Thoughts on the Journey

I've been having a lovely quiet holiday mainly involving some cooking, reading magazines and books, lots of Yuletide and then the busy of helping my parents with a New Year's Day party. This has been what I needed, time to be and be grateful to have time with my parents and phone calls with my other family. Now I feel like I can take on the new year with hope.

Before I left for the holidays, I saw the new Star Wars and mainly it left me feeling sort of like The Last Jedi, during it I was pulled in and interested. Then after as I started thinking about it, I ended up feeling disappointed. Both movies remind me of some fantasy novels I've read where great ideas but the execution is odd and I'm left seeing the holes. Also I felt like there was an uncomfortable balance in all the movies in terms of which characters the directors thought were the most interesting. The trilogy didn't feel much like a trilogy. I'm sorry about that as there's so much potential in the new trilogy but I felt it kind of got lost. Though I have enjoyed many of the other material from them like the various books. The way I feel about it, these aren't movies I'll eagerly rewatch the way that I do Rogue One, The Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels.

In good news, I wrote for the Rebelcaptain Secret Santa along with Yuletide this year and really do love the rebelcaptain fandom. It was so much fun to be going into Yuletide after having watched enough of Guardian to have context for fic. Later I'll do a proper Yuletide rec post.

Follow-on (1180 words) by FiKate
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Chronicles of Chrestomanci - Diana Wynne Jones
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Christopher Chant/Millie, Christopher Chant & Mordecai Roberts
Characters: Christopher Chant, Millie | Millie Chant, Mordecai Roberts | Tacroy
Additional Tags: after conrad's fate, Friendship, Cricket
Summary:

After the events of Conrad's Fate, Christopher learns that he disappointed Tacroy and realizes cricket might be a way to help their relationship. My wonderful prompt was about wanting more about how Tacroy's perception of Christopher isn't the same as everyone else's and I used that as a way to look into what happened after Conrad's Fate.

This was a tricky fic and at this point, I haven't heard from my recipient but I'm proud of it. Young Christopher is a fascinating character and Tacroy intriguing but hard to get a read on. This is the first fic I've written in the Chrestomanci fandom proper, I did write one odd fic that was from the fictional Millie series. At this point, I've now written Hexwood, Magids, Chrestomanci, and Eight Days of Luke of Diana Wynne Jones' works. I don't know if I'll ever write for all of them but her fandoms are great.

My gift:

Speak Low when Speaking of Love (3086 words) by estelraca
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: October Daye Series - Seanan McGuire
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dean Lorden/Quentin Sollys
Characters: Dean Lorden, Quentin Sollys, The Luidaeg (October Daye)
Additional Tags: Aftermath, Friendship, Musings on the Future
Summary:

In the aftermath of the situation with the Selkies and the Roane, Quentin and Dean try to help their families feel better. For Quentin that includes convincing the woman that most of the world is terrified of that she should come to dinner with him. Spoilers through Unkindest Tide.

This fic made me so happy. I love all the teens of the October Daye books and their perspective on what's going on around them.

The Rebelcaptain Secret Santa ended up being a lovely exchange and I wrote a very fluffy Modern AU fic. My prompt was a fluffy domestic and after asking, I learned my person liked baking together and I went for it.

Cookie Plan (1314 words) by FiKate
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso
Characters: Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso
Additional Tags: Modern AU, Rebelcaptain Secret Santa, Cassian the cook, Fluff, Domestic, Holidays, Established Relationship
Summary:

When it comes time to bake cookies for the holidays, Cassian has a plan and Jyn's ready to help. Since this is the first year that they're able to bake and prepare together. This modern version of Jyn and Cassian is slightly inspired by my College AU about them.

Written for Pawprinterfanfic and the 2019 Rebelcaptain Secret Santa. I hope you like it.

My gift was a sweet fic with Jyn taking care of Cassian.

Day and Night and Morning Light (1278 words) by YoukaiLuvr
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso
Characters: Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Caretaking, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, tension headache, Post-RotJ, RebelCaptain Secret Santa 2019
Summary:

“Good morning,” he responded, ducking down to kiss her.

“What was that for?” Jyn asked.

“Just…because I can,” he said, smiling and leaning down for another kiss.

***********

RebelCaptain Secret Santa gift fic for FiKate.

My brother and his family are safe in France but I don't know yet about the various friends that we also have over there.

Everyone there is in my thoughts as the Rehoboth film festival finished up and today I saw a film that reminded me of how hopeful humanity can be. Its called Landfillharmonic and about a children's orchestra in Paraguay.

Thank you to everyone for the good thoughts on my last post. Since then I finished my fact-checking, painted my nails and other serious self-care. Tomorrow I'm going to see Mad Max and my birthday is coming up. My place is out there, I need to find it and it needs to find me.

