Reading and writing and carving, oh my!
Yuletide: I got a fandom I also requested; I'm curious to see if I actually receive that same fandom, or if someone was assigned one of my other requests. Must start pondering what I'd like to write. In addition to my nano idea.
Yuletide Candy swap: doing this for the first time, have already corresponded with my recipient and my sender. Sugar, yay!
Yuletide New Year's Resolutions: after seeing the full list compiled last night, I saw two fics in fandoms I was interested in, but had never read before: Maurice (by E.M. Forster) and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Both were wonderful tributes to original canon - one a canon-based AU, and one a "after the book ends" scene. Really enjoyed both.
Did not enjoy: reading this article about a gender-creative boy who likes to dress in "girl" costumes for Halloween, which his parents support. Sounds good, right? Except I made the mistake of reading the comments, and pretty much wanted to strangle EVERYONE. It drives me bananas, the number of people who assume that somehow the parent is PUSHING their child to be transgender/gender fluid/etc. Some accuse that parents are doing this because it's "trendy." Why would anyone WANT their kid to be the target of hate and ridicule? The very idea that ANY parent is the driving force is lunatic. Then, of course, there are those who are saying, "Kids that young don't know what they want. It's up to the adult to steer them, and to ignore naive, childish requests, like, "I want to marry Daddy when I grow up" or "I'm going to have ice cream every meal for the rest of my life." Well, yes, that's true, but it does NOT APPLY to gender identity, and parents who support their kids are not bad parents. I know that cultural understanding of gender identity is only just becoming more widely known, and that these are people who have never had any reason to think about what their lives would be like if they weren't cis-gendered. But their comments, one after another, all ignorant and bigoted against my kid and those like him, made me so angry and frustrated. I had to close the tab and walk away, but I can't un-see it, you know? Gah.
Halloween: Our trick or treat night was tonight. Two went in a self-designed "fallen angel" costume, consisting of black pants and shirt, black pleather biker jacket (all items he already owned), and black feather wings from Hot Topic. He was grumpy that nobody knew who he was, but I thought it was very cool. MiniPlu went as Agnes, the tiniest girl from Despicable Me, with matching clothes, hair in a topknot ponytail, and carrying her unicorn PillowPet ("It's so FLUFFY!"). Because of the yellow shirt (Agnes wore yellow/brown stripes, but we couldn't find stripes), and the shorts overalls, many people assumed she was a Minion, which was, at least, the right movie. Only one person guessed right, but that was okay - the Minion guesses didn't bother her, but she drew the line at "teddy bear" "farmer" and the assumption that she was eight. :P I took her around, while Two went with his best friend and her mom. And our kids have the option of trick or treating a second time, on the proper night, as we're in NJ for my FIL's bday. So, they may or may not traipse through R&K's neighborhood tomorrow, remains to be seen.
Pumpkin: I was ambitious and carved our pumpkin to look like Olaf the snowman. Turned out pretty well, but unfortunately, the candle kept blowing out, so nobody got to admire him. :(
If you do not live in the USA: Do you celebrate Halloween? How does it manifest where you are?
Yuletide Candy swap: doing this for the first time, have already corresponded with my recipient and my sender. Sugar, yay!
Yuletide New Year's Resolutions: after seeing the full list compiled last night, I saw two fics in fandoms I was interested in, but had never read before: Maurice (by E.M. Forster) and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Both were wonderful tributes to original canon - one a canon-based AU, and one a "after the book ends" scene. Really enjoyed both.
Did not enjoy: reading this article about a gender-creative boy who likes to dress in "girl" costumes for Halloween, which his parents support. Sounds good, right? Except I made the mistake of reading the comments, and pretty much wanted to strangle EVERYONE. It drives me bananas, the number of people who assume that somehow the parent is PUSHING their child to be transgender/gender fluid/etc. Some accuse that parents are doing this because it's "trendy." Why would anyone WANT their kid to be the target of hate and ridicule? The very idea that ANY parent is the driving force is lunatic. Then, of course, there are those who are saying, "Kids that young don't know what they want. It's up to the adult to steer them, and to ignore naive, childish requests, like, "I want to marry Daddy when I grow up" or "I'm going to have ice cream every meal for the rest of my life." Well, yes, that's true, but it does NOT APPLY to gender identity, and parents who support their kids are not bad parents. I know that cultural understanding of gender identity is only just becoming more widely known, and that these are people who have never had any reason to think about what their lives would be like if they weren't cis-gendered. But their comments, one after another, all ignorant and bigoted against my kid and those like him, made me so angry and frustrated. I had to close the tab and walk away, but I can't un-see it, you know? Gah.
Halloween: Our trick or treat night was tonight. Two went in a self-designed "fallen angel" costume, consisting of black pants and shirt, black pleather biker jacket (all items he already owned), and black feather wings from Hot Topic. He was grumpy that nobody knew who he was, but I thought it was very cool. MiniPlu went as Agnes, the tiniest girl from Despicable Me, with matching clothes, hair in a topknot ponytail, and carrying her unicorn PillowPet ("It's so FLUFFY!"). Because of the yellow shirt (Agnes wore yellow/brown stripes, but we couldn't find stripes), and the shorts overalls, many people assumed she was a Minion, which was, at least, the right movie. Only one person guessed right, but that was okay - the Minion guesses didn't bother her, but she drew the line at "teddy bear" "farmer" and the assumption that she was eight. :P I took her around, while Two went with his best friend and her mom. And our kids have the option of trick or treating a second time, on the proper night, as we're in NJ for my FIL's bday. So, they may or may not traipse through R&K's neighborhood tomorrow, remains to be seen.
Pumpkin: I was ambitious and carved our pumpkin to look like Olaf the snowman. Turned out pretty well, but unfortunately, the candle kept blowing out, so nobody got to admire him. :(
If you do not live in the USA: Do you celebrate Halloween? How does it manifest where you are?