This weekend was probably lazier than it should have been

[lunasariel]

About to dive into another week. Essay prompts have come out, I'm looking down the barrel of (the first round of) midterms, and, although the crazy reading has abated somewhat, it looks like the workload has been ramping back up.

Very little has been going on this weekend, fandom-wise. I'm still plugging on through The Mysteries of Udolpho, which is still funny as hell, but now slightly tedious, due to length. Imagining the Temeraire cast MST3K-ing it, especially because there's just so much in there they just plain wouldn't get. I think Catherine and Emily especially wouldn't get why the heroine would just sit around when she spends most of the novel imprisoned, but unguarded, unrestrained, and literally surrounded by weapons. I cannot wait for Crucible of Gold, which comes out in just a little over two weeks, so I'm filling the gap with what fanfic I can find and poking at Godzilla a little more, who is now mutating at a fairly rapid rate. I started out wanting to write just "lol, dragons give so-bad-it's-good relationship advice after reading trashy novels!," but then it grew justifications and introspection, and Laurence just wouldn't shut up and let me get on to the funny dragons, and Granby's characterization is all over the place and really, really hard to pin down, and there's one scene that's almost definitely overwrought and wangsty, and I don't have the books with me to fact-check and give me the right flavor of dialogue, and I'm almost certainly overusing adverbs, and it's full of abrupt tonal shifts, and yet, I'm still having immense amounts of fun with it and adding to it like crazy, and AAAAUUUGGGHH! Basically, this puppy is going to need a beta like woah. I do kind of want to get it posted before Crucible of Gold comes out and potentially changes everything, although that (Godzilla getting published soon, not CoG making big changes, I mean) is rather unlikely, but we'll see how things go.

Speaking of Naomi Novik, I knew she was an accomplished fanfic writer before becoming a published novelist, but I'd been having some trouble tracking down her work. hamsterwoman mentioned an Isaac Asimov fanfic she wrote that shares a lot of similarities with Godzilla that I was especially eager to read, and that eventually lead me to her fanfic alias (does it count as an alias if everybody knows about it and she doesn't seem at all ashamed of it?), Astolat. And wow, but is Godzilla similar to Nice Work If You Can Get It! I mean, really. Obviously, Nice Work is a hell of a lot better written, but if anyone else has read it, I have a feeling that I'm going to have a hell of a time convincing them that I had the idea separately. Just as a disclaimer, if anyone ever comes across this post after I do finally post Godzilla, I started writing my little "nonhuman sidekick uses pop culture to matchmake between prickly uptight guy and less-repressed grumbly colleague" thing back in November or December (I think? somewhere in there, anyway), and only read Nice Work in February. Dr. Jung, your collective subconscious wins again!

Inevitable (and ego-deflating) comparisons aside, Nice Work is a hell of a fic, and highly recommended. I think it's a testament to Naomi's skill as a writer that I went in knowing nothing other than the Three Laws of Robotics, and became majorly invested in the characters and their relationship way faster and more completely than I could have ever expected. I don't know whether Powell and Donovan are as obviously, um, married or something in canon as they are here, but...yeah, it's kind of adorkable. I love couples that are friends before/in addition to being lovers, and these two are a great example of that. They bicker and bitch at each other, and talk shop, and sit up playing poker, and actually do useful stuff together, instead of sitting around on their butts and having long, sappy conversations about how much they wuv each other. That said, though, my favorite part of the fic was probably Sue the robot, who played matchmaker between the two. Like, say, Temeraire, she's obviously intelligent, incredibly so, just not in a human way. She is shown soap operas, sci-fi, and a lot of other emotional, highly dramatic stuff to increase her awareness of human emotions, and from them derives the conclusion that her two bosses are suffering from an accute case of UST, and she appoints herself matchmaker. IDK, there's just something so funny about the completely deadpan and direct way she goes about setting these two up, and yet she's still subtle and sneaky about it, not to mention smug when they actually get together. She does things like cause doors to "malfunction" (trapping Powell and Donovan in increasingly small spaces) and eventually collapse part of a tunnel on them and send them a mining robot bearing a bottle of lube and orders to dig them out once they'd consummated their relationship (also, if we get G/L sexytiems in Temeraire like we do for Powell and Donovan here, although I'm almost certain we won't, I will be a happy, happy fangirl).

Sooo...my first essay is due on Tuesday (manipulation of identities and cross-dressing in the 18th century proto-novel! Woooooooo!) and my next one the week after that. As a testament to the power of procrastination, I've been spending most of this weekend finishing up that long "general stuff about life" meme. So, without further ado, I present...

