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A Musical Note...Sort Of, Anyway. :)
Aug. 30th, 2011 03:59 pmSo I bought a guitar yesterday.
It's nothing special; just one of those cheap ones you can get at Zellers, but I've been wanting to learn to play the guitar for a long time, so when I realized that between what I already had in my bank account and what I didn't spend when I was overseas I could actually afford to buy one, I did. It's only 3/4 size (I think), but it has a decent sound (especially for a factory-made instrument) and it feels surprisingly natural in my hand.
I've just been messing around with it, but with the iPod Touch equivalent of a pitch pipe I did manage to get it correctly tuned and I've discovered that because I've been playing the violin for nearly twenty years (eep!) I already have some of the necessary background. You know, muscle development, fine motor control, and fingertip calluses. :) I'll get around to learning chords and such later, of course, but for now I'm having fun with what will probably become another of my musical passions.
It's nothing special; just one of those cheap ones you can get at Zellers, but I've been wanting to learn to play the guitar for a long time, so when I realized that between what I already had in my bank account and what I didn't spend when I was overseas I could actually afford to buy one, I did. It's only 3/4 size (I think), but it has a decent sound (especially for a factory-made instrument) and it feels surprisingly natural in my hand.
I've just been messing around with it, but with the iPod Touch equivalent of a pitch pipe I did manage to get it correctly tuned and I've discovered that because I've been playing the violin for nearly twenty years (eep!) I already have some of the necessary background. You know, muscle development, fine motor control, and fingertip calluses. :) I'll get around to learning chords and such later, of course, but for now I'm having fun with what will probably become another of my musical passions.
Likes and Dislikes (SSHG Exchange)
May. 21st, 2011 08:33 am(For the person who got my SSHG Exchange prompts, in the extremely likely event that we don't actually know each other.)
So, here's what like. I have to admit that I like some amounts of fluff, or at least as much fluff as an in-character Severus (or Hermione, for that matter) can manage. Humour is great; I tried to come up with prompts that would be open to some amount of comedy, whether high or low. I'm fond of clever innuendo, too. Angst is good as well—especially if all turns out nicely in the end. Speaking of which, I do like happy endings, but I'm also a sucker for open endings when they're done well.
As for what I don't like...I don't like rape/non-consensual sex; it bothers me on a very deep level. I also really dislike romance-based fics in which Hermione is still a Hogwarts student, even as an "eighth-year", because of the professional misconduct involved; even if she's of age, the power dynamic between them is profoundly unequal if she's still his student. I'm also not a fan of fics in which Hermione is romantically involved with Ron at any point; they barely get along as friends most of the time. Ron behaving badly is also not something that I like to see. I'm not exactly a Ron fan, but I do like fics in which he actually shows that he's capable of acting reasonably, even if he's still a bit immature and insecure. I'm also not fond of PWP, extreme explicit violence, or BDSM. Yeah, I know, I'm boring. ;)
Crossovers are fine, even if I'm not familiar with the characters and situations that come from other fandoms, though I'd appreciate a few hints about the non-HP characters and their histories if you decide to do a crossover. (The only exception that I can come up with to this rule is the Twilight series; I tried to read those books and I tried to like them, but I just couldn't stand them.)
If you've chosen to do one of my art prompts, anything from my lists of likes and dislikes that can apply to art does apply to it. I'm also not a great fan of anime/manga as a general rule. Other than that, though, I'm not particularly fussy, and (this goes for fic, too, by the way) I'll probably be thrilled with whatever you come up with. :)
All in all, I know I have my preferences, but really, I'm looking forward to seeing whatever you do with whatever of my prompts that you chose, and I hope you have fun while you're doing it.
Edited to add: I probably should have thought about this earlier, and I doubt it'll be a problem anyway, but better safe than sorry...you should probably know that I find negative remarks about fat people, the use of "fat" as an insult, and diet talk/body policing in general, to be very triggering. Please avoid these things if at all possible.
So, here's what like. I have to admit that I like some amounts of fluff, or at least as much fluff as an in-character Severus (or Hermione, for that matter) can manage. Humour is great; I tried to come up with prompts that would be open to some amount of comedy, whether high or low. I'm fond of clever innuendo, too. Angst is good as well—especially if all turns out nicely in the end. Speaking of which, I do like happy endings, but I'm also a sucker for open endings when they're done well.
