A variety of things
Jun. 22nd, 2013 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impy1. Do you write? If so, you'll want to take part in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
luxken27's third annual(!) Summer Mini Challenge. Fanfic, original fic, anything and everything is fair game. Rules and prompts can be found here. It's just five stories and you have all summer to complete them. Or you can be really ambitious and shoot for more than one table o' prompts. You can even swap a tricksy prompt out if it isn't working for you!
I've taken part in the previous two and loved every minute of both. :D Aside from my birthday and the subsequent vacation, the mini challenge is the highlight of my summer.
2) Molly's archival of doom is being confirmed by Customer Service reps. They aren't the most reliable sources of information ever BUT it is a sign that the end is nigh. The end is nigh! Just 'need' Molly and that bed.
3) My first wave of books I reserved from the library came in and the first one of those I chose to read was Dear Bully. I waited years for the library to finally get off their duff and get it on the shelves, so there was a little bit of that weird limbo between expectations being high and "only vaguely remember being super psyched about this." Still!
The book, if you missed it a couple of years ago, goes like this: 70 authors share mostly true stories of being bullied, witnessing bullying, or being bullies themselves. Some stories are straight up letters to their former bullies. Some take a more fanciful route.
If you were ever bullied in school, no matter the grade, odds are good you won't be able to read this all in one sitting. I'm not sure you should, even if you could. It could bring back memories you might wish to forget. It could make you twitchy in ways you might not really notice until you blow up for no real reason. It could, it could, it could.
The problem with Dear Bully is that after awhile, the stories do blur together. They're done in groups and they still blurred for me. I wonder if opening up the book to random stories would have worked better? I know that by the time you get to the comics, you're relieved that the medium is different because it forces you to pay attention more than you might have been before.
At the same time I feel like an ass for saying that things blurred because how horrible is it that there are 70 stories and that's still left stories out of this collection? That so many people are bullied that we can't even contain all the stories?
It breaks my heart. But there you have it.
I take issue with some of the reviews I read about it, though. Not the ones that pointed out (gently or otherwise) that 70 versions of roughly the same story (kids are dicks, adults are even worse because they should know better and do better but don't and won't) will begin to feel monotonous no matter how good the intentions. No, I mean the ones that say "yeah, these aren't stories about bullying" or my personal favorite:
Currently reading this. It's one big liberal whine-fest. Ellen Hopkins blames bullying on talk radio. A few essays outright whine about "homophobes" amid the standard sort of bullying - others bitch about "small town" mentalities (I am SICK of this stupid stereotype that small towns are full of ignorant and un-curious people - I live in a small town, and the people there are NOT ignorant)
Clearly your small town has at least one small minded ignorant jackass in residence, though!
I don't take issue with her bitching about the small-town trope. I do, however, feel free to mock because of how she begins said bitching. :P
It's weird how many of the stories involved middle school girls turning on one another. You expect the mean girl to lead the pack against you, but even after living through the whole "we aren't friends anymore because there is no why" thing, it's still one of those things you don't think about having happened to other people. Even though you know that it must.
The best part, the absolute best part, is when they find you 17 years later and want to be friends on facebook. It really, really is. And even though your life isn't much to write home about and they've crossed off the married with kids boxes on the Checklist of Life, you realize that they would have added nothing of value to your life. So, y'know, thanks for not realizing how awesome I was then because it saved me from having to carry your ass over the threshold of awesome later. Because I don't think I could have managed that feat.
Oh, first season Toby, so do I. So do I.
Tomorrow I think will be gif day. You have been warned. Dress accordingly.
luxken27's third annual(!) Summer Mini Challenge. Fanfic, original fic, anything and everything is fair game. Rules and prompts can be found here. It's just five stories and you have all summer to complete them. Or you can be really ambitious and shoot for more than one table o' prompts. You can even swap a tricksy prompt out if it isn't working for you! I've taken part in the previous two and loved every minute of both. :D Aside from my birthday and the subsequent vacation, the mini challenge is the highlight of my summer.
2) Molly's archival of doom is being confirmed by Customer Service reps. They aren't the most reliable sources of information ever BUT it is a sign that the end is nigh. The end is nigh! Just 'need' Molly and that bed.
3) My first wave of books I reserved from the library came in and the first one of those I chose to read was Dear Bully. I waited years for the library to finally get off their duff and get it on the shelves, so there was a little bit of that weird limbo between expectations being high and "only vaguely remember being super psyched about this." Still!
The book, if you missed it a couple of years ago, goes like this: 70 authors share mostly true stories of being bullied, witnessing bullying, or being bullies themselves. Some stories are straight up letters to their former bullies. Some take a more fanciful route.
If you were ever bullied in school, no matter the grade, odds are good you won't be able to read this all in one sitting. I'm not sure you should, even if you could. It could bring back memories you might wish to forget. It could make you twitchy in ways you might not really notice until you blow up for no real reason. It could, it could, it could.
The problem with Dear Bully is that after awhile, the stories do blur together. They're done in groups and they still blurred for me. I wonder if opening up the book to random stories would have worked better? I know that by the time you get to the comics, you're relieved that the medium is different because it forces you to pay attention more than you might have been before.
At the same time I feel like an ass for saying that things blurred because how horrible is it that there are 70 stories and that's still left stories out of this collection? That so many people are bullied that we can't even contain all the stories?
It breaks my heart. But there you have it.
I take issue with some of the reviews I read about it, though. Not the ones that pointed out (gently or otherwise) that 70 versions of roughly the same story (kids are dicks, adults are even worse because they should know better and do better but don't and won't) will begin to feel monotonous no matter how good the intentions. No, I mean the ones that say "yeah, these aren't stories about bullying" or my personal favorite:
Currently reading this. It's one big liberal whine-fest. Ellen Hopkins blames bullying on talk radio. A few essays outright whine about "homophobes" amid the standard sort of bullying - others bitch about "small town" mentalities (I am SICK of this stupid stereotype that small towns are full of ignorant and un-curious people - I live in a small town, and the people there are NOT ignorant)
Clearly your small town has at least one small minded ignorant jackass in residence, though!
I don't take issue with her bitching about the small-town trope. I do, however, feel free to mock because of how she begins said bitching. :P
It's weird how many of the stories involved middle school girls turning on one another. You expect the mean girl to lead the pack against you, but even after living through the whole "we aren't friends anymore because there is no why" thing, it's still one of those things you don't think about having happened to other people. Even though you know that it must.
The best part, the absolute best part, is when they find you 17 years later and want to be friends on facebook. It really, really is. And even though your life isn't much to write home about and they've crossed off the married with kids boxes on the Checklist of Life, you realize that they would have added nothing of value to your life. So, y'know, thanks for not realizing how awesome I was then because it saved me from having to carry your ass over the threshold of awesome later. Because I don't think I could have managed that feat.
Oh, first season Toby, so do I. So do I.
Tomorrow I think will be gif day. You have been warned. Dress accordingly.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-23 08:28 pm (UTC)Wow, thanks! You are not the first person who's said this to me, but it still blows my friggin' mind all the same. I'm glad you enjoy it so much! ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-23 10:27 pm (UTC)