I misunderstood the point of this ride

I fail at dressing for season; my coworkers were standing around the kitchenette discussing how much they enjoy their summer wardrobes when I wandered in, all in black. Oops? I didn't even think about that; I chose this outfit for the skirt, because I'm not allowed to wear shorts in the office. Hmmm.

Also, last Friday I was mistaken for an employee of the Museum of Fine Arts twice (all in black again--I swear I do wear colors--with a red tie). Possibly I should work on this.

It's a little disorienting, as always, being back at work after a long weekend. Mine was full of hanging around making art while oliviacirce wrote, in my apartment and cafes, occasionally sharing thoughts about Charles Xavier's characterization; we cooked each other some delicious food, watched Return To Oz with my roommate (who has been after me about it forever), and went out Saturday night for a flaily fangirl dinner with aria, polarisnorth, everysecondtuesday, and the_wanlorn. I would like to spend my time like this, always.

Yesterday, the traditional 1776 viewing party at omnia_mutantur's house was made even a tiny bit more fabulous by a miniature intensityboat reunion (though of course we missed our absent members ♥).

So that was all lovely. I did have a couple of fandom-related jarring moments, oddly enough; I discovered quite a direct copy of this picture posted by a deviantart user, and also that the random (non-LJ/DW-based) fan awards I've had a piece nominated for has a rule against slash (or rather, "characters established in the series/Nikki Heat novels as straight but portrayed as gay," ugh). Fortunately, a gentle but firm request was all that it took to get the drawing taken down, so I'm very lucky there. I'm dropping the awards organizers a sharp note asking them to remove my work. Unexpected interactions with sections of fandom not my own ... always a bit weird.

This coming weekend, I'm off north to have a look around the apartment I'm almost certainly taking for the fall. I'm moving out of the Boston area in about a month! Everything just keeps speeding up, though I keep trying to find some stillness within it all.

I still owe a few people questions from a few posts ago. I'll try and do those soon!

Something weird that happened last week: it seems that this shirt is irresistibly fascinating to some segment of the population. In the space of a few hours of wearing it (not for the first time or anything!), three separate strangers felt the need to read it aloud; one man was so intrigued as to get up in my face and try reading it to me while I was on the phone with my brother. In a T station. That was fairly disconcerting. To top it off, I later ran into a woman (another stranger) wearing an identical shirt, who told me she'd had several similar experiences that day.

Okay then?

In other news (ha), I have been sketching away at various projects and mainlining Fringe continuously; I'm about halfway through the second season. Have I mentioned that I kind of love this show? It's pretty damn fascinating stuff, conceptually ... oddly, a bit more "out there" than I expected. (General weird stuff, sure. A centralized focus on alternate dimensions? I guess I hadn't picked up on that from my peripheral awareness.) Also, I really like everyone in the main cast, and their relationships (although, weirdly, I don't feel any particular need to 'ship them). I'd like a little more focus on Astrid, though, I must say.

I'm trying to complete small pieces somewhat steadily even while working on longer projects: prompts are helpful for this! So here's another: ataratah originally requested "Firefly-verse Beckett, with optional sidekick Mal/Castle." Subsequent discussion lead to an ex-Alliance Beckett to whom Mal is not so much a sidekick as ... well, it's a little unclear. However:


So that was really fun. :D I'm intrigued by this 'verse, I have to say; after all, Castle and Beckett make great foils, but Mal and Kate would probably have a bit in common (and also, I suspect, friction). If I had time to play with this more, I'd bring in the rest of the precinct cast members as her kickass crew ... hmm.

I should probably get back to work-like things now, so. Briefly: I'm excited for Grant Morrison writing Superman again, but DC is still mostly full of fail. (Hello, it seems I'm seriously ~invested in canon Clark/Lois. Not actually much of a surprise.) And I must rec thingswithwings's fantastic multifandom manpain vid and accompanying meta. I love celebratory vids and themed vids and all the rest, but ... criticism!vidding is one of my favorite things in fandom, period.