26: What movies could you watch over and over and still love?
This one is a gimme. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Jackson version, not Bakshi), of course! I seriously must have watched all three movies at least 30 times apiece, and I’m not tired of them yet!

27: Last person you kissed/kissed you?
Assuming this means a romantic kiss, not a grandma kiss…um, wow. Just a little over three years ago. Yeah, it’s been a while.

28: Were you ever a boy/girl scout?
Yes, I was a Girl Scout for a few years, and I didn’t like it much. I was right at that age where girls really start to get all catty and clique-y, so there was always some drama going on. Also, and I’ve found that this is a pretty common complaint among ex-Girl Scouts, we never got to have quite as much fun as the Boy Scouts. For example, when we went camping, we used a Boy Scout facility, but we couldn’t use their archery range or anything; we pressed wildflowers and learned how to make Worms in Dirt (chocolate pudding, green sprinkles, and gummy worms) instead.

29: Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?
Proooobably not. I mean, it’s always possible that I might, but it would have to be for an unbelievably good cause, like “permanetly eradicate all disease, poverty, and hatred and restore the environment and ensure endless natural resources and give everyone a puppy” good.

30: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?
Actually H and I have been sporadically writing letters back and forth. Or rather, she had one of her intense-but-brief interests, got REALLY REALLY INTO writing letters last semester, wrote to me, I wrote back, and she has yet to write back to me. So call it about three or four months ago.

31: Can you change the oil on a car?
Nope. I’m fairly useless when it comes to mechanical stuff, especially cars.

32: Ever gotten a speeding ticket?
Speeding ticket? No. Ticket? Yes. (Actually, it's kind of a funny story: I ran a yellow-turning-red light literally hours after Obama was arrested, got picked up by an obviously politically disappointed cop.)

33: Ever ran out of gas?
No, although, due to my aforementioned uselessness getting stranded is one of my biggest driving fears. Which makes driving with either my brother or my neighbor, both of whom insist on driving until the car is pretty much running on fumes, rather nerve-wracking.

34: Favorite kind of sandwich?
BLT (but only if it’s freshly made), reuben, or PB&J (comfort food).

35: Best thing to eat for breakfast?
It changes. On get-up-and-go mornings, back when I was working at the library, it was two pieces of buttered toast and a cup of strong black tea. These days, it’s whatever potato-based thing the dining commons is serving, plus a ham/mushroom/green onion omelet, if I get there before the omelet bar closes. My ideal breakfast, though, is two pieces of buttered sourdough toast, water, and fruit (kiwi, strawberries, and grapes).

36: What is your usual bedtime?
I usually try to get to bed by 12:30 at the latest, otherwise I oversleep and feel groggy and off the next day.

37: Are you lazy?
I don’t think so. I’m not a workaholic or anything, but I do start to feel rather useless if I go more than a few days without anything concrete to do. That said, though, I have been known to put various papers, applications, etc. off to the last second.

38: When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween?
It changed from year to year, but they were generally on the…eccentric side. One year, I went as a mummy, but all the toilet paper came off in the car, so I basically went as a girl in white sweats. Another, I went as a vampire, but it was raining, and I had to wear my raincoat, which had daisies and roses on it. This did not please me. I was still young enough that my parents taped holidays, so somewhere there’s a VHS of five-year-old me sulking because vampires do not wear flower raincoats, dammit!

39: What is your Chinese astrological sign?
LOL, this just came up in another meme! I’m a Horse, and like with Western astrology, there are some aspects that match my personality, but on the whole, I’m not exactly a typical Horse.

40: How many languages can you speak?
Um…one. XD I guess I can get by in Spanish okay, what with living in California and all, and I’ve studied some German (which was definitely helped by the fact that my dad speaks it fluently, although I don’t know if he counts as a native speaker), but mostly I’m depressingly monolingual.

41: Do you have any magazine subscriptions?
Nope. As a kid, I used to subscribe to American Girl, and I always read my mom’s National Geographic and Smithsonian when she was done with them, but in later years I’ve sort of left off magazines altogether.

42: Which are better: Legos or Lincoln Logs?
LINCOLN LOGS!!! Wow, I used to love playing with those! I had a box of Lincoln Logs, about six zillion Playmobils, and that was pretty much what I did from ages six to eight. I never became an architectural genius or anything, but I did love building little towns for my Playmobils to live in.