I wanted to post the review I wrote for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books in an unlocked post as well since I'm happy with how it turned out. The book, Love with a Perfect Cowboy wasn't a favorite of mine but its good to stretch my reviewing muscles.

I'm in the midst of reading a new anthology by Ellen Datlow: The Doll Collection, which I picked up because it has a Seanan McGuire story. Its a wonderful collection, the stories are horror but no evil dolls but all the stories so far have been creepy and well done.

Also I've fallen deeply into The Clone Wars TV show that's on Netflix. I love how complex a world it is and it actually makes me want to go back and watch the second two prequels so I can see where it fits. I'm into the third season and my favorites are Duchess Satine, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, all the clones and Master Luminara. All the various Jedi are fascinating and I adore how different the various races are and I think the pirate who looks like a skull they keep running across is voiced by the same guy who did Don Carnage in TaleSpin, the characters have the same vibe. I also get a real kick out of how many of the voice actors are clearly Australian and New Zealand, I miss living in a place where I heard those accents all the time.

There's a documentary on Netflix too that I highly recommend called Stripped about the history of comic strips and they have interviews with everyone from the guy who draws Beetle Bailey to the Penny Arcade guys and so many in-between. They even were able to interview Bill Watterson, his face isn't shown but his voice is heard. Definitely worth a watch.

Since I'm having all the Charles' feels today, there's a not too far post-XMFC Charles in PFSB and Mixed Muses.

I'll be around all night and those EPs are open for ages as I process thoughts and feelings from the movie.

Yesterday I finally saw The Winter Soldier and wow that movie, I need to see it again.

( Thoughts with some spoilers are under here. )

I need to see it again and I'm coming to love the soundtracks of Henry Jackman, his music just works. He did the soundtrack for X-Men: First Class and I heard him interviewed on an NPR show about movie soundtracks.

My jet lag is getting better and its wonderful to not have anything huge coming up in the near future other than family visiting for Easter. I keep looking back at the last month and a half where I did three weeks of fact-checking, to DC for the job then out to LA for an interview and it makes sense that not a lot of other things have been happening. But all that traveling has my words coming again. I'm hoping to write some queer fest fics and today I wrote a librarian blog: Busy days: Fact-checking and the school librarian as goalie.

Oh and ages ago, I put up a prompt meme with a 100 prompts. Its still open as writing for other people always works well for me.

This was an odd Monday, the power was off in the library so I had nothing to do and went and read in Starbucks for a while. Also yesterday was spent cooking and then enjoying hosting with my parents a movie group they're a part of, we talked about films from the Rehoboth Film Festival and others. Apparently The Book Thief was quite popular, which makes me curious. From what I've read of reviews online, it seems one of those books that people either love or they hate. Also I've been introducing mainly my mother but also my father to more Doctor Who with a focus on Ten as he's my favorite. I hadn't realized before just how much Russell T. Davies used authors as linchpins of stories; Dickens, Shakespeare, Christie.

Oh and I finally got more words for my Yuletide, it still doesn't really have much form to it but there are over 600 words. This might be one where I throw the words out on the page and then beg my betas help in making sense of it.

Now for the December Meme, which is still very open. You don't need to leave ideas on that entry, leave them on any and they will be written. I might end up extending it into January as I'm loving the questions I'm getting.

Back to the point for today swankyfunk asked me: Out of all the places you've visited, where would you most like to live and why?

Now I'm going to do top five for this one, because narrowing it down to just one is really hard.

1-Wellington, New Zealand: I liked who I was in Wellington. I found a gaming group, I was able to wander. There were cafes to read in, museums to wander into, water, hills and even used bookstores that didn't eat all my money. Also the best public library that I've been to, okay one of my top ten favorite libraries. I could have lived in that library with no problem. The only true con to Wellington is that its so far away from the US and my family and friends here. When I came back from New Zealand, I wanted to try and meet and connect with all these amazing people I'd met through Milliways, but it stalled. First the recession, then grad school in Michigan and now I'm here in Delaware and the oomph to go see people hasn't happened as I'd like. DC, Maryland and Virginia people, I want to connect with you. Yet there are also people on that side of the world as well, its tough.

2-Dublin, Ireland: I spent a week in Dublin in 2002 when I had finished my semester abroad in Athens and I loved it. Again a city I could walk that had water but also art and history and all those things that I loved. I would love the chance to live there and know it better.

3-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Growing up for me, Philly was the city that was just a train ride away. I spent high school going to South Street, the year after I graduated college had an internship at a museum on Penn's Landing, its my favorite city. I love the history of it, Ben Franklin walked those streets and the river going through and its close to DC and New York but a little cheaper. There are great restaurants and wonderful neighborhoods, the Mummers, Reading Terminal Market. I always expected that I would end up near it because it was where I grew up and I'd still like to.

