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At essentially the last moment, I decided to attend the virtual WisCon which was run via discord, youtube, and jitsi. The discord overall had a connected-via-internet feeling that I still sometimes get from parts of twitter but I missed from when I was on LJ/DW, and there was a channel for dreamwidth fans. I was really only able to fully attend Sunday and Monday, because I was working Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but by the end I did feel like I’d figured out this particular discord server, mainly by focusing on just a few channels. And I had a great time! But the server was always meant to be ephemeral, and it shut to posting at the end of the convention.
There was a dreamwidth channel, and a number of networking/find-me-elsewhere posts included DW names. I decided to dust off this journal. Maybe buy a rename token?
Tuesday, I con dropped. No big deal! I can find the friending meme later!
For the rest of the week, I was exhausted. Work is currently exhausting. No big deal! I’ve got Sunday and Monday off – it’s not procrastinating, it’s planning ahead!
And then ( current events in the US )
So yeah. Hi, friends who have been here! I have sometimes read your posts! I will do some back-reading this week.
Hi, friends who are new! I used to write fanfiction. I fell out of the writing habit when my brain chemistry changed, about a decade ago (details are in posts tagged 'all in my head,' but I think they're mostly locked). I do still read a ton of Avengers fic, though I’m terrible about not actually interacting with anyone else in the fandom. I also read published fantasy and science fiction, romance, and some ~literary~ fiction, along with popular history and science books. I post tiny reviews to Litsy pretty regularly, remember to update LibraryThing in big chunks about monthly, and may have been convinced to start using GoodReads for the community, even though that’s feeding the A-empire’s algorithms. My username at all of those is tied to my wallet name, and I do still maintain something of a wall between my fan name and my wallet name, so I'd be happy to share it in a message or a locked post - but I want this to be unlocked.
I grew up in the Midwest; I moved to the South five years ago, close to my cousins from my mom's side. My parents are aging and have had health problems that made me worry for them before All This, but my little sister lives relatively close to home if need be. I'm bi/queer and way more out about it at the edges of a Southern city than I was in a Midwestern town. I'm also some shade of demi, though I'm still figuring out how I feel about the fit of those labels.
I work for an indie bookstore that continued operating throughout the shutdown as a webstore, which means I was employed at a harder version of my job with more stress, more pressure to keep the place running for those who stayed home to have a job to come back to, and less of every part I enjoy. So I don’t fit neatly into any of the stories we’ll hopefully live to tell about this year (not unemployed, not work from home, but also… not essential). I’m trying to remember how to be a writer, and as often is the case when I’m on this site, I’m trying to figure out what I’d like to do with my life next – I was burning out before this spring; I’m just burning brighter now. And I may actually change the name of this journal; just not today.
There was a dreamwidth channel, and a number of networking/find-me-elsewhere posts included DW names. I decided to dust off this journal. Maybe buy a rename token?
Tuesday, I con dropped. No big deal! I can find the friending meme later!
For the rest of the week, I was exhausted. Work is currently exhausting. No big deal! I’ve got Sunday and Monday off – it’s not procrastinating, it’s planning ahead!
And then ( current events in the US )
So yeah. Hi, friends who have been here! I have sometimes read your posts! I will do some back-reading this week.
Hi, friends who are new! I used to write fanfiction. I fell out of the writing habit when my brain chemistry changed, about a decade ago (details are in posts tagged 'all in my head,' but I think they're mostly locked). I do still read a ton of Avengers fic, though I’m terrible about not actually interacting with anyone else in the fandom. I also read published fantasy and science fiction, romance, and some ~literary~ fiction, along with popular history and science books. I post tiny reviews to Litsy pretty regularly, remember to update LibraryThing in big chunks about monthly, and may have been convinced to start using GoodReads for the community, even though that’s feeding the A-empire’s algorithms. My username at all of those is tied to my wallet name, and I do still maintain something of a wall between my fan name and my wallet name, so I'd be happy to share it in a message or a locked post - but I want this to be unlocked.
