Meme meme meme! I is lemming.
From anyjen: "Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given."
The list she gave me was this:
1. CLAMP
2. Alternate pairings (or threesomes, whatever applies)
3. Veggies
4. Cats
5. Crafts
So here goes.
1. CLAMP
Okay, I got into CLAMP around 1999-2000, maybe even 1998. I remember checking out some X manga from the library around age seventeen, anyway. I got into it via Tokyo Babylon--by which I mean I had some pretty pictures and some rather hard to read translations. Still, I loved the Hokuto-Subaru-Seishirou dynamic, and I lingered in the fandom for a while, until it felt like I wasn't into it anymore.
(Little did I know that when CLAMP owns you, it's for life.)
xxxHolic is what dragged me back into CLAMP. Tsubasa, which I enjoy, has never had the sheer level of intensity that xxxHolic has for me. And I realized--while I'd been out doing other things and worrying about other things, most of CLAMP's stuff had been translated! Yay! Okay, it was mostly by Tokyo Pop, which is on my shitlist for numerous reasons, but hey, Tokyo Babylon in English!
This interest coincided with some really difficult times in my life, and that just completed the downward spiral. I've read just about everything CLAMP's done, in one form or another, and while I don't love all of it, I love and enjoy enough of it to keep me around. The art, the characters, the relationships--it's all really wonderful. And the fandom is wonderful, too--not so wanky as it used to be, and I'm apparently in the small bit that doesn't care too much about ships and hating on characters, so it's really fantastic this time around.
Which brings me to....
2. Alternate Pairings, threesomes, etc.
What can I say? I love canon pairings, but sometimes I just have to go down those unexplored paths. And I think mixing it up can be a good thing for a fandom--too much of one pairing and it can really start to feel stagnant. This is one reason I never read a whole lot of X fic--I adore Subaru/Seishirou, but let's face it. They're really, really fucked up, and they will be in just about any incarnation. Not only that, but I've discovered a love of many of the heterosexual ships in X--not so much Sorata/Arashi, but all the ones that are in the background--the Karen/Aoki/Shimako triangle-that-isn't-really-a-triangle, the utterly cute and fraught with problems Kusanagi/Yuzuriha, the totally messed up and headed for heartbreak train wreck that is Satsuki/Yuuto. And I'm willing to turn that triangle into a threesome, or pair up Yuzuriha and Satsuki because really? Yuzuriha would be so much healthier for Satsuki than Yuuto.
And I like threesomes. I don't know why, but I like the idea of a relationship between three people that is more than a sexual fantasy; and sometimes CLAMP really delivers with the chemistry, as in the case of Doumeki/Watanuki/Himawari. I'm less interested in threesomes for a sexual fling/lovely bit of porn, and more interested in how these three people would manage in this unusual and stressful relationship. With D/W/H I think it would be, to a certain extent, quite easy: Doumeki and Himawari agree on some very important issues in their relationships, so the only issue would be convincing Watanuki that they are right. <-- in and of itself a stressful thought.
Sometimes it's the sheer challenge of getting three characters into that sort of relationship that makes me want to write it, as in the case of Penny/Billy-Horrible/Captain Hammer. That's going to take some serious time on all parts.
3. Veggies
Ahaha, I guess this is because I'm vegan...? That's all right. I like my vegetables (and I'm feeling the lack right now--I want to go to the store!), and I like cooking. And since I'm vegan, that pretty much means I have grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and fungi to eat. (Mmm, mushrooms.) I like carrot soup, broccoli in anything, brussels sprouts (they are FANTASTIC steamed), green beans, lettuces other than iceberg (don't get me started), zucchini, winter squashes, white and sweet potatoes...I'd actually really like a veggie stir-fry right now with some brown rice, that would be the best thing today!
Ooh! Bean sprouts are the awesomest thing that ever awesomed, and sugar snap peas need to be cheaper, so I can eat them like candy.
4. Cats
There's nothing I can say in my defense to this. I'm a Leo, and I once had a cat for twelve years (he was six when we got him, and he died when he was eighteen). I have always loved animals, and I really missed having a kitty companion after Rex died. So I got Taddeus. And then I got roommates, who brought Teriyaki (a kitty), Noodle (a dog), and Chola (another kitty). And then Pomegranate showed up and adopted me against my will, so now I have a big orange tabby linebacker cat (he's nearly fourteen pounds!), and a seven-and-a-half pound fluffball that likes to cuddle, but does not like to be groomed.
And if need be I'll be fostering (FOSTERING, NOT ADOPTING) another cat named Vonya for a coworker. Oy vey.
A big part of it is my whole animal-rightsy beliefs that lead me to having companion animals, but that's probably too political for a little meme-y post like this.
5. Crafts
XD I've taught myself knitting, crochet, sewing (though Mom gave me some pointers there), embroidery, applique, tie-dying, beading, terra-cotta pot painting, and recycled candle-making. I also took a class on ceramics. Um. I got bored?
For a little less than a year I actually ran my own business out of a farmer's market, making beaded jewelry, jean purses (which I still use myself) and tie-dye shirts (yup, still have several of those, too). I still have lots of beads and do a fair amount of beading, and I still sew sporadically, but mostly I knit and crochet. I like the feel of doing something with my hands--it is what led me to wanting to make music, though I'm so undisciplined with that it's a wonder I'll get anywhere.
I'd still like to do some crafty things--for one thing, I'd like to learn how to draw and create art with pastels, (I still have those half-pastels my dad gave me as a kid) and maybe do something with drawing or a hot glue gun. We'll see.