So happy Friday, bbs! I am finally going to see X-Men: First Class this weekend. I don't know if I've ever read so much meta (and squee) for a movie before I've seen it.

I have that chilled, bone-deep exhausted feeling that comes from standing in the rain for more than an hour watching rainbow-clad church groups and gyrating drag queens parade by. It was a fabulous afternoon. I wish I'd managed to get better photos of the selection of superheroes that marched for one of the local comic shops (how many Pride parades have something like that, I wonder?). They included Sailor Moon and She-Hulk this year.

My roommate and my house guest are completely sacked out, and I'm going to go join them in a minute, but first: ataratah has posted her own completely gorgeous rendition of Haruka and Michiru, which she drew on request from me earlier this week. (I knew Michiru in particular would look stunning in her style.) Go and take a look (even if you don't know Sailor Moon, it's just pretty art), and tell her how amazing she is!

Okay, this awake thing needs to stop for a little while; we're going to a fairly late-night showing of some (classic and new) Doctor Who episodes in Cambridge later on. I've been needing a weekend like this so badly. Even if it is awfully damp out.

Oh man, I've been trying to write this post all week, but work's been super busy all of a sudden ... and I seem to be experiencing something akin to senioritis, so I have to work a lot harder than usual to concentrate. /o\ I'm really behind on all your entries, too. I'll try and catch up!

Thank you so much for the sweet, sweet comments on the love meme, bbs. I can't tell you how good that made me feel. ♥ Also I rather loved commenting, so you folks should totally put your names down for those things more often. ;) I'm a gusher by nature but feel kind of awkward about it a lot of the time; I appreciate the opportunity of anonymity (or the illusion thereof, as I expect I can be pretty obvious).

I had a pretty lively weekend. It started with a German lesbian vampire movie, which was somewhat entertaining, although there was not nearly enough making out and the ending was disappointingly heteronormative. The audience was certainly quite attractive, and I had plenty of time to admire them, because the DVD started skipping twice. (This has never happened to me in a theater before, even a little arthouse place. The staff good-naturedly blamed Friday the 13th.)

On Saturday I went to a family friend's business school graduation, which would have been excruciating except for his four-year-old daughter. I spent the whole ceremony keeping her occupied and letting her take tiny video clips of me. "I'm going to put you on the computer!" She's also turning into a tiny ball of snark, but I can't say I mind that. :D

My father, meanwhile, attempted to convince me to read Moby Dick this summer in exchange for his reading Little Women. Which, I mean ... what? I have no idea why on earth he thought that was going to work. (I should note that there is absolutely no reason I can think of for his particular choice of text. I did love that book very much when I was about eleven, but that hardly makes it stand out from the crowd.) His mission to get me to read Melville has been going on for ... almost a decade, now, I think. (I have every intention of reading that book! I want to read that book! But not yet.) I told him that if he read Understanding Comics, I'd consider it.

There was also quite a lot of pleasant company and some delicious vegan carrot & coriander soup. (With apologies to a certain Famous Detective, I'm rather grateful I don't have a spice allergy. Mmmmm.)

Also there has been some exciting TV lately! My circle has already done a thorough job of expressing their delight over The Doctor's Wife, so I will confine myself to saying that yes, all of that, oh my god. ♥___♥ (Also, biting is like kissing. With a winner.) And as for the Castle finale, I just, holy fuck. In spite of being a show about murder, that's the one I usually go to for ... you know, fun times? Quips and general weirdness and hilarity? Which probably made the sucker punch (punches) that much more effective, really.

Additionally, I discovered this week that there is apparently a secret government lab (which contains, among other things, a cow) in the basement of the building where I work. (Although for future reference, tv writers: some portions of this particular illustrious university are sadly not beautiful and ivy-covered.)

Right, I should get back to work. I lost a big chunk of this morning (mid-post-writing) to finding out some very upsetting news about a neighbor of mine. Feeling a little shaken at the moment, and also, stuff to do. I'll have to do that catching up later, but I hope your weeks are going splendidly! Also, you should go vote in the Fandom Hot 20 poll (second part here). Aeryn Sun and Wendy Watson need some more love, for starters.

