us, I did not in any way deserve to be on television or get a book deal; I'm just saying: I didn't really know what I was talking about, and neither do 99% of kids these days.

Patrick studio-topping (or, in the common parlance, producing) a very laconic and "whateeeeeeevs, PSteezy" GCH is the best thing ever. He's totally the most stressed-out person in the whole thing. Plus, um. The drum noises. I has a secret weakness for the drum noises. And lookit him, playing a properly adjusted keyboard! Ee!

Anyway, I had an actually serious observation to make.

In every mpreg and gets-a-kid-through-physically-possible-means fic I've ever read,* the kid in question is a girl. WHY? I'm not offended or reading anything negative into it, I'm just curious, and honestly, I only realized this after noticing that all the kids in my Big Bang are girls too (all five of them!).

Is it another manifestation of Mary Sueism? Is it, conscious or not, an attempt to have more chicks in slash/fandoms where male characters vastly outnumber the females? CURIOUS.


*Except that one HP one where Voldemort made Snape a hermaphrodite and Snape and Harry have to get married and produce the saviour of wizardkind, who of course has to be a boy. It's a really awesome fic otherwise!

Big Bang: 20779/20000 (now with African refugees!).

I've had a really incredibly shitty couple of weeks (not as shitty as these same couple of weeks were last year, granted, and I'm glad I just remembered that--hey, self! Nobody's dying this year!), and I would like to make a thread in the Say Nice Things Or Whatever meme, but it's wrong to do that if I'm not going to go say nice things about other people, which, let's be honest, I probably won't. Because I can never think of anything nice to say that isn't stupid. Or already been said (I don't like being unoriginal, guys).

WHINE WHINE WHINE. The internet cares about my Special Problems, I know.

Anyway. Tomorrow, in order that I might pay the rent and eat next month, I'm going to apply to work as a cashier/stocker at the liquor barn across the highway. It's behind Wal-Mart. And here I thought I'd escaped from Hicksville, oh my god.

Also, I stole One Hundred Years of Solitude and Children of Men from my parents' bookshelves today. What? They're putting everything in storage! I need something to read!