(no subject)
As some of you may know, I work in a psychology department, and as such, from time to time I take part in experiments. Yesterday, for example, I got to wear a net of electrodes on my head and push buttons while having salt water dripped on me from a pipette for half an hour. I got six quid and some delicious caek for my trouble.
Today I did another one. This time I had my hair smeared with... well, they said it was EEG gel but it smelled suspisciously like lube. Then they gave me small electric shocks to the wrist for almost two hours and at the end I got paid absolutely fuck all!
... OK, there are people out there who'd pay good money for that kind of treatment, but still...
Anyway, have a meme, which comes via nuclearsugars:
Meme rules: Reply to this meme by yelling - or typing - "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you. Or explain in the comments. Or not at all. The choice is yours.
Coffee
When I was 17 I got a job in a wonderful indie bookstore. My first day, one of the owners - a rather stately old-school 70s lesbian called Gay (srsly) who always vaguely reminded me of Professor McGonagall - asked me if I'd like a coffee. I was too polite to refuse. I was also too polite to refuse when she offered me the second coffee, and the third coffee, and the fourth coffee. By the time I went home I was bouncing off the walls.
And so, a great love affair was born. Mmm coffee.
Punk
I love punk music. I love it. I love virtually every kind, from the Ramones to Reel Big Fish, Bad Religion to the Banshees, X-Ray Spex to NOFX. (And of course Rancid, one of my all-time favourite bands - who, despite their wonderfully punk name, are actually really melodic and oddly romantic.)
I like to kid myself I am a punk, but I'm not really. I guess there are hints of it in the way I dress (facial piercings, tight black jeans, my hair hasn't been its natural shade in ten years), but ultimately I am too much of a wuss to go in the moshpit, and don't really like to be around sweaty punk fans, because they push you over and get sweat on you, and as much as I love to jump about, I can only do it for about a minute before I have an asthma attack.
Sarcasm
Yeah, because I'd want to talk about that to you.
I love being sarcastic. I blame it on my being extremely cynical and jaded, which in turn can be traced back to what happens when you take a happy, bouncy, popular, optimistic eleven-year-old girl and put her in the sort of secondary school that is more worried about reducing the appearance of bullying than it is about reducing bullying itself. And leave her there for seven years.
Sporking
A spork is an implement halfway between a spoon and a fork, and as such, can also be a slang term for the thing where you're lying in bed, spooning, on a Saturday morning and you're not actually having sex but you might be in a minute 'cos you're all cosy and cuddled up and stuff. (OK, so I may have made this up.)
Ahem. So, anyway, sporking. In fandom terms this is I guess what I do the most of - it's pisstaking, ripping apart, analysing, mocking, fangirling and everything else all rolled up together. I love that there's a word for this. I love that it exists. I've never been comfortable with the idea that being a fan of something means accepting it as it is, or that if you don't love absolutely everything about the source material (or whatever) that you shouldn't be in fandom. On the contrary, as I believe I've argued before, it's the fandoms with gaps that tend to last, because there's more to do. I've often heard fans of, say, Diana Wynne Jones, or Philip Pullman (both of whom I adore) complain that they doesn't get the attention JKR does, which isn't fair because they are better writers. I agree that they are better writers, and argue that that's precisely why their books don't have the fandom HP does - because there aren't enough gaps to fill in, enough backstories to wonder about, enough unresolved plot points or romantic subthreads to play with - enough unanswered questions, in short. I would have trouble sporking a PP or DWJ book.
I'm rambling a bit here, but my point is - sporking is fun, sporking is healthy, sporking does a fandom good. *nods*
Japan
I am such a massive weeaboo. I am ashamed. But I do love Japan! I think a big part of this is the connection with my brother, and the fact that I had such a brilliant time there with him, but it's also a genuine love of lots of things that happen to be Japanese. I love the way cherry blossoms look, for example; I love ramen, and sushi, and miniature things, and homoerotica aimed at women, and Nintendo. In my defence I also love lots of things that are not Japanese, like pizza and hot glue and gay wizard sex and garlic and xkcd and cheese and threadless.com and gladioli and making things and playing the ukulele. And while anime is OK, I'm not an anime fangirl. And I don't say "kawai!" all the time. (I do make the peace sign in every photo I'm in, though; it's a disease really.)
