Hiatus

[raven]

You ever have a day where you just wake up depressed? Today, and yesterday, have been like that for me, mostly due to a combination of sucky things and a lack of sleep that makes me overreact wildly to said sucky things. They're not all that interesting, really. But the newest fandom kerfuffle, Strikethrough II - and I really don't want to explain it, so I'll just say that it's basically LJ and pornish_pixies coming into conflict over what constitutes acceptable content - is definitely one of the sucky things.

It's actually upset me quite a lot, especialy until just now, when I couldn't find anyone who had expressed my thoughts better than me and ended up thinking that mine was just a lonely unpopular opinion. But I've found this post by synecdochic, and abyssinia4077 pointed me at this one by splash_the_cat, and yes - that's what I think. And that's all I want to say about it, because I have no idea why it's getting to me so much. (I dreamed last night that I was alone in the bookshop, standing in stock-still horror as the waters rose, the books were soaking, sinking, lost, and I was just standing there watching it happen. Er, symbolism much, subconscious o'mine?)

I am loneraven on InsaneJournal, GreatestJournal (which I loathe), and DeadJournal too - although there is one other person in fandom who uses the name, all those are definitely me. I don't have a journalfen. If you want to add me on any of those sites, feel free. For the foreseeable future, I'll be here. And that really is all I want to say about it.

Anyway. I'm doing my best to keep up with hawkfromhandsaw sign-ups, and am hugely impressed by the amount of people who're talking part. And I'm also trying to keep up with comments on my race and ethnicity post, and I'm impressed there that nowhere did the conversation descend into wank. Of course there were disagreements, but they were all perfectly civil and informed. Some people, I think, have friended me because of that post - hi, guys, nice to meet you, and I promise I'm not always this neurotic.

The funny thing is, despite all the recent kerfuffling, I posted a fic last night that has, more than most of my stories, a lot of myself in it. And the response to it seems to have picked up on that, and it reminds me of all that I love about fandom - writers, readers, storytellers and people I love, and the best part is that they all coincide.

Okay. Because I'm feeling weird in the head and, besides, my inbox tells me that I've had five hundred comment notifications in the last ten days and I need a break from spending all my time online, I'm going to be a little bit absent over the next few days. (In addition to that, I'm going to London - I'm doing some work for pinkishmew's brother, teaching philosophy to teenagers, which should be interesting if a wee bit nerve-wracking - and due in part to the sucky things mentioned above, I might have go to London again the day after I get back. We'll see.)

I'll keep updating the hawkfromhandsaw list, and maybe reading my flist sporadically, but if you really want to reach me for whatever reason, I'd recommend email, at least for a bit.

Tomorrow, tau_sigma is coming to visit, and she and I and hathy_col are going to watch Doctor Who and Heroes and Slings & Arrows, and squee, and eat gluten-free pizza. This, I think, is another thing fandom is all about.

Have a nice weekend, guys. See you in a few days.

Comments

[pinkishmew.livejournal.com]

[cuddles] Have an awesome time, and you'll be great at Debate Chamber - or whatever it's now called. I think it has a more generalised title now. And, y'know, hi to my brother! :D

[and more huggles] Because feeling low for days is rubbish. I have made a GJ, but I don't want to leave LJ. It's set-up how I like, and I would miss people.

[such_heights]

:( Hope things start to look up for you soon!

teaching philosophy to teenagers, which should be interesting if a wee bit nerve-wracking

That sounds hella awesome, hope you enjoy yourself. Shall go and find you on GJ and IJ now.

[furies.livejournal.com]

eh. i agree with you on the whole lj kerfuffle. i'm not going anywhere, since i got here before fandom did, and generally like what i am able to do with my journal.

and you are so awesome for the AMS ficathon, seriously. i'm so happy so many people are signing up! you must be so proud. ;)

[slasheuse.livejournal.com]

I made my own post that doesn't disagree with synecdochic's. I personally think InsaneJournal's terminology is offensive, and JournalFen too exclusive (by which I mean I am mostly just jelus) so although GreatestJournal does feel like.. the sweaty day-old doner kebab of journalling, it's my preferred choice. I had, however, completely forgotten about DJ. HURRAH!

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

For the foreseeable future, I'll be here. And that really is all I want to say about it.

Me too--just so you know.

[juliekarasik.livejournal.com]

Thank you for those thoughts, and for posting these links. I also thought I was all alone in thinking that fandom-at-large is seriously missing the point, and may in fact be unaware that there is a world outside of LJ.