through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered . . .

remindmeofthe @ 2015-05-29T15:02:00

2015-05-29T19:08:47Z

So. It's been a while since I posted, and I haven't been keeping up with my flircle either. Please post a comment here with anything important that I should know from, oh, the last six months or so. I miss and love you all.

So I'm homeless now. I have been for three months. The longer I waited to post here about it, the less I knew how to say it. You've all been so helpful and supportive, both financially and emotionally, that I foolishly felt as though I'd failed you somehow. But that's bullshit and some of my best and oldest friends are here and you deserve to know what's up.

It turns out that homelessness is not the worst possible thing that can happen. You wouldn't know it from the way society freaks the fuck out about it, but it's true. It's not even the worst thing that's happened to me, and I haven't exactly had a rough life. I mean, it's not fun, but I've been more unhappy.

So. Please comment to say hi, fill me in on your life lately, whatever's going on, and I'll try to get back into posting here at least once a month to let you know I'm still around. ♥

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remindmeofthe @ 2014-12-26T00:00:00

2014-12-26T05:07:52Z

This is about Stephen Collins, so I'm gonna go ahead and put it under a cut. It's non-graphic. but if pedophilia is triggering for you, don't click.

( not so heavenly i guess )

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remindmeofthe @ 2014-12-01T00:37:00

2014-12-01T05:51:45Z

I follow about a dozen people on Plurk (also remindmeofthe, if you want to friend me there), and a few of them frustrate me so.

None of them follow me here, as far as I know, so it's safe for me to vent.

A few of them look down on tumblr and tumblr politics, which I can understand! I know that tumblr politics can be in rigid black and white and how aggravating that can be.

But I also know how young tumblr's userbase skews, and I remember how it was when I was a teenager, how everything was black and white and how I knew theoretically that shades of gray existed, but I couldn't practically grasp their existence.

And I tell you what, I wish like hell that I'd known what a lot of kids on tumblr know now. I wish I'd known about feminism and how racism really works and about transphobia and a million other things.

I understand that these things on tumblr can be chafing sometimes, that they are applied so relentlessly it seems like there's no room for gray, but you know why? These people are kids. They don't know yet. They don't have the life experience yet to understand that shades of gray exist.

And as adults, we need to understand this. They'll get to where we are. Not all of them, I know, some people never grow up. But a lot of people do. They'll get to where we are, and they'll use all the amazing things they've learned, and if we're lucky then we'll all change the world.

In the meantime, there's no point in shitting on them, no point in whining about them, it makes me so angry. But there's no point in my expressing that either. So I do it here instead.

(Note that this is only about people I follow on Plurk. If I don't follow you on Plurk, it ain't about you.))

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remindmeofthe @ 2014-09-19T23:02:00

2014-09-20T03:09:49Z

So hey, I have a much less whiny RP-related issue to ask about.

I have a fun character, Ree (srs_screenwriter), for whom I've been using Kat Dennings for a while. Dennings has just the right attitude, she's fun, but it's all fucked up because she's white and Ree is clearly presented as canonically biracial. Her mother is white and her father is Puerto Rican; Ree describes herself as being visually racially ambiguous.

Practically speaking, it's fucking hard to find a PB of color, which has been my justification for a while now, but I can't let it go anymore. Using a white PB for a character of color is whitewashing, pure and simple, and that's not okay.

So. Can anyone point me at a place where I can find a more appropriate PB for Ree? She's late twenties, wears glasses, not especially curvy (those last two are negotiable). I'll make icons myself if I have to, but I don't know where to start. Help?

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remindmeofthe @ 2014-09-15T19:05:00

2014-09-15T23:19:54Z

So. As of my last entry, I had a job and a home.

Well, now I only have a home. I made what was in retrospect the colossal mistake, as hours were suddenly and tightly cut from the schedule to the point where I wasn't making enough to live on, of warning my manager that I was looking for another job. I meant the best: I liked K and I didn't want to blindside her by leaving.

Guess I should have guarded myself a little closer, should have taken warning from the way K gossiped to me far more freely than is acceptable from a store manager.

Because after that, my hours (set by an assistant manager, A) started getting tighter with every passing week, until last week I was scheduled for ten hours, a five-hour shift for Saturday and Sunday each. I went in on Friday to get my paycheck, checked the schedule, and discovered that not only was I scheduled for four - FOUR - hours next week, but A had taken it upon herself to change my schedule that week without notifying me, taking away the Sat/Sun shifts and giving me one four-hour shift for that very Friday.

