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lunasarielWow, what a week it's been! When I last wrote, we had just finished up our final D&D game of the summer, and everybody was about to head off to their respective institutes of higher learning. Now here I am, at least marginally settled into my dorm. My room's internet was only activated today, so I've been making do with my phone, which, let me tell you, isn't easy when one is making multiple plans with multiple people, responding to a few last-minute work emails, and dipping one's toes into a new fandom. But here I am, (mostly) alive and sane.
Last Thursday was the last time I saw all of my friends together in one place, for our final LotR marathon, and...wow. I acknowledge that they aren't perfect movies, and that there are, inevitably, flaws, but...wow. I had a standing rule that if anybody spoke during Pippin's song or the ending (from the Grey Havens onward), they would get concussed with the popcorn bowl, and, oddly enough, it was J who got thwacked for being superior and slightly sneering (as always) and breaking the mood during a Dramatic Moment, although C did the actual thwacking. I was a little worried about JC, who doesn't exactly always have the internal filter that the rest of us do, and sometimes couldn't tell when he should just shut up and watch the movie. I mean, I love the guy, I really do, and I'm very glad that H introduced us, but really, we don't need funny narration during Sam's "Rosie Cotton dancing, she had ribbons in her hair" bit or insightful comments about the history of siege weaponry during the charge of the Rohirrim, and I was sorely tempted to actually snap at him several times. I also managed to once again fail to go the entire movie dry-eyed (see meme below), but, hey, I consider Return of the King one of the few instances where it's acceptable to cry in public, or even semi-public. But more than crying, there were so many moments that just..."their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness." In related news, it is now on my bucket list to go back to Oxford and leave live, not cut, flowers on Tolkien's grave.
Aside from this sublimely awesome event, Thursday was, strangely, uniformly awful. It was my last day at the Humane Society, so it was slightly melancholy to go around and say goodbye to all the cats. I worry especially about Elvis, a very sweet black-and-white fellow, who is now alone in his room, as all his roommates (including Arthur, my old favorite who developed quite the swagger once he got over his initial, er, quivering, and Pookie, who was actually really depressed for a while after her littermate Krishna got adopted without her) have been adopted away, and Annadel, a sweet but very pushy little black kitty that I secretly wanted to re-name Moxie, which would fit her much better. Also, I accidentally left all three of my rings, to which I'm very attached, in the pocket of my apron, which I left on the dirty laundry pile. And I work the very last shift of the day. And the Humane Society was closed the next day. And I was leaving the day after that. (I ended up having to get there waaaay too early in the morning, but the aprons were still in the laundry basket, so at least this story has a happy ending.) Also, A and I got into a tiff, which has become increasingly rare, and P called from his cross-country (literally; they've been biking from California to Oregon to Yellowstone and back) bike trip to say that he'd lost his phone (again), but the crowning jewel of suckitude came that night, when I went to go drive people home after RotK, and I accidentally backed into my mom's lovely new Prius, which she adores. Luckily, I didn't full-on back into it, but I did clip it at an angle, and there is now a fair-sized dent in the front passenger door. I have to pay her back, of course, but she says that I can wait until I'm a rich and powerful librarian to do so.
A combination of all this suckiness, plus the RotK event going kinda late and me having to get up early the next morning, resulted in me not getting an awful lot of sleep, and when I woke up, I went out to the kitchen, made some toast, and started crying. I don't quite know why; I mean, it wasn't a great day, but the last time I did this, J and I had just broken up, and that hurt. I guess a big part of it was that I thought my mom was mad at me (she was, as it turned out), and she's the one person I never, ever fight with, as we both find fighting and contention incredibly exhausting. But we made up before she went off to work, luckily, and I had to leave not long after for a doctor's appointment. A variety of things had been building up over the past few months that I wanted to make sure weren't cancer or anything before leaving for Berkeley, so I decided to get it all taken care of at once.
I told her about the cramping/headaches/dizziness/nausea, and consequently got my first ladyparts exam, but my doctor basically said that if it was controllable with ibprofen and I wasn't actually passing out, it's pretty much business as usual. She did write me a prescription for birth control pills, though, which she said would A) help with the cramps and B) make me a little more regular, which was something I'd been having some trouble with. They were a lot more expensive than I remember them being, but, hey, the last time I took them was in, like, 2009. I don't realistically see myself having call for their main purpose, but my philosophy in this regard is better to have and not want than want and not have.
I've noticed a distinct pattern emerging: I get all nostalgic and melancholy the day or two before I leave for Berkeley, and don't want whoever drove me to leave once all my stuff gets moved into my room, but once they're gone and I've spent a little while unpacking things, I get onto this "yaaaay I'm in Berkeley! :D" high, and don't come off it until at least the next day. There's so much that I love about Sebastopol, but there's so much I love about Berkeley, too, and I've been spending the past few days very happily, getting reacquainted with it. Move-In Day was a zoo, of course, but RG, who was driving me down and the car back up, managed to find a spot in the adjacent parking structure and helped me get moved in, and I ended up being very glad for his help. I had one extremely large box full of clothes, toiletries, and some electronics, one medium-large box for sundries, and one slightly-smaller-medium-large box for books, and they all were heavy. I expected the books box to be heavy of course, but I really didn't know that clothes could weigh so much. Of course, the clothes box also contained my heavy winter coat, some extra pairs of shoes, blankets & pillows, and my scale wrapped up safely for transport, so maybe it was that. Similarly, I started the sundries box for general miscellaneous junk, but it ended up being the heaviest of all, mostly due to my printer and lamp. Anyway, RG was instrumental in hoisting these into the cart, into the elevator, into my room, and back out of the cart, and even ran (and I do mean *ran*, he was panting when he knocked on my door) back up again once he realized that I'd left the cookies I'd baked as a dorm-warming gift for my then-unknown roommate in the car, which was very nice of him, and touched me probably more than it should have.
My dorm is...odd. It doesn't have last year's spectacular view, but then again, I didn't really expect it to (it looks out over the parking structure/sportsball complex between Unit 2 and Unit 1). My new building, Towle, has this weird two-key system wherein one key opens the front door, my mail cubby, the elevator, and my door, but another key, with something incomprehensible (possibly "suite") written on it in red paint opens the door that leads from the hallway into a little antechamber. While standing in the antechamber, it goes like this: shared bathroom (with no soap or paper towels, but at least plenty of TP) on the left, the door to room A (occupied by a nice girl named Kelly and two unknowns who have yet to arrive), and the door to room B (me and my roommate) to the right. My room itself is where the real oddness comes in. The desk chairs are much nicer than last year's (actual padded swively rolley chairs, not the wooden rocking chair-like things from my last room), but there are no mirrors anywhere (I had to buy a very small and lackluster one and stick it on the back of the door until we can find a proper one) and there are no doors on the closets. KN, my roommate, came in as I was unpacking, and we got introduced. It turns out that she's a fellow English major and Sherlock Holmes fan, and an exchange student from Korea. But because she's an exchange student, she's only allowed to stay for four more months, and is going home over the winter break. I have a feeling I'm going to miss her as a roommate: she's quiet, clean, and gone most of the time, but pleasant to be around and not in the least annoying when she's in. Her only bad quality so far has been a tendency to crank the heater all the way up and leave it that way overnight, and if that's the worst of it, I'm a happy camper.
I spent most of Saturday unloading/unpacking everything, and scratching my head re: a couple of things that I absolutely know I packed, but somehow seem to have escaped en route. They were just my good scissors, some colored note tabs that I like, and a little ceramic bowl I use to store change and my keys in, so nothing terribly vital. I've also had to do some considerable reshuffling of furniture, since it turns out that my desk was both too far away and too high up to hold all the things that I generally need to be able to reach from my bed -lamp, glasses case, stack o' books, earplugs, alarm clock, etc. My desk fulfilled this function beautifully in my old room, but that was where my bed was at right angles to, and flush up against, my desk, not parallel and end-to-end with it. But with a little creative thinking, the two-storied open-faced cupboard that looks like it's designed to hold shoes or something has been pressed into service, and is doing its job admirably. After unpacking, I spent the rest of the day just kind of basking. KN left pretty quickly, so I took a nap, watched a little Hornblower, did some shopping for necessities (paper towels, laundry detergent, chips, etc.), and got a celebratory dinner at the Yummy Burrito Place, which was still just a tiny bit too spicy for my tastes, but the absolute perfect size.
I spent the early part of Sunday noodling around my room, taking an inaugural shower, etc. I was just killing time until 1:30, when my floor's time slot to get our internet activated was. Like last year, we had to sit through a silly informational video (Avengers themed this year, and A for effort, D+ for execution), listen to a couple of spiels that I'd already heard the year before, and get our ID cards swiped. After that was over, I ran right back up to try things out, since 24 hours without anything more powerful than one's phone for internet access was surprisingly frustrating. Unlike last year, everything worked perfectly the first time, even my wireless printer, so, yay, Internet access! I didn't have much time to enjoy it, though, as I'd told my Berkeley buddy M that I'd meet up with her as soon as the internet thing got done with, which took slightly longer than I expected, so it was well into mid-afternoon when I finally got to our usual meeting spot, the coffee shop adjacent to the dining commons. It was really great to see her again, as we hadn't seen each other, or even talked that much, all summer, so it was great to finally catch up. We wandered around Telegraph for a little while, bought two celebratory bottles of Fentiman's Rose Lemonade (to which I'm pretty sure I've successfully addicted her) at Jim's, and decamped to her new apartment for a good old-fashioned squeefest. She showed me Holy Musical B@man, a Team Starkid production that I actually hadn't seen yet, I got her hooked on Hornblower (cleverly reeling her in with Ioan Grufford's cheekbones and promises of naval uniforms, and letting the show itself do the rest), and much fun was had by all.
I also spent almost all of Monday with her. We watched a little more Hornblower (during which we set up the Brood-O-Meter to measure Horatio's levels of broodiness in any particular scene, the Moments of Doubtful Heterosexuality Counter to count, well, you know [pretty well broken by the end of "The Duchess and the Devil"], and Gorgeous Period Costumes Appreciation Hour), a few episodes of Good Eats (a cooking show that focuses heavily on food science and history. I learned how to make cupcakes!), and one of Firefly ("Out of Gas," which![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hamsterwoman recently told me is one of Steven Brust's favorites, and I can see why. The non-linear storytelling is the big tip-off, of course, but there are a lot of other things there that I imagine he would like: snark under fire, skullduggery, and, er, creative problem-solving), with a break for dinner from Top Dog, where I tried the Lemon Chicken sausage, which was extremely good. I always seem to end up at Top Dog when I haven't eaten in ages, so every time I eat there I find it delicious, and this was no exception. Possibly due to estrogen poisoning or something, M and I also did each other's nails: she did mine in this very pretty oystershell-ish light purple that sparkles faintly and appears as slightly different colors in certain lights, and I did hers in an unexpectedly bold fire-engine red that she was originally not to happy with (they are extremely red), but eventually warmed to, no pun intended.
