KJ

I've seen a few people do this, but most recently ganked from umadoshi. I suppose it's appropriate to do a catch-up meme a week after everyone else.

So what have you been up to? / Major life changes? Same old same old?

I've been working a part-time temporary job that might become more permanent soon, but that's by no means a done deal. So I'd rather not talk about that publicly yet. Otherwise I feel like it's pretty much situation normal.

What fandom are you in/do you spend most of your time in?

Either Dragon Age or MCU, depending on the day. I haven't been participating much, though, largely because I haven't readjusted to having a job outside the house and with regular hours, and I can't really be on social media while I'm there. Also I have my irritations with both fandoms, in terms of recent content and of the communities, so it's feeling less like happy fun squee times than I want it to be.

Where do you hang out online?

If I'm being honest, I have to say Flight Rising. Breeding and dominance battles continue to hold my attention, and although the site also has its dramas, I'm way less personally invested than I am in my other fandoms. My frustrations with Tumblr as a community and as a platform continue to grow, and I'm taking a semi-hiatus from it, starting tomorrow, mostly to avoid Trespasser spoilers, but in truth I'm running on queue half the time lately anyway.

I do want to post more here, though. More books reviews? (I got some enthusiasm for that suggestion the other day, so thanks for that!) More meta in general? Respond to things on Tumblr here, where we might actually be able to have conversation about them? I guess we'll see. I've also been on Twitter more lately, because it's easier to pop in from my phone while I'm at work.

What are you reading?

I'm in the middle of two books right now: "The End of All Things" by John Scalzi, and "A Red-Rose Chain" by Seanan McGuire. End of All Things is a collection of four novellas, and I'd read the first three when I picked up Red-Rose Chain at McGuire's Borderlands event on Saturday (which was very fun!). Since I was at a good stopping point with the Scalzi, I started reading the McGuire while I was there, and now I want to finish it. So I'll probably do that, then get back to the Scalzi, then begin on the mountain of exciting books that have come out in the last two months (Court of Fives, The Fifth Season, House of Shattered Wings...).

What are you watching?

My main TV project is a rewatch of Star Trek: Voyager. At least, I'd thought it was a rewatch when I started, but almost nothing after the first season has been familiar. I'm positive I watched at least some episodes with Seven of Nine, though, because the reason I remember giving it up was because I got tired of it being the Seven of Nine show. I just finished Season Four, so maybe the part I did watch is coming up. Anyway, I'm enjoying it. It's not as uniformly good as DS9 or later TNG, but when it's good, it's very good, and I really like most of the characters (even Seven, better than I remembered).

We're also sort of slowly working on Sense8, and I've grown into a big fan of The Nightly Show and Last Week Tonight.

What are you making?

Not as much as I would like. I went back on Fangirl Happy Hour to talk about Ant-Man and the current state of the MCU! The episode was released today and can be found here. I have a couple of long projects going, most notably a Dragon Age: Inquisition Hawke/Fenris fix-it fic, but it wants to be an epic and I fear I've bitten off more than I can chew with it. We'll see if I can pull it together -- making enough progress to post it, or at least start posting, is my main writing goal for the month.

What are you squeeing about today?

Not today, exactly, but I already posted about how much I loved Jaws of Hakkon, one of the DA:I DLCs. I've moved on to playing Descent with my Cadash, and I have to admit it works better with a dwarf inquisitor. There's not a ton of unique content for her, but there's enough that I can appreciate the resonance. (No mention of the Hero of Ferelden's being a dwarf, though, not even when Malika asked Renn if he'd met her.) I'm about halfway down to the bottom. Hopefully it won't take too much longer, and then I can move on to Trespasser.

If you could rope old fandom friends into a new fandom, it would be.....

Is it wrong to say that I'd love to new people to get into Dragon Age and bring in fresh perspectives, in hopes of lightening the relentless negativity that I've been seeing since DA:I? I'm not saying that I don't want to ever see any criticism, ever -- there are plenty of valid critiques to make of the new game; I've made plenty of them myself. But it seems like the crits are all anyone ever talks about, and it's getting me down.

I should really watch/read/dive into _______ and then come talk to you about it!

Uprooted by Naomi Novik! OMG it was so good. I don't want to say any more because spoilers. Just go read it.

What else is on your mind?

Not a lot, really. Which is why I haven't posted so much here, I suppose. I need to get back in the habit of regular posting, if nothing else to help keep better track of myself. I keep saying that and not doing it, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.

I worked all day, which pretty much used up my typing points (it wears out my other fingers, my ring finger especially because it takes the bulk of the extra load. Try touch-typing without your middle finger; you'll see). Darn you, paying work! (I'll probably feel better about it when my first paycheck comes in.) I also went out to tasty dinner and split a nice bottle of prosecco with a couple of friends, so overall I'll call it a win.