I can't even begin to count the number of unprofessional things going on there. So, since A was the manager in charge that day, when she had a moment, I quit.

And she had the nerve to tell me that maybe I'd get more hours if I wanted to work.

Kids, the teenage girl who stood around doing nothing and who refused to smile at customers was getting more hours. I rest my fucking case.

So I've been applying to more jobs and had a ton of interviews in the past week, and I have another on Wednesday, but in the meantime, I'm scared to death about not being able to pay my rent in October. I just got this place; I don't know what I'll do if I lose it. The thought of having to start all over again makes me so tired.

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remindmeofthe @ 2014-09-02T16:58:00

2014-09-02T21:15:04Z

So hey. I haven't posted in a long time. I'm more active these days on tumblr and at Plurk (remindmeofthe at both). But a while back, I posted a desperate plea for help, and a lot of people responded, so the LEAST I can do is update you all on my situation now that it's finally settled.

I ended up living at home for a while, which was about as stressful as I'd feared it would be and didn't do much to help the suicidal ideation. I did, however, during that time, get back on my antidepressants, finally get a job, and resumed therapy, so at the beginning of July, I escaped alive with brighter prospects. ("Escaped" is kind of melodramatic, I know; my mother isn't actively abusive, but her perspective on how depression works and her own problems with stressful issues in her life made moving out feel an awful lot like an escape. I love her and she loves me. We just need to not live together ever.) From there, I spent a month and a half on my sister's couch while I searched for a place to live, which finally FINALLY came together last week.

My situation isn't perfect; I'm job searching again because the hours at work have been cut so severely that I'm already worried about October's rent. But it's so much better, and the help I got from everyone, both emotional and financial - I credit you all with helping to keep me alive, frankly.

Today I was sitting in the library, checking my email, and there was a young pregnant woman near me calling around for help with her own situation. She has no income, she's in danger of losing her apartment, and just to add insult to injury, the place she's been getting her bus passes from has changed the system and now she's facing having to do a lot more walking everywhere, despite her pregnancy. I wasn't actively listening, but you know how it is; I couldn't help hearing. I had just made a deposit at my bank next door and was in better shape financially than I'd expected. Not great shape, I'm still going to be eating a lot of pasta and rice in the next couple of weeks, but better shape. Certainly better shape than this young woman. And I thought of all of you, and how you'd reached out when I needed it, and how knowing you cared helped every bit as much as the money you gave, and I went back to my bank and made a small withdrawal. I gave that money to her, just enough to cover ten bus rides, knowing from my own experience that the kindness of the gesture would give her a boost just as much as the money would.

I'm not telling you this to brag, but as a way of saying thank you. You saved me, and it's important to me to be able to pay that forward, because we all need to look out for each other when we can.

I'm not sure how much I'll be using this journal anymore. I reblog a lot on tumblr and I Plurk pretty regularly, so you can keep up with me there. I do still read my flircle on a regular basis, even if I don't comment much these days.

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remindmeofthe @ 2014-01-16T22:17:00

2014-01-17T03:22:29Z

From basically my entire flist, and god knows we all need memes like this to come along a little more often:

One little compliment can make you feel amazing. So give me a compliment, anything in the entire world, even that my shoelaces are pretty. Put this in your journal. And once you get some comments, put that entry in a memory or tag and when you are feeling down, just go to that entry and this will remind you how great you are.

I know I should do a status update post, and I will eventually. When I have the brain for it. For now: I am not yet homeless, having money I can offer to people in exchange for a spot on their couch is a big help, and my fucking birthday is next Thursday, what the fuck. Also just the fact of all your support in whatever form you could give it has made the difference between feeling like I was screaming into the void and thinking that maybe I'm gonna be okay. Thank you.

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remindmeofthe @ 2014-01-01T18:13:00

2014-01-01T23:17:39Z

So wow am I hungover and sleep deprived and just generally lacking in the energy to write this post properly the way you all deserve, but I wanted to post something to let you know that I am alive and I intend to stay that way.

And also that I have never used the phrase "here's the sitch" before in my life and I do not recall deciding to use it to title last night's post, but. There we are.

Thank you all so much. I'll try to write something more when I feel less inclined to throw up.

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so here's the sitch, my circle

2014-01-01T02:04:47Z

I've been drinking, which only means that I have enough courage to tell someone about my situation.

