If you found me but are looking for my less-fannish content, you can find that at
A note & a question
Jan. 20th, 2013 04:23 pmNote: I've been leaving some hockey-related comments in ppl's spaces, & thought maybe I should say -- I'm a slash person, and a hockey person, but not a hockey slash person. I mean, I'm fine with hockey slash, I'm glad people have a fandom they love, I find some pairings amusing or interesting, I do not wish to harsh any buzzes & I'm not gonna freak out about anything, but like -- I grew up in Pittsburgh under the banner of Mario Lemieux, so that's where I am coming from, fannishly, in this space. Just a totally different headspace with a different, but overlapping, set of interests, and so my comments will tend to occur in the overlap.
And now the question. I had an interesting short convo w
niqaeli about using the term "real life" or "RL" to mean...yeah see this is where the definition gets tricky, EXACTLY. She feels that using it devalues online friendships, which is 100% correct, I think, but my problem is that there isn't another term for it and so I default to "RL". People use "meatspace" (which I hate and is inaccurate) and "offline" (which I don't hate but which is inaccurate), and what I'm asking is: what word do you use, and why, and do you have any suggestions for me in this arena?
(I guess there's the argument to be made "why distinguish, if they are all friends" but I'm not talking just about friends here, but also there are a bunch of differences even if they ARE all friends. Like, most people reading this call me Laura JV or jacquez or jac, all of which are perfectly fine names, but none of them are my legal name nor are any of them my primary usename; people who know me FROM offline spaces might know I'm "jacquez" -- like, lots of them follow me on Twitter, for example -- but they also know my primary usename because that's what they call me, how we were introduced, etc, and they can ASSUME they know my primary usename. So that's a fairly fundamental difference in how I relate to them -- like, there are plenty of from-online-spaces friends who know my legal name & primary usename, of course there are; I met
basingstoke online ffs -- but no one assumes, meeting me in the online spaces I frequent, that they know that information. For me, this is like -- shockingly fundamental to the nature of the relationship. IDK, maybe it shouldn't be and I'm just turning into an old person?)
And now the question. I had an interesting short convo w
(I guess there's the argument to be made "why distinguish, if they are all friends" but I'm not talking just about friends here, but also there are a bunch of differences even if they ARE all friends. Like, most people reading this call me Laura JV or jacquez or jac, all of which are perfectly fine names, but none of them are my legal name nor are any of them my primary usename; people who know me FROM offline spaces might know I'm "jacquez" -- like, lots of them follow me on Twitter, for example -- but they also know my primary usename because that's what they call me, how we were introduced, etc, and they can ASSUME they know my primary usename. So that's a fairly fundamental difference in how I relate to them -- like, there are plenty of from-online-spaces friends who know my legal name & primary usename, of course there are; I met
(no subject)
Dec. 15th, 2012 03:51 pmRe: adding people. I was going through
kouredios's friending meme finding folks (HI PEOPLE) but wow, so many, overwhelming! I'm sure I'll find more people as time goes on.
Re: Sandy Hook. Seriously, my brain just keeps stuttering to a halt. I don't even.
RIGHT NOW I WANT TO TALK ABOUT: ( The Hobbit )
Re: Sandy Hook. Seriously, my brain just keeps stuttering to a halt. I don't even.
RIGHT NOW I WANT TO TALK ABOUT: ( The Hobbit )
some things about me
Dec. 11th, 2012 01:19 pmALL RIGHT, fellow humans and/or aliens and/or AIs. I am sure some of us won't suit? It is always unreading list/defriending-OK around here; I find it a little sad that has to be said because I tend to assume it. But there you go.
These days I am mostly watching Elementary (characters, I love you. Crime plots, you are not the greatest, but you're getting slightly better) and Beauty & the Beast (which is stealing ALL THE BECHDEL PASSES from all other television, apparently). I also watch a lot of documentaries, QI, and rather too much Dara O'Briain standup.
I used to mostly write slash, and now I mostly write gen (when I have time to write). I am not sure why, but I might blame Highlander fandom, which I love, and which has some of the greatest gen writing around, and characters who can easily bounce from lovers to not to back again over the course of centuries.