4-San Francisco/Central California: My mother grew up in Carmel-by-the-Sea so I spent a few weeks ever summer going to Carmel to spend time with my grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousin. Also a visit to San Francisco where my great aunt lived and I loved it. One reason I adore New Zealand is that it reminds me of that part of California. I've only visited it but I'd love to try living there.

5-Seattle: My other aunt and uncle live in Seattle and its another city that I adore visiting. It feels like New Zealand and its the Pacific Northwest and god, I would love to work at that library.

As you can see, I'm pretty evenly split between East and West Coast with New Zealand kind of splitting the difference. I have learned about myself that I'm happiest in a city with some sort of waterfront whether its river or ocean, water makes it all better. I do love New York City but to me it always felt like a city to dip into versus one to live in. This is probably because I've never lived there and its been a place I go for a few days at a time, but its never pulled me the same ways that these others have. At this point, I would just love a job near a city where I knew one or two people because I do need that social grounding.

One thing that wrecked me last year was not really knowing anyone, Rick was too far away in Ann Arbor and people were nice at work but that's not quite enough. I did like Ann Arbor as well but it felt too far away from everything though it was a great city. If I could have moved Ann Arbor farther east, I would have been happy and found a job there.

I had a good day, I woke up and went to the local library for the volunteer appreciation meal. The food was delicious and there's such a wonderful community there, also my mentor recommended someone else to look over my resume. Then as a gift, I was given a small poinsettia, which made me smile.

Sadly there was a low point when I went to Starbucks before heading to see Frozen. I was sitting and reading and the couple sitting next to me was awful, everything they said was a variation on things used to be better and 'these people' covering migrants, young people, women and even soldiers didn't appreciate what they have. The bit that made me truly consider speaking up was how the man was going on about how in the 1950s suddenly housewives lives were so much easier they had nothing to do but spend their time lazing around all day. After all that was what it seemed like his mother was doing and that women might say they wanted equality but if offered a pedestal, they would hop right up. Somehow the woman he was with kept nodding and not disagreeing, I didn't get it but it did end. It made it hard for me to concentrate on my reading and those of you on Twitter saw my grumbling, because honestly wanting to be respected and paid well isn't being entitled. This shouldn't be that hard.

After I went off to see Frozen which was wonderful. I loved how the heart of the movie was the sisters and trying to fix a broken family along with helping a kingdom. Also the chant/singing at the start and end of the movie gave me chills and seemed almost Polynesian. I don't know if I want the entire soundtrack but I get parts of it.

lady_bols: Favourite TV shows, at least three, and why you like them. <3

Now for the question for the December meme, this is going to be hard one as I love a lot of shows. And the last few nights I've been dipping into Netflix Streaming which always reminds me of shows that I love but have forgotten so as with these others, these are the first few that I think of. If asked on a another day, the answer would be different.

Firefly: Created families and ensembles are some of my favorite things to see in a show and Firefly does them right. I also love cowboys and space cowboys are just better. I didn't see Firefly when it was on TV, but instead was introduced to it in New Zealand. Some of my friends there lent me their set and I marathoned all of them in I think two or three nights and fell in love. I adore all the relationships and thanks to Milliways have been able to see some of what else might happen. This is one of those cases where Milliways made me appreciate the show even more since the incredible players in Milliways expanded the world and added even more depth to what was there to begin with.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I started watching Buffy when it first aired but then stopped before getting reintroduced to it in college. I have a lot of good memories of watching Buffy life with friends and talking about how strange and wonderful it is. The friendships and loves feel real and while sometimes the plots are a bit silly, the heart is always there. Joss knows how to do ensembles. I've been reminded of Buffy mainly due to Tumblr where gifs of it keep appearing.

Elementary: I'm currently rather far behind on this show but I grew up watching Jeremy Brett's Holmes and I feel like this show captures the feel of the Holmses' stories. I love the push and pull of Joan and Sherlock as well as the sense that its actually happening in a New York City that I could visit. The mysteries aren't anything special but to me that's never been the point of the Holmes' stories, they're more about the back and forth of Holmes and Watson.

Teen Wolf: I marathoned this show because I was curious about where alexiscartwheel's Stiles came from. Then discovered it was on Netflix Streaming and lost a few nights sleep to it. I have a soft spot for shows about young people trying to grow up and find their way which Teen Wolf hits in a way I like. I appreciate the variety of families, how nothing is easily solved. It would be nice if the plots made more actual sense but Stiles and Scott, Scott and Allison, Mama McCall, Danny, Isaac, Derek and the rest of them make me happy. This is one of those shows that I would love to actually write some fanfic for as its all about friendship and love and family. I have a fanfic started crossing it over with Sleepy Hollow that I need to write more of.