The place I'm living in wants me out. I have a week. I am looking at homelessness.

Why homelessness? Most of my immediate family hasn't got space for another person. The only one who has space is my mother.

Over Christmas, Mom and I had a fight. It wasn't much of a fight, short and small, but it made it clear that she doesn't think my depression is important. Assuming that she would let me live with her? I think I would kill myself within a month. Not because she doesn't love me. She does. But she has had so much fucked up shit to deal with herself this year that I don't think she can handle my shit on top of hers.

So. My depression is bad. But not, in my fucked FUCKED opinion, bad enough. I don't want to die. I don't want to kill myself. It would be easier if I did. Then I could just do it and be over with. That would be nice. But I don't think it's going to happen.

But I still need so much help. I don't even know what I'm asking for. If you want to donate money, I'll give you my PayPal info. If you are a goddamn saint and willing to give me a place to live for an indefinite period while I try to get my shit together - well, you probably don't exist, but if you do, PM me and we can talk.

I'm broke and fucked and scared and I don't want to die but I don't know if I have any other option and help me? Please?

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remindmeofthe @ 2013-12-18T04:44:00

2013-12-18T09:48:10Z

Week of December 2:

Television:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine 1x11 (And then I discovered an amazing show just in time for it to go on a month's hiatus. Yay?)
Elementary 2x10 (I didn't realize exactly how much I'd come to love Marcus Bell until this episode.
Meganebu 1x10 (This was one of the episodes where I was so into it that I was genuinely startled when the end credits started. [Yeah, I know that doesn't say much for the show's plot structure.] I am going to miss having Meganebu to brighten up my Sundays after it ends.)
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club 1x03 (You know how you get into a thing and then you wander off into fandom and you think you remember all the reasons you loved the thing, but then you revisit and discovered you'd actually forgotten most of the awesome stuff? Yeah.)

Books:

Torn, Cat Clarke (Look, I am totally up for a story about a prank gone wrong ending in murder and the protag's subsequent struggle. Just don't offer me a supernatural angle when there really isn't one, and for the love of god don't choose the least satisfying ending possible.)

Week of December 9:

Television:

Sleepy Hollow 1x10
Agents of SHIELD 1x10
Elementary 2x11 (And then all of my shows went on hiatus at the same time. Is it January yet?)
Meganebu 1x11 (next week is the finale what am I gonna doooooo)
Mystery Science Theater 3000 10x09, "Hamlet" (My all-time favorite episode for ten years running. I mean, in retrospect, a lot of the humor is problematic and some of the jokes are a little on the pandering side, but the production is mesmerizingly awful, and when our boys nail a joke, they nail it but good. There are lines I can't not say regardless of the production I'm watching. "That is not wormwood would you shut up.")

Books/Short Stories:

"Darkling," Alexandre Stone (Also known as our own Flynn from Milliways! And I would have liked this story even if I didn't know her. You can get the Kindle edition at Amazon, go check it out.)
Ultraviolet, RJ Anderson (In which a girl who believes she has killed someone with the power of her mind ends up in a mental hospital NO COME BACK. You know all those tropes you associate with stories set in mental hospitals? You won't find 'em here. I've gushed about Anderson before, here and on tumblr, and I'll do it again. She does her research and writes about delicate subjects with care and sensitivity, taking great pains to present her characters as people. It makes all the difference in the world between a problematic novel and a refreshingly sincere one.)

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale episode 37, "Auction"

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-12-05T11:02:00

2013-12-05T16:05:37Z

I like how, just as I've gotten used to opening up the text doc and logging whatever I've just watched/read/listened to without even thinking about it, I've also started to just completely forget about actually posting. So here, have like three weeks' worth of stuff wot I consumed.

Week of November 11:

Television:

Sleepy Hollow 1x07 (Abbie, why did you leave the man from the 1700s in charge of the computer? That could only end badly. . . . oh yes, I see. Gotta get your lulz where you can find them, I suppose. Which is why Ichabod being disillusioned w/r/t Jefferson is the BEST.)
Agents of SHIELD 1x07 (C'mon, Fury, you knew that shit wasn't gonna hold forever, right?)
Elementary 2x08
Meganebu 1x07 (What the fuck is this show I love it so much.)

Movies:

Thor: the Dark World (A horrible, horrible cam version, but I can stop hiding from spoilers on tumblr now, because you know I was living on borrowed time there.)

