Your best days are never behind you

So before I disappeared off the face of the earth, runpunkrun selected 3 of my icons for the 3 icon meme!

The first: 

This is from the movie "The Mummy," which I just rewatched this afternoon, apropos of nothing whatsoever. I love Evie's character so much. If I didn't have such a deep and irritatingly persistent call to ministry, and if librarian jobs weren't rarer than hen's teeth right now (I know no less than 3 people from my college class will the full masters degree, and only one is employed by a library right now) I like to think I would have been a librarian in another life. Evie loves information but doesn't shy from application, she has a full personality, and agency and humor, and I can't stand most of the CGI effects in the movie but I watch again and again for her. I use this icon for sharing information on where to find information, or book recs, etc. I think occasionally when posting about the evils of censorship.

The second: 

This is Marvin the Paranoid Android (except I never really thought of him as paranoid, everyone really was out to get him) from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and his catchphrase. I have read the first four books of the trilogy (yes, I said that on purpose) so many times I have honestly lost count. Douglas Adams has had a very deep impact on my sense of humor, whimsy, and absurd. Sadly nearly all of my paper books are packed away right now so I haven't reread lately. I'll have to see what I can do about that. I use this icon for when life just sucks.

The third: 

I will always have a soft spot for the 90s movie version of Newsies. I feel like I have monologued about Newsies recently, so I will just say I think this is the first icon I ever made, and that I use it when I'm talking about real-world news events on DW. 

 I am officially inside until Thursday. The last week or so has just been one of those weeks when you smack one thing off your to-do list and four other things pop on, so that was frustrating. We're pretty sure we figured out what the problem with the laptop is, whether or not we can fix it is another question, but even if we can't there is a work around that should only cost fifteen bucks.

So today and especially tomorrow is the polar vortex. I have dealt with severe cold weather before but tomorrow is actually a whole new level. Unfortunately my timing continues to suck, so yesterday happened to be a bad day, and I spent the whole day so exhausted because I hadn't slept that I couldn't do anything useful like shovel. Happily the son of our neighbor has a snow blower and was willing at my mother-in-law's inquiry to do our outer walks, so this morning I got up early and did our door to the sidewalk and our door to the laundry/basement door.  (The Gentleman Consort has serious back problems and cannot shovel.) There is another sidewalk from our door across our downstairs neighbor's door to the other side walk, which instead of going out to the big street goes over to where we park. But that's the really long one and I didn't have the energy and the neighbors are actually out of town. In theory they're supposed to be doing half the shoveling, but in practice.... Well they do some.

Then I dug the car out and drove a couple blocks to the grocery and picked up a few things. Leaving the car to sit buried under snow for these two days might result in something breaking. Something might anyway with how cold it will get tomorrow, but at least it's been warmed up and run for awhile, so that will help.

We have our furnace turned up a couple extra degrees just in case, since if it loses ground against the cold it won't be able to make it up until Thursday. Today should be fine- it's an old house and the insulation and old plaster are fantastic at holding heat, even if the windows, frankly, suck. I have all the blinds down to discourage drafts, except for a peephole for the cat who gets really antsy if she can't see outside.

So I'm exhausted again after all that. But between adrenaline and caffeine I won't be able to sleep for awhile. I have a lap cat, so maybe I'll just watch some Due South on YouTube. The Gentleman Consort has texted that he got into work ok- the roads are pretty good so far. That hard layer on the top of the snow that makes shoveling so frustrating means it doesn't fly around in the wind, and while the wind hasn't really picked up yet, that's what's so dangerous about today and tomorrow.

In theory I am providing emergency pastoral coverage for the pastor of the church we attend through tomorrow- she is out of town (working on her doctoral thesis, I am so proud of her but wow she is always exhausted) so if someone needs a hospital visit, or heaven forbid a funeral, I am on deck. Mostly this means I try to keep up with my laundry a little better just in case and I don't leave town myself. I just got a call that the church office itself is closed today and tomorrow, which doesn't mean anything with regards to the hospital or funerals, but the secretary wanted to let me know. The hospital is like a half mile away, and the two funeral homes aren't much further, so if I had to I could go out I could, but I doubt it will happen.