Tuesday, however, was a mix of very good and very bad. M had been pretty much the only person I'd been physically interacting with for several days, and I'd about reached my saturation point, but we'd made plans to stroll along Shattuck and see what's what, so that's what we did, although I kept thinking of all the catching-up and organizing and generally preparing for the start of classes on Wednesday that I still have to do. We had lunch at a nice little diner called Mel's, where we normally eat before going to the movies, and then browsing a thrift store, which I really didn't take as much advantage of as I should have last semester. I specifically needed a tank top to go under the nice-but-boobtastic brown top I mentioned in my previous post, which I found. I also managed to drop the box of tasty curly fries that I had saved from Mel's and had to toss them, but at least we didn't get yelled at for bringing food in the store. We also hit up CVS for some more necessaries for me (the aforementioned small and sadly lackluster mirror and the means of sticking it to the wall) and lip gloss to match M's extremely red nail polish. Yes, sometimes we can be really, really girly. After that, we were tired of walking around, so we went back to my place (KN was out again) and watched funny YouTube videos until it was time for me to leave.hamsterwoman, my other Bay Area buddy, and I had made plans to meet up that evening at our usual pub for our usual exchange of hostages books and usual fandom/life idea splurge. I'm still trying to pinpoint exactly how long it takes to get from Berkeley to hamsterwoman's part of San Francisco via BART/MUNI, so I left at about 3:45 to give myself ample time. (OK, I admit I left a little earlier than I normally would, but M and I were beginning to wear on each other.) This worked out fine, and I arrived with time to spare and more at the BART/MUNI change-up, so I spent a good hour or so sitting in the MUNI station reading The Vor Game and grinning at Miles as he began to happen to a whole load of unsuspecting and highly deserving people, which probably disturbed some of the people sitting near me, but it was worth it. I left the MUNI station around 6 (our plan was to meet at 6:15 or 6:30), since this leg of the journey has previously always been a very short one, but there was about 15 or 20 minutes' worth of delay (heavy traffic delaying the surface cars, apparently), and I didn't get to Parkside Tavern until almost quarter to 7, where Anna was waiting for me, despite some inclement weather for August, and it turned out that the tavern was closed. She suggested a nearby Italian place, which turned out to be delicious. Although I mourned the loss of my bangers'n'mash, I had some very bracing lemon chicken, something interesting done with potatoes (fried without oiliness, herbs of some kind were also involved), and green beans Done Right (seriously, is it so hard to understand that cooked vegetables should still have some crunch to them, or at least not slide off your fork in a pile of mush when you try to eat them?). I was feeling a little peopled-out, if that makes any kind of sense, on my way into San Francisco, but talking with people I like and haven't seen in a long time is always wonderfully mind-clearing, so I left in a much better mood than I came in with. Of course, the stack o' books she lent me, Tyrell fancasting (or rather, airings of grievances on why Helen Mirren wasn't cast as Olenna Tyrell and how her name is pronounced wrong), and general SFF geeking-out didn't hurt. ;)
After dinner, we stopped in at an interesting ice cream place, where I fully intended to try something adventurous, such as red bean or lychee, but ended up with a fairly standard but extremely tasty mocha chip (my secret weakness!) and Irish coffee. As I mentioned above, we got off to kind of a late start, so she had to run home after that, but we finished our ice cream at the bus stop, which was occupied by a bus in due course, and things proceeded as they generally do. After that, though, my night stopped being fun. I admit I didn't pay as much attention as I should have while swiping my card when getting on the bus, so the reader must not have picked it up, since they were doing one of the "everybody scan their tickets to make sure nobody is riding for free" spot-checks at Embarcadero, where I change MUNI to BART, and something came up wrong on mine. Long and discomfiting story short, I got a ticket, but the officer was very nice about it, and explained how I could contest the ticket by explaining that I did, in fact, pay for a round trip, but either the scanner was borked or I didn't scan it properly (both are entirely possible). So, yeah, gonna get right on that. To make matters worse, waiting to get written up meant that I missed my BART transfer, and had to wait 20 minutes for the next train, and had to take another transfer in Oakland to get on the train going to Berkeley. So I didn't get back until late, and upon re-entering my dorm, I remembered that I still had a stack o' paperwork to do (getting-to-know-you sheet for the RA from the floor meeting I missed on Sunday and voter registration sheet for November, and now that citation protest thing too). So, like I said, some really good (hanging out and good food with friends) and some really bad (hanging out with people I didn't really want to hang out with, and getting a ticket). I decided to beg off the next day's planned meeting with M (we were going to find our classes together), since A) I am/was in kind of a mood that is not conducive to being good company over the ticket thing and related annoyances and B) like I said, I still had an unavoidable amount of catching up to do if I want to be ready for the start of classes tomorrow.
Today was much quieter and more pleasant. I got a lot of niggly little annoying things done, and I have a feeling that the knowledge of all those things hanging over me undone was contributing to my bad mood. The solitude also helps, as I could go and find tomorrow's classes and get linner without really having to talk to anyone.
I've been plugging through a bit more Hornblower (up to 6 out of 8 episodes now), and I don't think it's going to become one of my main fandoms or anything, but it makes a good addition to the MMRC and I'm glad I'm now conversant in it. It's very atypical for a fandom of mine, though: I don't plan on reading the books, and my favorite character was invented purely for the miniseries. My problem is that, from what I can tell, the books mostly consist of Horatio swinging between manic bloodlust and bone-deep self-loathing, and his life is universally horrible. He's trapped in a loveless marriage until his wife dies, his children die of smallpox, he pines for an unattainable noblewoman, he's constantly impoverished, his only close friend (who he purposefully treats like crap a good deal of the time in an effort to drive him away) is killed on his orders, and he ruthlessly flagellates himself for every tiny little thing he's ever done wrong, and even when he does something right. Word is that they added Archie so that A) the entire miniseries wouldn't be voiceovers of Horatio monologuing and B) Horatio wouldn't be so damn grumpy all the time. And you know what? It worked. It more than worked, it introduced an interesting, likeable character and added another dimension to the show.
There's been a lot of interesting meta/discussion about him (especially here), and I find that the quote "Archie is brave. He just finds it easiest to be brave on behalf of others," to be a pretty damn good summation of his character. He (briefly) panics during a surprise attack on land, but later that same episode charges across an exploding bridge to rescue his friend. He's too terrified to speak up for himself, or even speak at all, when confronted with a tyrannical older midshipman, but cheerfully sacrifices both his honor and his life (or he would have sacrificed his life, if he weren't already dying from taking a bullet for said friend) when he confesses to a crime he didn't commit so that said friend would be able to avoid the dishonor and death of a false condemnation. And as Horatio points out, he even jumps off of a cliff into an ocean of uncertain depth with one guy who can't swim, and another who's afraid of heights, all while being shot at from two different directions.
Unsurprisingly, I fully subscribe to the Live Kennedy Universe theory, but with my own...unique spin on it. Unlike others, I don't believe he went into some sort of 19th century Witness Protection Program and became Babbington of the Aubreyad, and I'm not even fully behind the Doctor Who theory (Bush, the Hermione of this particular Power Trio, was played by Paul McGann, who famously played the 8th Doctor, the last before the Great Hiatus, so it's widely surmised that the Doctor snatched him from the jaws of death and took him on as a Companion. I do like the idea behind this theory, but I'd go with Eleven and the Ponds, or Ten and any of his, if only because I'm more familiar with them and thus can imagine it more completely). My own theory is somewhat cracktastic, involving a Zombie Survival Guide crossover and several OCs in the form of his family, who are secretly zombie hunters. Yeah, like I said, cracktastic.
And finally, it's the Return of the Meme! It's just a generalized fandom one this time, but I had fun with it.
1 – Your favorite all-time fandom(s)
That would have to be Tolkien’s ‘verse. Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, I love them all! It is, and will always be, my One True Fandom.
Honorable mentions to ASOIAF, Discworld, the Whoniverse, the Whedonverse (BtVS, Angel, and I subscribe to the fan theory that Firefly takes place in the far-distant future of the Buffyverse), and maybe Temeraire (I don’t know if I can call it one of my all-time favorites when I’ve been into it for less than a year, but seriously, massive love for this series).
2 – Your current fandom(s)
At the moment I’m very active in everything that has come under the umbrella of my Massive Multiplayer Regency Crossover, including the Austenverse, Temeraire, the Aubreyad, and now Hornblower, because why not. I’m also reading and enjoying a certain smartass with a telepathic jhereg and another certain smartass with a spaceship, but I’m not reading fanfic or anything with them, so I’m not sure if this counts.
3 – First fandom, the one that made you the fangirl you are today
Hmm, complicated question. The first work I remember consciously fangirling over was Robin Hood, the first work I was honestly and truly obsessed with was Redwall, and the first work where I was conscious of a larger fandom, fanfic, etc. was LotR. I actually have a very strong memory of discovering fanfic: I remember the search term was “lord of the rings stories,” and the first fic that came up, and consequently the first I ever read, was Thundera Tiger’s Fear No Darkness, which is still one of the best I’ve read, and the only one I wrote fanfic for. Yes, I wrote fanfic for a fanfic.
4 –First, current, or favorite fandom crush
I guess technically that would be Robin Hood (especially as played by Errol Flynn), but this has devolved into a general thing for green-clad, forest-dwelling, snarky archers as part of nakama-like ensemble casts of freedom-fighters, as my next huge fandom crushes were Martin the Warrior from Redwall and Legolas from, well, you know where.
Honorable mentions also go to Renly (and Loras, of course) for being smart and snarky and very secretly probably a decent guy, Sam Vimes for being my very definition of badass, Sirius Black for being my other massive teenage crush, Rupert Giles for pushing every single button I have, both kink-wise and character-wise, andFluffy Ginger Crumpet (actual fandom nickname) Archie Kennedy for being my current fandom crush. Understand, of course, that my fandom crush on most of these guys is generally as part of a ship, so while I love them all to the moon and back, I also wouldn’t want to get in the way of Loras, Sibyl, James, and Horatio respectively (Giles is the exception, as I just adore him on his own), especially since most of those people could kick my ass, one way or another.
5 – Your fandom secret
I will never be not convinced that Syrio Forel and Jaquen H’Gar are the same person, and the Faceless Men are acting on the orders of some kind of prophecy regarding Arya. I don’t know if that counts or not, as it’s not particularly scandalous. But all my genuine fandom secrets are for tiny fringe fandoms, like Nightrunner (I really like Phoria and hate Sebrahn with a fiery burning passion) or Runaways (I detest Nico almost as much as Sebrahn). And then there’s Doctor Who, where I heartily disliked “The Doctor’s Daughter,” which a lot of other Whovians seem to love.
Oh, and I dislike most AUs, mpreg, and steampunk, which I’m fairly sure earns me yet another tick on Fandom Curmudgeon Bingo.
6 – Favorite song that brings fangirl tears to your eyes
During my most recent RotK re-watch, I once again failed to make it entirely through the movie without crying. I made it through Pippin’s song/Faramir’s charge okay, which is the first hurdle, but that last scene, and the closing credits song…it got me. There was so much bittersweet happiness in that scene, and from so many different directions. There was the whole thing about Galadriel finally getting to go home, of course, and Frodo’s smile, and Gandalf’s “I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are an evil,” but then Sam gets to go home, and I love how Tolkien wrote this perfect happy ending for him where he endured so much fire and pain and grief, but now he’s the Mayor of the Shire and fathering children with the woman he loves, but he eventually gets to go over the Sea and be with Frodo, too. And then, of course, there was all the meta stuff about how the Shire was Tolkien’s idealized rural England, and he saved it from ruin and preserved it in his books because he couldn't do the same in real life, and just *sob*.
