Have been unavoidably detained by the world

...hi: I have pretty much not been on any kind of social media at all for the past two years since twitter imploded the first time around. On the one hand, I think it's done wonders for my mental health. On the other hand, I miss being part of a fannish community.

If I'm really being honest with myself, though, I've never been terribly good at building and maintaining close friendships online or being consistently active in fandom, so it's definitely rose-tinted nostalgia.

gateway drugs: I have somehow in the year of our lord 2025 gotten into Generation Kill. Specifically, Brad/Nate. Listen, I don't even fucking know. It was huge among many of my mutuals when the show first came out, and I had zero interest in it at the time. All I can say is that it's The Pitt's fault (speaking of: yes, I did binge all of it; yes, I do ship Robby/Jack; yes, I'm a little appalled that I appear to be in the Old Man Yaoi phase of my fannish life).

I am sure a ton of good fic has either disappeared into the ether (insert obligatory complaint about how whoever said nothing dies on the internet has never tried to find old fic for a long dead fandom) or is in the bowels of LJ, so if anyone has any non-AO3 recs, 👀. I am devouring pretty much everything on AO3.

I still don't really have any interest in watching the show or reading any of the books, so we'll see how long this obsession lasts.

not quite like riding a bike: uhhh, what else. I want to write fic?



In all seriousness, I do, but I never developed healthy methods of writing. Most everything I've written that I've ended up posting has been completed in either bouts of hypomanic productivity or under extreme stress due to deadlines.

I have a bajillion WIPs that I haven't worked on for years. I've been flirting with the idea of posting some 75% completed fics on and off for a while. No promises, though.

and now for something completely different: I've been obsessively watching this dance choreo on repeat. It's enthralling, mostly likely due to some combination of the song, the chemistry between Sean & Kaycee, and Kaycee's performance in general.

I didn't mean to not post for three years, but, well, you know. Everything.

Lots of stuff has happened this year, half of it terrible, half of it great. May write about it more later. I've managed to adjust my sleep schedule so that I start getting tired around 9:30, 10, so I'm fading a bit.

Since the start of the pandemic, I've watched very, very few films in theaters. None in 2020 or 2021.

— 2022 —

• Everything Everywhere All at Once: I cried a lot and immediately bought it when it came out.

• Top Gun: Maverick: A friend wanted to see it, okay.

— 2023 —

• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Utterly delightful.

• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: I was not warned that this ended on a huge cliffhanger and so was VERY irked the first time I watched it. Still a great film.

• Barbie: Loved it. Exceeded all my expectations.

• Bottoms: Hilarious, and also way more violent than I was expecting (not in a bad way, just in a "wow, did not see that coming" way).

I've watched a bunch more not in theaters; may or may not write about it later.

I, like the majority of the fannish internet, have watched the second season of Good Omens, and while I didn't think it was good, exactly, it was entertaining, and I'm reading a ton of fic.

I definitely haven't watched 23 new movies since my last movies post, but I think I've done reasonably well?

( Drumroll... )

14 new movies and 17 total! Definitely respectable, considering my average was like two new movies a month before this. I'm going to try and squeeze at least one more in (I still need to see Knives Out, I do want to watch The Rise of Skywalker despite the very mixed things I've heard, and I have Jennifer's Body from Netflix DVD).

I feel like I've been absolutely terrible about watching movies this year; I guess we'll see how many I have to pack into the next three and a half months.

( I really need to find a movie buddy. )

Oof, only 17 new movies. What are the chances I actually get through 23 new movies by the end of the year?

*rewatch
**Fannish Movie Night movie

I told my therapist that I missed journaling, so I suppose I should put my money where my mouth is, though this may not be the best time to start again because my brain is currently pretty fried due to jet lag.

thing one: the jet lag is from being in Cape Town for a week and half for Alex & Alex's wedding. Cape Town was spectacular. It was surprisingly easy to adjust to the time difference, possibly because I had to get up early to go do planned things. It's been a lot rougher readjusting to Boston time for some reason. Possibly due to the thing where traveling west tends to trigger depression in bipolar folks.

thing two: quoting what I said on twitter: "My life is currently that distracted boyfriend meme where I'm the distracted boyfriend, Good Omens fandom (nice, large, prolific) is the outraged girlfriend, and Rivers of London fandom (tiny, rare, pretty dead) is the girl I'm checking out."