I grew up in the Midwest; I moved to the South five years ago, close to my cousins from my mom's side. My parents are aging and have had health problems that made me worry for them before All This, but my little sister lives relatively close to home if need be. I'm bi/queer and way more out about it at the edges of a Southern city than I was in a Midwestern town. I'm also some shade of demi, though I'm still figuring out how I feel about the fit of those labels.
I work for an indie bookstore that continued operating throughout the shutdown as a webstore, which means I was employed at a harder version of my job with more stress, more pressure to keep the place running for those who stayed home to have a job to come back to, and less of every part I enjoy. So I don’t fit neatly into any of the stories we’ll hopefully live to tell about this year (not unemployed, not work from home, but also… not essential). I’m trying to remember how to be a writer, and as often is the case when I’m on this site, I’m trying to figure out what I’d like to do with my life next – I was burning out before this spring; I’m just burning brighter now. And I may actually change the name of this journal; just not today.
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I attended my first Silent Reading Book Club meeting on Thursday, and I had a blast! Everyone brings a book and meets at a cafe or bar (or library, I guess?), and there's dedicated reading time, bookended by socializing time. AKA, a perfect amount of socializing for semi-introverted me, complete with built-in conversation starters.
The local group has only been meeting for a couple of months, and this was the first time at this particular location - a pie shop. I was running late, because my work schedule basically required me to teleport to make it on time. Which means I just had time to walk in, identify a spare seat at the ‘annex’ table (the main group out grew the enormous row of tables that had been assembled) and go to place an order before the actual quiet reading portion of the evening began.
I brought Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly with me, which is one of several books I’ve been juggling the past month and had the benefit of being a physical book. I wasn’t sure how the physical versus digital ~~thing might be playing out at these events. (As it turns out, both physical books and e-readers were present. The main advantage of the physical books was that covers were visible – it was much easier to go, “oh, I loved that book! I want to talk to them!”) It was nice to make a couple more chapters headway into the story. I’m up to the moon race now, and I’ve really enjoyed the ride.
After the reading hour was up, the hostess released us to talk or read or go home, “whatever you want! I’m not your mom!” I met a few people, and one gregarious soul has already reached out to me on facebook. I’m definitely going back next month – in fact, I’ve already requested the evening off from work.
The local group has only been meeting for a couple of months, and this was the first time at this particular location - a pie shop. I was running late, because my work schedule basically required me to teleport to make it on time. Which means I just had time to walk in, identify a spare seat at the ‘annex’ table (the main group out grew the enormous row of tables that had been assembled) and go to place an order before the actual quiet reading portion of the evening began.
I brought Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly with me, which is one of several books I’ve been juggling the past month and had the benefit of being a physical book. I wasn’t sure how the physical versus digital ~~thing might be playing out at these events. (As it turns out, both physical books and e-readers were present. The main advantage of the physical books was that covers were visible – it was much easier to go, “oh, I loved that book! I want to talk to them!”) It was nice to make a couple more chapters headway into the story. I’m up to the moon race now, and I’ve really enjoyed the ride.
After the reading hour was up, the hostess released us to talk or read or go home, “whatever you want! I’m not your mom!” I met a few people, and one gregarious soul has already reached out to me on facebook. I’m definitely going back next month – in fact, I’ve already requested the evening off from work.
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I would like to be in the habit of writing again. I fell out of it - in part, because of adenoma-related bad brain chemistry, but also because for me, writing really was a practice. Falling out of the habit is easier than starting back. This is me, trying.
Hello, journal friends! Let's start with what I've been reading!
