KJ

Not ganked from anyone this year, it just felt like a good time to do it.

Take the first line from the first post of each month, and that's your Year in Review. (Skipping my monthly writing wrap-up posts.)

January: Welcome to 2012, everybody.

February: I gave in to the siren call of every single person on the Internet ever and watched both seasons of Sherlock, finishing up tonight.

March: Sorry to have been so absent lately.

April: As expected, FogCon has been great so far.

May: LJ added a spoiler tag that works in comments!

June: Whenever I go a week without posting, it feels wrong, like somehow I might cease to exist in this corner of the Internet if I don't interact with it often enough.

July: Jet lag, or something, is seriously kicking my ass the last couple of days, so I haven't had much brainpower to post about anything, including the rest of the trip and coming back.

August: I was home sick from work today, so I took the opportunity to download the demo for a game that's been getting some buzz on my Tumblr dashboard: Cinders.

September: Many moons ago, vieralynn wrote a very detailed character development interview that I snagged with the intention of writing up for my Aeducan.

October: Sleeping in on a Monday and then wandering down to Panera, instead of being up at the crack of dawn for the first day of a new academic quarter, has helped it sink in that I'm not actually having some weird long weekend, but am facing a new era of my life.

November: What better way to give myself an incentive to do more journaling than to meet more people here?

December: Things I have done this weekend: [a lot of awesome with Nay, Sev, and Ira].

This feels very meta, with a number of posts about how rarely I've been writing posts. I'm not surprised, though, given how much I've been posting at Tumblr instead. All part of the continuing process: what to post there, what to post here, how to keep myself active and connected with my journaling community even as the fandom action mostly moves elsewhere. Is it wrong that there's a tiny part of me that hopes the ongoing Tumblr redesigns that are making it more and more difficult to carry on real conversations there will drive people back into the arms of Dreamwidth? Probably.

I was going to post about things that were planned for today, but none of them ending up coming together -- the photography gallery we were going to visit was closed for the holiday, T's holiday baking project didn't pan out because we bought the wrong kind of chocolate (fortunately we'll have time to get to the store before we make the second batch for Friday's dinner), we meant to watch Shutter Island but ran out of motivation. We did watch two more episodes of Breaking Bad -- we're almost done with the second season, and I have things to say, but I'd like to finish up the season before I go into any more detail.

I continue to make slow progress on the Dragon Age Big Bang and fail to write anything else of consequence. I feel like I should keep plugging away, but a part of me wants to take a break and write a bunch of lightweight prompt fics for a couple of days. I don' t know whether that would provide a creative spark or feel like a waste of time. Maybe I'll find out, if the mood strikes.

Today, I had lunch with J, the librarian who stayed when I was laid off. We ate at the campus restaurant, and it was both nice and very, very weird. It was like being a visitor in a house where I once lived -- you know the place like the back of your hand, and a part of you feels like you never left, but maybe they've put down new carpet, or the silverware isn't in the same drawer where it was before, so it's right and wrong at the same time, which is very disconcerting. The walk there was so familiar, as though I'd just come back from a very long lunch break. And the restaurant manager had to think about why I was wearing a visitor's badge. And now I have to remind myself that I'm not just going back on Monday, for the first time in awhile. Kind of disconcerting.

But overall it was great -- I've exchanged a few emails with J, but we hadn't had much chance to talk, so I was glad to catch up. We worked closely together for over six years, saw each other every day that we both worked, and talked a lot. You get to know someone pretty well under those circumstances, so I've been missing her, and I know she's missed me even more (since she's now having to run the library basically by herself). I probably won't get there to visit much, but I am glad to have seen her, and I resolved to stay in better email contact (terrible as I am at email).

Now I am home and resting up before my concert, trying to decide what I should do between now and then; probably the best choice is working on my DABB, but we'll see if I actually get motivated to do it.

Because I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath, here are pictures of the new dishwasher and microwave:

( Photos behind the cut. )

- hm, embedded image isn't working, but you should be able to see it here.

The installation went remarkably smoothly -- the guys who came for the dishwasher were quick and efficient, and then they helped R get the microwave in place, which was really helpful. I'm sure he could have done it on his own, but it was much, much easier with more people around, especially someone who was able to lift a 70-pound microwave as if it were nothing (I swear I saw him toss it in the air a little bit as he was carrying it across the kitchen).

We haven't really used either appliance yet, but the various test cycles seemed to work and I'm looking forward to trying them out. The dishwasher, especially -- we selected this particular model because it's reported to be quiet, and it will be nice to be able to do things like watch TV and have a normal conversation when it's running.

Today was tea and snackies and the library with SE, then dinner with T, then the new series of Top Chef -- is it too soon to say that this cast looks promising? Then Nate Silver was on The Daily Show, and can I just say how much I love that one of the emerging narratives from this election cycle is pundits versus mathematics, and by just how much mathematics is winning?

Also, it looks like we will have 20 women Senators in the 113th Congress, and while some part of my brain is yelling at me ("20%? That's a freaking disgrace is what that is, why are you so happy?"), the rest of me is very, very happy.

I will likely have more to say about these things when I am not sneaking in my post for the day before I have to run off to bed. 'Night, all.

Sleeping in on a Monday and then wandering down to Panera, instead of being up at the crack of dawn for the first day of a new academic quarter, has helped it sink in that I'm not actually having some weird long weekend, but am facing a new era of my life.