I see all your great comments on my election post and I will endeavor to reply to all of them tomorrow. :)

I would like to say that I haven't updated in a few days because I've been too busy with writing and trip planning, and this is sort of true, but not really, because a lot of the time I've been meant to be doing that, I've been playing games, reading short stories, and reloading Tumblr instead. Too much to do, not enough time to do it sometimes motivates me and sometimes paralyzes me, and this time it's been the latter.

Well, one way or the other, it's all done on Saturday. Meanwhile, tomorrow is Veronica Mars day (I have a ticket to the advance showing in SF!!!!!), so I have that to distract me look forward to. :D

I keep waiting to update because I figure I'll post once I hear from one of the employers I'm waiting on (had a second interview three weeks ago, have been in intermittent contact with another school), but it keeps not happening. Maybe reporting that there is nothing to report will jar the universe into giving me some information.

Not much else to discuss, really. Not many other jobs to apply for. No travel or other shenanigans planned (and I'm reluctant to plan anything when the job stuff is up in the air). There's a Dragon Age fan meetup in New York City that I'm contemplating. My fic for the DA Reverse Bang is coming along, if very slowly. I've been plugging along on the 31 Day Hawke Challenge, too. Haven't missed a day yet! Unheard of, for these 30-day memes. Predictably, I want to write up the answers for Marissa now, too, and Garrett (my pro-templar m!Hawke warrior, who's just getting into Act 3).

Speaking of games, I finally gave up on finishing the Via Infinito (stupid Chac) and went ahead and wrapped up my FFX-2 replay last week, resulting in predictable Paine/Nooj emotions and plot bunnies, and I really need to write them another story sometime. Then, spurred on by some impulse I don't fully understand, I started a new game of Kingdom Hearts, a game I haven't played in many, many years. Probably I should just wait for the rumored PS3 remaster that includes Chain of Memories (which I have never played), but no. And then, to complete the trifecta of games in process, I discovered that Knights of the Old Republic is available for iPad. Now this is exciting, because I've always wanted to play that game, but assumed I never would for platform reasons. I downloaded it almost immediately and am now maybe 6 or so hours in? So far, so good, although I think I stumbled across a major, major spoiler on Tumblr the day after I began playing. (Probably a spoiler I've heard a hundred times, but never had the context to understand before.) We'll see if it means what I think it means.

I keep promising to update my journal more often and then not doing it. Well, no time like the present. Five things make a post?

1. The Winter quarter concert is over, and it went well. Now we're on a brief break until April, when we start rehearsals for Beethoven's Ninth. That's such an awe-inspiring piece, and I'm really looking forward to it.

2. DOINK! sign-ups are open through Friday!



It's no exaggeration to say that DOINK is my favorite event on the fandom calendar, except maybe the Kiss Battles. I've been participating in DOINK since the very beginning, and I've gotten and produced some of my very favorite stories in the process. If you are at all interested, check it out. Even if you can't make the official schedule work, the mods are always in need of betas and pinch-hitters (I find writing pinch-hits to be especially satisfying).

3. I just realized that I never posted anything about my latest cat drama. ( Cut for pet health issues. )

4. Is anyone surprised that I started playing FFX-2 right after finishing FFX? No? I didn't think so. In other fandomy things, I am still doing the 30 Day Grey Warden Challenge, but I've decided to post my answers only on Tumblr. If you're interested, you can follow along on this tag, and I'll probably also do a master post when I'm finished. Speaking of master posts, I really need to make one for the DA Kiss Battle, and I'll plan on doing that this week. Hold me to that, Internets.

5. Although it might be a challenge with cat care, I'm planning an overnight trip to Napa with some friends next month, as part of my extended birthday celebration. Hey, I turned 40. That rates a birthday month, doesn't it? Despite living in the SF Bay Area since 1986, I've almost never been to Napa, so I'm looking forward to that, too.

I had a fun weekend but it involved a lot of running around, and now I am sick. Not super-sick, but low energy, achy throat, and I totally thrashed my voice. Now I have to decide whether to keep a lunch engagement on Wednesday. It involves a friend I haven't seen in ages, so I hate to cancel, but I might not have much choice. Guess I'll sit on it for a day.

What else... I finished my DABB draft, for certain values of "finished", with a day to spare. There's a lot of work left to do, but it's in pretty good shape, and I have at least a month to work on it, so I'm not too worried. In the meantime, I started something for the Chocobo Races (yes, really), and I have ideas for my dragonageholidaycheer gift. Given the due dates, I should probably work on the latter first, but it's the former that's claiming my attention at the moment.

In the rest of life, still no job leads yet, but that's okay with the holidays coming up. We leave for T's mom's place a week from today, and we'll be there most of the following week.