As for what I don't like...I don't like rape/non-consensual sex; it bothers me on a very deep level. I also really dislike romance-based fics in which Hermione is still a Hogwarts student, even as an "eighth-year", because of the professional misconduct involved; even if she's of age, the power dynamic between them is profoundly unequal if she's still his student. I'm also not a fan of fics in which Hermione is romantically involved with Ron at any point; they barely get along as friends most of the time. Ron behaving badly is also not something that I like to see. I'm not exactly a Ron fan, but I do like fics in which he actually shows that he's capable of acting reasonably, even if he's still a bit immature and insecure. I'm also not fond of PWP, extreme explicit violence, or BDSM. Yeah, I know, I'm boring. ;)
Crossovers are fine, even if I'm not familiar with the characters and situations that come from other fandoms, though I'd appreciate a few hints about the non-HP characters and their histories if you decide to do a crossover. (The only exception that I can come up with to this rule is the Twilight series; I tried to read those books and I tried to like them, but I just couldn't stand them.)
If you've chosen to do one of my art prompts, anything from my lists of likes and dislikes that can apply to art does apply to it. I'm also not a great fan of anime/manga as a general rule. Other than that, though, I'm not particularly fussy, and (this goes for fic, too, by the way) I'll probably be thrilled with whatever you come up with. :)
All in all, I know I have my preferences, but really, I'm looking forward to seeing whatever you do with whatever of my prompts that you chose, and I hope you have fun while you're doing it.
Edited to add: I probably should have thought about this earlier, and I doubt it'll be a problem anyway, but better safe than sorry...you should probably know that I find negative remarks about fat people, the use of "fat" as an insult, and diet talk/body policing in general, to be very triggering. Please avoid these things if at all possible.
Small Kitchen Victory
May. 18th, 2011 10:43 amI've improvised a sort of stew out of (among other things) ground beef, carrots, potatoes, hot peppers and macaroni, and it's actually not too bad. I think I'll call it "stew surprise" because it's always a surprise when my experimental cooking turns out well. :D
Things Fat People Are Told
Apr. 14th, 2011 06:17 pmI've been reading a lot of the things that people have been posting with the #thingsfatpeoplearetold hashtag on Twitter since it first appeared last weekend, even contributing a few "gems" that have been flung at me in the past. I find the whole thing to be simultaneously awkward and empowering. It's awkward because a lot of the bullshit that fat people get flung at us is apparently something that's Not Spoken Of, not because it's particularly shameful but because with the way we tend to think about fatness, i.e. "fat=bad", it's just assumed that this is a reasonable, right and justified way for the world to treat fat people. So because of that awkwardness, I also felt a bit empowered by making use of the hashtag; it's a way of saying, "Hey, hold on a minute—fat people are people too, and it's not right to mistreat us." It's another means of not helping to further my own marginalization.
Even though I'm pretty sure that only six other people saw what I wrote, that felt good.
Even though I'm pretty sure that only six other people saw what I wrote, that felt good.
Musings on Fan-Fiction Views and Reviews
Mar. 28th, 2011 07:14 pmYesterday I posted a new fic at The Petulant Poetess, "The Demise of Numerius Plankton". As of this writing, it's received 122 hits, but only 2 reviews. This is pretty normal for me; not many people read my work in the first place, and of those who do...well, I generally get 1 review for every 50 or so hits.
I'm not complaining; I'm hardly in a position to do so, after all, especially since I don't tend to review every time I read a fic myself. And when I do get reviews for my work, they tend to be overwhelmingly positive, and sometimes hilarious in themselves, like this review I once received at Sycophant Hex's "Wolfsbane" archive for "A Longing Beyond Reason", a Lupin-centric fic I wrote in 2004:
( Strange and funny review from 'Senna'... )
For obvious reasons, this is quite possibly my favourite review ever. :D
Anyway, I do frequently wonder if of all the people who read my stories, only a handful of my readers actually like them. Sometimes I think that this is a sort of review karma...you know, because I don't always review, I don't tend to get reviews. Other times, I wonder if it's because of my choice of genre and category; the most popular fics tend to be het romances, particularly with Hermione Granger and Severus Snape as the central characters. I've only ever written HG/SS once, and that was a gift for someone who I know has a preference for those stories. And I'm not much of a romance writer; my love life has largely consisted of a series of emotional disasters, so I feel a bit out of my depth when I write something other than angst in a fic about love. Better to stick with humour; I may not know how to love in any romantic sense, but I sure as hell know how to laugh. Cowardly? Yes, without a doubt. But it's comfortable, and I don't really feel constrained by it.