43: Are you stubborn?
Almost never. I hate confrontation and contention, so I almost always choose the path of least resistance. You’ll notice that I said “almost,” because, like anybody, there are some issues that I can be incredibly stubborn on. (Seriously, just try to tell me that fantasy and sci-fi “aren’t real literature” and/or don’t deserve academic attention. I dare you.)

44: Who is better...Leno or Letterman?
*shrug* I never watch either.

45: Ever watch soap operas?
No, I get impatient with drama for drama's sake fairly quickly. My roomie watches a lot, though, and seems to enjoy it, but it’s not really my bag.

46: Are you afraid of heights?
Not really. In fact, I actually kinda like them! I like having a guardrail or something, of course, but I enjoy being up high and looking out over the world, especially if it’s a good view.

47: Do you sing in the car?
Only if it’s The Beatles or the original Beach Boys version of “California Girls.” Also Van Halen, but that’s only if I feel like it. Beatles and Beach Boys require mandatory singing.

48: Do you sing in the shower?
I used to, especially when I sang in a choir, but now almost never.

49: Do you dance in the car?
Nope. Also, see my answer to #14 re: dancing in general (I don’t do it).

50: Ever used a gun?
I don’t think so. I might have, when my dad lived on a vineyard way the hell out in the country and had a rifle that he used to keep deer and rabbits away from his grapes, and he sometimes let me or my brother take a shot at tin cans, plastic flamingos, and other random stuff that he set up as targets, but I don’t recall ever doing so. I’ve always been more of an archery kind of gal.
51: Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer?
Assuming this means a professional photographer, and not just someone with a camera, that depends. There were a lot of pictures taken at H’s and C’s wedding last summer, and I’m pretty sure that they had a friend of the family who was a professional photographer take at least some of them, but I’m not sure. The last time that I’m sure of was high school graduation.

52: Do you think musicals are cheesy?
Sometimes, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I actually like a lot of musicals and musical movies, whether they’re legitimately good, like Wicked or The Sound of Music, or just fun like Spamalot (which was also legitimately good, but was fun first and foremost) or the Scarlet Pimpernel or Sherlock Holmes musicals (yes, there are Scarlet Pimpernel and Sherlock Holmes musicals).

53: Is Christmas stressful?
Yes, but mostly from a logistical point of view. I generally don’t get out of school until a week or so before Christmas, which means that I have to run around to get all my presents bought on time, and travel is always crazy. There’s generally not a lot of family drama, though, since I actually get along really well with the vast majority of my family members, so I’ve never witnessed the screaming holiday fights that some people have.

54: Ever eat a pierogi?
Given that I had to google “pierogi” to find out what it is, probably not, although they sound delicious!

55: Favorite type of fruit pie?
Apple, cherry, or strawberry, but only as long as the fruit is still slightly firm and not one big mushy mass.

56: Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, veterinarian, and writer, in that order. Those all got scrapped for various reasons, of greater or lesser obviousness, though.

57: Do you believe in ghosts?
I don’t think so. I mean, I’m not totally excluding the possibility, but I tend toward empiricism when it comes to metaphysical/supernatural questions, so I’m going to say no, but it’s a conditional and possibly impermanent no.

58: Ever have a deja-vu feeling?
Oh, all the time! It can be annoying, but also sometimes interesting.

59: Take a vitamin daily?
Yup. I have very thin hair, so I have to take vitamins to ensure that I don’t actually go bald, which in a 21-year-old female who comes from a family who all have amazing hair would be a little sad.

60: Wear slippers?
Yup! I have a blue pair that by now can be called “venerable.” They’re nowhere near as springy as they used to be, they’re hard to keep on when I try to walk fast or use stairs, and their outside adventure when the fire alarm went off and I had to wear them down a set of outside stairs and across the street didn’t do them any favors, but they’re warm and comfy and I love them.

61: Wear a bathrobe?
Pretty much the same goes as for my slippers. Blue and heading towards rattiness, but incredibly warm and snuggly, so I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

62: What do you wear to bed?
Various iterations of an oversized t-shirt and PJ pants. The current shirt is about five sizes too big, mottled green, and has a Celtic knot/tree design. I recently had to give up my black-and-white PJ pants with a vaguely Japanese bird-and-flower print, and now have a rainbow plaid pair, which I’m fairly sure look atrocious but are comfortable as hell, even if I did accidentally buy them a size too small, so that they merely fit, and aren’t as roomy/baggy as my old ones.