Fannishly, as per usual, I'm nearly mono-fandom, but extremely multi-ship. I'm mostly reading tons of Avengers fic still - or as I put it to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sisterofdream and dessert_first, I'm reading a bunch of angsty post MCU Civil War fic because I hate myself and I hate fun. A whole lot of it is wildly OOC, and I don't even care. However, ( cut for people avoiding even emotional spoilers for Black Panther )
I also read some fic from Check, Please! but primarily when someone gives me recs. (Ditto to remembering to check for updates on the actual canon- someone has to remind me!) And I forget how much I love Finn/Poe/Rey from the new Star Wars trilogy until I read one, and then I tear through many in a row.
Outside the world of fanfic, I'm on track to read way more this year than I had last year or the year previous. I'm currently reading Hidden Figures, Made to Stick, The Dharma of the Princess Bride, and So You Want to Talk about Race, but since I'm between novels, when people ask what I'm reading, I keep saying, "Nothing. Oh, wait!" Nonfiction reading doesn't register as reading, for whatever reason. The novel I most recently finished was The Bear and the Nightingale. It was enjoyable, but it took me awhile to get into and I'm not sure I'll read the sequel even though there are many loose strings.
In the realm of comics, I just finished the graphic novel Taproot which has great art and a fairly slice-of-life storyline. Very cute. I'm caught up on The Wicked and The Divine except for the 1920s special issue. And I've got a good stock pile of the second arc of MotorCrush waiting for me. Also in the to-reads are My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and Heavy Vinyl (formerly Hi-Fi Fight Club).
What's everyone reading these days?
Hello, journal friends! Let's start with what I've been reading!
Fannishly, as per usual, I'm nearly mono-fandom, but extremely multi-ship. I'm mostly reading tons of Avengers fic still - or as I put it to
sisterofdream and dessert_first, I'm reading a bunch of angsty post MCU Civil War fic because I hate myself and I hate fun. A whole lot of it is wildly OOC, and I don't even care. However, ( cut for people avoiding even emotional spoilers for Black Panther )I also read some fic from Check, Please! but primarily when someone gives me recs. (Ditto to remembering to check for updates on the actual canon- someone has to remind me!) And I forget how much I love Finn/Poe/Rey from the new Star Wars trilogy until I read one, and then I tear through many in a row.
Outside the world of fanfic, I'm on track to read way more this year than I had last year or the year previous. I'm currently reading Hidden Figures, Made to Stick, The Dharma of the Princess Bride, and So You Want to Talk about Race, but since I'm between novels, when people ask what I'm reading, I keep saying, "Nothing. Oh, wait!" Nonfiction reading doesn't register as reading, for whatever reason. The novel I most recently finished was The Bear and the Nightingale. It was enjoyable, but it took me awhile to get into and I'm not sure I'll read the sequel even though there are many loose strings.
In the realm of comics, I just finished the graphic novel Taproot which has great art and a fairly slice-of-life storyline. Very cute. I'm caught up on The Wicked and The Divine except for the 1920s special issue. And I've got a good stock pile of the second arc of MotorCrush waiting for me. Also in the to-reads are My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and Heavy Vinyl (formerly Hi-Fi Fight Club).
What's everyone reading these days?
My last post was in February? Really? Ok, then. Expect an Actual Post soon. Perhaps even later this weekend!
HOWEVER. In the meantime, it is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bitchinparty weekend. And I am distinctly not in Seattle, because distance. If you've found me on twitter, you've already seen me using #bpenvy on that site to try and have some con-less fun - and if you haven't, I'm injiver there. So far, the main conversations in the tag are "what we are doing while not at BP" and "a single song that always reminds you of a particular character/pairing" Please join in there if you tweet or here if you don't (where 'here' means whichever journal you're seeing this on). I'll be around off and on tonight and after I get out of work tomorrow, but hopefully any conversations started will be self-sustaining in my absence. Also, new topics welcome! I'll add them to this post if you start something new in comments.
And maybe someone else has started/wants to start some con-envy activities on their own journals? Links please!