7 – Your OTP(s)
*points to #4* Otherwise, some of my other favorites are:
- Charles/Erik or Professor X/Magneto. I ship them either platonically or romantically, so I still count them as one of my OTPs even if they aren’t a P in the strictest sense of the word.
- Sherlock Holmes/John Watson (all incarnations). Ditto.
- Laurence/Granby, with an option for G/L/T, or even Granby/Pullings. I’ve gone on before about my inexplicable lack of love for Tharkay, but L/G has everything I love: they’re a Battle Couple constantly hauling one another out of danger, they complement each other’s styles well, and, of course, the “Laurence is scandalized” and “Granby is cataclysmically danger-prone” jokes never get old.
- Sam Vimes/Sibyl Rankin. Because despite all appearances and all odds, Sam makes an excellent husband and father, and Sibyl is both unflappable enough to keep up with him and well-bred enough to make up for his more, er, non-diplomatic tendencies.
- Wash/Zoë. This one is IRONCLAD, yo. It’s also the only ship I ship with any intensity in the Firefly fandom. I mean, I root for Simon/Kaylee in all of its stuttery awkward glory, and Mal/Inara was nice, too, but splitting up these two is just no bueno. Joss, I’m lookin’ at you.
- Bill Weasley/Fleur Delacouer. One of the very few Potter ships that I can fully support in every sense, not just the academic “oh, they have compatible personalities” sense. As in, I really wish I could have seen more of them as a married couple, because they were, are, and continue to be, awesome.
- Amy Pond/Rory Williams. In the same vein as Wash/Zoë: she’s a memetic badass Lancer, he’s an adorable and surprisingly competent geek who dies a lot, and they make an oddly but completely awesome team.
- Fai/Kurogane. This is, like, my one remaining anime pairing, which should tell you something about how strongly I feel about these two dummies.
- Ryo/Dee. No, wait, I lied, this is my other remaining anime/manga pairing. I’m not much in the fandom anymore, but these guys were one of my first ironclad ships, and will always have a place in my heart as such.
- Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones. Children of Earth is pretty damn near the top of my list of heartwrenching moments, because it made clear how much they had done for each other. Ianto had gone from actively trying to kill Jack to walking into an obvious death trap without fear out of loyalty to, and faith in, Jack. And I think Ianto was the first person Jack actually tried to initiate a formal relationship with, instead of “hey, I’m hot, you’re hot, why are we still wearing pants?”
- Faramir/Éowyn. I actually ship this harder than Beren/Lúthien independent of RL context. It’s very much in the “badass lady/adorkable guy” vein that has shown up a couple of times, although Faramir is by no means not badass. I just like them both a very great deal, especially since, like Sam and Sibyl, both their strengths and their flaws complement each other: Battle Couples are one of my biggest character kinks, and although these two never actually participate in the same battle at the same time, I like to think that they were both instrumental in cleaning any remaining pockets of Orcs out of Ithilien. But Faramir is also a bit over-given to contemplation and Éowyn more than a bit over-given to action, so I could see them balancing each other out really well, as rulers as well as a couple.
- Fingon/Maedhros. Now *this* is my Silmarillion fandom secret, although probably an open one by now, considering how much I talk about it.
- Apollo/Midnighter. In their Authority versions (and then pretty much only when Warren Ellis was writing), not their new DC versions. If anyone was wondering, yes, I’m still holding tight to that massive plotbunny involving collapsing dimensions, mind-wiping, and breaking the 4th wall that I laid out when the news first came down that WildStorm was being absorbed into the DC multiverse.
- Hulkling/Wiccan or Billy/Teddy. They have a surprisingly realistic relationship for a comic book about teenage superheroes, but I like that the writers have managed to bring across the fact that they have arguments and differences of opinion and that they’re both occasionally cataclysmically stupid and get angry at each other for this in no way negates the fact that they’re crazy stupid in love. And it’s the kind of love where they don’t always have to be running on an adrenaline high to make it work; I’ve read more perfectly IC domestic fluff of them using their superpowers for utilitarian household purposes than I can shake a stick at, which is more than I can say for a lot of other fandoms.
- Xavin/Karolina. Or Space Babes, as I call them. For me, this will always be the one and only ship for either of them, and I hope that Xavin gets taken off that bus the writers put her on soon, because I kind of hate Nico/Karolina a little, and I haven’t read any Avengers Academy, but I’m predisposed to disliking Julie/Karolina.
- Anna Smith/John Bates. I’m not really into Downton Abbey that much anymore, not that I was exactly a superfan to begin with, but these two really made an impression on me. The actors had some frankly fantastic chemistry, and it actually made me wibble a little bit to see how utterly they adored each other. This goes double for Bates, who constantly seemed a little wrong-footed by the idea that this beautiful, brilliant woman who laughs at his jokes and doesn’t think less of him for having a bad leg and is willing to commit petty theft and some pretty aggressive practical jokes in his defense, for whatever crazy reasons of her own, is in love with him. But then Anna is always trying to smack him ‘round the head and pound it into him that he is amazing and wonderful and all kinds of other superlatives. And he was willing to give up everything for her, and she still is willing to move heaven and earth to get him back. Oh, and their ship name is Bananna.
- Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy, for the moment. I’m pretty sure someone high up in the production crew ships them, too, since you don’t get things like the entirety of “The Duchess and the Devil” or Horatio standing around buck-ass naked and grinning at Archie (who grins back *very* suggestively) in “The Mutiny” without at least some of it being on purpose. And this is without all the subtler instances, like the multiple cases of bedroom eyes, their habit of touching each other for no apparent reason whenever they happen to be standing near each other, Archie in the background pretty blatantly checking out Horatio’s ass once he gets his shiny new lieutenant’s uniform, the Battle Couple-ness of “Retribution,” and Archie giving up both his life and his honor to save Horatio’s, and their last conversation on Archie’s deathbed, and all the rest of it. Once again, not making this up, people!
8 -- A fandom that you thought you wouldn’t get sucked into, but ended up getting sucked into anyway
Age of Sail in general, and Hornblower in particular. I watched Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and read about half of the source books when I was in high school, but then along camehamsterwoman, who got me into Temeraire, re-sparking my interest in the Aubreyad, which started a chain reaction that has yet to finish, but is currently at the stage of me debating whether or not to read the books. I mean, I feel like a bad fan for just liking the miniseries, but A) by all accounts the books are racist as only books written in the 1930s by an elderly white man can be, B) lack of Archie, and C) the writing quality in general is widely considered to be much inferior to O’Brian’s, and my to-read stack is too big to allow me to pick up books that I’m not fired up about.
9 – One of your favorite characters
[1 essay per fandom redacted, since I don’t want to have to split this up over multiple posts.] Let’s just say that I like Lancers, competence, snark, badassery, stalwartness, people who are good friends, and a sprinkling of woobieishness.
10 – Your favorite scene or moment from one of your favorite fandoms
[See previous redaction.] In general I like me some CMoAs and CMoFs, though. So just pick your favorite of those from any fandom you know I’m in, and chances are it’d be on my list.
11 – The fan art, fan fiction, cover song, cosplay, etc. that you’ve made that you’re most proud of
Um, that would have to be Godzilla, since it’s the only thing I’ve even distantly considered putting out there. Before I left, I had an excellent conversation with JC about funny vs. historically accurate, as well as about historical views of homosexuality, and I have come to this conclusion: I need to get over myself. It’s not the angst-fest that I had originally envisioned it as, and Godzilla was veering dangerously close to Poor Oppressed Angels bemoaning the cruel world’s treatment of their innocent and pure love, which…no. Just no. Now that this decision has been made, I can get back to the funny dragons. (And we all know that Iskierka would eat anybody who even looked sideways at Granby in a hot minute [no pun intended], and we’ve seen Temeraire get pretty righteously angry in his captain’s defense, so there’s also that.)
12 – Your favorite fanartist or fanfiction writer
Yowza. Um, let’s break this down by fandom:
LOTR/Sil/Hobbit: Gold-seven, an artist par excellence; Thundera Tiger, my introduction to the wide, terrifying world of fanfiction; Cassia & Siobhan, with whose stories I was almost as obsessed as with the canon itself for a few years; and then there are the actual legitimate published guys, like Ted Nasmith and the Brothers Hildebrandt, but I’m not sure if they count.
ASOIAF:zweihand, the artist behind this entry's icon (as hamsterwoman's headcanon of Mace Tyrell says, "Feel free to beat up anyone who makes a crack about the way you dress."), redcandle17, cyshobbitlass, and probably a few others. ASOIAF is probably my favorite fandom as far as the actual people involved are concerned, so there's quite a bit of awesome going around.
XMFC: Mainlyloobeeinthesky (who can also be found here), and Subtilior, but there are a lot of sort of half-awesome people where I love their art but am kind of :\ about them personally, or vice-versa.
Temeraire: Novembersmith, who first got me to consider G/L/T, when I almost never even come close to shipping OT3s;dorkorific, ditto; minviendha/![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ficviendha, who has shown up in quite a few different fandoms, and is lovely each and every time; and tanyart (who can also be found here), who also does some friggin' adorable Marvel fanart.
Oh, and then there’scopperbadge, who transcends fandoms.
Luckily, that’s all the fandoms I actively look for fic/art in, and I’m still sure I’m forgetting a few fantastic people who deserve all the recognition.
13 – The best cosplayers of your fandom that you’ve seen; the ones you consider to be real-life versions of your favorite characters, OTP, etc.
I actually don’t go out looking for cosplays, as I’m incredibly picky about it. So I haven’t found anyone I “consider to be the real-life version of [my] favorite characters, OTP, etc.” I’m sure they’re out there; I just haven’t come across them yet.
14 – A group of characters from one of your fandoms you’d love to hang out with for a day
Now I run into the problem of loving a multitude of ensemble casts. XD But out of all of them, the one I would most enjoy just hanging out with would either be the Scooby Gang, Harry and his friends from Hogwarts, the crew of Babylon 5, or the Fellowship of the Ring. All my other favorites (the crew of Serenity, any of the page groups from Tortall, the Nightrunners, the Aerial Corps and any Doctor/Companion[s] team generally have a little too much interestingness in their lives, whether internal or external). I really like the vibe of the Scooby Gang, whatever the incarnation, and they seem pretty good at just hanging out (plus, Willow and Giles would let me go through their books).
I could get the grand Hogwarts tour from Harry et al and maybe even kind of squee over/sit in on the classes of Dumbledore (with the help of a time-turner) and McGonagall, which I’m sure would confuse them.
The B5 crew, both human and alien, also seem to know how to show an outsider a good time, and I would be perfectly happy just following them around during a regular day, meditating with Delenn, secretly taking pictures as Ivanova chews some poor-but-deserving bastard out, and just generally chilling with Garibaldi (I’m sure he would be slightly weirded out but mostly chuffed that that he has, y’know, fans).
And as for the Fellowship, c’mon. Aside from the fact that they could collectively tell some great campfire stories, I would honestly love to just see them interact with each other, since it’s almost certainly a lot of their first times interacting with other species. I mean, the Hobbits have seen a couple of elves, Eru knows they’ve known a few humans, and dwarves used to pop up at Bag End with respectable frequency, but Gimli has probably never seen elves before, Boromir certainly hasn’t seen anyone other than other humans, and this is probably Legolas’ first friendly interactions with dwarves and humans (barring the Dunedain, who are all a little elvish anyway), and certainly his first with hobbits. This is barring Gandalf and Aragorn, of course, since they already know everybody and have been everywhere.