And that's it for me right now. How are you?

Let's catch up on the last couple of weeks, shall we?

1. Work: Things have changed pretty drastically recently and I'm scrambling to keep up. The upshot of it is that I have fewer people to get more things done -- isn't that always the way? -- so I expect my life to be a bit more constrained for awhile. For one thing, I'm moving to a Tuesday - Saturday schedule for awhile, starting this week, probably at least through August. I'll probably also have longer hours in general, and my time while at work will be more constrained. Everything is balanced on a knife-edge, no slack whatsoever, and although I understand a desire to make things more efficient, if you pull too hard on a rope with no slack, it breaks.

So I guess we'll see.

2. Fandom: As planned, I've started a DA:O replay. I went for a Brosca game; her name is Kasia, and I love her to death. Right now we're back in Orzammar, and so far it's everything I could have hoped for. Very different from Aeducan's homecoming, and honestly I think better developed. But more on that when I've played it further. I've been blogging the game over on Tumblr, under the tags KJ Replays DAO and Kasia Brosca, if anyone is interested.

Also, don't forget Doink! signups close tomorrow!! Have a link. I have signed up and am really looking forward to it.

3. In other news: Chorus has started, we're doing Schumann's Mass in C Minor, which is a new piece for me. Very nice so far, although tough in some places. As of yesterday, I am going back to Rome in June, for a week with A and M, which should be extremely awesome, and there's also talk of spending Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas. Whatever can get me through this ridiculous quarter, I'll take it.

Ganked from cereta, because I haven't done one of these in ages, and I'm in the mood for something quick tonight. A few real posts are brewing, but not together in my head yet. Soon.

SIX FOUR NAMES YOU GO BY:
(I got stuck for any more than that)
1. KJ
2. owlmoose
3. K____ J____
4. K___ (short version of above full name, which is what people who knew me before college call me)

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. A turquoise sleeveless mock turtleneck
2. A black overshirt
3. Dichroic glass earrings of very dark blue, almost black

THREE THINGS YOU WANT VERY BADLY AT THE MOMENT:
1. For my megaflare_ff fic to be finished
2. For morale at my workplace to improve from its current rock-bottom levels. I keep thinking it can't possibly get worse, and then it does. Feh.
3. For it to be next weekend, when I will have an Amy and some They Might Be Giants!

THREE PEOPLE WHOM YOU HOPE WILL DO THE MEME:
1. Anyone who wants to
2. Anyone else who wants to
3. Maybe especially the people who I've added recently -- it's fun to get to know new people better!

THREE THINGS YOU DID LAST NIGHT:
1. Drafted a scene for my Mega Flare that had been giving me trouble
2. Drank a latte at Borderlands Cafe while working on said scene
3. Had dinner with friends

THREE PEOPLE YOU LAST TALKED TO ON THE PHONE:
1. A library vendor
2. My manager
3. Someone who needed to renew a movie

THREE THINGS YOU ARE GOING TO DO TOMORROW:
1. Sleep late (please o please)
2. Work on Mega Flare
3. Finish my current k-meme WIP (I hope)

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE DRINKS:
1. Coke made with real sugar
2. Coffee
3. Sparkling water
4. Sangria

THREE THINGS THAT MADE YOU SMILE TODAY:
1. "Still Alive" coming up randomly on iPhone shuffle on my way home from work
2. This (NSFW, and possibly life) animated .gif of Alistair
3. Some really cool new graphic design books

Finished my newgameplus story with time to spare; phew. Now I can finally contemplate other projects. Like the "Old Friends" follow-up, which is nudging me to post it in chapters. And my Mega Flare, which has been sadly neglected lately. And the next round of Chocobo Races!



I have been a very bad tonberry and didn't participate at all last time. /o\ But now that I have a little more breathing room, it's time to come play. I'm eyeing a handful of prompts and thinking of more. Meanwhile, while I was being giddy on a finished project high, it occurred to me that we haven't had one of these in far too long...

The FFX/X-2 Random Pairing List
Round Four

( Every bit as ridiculous as you remember it being last time )

As always, no need to claim -- if one or more of these inspires to create, or gives you an idea for a Chocobo Race prompt, feel free! But a link in comments would be excellent.

Ganked from renay and 3_2_1. Oh-so-very image heavy.

So the idea is to take a picture of the bag you carry around along with its contents. But I couldn't narrow it down to just one; there are no fewer than four (4) bags that I use on a regular basis, and it didn't seem fair to leave one out.

( Many pictures behind the cut. )

And there you have it. Hopefully it is at least vaguely interesting as a slice of my life. Sorry I didn't get clever and number the items in each picture like some other folks did. I thought about it, but with five photos to number I would never have gotten around to it.