HOWEVER. In the meantime, it is
bitchinparty weekend. And I am distinctly not in Seattle, because distance. If you've found me on twitter, you've already seen me using #bpenvy on that site to try and have some con-less fun - and if you haven't, I'm injiver there. So far, the main conversations in the tag are "what we are doing while not at BP" and "a single song that always reminds you of a particular character/pairing" Please join in there if you tweet or here if you don't (where 'here' means whichever journal you're seeing this on). I'll be around off and on tonight and after I get out of work tomorrow, but hopefully any conversations started will be self-sustaining in my absence. Also, new topics welcome! I'll add them to this post if you start something new in comments.And maybe someone else has started/wants to start some con-envy activities on their own journals? Links please!
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Happy More Joy Day, everyone! I am much less than prepared this year! And yet, I would like to do something that will make you smile. So, ask me for something - a story (true) or a fic (truthy), a short recording (bearing in mind my lack of 'real' equipment) or a photo of something at this end of the modem. Tomorrow is my day off, and I will spend it making these things happen...
...as well as making January cards happen. So if you want a RANDOM postcard from my grandpa's neverending box o' postcards, make sure I have your address (and preferred mode of address if you'd rather not get something to your fannish name) which you can DM or email me. djinnjer AT gmail DOT com (This email address will self-destruct in two days, so that I'm comfortable leaving this not locked.)
...as well as making January cards happen. So if you want a RANDOM postcard from my grandpa's neverending box o' postcards, make sure I have your address (and preferred mode of address if you'd rather not get something to your fannish name) which you can DM or email me. djinnjer AT gmail DOT com (This email address will self-destruct in two days, so that I'm comfortable leaving this not locked.)
Hi, all! So.... my past year of posts fits on a single screen? Wow. A year in review summary is not exactly necessary!
I did, however, write all oftwo three fic and a mini-fic. First off, I have a dSSS reveal! ( stuff written by me! )
In nonfic, I actually had a good year. Everyone AROUND me had scary/sad/bad years, but my personal year was pretty okay. I went to MJ and had a fabulous time! I visited my Carolina cousin and my other cousins! I got a promotion and a new old apartment! I ran my first 5k! I started going to knit night regularly and am beginning to cultivate a few new friendships as well as this whole "knitting" skill.
In the new year, I'm going to write more (whether that's fanfic, original stories, LJ/DW entries, or just allll the letters I owe). I'm going to connect more with friends, existing, and with friends, to be. Possibly with boy-or-girl-friend to be. I'm going to travel so much, my wallet is already wincing. I'm going to keep being me and, hopefully, keep being a better version of me than I was the day before.
I did, however, write all of
In nonfic, I actually had a good year. Everyone AROUND me had scary/sad/bad years, but my personal year was pretty okay. I went to MJ and had a fabulous time! I visited my Carolina cousin and my other cousins! I got a promotion and a new old apartment! I ran my first 5k! I started going to knit night regularly and am beginning to cultivate a few new friendships as well as this whole "knitting" skill.
In the new year, I'm going to write more (whether that's fanfic, original stories, LJ/DW entries, or just allll the letters I owe). I'm going to connect more with friends, existing, and with friends, to be. Possibly with boy-or-girl-friend to be. I'm going to travel so much, my wallet is already wincing. I'm going to keep being me and, hopefully, keep being a better version of me than I was the day before.
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A twitter-sized post, though I didn't post the poll to twitter. Yes, I am going to North Carolina! (Part of the) last full week of the month! Both cousin and I are excited, though I feel I am abusing more exclamation points! And I will see other cousin and cousin-in-law and toddler cousin once removed. Yay!
In unrelated news, I was handed an envelope by a coworker. Inside was a rather wordy invitation from a customer to have coffee or lunch - with a phone number that connects to a "recording device" so I can call anytime. And his address. With clarification so I'd know he comes from the good part of the nearby 'bad' town. (If he actually knew me, he'd have known I don't really care.)