15 – Your favorite collectible/merchandise from your fandom that you most cherish, or one that you wished you owned
Hmm… I’m not much of a merchandise person (aside from the actual books/DVDs, of course), so most of my swag comes from my One True Fandom. I have one of the mallorn-leaf brooches worn by the Fellowship (not one of the actual props, sadly, just a replica) that I’ve had for about 10 years but just recently added to my increasingly-encumbered bag. I also have a still of Legolas at Parth Galen signed by PJ and the cast, which I got as a 16th birthday present, which occupies a place of honor on my desk back home.
16 – A quote from one of your fandoms that you love
I’m actually holding myself to just one this time as, I’m sure I’ve remarked before, I have a terrible memory for remembering quotes. Joss Whedon is a quoteable guy, and I find a lot of his lines sneaking into my everyday conversation (“shiny,” "mei-mei," “time for some thrillin’ heroics,” etc. have almost ceased to register as fandom references), but my favorite Whedon line comes from his run on Runaways: “Why are you not awesomed by me?!”, which I’ve found both versatile and effective.
17 – Your favorite piece of art, be it original or a fan art, from your favorite fandom
Off the top of my head, that would be any of the aforementioned gold-seven’s work, which is wonderfully evocative of the spirit of living mythology, for lack of a better word, of all of Tolkien’s works, especially The Silmarillion. Or possibly the Brothers Hildebrandt, same fandom; especially their Lady Galadriel. Or Ted Nasmith, he of both the fantastic Tolkien and ASOIAF buildings.
18 – An instance where you turned a friend into a fangirl
I think my blabbering nonstop about LOTR/Tolkien for about 10 years straight has at least partially converted H. It’s not her normal fare, and she still hasn’t finished the books, but at least she’s more or less word-perfect on the movies, of which I am extremely proud.
Also, honorable mention: my mom likes to say that the reason she’s glad she had kids is so we can sift through all the bad stuff and relay the good stuff to her. See Temeraire, ASOIAF, and Sherlock for evidence.
19 – A theory (be it legitimate or completely crack) that you have always had about one of your fandoms
JAQUEN H’GAR AND SYRIO FOREL ARE THE SAME PERSON AND WERE SENT AS PART OF A FACELESS MEN PLOT TO RECRUIT ARYA, and no-one will every convince me otherwise.
20 – A character from a fandom whose clothes, hair, or features you’ve always admired
I’m taking “admired” to mean “desired to have for myself,” not just “found pleasing,” because that list would take several pages, and each Raith (yes, even the adorable hippie sister who managed to remain human) and Tyrell would get their own mini-essay. But that would have to be Liv Tyler as Arwen. I really like the dark hair/blue eyes/fair skin combo, and find it both striking and appealing. Oh, and she’s reasonably tall and has wonderful bone structure. And that’s not even getting into her grey riding habit, shimmery cloak, floaty green gown (that nobody but her could manage to pull off), butterfly tiara, and the famous white gown with the flowy sleeves (I could have done without that purple thing she was wearing in Aragorn’s dream, though).
21 – A moment, character, quote –ANYTHING- from one of your fandoms that had a great impact on your life
This would have to be the FotR movie as a whole. I’ve never had such a conscious awareness of a work of fiction actively changing my life. I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but I strongly remember riding home after seeing it in theaters for the first time, sort of quietly mulling it over in my head, lying in bed that night, and thinking that, in some way that I, being 11 at the time, couldn’t quite fully describe, things had changed on a fundamental level, and I was a different person than I had been 24 hours ago. Just the knowledge that a world so tangible, so complete, existed, that someone somewhere had sat down and put Frodo and Sam and Gandalf and Aragorn in a world where they weren’t previously, that level of creation was even possible, really hit me hard. Clearly, I still can’t describe it fully, but I’m sure you guys know what I mean.
22 – How you first got into being a fangirl
See #3. I was really surprised that other people had hit on the idea of writing stories featuring characters not of their own creation, and that kind of opened the floodgates. The discovery of fanfic led to fanart, fanmixes, and the realization that this strange new thing called the internet (hey, it was still relatively new in 2001) had led to these enormous virtual gatherings of fans to do nothing more than talk about their fandoms of choice, which I found to be all kinds of awesome. One thing led to another, and here we are.
23 – The silliest nerd/fangirl argument you’ve ever gotten into with someone
This isn’t so much an argument as me relentlessly badgering someone for the past 13 years, but H has yet to finish all the LotR books. I get that the descriptions of trees and other assorted geography can be kind of interminable sometimes, but, at least to me, things like the Pelennor Fields and Aragorn’s coronation and Deneathor burning alive really have to be read to be experienced properly. I’m sure I’ll get her someday, but that day has been a long time a-comin’.
24 – A town, city or village in a fandom of yours that you’ve always wanted to live in
London in general. Not only is it an awesome place to live on its own merits, but it’s the focus of so much awesome fiction. I could call on Jane Austen’s and Libba Bray’s heroines when they’re in town for the season, stop by Diagon Alley to replenish my stock of Floo powder and whatever else we Muggles can use, say hi to Harry and all of his crew that now work at the Ministry of Magic, keep an eye out for interesting cases to pass along to Sherlock and John, maybe hang out a bit with Moll Flanders if I felt like a bit of time-travel, email Bertie Wooster (or more likely drop by to see Jeeves) to keep abreast of his shenanigans, introduce various incarnations of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen around, etc. I would try to avoid the Nightside and all dystopias unless I was well-armed, well-guarded, or both, though. Oh, and this might finally give me the impetus I need to start reading Dickens, since my lack of Dickens fangirling is a deep source of disappointment to my mom, a die-hard Dickensian.
25 – Do you celebrate character birthdays? If so, tell us about the best character b-day party that you’ve ever thrown!
The only one I celebrate is Bilbo’s and Frodo’s, because it’s also my mom’s, which we generally mark by lots of hobbity food, and sometimes a vaguely thematic cake. Otherwise, though, the only geeky day I celebrate IRL is the Glorious 25th of May/Towel Day/Geek Pride Day (as the button on my bag proclaims).
26 – A fandom of yours that you feel is vastly underappreciated
Gee, where to begin? I would have to put Temeraire at the top of the list. It’s the Napoleonic Wars with dragons, you guys! It’s got more HoYay than you can shake the leg of a bar stool at, and memetic badass ladies, and genuinely lol-worthy humor, and a fascinating villain, and a nakama-like ensemble cast, and a great balance of “ADVENTURE, HO!” and unexpectedly gut-wrenching serious bits. Why are more people not reading this?!
And then there’s a lot of older stuff, like Buffy and Babylon 5 that isn’t so much underappreciated as faded, and needs to be brought back to fandom-consciousness so that I can read fic that wasn’t written, like, ten years ago.
27 – Your favorite meme concerning one of your fandoms
Hmm, none immediately come to mind. There was a kind of survey/meme going around dA a while ago for ASOIAF, which generated some interesting answers, and there are always the oft-repeated fandom in-jokes to appreciate, but I can’t really think of any fandom memes that I’m a big fan of. There were the “one does not simply…” and “winter is coming” memes, of course, but those have been driven into the ground. I do like the “everybody chill the f•ck out, I got this” meme as applied to fandom characters, though, as those types tend to be my favorites.
28 – Do you have a fandom tattoo? If you don’t and want to get one (or hypothetically wanted to get one), what would it be of?
This has come up in a couple of recent memes, but to reiterate: I don't have one, but if I did it would be the Tengwa “parma,” for “book.”
29 – If you plan on having children, would you name one of them after your favorite characters? If so, explain.
Not necessarily. If I have a daughter, she’ll probably be called Elizabeth, but that’s because I like the name, and the variety of fictional Elizabeths that I like is just icing on the cake. Fandom has clued me into the names Alanna and Eleanor, though.
Same goes for boys’ names: I do like several fictional Arthurs, Jacks, Sams, and Gabriels, but I would name a son that because I like the sound of those names, not out of homage. Mostly, my male fictional favorites have rather oddball names, and I wouldn’t want to saddle a kid of mine with one like Sirius, Nealan, or Rupert.
30 – The reason why you’re proud to be the nerdy fangirl that you are!
I meant to cap this off with some sort of news story about fans doing something awesome, i.e. mobilizing to save a historic location, raising money for a charitable cause, or just generally being awesome people, but none really come to mind, except for Tolkien verbally bitchslapping some Nazis and calling Hitler a “ruddy little ignoramus.” So let’s just go with because it’s how I met a lot of my best friends, and life would be immeasurably more boring without it.
Last Thursday was the last time I saw all of my friends together in one place, for our final LotR marathon, and...wow. I acknowledge that they aren't perfect movies, and that there are, inevitably, flaws, but...wow. I had a standing rule that if anybody spoke during Pippin's song or the ending (from the Grey Havens onward), they would get concussed with the popcorn bowl, and, oddly enough, it was J who got thwacked for being superior and slightly sneering (as always) and breaking the mood during a Dramatic Moment, although C did the actual thwacking. I was a little worried about JC, who doesn't exactly always have the internal filter that the rest of us do, and sometimes couldn't tell when he should just shut up and watch the movie. I mean, I love the guy, I really do, and I'm very glad that H introduced us, but really, we don't need funny narration during Sam's "Rosie Cotton dancing, she had ribbons in her hair" bit or insightful comments about the history of siege weaponry during the charge of the Rohirrim, and I was sorely tempted to actually snap at him several times. I also managed to once again fail to go the entire movie dry-eyed (see meme below), but, hey, I consider Return of the King one of the few instances where it's acceptable to cry in public, or even semi-public. But more than crying, there were so many moments that just..."their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness." In related news, it is now on my bucket list to go back to Oxford and leave live, not cut, flowers on Tolkien's grave.
Aside from this sublimely awesome event, Thursday was, strangely, uniformly awful. It was my last day at the Humane Society, so it was slightly melancholy to go around and say goodbye to all the cats. I worry especially about Elvis, a very sweet black-and-white fellow, who is now alone in his room, as all his roommates (including Arthur, my old favorite who developed quite the swagger once he got over his initial, er, quivering, and Pookie, who was actually really depressed for a while after her littermate Krishna got adopted without her) have been adopted away, and Annadel, a sweet but very pushy little black kitty that I secretly wanted to re-name Moxie, which would fit her much better. Also, I accidentally left all three of my rings, to which I'm very attached, in the pocket of my apron, which I left on the dirty laundry pile. And I work the very last shift of the day. And the Humane Society was closed the next day. And I was leaving the day after that. (I ended up having to get there waaaay too early in the morning, but the aprons were still in the laundry basket, so at least this story has a happy ending.) Also, A and I got into a tiff, which has become increasingly rare, and P called from his cross-country (literally; they've been biking from California to Oregon to Yellowstone and back) bike trip to say that he'd lost his phone (again), but the crowning jewel of suckitude came that night, when I went to go drive people home after RotK, and I accidentally backed into my mom's lovely new Prius, which she adores. Luckily, I didn't full-on back into it, but I did clip it at an angle, and there is now a fair-sized dent in the front passenger door. I have to pay her back, of course, but she says that I can wait until I'm a rich and powerful librarian to do so.