I'm not quite ready to sit down and make plans yet -- I'm on call for a couple of things today -- but by the end of the week I want to have at least a road map: a rough schedule for writing, job hunting, and chores; a list of things I want to try to accomplish; get some travel planned (Seattle at the end of the month? I also want to head to LA at some point. I am resisting the idea of taking a few weeks to just drive around the US on my own because I'm not sure how I would feel about a solo road trip that long and it might wreak havoc on my RSI. It sure sounds fun, though). Need to sort through the possibilities and decide what I really want to prioritize. And let myself have some fun, too. This is a bit of a break from "real life" for me, and I want to take advantage of that, while not letting good opportunities pass me by.

I am sometimes reminded that the whole reason I started my LJ in the first place was to give me a spot to write down my thoughts and doings the last time I got laid off. My journal, my reasons for writing, and my online life have changed a lot since those days (which were pre-fanfiction and pre-fandom). But maybe this is the jolt I need to get me posting more often, or at least crossposting the meatier stuff from Tumblr.

 Seven more work days before my job comes to an end. Part of me looks at that number with panic -- how on earth am I going to finish everything I planned to finish between now and then -- and part of me wishes that it were much, much smaller.  Either way, I can't quite believe that it's going to be over soon. I spent six and a half years in that place -- some good, some bad, but getting increasingly worse over the last couple of them -- and although it would have been better to make the decision to move forward on my own, sometimes I need a kick in the ass to make that move in the first place.

I haven't entirely decided what to do with the upcoming free time. Although, unlike when I got laid off in 2004, I'm not strictly looking at this as a break, I don't expect to find anything right away, either. I did apply for one position already, but I haven't seen much else out there. This is a tough time to find work as an academic, especially as a librarian. Financially, we'll be fine for awhile -- the severance package and my unused vacation takes me almost through the end of the year, and with careful planning we can get by without my income; I am very fortunate in that I don't really "need" to work. But I want to, or at the very least I want to be working soon. Then again, I can't exactly job hunt eight hours a day, and it would be great to get in some travel, some writing, some home improvement, some lazy-bum-on-the-couch time. How exactly to balance all that is the open question: do I put myself on a schedule? Allow myself freedom and see what happens? Start planning a trip or two now, or give it a little time to see if a job comes through quickly? The idea that appeals the most is a loose schedule, along the lines of my monthly writing goals, but I'll have to see how it ends up working out.

In a short while, I leave for the airport, fetching A for a weekend of fun, frolic, and They Might Be Giants. Shows tonight and tomorrow; tomorrow's performance is being advertised as a "Flood Show", which is a pretty darn exciting concept.

Meanwhile, in lieu of substantial content, have a very thoughtful comment regarding the experience of being an introvert online.

And also, this may be my favorite thing in the history of the Internet. And that's saying something.

I hope everyone is having a splendid weekend.

Looks like stupid Ed Lee won the stupid mayor's race. They're not officially calling it yet -- some absentee and provisional ballots left to count -- but he declared victory this afternoon. Dear San Francisco politicians: can we maybe get it together and run a smaller field next time? You do not all need to be mayor.

Work was stressful and annoying for reasons I'd rather not get into right now. Shoes keep dropping, but it never feels like the last one has fallen.

Mega Flare would be going well, but there's this one scene that I really hate, and I don't know how to fix it. I suppose I could cut it, but there's some important character interaction and canon crossing stuff. So I need to wrangle it into submission, somehow. I knew I should have put more effort into finding a beta.

Our water heater is leaking gas fumes, and last night I noticed that I was getting lightheaded when I sat at my desk for too long. T's upstairs trying to fix it right now, but he's not too hopeful.

At least there is new Top Chef tonight.

Hey everyone, hey hey hey, megaflare_ff story claiming for artists is open until Sunday 10/3! We have 10 great-looking stories across several different FF canons, and so far only one is claimed. That's a lot of opportunity left for the right artist. Come check it out!

Other fannish things: making decent progress on my Mega Flare, but currently taking a break to work on my newgameplus assignment, since that's due much sooner -- yes, I did decide to sign up, and it's going a little slowly, but not too bad; I like my prompt a lot -- and a sequel of sorts to my Anders + Cousland story, which is threatening to become yet another monster. What is it about Dragon Age that compels me to write mini epics? I've been playing around in prompt memes a little bit, too, with mixed results, but it's still fun to write up little ideas I'd never do anything with otherwise. On the gaming front, I'm closing in on endgame for my m!Surana replay (I could trigger the Landsmeet, but there are a few little things I want to clear out first); next I think I'll play Awakening again, with f!Cousland this time, and then use that as the backstory for my first DA2 replay (since that will get me Warden!Alistair).

Linkspam: in the name of sharing cool stuff and closing out some tabs, here are some links following up on things I've posted about recently:

1. Game of Thrones/Sady Doyle -- A Kind of Half-Hearted Defense of "A Game of Thrones" by braak (hat tip to lowkey for the link) which does an excellent job of pulling out the problems I had with both Doyle's review and the way she framed it:

I want her to be right, but I feel like her argument here is a little inaccurate. And worse: it’s framed in a way that makes me feel like not only can I not defend the series, but I can’t even ask for a more nuanced discussion of the subject without branding myself a raging misogynist fanboy. It’s like I’ve been set up in such a way that my choices are: agree, or else dismiss myself by the very virtue of my disagreement.

Go read the whole thing; it's very worth it.

2. Another thing worth reading in its entirety: cleolinda's overview of the Gay YA issue. If you haven't been following the story, it's a great way to catch up; if you have been following it, you've probably seen this already, but I link it for you just in case.

Life: Another quarter is about to end, thank god. This quarter has just been beyond difficult, for reasons I can't really talk about here; none of them are going away, really, but I hope with the new quarter we can reset and figure out a way to make it all more manageable. Only one week of break, and we're spending the first bit of it in San Diego, making our annual summer trip to visit T's mom. On the upside, he's finally going to install wireless at her house, so we'll be Internet-enabled for once. Should be a nice change.