bearshorty (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bearshorty) wrote2015-09-13 09:40 pm
bearshorty) wrote2015-09-13 09:40 pm
Sunday, September 13, 2015; Happy New Year and Meme
Happy New Year to those who celebrate it!
This evening I went to YouTube to play some shofar sounds for Tanya, who pretty much ignored it and played with her toys. I also did apples and honey thing. That's pretty much it. But it still feels like renewal. I was trying to show Tanya some pictures from my Jewish holiday book and there was a little prayer/poem there which I didn't notice before despite having this book for years. It was lovely and I wanted to share it (the last two lines were not in the book). I especially like "from defeat to defeat to defeat" until one realized that life and journey are the victory:
Life is a Journey by Alvin Fine
Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey.
A going, a growing from stage to stage:
From childhood to maturity and youth to old age.
From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion and then perhaps, to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or strength to weakness and often back again.
From health to sickness and back we pray, to health again.
From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion.
From grief to understanding, from fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat, until, looking backward or ahead:
We see that victory lies not at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage,
Made stage by stage...To life everlasting.
Six years ago (Jewish calendar years) I started my blog on Dreamwidth. I kept a journal on and off since childhood and in September 2009 I transitioned to the online one. (I got a LJ account in 2011 to participate in a fanfic fest). I was not in the best place health wise and in life overall, and I wanted to write more. I also wanted to finally actually read the Torah, so I made a goal of reading 5 chapters a day (for example Genesis 1-5) and writing out a WTF Moment of the day. It's amusing to read it now. I used to post every day. I'm glad I have the record now.
I want to try to get back to posting more often. There are two memes floating around - a fanfic meme and me meme. I'm going to try to do them even if I can't often post from my laptop and have to use my phone.
30 Days of Me Meme; Day 1
Day 1: Your current relationship or how single life is
I'm married to Bear (not his real name but I call him that in real life). We met when we were eighteen years old on the second day of college in the college bookstore 17 years ago. College hasn't started yet; it was orientation weekend. We were both in an astronomy class, which I took for my science requirement. I was a history major and he did psychobiology so this was our only class together. We met by the astronomy textbooks and then the next day by the mailboxes. A week or so later we started dating and we've been together ever since. After three years of dating in college and seeing each other all the time, we were in a long distance relationship for a very long time since I started grad school. We did not get married until three years ago, after fourteen years of dating. So I never really been single as an adult. But because of the long distance, I feel like we both got to be independent and grow, so I don't think I missed out. I'm definitely very happy not to deal with the dating scene because I would be horrible at it. He is the only person I ever loved romantically and I'm perfectly happy with that.
30 Days of Fanfic; Day 1
1 – How did you first get into writing fanfic, and what was the first fandom you wrote for? What do you think it was about that fandom that pulled you in?
When I was a kid I used to make stories up all the time and live in imaginary worlds. Often I was writing fanfic in my head without knowing that was what I was doing. It was a lot of Mary Sue stuff.
I read fanfic for a long time, maybe five years before I wrote anything down. It was 2009 and a rainy day and I just wanted to write down this idea I had. It just needed to be written. It was for Harry Potter fandom and for Snape. I sort of wrote a very short Snape/Lily sketch. It was called No Words Needed Harry Potter was the first fandom I really got involved in - it got me into fanfic after I saw an article on fanfic in USA Today. So it was pretty natural it was the first I would write in. After a couple of stories, I didn't really write again until December 2010 when I was too shy to join an awesome Highlander fest but wanted to try writing anyway as if I was participating. It was fun and I got good responses after posting that story ( Holiday in the Sun ) so in 2011 I really started writing more often.
30 Days of Me Meme
Day 1: Your current relationship or how single life is
Day 2: Things that irritate you
Day 3: Your view on drugs and alcohol
Day 4: Your view on religion
Day 5: Favorite foods
Day 6: Thirty facts about yourself
Day 7: Your Zodiac sign and if you think it fits your personality
Day 8: Your first boyfriend/girlfriend
Day 9: What you hope your future will be like
Day 10: Someone who you are no longer friends with
Day 11: Put your MP3 player on shuffle and write ten songs that pop up
Day 12: Describe a typical day in your life
Day 13: Somewhere you would like to visit or move to
Day 14: Your relationship with your parents
Day 15: Your extended family
Day 16: What is in your purse or wallet
Day 17: Highs and lows of the past year
Day 18: Your beliefs
Day 19: A company/business that you boycott
Day 20: Your feelings about education and school
Day 21: Favorite TV shows
Day 22: Favorite movies
Day 23: Your life now compared to three years ago
Day 24: What qualities you like in a man/woman
Day 25: A problem that you have had
Day 26: Something you regret
Day 27: Weird things you do
Day 28: Your to-do list
Day 29: Five songs you hate
Day 30: Highs and lows of the past thirty days
30 Days of Fanfic Meme
1 – How did you first get into writing fanfic, and what was the first fandom you wrote for? What do you think it was about that fandom that pulled you in?