A combination of all this suckiness, plus the RotK event going kinda late and me having to get up early the next morning, resulted in me not getting an awful lot of sleep, and when I woke up, I went out to the kitchen, made some toast, and started crying. I don't quite know why; I mean, it wasn't a great day, but the last time I did this, J and I had just broken up, and that hurt. I guess a big part of it was that I thought my mom was mad at me (she was, as it turned out), and she's the one person I never, ever fight with, as we both find fighting and contention incredibly exhausting. But we made up before she went off to work, luckily, and I had to leave not long after for a doctor's appointment. A variety of things had been building up over the past few months that I wanted to make sure weren't cancer or anything before leaving for Berkeley, so I decided to get it all taken care of at once.
I told her about the cramping/headaches/dizziness/nausea, and consequently got my first ladyparts exam, but my doctor basically said that if it was controllable with ibprofen and I wasn't actually passing out, it's pretty much business as usual. She did write me a prescription for birth control pills, though, which she said would A) help with the cramps and B) make me a little more regular, which was something I'd been having some trouble with. They were a lot more expensive than I remember them being, but, hey, the last time I took them was in, like, 2009. I don't realistically see myself having call for their main purpose, but my philosophy in this regard is better to have and not want than want and not have.
I've noticed a distinct pattern emerging: I get all nostalgic and melancholy the day or two before I leave for Berkeley, and don't want whoever drove me to leave once all my stuff gets moved into my room, but once they're gone and I've spent a little while unpacking things, I get onto this "yaaaay I'm in Berkeley! :D" high, and don't come off it until at least the next day. There's so much that I love about Sebastopol, but there's so much I love about Berkeley, too, and I've been spending the past few days very happily, getting reacquainted with it. Move-In Day was a zoo, of course, but RG, who was driving me down and the car back up, managed to find a spot in the adjacent parking structure and helped me get moved in, and I ended up being very glad for his help. I had one extremely large box full of clothes, toiletries, and some electronics, one medium-large box for sundries, and one slightly-smaller-medium-large box for books, and they all were heavy. I expected the books box to be heavy of course, but I really didn't know that clothes could weigh so much. Of course, the clothes box also contained my heavy winter coat, some extra pairs of shoes, blankets & pillows, and my scale wrapped up safely for transport, so maybe it was that. Similarly, I started the sundries box for general miscellaneous junk, but it ended up being the heaviest of all, mostly due to my printer and lamp. Anyway, RG was instrumental in hoisting these into the cart, into the elevator, into my room, and back out of the cart, and even ran (and I do mean *ran*, he was panting when he knocked on my door) back up again once he realized that I'd left the cookies I'd baked as a dorm-warming gift for my then-unknown roommate in the car, which was very nice of him, and touched me probably more than it should have.
My dorm is...odd. It doesn't have last year's spectacular view, but then again, I didn't really expect it to (it looks out over the parking structure/sportsball complex between Unit 2 and Unit 1). My new building, Towle, has this weird two-key system wherein one key opens the front door, my mail cubby, the elevator, and my door, but another key, with something incomprehensible (possibly "suite") written on it in red paint opens the door that leads from the hallway into a little antechamber. While standing in the antechamber, it goes like this: shared bathroom (with no soap or paper towels, but at least plenty of TP) on the left, the door to room A (occupied by a nice girl named Kelly and two unknowns who have yet to arrive), and the door to room B (me and my roommate) to the right. My room itself is where the real oddness comes in. The desk chairs are much nicer than last year's (actual padded swively rolley chairs, not the wooden rocking chair-like things from my last room), but there are no mirrors anywhere (I had to buy a very small and lackluster one and stick it on the back of the door until we can find a proper one) and there are no doors on the closets. KN, my roommate, came in as I was unpacking, and we got introduced. It turns out that she's a fellow English major and Sherlock Holmes fan, and an exchange student from Korea. But because she's an exchange student, she's only allowed to stay for four more months, and is going home over the winter break. I have a feeling I'm going to miss her as a roommate: she's quiet, clean, and gone most of the time, but pleasant to be around and not in the least annoying when she's in. Her only bad quality so far has been a tendency to crank the heater all the way up and leave it that way overnight, and if that's the worst of it, I'm a happy camper.
I spent most of Saturday unloading/unpacking everything, and scratching my head re: a couple of things that I absolutely know I packed, but somehow seem to have escaped en route. They were just my good scissors, some colored note tabs that I like, and a little ceramic bowl I use to store change and my keys in, so nothing terribly vital. I've also had to do some considerable reshuffling of furniture, since it turns out that my desk was both too far away and too high up to hold all the things that I generally need to be able to reach from my bed -lamp, glasses case, stack o' books, earplugs, alarm clock, etc. My desk fulfilled this function beautifully in my old room, but that was where my bed was at right angles to, and flush up against, my desk, not parallel and end-to-end with it. But with a little creative thinking, the two-storied open-faced cupboard that looks like it's designed to hold shoes or something has been pressed into service, and is doing its job admirably. After unpacking, I spent the rest of the day just kind of basking. KN left pretty quickly, so I took a nap, watched a little Hornblower, did some shopping for necessities (paper towels, laundry detergent, chips, etc.), and got a celebratory dinner at the Yummy Burrito Place, which was still just a tiny bit too spicy for my tastes, but the absolute perfect size.
I spent the early part of Sunday noodling around my room, taking an inaugural shower, etc. I was just killing time until 1:30, when my floor's time slot to get our internet activated was. Like last year, we had to sit through a silly informational video (Avengers themed this year, and A for effort, D+ for execution), listen to a couple of spiels that I'd already heard the year before, and get our ID cards swiped. After that was over, I ran right back up to try things out, since 24 hours without anything more powerful than one's phone for internet access was surprisingly frustrating. Unlike last year, everything worked perfectly the first time, even my wireless printer, so, yay, Internet access! I didn't have much time to enjoy it, though, as I'd told my Berkeley buddy M that I'd meet up with her as soon as the internet thing got done with, which took slightly longer than I expected, so it was well into mid-afternoon when I finally got to our usual meeting spot, the coffee shop adjacent to the dining commons. It was really great to see her again, as we hadn't seen each other, or even talked that much, all summer, so it was great to finally catch up. We wandered around Telegraph for a little while, bought two celebratory bottles of Fentiman's Rose Lemonade (to which I'm pretty sure I've successfully addicted her) at Jim's, and decamped to her new apartment for a good old-fashioned squeefest. She showed me Holy Musical B@man, a Team Starkid production that I actually hadn't seen yet, I got her hooked on Hornblower (cleverly reeling her in with Ioan Grufford's cheekbones and promises of naval uniforms, and letting the show itself do the rest), and much fun was had by all.
I also spent almost all of Monday with her. We watched a little more Hornblower (during which we set up the Brood-O-Meter to measure Horatio's levels of broodiness in any particular scene, the Moments of Doubtful Heterosexuality Counter to count, well, you know [pretty well broken by the end of "The Duchess and the Devil"], and Gorgeous Period Costumes Appreciation Hour), a few episodes of Good Eats (a cooking show that focuses heavily on food science and history. I learned how to make cupcakes!), and one of Firefly ("Out of Gas," which
hamsterwoman recently told me is one of Steven Brust's favorites, and I can see why. The non-linear storytelling is the big tip-off, of course, but there are a lot of other things there that I imagine he would like: snark under fire, skullduggery, and, er, creative problem-solving), with a break for dinner from Top Dog, where I tried the Lemon Chicken sausage, which was extremely good. I always seem to end up at Top Dog when I haven't eaten in ages, so every time I eat there I find it delicious, and this was no exception. Possibly due to estrogen poisoning or something, M and I also did each other's nails: she did mine in this very pretty oystershell-ish light purple that sparkles faintly and appears as slightly different colors in certain lights, and I did hers in an unexpectedly bold fire-engine red that she was originally not to happy with (they are extremely red), but eventually warmed to, no pun intended.Tuesday, however, was a mix of very good and very bad. M had been pretty much the only person I'd been physically interacting with for several days, and I'd about reached my saturation point, but we'd made plans to stroll along Shattuck and see what's what, so that's what we did, although I kept thinking of all the catching-up and organizing and generally preparing for the start of classes on Wednesday that I still have to do. We had lunch at a nice little diner called Mel's, where we normally eat before going to the movies, and then browsing a thrift store, which I really didn't take as much advantage of as I should have last semester. I specifically needed a tank top to go under the nice-but-boobtastic brown top I mentioned in my previous post, which I found. I also managed to drop the box of tasty curly fries that I had saved from Mel's and had to toss them, but at least we didn't get yelled at for bringing food in the store. We also hit up CVS for some more necessaries for me (the aforementioned small and sadly lackluster mirror and the means of sticking it to the wall) and lip gloss to match M's extremely red nail polish. Yes, sometimes we can be really, really girly. After that, we were tired of walking around, so we went back to my place (KN was out again) and watched funny YouTube videos until it was time for me to leave.
hamsterwoman, my other Bay Area buddy, and I had made plans to meet up that evening at our usual pub for our usual exchange of hamsterwoman's part of San Francisco via BART/MUNI, so I left at about 3:45 to give myself ample time. (OK, I admit I left a little earlier than I normally would, but M and I were beginning to wear on each other.) This worked out fine, and I arrived with time to spare and more at the BART/MUNI change-up, so I spent a good hour or so sitting in the MUNI station reading The Vor Game and grinning at Miles as he began to happen to a whole load of unsuspecting and highly deserving people, which probably disturbed some of the people sitting near me, but it was worth it. I left the MUNI station around 6 (our plan was to meet at 6:15 or 6:30), since this leg of the journey has previously always been a very short one, but there was about 15 or 20 minutes' worth of delay (heavy traffic delaying the surface cars, apparently), and I didn't get to Parkside Tavern until almost quarter to 7, where Anna was waiting for me, despite some inclement weather for August, and it turned out that the tavern was closed. She suggested a nearby Italian place, which turned out to be delicious. Although I mourned the loss of my bangers'n'mash, I had some very bracing lemon chicken, something interesting done with potatoes (fried without oiliness, herbs of some kind were also involved), and green beans Done Right (seriously, is it so hard to understand that cooked vegetables should still have some crunch to them, or at least not slide off your fork in a pile of mush when you try to eat them?). I was feeling a little peopled-out, if that makes any kind of sense, on my way into San Francisco, but talking with people I like and haven't seen in a long time is always wonderfully mind-clearing, so I left in a much better mood than I came in with. Of course, the stack o' books she lent me, Tyrell fancasting (or rather, airings of grievances on why Helen Mirren wasn't cast as Olenna Tyrell and how her name is pronounced wrong), and general SFF geeking-out didn't hurt. ;) After dinner, we stopped in at an interesting ice cream place, where I fully intended to try something adventurous, such as red bean or lychee, but ended up with a fairly standard but extremely tasty mocha chip (my secret weakness!) and Irish coffee. As I mentioned above, we got off to kind of a late start, so she had to run home after that, but we finished our ice cream at the bus stop, which was occupied by a bus in due course, and things proceeded as they generally do. After that, though, my night stopped being fun. I admit I didn't pay as much attention as I should have while swiping my card when getting on the bus, so the reader must not have picked it up, since they were doing one of the "everybody scan their tickets to make sure nobody is riding for free" spot-checks at Embarcadero, where I change MUNI to BART, and something came up wrong on mine. Long and discomfiting story short, I got a ticket, but the officer was very nice about it, and explained how I could contest the ticket by explaining that I did, in fact, pay for a round trip, but either the scanner was borked or I didn't scan it properly (both are entirely possible). So, yeah, gonna get right on that. To make matters worse, waiting to get written up meant that I missed my BART transfer, and had to wait 20 minutes for the next train, and had to take another transfer in Oakland to get on the train going to Berkeley. So I didn't get back until late, and upon re-entering my dorm, I remembered that I still had a stack o' paperwork to do (getting-to-know-you sheet for the RA from the floor meeting I missed on Sunday and voter registration sheet for November, and now that citation protest thing too). So, like I said, some really good (hanging out and good food with friends) and some really bad (hanging out with people I didn't really want to hang out with, and getting a ticket). I decided to beg off the next day's planned meeting with M (we were going to find our classes together), since A) I am/was in kind of a mood that is not conducive to being good company over the ticket thing and related annoyances and B) like I said, I still had an unavoidable amount of catching up to do if I want to be ready for the start of classes tomorrow.