Still, review karma or not, I do sometimes wonder if the relatively few reviews that my work tends to earn are a sign that no matter how good I am at laughing, maybe I lack the capacity to inspire laughter in many other people. :p
I'm not complaining; I'm hardly in a position to do so, after all, especially since I don't tend to review every time I read a fic myself. And when I do get reviews for my work, they tend to be overwhelmingly positive, and sometimes hilarious in themselves, like this review I once received at Sycophant Hex's "Wolfsbane" archive for "A Longing Beyond Reason", a Lupin-centric fic I wrote in 2004:
( Strange and funny review from 'Senna'... )For obvious reasons, this is quite possibly my favourite review ever. :D
Anyway, I do frequently wonder if of all the people who read my stories, only a handful of my readers actually like them. Sometimes I think that this is a sort of review karma...you know, because I don't always review, I don't tend to get reviews. Other times, I wonder if it's because of my choice of genre and category; the most popular fics tend to be het romances, particularly with Hermione Granger and Severus Snape as the central characters. I've only ever written HG/SS once, and that was a gift for someone who I know has a preference for those stories. And I'm not much of a romance writer; my love life has largely consisted of a series of emotional disasters, so I feel a bit out of my depth when I write something other than angst in a fic about love. Better to stick with humour; I may not know how to love in any romantic sense, but I sure as hell know how to laugh. Cowardly? Yes, without a doubt. But it's comfortable, and I don't really feel constrained by it.
Still, review karma or not, I do sometimes wonder if the relatively few reviews that my work tends to earn are a sign that no matter how good I am at laughing, maybe I lack the capacity to inspire laughter in many other people. :p
Classical Music
Mar. 2nd, 2011 09:45 pmAt last, a non-meme post here. :) I'd begun to think that I'd forgotten how to use my LiveJournal for anything else. ;)
Anyway, I've been thinking again about Classical music. Hardly surprising, I suppose, since I spend a fair amount of time immersed in it, and I have from a fairly young age. But the thing is—whenever I'm listening to it, I can't help but wonder how on Earth anyone could possibly think that Classical music is boring. Sometimes confusing, maybe, or perhaps overwhelming, especially the more complex stuff, but never boring.
It may be a psychological thing—for a long time, Classical music has had a reputation for being a type of music that's appreciated only by snobbish upper-class twits, the sort of thing you say you like because you want to seem cultured and intelligent, not because you actually like listening to it. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this (and it wouldn't be the first time), but I do often wonder if more people would give Classical music a chance if it didn't have such a stuffy reputation. After all, I've known a lot of people over the years who, despite saying that they find Classical music boring, they love the soundtracks to "Back to the Future" or "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones" or "The Lord of the Rings". The fact that most of the music in these films is performed by an orchestra seems totally irrelevant.
I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, actually, but I do think it's an interesting thought. Sure, not all music is for everybody (I could hardly say that everyone should listen to Classical when there are a couple of genres I can't stand to listen to for various reasons), but still—how many more people would actually like Classical music if it weren't popularly thought of as such a snobbish, boring, inaccessible genre?
Anyway, I've been thinking again about Classical music. Hardly surprising, I suppose, since I spend a fair amount of time immersed in it, and I have from a fairly young age. But the thing is—whenever I'm listening to it, I can't help but wonder how on Earth anyone could possibly think that Classical music is boring. Sometimes confusing, maybe, or perhaps overwhelming, especially the more complex stuff, but never boring.
It may be a psychological thing—for a long time, Classical music has had a reputation for being a type of music that's appreciated only by snobbish upper-class twits, the sort of thing you say you like because you want to seem cultured and intelligent, not because you actually like listening to it. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this (and it wouldn't be the first time), but I do often wonder if more people would give Classical music a chance if it didn't have such a stuffy reputation. After all, I've known a lot of people over the years who, despite saying that they find Classical music boring, they love the soundtracks to "Back to the Future" or "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones" or "The Lord of the Rings". The fact that most of the music in these films is performed by an orchestra seems totally irrelevant.
I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, actually, but I do think it's an interesting thought. Sure, not all music is for everybody (I could hardly say that everyone should listen to Classical when there are a couple of genres I can't stand to listen to for various reasons), but still—how many more people would actually like Classical music if it weren't popularly thought of as such a snobbish, boring, inaccessible genre?
Because I can never resist a quiz...
Jan. 13th, 2011 11:22 pm
You are The High Priestess
Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.
The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.