So today's the Boston Marathon, meaning that my boss stayed home rather than brave the traffic, my bus isn't running because the race cuts right through its route, and a whole lot of people across the state have a holiday. If I start inking under my desk at some point, I will feel pretty well justified.

Mild crankyness and inconvenience aside, though, life continues to be pretty great. I'm a little worn out from jumping on and off of buses practically every weekend, but it's worth it! On Saturday I went to a teeny-tiny (completely adorable) art festival/indie comic convention right in my hometown. There were some kind of stunning picture book artists there, and something like a third of the comics folk were alums or current students from my (future) school. I had an amazing time chatting about the program, learning to make an eight-page comic from a single sheet of paper, and buying all the minicomics. (Next time I will remember to bring my own and do some trading. /o\) Eventually I ran out of money, ran back to my parents' house, and drew all day, in between rereading print versions of a favorite (tragically hiatus'd) online comic.

Things are starting to pick up towards my move out of here. An announcement about my departure should be going out to the department soon (it's several months off, but once the job's posted ... and we need to hire somebody early enough for training), which will kind of be a relief; I'm starting to discuss the time frame for all the moving I'll have to do this summer; tuition and loans need to be seen to soon. (Meep.) And so on. It's a lot of stuff, but I'm trying to focus on being excited for the outcome.

On another, more immediate note of excitement ... so, anyone going to see MCR in New York this Friday? :DDD (Apart from the usual suspects; you know who you are.)

I had the most amazing weekend. There were fangirls in my city, and while I was kind of an idiot and didn't actually attend MJ, some of them still invited me to dinner and hanging out in hotel rooms, and tuesdaysgone let me drag her all over the city for most of Saturday. I had a lovely, lovely time, and next time I am registering for sure. And doing a better job of remembering who I met, because everyone was generally fabulous, even though I'm super shy. ♥

Also, my birthday present from my parents, slightly belated, was a Blackberry Torch. I've been a little resistant to smartphones in the past, but I must admit, this thing is seriously useful, particularly when it comes to commutery things (from checking bus arrival times to reading fic without having to print it out first). Also, my flipping power cord died again last night, so my phone's the only computer I'll have at home for the next little while. Whoops.

This week I'm going to see a Patrick Stump solo show (tomorrow), which should be an ... interesting experience? (I need to read all the reviews that've been popping up, IDEK what to expect.) Is anyone else going to be there? I'll be with jjtaylor and ataratah, probably having all the feelings.

Also, I have to break up with my therapist, and it's stressing me out a little. :/ I'm not great at deliberately ending relationships in general, this is a first for me anyway, and also now I'll have to find a new one. If any of you local or formerly-local folks happen to have recommendations you'd like to share (via email or PM), they would be most welcome.

So scattered right now. There's been plenty happening in my life, but I'm not having an easy time making it cohere into a post. I've been listening to Vice & Virtues nonstop (countdown until I start reading lots of Brendon/Spencer: 5 ... 4... 3...), watching more Castle, and I went to see Travie McCoy & the Black Cards play in Boston with jjtaylor and ataratah (looking a touch out of place in my fedora and tie, I suspect). I cannot fucking deal with how much I love Pete Wentz, you guys. Also, Bebe is an adorable tiny dynamo, and I really like their energy together.

The weather continues to be mildly frustrating, but that's par for the course for a New England March. (I hope it warms up a little for you Muskrat folks.) Also, I've decided that what I really want for my birthday is more sleep, so I think I'm going to go hide at my parents' house for about a day or two. Maybe then I'll have the energy to participate around here a bit more?

Speaking of participation, bidding at help_japan has closed, but the auctions at help_japan are continuing 'til the end of the month. If you're thinking of putting something up yourself, though, you only have until tomorrow!