Today was much quieter and more pleasant. I got a lot of niggly little annoying things done, and I have a feeling that the knowledge of all those things hanging over me undone was contributing to my bad mood. The solitude also helps, as I could go and find tomorrow's classes and get linner without really having to talk to anyone.
I've been plugging through a bit more Hornblower (up to 6 out of 8 episodes now), and I don't think it's going to become one of my main fandoms or anything, but it makes a good addition to the MMRC and I'm glad I'm now conversant in it. It's very atypical for a fandom of mine, though: I don't plan on reading the books, and my favorite character was invented purely for the miniseries. My problem is that, from what I can tell, the books mostly consist of Horatio swinging between manic bloodlust and bone-deep self-loathing, and his life is universally horrible. He's trapped in a loveless marriage until his wife dies, his children die of smallpox, he pines for an unattainable noblewoman, he's constantly impoverished, his only close friend (who he purposefully treats like crap a good deal of the time in an effort to drive him away) is killed on his orders, and he ruthlessly flagellates himself for every tiny little thing he's ever done wrong, and even when he does something right. Word is that they added Archie so that A) the entire miniseries wouldn't be voiceovers of Horatio monologuing and B) Horatio wouldn't be so damn grumpy all the time. And you know what? It worked. It more than worked, it introduced an interesting, likeable character and added another dimension to the show.
There's been a lot of interesting meta/discussion about him (especially here), and I find that the quote "Archie is brave. He just finds it easiest to be brave on behalf of others," to be a pretty damn good summation of his character. He (briefly) panics during a surprise attack on land, but later that same episode charges across an exploding bridge to rescue his friend. He's too terrified to speak up for himself, or even speak at all, when confronted with a tyrannical older midshipman, but cheerfully sacrifices both his honor and his life (or he would have sacrificed his life, if he weren't already dying from taking a bullet for said friend) when he confesses to a crime he didn't commit so that said friend would be able to avoid the dishonor and death of a false condemnation. And as Horatio points out, he even jumps off of a cliff into an ocean of uncertain depth with one guy who can't swim, and another who's afraid of heights, all while being shot at from two different directions.
Unsurprisingly, I fully subscribe to the Live Kennedy Universe theory, but with my own...unique spin on it. Unlike others, I don't believe he went into some sort of 19th century Witness Protection Program and became Babbington of the Aubreyad, and I'm not even fully behind the Doctor Who theory (Bush, the Hermione of this particular Power Trio, was played by Paul McGann, who famously played the 8th Doctor, the last before the Great Hiatus, so it's widely surmised that the Doctor snatched him from the jaws of death and took him on as a Companion. I do like the idea behind this theory, but I'd go with Eleven and the Ponds, or Ten and any of his, if only because I'm more familiar with them and thus can imagine it more completely). My own theory is somewhat cracktastic, involving a Zombie Survival Guide crossover and several OCs in the form of his family, who are secretly zombie hunters. Yeah, like I said, cracktastic.
And finally, it's the Return of the Meme! It's just a generalized fandom one this time, but I had fun with it.
1 – Your favorite all-time fandom(s)
That would have to be Tolkien’s ‘verse. Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, I love them all! It is, and will always be, my One True Fandom.
Honorable mentions to ASOIAF, Discworld, the Whoniverse, the Whedonverse (BtVS, Angel, and I subscribe to the fan theory that Firefly takes place in the far-distant future of the Buffyverse), and maybe Temeraire (I don’t know if I can call it one of my all-time favorites when I’ve been into it for less than a year, but seriously, massive love for this series).
2 – Your current fandom(s)
At the moment I’m very active in everything that has come under the umbrella of my Massive Multiplayer Regency Crossover, including the Austenverse, Temeraire, the Aubreyad, and now Hornblower, because why not. I’m also reading and enjoying a certain smartass with a telepathic jhereg and another certain smartass with a spaceship, but I’m not reading fanfic or anything with them, so I’m not sure if this counts.
3 – First fandom, the one that made you the fangirl you are today
Hmm, complicated question. The first work I remember consciously fangirling over was Robin Hood, the first work I was honestly and truly obsessed with was Redwall, and the first work where I was conscious of a larger fandom, fanfic, etc. was LotR. I actually have a very strong memory of discovering fanfic: I remember the search term was “lord of the rings stories,” and the first fic that came up, and consequently the first I ever read, was Thundera Tiger’s Fear No Darkness, which is still one of the best I’ve read, and the only one I wrote fanfic for. Yes, I wrote fanfic for a fanfic.
4 –First, current, or favorite fandom crush
I guess technically that would be Robin Hood (especially as played by Errol Flynn), but this has devolved into a general thing for green-clad, forest-dwelling, snarky archers as part of nakama-like ensemble casts of freedom-fighters, as my next huge fandom crushes were Martin the Warrior from Redwall and Legolas from, well, you know where.
Honorable mentions also go to Renly (and Loras, of course) for being smart and snarky and very secretly probably a decent guy, Sam Vimes for being my very definition of badass, Sirius Black for being my other massive teenage crush, Rupert Giles for pushing every single button I have, both kink-wise and character-wise, and
5 – Your fandom secret
I will never be not convinced that Syrio Forel and Jaquen H’Gar are the same person, and the Faceless Men are acting on the orders of some kind of prophecy regarding Arya. I don’t know if that counts or not, as it’s not particularly scandalous. But all my genuine fandom secrets are for tiny fringe fandoms, like Nightrunner (I really like Phoria and hate Sebrahn with a fiery burning passion) or Runaways (I detest Nico almost as much as Sebrahn). And then there’s Doctor Who, where I heartily disliked “The Doctor’s Daughter,” which a lot of other Whovians seem to love.
Oh, and I dislike most AUs, mpreg, and steampunk, which I’m fairly sure earns me yet another tick on Fandom Curmudgeon Bingo.
6 – Favorite song that brings fangirl tears to your eyes
During my most recent RotK re-watch, I once again failed to make it entirely through the movie without crying. I made it through Pippin’s song/Faramir’s charge okay, which is the first hurdle, but that last scene, and the closing credits song…it got me. There was so much bittersweet happiness in that scene, and from so many different directions. There was the whole thing about Galadriel finally getting to go home, of course, and Frodo’s smile, and Gandalf’s “I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are an evil,” but then Sam gets to go home, and I love how Tolkien wrote this perfect happy ending for him where he endured so much fire and pain and grief, but now he’s the Mayor of the Shire and fathering children with the woman he loves, but he eventually gets to go over the Sea and be with Frodo, too. And then, of course, there was all the meta stuff about how the Shire was Tolkien’s idealized rural England, and he saved it from ruin and preserved it in his books because he couldn't do the same in real life, and just *sob*.
7 – Your OTP(s)
*points to #4* Otherwise, some of my other favorites are:
- Charles/Erik or Professor X/Magneto. I ship them either platonically or romantically, so I still count them as one of my OTPs even if they aren’t a P in the strictest sense of the word.
- Sherlock Holmes/John Watson (all incarnations). Ditto.
- Laurence/Granby, with an option for G/L/T, or even Granby/Pullings. I’ve gone on before about my inexplicable lack of love for Tharkay, but L/G has everything I love: they’re a Battle Couple constantly hauling one another out of danger, they complement each other’s styles well, and, of course, the “Laurence is scandalized” and “Granby is cataclysmically danger-prone” jokes never get old.
- Sam Vimes/Sibyl Rankin. Because despite all appearances and all odds, Sam makes an excellent husband and father, and Sibyl is both unflappable enough to keep up with him and well-bred enough to make up for his more, er, non-diplomatic tendencies.
- Wash/Zoë. This one is IRONCLAD, yo. It’s also the only ship I ship with any intensity in the Firefly fandom. I mean, I root for Simon/Kaylee in all of its stuttery awkward glory, and Mal/Inara was nice, too, but splitting up these two is just no bueno. Joss, I’m lookin’ at you.
- Bill Weasley/Fleur Delacouer. One of the very few Potter ships that I can fully support in every sense, not just the academic “oh, they have compatible personalities” sense. As in, I really wish I could have seen more of them as a married couple, because they were, are, and continue to be, awesome.
- Amy Pond/Rory Williams. In the same vein as Wash/Zoë: she’s a memetic badass Lancer, he’s an adorable and surprisingly competent geek who dies a lot, and they make an oddly but completely awesome team.
- Fai/Kurogane. This is, like, my one remaining anime pairing, which should tell you something about how strongly I feel about these two dummies.
- Ryo/Dee. No, wait, I lied, this is my other remaining anime/manga pairing. I’m not much in the fandom anymore, but these guys were one of my first ironclad ships, and will always have a place in my heart as such.
- Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones. Children of Earth is pretty damn near the top of my list of heartwrenching moments, because it made clear how much they had done for each other. Ianto had gone from actively trying to kill Jack to walking into an obvious death trap without fear out of loyalty to, and faith in, Jack. And I think Ianto was the first person Jack actually tried to initiate a formal relationship with, instead of “hey, I’m hot, you’re hot, why are we still wearing pants?”
- Faramir/Éowyn. I actually ship this harder than Beren/Lúthien independent of RL context. It’s very much in the “badass lady/adorkable guy” vein that has shown up a couple of times, although Faramir is by no means not badass. I just like them both a very great deal, especially since, like Sam and Sibyl, both their strengths and their flaws complement each other: Battle Couples are one of my biggest character kinks, and although these two never actually participate in the same battle at the same time, I like to think that they were both instrumental in cleaning any remaining pockets of Orcs out of Ithilien. But Faramir is also a bit over-given to contemplation and Éowyn more than a bit over-given to action, so I could see them balancing each other out really well, as rulers as well as a couple.
- Fingon/Maedhros. Now *this* is my Silmarillion fandom secret, although probably an open one by now, considering how much I talk about it.
- Apollo/Midnighter. In their Authority versions (and then pretty much only when Warren Ellis was writing), not their new DC versions. If anyone was wondering, yes, I’m still holding tight to that massive plotbunny involving collapsing dimensions, mind-wiping, and breaking the 4th wall that I laid out when the news first came down that WildStorm was being absorbed into the DC multiverse.