Week of November 18:

Television:

Sleepy Hollow 1x08
Agents of SHIELD 1x08 ("DId I fall asleep?" "For a little while." CUTE, JOSS. REAL CUTE.)
Elementary 2x09 ("To thine ownself, Watson." Polonius is a blowhard, Sherlock. Joan and I both expect better of you than to be taking his advice.)
Doctor Who, "The Day of the Doctor" (That was the most engaged I've been by the show in a long, long while. I mean, it had all the usual problems a Moffat episode has, but it also had all the stuff a good Moffat episode has, and I'm actually kind of excited to see the show take this new narrative direction once Capaldi has properly arrived. Oh god, please don't get my hopes up just to dash them cruelly upon the ground.)
Meganebu 1x08

Movies:

The World's End
Hot Fuzz

Week of November 25:

Television:

Sleepy Hollow 1x09
Agents of SHIELD 1x09 (idk, guys. I've been wanting a Maycentric episode, and technically we got one, buuuut I wanted it to be about May, not about a bunch of people talking about May. Sigh.)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 1x01-1x10 (Holy shit, I have a new favorite show. My only regret is that I didn't start watching it sooner.)
Meganebu 1x09 (Seriously, this show completes me.)

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale episode 36, "Missing"

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-11-12T22:51:00

2013-11-13T03:51:58Z

Week of November 4:

Television:

Sleepy Hollow 1x06
Agents of SHIELD 1x06 (Ugh, so much crying. Even I know science doesn't work that way and I don't care, because so much crying.)
Elementary 2x07
Meganebu 1x06

Books:

Bossypants, Tina Fey

Movies:

The Purge: (If you've heard that this movie threw away all the potential of its premise - a night where any and all crime is not only legal but encouraged - in order to focus on a rich white family you won't care very much about, you have heard correctly. I really wanted this to be interesting and thought-provoking and ask hard questions with no real answers, and instead I got a carelessly written POS that tries to have its racist cake and eat too. AND I embarrassed myself by not recognizing Ethan Hawke. Fail all around.)
+1 (Yes, that's a title. This I watched because there was one actor in The Purge whose performance caught my eye, Rhys Wakefield. I hope Mr Wakefield continues to make a career of playing guys whose creepiness comes to light under the right circumstances, because he is excellent at it.)

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remindmeofthe @ 2013-11-06T21:31:00

2013-11-07T02:31:55Z

Week of October 28:

Television:

Elementary 2x05 (Yeah, so I'm not totally thrilled with the Jen storyline - uninformed consent is not consent - but Jen very clearly is fine with everything, so . . . I guess that's more okay than it could have been? Just be careful of that stuff in the future, Elementary, you're better than that.)
Dracula 1x01
Meganebu 1x05 (Hayata, honey, you may wish to start reconsidering your choice of friends. I'm just saying.)
Elementary 2x06

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale episode 34, "A Beautiful Dream"

Books:

Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-10-31T00:40:00

2013-10-31T04:40:58Z

Week of October 14:

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale episode 33, "Cassette"

Television:

Sleepy Hollow 1x05
Agents of SHIELD 1x04 (This episode felt a little off in terms of the timing of Skye's development. Is ABC airing episodes out of order?)
Elementary 2x04
Meganebu 1x03 (THIS FUCKING SHOW, I SWEAR. Why aren't you all watching it yet?)

Week of October 21:

Books:

Killing Mr Griffin, Lois Duncan
The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made, Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell (Contrary to one might expect of the title, this is not a cashgrab in the form of petty gossip and cheap jokes at Tommy Wiseau's expense. It's actually a really fascinating, brutally honest [and often compassionate] character study/biography of Wiseau by possibly the only person who came close to knowing him in the years of The Room's conception and creation.)
Allegiant, Veronica Roth (Wow, am I ever glad my interest in this trilogy is casual rather than fannish.)

Movies:

Haunter (You know those stories about girls meeting girl ghosts, a la Stoneword? Kind of like that, but from the ghost's perspective. Saying any more would spoil it, but I highly recommend it.)
The Stuff
Mac and Me (Another movie night double feature. So much fun.)

Television:

Agents of SHIELD 1x05
Meganebu 1x04 (Fuck, I love this show so much. I would never have guessed a month ago that I would love it, but a month ago I was ignorant and silly. Now I have seen the light. NO MEGANE, NO LIFE.)

