a conspiracy of cartographers

It occurs to me that I may be terrible at New Year's resolutions in part because my brain thinks of years as having September-August cycles (ie the way a school year/summer break is scheduled) rather than January-December ones. Leaves beginning to turn color? Time to figure out what habits and schedules to change in order to optimize the year! I think this means I should take advantage of my brain's comfort with fall as a time of change in order to make some nicer habits!

Obviously one of these is posting to DW more often. I have stopped worrying and learned to love twitter, but it has no archival-diary function, which is my favorite thing about journaling sites. Also, wow, being able to condense my thoughts is a nice skill, but at this point I feel like I need to relearn how to uncondense them. And so: an uncondensed list of things I would like to do!

1. Get back on tumblr tbh. I need to just pare it down to people whose posts I consistently like, and then give myself a half-hour time limit per day and make myself stop after that before I can go into a weird guilt spiral about never catching up. It's okay, self. Tumblr is infinite.

2. Stretch in the evenings?? The apartment of Gondor often mainlines shows in the evenings (the past few months it's been Warehouse 13); this is the ideal time to roll out a mat and unwind a bit. I have a job that has a lot of heavy lifting! My back has been REAL MAD lately! I should be kind to my body, it's the only one I get unless awesome cyborg enhancements are coming to the general public sooner than I anticipate.

3. Enjoy some new media! I ... have peaced out of Doctor Who so hard :( Instead I am watching Outlander, lololol; I definitely want to give Farscape a go, since it's all on Netflix. (I am told that the viewing order is in some way fucked?? Any pointers from people who know Farscape would be much appreciated.) I have also fallen back into the habit of reading actual books; just finished Jemisin's Dreamblood duology, and Leckie's Ancillary Justice is next on the list. EXCITED.

4. Write ... some books ...? I mean, I have a post-Thor 2 plotty political fic to write with filiabelialis, and unrelated shorter Loki/Amora and apparently Sif/Lorelei fics, and probably some Gamora/Nebula if I can bring myself to care about the GotG part of the MCU enough; but then I also have some original projects to finish! And to start! And to middle! I think the takeaway here is that, just as I need to block out a half hour per day for tumblr and then call quits, I need to block out probably an hour per day for writing (and then NOT call quits if the writing is actually working). When my days were more structured I got lots more writing done per month, so now that I have a job with weird hours I need to do my own structuring.

5. Gonna learn to vid! This has been a backburner resolution for a while, but verity has offered to actually teach me, so hell yes I'm doing that. (She's also offered to teach me how to break an egg one-handed, as per Thor's skill at that in her fic halfway between the gutter and the stars -- GO READ IT it features the very best Thor -- but presumably learning how to break eggs will take less time than learning how to vid.)

I think all this is doable! It'll be nice to settle in and work on getting comfortable inside my life; A and I just redecorated the apartment, so physically it's lovely to be in; I've had lots of summer adventures and am happy to lay low for a bit. Such good summer adventures, though: some New York friends came up to Boston and took me to a One Direction concert with them, which was pretty great; the following week filiabelialis and I went down to NYC to visit (mostly different) friends. And I think I want to get back into the habit of having a narrative for adventures, either the gallivanting ones or the at-home ones. I like the way it makes them feel more permanent.

Last weekend's New York adventures were such a good idea. Thursday evening was the Night Vale live show with oliviacirce, and it was SO GOOD. Cecil Baldwin's face is so great, and all their guest voices were delightful; I laughed so hard my belly hurt, and I hid in Olivia's shoulder from the scary parts, and I really hope they wide-release that episode sometime reasonably soon, because I want to yell with everyone about it! The cosplay was really great too: there were some hooded figures, a surprisingly large number of Scouts -- mostly from younger audience members who might actually be Scouts -- several Cecils with really impressive tattoos, and a super cute Carlos who did indeed have perfect hair. (I also spotted two Apache Trackers, one at the show and one at NYCC, but didn't collect myself in either instance in enough time to yell "WHAT AN ASSHOLE" after them.)

