Happy 2015!
OMG, my last DW post was for last new year's day. /o\ And it's not like I posted much to tumblr either, but I did post more than I thought. I was more pissed off at Teen Wolf than I realised, apparently. But I also still find this as funny and awful as I did when I put it together.
Anyway, Happy New Year to all. I've been enjoying your posting even if I've been quiet.
I have this long post that will apparently never get written, so I'll summarise it. In my head there's this idea of fannish prime time, which is that there are better and worse times of day, week and year to be fannish. In Australia, for instance, early Saturday and Sunday morning is when most of my friends are online. But even things like happening to be online at the same time as friends in the UK so you can chat, or being on when everyone is reacting to the new episode of The Latest Thing or talking about The Thing Everyone Is Talking About. There's being around in the hour after somebody posts that they need a beta. There's watching episodes before the window of tagging for spoilers has passed. For many DW posts, there's a limited time when you can reply and say something that actually contributes to the conversation or the poster.
I used to rail against tyranny of time in terms of international time differences and delays in international releases and so on. The impact of the international time difference is a lot less than it used to be, but I've realised there's another difference, which is what hours of your own day you can spend on fandom, and your willingness to time your hours to when you'll get the most from them. Even when it's asynchronous, timing still makes a difference. There are windows of opportunity and peaks and moments in fannish interactivity.
In ye oldene days, I was a student and working part time and able to respond very fluidly to fannish prime times, and later I was working full time but still able to put in the necessary hours, you know? But these days, I want to make my lunch before work and walk to work and go to yoga after work and cook a nice dinner when I get home and clean the kitchen before I go to bed and go to bed at a sensible hour. Evenings are one fannish prime time that I now miss--the daily check-in, so to speak, when you stay up to date and see things before they're too old to respond to. My main fannish prime time has always been weekends, though, which is when I used to be able to get around the time differences and stay in chat long enough to overlap with a range of other people, and put in the time it takes to squee and beta and comment and write and whatever. But these days, on the weekend, I want to buy food at the markets on Saturday morning and go for a bike ride on Sunday morning and go to the park with my nephews and so on. My former hours of fannish prime time are now spoken for by other activities.
It's not just that I have fewer hours for fandom, although this is the case too. But in the past year, it's also that I don't have the right hours. And I feel like, because I'm not keeping up, I trundle along in the wake of fandom instead of being part of it.
I've been thinking about time a lot recently. I used to really beat myself up for feeling like I never have enough time for everything I want to do. I'm single with no family responsibilities, a (mostly) nine-to-five job and no other formal commitments--how the fuck could I be short on time? But in early December I wrote a list of how I spend my time, and then a list of all the things I want and need and feel pressured to do with my time, and I was like HOLY FUCKING SHIT. The first list was way longer than I would have guessed, and the second list was CRAZY FUCKING LONG. No wonder I feel like I don't have enough time. It was really eye-opening.
Two of the ways I was spending my time got cut immediately: I stopped watching any TV, and I deleted most of the games from my phone. I just, they weren't necessary. They weren't actually valuable. I was using those things to decompress and relax, but actually that time could be spent on more effective ways of decompressing and relaxing. I wasn't watching much TV--maybe 6-10 hours a week--but cutting it has made a big difference to my perception of available time. I will consider bringing it back, but I'm actually not sure I'll want to, having got used to being without it. TV is one of my last ties to fandom, but when you're trundling along in the wake of fandom, sadly, it doesn't seem that necessary to maintain the ties.
So that's a bit of a depressing start to a new year's post, but when it's been a year since your last post you kind of have to ask why. :P
At the start of 2014, I said:
This year I also want a low-drama year, and one that includes more fannish interaction! Wouldn't that be a novelty! My resolutions this year are:
- finish and post at least one unfinished story
- get all my stories into A03
- half my plate is always vegetables
It was a mostly low-drama year, which I needed. It wasn't a year of more fannish interaction. I didn't do the first two resolutions, although I got about half my stories into the archive so that's something. I mostly did the last one, which has been good, and is becoming second nature which makes me happy.
2014 was a good year for me. I had some ups and downs but it was up overall. I had a new job starting January and I did well in it. I got a new-new job just a couple of weeks ago, not because I meant to, but because I got restructured into a different role at my current workplace. :P (It was fine by me, I'm happy to go with the change.) I put a lot of effort into managing work stress and work-life balance, and I feel like it's starting to pay off. I started getting a local, organic vegie delivery, which I've tried before, but this time it somehow worked for me. I subscribed to rdio and enjoyed a ton of new music. I did a feldenkrais course and unexpectedly loved it. My car got written off with hail damage last month and I decided be car-free for a month or two and think about whether I want to be car free in the long term. I discovered kombucha and started making it.
My wishes/intentions/resolutions for 2015 are:
1. With the car and TV and games gone, and all the vegie delivery and feldenkrais and stress management type things I've been doing, I feel I've ended 2014 on the verge of a simpler, more sustainable and more mindful life. I'm very interested in seeing what else I can do to progress that.
2. Get a real yoga practice going, something that works for me.
3. Think seriously about what travel I want to do and why. I want to travel more, but it always gets bumped down list of priorities. It's worth figuring out what's going on there and what's the travel I'm really willing to commit to.
4. Get serious about dating and relationships again. (AAAGGHHH. You know when you childishly and sulkily don't want to do something but you know it's past due? Ugh, it's so past due. /o\)
Gnashing and wailing aside, I feel like those four things should have interesting some overlaps and intersections. :D
All the best for your own 2015, whatever you want it to contain!
