Merry Christmas!

FIRST OF ALL (because I forgot the first time): MERRY CHRISTMAS AND/OR HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!! I love each and everyone of y'all, and let's hope the next year will be rocking just as hard as this one. (And if you've had a crappy year, man, it can only get better, eh?)

NEXT!

AO3 isn't letting me comment and I have given up trying to fight the server to read the archive and it took me a while to actually get to the story that SOMEONE AMAZING AND KIND AND WONDERFUL has written me- I think I know who you are- BUT THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I DON'T DESERVE IT AT ALL, but it's all kinds of lovely and I can't count the times where I had to lift my hand away from the scroll key to giggle and squeal and flail and do ALL SORT OF EMBARRASSING THINGS because OH MY GOSH. It's perfect. Just what I wanted, it's beautiful and full of delicious BROMANCE and UST and MY NOT-SO-SECRET OT4 OF TEMERAIRE.

The story is wisdom to the mighty, honor to the brave; RIGHT HERE, EVERYONE GO READ IT IF YOU CAN (though getting there is the internet equivalent of battling through a million other people trying to read their stories, but hey. So worth it!)

To my lovely anonymous Secret Santa;

(ﾉ◉ヮ◉)ﾉ :｡･:*:･ﾟ'･,｡･:*:･ﾟ'- ♥

AHAHAHAHAHH~~~~~!
I will make a coherent comment later on AO3 when it lets me. But for now you can have MY CAPSLOCK SMILEY THING OF LOVE. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Merry Christmas Eve, and I hope it is lovely for both those who celebrate and those who do not. For you all I hope there will be nog, and pepperminty chocolate things, and delicious soup and warm blankets and cups of hot chocolate.


As for us, after we spend an awkward, uncomfortable couple of hours with Mr. B's family, we will be in the clear for CELEBRATIONS YAY. That is, if Mr. B's cold doesn't get worse. Then there will just be sleeping. Except the only way I'm going to get any sleep around here is if I hold a pillow over my head. Or his, preferably. I feel bad because he's miserable, but there is almost nothing more annoying than non-stop loud sneezing.

ANYWAY, CHEERFUL PICTURES. IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR.

Just had some tilapia and steamed rice for  lunch since the pork roast in still in the oven and is gonna stay in there for a while. It was very good although I suspect that was because I was very hungry. I still have to wrap a present for my aunt and maybe make some cookies, but I think that will be later on. I barely slept last night and then I had to go to get groceries this morning. There were a LOT of kids at Publix. You could barely go anywhere without stepping on someone's tiny foot. And also, I think kids have gotten a lot more trusting since I was five. There were a few times where little kids just paused as they walked by me and smiled. I was shocked. When I was that age anytime I saw an adult that wasn't part of my family near me, I walked faster and secretly thought, "Potential kidnapper. Why can't my tin legs move faster?" in my head. Maybe I was just a particularly paranoid child. Who knows.,

Saw Thirst and Julie and Julia today.



( Thirst. Spoilers. )





( Julie and Julia. Also spoilers. )

ETA: LJ's giving me some trouble. I have pictures that go along with this post. So give me a sec to fix this.

ETA: Okay. I'm good now. Read away.

Know what I love? Eating an assload of Chinese take-out while watching a movie and then taking a nap afterwards. Oh yeah. The movie of choice is Thirst, which is shaping out to be pretty awesome. I don't know for sure. I'm only like 20 minutes into it. But come on! Vampire priests? The only way this could be awesome-er is if they were all in space and the priest moonlighted as a ninja.

Wow. I haven't been this tipsy (and by tipsy I mean roll on the floor drunk) in a while. Thank god I'm only with my family. This would be hilarious and/or horrifying in public. Also, here's a tip, future self, next time lay off the rum in the rum and cokes. Because on one hand hand: delicious. On the other: dancing the Macarena never signifies that you're sober.

Santa pic 2009 a.k.a. "The Kids Who Never Look At The Camera" pic

Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently


During breakfast today.

I am feeling a bit laughy this morning.  It is not much different from any other morning actually except that I have clothes on.