On a personal level, I'm a humanist, a skeptic, bi, and a het-married mother of two small kids. I haven't posted much the last year because the younger child was born in January; I'm hoping to improve on that in the coming year. I knit (fairly well), crochet (well), cook (well), and sew (poorly). I dislike squares (the shape, not the personality type). I am attempting to get my act together to apply to grad school because what I really need is another master's degree, amirite?
I abuse parentheses.
These days I am mostly watching Elementary (characters, I love you. Crime plots, you are not the greatest, but you're getting slightly better) and Beauty & the Beast (which is stealing ALL THE BECHDEL PASSES from all other television, apparently). I also watch a lot of documentaries, QI, and rather too much Dara O'Briain standup.
I used to mostly write slash, and now I mostly write gen (when I have time to write). I am not sure why, but I might blame Highlander fandom, which I love, and which has some of the greatest gen writing around, and characters who can easily bounce from lovers to not to back again over the course of centuries.
On a personal level, I'm a humanist, a skeptic, bi, and a het-married mother of two small kids. I haven't posted much the last year because the younger child was born in January; I'm hoping to improve on that in the coming year. I knit (fairly well), crochet (well), cook (well), and sew (poorly). I dislike squares (the shape, not the personality type). I am attempting to get my act together to apply to grad school because what I really need is another master's degree, amirite?
I abuse parentheses.
(no subject)
Dec. 7th, 2012 11:05 pma. persons, please to be seeing kouredios's friending meme if you are in need of friends for conversations on the internet!
b. I re-watched The Last Unicorn recently, and it makes me want to work on Amalthea. The trouble with Amalthea is -- well, there are lots of troubles with it, which is why I've been working on it for almost 10 years now; I just looked; the first outline is from October 2003* -- back up, no one knows what it is anymore -- it's a due South story about Dief, and back to its problem -- the problem is, THE problem, is that the more I work on it, the more I become aware that it is straight-out old-school horror, like The Spiral Staircase or The Haunting and you guys, I don't want anyone to die in this story, but when you have this much bad magic, someone always dies. They must, because that is how it is done, and so that is how you must do it.
* eta: omg, it's older than that; that date is the date of ALL the oldest files I have, which means it's probably the date I switched back to Macs from Windows and transferred all my files.
* * eta2: I found me wittering about it a little in Feb 2002. Good gravy.
b. I re-watched The Last Unicorn recently, and it makes me want to work on Amalthea. The trouble with Amalthea is -- well, there are lots of troubles with it, which is why I've been working on it for almost 10 years now; I just looked; the first outline is from October 2003* -- back up, no one knows what it is anymore -- it's a due South story about Dief, and back to its problem -- the problem is, THE problem, is that the more I work on it, the more I become aware that it is straight-out old-school horror, like The Spiral Staircase or The Haunting and you guys, I don't want anyone to die in this story, but when you have this much bad magic, someone always dies. They must, because that is how it is done, and so that is how you must do it.
* eta: omg, it's older than that; that date is the date of ALL the oldest files I have, which means it's probably the date I switched back to Macs from Windows and transferred all my files.
* * eta2: I found me wittering about it a little in Feb 2002. Good gravy.
[click click click away on AO3]
me: goddammit, is Person of Interest fiction a fucking wasteland or -- oooh
cesperanza.
me: goddammit, is Person of Interest fiction a fucking wasteland or -- oooh
WHY SO DIFFICULT, FANDOM?
Feb. 13th, 2012 02:42 pmDon't you hate it when you are folding laundry (if you fold laundry, but maybe you are in the shower or drinking tea or putting on your shoes instead, I don't know your life) and you think of a cool story idea, but then you think "No, that story idea is so obvious, I'm sure it's been written 20 times already"?
But then you think, "self, how would you even know? You haven't read any post-Reichenbach Sherlock fic, so maybe NO ONE has written it. And frankly, it's a pretty good idea."
But THEN you think, "but if you go and read post-Reichenbach stuff, you'll be all influenced by the fanon, and that might mess up the idea IF INDEED IT IS EVEN ORIGINAL" and after THAT you think "but if it ISN'T original, I want to read all the stories with it because IT IS A FUN IDEA and there has to be AT LEAST one of the stories where it is done well" and then after THAT you are back to "but what if NO ONE HAS WRITTEN IT YOUR HEAD WILL BE FULL OF FANON, SELF" and it's all a vicious cycle.