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-10-14T04:48:00

2013-10-14T08:49:41Z

Week of October 7:

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale episode 32, "Yellow Helicopters"

Television:

Sleepy Hollow 1x04 (Gettin' tired of Ichabod "Best White Dude Ever" Crane real quick. Abbie and Jenny are fantastic, though.)
Agents of SHIELD 1x03 (I love Skye so much. Agent Board tires me, but unlike Ichabod, he lacks the screen presence to actively get on my nerves.)
Warehouse 13 4x17-4x20 (And then I remembered that I had a month's worth of W13 to catch up on and WOW. Oh wow. I look forward to the conclusion of this story. Also, Anthony Stewart Head is aging like fine wine. I am asexual and I still had to pause the ep to go "damn" during the dramatic Florence-flavored finale scene.)
Elementary 2x03 (Your weekly reminder that Joan Watson is perfect in every way.)
Meganebu 1x02 (I still have no idea wtf this show is doing, but I'm kind of in love with it now?)

Movies:

Pacific Rim (Finally.)

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-10-07T23:44:00

2013-10-08T03:46:12Z

Week of September 30:

Welcome to Night Vale episode 32, "Yellow Helicopters" (fuuuuuuck)

Television:

Sleepy Hollow, 1x03
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, 1x09-1x12
Agents of SHIELD 1x02 (vast improvement over last week, just as I expected. Looking forward to watching this show grow.)
Elementary 2x02 (Tell me that wasn't a subtle thumbing of the nose at Sherlock. Go ahead and try.)
Meganebu 1x01 (I have no idea what I just watched.)

Movies:

eXistenZ
The Room (These two make for a very interesting double feature. Also, watching The Room with people who actually make movies is HILARIOUS.)

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-09-30T04:40:00

2013-09-30T08:46:30Z

I'm gonna try to get back to doing this weekly again. Really. I remember to record shit as I finish it, but then comes Monday and I forget to post and then it's like Thursday and I figure I may as well wait till next Monday and blah blah here you go.

This is the first September in a long time where I've had multiple shows returning and have picked up some new ones. I'm so used to shows that are either mid-season replacements or on the BBC, which appears to start new seasons whenever the fuck it wants. So this week was fun!

Week of September 9:

Television:

Free! Iwatobi Swim Club 1x10, "Irritated Heart Rate!"

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale episode 31, "A Blinking Light up on the Mountain"

Week of September 16:

Television:

Sleepy Hollow, 1x01 (So I wasn't going to care, but then tumblr said it was good. Tumblr was right. It is fucking AWESOME. It is awesome and it's on FOX so it'll be cancelled in ten episodes so let's enjoy it while we can!)
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club 1x11, "Furious All-Out!"

Movies:

Lilo and Stitch
Thor

Week of September 23:

Television:

Sleepy Hollow 1x02 ("As you know, Bob, we are hoping for many new viewers who missed the pilot episode, so we have a lot of exposition to spout in order to catch them up." Sigh. Abbie's still awesome, though.)
Agents of SHIELD 1x01 (I think it suffered a bit from pilot syndrome, but there's a whole lotta good stuff in there and I think it'll smooth out and come into its own.)
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club 1x12, "Distant Free!" (I don't actually know what that's supposed to mean.)
Elementary 2x01 (Oh, I hadn't realized how much I missed this show.)
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club 1x01-1x08 (Yeah, a rewatch had to happen after that finale.)

Movies:

Lilo and Stitch

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-09-16T01:30:00

2013-09-16T05:31:32Z

Your result for The Remarkably Thorough Harry Potter Character Test...

Hermione Granger

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

You are Hermione Granger, Harry’s best friend and brightest witch of her age. Hermione is quick-witted, vigilant, and somewhat bashful of her talent. She is the ultimate perfectionist and seeks to do well at whatever she puts her mind to, no matter what it may be. Her skill with magic is just as vast as her knowledge base, which intimidates almost everyone she meets. Hermione’s weakness, however, is her heart; she may base many of her conclusions on logic, but in matters of the heart, she crumbles. Hermione becomes anxious and paranoid in matters of stress, especially if Ron is involved. Her love for Ron clouds her judgment at times, and it is in this that you and Hermione are similar. Yes, you are smart; yes, you are courageous; but there is no denying that you have a soft spot. Buried within you is a selfless soul. You are truly a remarkable individual, because while you are both intelligent and sophisticated, you are far from conceited. Unfortunately, your brain gets in the way of your kindness, which is why people think you’re a little hardheaded at times. Don’t worry about what they think, chickadee. You just like to be right.