I am so glad I bought my winter coat when I did though. It was the warmest, longest coat that Land's End sold two or three years ago, and it has been marvelous. And last week I finally gave up on my old gloves and bought waterproof mittens. Those have also been great but I am still relearning how to be reasonably dextrous in mittens with car keys and things.

If you are in the path of cold weather, I hope you stay warm! Remember to layer.

If anyone is looking for a useful post on how to use Dreamwidth more effectively, silveradept has a really exhaustive list of the newer guides here. 

I spent a decent chunk of my weekend shoveling snow and it looks like after today I'm going to get to do some more of that. (The Gentleman Consort has a variety of serious back problems, so his help is limited to hot chocolate making, praise, and snuggling, all of which is appreciated.) We're either getting a few flurries or three to five inches today, so who knows.

The Gentleman Consort is probably and I may be coming down with something, we'll see how I feel after a shower, it's been so dry lately I've been waking up with a sore throat as a matter of course. I'm supposed to be going to Bible study in a bit, I missed last time and iI'd rather not miss this time, they're nice people and the snacks are good even if the study they're doing is less than fabulous. (Pulling verses out of context to support your point, does not support your point. Last time we had a hilarious moment when we realized the zeal referred to in a verse referred to fornication. That was clearly not what the author intended.)

I'm going to have to get used to making posts on my phone as my laptop is having WiFi connection issues. The Gentleman Consort (who is in IT) believes either my wireless card is dying, or this is further evidence of the technology curse that has apparently been laid on me. I'd argue, but it's kind of hard to argue with the list of weird things technology has done to me. Did I tell you about the several times over a couple years when my laptop would become convinced I was Canadian, & change my preferred spelling language to Canadian English and my GPS settings to the Canadian wilderness?

Anyway my to do list is also a lot shorter now, finally. The caffeine has been helping. Just have to try to keep it up. I don't know that I'm really at the point of being able to hold down a full time job yet, but with money the way it is I'm going to have to try soon. I've been listening to audiobooks again, and that's giving me a sense of accomplishment, and I set a Goodreads challenge for the year.

My Darcy Lewis/Charlie Weasley series, Anchor & Balloon, (which at least starts out) set in 1985, now has a playlist! I hope you enjoy! It's all stuff I think Darcy would like, as an 11 year old in 1985, some love, some dance, some politics, and a fair bit of Americana to remind her of home. You can also see some of her parent's influence on her taste, a lot of the artists have been around awhile. If you pay close attention you'll notice only one artist appears more than once (...I think), let me know when you figure out who it is!

Day 14 - In your own space, talk about what you think the future holds for fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

DW has apparently been having "intermittent outages" today, with the upshot that I haven't been able to access the site at all until now. (I'm on mobile data at the moment.) Hopefully it'll be fixed by tomorrow. In an effort to figure out what was going on I broke down and joined Twitter (under this name) so clearly the future of fandom involves the Apocalypse.

Ok I suppose that might be a bit much.

In all seriousness, I'm looking forward to the future of fandom. The past has involved a lot of messiness and crap, sure. But so many people I know have gotten Irreplaceable experiences and chances and skills out of fandom. We have learned how to crowdsource, we've raised money for lots of charities, we've created things together like Fanlore and of course the massive archive AO3.

People have learned languages and history and grammar and Photoshop and oodles about racism and sexism and intersectionality. We've made friends across continents and cultures and found common ground (even if it's just that we're all willing to argue about stupid crap). We've gotten each other out of abusive situations and crushing medical debt and shared countless baby animals pictures.

And one day, damn it, we are going to find the real author of My Immortal.