What I need is a friend who has read all the post-Reichenbach Sherlock fic to tell me if I should write my idea or not, who is also discreet enough not to tell the rest of fandom about my idea. And to whom I do not owe a beta. (Hi,
basingstoke...)
But then you think, "self, how would you even know? You haven't read any post-Reichenbach Sherlock fic, so maybe NO ONE has written it. And frankly, it's a pretty good idea."
But THEN you think, "but if you go and read post-Reichenbach stuff, you'll be all influenced by the fanon, and that might mess up the idea IF INDEED IT IS EVEN ORIGINAL" and after THAT you think "but if it ISN'T original, I want to read all the stories with it because IT IS A FUN IDEA and there has to be AT LEAST one of the stories where it is done well" and then after THAT you are back to "but what if NO ONE HAS WRITTEN IT YOUR HEAD WILL BE FULL OF FANON, SELF" and it's all a vicious cycle.
What I need is a friend who has read all the post-Reichenbach Sherlock fic to tell me if I should write my idea or not, who is also discreet enough not to tell the rest of fandom about my idea. And to whom I do not owe a beta. (Hi,
I am trying to remember what pro Trek novel had the Spock Manpain Meditation in it, where Spock sits in the dark and listens to terrible news stories about things like orphanages being crushed in earthquakes, and has Manpain over them. This is his actual meditation routine in the novel, I kid you not.
I believe that the Spock in this novel is older -- post-TMP Spock, not TOS-era. Anyone know?
(I am possibly using this Uhura icon because that look on her face is the look I imagine she would have if you told her about the manpain meditation.)
I believe that the Spock in this novel is older -- post-TMP Spock, not TOS-era. Anyone know?
(I am possibly using this Uhura icon because that look on her face is the look I imagine she would have if you told her about the manpain meditation.)
Vincent raised his hand to block out the sun, hot in an orange sky, but still the light glancing from the walls of the stone city hurt his eyes. He'd been a creature of moonlight and candlelight since birth.
"You have never been to the Goblin City," said a voice close behind him, and he turned; a tall, slim man stood on the hill with him, not even a foot away. He could not hear the man's heartbeat, and he did not smell human; he smelled of lightning and earth and a little of owl. There was no human scent on him at all, not even underneath the surface.
The man smiled, a flash of uneven teeth, longer than human, with eyeteeth drawn almost to the vicious points of Vincent's own. "I have waited long to show it to you," the man said. His silver hair blew back from his face, though there was no wind on the hill.
"Who are you?" Vincent asked.
The man ran a gloved finger down his own cheek. "Oh," he said, "someone rather less human than you are."
Vincent flicked his eyes up and down, looking the man over, and huffed out a skeptical breath. The man laughed, and a sudden flicker of the sun -- a stutter of darkness in a cloudless sky -- made his face seem to shift, as if some demon looked out from his skin. Vincent drew back, startled; the sun settled again in the sky, and the man looking at him was just a man: tall, gloved, shoulders broad beneath leather armoring, cloak drifting about his body like night.
"Yes," the man said, "we've a touch in common, haven't we?" He held out his hand. "Come with me, and be my heir. Or solve the Labyrinth, and I shall tell you whatever truths you seek, at the end of it."
Vincent looked out over the mazed city; he had solved greater labyrinths than this, alone, in the dark. "I cannot leave my world," he said. I cannot leave Catherine, even though she is lost. "And not all truths are knowable."
"Wise man," the man said. "I shall tell you two truths, then, when you find my Castle: the names of your parents, and the location of the woman you love."
Vincent thought of everything he knew of magic, every bargain that could and could not be struck with Fair Folk. "And if I do not solve your labyrinth? What price do I pay, then?"
The man tossed a glass ball lightly into the air, where it hovered, spinning. "If I cannot tell you where she is," he said, "she will die. There is no changing that part of time: you must learn of her location from me, or not at all. Is that price not terrible enough?"
"You have never been to the Goblin City," said a voice close behind him, and he turned; a tall, slim man stood on the hill with him, not even a foot away. He could not hear the man's heartbeat, and he did not smell human; he smelled of lightning and earth and a little of owl. There was no human scent on him at all, not even underneath the surface.