In short, you are more:

Cautious than impulsive

Mature than immature

Modest than arrogant

Weird than normal

Introverted than extroverted

Your polar opposite is Sirius Black.

Take The Remarkably Thorough Harry Potter Character Test at HelloQuizzy

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-09-09T21:58:00

2013-09-10T01:59:35Z

And then I fell behind on my media consumption posts for three weeks.

Week of August 19:

NOTHING OOPS well not nothing just nothing I'm willing to admit to ~~so much bad yaoi manga heeeeelp~~

Week of August 26:

Television:

Chobits, full series (except for the recap episodes. So, okay, turns out Corpse Party was a gateway drug and now I'm dragged back into anime for the first time since my foray into the medium like twelve years ago. What's awesome now, though, is that stuff is so much more available. No more the days of enduring dubs of random quality because finding subtitled shows was like pulling fucking teeth [and when they did turn up, they were more expensive to buy as we still didn't have a DVD player at that point], or buying sketchy third-generation fansubs on VHS from a dude at the comic shop [yes, really], or hearing of a title that sounded amazing but I could only get hold of three episodes or like volume six of the manga. Now, not only can I find anime and manga sources on the internet, many of them are actually legal! And subtitled anime? Fucking swimming in it! Digimon 02 is available subbed now on Netflix. NETFLIX. So anyway, Chobits was one of those titles I wanted so badly back then but could only get bits and pieces of; when I discovered that Netflix had it subbed, I devoured the whole run in two sittings. Was it worth the decade wait? Nnnnnot really. It's fun and all but I was hoping for a little more exploration of the whole "are computers programmed to be people in fact people?" premise. But I did finally, finally get to watch it and that is fucking awesome.)

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale episode thirty, "Dana" (DANAAAAAAAAAAA that is all.)

Week of September 2:

Television:

Kinmoza!, 1x01 (Anime in which a Japanese girl goes to England on a sort of mini-exchange program, befriends the daughter her age despite the language barrier, and leaves; years later, Alice shows up at Shinobu's high school, having learnt to speak Japanese and excited about getting to live in Japan with Shinobu and her family. The scenes set in London are epic Engrish and the view of British culture through a Japanese lens is intriguing and makes me want to watch more to see where it goes. On the other hand, Shinobu is annoying as fuck and I'm not sure I want to put up with any more of her, which is why I haven't tried the second episode yet.)
Free! Iwatobi Swim Club 1x01-1x09 (The other exclamation pointed anime on offer this summer, however, is awesome. It has OTT drama and enjoyable characters and is funny as hell AND AND AND it is specifically designed to cater to women!! It is about a high school swim club, thus making the presence of wet, half-naked, toned, muscular boys extremely important to the plot, and it is all about the female gaze. All about. The female gaze. When was the last time you saw anything dedicated to the female gaze, let alone an entire show? Doesn't do much for me personally, but oh my god it is so so so nice to watch something without having women's bodies and body parts constantly shoved into my face as a blithe reminder that many many many people do not consider me a real human being because I'm a woman. The boys will survive some objectification. It's good for 'em. By which I mean: the misogynistic portion of the anime fanboy fanbase is squealing with rage and it is HILARIOUS. I would love this show even if it weren't good. Which it is! I recommend it with all my heart. You can even watch it legally here! Ad-Block will take care of the ads.)

Books:

"How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea," Mira Grant (for all my whining, I can't stop reading the damn Newsflesh stories when I come across them. This one is easily the most lighthearted of them all, lacking a lot of the shit that pissed me off in all the other ones, and doing crazy things like including queer characters who not responsible for bringing the plague onto mankind! There's even a casual mention of a legal polyamorous marriage with three partners. Plus, zombie kangaroos! I also like the discussion of Australia's response to the zombie apocalypse, which basically boiled down to: "Oh look, something that wants to kill us. That's new and different.")

comments

remindmeofthe @ 2013-08-19T18:44:00

2013-08-19T22:53:15Z

I am slowly rejoining life. I applied to a few jobs! I read a book! Later I might even do some laundry! I helped some with cleaning out Grandma and Grandpa's house last week, too, and let me tell you what. Two packrats living in the same house for sixty-plus years? On one day there were like six of us working for a few hours and we didn't even finish cleaning out the attic.

I liked working on that. It was time with family, and it meant I was helping my mom and her brother and sister with a task that was so much more emotionally fraught for them. They'd just lost their mother and now they were cleaning out the house they'd grown up in. I think being helpful is one of my coping mechanisms.

