sometimes RL gets in the way, but I always wander back here eventually

[tellytubby101]

The last few months since my last post ... have been difficult, to say the least. I don't really want to talk about the stuff that happened, because I'm trying to focus on the good things. So, a list, in no particular order, of the good things that happened in the last two weeks:

1. Passed all my university exams with flying colours - I AM FREE NOW, THANK GOD
2. No longer suicidal or actively depressed
3. My autistic brother hugged me and said he was proud of me (which he has never done before in my entire life, I nearly started sobbing)
4. Tomorrow I'm flying out to Sydney for a quick holiday and to see the Harry Potter museum exhibit
5. I've finished an original fiction novella at 20k
6. I'm 10k into a meta BNF!AU fanfiction for the Avengers
7. Was given American Gods as a gift, bought Unwind and Inheritance, so I've got some lovely (re)reading material for the holidays

As seen in point 6, I've starting writing fanfiction again. I had been writing more original fiction during the accidental hiatus because it was a coping mechanism for the most part. Strangely enough, I think writing that story helped me more than my friends or family, which sounds horrible, but is true.

Anyway, in the works is more of that model!AU for XM:FC, the fic described in point 6, and maybe some Sherlock if I feel up to it. I wanted to sign up for a Big Bang, but I don't think I'm quite ready to jump right back in like that.

Comments

[fantomeq.livejournal.com]

Sounds like things are going well. That's fabulous about your brother. It's better here too, now that we've gotten into a routine of therapy twice a week for my oldest daughter. No writing here though, as I am exhausted.

[tellytubby101.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie. *Hugs you.* Sorry for the late reply.

I wish all the best for your eldest. The one thing I've learnt is that humans are resilient things, so she'll hopefully pull through. As for you, I hope your writing mojo comes back, along with some extra energy. :)

[waterpulse.livejournal.com]

Lol that's the beauty of fandom, it'll still be around whenever you want to take part in it. Congratulations on doing well in school! Glad to hear things are going well, and that you've been writing. Welcome back!

[tellytubby101.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the late reply.

I kind of hope fandom lasts forever. It seems it might, though, which is pretty awesome to think about. Thanks for your comment, it made me smile. ♥ And yeah, it feels good to be back. ^^

random comments will be random

[unjaundiced.livejournal.com]

1. Become rich and buy a huge mansion so we can hang out in it and generally be useless.
2. Eat lots of ice cream. Ice cream cures everything. Except flab.
3. Hug your brother tentatively or you might confuse him if you clutch at him and cry. Clutching + crying = Frightening! Ease him into the touching. >.> *that sounded wrong, sorry*
4. still hasn't seen HP past movie 3 or read any books
5. I wanted to write a book this year... July, my hard drives seizes and takes 1000 hours of work with it. OTL
6. People are asking about From the Other Side, you know >.> Fandom is calling. It wants your soul you back.
7. Build an ostentatious library and lord it over people.

Re: random comments will be random

[tellytubby101.livejournal.com]

1. I approve of this. :D Are there any spare mansions left in Hawaii?
2. What a coincidence! I have proved a similiar theory, but with pizza. XD
3. He has not done anything lately that is hug-worthy.
4. O_O
5. July, mark the month and we shall mourn. Did you have anything backed up anywhere? D:
6. Wow, really? Damn, I should get back and finish that. I sort of vaguely remember how I wanted it to end, but I need to re-read and get the details back.
7. I have two bookshelves out of my anticipated million. :/ There's a long way to go...
BONUS!8. Thanks for the random comment. I've missed you ♥ and I really needed your flavour of crazy after the shitty day I've had. :DDD

Re: random comments will be random

[unjaundiced.livejournal.com]

1. Tons of spare mansions! Or better yet, just pick an empty one and just move in! A lot of the owners don't even stay in them! Want one with a tennis court?
2. Pizza... Now that is just tricky! It looks so thin and everything!
3. Stalk him and wait for him to do something hug-worthy. THEN ATTACK!
4. I lie. I read part of chapter 3 I believe, of the first book when it was printed in the newspaper. :D
5. I mourn July every day. Apparently I didn't back anything up since December of last year and the 1000 hours were from this year. >.>
6. I'm pretty sure FtOS was getting a bit meandery when we were talking about it. XD
7. You could always cheat and fill the shelves with books from library sales and pretend you have a huge library. :D (or get a big cardboard box and sit in it, pretending it's a huge library)
8~! I miss you too. MWAH! *makes blowing kiss motion*

Re: random comments will be random

[tellytubby101.livejournal.com]

(Why did this comment only come into my inbox today? WTF LJ?)