Ah, who am I kidding. I am such a weeaboo. :D
If you want to play, request words in the comments!
Today I did another one. This time I had my hair smeared with... well, they said it was EEG gel but it smelled suspisciously like lube. Then they gave me small electric shocks to the wrist for almost two hours and at the end I got paid absolutely fuck all!
... OK, there are people out there who'd pay good money for that kind of treatment, but still...
Anyway, have a meme, which comes via nuclearsugars:
Meme rules: Reply to this meme by yelling - or typing - "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you. Or explain in the comments. Or not at all. The choice is yours.
Coffee
When I was 17 I got a job in a wonderful indie bookstore. My first day, one of the owners - a rather stately old-school 70s lesbian called Gay (srsly) who always vaguely reminded me of Professor McGonagall - asked me if I'd like a coffee. I was too polite to refuse. I was also too polite to refuse when she offered me the second coffee, and the third coffee, and the fourth coffee. By the time I went home I was bouncing off the walls.
And so, a great love affair was born. Mmm coffee.
Punk
I love punk music. I love it. I love virtually every kind, from the Ramones to Reel Big Fish, Bad Religion to the Banshees, X-Ray Spex to NOFX. (And of course Rancid, one of my all-time favourite bands - who, despite their wonderfully punk name, are actually really melodic and oddly romantic.)
I like to kid myself I am a punk, but I'm not really. I guess there are hints of it in the way I dress (facial piercings, tight black jeans, my hair hasn't been its natural shade in ten years), but ultimately I am too much of a wuss to go in the moshpit, and don't really like to be around sweaty punk fans, because they push you over and get sweat on you, and as much as I love to jump about, I can only do it for about a minute before I have an asthma attack.
Sarcasm
Yeah, because I'd want to talk about that to you.
I love being sarcastic. I blame it on my being extremely cynical and jaded, which in turn can be traced back to what happens when you take a happy, bouncy, popular, optimistic eleven-year-old girl and put her in the sort of secondary school that is more worried about reducing the appearance of bullying than it is about reducing bullying itself. And leave her there for seven years.
Sporking
A spork is an implement halfway between a spoon and a fork, and as such, can also be a slang term for the thing where you're lying in bed, spooning, on a Saturday morning and you're not actually having sex but you might be in a minute 'cos you're all cosy and cuddled up and stuff. (OK, so I may have made this up.)
Ahem. So, anyway, sporking. In fandom terms this is I guess what I do the most of - it's pisstaking, ripping apart, analysing, mocking, fangirling and everything else all rolled up together. I love that there's a word for this. I love that it exists. I've never been comfortable with the idea that being a fan of something means accepting it as it is, or that if you don't love absolutely everything about the source material (or whatever) that you shouldn't be in fandom. On the contrary, as I believe I've argued before, it's the fandoms with gaps that tend to last, because there's more to do. I've often heard fans of, say, Diana Wynne Jones, or Philip Pullman (both of whom I adore) complain that they doesn't get the attention JKR does, which isn't fair because they are better writers. I agree that they are better writers, and argue that that's precisely why their books don't have the fandom HP does - because there aren't enough gaps to fill in, enough backstories to wonder about, enough unresolved plot points or romantic subthreads to play with - enough unanswered questions, in short. I would have trouble sporking a PP or DWJ book.
I'm rambling a bit here, but my point is - sporking is fun, sporking is healthy, sporking does a fandom good. *nods*
Japan
I am such a massive weeaboo. I am ashamed. But I do love Japan! I think a big part of this is the connection with my brother, and the fact that I had such a brilliant time there with him, but it's also a genuine love of lots of things that happen to be Japanese. I love the way cherry blossoms look, for example; I love ramen, and sushi, and miniature things, and homoerotica aimed at women, and Nintendo. In my defence I also love lots of things that are not Japanese, like pizza and hot glue and gay wizard sex and garlic and xkcd and cheese and threadless.com and gladioli and making things and playing the ukulele. And while anime is OK, I'm not an anime fangirl. And I don't say "kawai!" all the time. (I do make the peace sign in every photo I'm in, though; it's a disease really.)
Ah, who am I kidding. I am such a weeaboo. :D
If you want to play, request words in the comments!