- Hulkling/Wiccan or Billy/Teddy. They have a surprisingly realistic relationship for a comic book about teenage superheroes, but I like that the writers have managed to bring across the fact that they have arguments and differences of opinion and that they’re both occasionally cataclysmically stupid and get angry at each other for this in no way negates the fact that they’re crazy stupid in love. And it’s the kind of love where they don’t always have to be running on an adrenaline high to make it work; I’ve read more perfectly IC domestic fluff of them using their superpowers for utilitarian household purposes than I can shake a stick at, which is more than I can say for a lot of other fandoms.
- Xavin/Karolina. Or Space Babes, as I call them. For me, this will always be the one and only ship for either of them, and I hope that Xavin gets taken off that bus the writers put her on soon, because I kind of hate Nico/Karolina a little, and I haven’t read any Avengers Academy, but I’m predisposed to disliking Julie/Karolina.
- Anna Smith/John Bates. I’m not really into Downton Abbey that much anymore, not that I was exactly a superfan to begin with, but these two really made an impression on me. The actors had some frankly fantastic chemistry, and it actually made me wibble a little bit to see how utterly they adored each other. This goes double for Bates, who constantly seemed a little wrong-footed by the idea that this beautiful, brilliant woman who laughs at his jokes and doesn’t think less of him for having a bad leg and is willing to commit petty theft and some pretty aggressive practical jokes in his defense, for whatever crazy reasons of her own, is in love with him. But then Anna is always trying to smack him ‘round the head and pound it into him that he is amazing and wonderful and all kinds of other superlatives. And he was willing to give up everything for her, and she still is willing to move heaven and earth to get him back. Oh, and their ship name is Bananna.
- Horatio Hornblower/Archie Kennedy, for the moment. I’m pretty sure someone high up in the production crew ships them, too, since you don’t get things like the entirety of “The Duchess and the Devil” or Horatio standing around buck-ass naked and grinning at Archie (who grins back *very* suggestively) in “The Mutiny” without at least some of it being on purpose. And this is without all the subtler instances, like the multiple cases of bedroom eyes, their habit of touching each other for no apparent reason whenever they happen to be standing near each other, Archie in the background pretty blatantly checking out Horatio’s ass once he gets his shiny new lieutenant’s uniform, the Battle Couple-ness of “Retribution,” and Archie giving up both his life and his honor to save Horatio’s, and their last conversation on Archie’s deathbed, and all the rest of it. Once again, not making this up, people!
8 -- A fandom that you thought you wouldn’t get sucked into, but ended up getting sucked into anyway
Age of Sail in general, and Hornblower in particular. I watched Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and read about half of the source books when I was in high school, but then along came
hamsterwoman, who got me into Temeraire, re-sparking my interest in the Aubreyad, which started a chain reaction that has yet to finish, but is currently at the stage of me debating whether or not to read the books. I mean, I feel like a bad fan for just liking the miniseries, but A) by all accounts the books are racist as only books written in the 1930s by an elderly white man can be, B) lack of Archie, and C) the writing quality in general is widely considered to be much inferior to O’Brian’s, and my to-read stack is too big to allow me to pick up books that I’m not fired up about.9 – One of your favorite characters
[1 essay per fandom redacted, since I don’t want to have to split this up over multiple posts.] Let’s just say that I like Lancers, competence, snark, badassery, stalwartness, people who are good friends, and a sprinkling of woobieishness.
10 – Your favorite scene or moment from one of your favorite fandoms
[See previous redaction.] In general I like me some CMoAs and CMoFs, though. So just pick your favorite of those from any fandom you know I’m in, and chances are it’d be on my list.
11 – The fan art, fan fiction, cover song, cosplay, etc. that you’ve made that you’re most proud of
Um, that would have to be Godzilla, since it’s the only thing I’ve even distantly considered putting out there. Before I left, I had an excellent conversation with JC about funny vs. historically accurate, as well as about historical views of homosexuality, and I have come to this conclusion: I need to get over myself. It’s not the angst-fest that I had originally envisioned it as, and Godzilla was veering dangerously close to Poor Oppressed Angels bemoaning the cruel world’s treatment of their innocent and pure love, which…no. Just no. Now that this decision has been made, I can get back to the funny dragons. (And we all know that Iskierka would eat anybody who even looked sideways at Granby in a hot minute [no pun intended], and we’ve seen Temeraire get pretty righteously angry in his captain’s defense, so there’s also that.)
12 – Your favorite fanartist or fanfiction writer
Yowza. Um, let’s break this down by fandom:
LOTR/Sil/Hobbit: Gold-seven, an artist par excellence; Thundera Tiger, my introduction to the wide, terrifying world of fanfiction; Cassia & Siobhan, with whose stories I was almost as obsessed as with the canon itself for a few years; and then there are the actual legitimate published guys, like Ted Nasmith and the Brothers Hildebrandt, but I’m not sure if they count.
ASOIAF:
zweihand, the artist behind this entry's icon (as hamsterwoman's headcanon of Mace Tyrell says, "Feel free to beat up anyone who makes a crack about the way you dress."), redcandle17, cyshobbitlass, and probably a few others. ASOIAF is probably my favorite fandom as far as the actual people involved are concerned, so there's quite a bit of awesome going around.XMFC: Mainly
loobeeinthesky (who can also be found here), and Subtilior, but there are a lot of sort of half-awesome people where I love their art but am kind of :\ about them personally, or vice-versa.Temeraire: Novembersmith, who first got me to consider G/L/T, when I almost never even come close to shipping OT3s;
dorkorific, ditto; minviendha/ficviendha, who has shown up in quite a few different fandoms, and is lovely each and every time; and tanyart (who can also be found here), who also does some friggin' adorable Marvel fanart.Oh, and then there’s
copperbadge, who transcends fandoms.Luckily, that’s all the fandoms I actively look for fic/art in, and I’m still sure I’m forgetting a few fantastic people who deserve all the recognition.
13 – The best cosplayers of your fandom that you’ve seen; the ones you consider to be real-life versions of your favorite characters, OTP, etc.
I actually don’t go out looking for cosplays, as I’m incredibly picky about it. So I haven’t found anyone I “consider to be the real-life version of [my] favorite characters, OTP, etc.” I’m sure they’re out there; I just haven’t come across them yet.
14 – A group of characters from one of your fandoms you’d love to hang out with for a day
Now I run into the problem of loving a multitude of ensemble casts. XD But out of all of them, the one I would most enjoy just hanging out with would either be the Scooby Gang, Harry and his friends from Hogwarts, the crew of Babylon 5, or the Fellowship of the Ring. All my other favorites (the crew of Serenity, any of the page groups from Tortall, the Nightrunners, the Aerial Corps and any Doctor/Companion[s] team generally have a little too much interestingness in their lives, whether internal or external). I really like the vibe of the Scooby Gang, whatever the incarnation, and they seem pretty good at just hanging out (plus, Willow and Giles would let me go through their books).
I could get the grand Hogwarts tour from Harry et al and maybe even kind of squee over/sit in on the classes of Dumbledore (with the help of a time-turner) and McGonagall, which I’m sure would confuse them.
The B5 crew, both human and alien, also seem to know how to show an outsider a good time, and I would be perfectly happy just following them around during a regular day, meditating with Delenn, secretly taking pictures as Ivanova chews some poor-but-deserving bastard out, and just generally chilling with Garibaldi (I’m sure he would be slightly weirded out but mostly chuffed that that he has, y’know, fans).
And as for the Fellowship, c’mon. Aside from the fact that they could collectively tell some great campfire stories, I would honestly love to just see them interact with each other, since it’s almost certainly a lot of their first times interacting with other species. I mean, the Hobbits have seen a couple of elves, Eru knows they’ve known a few humans, and dwarves used to pop up at Bag End with respectable frequency, but Gimli has probably never seen elves before, Boromir certainly hasn’t seen anyone other than other humans, and this is probably Legolas’ first friendly interactions with dwarves and humans (barring the Dunedain, who are all a little elvish anyway), and certainly his first with hobbits. This is barring Gandalf and Aragorn, of course, since they already know everybody and have been everywhere.
15 – Your favorite collectible/merchandise from your fandom that you most cherish, or one that you wished you owned
Hmm… I’m not much of a merchandise person (aside from the actual books/DVDs, of course), so most of my swag comes from my One True Fandom. I have one of the mallorn-leaf brooches worn by the Fellowship (not one of the actual props, sadly, just a replica) that I’ve had for about 10 years but just recently added to my increasingly-encumbered bag. I also have a still of Legolas at Parth Galen signed by PJ and the cast, which I got as a 16th birthday present, which occupies a place of honor on my desk back home.
16 – A quote from one of your fandoms that you love
I’m actually holding myself to just one this time as, I’m sure I’ve remarked before, I have a terrible memory for remembering quotes. Joss Whedon is a quoteable guy, and I find a lot of his lines sneaking into my everyday conversation (“shiny,” "mei-mei," “time for some thrillin’ heroics,” etc. have almost ceased to register as fandom references), but my favorite Whedon line comes from his run on Runaways: “Why are you not awesomed by me?!”, which I’ve found both versatile and effective.
17 – Your favorite piece of art, be it original or a fan art, from your favorite fandom
Off the top of my head, that would be any of the aforementioned gold-seven’s work, which is wonderfully evocative of the spirit of living mythology, for lack of a better word, of all of Tolkien’s works, especially The Silmarillion. Or possibly the Brothers Hildebrandt, same fandom; especially their Lady Galadriel. Or Ted Nasmith, he of both the fantastic Tolkien and ASOIAF buildings.
18 – An instance where you turned a friend into a fangirl
I think my blabbering nonstop about LOTR/Tolkien for about 10 years straight has at least partially converted H. It’s not her normal fare, and she still hasn’t finished the books, but at least she’s more or less word-perfect on the movies, of which I am extremely proud.
Also, honorable mention: my mom likes to say that the reason she’s glad she had kids is so we can sift through all the bad stuff and relay the good stuff to her. See Temeraire, ASOIAF, and Sherlock for evidence.
19 – A theory (be it legitimate or completely crack) that you have always had about one of your fandoms
JAQUEN H’GAR AND SYRIO FOREL ARE THE SAME PERSON AND WERE SENT AS PART OF A FACELESS MEN PLOT TO RECRUIT ARYA, and no-one will every convince me otherwise.
20 – A character from a fandom whose clothes, hair, or features you’ve always admired
I’m taking “admired” to mean “desired to have for myself,” not just “found pleasing,” because that list would take several pages, and each Raith (yes, even the adorable hippie sister who managed to remain human) and Tyrell would get their own mini-essay. But that would have to be Liv Tyler as Arwen. I really like the dark hair/blue eyes/fair skin combo, and find it both striking and appealing. Oh, and she’s reasonably tall and has wonderful bone structure. And that’s not even getting into her grey riding habit, shimmery cloak, floaty green gown (that nobody but her could manage to pull off), butterfly tiara, and the famous white gown with the flowy sleeves (I could have done without that purple thing she was wearing in Aragorn’s dream, though).
21 – A moment, character, quote –ANYTHING- from one of your fandoms that had a great impact on your life
This would have to be the FotR movie as a whole. I’ve never had such a conscious awareness of a work of fiction actively changing my life. I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but I strongly remember riding home after seeing it in theaters for the first time, sort of quietly mulling it over in my head, lying in bed that night, and thinking that, in some way that I, being 11 at the time, couldn’t quite fully describe, things had changed on a fundamental level, and I was a different person than I had been 24 hours ago. Just the knowledge that a world so tangible, so complete, existed, that someone somewhere had sat down and put Frodo and Sam and Gandalf and Aragorn in a world where they weren’t previously, that level of creation was even possible, really hit me hard. Clearly, I still can’t describe it fully, but I’m sure you guys know what I mean.