I'm not going to tell you to read Harry Potter or watch the movies. If you ever went about choosing one, I'd highly recommend the books over the movies. I've recently caved and watched The Lion King for the first time last month and was kind of disappointed. I think I watched it without the nostalgia, so it was kind of mediocre for me compared to my friends' reactions. With that in mind, I wouldn't force you to rush to read Harry Potter; I think it's great, but I can't say that without personal bias and rose-tinted glasses firmly in place. Hype is a double edged sword - it creates a bigger fanbase, but by raising expectations it can sometimes lead to one finding disappointment.

Out of curiosity, how do you know it was 1000 hours lost? Do you write consistently for an hour a day, or is this something you generally log in for fun? Losing work - especially that much - is traumatising, but it reminds me of a story. An Australian winner for the Nobel Prize for Literature wrote a book with a pen in longhand script (no abbreviations), and finished like a bajillion words. He took the manuscript - being written by hand meant it was the only one in existence - and then burned it. Then, he sat down to rewrite everything by memory, figuring that anything worth writing again for the second time would be worth reading. Sooo, perhaps this mass deletion could mean you create an award winning book and recieve many accolades? :DDD

I remember having so much energy for FtOS. I think that fizzled out with my manga enthusiasm. I fell out of reading Naruto when Bleach and Kuroshitsuji all started seriously lagging in their plots and just went all over the place. Now that I'm on a break, I think I'll try catch up all the chapters to the current. Then again, I'm still a little grouchy about that bullshit time-skip Bleach pulled. asdfghjkl; Actually, I am getting a little bit of my enthusiasm back for horror-esque manga. I finished Uzumaki, which is really one of the biggest mindfucks of manga I'd ever read, and I'm slowly making my way through Battle Royale, which is apparently what Hunger Games plagarised off. I can certainly see the similarities and am seriously side-eyeing Suzanne Collins "I've never heard of it before"...

Oh! I started watching Misfits and The Walking Dead. Misfits is like season 1 Heroes and the British version of Skins. TWD keeps making me yell at the T.V computer screen. I am constantly terrified that they'll kill of the Asian guy - he is legitimately one of the nicest characters of the ensemble, I think - mainly because in zombie shows, the ethnic minorities always get killed off. CHINESE (FOOD) IS ALWAYS BETTER, NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE. >:D

Dymocks is offering "D Publishing", which is essentially vanity publishing. No checking, editing, etc. I kind of want to publish an 80 page book where all the pages just have "LOL" in big, black font. It's ridiculous, but it wouldn't cost much - like $8 a book or something. However, the way they're going about it, this is going to add a HUGE number of unedited books into their database for sale. One thing on my Bucket List is "Have a published version of something I read on my shelf". Vanity publishing, IMO, is cheating. Cool gift for family/friends, but still cheating a bit.

Wow, this reply got long. I think I'll finish while I'm ahead. XD

Re: random comments will be random

[unjaundiced.livejournal.com]

It came in late because LJ is a tool, but shhhh don't say anything or it shall smite us all.

I wasn't all too impressed with the excerpt I read all those years ago, but then I think the reading level was already far behind and since I was already a huge sci-fi and fantasy nut, it wasn't revolutionary reading to me the way it was for other people. I only saw the first few movies because my brother was obsessed with Harry Potter like most kids that age were. Disgustingly obsessed. I think Disney movies ruined life for me in general though. Every time I remember one, I have a complaint about it. Like Sleeping Beauty... DID NOBODY TEACH YOU NOT TO SPEAK TO STRANGE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN THE WOODS????