TaleSpin: This is the show of my childhood from Disney Afternoon and I've bought some of the DVDs and would like to in time get the rest. Its a show about a created family set in a vaguely steampunk world and I love it. If I could ever figure out how to RP or properly write some of the fanfic in my head of it I would, but cartoon worlds are tricky to write.

There, that's the five that immediately come to mind and I feel like they give a good sense of the variety of what I watch. I do love reality TV shows but I don't come back to them as often as I do these.

I forgot to mention that I finally wrote an entry on my librarian blog that I've been meaning to since the start of November; Connecting through Art about the Film Festival I went to and a sculpture garden I went to after Thanksgiving.

As it rains outside, I'm sitting and listening to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington on NPR and remembering why I chose to be an educator and a librarian. This past year while I worked in the suburbs around Detroit, I learned a lot by seeing how the internet has opened ways for young people to explore more of the world and question it. Yet I also saw how adults wouldn't listen because there were some truths that they weren't ready to deal with. I hope that the speeches today are heard and do make a change because listening to each other and understanding that we all need each other matters. Its heartening to hear the lists of everyone who counts in the speeches because it shows that in fifty years, more people are recognized. There's a lot to do and if I can help by providing access to books that better reflect the make up of America and access to online resources and a safe space for young people then I'll do it.

I've been rattling around in my parents' house in Delaware, which I really needed. Being by the coast makes me happy and settled in a way that's helps me feel better. Part of that is lots of pictures because this area is beautiful and my parents have created a wonderful haven for themselves here. Most of the pictures have been posted on my Twitter and Tumblr, but if you don't follow me there, on Instagram I'm here and you can look over them. Sadly Instagram doesn't make it easy to post images into blog posts or else I'd do that more often. I've been going for walks and taking care of various errands plus finishing up a few fics. Also due to being a writer, I listen to this history and find myself wanting to write about Charles listening to these speeches with his first few students and realizing that change can come about. I really wish that Pacific Rim was playing somewhere nearby because I could do with a rewatch of it.

One nice benefit of my parents' place is that they have a big TV, no cable but an Apple TV so I've been catching up on various shows. I've now watched most of the older seasons of Warehouse 13, the first season of New Girl, which I loved, some of Parks and Recreation which didn't really catch me, The Vicar of Dibley and various other movies and shows that catch my attention. Sadly I haven't figured out how to mirror my computer on the TV, I think its because my laptop is older than Airplay, but I'll sort it out at some point. And I hope soon to start working at my local library, which will be wonderful. Its a great library and a place that I enjoy being in.

FicFriday returned last week with lots of wonderful prompts.
( Twitter fics> For @minkhollow42 <i>Dem, to everything there is a season</i>  )

I just posted my first fic over on queer_fest which is one that clicked for me when I read the prompt and this FicFriday was busy. Life is full of various good things as I'm currently hanging out with the_croupier and got to go to Dawn Treader where I picked up many wonderful books. I've really needed this break.

Misfits and Lovers (3503 words) by FiKate
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Men: First Class (2011)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Charles Xavier, Raven Darkholme, Erik Lehnsherr, Hank McCoy, Moira MacTaggert
Additional Tags: Bisexuality, Bisexual Character, Community: queer_fest, Prompt Fic, Backstory, Siblings, References to Homophobia
Summary:

Written for Queer Fest 2013 and the prompt: X-Men: First Class, Charles Xavier(/Erik Lehnsherr), Erik is the first person Charles has ever been completely honest with. Though Raven may have known about his telepathy, she didn't know he was queer.

Told from Charles and Raven's points of view as they navigate this new aspect of their relationship. Sexual tension between Charles and Erik is present but not acted upon. References to period fears of being queer in the 1950s and 1960s.

Title from The Wallflowers' song Misfits and Lovers.

For FicFriday, I wrote a few fics on this journal and then was very busy on Twitter.

( Twitter Fics )

So anyone willing to beta my queer fest fic of 3200 words of Charles and Raven dealing with him being bi?

Its pretty rough but I think its all there and there's no rush. My posting date isn't until later in the month.

Also Kevin Kline's Pirates of Penzance is on TV, I need to get the DVD version of this movie as my VHS is useless now. This movie is such a weird part of my childhood. I saw that awful movie The Pirate Movie on TV and had good thoughts about it and at the video store saw this one on sale and bought it. I then completely fell in love with it though thought the last song must have been created by the film as it was so out there. It wasn't until I took a course in college where we studied 19th century literature in which we read Gilbert and Sullivan that I learned that song was canon. It made me love the movie even more and how it just embraced the crackiness of Gilbert and Sullivan. Its been far too long since I played the Pirate King but I'm going to see if I can get around to having him take a bartending shift or something in the near future.