2 – Name the fandoms you've written in, and how much you've written in that fandom, and if you still write in it.
3 – For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?
4 – Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?
5 –If you have ever had a character try to push their way into a fic, whether your "muse" or not, what did you do about it?
6 – When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
7 – Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
8 – Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.
9 – Pairings – For each of the fandoms from day two, what are your three favorite pairings to write?
10 – Pairings – Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone and written a pairing you liked, but found you couldn't write, or a pairing you didn't like, and found you could?
11 – Genre – do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most?
12 – Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?
13 – Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?
14 – Ratings – how high are you comfortable with going? Have you ever written higher? If you're comfortable with NC-17, have you ever been shocked by finding that the story you're writing is G-rated instead?
15 – Warnings – What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?
16 – Summaries – Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?
17 – Titles – Are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the fic? Also, if you do chaptered fic, do you give each chapter a title, or not?
18 – Where do you get the most inspiration for your fics (aka "bunnies") from?
19 – When you have bunnies, do you sit down and start writing right away, or do you write down the idea for further use?
20 – Do you ever get bunnied from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?
21 – Sequels – Have you ever written a sequel to a fic you wrote, and if so, why, and if not, how do you feel about sequels?
22 – Have you ever participated in a fest or a Big Bang? If so, write about your favorite experience in relation to one. If not, are there any you've thought about doing? And if not, why not?
23 – When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?
24 – Betaing – How many betas do you like to use to make sure there aren't any major flaws in your fic? Do you have a Beta horror story or dream story?
25 – Music – Do you listen to music while you write? Do you make playlists to get into a certain "mood" to write your fic? Do you need noise in general? Or do you need it completely quiet?
26 – What is the oddest (or funniest) thing you've had to research for a fic?
27 – Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?
28 – Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?
29 – What is your current project or projects?
30 – Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link
This evening I went to YouTube to play some shofar sounds for Tanya, who pretty much ignored it and played with her toys. I also did apples and honey thing. That's pretty much it. But it still feels like renewal. I was trying to show Tanya some pictures from my Jewish holiday book and there was a little prayer/poem there which I didn't notice before despite having this book for years. It was lovely and I wanted to share it (the last two lines were not in the book). I especially like "from defeat to defeat to defeat" until one realized that life and journey are the victory:
Life is a Journey by Alvin Fine
Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey.
A going, a growing from stage to stage:
From childhood to maturity and youth to old age.
From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion and then perhaps, to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or strength to weakness and often back again.
From health to sickness and back we pray, to health again.
From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion.
From grief to understanding, from fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat, until, looking backward or ahead:
We see that victory lies not at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning and death a destination;
But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage,
Made stage by stage...To life everlasting.
Six years ago (Jewish calendar years) I started my blog on Dreamwidth. I kept a journal on and off since childhood and in September 2009 I transitioned to the online one. (I got a LJ account in 2011 to participate in a fanfic fest). I was not in the best place health wise and in life overall, and I wanted to write more. I also wanted to finally actually read the Torah, so I made a goal of reading 5 chapters a day (for example Genesis 1-5) and writing out a WTF Moment of the day. It's amusing to read it now. I used to post every day. I'm glad I have the record now.
I want to try to get back to posting more often. There are two memes floating around - a fanfic meme and me meme. I'm going to try to do them even if I can't often post from my laptop and have to use my phone.
30 Days of Me Meme; Day 1
Day 1: Your current relationship or how single life is
I'm married to Bear (not his real name but I call him that in real life). We met when we were eighteen years old on the second day of college in the college bookstore 17 years ago. College hasn't started yet; it was orientation weekend. We were both in an astronomy class, which I took for my science requirement. I was a history major and he did psychobiology so this was our only class together. We met by the astronomy textbooks and then the next day by the mailboxes. A week or so later we started dating and we've been together ever since. After three years of dating in college and seeing each other all the time, we were in a long distance relationship for a very long time since I started grad school. We did not get married until three years ago, after fourteen years of dating. So I never really been single as an adult. But because of the long distance, I feel like we both got to be independent and grow, so I don't think I missed out. I'm definitely very happy not to deal with the dating scene because I would be horrible at it. He is the only person I ever loved romantically and I'm perfectly happy with that.
30 Days of Fanfic; Day 1
1 – How did you first get into writing fanfic, and what was the first fandom you wrote for? What do you think it was about that fandom that pulled you in?