BONUS ACCIDENTAL OMG CRAZY EYES SHOT.

Not so long ago, when I was still a wee fan, a certain writer of a certain American television show who wrote a blog discovered, via a comment on his blog, the detailed stories of one particular lovely fanfiction author. And he mentioned it in his next post. Cue shrieking, horror, locking down of journals, human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together-- mass hysteria.

And he said, in his post, that he and the other writers had always been aware of fandom, and that yes, they had read our porn.

And I hyperventilated and may possibly have peed myself, but nobody can prove it.

Now with Merlin, for some reason I was never under the assumption that my fannish life was lived in a happy little bubble. I think it's because I know that if I were an actor or in any way had a following, I'd be googling myself every damn day. Shit, I check to see how many people have bookmarked me on delicious every few hours weeks or so; I would be ALL OVER livejournal to see what people were saying about me. I never believe people when they say they don't read fanfic about themselves. That's why I thought the Being Human cast was so awesome, because they flat-out admitted they read everything they possibly can.

So...do I think the cast of Merlin reads my livejournal, specifically? No; I'm a bit paranoid but not quite that self-centered. Do I think it's outside the realm of possibility, given how much of my content shows up in common google searches? No. I am also completely convinced that even if the other cast members were able to stay away from the Internets, Bradley James checks from his phone. He probably has the kink meme and the major communities tracked and comments delivered to his email. I say this because it is what I would do.

THANKFULLY I AM A MATURE AND THOUGHTFUL INDIVIDUAL WHOSE METACRITICAL SKILLS ARE A FINELY-HONED WEAPON.

AND I WOULD NEVER EVER POST GODZILLA-COLIN/MOTHRA-BRADLEY PORN.

OR SCRIBBLE ON PICTURES LIKE PEREZ HILTON MAKING FUN OF BRADLEY JAMES'S WIDE AND VARIED FACIAL EXPRESSION OEUVRE.

OR GIVE PICTURE PROOF OF WHY I THINK COLIN MORGAN IS ACTUALLY SECRETLY A POKEMON.

THESE ARE THINGS I DO NOT DO BECAUSE I AM A DIGNIFIED SCHOLAR AND ALSO I AM FAR TOO BUSY AND IMPORTANT.

ETA: I USED THIS IN REPLY TO brightedelweiss AND I THINK IT'S QUITE APPLICABLE IN THIS SITUATION, AS IN SO MANY OTHERS. I BRING YOU THE WISDOM OF SAINT FERRELL.

1.  Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Prom 1999.





That's me on the left there.  My friend Kristen posted this on Facebook.  Apparently my scanner doesn't work with OS X (WHICH IS FABULOUS, THANKS APPLE, THAT WAS SUPER HELPFUL) so you are missing out on some classic baby Melissa.  Instead you get this GEM of a prom picture.  No, I do not know what possessed me to do my hair this way.  No, I do not know what possessed me to wear that dress (this was the Year of the Fluffy Princess Dress, and I was in some slinky black jersey thing with white flowers and my great-grandmother's costume jewelry?). 

That's our friend Di in the middle and Miss Kellypants on the right, looking lovely in an ice-blue dress that didn't come out very well in this picture.  Kelly was my date, and we had QUITE a lovely time at our senior prom.  Afterward, we went to her house and watched the season finales of The Pretender and The Profiler.  Oh, wee geeky us.  Also, we got lost in this crazy, creepy fog on the way home, while a creepy Elvis song was on the radio and we were driving through a creepy forest AND THERE WAS A CEMETERY.  We were like "Hey, how many horror movies involve teenage girls in prom dresses?" and then we were like "OH JESUS, LOTS OF THEM," and Kelly gunned it (which for her is like 40mph).


Alternately, this is from my aunt Michelle.  Me and my cousin Matt, circa 1991.  We are making nerdface (™ MY DAD).




How cute is Matt?  He is now a super-jaded war veteran attending West Point, so it is quite funny to look back and see how fuzzy and sweet he was at age 6.  But he is so definitely a relative of mine, because check out this face.