63: First concert?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Sterne Grove, San Francisco. I think I was about eight. I don’t remember a lot, only that we sat on blankets on the grass and were too far away to really see the stage.

64: Wal-Mart, Target or Kmart?
Target, I guess. It’s slightly more ethical (or at least better at hiding its dirty laundry) than Wal-Mart, there’s one fairly close to where I live, and it’s my go-to store for dorm fixings et al.

65: Nike or Adidas?
New Balance. I’ve worn out at least three pairs, and I’m due for another one ASAP (the exposed plastic is rubbing holes in my socks).

66: Cheetos Or Fritos?
Cheetos, definitely. They’re not my favorite snack food ever, but they’re better than Fritos, which I’ve always found to be a bit gross.

67: Peanuts or Sunflower seeds?
Ranch-flavored sunflower seeds, my go-to snack for just about all of junior high.

68: Ever hear of the group Tres Bien?
Nope. I’m assuming it’s a band of some sort, but I don’t get out a lot, musically speaking.

69: Ever take dance lessons?
Yes. I took ballet and tap when I was younger, and I remember that ballet was fun, but neither ended up being something I wanted to pursue. It was fun while it lasted, though.

70: Is there a profession you picture your future spouse doing?
Interesting question! I’ve never really thought about this before. I guess I can think of interests I picture him having, but not an actual profession. Something intellectually-oriented would be kinda nice, though.

71: Can you curl your tongue?
Yup! Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who can’t.

72: Ever won a spelling bee?
No. We never had them at are school, although I’ve always been a pretty decent speller.

73: Have you ever cried because you were so happy?
Only once that I can think of. Part of H’s and C’s wedding ceremony was everyone singing “Lean On Me,” and I definitely got a little misty-eyed at that. TBH, I can be kind of a girl about these things, so there have probably been other times, but none come to mind right now.

74: Own any record albums?
Sadly, no. We used to have a record player when I was little (on which I demanded that we listen to Cat Stevens’ “Teaser and the Firecat” at least once a week), but I think both records and player eventually got given to Goodwill or something, because they’re not around anymore, which is sad, because I really did love that Cat Stevens record.

75: Own a record player?
See above.
76: Regularly burn incense?
At home: I used to, but not anymore. The smoke tends to set off our new fire alarms, and my cats developed a habit of using the burner as a launch pad to get up on top of my dresser, and so consequently tracked ash all over the place.
At my dorm: no fire/burning materials allowed, so no.

77: Ever been in love?
Yes, once.

78: Who would you like to see in concert?
Seeing one of the really great classical composers, like Beethoven or Mozart, perform their own work would be downright amazing, and I’d also like to see Turlough O’Carolan perform to see if he’s everything everyone says he was. As for more modern music, I guess (Tarja-era) Nightwish puts on a good performance. I also kind of want to see one of the extravagant glam rock or hard rock performances from the 80s, just to see what everyone is talking about.

79: What was the last concert you saw?
Actually, I think I was *in* the last concert I saw, the spring choir concert before I graduated high school.

80: Hot tea or cold tea?
Hot in winter, cold with lemon in summer, honey in both.

81: Tea or coffee?
Tea. I don’t do so great with caffeine, so coffee makes me jittery. That said, though, I’ve been learning the value of a well-timed mocha or macchiato this semester as my workload has been increasing.

82: Sugar or snickerdoodles?
Assuming this means sugar cookies, and not just straight-up sugar, snickerdoodles, although I’m by no means against sugar cookies (or any kind of cookies [that don’t contain coconut or nuts], for that matter). ;)

83: Can you swim well?
Pretty well. I used to looooove to swim, but after I started gaining weight, I didn’t want to put on a swimsuit that often. I still enjoy it, but not as much as I used to.

84: Can you hold your breath without holding your nose?
Yup! In fact, I once went for almost three minutes on a dare from my stepbrother, and I find that I can hold it for longer if I don’t hold my nose or move a lot.

85: Are you patient?
Very. I pride myself on not getting fussed over every little thing, and a part of that is being able to wait.

86: DJ or band, at a wedding?
Depends. I was at one last summer that had a DJ, and that worked out very well, but a band would be kind of nice. As to what I want, probably a DJ: cheaper, less of a hassle to hire, and wider repertoire.

87: Ever won a contest?
Nope, I’m notoriously unlucky at that kind of thing.