SO YEP media consumption! Still pretty light, but I'm getting back into the swing of focusing on things that require more attention span than tumblr.

Week of August 12:

Television:

Danganronpa: the Animation 1x06, "Return of the New Century Galaxy Legend! O Armored Hero, Stand Upon the Earth! #06 (Not) Normal Arc" (I'm pretty sure most of that is the chapter title and not the episode title, but it's kind of hilarious, so I'm including it anyway.)

Corpse Party: Tortured Souls 1x02 (the amazing ending of this episode is even more amazing, and kind of heartbreaking, with subtitles. Oh, Morishige. Each spinoff and adaptation of the game's story - seriously, there are like four different mangas and two games that take place in alternate continuities - finds a slightly different way to screw you up and I fucking love it.)

Books:

Orange is the New Black, Piper Kerman (Gotta read the book first, you know. I've been in the room while my housemates watched the show and it's clearly fantastic, plus I've heard good things from everywhere else ever, so it was time to read the damn thing so I can get started marathoning already.)

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remindmeofthe @ 2013-08-13T00:29:00

2013-08-13T04:44:00Z

First, thanks to everyone for your kind replies to my last post. People are being so wonderful and supportive and it's helping a lot.

Second, have a belated reaction to one of my favorite actors being cast as the next Doctor: HOLY FUCK YES. That was the first weekend after Grandma died, so Capaldi's reign will, I think, always be overshadowed for me, but I'll still enjoy it ~~no matter how hard Moffat tries to fuck it up~~.

Third, catching up on media consumption. To the surprise of no one, the last two weeks have been very light, and most of what happened the week of the 22nd happened before Grandma's stroke.

(This is life right now. Before and after.)

Week of July 22

Podcasts

Welcome to Night Vale, 13-27

Television:

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, 1-12 (full series)
Corpse Party: Tortured Souls OVA, 1-4 (full series) (Came out the day of Grandma's stroke and improved my mood to no end, lack of subtitles and all.)
Danganronpa: the Animation, 1x03 (I am seriously starting to wonder how they're going to cram the entire story into thirteen episodes. And, considering how rushed it's already been, I am less than excited about finding out.)
Danganronpa: the Animation, 1x04 (A few days later. Apparently the answer to that is that now they've established everything, they are going to barrel right the fuck through the story at top speed. The opening of this episode has like two solid minutes of establishing shots while thirteen offscreen voices make various remarks. What do you mean, you didn't have each character's voice memorized? Too bad, sucks to be you! Here, have a random shot of Sakura spilling her coffee while someone else entirely voiceovers some other event! Bet that won't be important later! If I hadn't read a Let's Play of the game this is based on, I wouldn't have the faintest fucking clue what was going on. I'm gonna keep watching it because it is cool to hear the voice acting, but wow this not how you do an adaptation.)

Week of July 29:

Television:

Corpse Party: Tortured Souls OVA, 1x01 (Now with subtitles!) (And yes, this is a much better adaptation of a game called Corpse Party. It is so not without its flaws, having similar issues with a rushed story, but it's easier to follow for a newbie and has some awesome twists on the game's storyline that make it that much more fun. Fandom, of course, hates it.)

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale, episode 28 (Came out the day Grandma died. Helped me to relax and fall asleep on a night I was sure I wouldn't sleep. Thanks, Night Vale.)

Week of August 5:

Television:

Danganronpa: the Animation 1x05, "Weekly Shonen Despair Magazine" (Sometimes the subs I find translate the episode title, sometimes they don't, and I don't really care enough to go looking. This is definitely the best episode so far, which is a little frustrating, because it's also the one in which the fucked-up gender bullshit with Chihiro comes into play. Whatever, I'm just gonna go with "Monobear is an unreliable narrator" because MONOBEAR. His reactions to Chihiro really do come off as intense transphobia, plus with the whole "making everyone despair!!" thing. It's not even a stretch.)

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remindmeofthe @ 2013-08-08T19:47:00

2013-08-09T00:04:15Z

Weirdest moment at my grandmother's funeral: Seeing an old woman from behind as I approached, thinking it was Grandma, and not seeing anything odd about that at all in the split second before I remembered where I was.