Actually, this only reminds me how impossible it is to get a nice picture of me.  I am almost always doing something stupid or making a dumb face.  That is how the Frantic family rolls.






2.  Rec: Karaoke, Sport of Kings, by SOMEBODY WHOSE NAME LIVEJOURNAL REFUSES TO ALLOW ME TO TYPE.  I have tried eleven times now to fix this and livejournal just will not allow it, deleting everything in between points 2 and 3, so I've given up.  So if you're DYING of curiosity as to who the author is, just go through the link.  Seriously, DIAF, livejournal.


3.  Oh, fandomsecrets .  Watch Melissa get annoyed anonymously.  Watch Melissa decide anonymous posting is stupid.  Watch Melissa get involved in a conversation about misogyny with a dumbass.  Watch Melissa lose her temper. 

I know it's impossible for you to read my mind, wee f-list, but if you could, do you think it's possible to just sort of yank me away from the internet when I start getting involved in conversations about misogynistic language?  It's like I can't help myself.  There's some sort of warning bell that goes off and my brain goes MUST GET INVOLVED and then most people don't want to hear that noise and I get angry because it pisses me off when people put fingers in their ears and go LALALA THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS MISOGYNY IF I SAY SO and then I end up telling somebody to go fuck themselves with a pitchfork AND GOOD STAY IGNORANT THEN YOU STUPID PIG FUCKER and yeah.  It never ends well, people, never.

4.  cuteboyishlesbiangirls.  Who spent like two hours on this website not too long ago?  THIS GUY.  Mr. Boyfriend was like, "Hey, what kind of girls do you like, then?"  He was sort of weirded out by the whole idea of us possibly liking the same type of woman, but has warmed up to it quite a bit, and thinks he has my taste all sorted.  Which he doesn't, but that's okay.  I am not into the super-super boyish girls, just the ones with the cute spunky haircuts and distinctive dressing styles.  All he really needs to know is that no matter how cute she is, I will always hate Jenny from The L Word.  Seriously, shut up, Jenny.

ETA:  5. LJ, you fail spectacularly.  Please stop randomly deleting my words, line breaks, and other html that is necessary to form a coherent entry.  Also, when I save something?  Please save it the way I wrote it, instead of going back to what was there before.

Have I ever told you guys how much I love fandom secrets? 'Cause I mean, when you give someone the opportunity to say some something that'll piss everyone off, but that they won't be held accountable for? HAHAHAHA THE LULZ. It's like, now you too can have shitstorm near you!

Like today someone posted a secret about how they wished more fandom people were superfit like her/him/it/whatever. Which, whut? Because, honestly, if I could modify people in fandom to my liking, I'd just turn them all into cloned versions of myself and have lolarious conversations with seven_trees numbers 1 through 29480492340949302 about the pros and cons of being a sparklepire (pros:immortality, superspeed action / cons:glittering, not allowed to do actual terrorizing of the masses:(  ). No but seriously, I just found this secret so ridiculous because if the person isn't a troll just looking to spend the night pissing people off (and if so, A+++ job)  then I have to wonder if before they met their fandom friends, they had such a distorted view of the world that they thought everyone in fandom was a a six foot tall model. And, okay, I did think it was kind of funny how the anon felt let down that this wasn't so. Like, "All this time you guys were being fat behind my back?! *righteously indignant huff*"

And then, of course, a lot of people reply as anonymous. So now it's like everyone got doused in eau de tool.

Then there are all these bullshit comments about how, yes, I do wish fandom would get healthy and  stop eating so badly. To which I say, "Sir, your pants are on fire." Because don't give me that bullshit excuse about how it's not that you're a shallow asshole, you're really only looking out for your friends' best interests. First off, fuck off, you condescending snob. Second, even if this weren't a pathetically veiled insult, who said it was any of your business to get into. Third, allow me to wave off the fumes coming off your bullshit, because this crap about wishing that people in fandom got off the computer and ate healthier, is just a stupid excuse to pick on the heavier people.  And what is this, Kindergarten? Because if so, I hope anyone who agreed with this ridiculous anon would take a five minute time-out near a cliff. And then throw themselves off it. There are plenty of thin people who have terrible eating habits or who have eating problems and this secret is singling out heavier people because some don't find them as pleasing to the eye. Stop it with this, "I only want my friends to live a healthier life. Honest." excuse. I'm getting tired of rolling my eyes so much.