When I was a kid I used to make stories up all the time and live in imaginary worlds. Often I was writing fanfic in my head without knowing that was what I was doing. It was a lot of Mary Sue stuff.
I read fanfic for a long time, maybe five years before I wrote anything down. It was 2009 and a rainy day and I just wanted to write down this idea I had. It just needed to be written. It was for Harry Potter fandom and for Snape. I sort of wrote a very short Snape/Lily sketch. It was called No Words Needed Harry Potter was the first fandom I really got involved in - it got me into fanfic after I saw an article on fanfic in USA Today. So it was pretty natural it was the first I would write in. After a couple of stories, I didn't really write again until December 2010 when I was too shy to join an awesome Highlander fest but wanted to try writing anyway as if I was participating. It was fun and I got good responses after posting that story ( Holiday in the Sun ) so in 2011 I really started writing more often.
30 Days of Me Meme
Day 1: Your current relationship or how single life is
Day 2: Things that irritate you
Day 3: Your view on drugs and alcohol
Day 4: Your view on religion
Day 5: Favorite foods
Day 6: Thirty facts about yourself
Day 7: Your Zodiac sign and if you think it fits your personality
Day 8: Your first boyfriend/girlfriend
Day 9: What you hope your future will be like
Day 10: Someone who you are no longer friends with
Day 11: Put your MP3 player on shuffle and write ten songs that pop up
Day 12: Describe a typical day in your life
Day 13: Somewhere you would like to visit or move to
Day 14: Your relationship with your parents
Day 15: Your extended family
Day 16: What is in your purse or wallet
Day 17: Highs and lows of the past year
Day 18: Your beliefs
Day 19: A company/business that you boycott
Day 20: Your feelings about education and school
Day 21: Favorite TV shows
Day 22: Favorite movies
Day 23: Your life now compared to three years ago
Day 24: What qualities you like in a man/woman
Day 25: A problem that you have had
Day 26: Something you regret
Day 27: Weird things you do
Day 28: Your to-do list
Day 29: Five songs you hate
Day 30: Highs and lows of the past thirty days
30 Days of Fanfic Meme
1 – How did you first get into writing fanfic, and what was the first fandom you wrote for? What do you think it was about that fandom that pulled you in?
2 – Name the fandoms you've written in, and how much you've written in that fandom, and if you still write in it.
3 – For each of the fandoms from day two, what were your favorite characters to write?
4 – Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?
5 –If you have ever had a character try to push their way into a fic, whether your "muse" or not, what did you do about it?
6 – When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
7 – Have you ever had a fic change your opinion of a character?
8 – Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.
9 – Pairings – For each of the fandoms from day two, what are your three favorite pairings to write?
10 – Pairings – Have you ever gone outside your comfort zone and written a pairing you liked, but found you couldn't write, or a pairing you didn't like, and found you could?
11 – Genre – do you prefer certain genres of fic when you're writing? What kind do you tend to write most?
12 – Have you ever attempted an "adaptation" fic of a favorite book or movie but set in a different fandom?
13 – Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?
14 – Ratings – how high are you comfortable with going? Have you ever written higher? If you're comfortable with NC-17, have you ever been shocked by finding that the story you're writing is G-rated instead?
15 – Warnings – What do you feel it most important to warn for, and what's the strangest thing you've warned for in a fic?
16 – Summaries – Do you like them or hate them? How do you come up with them, if you use them?
17 – Titles – Are they the bane of your existence, or the easiest part of the fic? Also, if you do chaptered fic, do you give each chapter a title, or not?
18 – Where do you get the most inspiration for your fics (aka "bunnies") from?
19 – When you have bunnies, do you sit down and start writing right away, or do you write down the idea for further use?
20 – Do you ever get bunnied from other people's stories or art in the same fandom?
21 – Sequels – Have you ever written a sequel to a fic you wrote, and if so, why, and if not, how do you feel about sequels?
22 – Have you ever participated in a fest or a Big Bang? If so, write about your favorite experience in relation to one. If not, are there any you've thought about doing? And if not, why not?
23 – When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?
24 – Betaing – How many betas do you like to use to make sure there aren't any major flaws in your fic? Do you have a Beta horror story or dream story?
25 – Music – Do you listen to music while you write? Do you make playlists to get into a certain "mood" to write your fic? Do you need noise in general? Or do you need it completely quiet?
26 – What is the oddest (or funniest) thing you've had to research for a fic?
27 – Where is your favorite place to write, and do you write by hand or on the computer?
28 – Have you ever collaborated with anyone else, whether writing together, or having an artist work on a piece about your fic?
29 – What is your current project or projects?
30 – Do you have a favorite fic you've written? What makes it your favorite? And don't forget to give us a link