So yeah. That happened. She had a stroke on Tuesday, July 23 which left her paralyzed in her right arm and unable to speak. There were plans to transfer her to a place for rehab therapy, but then she got pneumonia over the weekend. On Monday, it started getting worse. On Tuesday, her four children (including my mom) made the decision to take her off any kind of support and switch to palliative care. On Thursday, August first, four days before the sixth anniversary of her husband's death, my grandmother died.

I've been telling people individually because I wasn't ready to post about it. I managed to spend the days between her death and the funeral on top of that surface layer of stunned calm, but I could feel the grief bubbling right below and I knew it would break through if I thought about what had happened for too long. But now the funeral has been and gone and it's time to let the grief do its thing, and now I'm able to write this.

I thought I'd be ready when she went because I'd been through it with my grandfather, but this isn't like that. He had emphysema and had been declining slowly for years; when he died it was sad and awful, but also a blessing and a release. Grandma's health wasn't so great, and just a few months ago my sister and I were speculating about whether she'd be around for Christmas, but this happened so fast. It wasn't time yet. And what a shitty, mean little sendoff. The hospital she was in is right across the street from me and I'm still unemployed, so I spent a lot of time visiting with her and saw firsthand how frustrating it was for her to be unable to communicate beyond near-unintelligible words written laboriously down with her left hand. Isn't that just wonderful? Spending your last few days of consciousness occasionally bursting into tears because you can't fucking talk and the people around you don't always understand when you try to write instead? What the fuck. Thanks, universe. Thanks a lot.

She deserved better.

I love you, Grandma.

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remindmeofthe @ 2013-07-22T23:09:00

2013-07-23T03:10:09Z

Two weeks in one post again. Media consumption has been light.

Week of July 8:

Television:

Danganronpa: the Animation 1x01, "Welcome to the School of Despair"
Digimon 02 1-4

Week of Jul 15:

Television:

Danganronpa: the Animation 1x02, "Kill Free or Live Hard"
Sam and Cat, 1x01 and 1x02

Books:

Celebromancy, Michael R Underwood

Podcasts:

Welcome to Night Vale, 1-12

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in which let's be real, Maine is fucking terrifying.

2013-07-21T23:13:27Z

remindmeofthe: So apparently official Silent Hill canon has Silent Hill located in Maine. This Mainer would like to state for the record that Silent Hill can stay the fuck out of her state.
adiva_calandia: . . . I mean you know you're already fucked given how many Stephen King stories take place in Maine, right?
adiva_calandia: Derry is in Maine.
remindmeofthe: Technically speaking, if I did the geography right, I grew up in 'Salem's Lot. So. Yes. BUT STILL.
adiva_calandia: HA.
remindmeofthe: I was really excited when I figured that one out, especially since I was in that actual town the first time I read the book.
adiva_calandia: that is amazing.
remindmeofthe: Fake geography is so much fun sometimes.

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remindmeofthe @ 2013-07-09T03:14:00

2013-07-09T07:17:07Z

So then I had to move because the landlord is remodelling and then I was, technically, homeless for a few days even though I was just staying in the place that I officially live in now for the next couple of months, so what with one thing and another, I didn't do a lot of media consumption and I definitely missed a week posting. You totally forgive me, right?

Week of June 24:

Linked, Imogen Howson (Look, you can't tell me that your story's civilization is humanity thousands of years in the future and then talk about people eating chicken dinners and wearing jeans. You just - you can't. That is not how worldbuilding works. The story is still good enough to hold my attention, but those details kept throwing me off.)
The Line, Teri Hall
Once a Witch, Carolyn MacCullough
Always a Witch, Carolyn MacCullough (I really enjoyed these two books! Except I don't think they needed to be two books. They're each less than two hundred pages and would have worked just as well as one novel in two parts. The titling scheme is clever, plus of course two books make more money, but from a narrative perspective, splitting them up is unnecessary. That's my biggest complaint, though. Well, that and the boyfriend who insists on being in charge of everything because he hasn't noticed that he's in a story that's mostly about women helping and saving each other. Why must there always be a romance?)
Monument 14, Emmy Laybourne

Week of July 1

Television:

Another, 1-12 (full series) (Because Corpse Party gave me a taste for horror anime, apparently. This series got a touch too symbolic for my taste every now and then, and I found myself yelling at the characters a LOT in the last couple of eps ["So we're just going to stand around discussing the screaming in calm voices, then? Is this a Japanese thing?"], but overall I really enjoyed it. The story was absorbing and I liked the characters. Even the one who inexplicably looked exactly like Morishige from CP, wtf.)

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