I figured the average hours out based on the average amount of time I spent over the period of time (starting in January). I would be working 20 hours or more sometimes and just ... barely sleep. It's a sickness. I tried writing some stuff by hand, but it just wastes paper and I end up writing short vignettes before I get tired of thinking, lol. Seriously, if my brain could type without my fingers, I would probably write much faster. And I've had to rewrite whole stories and papers before and you never really remember precisely what you said or you end up going in a completely different direction. Sometimes it's better since your brain has already vomited out its ideas, but there will always be the phrases you can never get back that you're convinced were pure god.

I also had a ton of pictures and stuff I didn't save that frustrate me. I don't know why I didn't back everything up. I thought I did...

I think a lot of people fizzled out of Naruto and Bleach and stuff. I actually don't read manga the way I used to, though I keep meaning to. *shrugs* Most fandom is not necessarily canon-based anyhow, lol. If you watch the live action film versions of anime/manga, you might like some of them better. They tend to be more gore and fast paced though. FtOS was a bit of a difficult piece considering YOU KEPT TRYING TO SNEAK IN KISHIMOTO the mystery of the goggled kid had to be kept up all the time + the Shimon issue. >.>

Yeah wth at ethnic minorities dying first? Or is it because white people blend in with the undead because they have pale skin and large eyes? Someone should bring in some Asian stereotypes and have them doing flying kung fu or something. I'm pretty sure zombies can't fly.

You could afford to print maybe 2 books of LOLs... and then give them out as Christmas presents. Vanity publishing would be fun at first, then you'd feel like an idiot and you still wouldn't have any real validation. Unless you spammed random stores and talk shows with your books trying to get them to promote them... >.>

Re: random comments will be random

[tellytubby101.livejournal.com]

I understand what you mean. I was too late in picking up "A Series of Unfortunate Events", which a friend of mine absolutely adored when he was younger. However, I found the writing too simplistic, and definitely targeted at a different age bracket. Even when I re-read some old favourites, like some of Emily Rodda's work, my mind notices the writing style as a little off to what I'm used to now; I still love it, but I always wonder whether that's due to me reading it as a child. :S

Sleeping Beauty always annoyed me - the curse was to touch a spindle and die fall into an endless sleep. So the king burned all the spindles and the princess grew up never seeing a spindle. A) MAGIC EXISTS THEREFORE LOGIC IS NULL - burning all of them will do NOTHING, B) Why didn't they keep ONE or a picture of one to show as a WARNING?, and C) That would have annoyed the locals - how else are they going to make thread or whatever? asdfghjkl;

Lately I've been writing at 1 in the mornings, thinking oh God, this is brilliant and then I wake up at 11am and think WHAT HAVE I DONE TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE? DDD: I have faith that with time, trickles of your first draft will come back to you, and even if you don't catch it all, you'd be able to polish it to a new brilliance. :)

It's kind of a habit to stay up-to-date with the canons of any fandoms I'm in. It's because I get rather annoyed when I get spoiled by reading a fanfic. I know that's not so much of an issue with animanga fandoms, but still. Apparently the newest chapters of Bleach are causing a huge ton of wank. :/ In good news, I am close to 50% done buying the English versions of Full Metal Alchemist. ... It is taking up a lot more room on my shelves than initially anticipated. ^^;;

I wish I could do kung-fu. As it is, I fight dirty, with nails and biting and whatnot. Not so much badassery, but eh, it gets the job done. I've always wondered why animals aren't more often portrayed getting a strain of zombie virus. There was "I Am Legend" where the dog got it, but imagine if you were on the run from, I don't know, zombie!birds, or zombie!cats, or dear lord, zombie!ants. I guess that is just too terrifiying because then nowhere would be safe. D:

Nah, I'd rather publish something under a penname and then give out a copy to friends/family, see what they think when they don't know I've written it. That's the plan, anyway. I don't know what I'd do if they'd criticised the book, but I guess the LOL,awkward-factor of revealing I'd written it would be worth it. XD After swimming around cyberspace, there's little they can say that would trump stuff I've read by flamers or trolls. ^^

Re: random comments will be random

[unjaundiced.livejournal.com]

There should be a button that makes our brains automatically accept book reading levels. >.> Unfortunately, I've always been reading years ahead so that would be utterly USELESS. *still writes for low reading levels* Strange, huh?