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth (
comments).
Anyway, Happy New Year to all. I've been enjoying your posting even if I've been quiet.
I have this long post that will apparently never get written, so I'll summarise it. In my head there's this idea of fannish prime time, which is that there are better and worse times of day, week and year to be fannish. In Australia, for instance, early Saturday and Sunday morning is when most of my friends are online. But even things like happening to be online at the same time as friends in the UK so you can chat, or being on when everyone is reacting to the new episode of The Latest Thing or talking about The Thing Everyone Is Talking About. There's being around in the hour after somebody posts that they need a beta. There's watching episodes before the window of tagging for spoilers has passed. For many DW posts, there's a limited time when you can reply and say something that actually contributes to the conversation or the poster.
I used to rail against tyranny of time in terms of international time differences and delays in international releases and so on. The impact of the international time difference is a lot less than it used to be, but I've realised there's another difference, which is what hours of your own day you can spend on fandom, and your willingness to time your hours to when you'll get the most from them. Even when it's asynchronous, timing still makes a difference. There are windows of opportunity and peaks and moments in fannish interactivity.
In ye oldene days, I was a student and working part time and able to respond very fluidly to fannish prime times, and later I was working full time but still able to put in the necessary hours, you know? But these days, I want to make my lunch before work and walk to work and go to yoga after work and cook a nice dinner when I get home and clean the kitchen before I go to bed and go to bed at a sensible hour. Evenings are one fannish prime time that I now miss--the daily check-in, so to speak, when you stay up to date and see things before they're too old to respond to. My main fannish prime time has always been weekends, though, which is when I used to be able to get around the time differences and stay in chat long enough to overlap with a range of other people, and put in the time it takes to squee and beta and comment and write and whatever. But these days, on the weekend, I want to buy food at the markets on Saturday morning and go for a bike ride on Sunday morning and go to the park with my nephews and so on. My former hours of fannish prime time are now spoken for by other activities.
It's not just that I have fewer hours for fandom, although this is the case too. But in the past year, it's also that I don't have the right hours. And I feel like, because I'm not keeping up, I trundle along in the wake of fandom instead of being part of it.
I've been thinking about time a lot recently. I used to really beat myself up for feeling like I never have enough time for everything I want to do. I'm single with no family responsibilities, a (mostly) nine-to-five job and no other formal commitments--how the fuck could I be short on time? But in early December I wrote a list of how I spend my time, and then a list of all the things I want and need and feel pressured to do with my time, and I was like HOLY FUCKING SHIT. The first list was way longer than I would have guessed, and the second list was CRAZY FUCKING LONG. No wonder I feel like I don't have enough time. It was really eye-opening.
Two of the ways I was spending my time got cut immediately: I stopped watching any TV, and I deleted most of the games from my phone. I just, they weren't necessary. They weren't actually valuable. I was using those things to decompress and relax, but actually that time could be spent on more effective ways of decompressing and relaxing. I wasn't watching much TV--maybe 6-10 hours a week--but cutting it has made a big difference to my perception of available time. I will consider bringing it back, but I'm actually not sure I'll want to, having got used to being without it. TV is one of my last ties to fandom, but when you're trundling along in the wake of fandom, sadly, it doesn't seem that necessary to maintain the ties.
So that's a bit of a depressing start to a new year's post, but when it's been a year since your last post you kind of have to ask why. :P
At the start of 2014, I said:
This year I also want a low-drama year, and one that includes more fannish interaction! Wouldn't that be a novelty! My resolutions this year are:
- finish and post at least one unfinished story
- get all my stories into A03
- half my plate is always vegetables
It was a mostly low-drama year, which I needed. It wasn't a year of more fannish interaction. I didn't do the first two resolutions, although I got about half my stories into the archive so that's something. I mostly did the last one, which has been good, and is becoming second nature which makes me happy.
2014 was a good year for me. I had some ups and downs but it was up overall. I had a new job starting January and I did well in it. I got a new-new job just a couple of weeks ago, not because I meant to, but because I got restructured into a different role at my current workplace. :P (It was fine by me, I'm happy to go with the change.) I put a lot of effort into managing work stress and work-life balance, and I feel like it's starting to pay off. I started getting a local, organic vegie delivery, which I've tried before, but this time it somehow worked for me. I subscribed to rdio and enjoyed a ton of new music. I did a feldenkrais course and unexpectedly loved it. My car got written off with hail damage last month and I decided be car-free for a month or two and think about whether I want to be car free in the long term. I discovered kombucha and started making it.
My wishes/intentions/resolutions for 2015 are:
1. With the car and TV and games gone, and all the vegie delivery and feldenkrais and stress management type things I've been doing, I feel I've ended 2014 on the verge of a simpler, more sustainable and more mindful life. I'm very interested in seeing what else I can do to progress that.
2. Get a real yoga practice going, something that works for me.
3. Think seriously about what travel I want to do and why. I want to travel more, but it always gets bumped down list of priorities. It's worth figuring out what's going on there and what's the travel I'm really willing to commit to.
4. Get serious about dating and relationships again. (AAAGGHHH. You know when you childishly and sulkily don't want to do something but you know it's past due? Ugh, it's so past due. /o\)
Gnashing and wailing aside, I feel like those four things should have interesting some overlaps and intersections. :D
All the best for your own 2015, whatever you want it to contain!
This entry was originally posted at dreamwidth (
comments).