The list she gave me was this:
1. CLAMP
2. Alternate pairings (or threesomes, whatever applies)
3. Veggies
4. Cats
5. Crafts
So here goes.
1. CLAMP
Okay, I got into CLAMP around 1999-2000, maybe even 1998. I remember checking out some X manga from the library around age seventeen, anyway. I got into it via Tokyo Babylon--by which I mean I had some pretty pictures and some rather hard to read translations. Still, I loved the Hokuto-Subaru-Seishirou dynamic, and I lingered in the fandom for a while, until it felt like I wasn't into it anymore.
(Little did I know that when CLAMP owns you, it's for life.)
xxxHolic is what dragged me back into CLAMP. Tsubasa, which I enjoy, has never had the sheer level of intensity that xxxHolic has for me. And I realized--while I'd been out doing other things and worrying about other things, most of CLAMP's stuff had been translated! Yay! Okay, it was mostly by Tokyo Pop, which is on my shitlist for numerous reasons, but hey, Tokyo Babylon in English!
This interest coincided with some really difficult times in my life, and that just completed the downward spiral. I've read just about everything CLAMP's done, in one form or another, and while I don't love all of it, I love and enjoy enough of it to keep me around. The art, the characters, the relationships--it's all really wonderful. And the fandom is wonderful, too--not so wanky as it used to be, and I'm apparently in the small bit that doesn't care too much about ships and hating on characters, so it's really fantastic this time around.
Which brings me to....
2. Alternate Pairings, threesomes, etc.
What can I say? I love canon pairings, but sometimes I just have to go down those unexplored paths. And I think mixing it up can be a good thing for a fandom--too much of one pairing and it can really start to feel stagnant. This is one reason I never read a whole lot of X fic--I adore Subaru/Seishirou, but let's face it. They're really, really fucked up, and they will be in just about any incarnation. Not only that, but I've discovered a love of many of the heterosexual ships in X--not so much Sorata/Arashi, but all the ones that are in the background--the Karen/Aoki/Shimako triangle-that-isn't-really-a-triangle, the utterly cute and fraught with problems Kusanagi/Yuzuriha, the totally messed up and headed for heartbreak train wreck that is Satsuki/Yuuto. And I'm willing to turn that triangle into a threesome, or pair up Yuzuriha and Satsuki because really? Yuzuriha would be so much healthier for Satsuki than Yuuto.
And I like threesomes. I don't know why, but I like the idea of a relationship between three people that is more than a sexual fantasy; and sometimes CLAMP really delivers with the chemistry, as in the case of Doumeki/Watanuki/Himawari. I'm less interested in threesomes for a sexual fling/lovely bit of porn, and more interested in how these three people would manage in this unusual and stressful relationship. With D/W/H I think it would be, to a certain extent, quite easy: Doumeki and Himawari agree on some very important issues in their relationships, so the only issue would be convincing Watanuki that they are right. <-- in and of itself a stressful thought.
Sometimes it's the sheer challenge of getting three characters into that sort of relationship that makes me want to write it, as in the case of Penny/Billy-Horrible/Captain Hammer. That's going to take some serious time on all parts.
3. Veggies
Ahaha, I guess this is because I'm vegan...? That's all right. I like my vegetables (and I'm feeling the lack right now--I want to go to the store!), and I like cooking. And since I'm vegan, that pretty much means I have grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and fungi to eat. (Mmm, mushrooms.) I like carrot soup, broccoli in anything, brussels sprouts (they are FANTASTIC steamed), green beans, lettuces other than iceberg (don't get me started), zucchini, winter squashes, white and sweet potatoes...I'd actually really like a veggie stir-fry right now with some brown rice, that would be the best thing today!
Ooh! Bean sprouts are the awesomest thing that ever awesomed, and sugar snap peas need to be cheaper, so I can eat them like candy.
4. Cats
There's nothing I can say in my defense to this. I'm a Leo, and I once had a cat for twelve years (he was six when we got him, and he died when he was eighteen). I have always loved animals, and I really missed having a kitty companion after Rex died. So I got Taddeus. And then I got roommates, who brought Teriyaki (a kitty), Noodle (a dog), and Chola (another kitty). And then Pomegranate showed up and adopted me against my will, so now I have a big orange tabby linebacker cat (he's nearly fourteen pounds!), and a seven-and-a-half pound fluffball that likes to cuddle, but does not like to be groomed.
And if need be I'll be fostering (FOSTERING, NOT ADOPTING) another cat named Vonya for a coworker. Oy vey.
A big part of it is my whole animal-rightsy beliefs that lead me to having companion animals, but that's probably too political for a little meme-y post like this.
5. Crafts
XD I've taught myself knitting, crochet, sewing (though Mom gave me some pointers there), embroidery, applique, tie-dying, beading, terra-cotta pot painting, and recycled candle-making. I also took a class on ceramics. Um. I got bored?
For a little less than a year I actually ran my own business out of a farmer's market, making beaded jewelry, jean purses (which I still use myself) and tie-dye shirts (yup, still have several of those, too). I still have lots of beads and do a fair amount of beading, and I still sew sporadically, but mostly I knit and crochet. I like the feel of doing something with my hands--it is what led me to wanting to make music, though I'm so undisciplined with that it's a wonder I'll get anywhere.
I'd still like to do some crafty things--for one thing, I'd like to learn how to draw and create art with pastels, (I still have those half-pastels my dad gave me as a kid) and maybe do something with drawing or a hot glue gun. We'll see.