I think I may treat myself to Starbucks for dinner.

[rei_c]

I heard "Night Moves" on the radio on the way to work this morning and I have no idea why but it, like, immediately slung me into this really melancholic mood. I just wanna go home and drink tea and curl into the corner of my couch with an afghan and watch Merrick IV repair the web that the handyman ruined yesterday

Comments

[ravurian]

Ugh, the paralysis of the blank page and the incarnating and disincarnating self.

I don't have much news either, except that I seem to have fallen down several sequential internet rabbit-holes of late, and am presently neck-deep in Hockey RPF, which-- well-- I mean. I now know more than I ever thought I'd care to about hockey-the-game (I'm still not going to watch it, of course; though I may occasionally watch clips; and I might one day be in the States again, so I guess I shouldn't rule it out), and I guess that I now have opinions and pairings and OTPs and so on. There is so much inventiveness in this fandom that it's like stumbling into an original shared multiverse populated by writers of imagination and flair with characters who are dynamic, interesting and variously incarnated. I'm mostly reading these things as original fic, which works surprisingly well, though obviously there is boundary seeping. The writers in this fandom, though, blimey. And the number of 100k+ fics out there! Some of these fics have engaged ALL FOUR of my known feelings at once. I may have team-specific OTPS, for god's sake. What is even happening to me?

And as for you. Well. You get points for typing anything at all.

[rei_c]

The blank page, the blank screen: at once so freeing and yet so terrifying. But also, I really do lead such a boring life that I have no idea what to talk about, even if the forum consists of people who might actually be interested in the minutiae of my life. (I made some really excellent pot roast this weekend? My recent doctor's appointment went reasonably well, all things considered? I found a nice liquorice tea? I find it slightly amusing and yet also incredibly sad that none of my coworkers believe that I'm as introverted as I really am? Are these things people would want to hear about? I don't know.)

Ooooo, sports RPF. And hockey, no less! I give you many kudos for that; hockey RPF is the one thing I can't get into, despite how many friends I have lost to that rabbit-hole and how crazily involved I was in footie RPF for a while there. Maybe it's because I do care about hockey-the-game? (Though I also care about footie-the-game to an obsessive level, so no, that's probably not it.)

What are your opinions! Do you have a team! (There are right/wrong answers here which may jeopardise our friendship, just a warning.) Who are your diehard OTPs! If there's one/two/a dozen fics someone should read to get a broad-range spectrum understanding of hockey fandom, what are they!

...WHAT ARE YOUR FOUR KNOWN FEELINGS.

...WHAT IS THIS ABOUT YOU MIGHT ONE DAY BE BEING IN THE STATES AGAIN. (Actually, with the exchange rate being what it is, I should be planning a trip in your direction quick-like, shouldn't I.)

[ravurian]

Oh, I feel you. I have whole months where I seem to do nothing but go to work and come home again, but sometimes it's not so much what you do as it is how you mythologise yourself and your existence, right? I mean, I am quite naturally somewhat mythological, which helps to storify my life in sometimes bizarre ways, but. I dunno. I could do with a recipe for a good pot roast. Baking I can handle. Cooking... well. I don't really do that much. Need more practice. And I care what your doc says, FWIW.

HOCKEY THOUGH. I am beginning to be actually interested in it for itself, and not just for these amazing stories. I don't know that I'd be able to articulate my opinions just yet, except that obviously I am fannishly biased towards the Pens (SID & GENO OMG THE FIC THE FIC THE FIC and their ridiculous faces, and their magnificent Stanley Cup win), and somewhat temperamentally predisposed towards all things Staal (Marc and Jared not so much, but Jordie and Eric? HULLO GINGERS. Do not talk to me about the Canes trading Eric away though, because I might cry) and of course Ovechkin is hilarious both in real life and in fic so I might be a little interested in the Caps by proxy, and I have recently discovered the existence of Gabriel Landeskog (who, like Eric Staal, might have been designed to pique my interest), but let us also not forget Jack Zimmerman and Eric Bittle of web comic Check Please (please tell me you've heard of this; it's brilliant; and there is EPIC fic that I am still flailing over).

I'm probably not the best person to give you recs to understand the fandom, because I was more interested in stories than, you know, how fans engage with the sport or each other, but I've bookmarked most of the fic I've liked on AO3 if you fancied having a squizz. THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD ONES. I have made noises and laughed aloud and thrown things and jumped up to pace around, and I can't remember the last time that happened in a fandom, to be honest. Part of it is the joy of arriving late and finding the fandom so richly and deeply populated, with so many ideas and so much care and inventiveness, and so much passion and skill. It's like the perfect storm. It just. SO MUCH JOY. It's lovely. And I love, too, that they don't just stick to their lane - there are so many AUs that somehow work, and so much playing around with tropes, and so much angst and reward, and rather a lot of sheer perversion, to be honest. I mean. What's not to love?

My four known feelings are: what, how, ouch, omg (also sometimes know as: OH NO, PLS, aw and [fistpump]). (LOL).

And as for the States, oh yeah, I'm always on the edge of it, but until recently my finances have mostly been committed. I think the next time I come I'm going to be heading in the Portland Oregon direction to see my friend emeraldsedai (AKA darkemeralds, who wrote an epic J2 Regency AU that is presently being retooled for publication), with probably a stop to see friends in Seattle. Mind you, I've got friends in New York whose baby I have never met. And right now I'd also kind of really like to go to a Pens game (match? game). And then, I suppose, I've also got all those friends in California, and one of my friends has recently moved home to Michigan so I should see her, and I do have my missing aunt and cousins to track down (who may be in one of the Carolinas, or may have moved back to Florida by now, who knows?), and then of course I've always wanted to go to New Orleans. And then, of course, Canadia: my good friend Rupes is currently Our Man in Vancouver, and I've been keen to go back to Toronto, where I have family. SO. UM. That's quite the potential itinerary.

And as for you! Yes, you need to come here. And if you felt like doing it in August next year, I will be (OH GOD) 40 on the 20th, so you should definitely bear that in mind. If you so wish.

Wow, I lost all grip on punctuation and grammar in this comment, didn't I?