So yeah, I've fallen into a Rivers of London Peter/Nightingale hole, and I can't get out. Help. Their relationship just hits SO MANY of my id buttons. But of course they're a rarepair, which is something I seem to be masochistically drawn to. I have read all the good AO3 fic and have even resorted to reading abandoned WIPs, which I usually avoid like the plague.

There's also the thing where Beverly/Peter/Nightingale (in various combinations) seems to be getting more popular, which is fine, I have nothing against poly/OT3 relationships even if they're not my thing, but I'm currently listening to Broken Homes and ( idk if this is spoilery but I'll cut it anyway. )

Nightingale and Peter deserve being emotionally dense at each other and shouldn't inflict that on anyone else, is all I'm saying.

thing three: hmm, what else. I binge-watched all of Broadchurch, which was fantastic, and started watching New Who, which has been...an experience. I watched the first, hmm, five episodes? Some years ago. I didn't really get into it, but Good Omens has unfortunately launched me into having a David Tennant Moment in the year of our lord 2019, so.

not to be an asshole, but: I couldn't have picked a better week to go to LA if I'd tried. I flew out at noon on Saturday, just in time to miss the snow-turned-rain-turned-ice hellscape that Boston/New England became.

E & I got an Airbnb in Hollywood (funny story about that later) and did some touristy things and some bumming around, which was perfect. I showed her a bunch of BuzzFeed Unsolved because I'm super predictable. She got me to watch the first two episodes of Sex Education, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Also, I mean, Gillian Anderson, c'mon.

We went to the Santa Monica Pier early Sunday morning, which I'd never been to, and then spent Monday morning at Universal Studios (but really at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter; we did a quick loop of the rest of the park, but Harry Potter was the only real reason we were there). I dropped her off at the airport yesterday morning (she didn't have enough vacation time to take the entire week off), and now I'm at Alex and Alex's place until Saturday.

THIS WAS NOT PLANNED: Sooooooo, after we left Universal, we went downtown because E wanted to see the upstairs of The Last Bookstore (she missed it the last time she'd been), and I was about to keel over from exhaustion, so I plopped down in one of the chairs and dicked around on the internet while waiting for her. I then had the brilliant idea to look up where the BuzzFeed office was, mostly for curiosity's sake, and it turned out that it was TWO BLOCKS AWAY FROM OUR AIRBNB. I may have died a little bit inside.

So, I am now unintentionally and uncomfortably familiar with the area immediately surrounding the BuzzFeed office. Ha ha ha, I definitely won't be using this knowledge for fic purposes.

I think New Year's resolutions are bullshit, so here are my goals for 2019:

1. Read/listen to 30 new books / I think this is a realistic number; I read 27(ish) last year and definitely had the time to read/listen to more, but I took several month-long breaks.

2. Watch 40 new movies / I watched 41 new ones last year, so this should be attainable.

3. Participate in Yuletide / This will mostly depend on how my mental health is around September/October, but I haven't participated the last two years and really want to this year.

STRETCH GOALS /

3a. Post one non-Yuletide fic / The last time I posted a non-Yuletide fic was three years ago, christ.

3b. Participate in mini_wrimo / I managed to participate a number of times, but haven't the past few years.

4. Finish a vid / I have a few that I've been fiddling with on and off on for a while. I'm probably most motivated to finish my Hunger Games vid.

Okay, that's probably good for now. I'm looking at some goals I've set for previous years, and it's like, lol, I've lowered my standards (in a good way!) on some of these things because I've never managed to stick to them.

OOPS, I MISSED WRITING ABOUT A BUNCH OF MOVIES. Apparently the schedule view in Google Calendar doesn't show you the whole month, WHO KNEW.

( Additional movies from January thru June )

( July )

( August )

( September )

( October )

( November )

( December )

ETA: Spider-Man: Homecoming: I watched this at some point this fall but forgot to put it on my calendar. I enjoyed it immensely! MJ is my fav, obviously. I do get the Tom Holland appeal now.

*Easy A: Also forgot to add this to my calendar, but I'm pretty sure I watched it during my sad autumn phase. Mostly holds up. Still love the writing.

*Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle: Honestly this was the perfect sequel to Jumanji, which I was O B S E S S E D with when I was a kid.

The Kissing Booth: I can't remember when I watched this (and probably left it off my calendar in an attempt to forget that I'd watched it), but I think it was when I was trying to get rid of my TATBILB hangover. Not a good movie. I think I read somewhere that Noah Centineo was originally supposed to play Noah Flynn, which may have made the movie more enjoyable, but I definitely can't see him as anyone other than Peter Kavinsky now.

Nappily Ever After: Not great, but I like that it exists.

ETA 12/30/18: I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO INCLUDE VENOM, which I have seen three (THREE) times this year. First time was with hermionesviolin and we both enjoyed it immensely, though I thought they could have skipped the first 45 minutes of the movie or so. Second time was with serenadestrong and thedeadparrot (I can't remember if anyone else came us?) and it was amazing to watch them experience it. Third time was yesterday at a special Fannish Movie Night with seascribe.

I'd been interested in seeing Venom since I saw the trailer earlier this year because it looked like it'd be full of body horror, which I'm super into, and also Tom Hardy, but then I saw a tweet about how it was basically a romcom and I was like, I need to see this IMMEDIATELY. I was not disappointed.

Total movies watched in 2018: 50
New movies: 41

Definitely respectable.

*rewatch

ETA 08/26: Added kitchen table set.

ETA 08/19: Added pea coat.

Hi Boston locals! I am moving to a smaller apartment and need to get rid of some of my furniture. I figured I'd offer them to local fandom folks for free before trying to sell them on craigslist.

1. Twin-size sleeper sofa:

Condition: Good
Notes: I've only really been using it as a couch for the past three years, but I have slept on it before. Not the most comfortable mattress, but it'll do in a pinch. Comes with (washed) fitted and flat sheets.

( Pictures under the cut. )

2. IKEA dining table and 4x chairs w/cushions

Condition: Fair
Notes: I've had the set for about seven years and it's definitely seen some use.

( Picture under the cut. )

3. Catit Flower Fountain

Condition: Like new
Notes: See Wirecutter review here. It's missing the yellow cap, but otherwise is fairly new.

4. Black pea coat (M)

Condition: Like new
Notes: I've worn this maaaaaaybe once, and it is too small for me now.

( Picture under the cut. )

Everything needs to be gone by August 31 (but ideally before August 18). Please bring a friend if you'd like the couch or the table/chairs.

I am currently in L.A. for my annual get-the-fuck-outta-Boston-when-it's-cold-and-snowy trip to visit Alex, except IT'S CURRENTLY COLDER IN L.A. THAN BOSTON. >:( Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying the 50° weather here right now, but goddamn.

We watched Moonlight on Saturday, and I was -- enchanted? Deeply moved? It's so, so beautiful. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did: I was told that it was slow, and I don't do terribly well with slow movies in theaters, so I was waiting for it to be released on Netflix or DVD. But Alex had a screener copy, because, you know, L.A., and her friends are in guilds and other fancy things. (I think this may have been the first time I've watched a legitimate screener, as opposed to one acquired via the interwebs.)

Anyway. I absolutely loved it and want to watch it again. (Note: I started writing this post on Saturday, which is when I actually arrived in L.A., but since I procrastinated so long and the Oscars were last night, I just wanted to add on: HAHAHAHAHAHA.)

Sunday night we went to see Game of Thrones: The Musical, which some of Alex's friends wrote/directed, and it was actually really funny. I didn't quite know what to expect, but it was irreverent and silly and I laughed a bunch.

Yesterday we went to a flea market and I got super absorbed at a stall that was selling old/found postcards and photos. I've never looked through found photographs before; it was...an interesting experience. Sad isn't quite the right word, but I'm not sure there is one word to describe how I was feeling. Wondering about the history of the photos, who these people were, who took them, how they got to this plastic bin at a flea market in the parking lot of a high school in L.A. There were slides and film negatives and Polaroids. Sonder might be the closest.

Then we went to Daiso (*____*), which I'm very glad doesn't exist in Boston because I'd spend all my money there, and a REVOLVING SUSHI BAR, which was magical. It's also probably a good thing that those also don't exist in Boston.