have been unavoidably detained by the world

So, when I was a kid, I thought the only way to make tea was to steep it to death. See, the longer you steeped it, the better color it was, so that was better, right?

Anyway, as I got a bit older I discovered I don't actually like tea and I mostly stopped drinking it except occasionally, like a chai tea at Starbucks when I was meeting someone and needed to look adult-y (I dislike coffee a lot more) and/or when I was sick and who cares that it tasted bad, I just wanted something hot. So that was me though college and early adulthood and so on.

And then, like a year or two ago, I realized that while I'm still not a Tea Person or whatever, I do like tea well enough. I just like it WEAK. So weak. Barely allowed to call itself tea weak. Basically lightly flavored hot water weak. (And I still like it when I'm sick, I just like it way better because now I make it very very weak.)

This of course, feels like an entire waste of a teabag. You could make so much tea from that teabag! I like, hmmm, 2% of the flavor out of each tea bag! I like the water "slightly more colored than just plain water" tea. Feels like such a waste!

Anyway, thoughts on my weird tastes because I woke up this morning with a sore throat (shouldn't be covid, I just got over covid, I suspect the suddenly colder temperatures) and I just wasted an entire tea bag. If I was more awake when I made it, I might have tried to save the tea bag but it was eaaaarlllyyy.

So my lightly flavored hot water is very nice, thank you.

Good news of the day: I made an appointment to sit with my CC beta on Sunday and maybe try to put up some CC fic I've only been sitting on since 2017-2020 (which for me, in fic years, is yesterday). I don't have a Torchwood beta, but this is a small step.

Bad news of the day: EVERYTHING ELSE. I'm thankful I finally started properly budgeting for donations this year instead of doing it ad-hoc. I donated everything in the budget to the National Network of Abortion Funds but I mostly feel sad and angry and helpless. I don't know where to put these feelings and I don't know how to use them yet. It sucks.

Ok. Because I Am Me, I am making all sorts of Rules for my Social Media Break.

First, I feel like I should mention to the four people (hey guys! Love you all) following me here, I'm probably about to post a lot more often because I decided Dreamwidth Doesn't Count as Social Media for the purposes of this experiment.

I might not! But I'm doing this partly to try and just give myself permission to Write Things even if they are flawed, so uh, heads up I guess? I'll tag for fandoms.

Anyway, I think I'm aiming to start April 15? I'm getting assigned to a new Big Project at work April 25, so I feel like it will be good to be in the swing of things a little earlier. I'm aiming for one month off social media. Exceptions are, I might check facebook like 1-2x a week because some people will only contact me there even though I beg them not to and I'll click on links to things of people send them to me. But otherwise, no facebook, tumblr, twitter, instagram, tik tok, etc.

Pondering paying for a news subscription for the duration, to have a place to replace as my default "I need to distract myself with short content" clicks on my phone. S keeps bugging me to buy an Atlantic subscription, so maybe Atlantic. And might even indulge for Slate and finally read all the Dear Prudence Slate+ content I have been eyeing haha.

Otherwise thank you for all the recs! I have a bunch of fics and new games all ready on my phone and really, the only thing holding me back right now is the fact that I have, um, 500+ tabs to close between my computer and my phone. So, uh, hopefully that will be done by April 15!

(I would like to say I'm doing great on closing tabs, but really, I just keep opening new ones is the problem.)

IT IS ALMOST DECEMBER!!

So ever since I had enough disposable income to feel okay about using it, I've been quietly trying to buy Dreamwidth points during December, during the annual bonus sale. I don't...use them? I mean, I keep meaning to, I really like the idea of having a gazillion icons and who knows, maybe now that I have a functional computer* I'll actually play around with graphics options.

The point really is that even though I don't use this platform as much as I want to, this is the only platform where I don't feel uncomfortable using it. Sure, by modern web standards it's a bit clunky and not as full of pictures and without an app, it's only going to sink further into obscurity. But...I am not constantly unsure what I'm clicking or what I'm doing and I can come here and just BE. If I was into any active fandom on dreamwidth, I'd probably stop checking all other social media sites in a heartbeat.

Anyway, that's my spiel! If they had stickers, like AO3, I would probably put them on my new computer*.


*I GOT A NEW COMPUTER! It's so SHINY and FUNCTIONAL.

So I think I'm finally reaching the tipping point.

For all of my fandom life I have tried to keep fandom and real life separate. For lots of reasons. One of them is the law professor who looked me in the eye when I was just a college student and told me that "fanfiction is illegal." One of them is that when I started this fandom journey that was NORMAL; we weren't selling our data to big companies for the right to use websites regularly and everyone agreed it was safer to keep your real name hidden. Right now it's because I don't want to be the odd one out in my professional workplace, where it's ok to be into fantasy football (which is OBVIOUSLY not gambling lol) but only two people know I'm a Harry Potter fan and neither will ever be told how much. (I haven't even mentioned Torchwood.)

So basically, I prefer it this way. VASTLY PREFER IT THIS WAY.

Then I made the stupid, stupid mistake of getting into a theater fandom. It's a fandom where meeting people in person is THE NORM. So when I meet someone I want to stay in touch with, I have to freeze. What username do I use? My real ones (on facebook and twitter) where I try to avoid fandom unless absolutely necessary? My fandom ones (twitter, tumblr, instagram, dreamwidth, AO3, ff.net, livejournal...) where I Very Much Do Not Want it connected to my real name??? And this isn't even talking about chatting with actors on social media, which is something that is a huge part of the fandom right now (and is something I both crave and fear. WTF self)

So I feel like I need something in between and new. Something "nerdy" where I can associate with my real name. It would be another life subdivide, because again: No fanfiction connected to my real name. That's the hard line. And sure, I haven't posted fic in a while, but I have three Torchwood fics lined up to go, and I've been quietly writing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child fics since *cough* 2016. They just need a beta.

But do I want to do that? What platforms get the Liminal Username treatment? Am I sure I want this??? Maybe it's better to keep being a lurker in theater fandom, because do I want this to haunt me in the future????

Ahhhhh.

Read a college AU fic today in which the pairing-of-choice were paired to shoot a short film for a class assignment. The fic itself was tiny, it wasn't a masterpiece or anything, it was clearly an id-fic of more idea than in-depth, plotty, beta-ed execution. Which is fine.

BUT.

As someone was who WAS paired up in film class to shoot short films, EVERYTHING ABOUT THE ASSIGNMENT IS WRONG. It's a GIANT PAIN to film five minutes of material!! You DO NOT do it in a single shot, good lord, who are you, Hitchcock?????

YOU DIDN'T EVEN CHECK THE WHITE BALANCE, BOYS. THAT'S GOING TO COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU. I CAPSLOCK FROM EXPERIENCE.

My local girl scouts are selling cookies!

...my local girl scouts are selling cookies NOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO WHERE I LIVE. You would think a half-hour walk for cookies wouldn't be so bad, but no. No, it's the worst. It's too far. Don't make me leave the law library, my new home.

I also have no idea why they are not selling near my university. It's nothing but college/grad students, and trust me when I say we have more than our fair share of ridiculously rich students who would think nothing of paying for 20 boxes of Thin Mints.

Which is fine. I don't want Thin Mints. I WANT SAMOAS. And I will set aside grocery money for them. Om nom nom.

I am babysitting a cat on Sunday. (I mean, technically I am just feeding her while her owner is away. And for Sunday and Monday. BUT I have been told I can hang out in the apartment as long as I want and I don't have class on SUNDAY.)

SO. CAT.

:D :D :D :D

ETA: Doing HW with one hand, cat claimed other one for scritching.