22 – How you first got into being a fangirl
See #3. I was really surprised that other people had hit on the idea of writing stories featuring characters not of their own creation, and that kind of opened the floodgates. The discovery of fanfic led to fanart, fanmixes, and the realization that this strange new thing called the internet (hey, it was still relatively new in 2001) had led to these enormous virtual gatherings of fans to do nothing more than talk about their fandoms of choice, which I found to be all kinds of awesome. One thing led to another, and here we are.
23 – The silliest nerd/fangirl argument you’ve ever gotten into with someone
This isn’t so much an argument as me relentlessly badgering someone for the past 13 years, but H has yet to finish all the LotR books. I get that the descriptions of trees and other assorted geography can be kind of interminable sometimes, but, at least to me, things like the Pelennor Fields and Aragorn’s coronation and Deneathor burning alive really have to be read to be experienced properly. I’m sure I’ll get her someday, but that day has been a long time a-comin’.
24 – A town, city or village in a fandom of yours that you’ve always wanted to live in
London in general. Not only is it an awesome place to live on its own merits, but it’s the focus of so much awesome fiction. I could call on Jane Austen’s and Libba Bray’s heroines when they’re in town for the season, stop by Diagon Alley to replenish my stock of Floo powder and whatever else we Muggles can use, say hi to Harry and all of his crew that now work at the Ministry of Magic, keep an eye out for interesting cases to pass along to Sherlock and John, maybe hang out a bit with Moll Flanders if I felt like a bit of time-travel, email Bertie Wooster (or more likely drop by to see Jeeves) to keep abreast of his shenanigans, introduce various incarnations of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen around, etc. I would try to avoid the Nightside and all dystopias unless I was well-armed, well-guarded, or both, though. Oh, and this might finally give me the impetus I need to start reading Dickens, since my lack of Dickens fangirling is a deep source of disappointment to my mom, a die-hard Dickensian.
25 – Do you celebrate character birthdays? If so, tell us about the best character b-day party that you’ve ever thrown!
The only one I celebrate is Bilbo’s and Frodo’s, because it’s also my mom’s, which we generally mark by lots of hobbity food, and sometimes a vaguely thematic cake. Otherwise, though, the only geeky day I celebrate IRL is the Glorious 25th of May/Towel Day/Geek Pride Day (as the button on my bag proclaims).
26 – A fandom of yours that you feel is vastly underappreciated
Gee, where to begin? I would have to put Temeraire at the top of the list. It’s the Napoleonic Wars with dragons, you guys! It’s got more HoYay than you can shake the leg of a bar stool at, and memetic badass ladies, and genuinely lol-worthy humor, and a fascinating villain, and a nakama-like ensemble cast, and a great balance of “ADVENTURE, HO!” and unexpectedly gut-wrenching serious bits. Why are more people not reading this?!
And then there’s a lot of older stuff, like Buffy and Babylon 5 that isn’t so much underappreciated as faded, and needs to be brought back to fandom-consciousness so that I can read fic that wasn’t written, like, ten years ago.
27 – Your favorite meme concerning one of your fandoms
Hmm, none immediately come to mind. There was a kind of survey/meme going around dA a while ago for ASOIAF, which generated some interesting answers, and there are always the oft-repeated fandom in-jokes to appreciate, but I can’t really think of any fandom memes that I’m a big fan of. There were the “one does not simply…” and “winter is coming” memes, of course, but those have been driven into the ground. I do like the “everybody chill the f•ck out, I got this” meme as applied to fandom characters, though, as those types tend to be my favorites.
28 – Do you have a fandom tattoo? If you don’t and want to get one (or hypothetically wanted to get one), what would it be of?
This has come up in a couple of recent memes, but to reiterate: I don't have one, but if I did it would be the Tengwa “parma,” for “book.”
29 – If you plan on having children, would you name one of them after your favorite characters? If so, explain.
Not necessarily. If I have a daughter, she’ll probably be called Elizabeth, but that’s because I like the name, and the variety of fictional Elizabeths that I like is just icing on the cake. Fandom has clued me into the names Alanna and Eleanor, though.
Same goes for boys’ names: I do like several fictional Arthurs, Jacks, Sams, and Gabriels, but I would name a son that because I like the sound of those names, not out of homage. Mostly, my male fictional favorites have rather oddball names, and I wouldn’t want to saddle a kid of mine with one like Sirius, Nealan, or Rupert.
30 – The reason why you’re proud to be the nerdy fangirl that you are!
I meant to cap this off with some sort of news story about fans doing something awesome, i.e. mobilizing to save a historic location, raising money for a charitable cause, or just generally being awesome people, but none really come to mind, except for Tolkien verbally bitchslapping some Nazis and calling Hitler a “ruddy little ignoramus.” So let’s just go with because it’s how I met a lot of my best friends, and life would be immeasurably more boring without it.
Tags:
- a song of ice and fire,
- babylon 5,
- books,
- buffy the vampire slayer,
- costumes,
- discworld,
- doctor who,
- downton abbey,
- dragaera,
- fake,
- fandom,
- fanfiction,
- fangirl,
- firefly,
- friends,
- godzilla,
- harry potter,
- hornblower,
- jane austen,
- life,
- london,
- lord of the rings,
- master and commander,
- meme,
- movies,
- moving,
- music,
- nightrunner,
- robin hood,
- runaways,
- school,
- sherlock holmes,
- shipping,
- silmarillion,
- temeraire,
- the authority,
- the hobbit,
- tolkien,
- torchwood,
- tsubasa reservoir chronicle,
- vorkosigan saga,
- x-men,
- young avengers
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Date: 2012-08-23 04:40 am (UTC)Possibly due to estrogen poisoning or something, M and I also did each other's nails: she did mine in this very pretty oystershell-ish light purple that sparkles faintly and appears as slightly different colors in certain lights
LOL @ the estrogen poisoning, but I totally did notice the nails yesterday -- it's a really pretty color!
and green beans Done Right
I liked mine too, and I'm generally not a fan of green beans, so, yeah, agreed. And I'm glad you enjoyed the Italian place, despite having to go bangers'n'mashless. Also, sorry to have ditched you at the bust stop... that was my one fear with the Italian place, as it's tended to be rather leisurely in the past, too. Well, hopefully next time Parkside will be back in comission.
As ever, it was awesome to hang out! I have missed face-to-face geeking out, and it was neat to catch up on RL stuff as well, and draw encouragement from your sister's trajectory.
Fistbump (or secret handshake?) of LotR One True Fandomness. I hope you've saved the redacted bits, because I'd love to read them (at least for the fandoms I'm familiar with), as a sort of outtakes entry.
All of your "hang out with casts" answers are great, and I would happily hang out with them, too (and good points about the Fellowship as a "first contact" type of situation -- that would be very interesting).
I also have a still of Legolas at Parth Galen signed by PJ and the cast, which I got as a 16th birthday present
Coolest birthday present ever!
I didn't notice the mallorn leaf brooch on your bag; I'll have to look closer next time.
my mom likes to say that the reason she’s glad she had kids is so we can sift through all the bad stuff and relay the good stuff to her.
Haha XD I'm waiting for the rodents to get to that stage. For now the recs still flow from me to them (when they choose to take them), which is cool enough, but I guess it's like priming the pump. Well, OK, they have tried to get me to read/watch stuff, but their sense of humour is still a little juvenile for me to be able to enjoy their favorithe shows/books as much as they do :P
It was wonderful to read your "becoming a LotR fan" moment answer, because I'm hoping L (at least) will have the same sort of awakening on seeing (if not reading) The Hobbit. She's 11 now, too, and I was 11 (ish?) when my mother first read the book to me, so I'm hoping it proves to be a fruitful age.
...I have the weirdest feeling of deja vu reading this meme, but for the life of me I can't figure out if I've done it before or not XD Done it but with some questions different? So confusing! /o\
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Date: 2012-08-23 09:20 pm (UTC)Thanks! I got the feeling that it happened kind of a lot, since the process to contest it is relatively quick and easy (fill out a form on the back of the ticket, mail it in, and wait), and the officer was really nice about explaining that A) I could, in fact, contest it, since I had technically paid for a round trip, and B) how to do so.
Also, sorry to have ditched you at the bust stop... that was my one fear with the Italian place, as it's tended to be rather leisurely in the past, too.
No worries; the Italian place was worth it! I'm with you on not generally being a huge fan of green beans, so I was actually fairly surprised to find out how good these were.
I hope you've saved the redacted bits, because I'd love to read them (at least for the fandoms I'm familiar with), as a sort of outtakes entry.
Good idea! I just might do that...*thoughtful face*
(and good points about the Fellowship as a "first contact" type of situation -- that would be very interesting).
Yup. This is one of those things that I've been kind of halfheartedly poking about for good fic of, since it would be really interesting to see everybody reacting to each other for the first time, as individuals as well as representatives of their respective races. I have all this headcanon about everybody initially being all "WTF???" about the hobbits, but then basically adopting them (especially Boromir), and Legolas and Boromir not getting along initially (Boromir finding Legolas snooty and inscrutiable and far too snarky/show-offy, and Legolas basically seeing Boromir as a smelly upstart who is all set to occupy a throne he has no right to), and Boromir and Gimli being bros, and Aragorn and Gimli figuring out just what to make of one another...wow, a lot more of these are Boromir related than I would have thought. I blame you! XD
Coolest birthday present ever!
Indeed! Ringer/geeky parents come in handy sometimes.
She's 11 now, too, and I was 11 (ish?) when my mother first read the book to me, so I'm hoping it proves to be a fruitful age.
Heh, 11 does seem to be the age of awakening, doesn't it? Here's hoping that she takes to it!
...I have the weirdest feeling of deja vu reading this meme, but for the life of me I can't figure out if I've done it before or not
I'm pretty sure I got this meme from Tumblr, but it does have a lot of questions that show up on pretty much any pan-fandom meme (favorite character, first fandom, OTP, favorite quote, unexpected fandom, fandom tattoo, etc.), so maybe that's pinging your deja vu?
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Date: 2012-08-24 04:06 am (UTC)wow, a lot more of these are Boromir related than I would have thought. I blame you! XD
Mwahaha *rubs hands gleefully*
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Date: 2012-08-23 06:51 am (UTC)My sister bought me your exact nail polish, but because all nail polish commences chipping off my nails approximately seventeen minutes after it's dry, I wore it once and then put it away in the bathroom cabinet. That is the sad fate of all bottles of nail polish that enter my house.
Yay for your surprise five hundred bucks! I hereby predict you will spend it on books.
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Date: 2012-08-23 09:24 pm (UTC)Ugh, that sounds kind of awful :P But I hear ya on that short list of things that absolutely MUST be fought about, even when it's not fun.
because all nail polish commences chipping off my nails approximately seventeen minutes after it's dry
Mine is already almost half worn off. It's a pretty color, though; curse you, nail polish! How dare you be so pretty but so easily marred?
I hereby predict you will spend it on books.
Mostly textbooks so far, since my semester is just beginning, but your prediction is indeed accurate!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-24 12:18 am (UTC)