Oh, and because I'm hilariously paranoid about separating my fannish identity from my "public" one, some of you might find yourselves being followed by two of me on Twitter as of this morning. I just can't help myself. /o\

This hasn't been my best week. It's frustrating, because I've really been feeling ready to dive in and do things and make more things again, but after a "weekend" that was mostly taken up with family and funeral, and coming back to work to find myself deluged with a large number of time-sensitive tasks with which I was unfamiliar (my boss still being out on bereavement leave) ... I kind of had to cave into being exhausted all the time and spending all my energy on my job.

That said, despite the significant chill this morning, I woke up with a very strong feeling that spring was (if not in the air) very definitely on the horizon. My day was pretty brutal after that, but I still feel optimistic!

Also, I wanted to share this:


It's a three-minute scene from Star Trek (the reboot), re-filmed with female actors. It's maybe not perfect, but it makes me really happy anyway. Any little glimpse into a world where movies like that would have women in roles like that, not played any differently ... siiigh.

I am going to sleep a whole lot tonight. Also, I might rewatch this week's White Collar first, because that was just completely delightful. *____*

I really have no idea what fandom is doing to my brain lately. I fell asleep last night after watching part of this Grant Morrison panel from Comicon '08, which was delightful. Seriously, I love watching him talk more than most people. But then, I proceeded to dream that I was having a standoff with him in a doorway (I don't remember why, or who all the other people with us were), and I shot him in the shoulder. D: D: D: He was like, "psh, I'm okay" when I rushed over immediately after, but I woke myself up in dismay. WTF was that, subconscious? I mean, I appreciate the part where he let me look over concept sketches for a new comic (which apparently involved a rock band with some kind of Edwardian masquerade theme), but.

Oh dear. Too much Killjoys, possibly. Too much BLI!Patrick fanart-in-progress (and frankly, interviews like this one are not helping).

Which isn't to say that I can ever get enough of this band. Oh my goodness, Gerard Way, I am not sure my love for you can be textually rendered. "Don't ever let the media tell you what your body's supposed to look like. You're beautiful the way you are." ♥♥♥ Also, that is possibly the most coherent interview I've ever seen him give.

Bizarre dreams aside, all the distraction is appreciated, because work has been pretty tense lately; my boss had to take open-ended "informal familial leave" to take care of her sick mother, and as she's not very good at delegating, I've been trying to figure out how to take on a pile of essential tasks I have very little idea how to accomplish. Which may be fairly moot, as I've just learned that her mother passed away last night. There's still plenty to do.

Oh, I keep forgetting; white_lotus reveals are up. :) There's a whole bunch of lovely fic, art, vids & crafts to check out! I drew Some Like It Hotman, a short comic in which Sokka shows up to, ahem, drag Zuko away from his Fire Lordly duties for awhile. ;)

So I stepped off my bus this evening to find the entire neighborhood shrouded in darkness.

We've had a fair number of power outages before, but I've never come home to one; it was pretty eerie! As my roommate was off visiting her parents, and I could neither cook or draw in my apartment, I wound up heading down the street to my local comic shop (clearly the best place to be in an emergency); it was closed (like everything else on the block), but I'm friends with the guys who work there, so I wound up hanging around chatting about Battlestar Galactica and Jeopardy-playing computers. After an hour, though, I gave up and caught the first bus to somewhere with light and food.

I've been some flavor of cranky pretty much all day, and losing most of my cozy solo drawing night in did not particularly help. I'm just burnt out, which is pretty common for this time of year ... I need to get away from the city and decompress a bit. Fortunately I'm heading home to the Valley on Friday at last! There will still be snow, but it will be less filthy and congested and I will drink all the Haymarket mochas. While attempting to use really bright colors, meep. (Seriously, I am so excited for the picture I'm working on right now; I hope my Photoshop issues don't fuck it up.)

Also, this is definitely improving my mood: Gerard singing happy birthday to Grant Morrison at the Glasgow show tonight. ♥______♥ (Thank you, tuesdaysgone!)