greetings from the left coast

I guess I'm almost as guilty as the next guy when it comes to my posting habits here. I see people come and go from DW and LJ all the time, circle around, come back, leave again. It's not the community it used to be.

But... do you remember when it was the thing we all did all the time? We checked our friends list constantly, and knew what people were up to, how they were feeling, what was thrilling (or terrifying) them emotionally, physically, psychically? For me, LJ was like being at boarding school: I had this set of people I ran into over and over again, all day and night long.

Some of that had to do with roleplay, but a lot of it didn't. I had/have friends from roleplay games, from the Sugar Quill, from AO3, from I Need My Fics, from the long-gone 100 Word Stories, from real life. Some of the people I know are ones I met by recommendation from other LJ users in that old "rec me a friend" business. I remember the care and thought I took before I posted anything, including an answer to anyone else. Sure, I got into scuffles with people over interpretation, but that's life. That's what happens.

I'm not using this post as a plea for people to go back to the way things were. I think that time has come and gone. It's just that there aren't very many good substitutes for the way things used to be in online journaling. Some days that makes me sad; other days I don't really care. As we've gotten older together, I suspect most of us need this kind of thing less and less. I've tried to keep going in my corner of the blog-verse. Since I don't RP at any games any more and am only marginally involved in fandom-related things, I suspect most people are less interested in what I have to say. That's fine, although I like to think that some relationships forged because of fandom were meant to transcend that. I mean, all of you, I care about what you do and what you're watching and reading and liking, even if I don't immediately jump to write fanfic about it or roleplay in that universe.

Guess I just wanted to say I still read and I still care, and I'm allowed a little nostalgia over how close we all either were or felt like we were back in the day. Tumblr isn't the same for me (I stopped using it a while ago and got rid of all my ancillary accounts) and while WordPress is okay I started that primarily as a place to talk about writing-related things. I like to think even if people aren't commenting a few are at least still reading.

I'm not a great Twitter user, mostly because that's also a writing-related account. I think from time to time of making a private account there, locking it down just to friends, so I have a place to cut loose and let all my random thoughts fly. I've actually been pondering that for a while. If you see me add you from another account, that's what's going on.

I'm a little sorry about the lack of fandom stuff. In the past year I've written exactly four fanfics: Power for a Price (Dragon Age: Inquisition - Cullen learns to tolerate Morrigan), Everyday Magic (Howl's Moving Castle bookverse - Howl takes Sophie back to his family in Wales), The Monster (Divergent series - a Caleb Prior character study), and Boom Boom Boom (Battlestar Galactica - Boomer + Chief + the Groundhog Day trope reinterpreted). I've watched a lot more stuff: Vikings, Sons of Anarchy, OITNB (although I still have 4 episodes to go in Season 3, halted because... that's a whole other blog post), Downton Abbey, Elementary. I started House of Cards but didn't get very far. I watched The Man in the High Castle, which was pretty good. But I haven't wanted to write fanfic about any of that, or about any of the movies I've seen (latest one: Star Wars TFA). It doesn't mean I'm not interested in talking about it, though.

OK, I've rambled on long enough. I'll leave this with the message I really wanted to post, though.

I LOVE YOU GUYS.

That is all.

I'm putting off working on stuff by letting myself get distracted by the Red Sox and the entire internet.

And this meme, courtesy of scribble_myname:

Comment to this post saying "FIVE!" and I will pick five things I would like you to talk about. They might make sense or be totally random.

Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself, hopefully for the rest of eternity!

(I don't really care if you say "FIVE" or let me know some other way. Just for the record.)

I got the following list of things to talk about:

1. literature
2. friends
3. favorite beverage(s)
4. "real" life
5. photography

( I'll start with literature. )

I'll cover the other stuff a topic at a time. Thanks, M!

What? It's a brand new year and I haven't mentioned Battlestar Galactica yet? The fuck frak is wrong with me?

Back at the beginning of last month I mentioned that my dear husband and I had started watching BSG together, finally. My goal was to finish by the end of holiday vacation, and I'm pleased to announce to the ENTIRE FRAKKING WORLD that we not only finished watching the series last night, but tonight we put the cap in nightcap by watching The Plan. Bonus features and deleted scenes and any webisodes aside, we've seen what there is to see and I'm delighted to report that he has the good taste to have thoroughly appreciated the series. Now everywhere we go, he gets to tell me which people he thinks are Cylons and why.

YES WE ARE LATE TO THE PARTY AS A COUPLE, SO WHAT.

This is great, because it's not often that we get to share fannish obsessions. He's all serious businessman, my sweetheart. I guess that's what happens when you're an exec, a CTO, a VIP, and a corporate superstar all rolled into one. But when we do get to share fannish obsessions, it's so much fun.

Speaking of sharing fannish obsessions, one night during vacation he was channel surfing because that's what men do, and he actually stopped on Cowboy Bebop and watched the whole episode. Here in this house of HI STEVE BLUM I LOVE YOU, BUT ONLY IN A WAY THAT SHOULDN'T MAKE HUSBANDS JEALOUS, he's showed outrageous patience with my love of all things Bebop. We have Spike overlooking our dining table and Vicious/Spike/Julia keeping tracks of the guests in our guest bedroom, and my anime drawer is full of many different collections of Bebop and the movie, and Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV is the mascot in our terrarium. In fact, he's such a great supporter of my love for the show that he went with me to MechaCon in 2008, all the way to Lafayette, Louisiana, just so I could indulge myself. And we might go back this year for our own reasons, but not to Lafayette. The convention has moved to New Orleans proper. YEAH. I love that city.

OK. I had too much coffee after the memorial service. Tomorrow morning is going to hate me. Yet, I find I cannot sleep / alas / might I extend vacation for another week?

To recap, my favorite obsessions for 2010 in no particular order: Cowboy Bebop. Battlestar Galactica. Last Exile. Baccano! Dragon Age: Origins. Jeff Buckley. RPF-Figure Skating! (Just kidding on that one.) RPing. Writing. Talking characterization when I should be asleep.

Speaking of that, going now. Goodnight, world!