88: Ever have plastic surgery?
No, and I don’t really plan to (barring horribly disfiguring accidents, irritated large predators, Witness Protection Program, etc.).

89: Which are better black or green olives?
Neither. I’m not a big fan of olives in general. Olive oil, yes, but I just find olives kind of gross. (No, I don’t know why.)

90: Can you knit or crochet?
No, although I can do a little needlepoint. H, my BFF, and her younger sister AD can knit, though, especially AD, who is really, really good and kind of makes me want to learn, because A) the potential for homemade Christmas/birthday presents, B) it keeps the hands busy while letting one’s mind wander, which sounds pretty attractive to me, and C) it looks like a lot of fun. H knitted me a long blue-white-and-green scarf for my birthday a couple of years ago, and I took it with me to college. It’s amazingly warm, and also surprisingly strong.

91: Best room for a fireplace?
Living room or bedroom, depending on the size of the bedroom. My house has one (well, a wood-burning stove) in the living room, and I love it.

92: Do you want to get married?
Yes, in theory, but I don’t want to be married just to be married. I secretly tend towards cynicism when it comes to marriage, and considering the number of relationships that ultimately fail (including several in my family), I would have to be damn sure of my partner before marrying them, and even then, TBH, it’s statistically probably that it will end in divorce. I’m sure I’ll feel differently when I meet someone that I actually want to marry, and I’m sure I’ll get married at some point; I guess I just haven’t met the right guy yet.

93: If married, how long have you been married?
Negative ten years or so.

94: Who was your HS crush?
You mean aside from Legolas Orlando Bloom? A guy called Sam freshman year, who eventually grew a stupid beard, but was attractive, played the guitar, and read Dickens. Sophomore year, I met J (who was also attractive and eventually grew a stupid beard, but did karate and read Terry Pratchett), and we dated for the rest of high school.

95: Do you cry and throw a fit until you get your own way?
Nope. I’ve always been the meek, boring, tractable one, even as a baby.

96: Do you have kids?
Nope, unless I’m unwittingly participating in some sort of VR/brainwashing experiment.

97: Do you want kids?
No. I like kids, but I’m not good with adults, let alone kids, so I don’t think I’d make a very good parent. Also, and this may sound a bit weird, I’m afraid of getting shackled to a bad kid. Putting the whole nature vs. nurture thing aside (of course, I certainly don’t want to *create* a bad kid), I’ve seen some wonderful, supportive, loving parents whose child(ren) very quickly became…not very nice people, and certainly not people that I’d want to be societally obligated to love, if that makes any kind of sense at all.

98: What’s your favorite color?
Green! No, blue! <AAAAUUUUGGGHHH>

99: Do you miss anyone right now?
Um…would I be too much of a crazy-old-cat-lady-in-training if I said my cat(s)? If not her/them, then probably H, as writing about the scarf she made me, which I wore today, combined with her recent surgery, has made me miss her. She’s really on fire about the movie War Horse right now (she even said that it's better than Return of the King! Ooh, them’s fightin’ words!), and I wish I could see it with her, and that she could have gone to see The Woman in Black and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with me. I was thinking of going up to see her over the long weekend, but alas, essays await, one of which, as I mentioned, is due on Tuesday, and I’m kind of supposed to be writing that instead of doing blathery and/or geeky memes, so awaaaay!

Comments

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I kind of think that's the best kind of fanfic, because it slots so naturally into the canon world.
Me, too! In almost eery fandom I can think of, especially Temeraire, there's always someone/something that can plausibly be the shipper on deck. But Temeraire is especially good for this kind of thing (as is Isaac Asimov, as it turns out), because there's a bunch of creatures with the emotional well-being of the main characters in mind, but few cultural inhibitions of getting them together in the most crazy awesome way possible!

I'm not hoping for resolved UST onscreen with anyone in Temeraire, either, but I keep imagining the slashy outtakes based on "Nice Work"
Exactly! And the nice thing is, she's probably imagining the slashy outtakes, too! lol

Anyway, I very much hope to read Godzilla at some point. (And I'd totally forgotten Crucible of Gold was coming out so soon!
Thanks! I know from firsthand experience that listening to someone else's creative insecurities and dithering is never exactly thrilling, but once I manage to finally nuke it, hopefully there will be significantly less of that around here, so thanks for being so patient with my yakking! XD
And yeah, Crucible of Gold needs to come out, like, now. There are already some (non-spoiler-y) advance reviews up on Amazon, and those are mostly quite positive, which both does and does not at all help.