Yeah maybe the king made them stock up on yarn and thread and crap before he burnt everything? or they had to sit around and use their toes to hold the wool and spin it by hand... OH THE HUMANITY! And they didn't paint spindle pictures because obviously Americana paintings where mundanity was documented didn't exist. And because the faeries were absolutely useless at teaching her anything.

It's exhausting to catch up on stuff when you fall too far behind. I mean, I love One Piece but I'm a couple years behind I think. >.> I think. I can't afford to buy manga though. IT'S FAR TOO EXPENSIVE TO BUY ALL THE VOLUMES EVER! Though sometimes I see someone selling like 150 book sets for $99... and still say, no too expensive. XDDDD

You're Thai so you have to utilize those pointy finger nail thingamajiggers. That would fit in well with stereotype. Zombie!animals has been done before! Or possessed!animals anyhow. Normally with birds because birds are effen everywhere. I saw a movie where crows pecked a whole town to death and were strong enough to shatter storm windows. Not so believable but still... FREAKY.

You could always write a troll book, lol. Or pretend you did it as a joke... >.> and that your soul was not burning in shame. XD

Re: random comments will be random

[tellytubby101.livejournal.com]

I remember my first dive into fanfiction. 90% of the stuff I read back then was awful, but I think I really enjoyed it regardless because I was still new to the idea of tropes and characterisation and perhaps the concept was just so novel to me that any example of fanfiction, AUs especially, were fascinating. For all that some published authors talk about fanfiction not being the way to start, I think it's as good a foothold as any. It taught me about humanising characters with flaws, how to create realistic dialogue, consistent grammar, etc. I think that's better than all of my primary and secondary schooling combined.

Now I have a mental image of Sleeping Beauty walking around the castle in a huge, marshmellow-like padded suit specially commissioned by her father to keep her safe. D:

NGL, 150 manga books for $99? I would be very sorely tempted into buying, because for Australia, that is cheap as chips. (Have I told you that am starting to buy books online from Book Depository? It's books from England, free shipping, and has none of the tax Australia puts on it. ^^) Speaking of money wasting, I'm planning on buying all the Avatar: The Last Airbender box sets and having a marathon. >:D

Thai gold fingertips! Knowing my luck, I'd stab myself in the eye before doing any zombie-killing good with them. XD

I can't read troll fanfiction without cringing (I tried to read that infamous Harry Potter troll fic - "My Immortal" - and I had to click out, could not handle it), so writing it would definitely be way off board for me. I think my fingers just lock up as something dies within me. D:

Re: random comments will be random

[unjaundiced.livejournal.com]

The good thing about fanfiction is it lets you play with a pre-existing world without having to create one yourself which is one of the hardest things to do. It's very good for starting writers and helps them to develop their voice and their portrayal and to hash out how to get their vision across without sounding like rubbish. I just think it's too bad there are so many people who write terribly and either never figure out that their grammar is poor or just never go back to fix it. I mean, come on... Can we capitalise names or can we?

Michelin Man Sleeping Beauty hahahahahahaha

I don't think I'd get free shipping from England. It must cost them a fortune to send unless it's all Surface... I've heard about your insidious Ozzie tax! It's evil!

But yeah, when people let go of their books, they normally sell them in bulk. It's hard to store them all though... How many are in The Last Airbender? Didn't that show sort of fizzle towards the end? I know I never finished watching, lol.

Oh good. Stab yourself in the eye. You won't see the zombie horde as it comes to do you in. Only smell them. XDDD

Writing trolls is easy. Just keep going and press save without thinking. And never look at it ever again. At least not seriously. XD