Sadly, the card is from a regular whom I am friendly with because it is my job, and not yesterday's cute guy with the mysterious accent (to me, for I am terrible at accents) who asked for sci-fi and fantasy recs and name-checked Bujold as his favorite sci-fi author. And now I'm in the position of... calling someone to let them down gently? (Clearly, this is something to do from a store phone, not mine. Perhaps I should simply pass him a note back.)
Oh, look, this is practically tumblr length! Someday, I shall tumbl, and it will be glorious.
Ok. To bed, to read more Fangirl, which is good so far.
In unrelated news, I was handed an envelope by a coworker. Inside was a rather wordy invitation from a customer to have coffee or lunch - with a phone number that connects to a "recording device" so I can call anytime. And his address. With clarification so I'd know he comes from the good part of the nearby 'bad' town. (If he actually knew me, he'd have known I don't really care.)
Sadly, the card is from a regular whom I am friendly with because it is my job, and not yesterday's cute guy with the mysterious accent (to me, for I am terrible at accents) who asked for sci-fi and fantasy recs and name-checked Bujold as his favorite sci-fi author. And now I'm in the position of... calling someone to let them down gently? (Clearly, this is something to do from a store phone, not mine. Perhaps I should simply pass him a note back.)
Oh, look, this is practically tumblr length! Someday, I shall tumbl, and it will be glorious.
Ok. To bed, to read more Fangirl, which is good so far.
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I need your advice!
I took off the week of September 22, because I am at use-it-or-lose-it time when it comes to vacation days. I had been planning on a staycation and more making the apartment habitable. (There are STILL things to clean. Because it is old, and the last tenants not particularly thorough. Also, I am possibly picky.)
BUT. I received a letter in the mail from my favorite cousin, making clear the standard 'you should visit sometime' was actually, 'no, seriously, anytime!' So maybe I should go to North Carolina? Airfare is high-ish and the drive is long.
Also, I need to pick out a book to make my '100 Club' handsell. Because district manager says I am good at handselling, so why am I not in the 100 club already? Ifreet should Get On That. Only, I am good at handselling books related to the books someone already likes. I have a harder time coming up with "everyone should read this!" titles.
My goodreads account is here and these are some of my particular favorites. But several of them are not currently in print in this country (including my first choice to handsell! *shakes fist at Fred Vargas's U.S. publisher*) and most of them are genre, which can be a hard sale to a nongenre reader. I am leaning towards Among Others by Jo Walton or possibly The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. Or maybe Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie? Argh.
Suggestions? Or just things I need to read?
I took off the week of September 22, because I am at use-it-or-lose-it time when it comes to vacation days. I had been planning on a staycation and more making the apartment habitable. (There are STILL things to clean. Because it is old, and the last tenants not particularly thorough. Also, I am possibly picky.)
BUT. I received a letter in the mail from my favorite cousin, making clear the standard 'you should visit sometime' was actually, 'no, seriously, anytime!' So maybe I should go to North Carolina? Airfare is high-ish and the drive is long.
Poll #14182 Carolina dreaming
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6
Should ifreet stay or should she go?
View Answers
Stay home; save money.
2 (33.3%)
Stay home; buy a media cabinet.
0 (0.0%)
Go to North Carolina; get frequent flyer miles.
4 (66.7%)
Go to North Carolina; enjoy the drive.
0 (0.0%)
Come to North Carolina and see me, too.
0 (0.0%)
Also, I need to pick out a book to make my '100 Club' handsell. Because district manager says I am good at handselling, so why am I not in the 100 club already? Ifreet should Get On That. Only, I am good at handselling books related to the books someone already likes. I have a harder time coming up with "everyone should read this!" titles.
My goodreads account is here and these are some of my particular favorites. But several of them are not currently in print in this country (including my first choice to handsell! *shakes fist at Fred Vargas's U.S. publisher*) and most of them are genre, which can be a hard sale to a nongenre reader. I am leaning towards Among Others by Jo Walton or possibly The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. Or maybe Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie? Argh.
Suggestions? Or just things I need to read?