The man smiled, a flash of uneven teeth, longer than human, with eyeteeth drawn almost to the vicious points of Vincent's own. "I have waited long to show it to you," the man said. His silver hair blew back from his face, though there was no wind on the hill.
"Who are you?" Vincent asked.
The man ran a gloved finger down his own cheek. "Oh," he said, "someone rather less human than you are."
Vincent flicked his eyes up and down, looking the man over, and huffed out a skeptical breath. The man laughed, and a sudden flicker of the sun -- a stutter of darkness in a cloudless sky -- made his face seem to shift, as if some demon looked out from his skin. Vincent drew back, startled; the sun settled again in the sky, and the man looking at him was just a man: tall, gloved, shoulders broad beneath leather armoring, cloak drifting about his body like night.
"Yes," the man said, "we've a touch in common, haven't we?" He held out his hand. "Come with me, and be my heir. Or solve the Labyrinth, and I shall tell you whatever truths you seek, at the end of it."
Vincent looked out over the mazed city; he had solved greater labyrinths than this, alone, in the dark. "I cannot leave my world," he said. I cannot leave Catherine, even though she is lost. "And not all truths are knowable."
"Wise man," the man said. "I shall tell you two truths, then, when you find my Castle: the names of your parents, and the location of the woman you love."
Vincent thought of everything he knew of magic, every bargain that could and could not be struck with Fair Folk. "And if I do not solve your labyrinth? What price do I pay, then?"
The man tossed a glass ball lightly into the air, where it hovered, spinning. "If I cannot tell you where she is," he said, "she will die. There is no changing that part of time: you must learn of her location from me, or not at all. Is that price not terrible enough?"
dementia email going away
Aug. 3rd, 2011 11:29 pmIf anyone, for any reason, is still using my dementia.org email, please change it over to my gmail address ASAP. I haven't regularly used the dementia account for a very long time, and the domain owner has reached an agreement to sell the domain, so the account will be completely dead very soon.
(If you are an archivist, I will probably be dropping you a line in the next few weeks about updating the info on old stories....)
My website will move elsewhere, but maybe this'll be the kick in the pants I need to get more things on the AO3....
(If you are an archivist, I will probably be dropping you a line in the next few weeks about updating the info on old stories....)
My website will move elsewhere, but maybe this'll be the kick in the pants I need to get more things on the AO3....
Backup Project stuff; signalboost request
Jul. 30th, 2011 02:59 pmI made a DW version (
backupproject) of the Backup Project LJ community, because of the DDoS attacks; I've just posted some Backup Project website update information over there.
I'd appreciate signalboosting, since I can't post to LJ to let people know about the changes right now. I've already put a note on the Facebook group.
Thanks!
I'd appreciate signalboosting, since I can't post to LJ to let people know about the changes right now. I've already put a note on the Facebook group.
Thanks!
5 questions meme
Jun. 23rd, 2011 04:58 pm( questions & answers )
So. RIP DWJ.
Mar. 26th, 2011 09:24 pmI've been in class all day, and it was a marvelous class, but I'm only now catching up and -- ah, no. Not Diana Wynne Jones!
I never read her work when I was in the nominal target audience; I started reading it as an adult, because I tend to find YA fantasy more interesting, creative, and all-around pleasant to read than I do "adult" fantasy. (I am, in fact, about a third of the way through Enchanted Glass right now, and before that I read The Pinhoe Egg, and before that House of Many Ways.)
Sad now.
I never read her work when I was in the nominal target audience; I started reading it as an adult, because I tend to find YA fantasy more interesting, creative, and all-around pleasant to read than I do "adult" fantasy. (I am, in fact, about a third of the way through Enchanted Glass right now, and before that I read The Pinhoe Egg, and before that House of Many Ways.)
Sad now.
FIC: The House That Was, by Laura JV
Mar. 12th, 2011 10:44 pmTitle: The House That Was
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Warnings: Choose not to warn.
Rating: F is for Funeral
Notes: Written for "The Case of the Underground" at
sherlock_flashfic.
The House That Was, at AO3.
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Warnings: Choose not to warn.
Rating: F is for Funeral
Notes: Written for "The Case of the Underground" at
The House That Was, at AO3.
Bells are Ringing. Mycroft's gone and made Sherlock French, for no-doubt nefarious reasons.