Comic Con was also pretty great! Went with polarisnorth, met up with hazellazer and nicoleanelle, though we didn't have the best time keeping track of one another; we did have some good hangouts and lunch and cosplay-spotting, though. I went as casual sundress Thor, and soon realized that this was a good costume in which to ask Loki cosplayers if I could give them a hug. Which was really interesting, actually! Everyone said yes, but most of the ones who were really into it, wanted to hug me back and talk &c, were being Lady Loki. I have no idea if this means anything! Some of them were also like "hey, thanks for asking," which ahhh oh god OF COURSE I WAS GONNA ASK. I think my favorite Loki encounter was one where Loki was this tiny lady in wearing Loki's end-of-Avengers costume, complete with chains and mask; she was the only one who hugged me like she was a super dangerous version of Loki, and the dude Thor she was with was really amused by it. All the Lokis were great, though! I didn't take pictures of most of them, because I didn't want to ask for a hug AND a photo, but one Lady Loki who'd made her own incredible costume did take a picture with me while we were out of the crowd crush.

( Sundress Thor on the New York subway, holding a Starbucks mocha that says 'Nicole' on the side cos the barista wildly misheard me saying Thor; me with the really excellent Lady Loki, in what may be one of the best pictures of me ever. )

Then I stayed over with Olivia; she sat me down with booze and cupcakes and proceeded to tell me about One Direction for like three hours. In the morning before I left we went to brunch with mistresscurvy and one of her friends, and it would've been One Direction all the time except that I kept insistently talking about Tom Hiddleston while having a mimosa. I love New York vacation? and pretending to be an adult? and then talking about RPF at brunch.

I'm pretty happy now, is what I'm saying here! I have a movie night with friends tonight, and D&D tomorrow, and really kind flexible work hours that are letting me do the last bit of the Avengers fic in a fit of madness. (On the last part! 87,000 words and counting! Gonna try to be done over the weekend! WHEEEE.) I managed to order a new computer today, and I have lots of art from con to put up around the apartment, and ... some days are better than others, but it's good right now.

Mm. I love Christmas so much. It's funny, because I never set out to have an excess of Christmas spirit or anything (if we, say, ignore for the moment the fact that I watch Muppet Christmas Carol every year) but it makes me so happy. I haven't listened at all to the Christmas mix I made a couple years ago, and I haven't watched any of my holiday movies or Christmas episodes, or reread Letters from Father Christmas, or even been on top of Yuletide in the same way I've been in years previous. But ... yesterday I wrapped presents for my parents and put them under the tree, and today I did a few final Yuletide revisions while feeling more and more excited about it, and tonight is the UU Christmas Eve service.

I've been so busy, and so overwhelmed by life happening, that it's sort of snuck up upon me this year. But I'm at my parents' house for the week, and I know my sweethearts and roommates and assorted friends are also off with family or otherwise doing good holiday things, and I feel so pleasantly anticipatory, and calmly settled into my skin.

Tomorrow of course I'm going to open presents both virtual and physical, and probably watch or read all the Christmas-themed things that I didn't get to before now. I'm just. Really happy to be happy right now.

I have been mostly away from the internet (and fandom generally, barring sleepily checking tumblr over breakfast) for quite some time now because real life, oh god real life, everything has been a bit in crisis mode with helping people move. But! I AM OFF TO DRAGON*CON TOMORROW. I'm really hoping that it will be a proper vacation rather than something that packs on more stress, but I am really, really excited at the prospect of so many hangouts with lovely fan people.

(We're still on for a Stonehenge Apocalypse room party, right? I need this in my life. And if we time it right I may turn up with an air of faint bewilderment while dressed as Aziraphale.)

+ Visiting eruthros and thingswithwings is really wonderful, you guys, it was absolutely worth the all-day bus ride Friday. (Plus the endless buses gave me a chance to reread Eight Days of Luke, which as usual gave me all the Loki feelings.) So far I have snuggled the dog a lot, and we went to the farmer's market yesterday during a really epic thunderstorm, and we keep having impromptu vid parties, and I have eaten lots of delicious food. Last night we went out for dinner with livrelibre, with whom I bonded enthusiastically over Thor/Loki. Many of the delights of conventions, none of the crowds or panel scheduling!

+ Speaking of cons, I am now entirely ticketed for Dragon*Con, although at this point my D*C feelings are mostly logistics anxieties rather than actual excitement. Presumably by late August I will also have excitement! In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what sort of cosplay to do and whether it can fit in my duffle. (I ... kind of want to make myself a Thor costume chiefly out of duct tape. I could do that, right? PERHAPS.)

