One for Sorrow

Thought it was a poltergeist.

My sister lives in Richmond, VA. Lucky she and her two youngest kids are apparently in NYC today on the Circle Line. Who knew?

Hope everybody in the DC area is okay!

p.s. I swear I had ideas for posts during the time lj was down but now I forgot them. I have only one more book to read in ASOIAF and then maybe I can talk about them. I think somebody once asked me what I thought of Cersei...

Wow there are scary things happening all over the world all at once right now. And I'm removed enough from all of them that I can focus on a meme that jlh tagged me with:

What's the first song you truly remember loving? (Don't worry if it's a little embarrassing; you were just a kid!) Then tag as many friends as you like to do the meme as well!

Hard to remember, but ones I recall in no particular order... ( This got complicated so yes, I managed to make even this simple meme tl;dr. )

Oops, I forgot to tag anybody. I know it's a cop-out but I hope anybody who finds this idea fun does it!

I was reading a discussion on Scans_Daily today that circled around one of my pet peeves: the importance of a "normal" life. I don't know why this bugs me--I can remember getting into a big fight about it once regarding a kids' book years ago.

Let me define normal in this context. Sometimes fandom etc. uses "normal" to describe people not in fandom, often associating the word with things that are boring and mundane. That's not what I mean here. I don't think there's anything wrong with living a "normal" life that you enjoy. I don't think that Jim and Pam on The Office have betrayed themselves or us by admitting that they are satisfied working at a small paper company while they enjoy each other and their baby probably soon to be babies.

This is not about putting down the "normal" life--it's more about the opposite, the sometimes unthinking judgment that "normal" is healthy and therefore "abnormal" is unhealthy. ( That always confused me. )

I was talking today about a thing on Pop Culture Happy Hour last week where there was this theory put forth that in order to have cool kids, you ought to not be cool parents. The idea being that cool parents produce dull kids and vice versa, since kids rebel. This is echoed in a Wired piece this week about geeks needing a wider, blander culture to react against or else you don't get creativity.

And I thought a lot of the appeal of these ideas is that it gives you a formula for creativity, a way of ensuring you can be cool, when in fact creativity and talent is often innate, unearned and unfair. Which is not to say that you either get sprinkled with the creativity dust at birth and you’re a prodigy and if you aren't you should just shut up and there's no hope for you and hard work means nothing--could not disagree with that more. I just don't think it's wholly created by your environment, doesn’t always fit in with your personality, at least not in a way that makes it easy. ( So I started thinking about my own tastes in things and whether I got them from my parents. )

Anyone else have relevant experiences in this area?

There's something weird about that year. Weird in a good way. 11 is so Edwardian. It's also my favorite number. Hopefully that will make for a lucky year.

Hope everyone had a good New Year's. I got back home just as the blizzard was starting and stayed locked inside for the worst of it, rationing food to keep from having to go shopping. I went to a New Year's slumber party and could even just see the fireworks from the window! ali_wildgoose made these Mohito martini cocktail things that went very well with pink champagne. It must have left me really hungry because I went out to dinner last year and was ravenous--and also had some nice spiked apple cider. Mmmm. Warm.

Anyway, I did Yuletide this year so for the first time I actually knew what was going on with that. I got four lovely stories (linked here) and was so grateful and psyched for that that I wrote a treat for someone on Christmas Day. Apparently people reveal themselves on lj to say what they wrote, so these were mine.

The treat I wrote was for a YA book that might not be that well-known but it was a favorite of mine and one person requested it. It's called Down a Dark Hall and is by Lois Duncan. I recommend the book more than my story, but my fic is Priorities.

My main story is a re-telling of one of my fave fairy tales that's not as well-known as some others (but is sort of a variation on a more well-known story), "Fitcher's Bird." In my head it's read in a 1920s New York accent. Much jazz age slang, Yiddish and flappers.

Esther and the Egg 3200 words. The Egg snatched nearly every chorus girl at The Club Araby. Then he snatched Esther.

Community and Back to the Future fans should also check out Clio's Ancient Artifacts and Modern Rituals (the gang goes to NYC for a Vacation Episode!), which I got to read before it was posted, and Alternates (I can't be the only person who found the happy ending on Back to the Future a little scary, right? How was Marty going to cope with a family full of strangers?).

Okay. Have a ton of stuff to do today, all without getting out of pajamas. Let 2011 begin!

I saw this article about the declining interest in and importance of friendship linked on Tumblr earlier and thought it said some interesting things. Even if you don't agree with everything in it I think it brings up some really basic points about how relationships tend to get weighted now. Especially the way that romantic relationships and marriage for a lot of people are expected to take on a lot of the job that friendship used to have. ( More rambling in here. )

I was reading a post on No_Scans_Daily about nerds taking over as the dominant group in the media, and complaints that this was a betrayal of what a nerd or a geek was, because they just became like the jocks who kept them outside. That's a really quick sum up just to get to what it got me thinking about which was...( I don't think the classic nerd idea was really an outsider ever. )

I have felt so buried lately! We're doing a special thing at work that leads to twice as much work as usual, plus I just moved, which always seems to include more things to do than you expect. Just last night I finally dropped off my old cable boxes at Time Warner (after 3 attempts at appointments to get it hooked up, one of which was just about learning that they couldn't), but got caught in a freak rainshower that lasted from the time I left the cab to the moment I arrived three at the office drenched, with the bag I had the cable box and modem in in pieces. Blech. You know it's bad when the guy at the counter just laughs at you.

Anyway, now I'm finally (hopefully) settled. And I have had a chance to read at least one excellent book that I have wanted to say something about. ( Zuko's Story! The Last Airbender Prequel--spoilers for ATLA, of course, even though it's a prequel )

I threw out this month's Metrocard instead of my old one.

Iow, I started the year by throwing out $90.00. Go me.

Am requesting as much of a refund as I can get.

Edit: OMG, great news! Too complicated to explain, but problem solved. Hurrah! 2010 is good again!

My profile's full of lovely snowflakes! I feel showered in love!:DDDDD

Thanks everybody!