I have some concerns for fandom- the community seems to be splintering again and a lot of the current platforms really don't allow for getting to know each other in depth. But we'll figure it out.

The fandoms change. The actors change. We invent new tropes. Our own faces change- we've lost some people and found some people. But I believe in this massive, creative mob.

Day 12 - In your own space, create your own challenge. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be doing this, but my challenge is simple:

Meet a baby fan? Encourage the baby fan!

Look, at some point most of us run into kids in our lives, on- and off-line. It costs you nothing but a little time and effort to give them the attention and approval that you craved at that age. Be kind, and make the next generation of fandom a little kinder.

They may not be interested in what you are interested in. Be kind anyway.
They may be socially awkward. Be kind anyway.
Their fanwork efforts may be, frankly, pretty terrible. Find something kind to say anyway.
They may be on their way to becoming tiny fandom bullies. It is possible to point out why that behavior isn't appropriate or welcome in a kind manner.

There is a place in fandom for everyone. Welcome them.

Day 10 - Create a fanwork. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I guess this means it's time to post the next installment of the Anchor & Balloon series! Learning to Fly, up at AO3 now, Darcy Lewis/Charlie Weasley, MCU/Harry Potter crossover, ABO (non-creepy!) universe!

Day 8 - In your own space, post self-recs for at least three fanworks that you created. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think I can do 3 somewhat unexpected things. A Fanlore page, a filk, and my latest fanfic that showed up out of nowhere and still has control of my brain.

Newsies on Fanlore- Of course it's had some very helpful edits since, but I'm proud to say that I created the Newsies page on Fanlore! I have added to several other pages, but off the top of my head, I think this is the only one I've created from scratch. A lot of the stuff I put in is still there, too!

SurveyFail Filk- You may remember SurveyFail, when two misogynistic/transmisogynistic researchers showed up and broke all kinds of research ethics rules in order to write a book about the internet and sex. Presumably they were hoping it would make them a lot of money, since their research methods were shoddy enough that it certainly wasn't going to make their careers. Anyway it inspired me to filk, based on the Carole King song Tapestry. Not sure anyone else has filked that song, actually.

Seventeen Years- the first in my Anchor & Balloon series. MCU/Harry Potter crossover, designing a new ABO universe, starting with what does this all look like for kids? I hope to follow them through to adulthood. Only the second Darcy Lewis/Charlie Weasley fic on AO3!

Day 6 - In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your wish-list if you feel comfortable doing so. Maybe someone will grant a wish. Check out other people's posts. Maybe you will grant a wish. If any wishes are granted, we'd love it if you link them to this post.

1. Comments comments comments on my AO3 stories, always welcome, yum.

2. Recs in any of my fandoms for fic that makes you laugh out loud? And has a happy ending? I don't have the emotional bandwidth right now for depressing stuff, but I'd love more actual comedy in my reading habits- really good comedy of such hard work. (Don't worry about whether I've read it before, I love rereading!)

3. To steal one from kate - art? I'd love art for any of my work! Or is someone could just walk me through putting my Darcy/Charlie photoset on AO3 that's be awesome, I seem to be screwing something up every time I try. (There's just two photos.)

Day 3 - In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.





This is a song from the 1992 movie of Newsies. The main character, Jack, is a teen approaching adulthood. He has just met a new friend and has been to the family's house for dinner. He doesn't have family of his own- he's told his friend David that his parents are in Santa Fe looking for a ranch for the family, but we'll find out later that his mother is dead and his father is in prison. In this song, he's trying to convince himself he doesn't need a family and it's better to be on his own, with his dream of making it to Santa Fe one day.

No, I haven't seen the Broadway version, for much the same reason I love the 1995 Pride & Prejudice but haven't seen the 2005 version. The first version was exactly what I needed when it came along, and a remake would just tarnish the original memories for me.

I love Newsies fandom because it's fun, silly, and delightfully drama-free! Also, just as many wacky AU possibilities as Stargate: Atlantis.