+ And of course today I watched the Henry IV part one Hollow Crown. OH GOSH I HAVE LOTS OF FEELINGS. The only real disappointment was the director's baffling decision to turn Hal's first soliloquy into a voiceover, which, WHY, I really wanted to watch Tom Hiddleston's face while he explained all his cunning lies. That aside, though, Hal was of course basically perfect, and that's really all I absorbed; I'd have to watch it again to have other thoughts, and obviously I do have plans to watch it again forthwith. Because HAL. *___*

i. skfdk everyone run do not walk to listen to the podfic of Shatter, read by cyranothe2nd who is basically my new hero -- she makes the fic sound so good, and also upped my fondness for Jane a lot. SO GOOD. I would listen to it like five times in a row except that it's three and a half hours long, and also, let's be honest, I basically have the fic memorized. I just love the podfic so much!

ii. WisCon! I'm going with Emma and am stupid excited to show off Madison to her; we'll be arriving early Friday afternoon (fingers crossed, our bus schedule keeps changing so it's entirely possible we won't turn up until about five in the evening) and staying through Monday, and I'm really excited to see everyone. WISCON BUDDIES I WILL SEE YOU SOON. \o/

There is no thing three! Maybe I will try to write some filthy Thor/Loki before I'm off on weekend adventures, idk, maybe I will just clean the house.

Hello the internet! I am back from Dragon*Con, as caught up on my rlist as I can be bothered to be, and feeling completely dazed and flattened, although not actually ill (yet). I had an entirely fabulous time, and circumstances permitting I very much want to go again, though I don't think it will ever be the con of my heart -- far too terrifyingly crowded. That said, this was certainly one of the best weekends I've had in recent memory.

( Con report! This is a highlights version rather than a blow-by-blow. Tom Felton, various Buffy shenanigans, Sylvester McCoy, the Yule Ball, and MARK SHEPPARD. )

So that was essentially my con! I loved the hotel we were staying in, because it looked like something out of Star Wars, and I loved the three-plus days of intense fannishness and all the enthusiasm, and I am so glad I went, and now I am going to sit quietly in a corner for a while until I am functional again.

+ Last night oliviacirce and I actually made some Pietas on the Beach. Let me tell you, internet, they are disgusting and delicious, and they got us really, really drunk. I do not recommend them at all, but I would totally drink them at all the fannish parties.

+ Olivia and I also watched the newest iteration of film Jane Eyre, this one starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. We both pretty much adored it; it made me desperately want to reread the book, which I haven't read since high school, because this Jane had a wonderful inner life and I want to know her thoughts. Olivia and I also agree that Michael Fassbender was weirdly perfect and very beautiful, and we may hate him a little, because he's really not the sort of dude one wants to have an actorcrush on.

+ My laptop does not believe in connecting to the internet in Olivia's apartment, for whatever stupid reason, so in order to do internet things I have to borrow hers. I am amassing a collection of tabs and emailing them to myself for safekeeping, which will be terribly exciting in a few days. In the meantime, one bit of figurative tab-closing: The Boy Who Lived Forever, Lev Grossman's article on fandom. I am fairly impressed by how well he covers the basics without ever falling into the typical fallacies, and I am particularly pleased with how he doesn't put forward any idiotic theories on why women write slash, and instead lets them actually speak for themselves. It's definitely worth a read.

+ I am -- really happy right now, I think. It is very much a living-in-the-now sort of happiness; I have no idea what I am going to be up to anytime soon, except writing writing writing, but my nearly-done vacation has been delightful. Navel-gazing later, perhaps -- right now it is time to order in dinner and eat too many cupcakes and brainstorm Thor fic and just be.

The view out my window right now is of the perfectly full moon reflecting silver-white on the misty banks of clouds I'm flying over. Right now. Because there is free wifi on the freaking airplane. Technology, man.

Yesterday anekdot and I went to a Josh Ritter concert. I went because Sares has astonishingly good taste in concerts I will enjoy despite having only listened to a fraction of the artist in question's music (see also: Andrew Bird) and my god, it was phenomenal. Josh Ritter has the patter of a stoned teenager musing on life at three in the morning, and somehow he still managed to have the entire audience eating out of his hand. I was completely charmed and entertained and am now quite a bit in love with his music.

As if that wasn't awesome enough, upon arriving back on campus, I joined the Tyler posse and we watched episodes of Black Books and drank wine from mugs because we are just that classy. I can tell you right now that few things in the entire goddamn universe are more wonderful and hilarious than watching Grapes of Wrath with friends while taking a sip every time Bernard does and also quite a few times he doesn't.

I spent most of today reading in bed. Sometimes I pretend to have loftier life goals, but this is pretty much as good as it gets.