/end rant

You know, when I started writing this post I felt amused at the whole thing, but as I got more and more into it I realized how much I wanted to punch this douche in the face. Sigh.

Wow. Brittany Murphy died.

AND I DON'T MEAN RAP AS IN A NEW CASE OF--

Right. tldr: this semester was all Nine-Levels-Of-Hell Awful, but I’m glad that it is over. I will be slowly catching up on things LJ-wise (and Yuletide because, holy cow, this year is different).

Anyway, how has everyone been? What have I missed out on? Throw me all your links! Comment here so that I can tell you how much I missed you!

Other things, mainly Yuletide…

( b'aaw. :( )( lol this just in: I write smut now. )

New places where I have an account!

• Tanyart on the Archive of Our Own!
• Tanyart on forumspring! Now before everyone moans and groans and berates me for being an attention whore, I realize this semester that I like writing! It’s true! What’s more, I love writing for other people. And what I mean by that is: I love stealing people’s ideas and mangling them in 100-500 word spurts. So while I’ll still be taking random questions about myself, I’d also like to receive drabble requests. Anything. Because clearly I’ll need something to do over winter break, and that doesn’t end until February. :)
• And I have a Skype! I haven’t used it yet and I don’t know if I will, but if you want to add me, then that would be cool! I am “tanyarted” on there. You can hear my fumbling nor*cal valley-girl accent!

Quicker notes to add:

• I have seen Princess and the Frog and I cannot wait to start writing fic.
• My ‘s’ key is gimpy. I have to pound it with a hammer to get it to work, so if you see a missing ‘s’, you’ll know why.
• The jump from Temeraire to TF2 has absolutely trashed my writing, so forgive me for any future Temeraire fic that may-or-not-be-coming-oh-god-what-am-I-doing—
• Yesterday I was in for the longest eyebrow waxing I have ever had. It was not pleasant. And I don’t care if its tmi, taking Human Anatomy has cured me of any bodily squick factor, but this lady ALWAYS manages to screw something up. But she is so cheap, I cannot help it!
• I’m gaining weight. But that is expected this time of year.
• My younger sister drives now. It is a scary thing.
• And because I am a crazy head, I still have more stuff to write/draw Christmas exchanges/gifts. Huurrr.

Happy holidays, everyone!

1.  Day 09 → A photo you took



My sweethearts with their various ugly blankets, watching football.

2.  I am a bit out of sorts this morning.  Usually to cheer myself up I clean, or watch something involving Bradley and Colin Behind the Scenes because their adorability knows no bounds.  Once in a while, though, I get in one of those funks where I am just not good enough to even be a human being, and that appears to be the mood today.  That means I'm going through all my favorite Design/Fashion/Craft tabs on delicious to show myself how much of a loser I am.

( Warning: depressing BS followed by Stuart Smalley self-affirmation BS below the cut. )


3.  MERLIN.

Room for spoiler-free country in between livejournal cuts.


( Spoilers for the last several episodes. )


4.

1.  Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad. I'm going to stick this behind a cut because it is so rage-inducing that I don't want anybody to have to look at it.


( Fuck you, Westboro Baptist Church. )



2.  chibirhm  and I have a comment thread going here in which we explore the TOTAL SCHMOOP involved in the Bradley and Colin relationship.  Warnings:  sweet like marshmallow pie with chocolate jimmies on top.  May cause spontaneous barfing.  chibirhm  is tapped out for the moment (OVERSCHMOOPED, I THINK), and I think anybody who would like to add to the story should come along and do it, especially since it was really the awesome awesomeness of Ms. puckling  who started it way back last March.

PLEASE COME BE SCHMOOPY WITH US.

I FEEL LIKE THE STA-PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN EXPLODED ON ME.

HALP HALP WE CROSSED THE STREAMS.

3.  I am going to wait until I get the rest of my grades to post the epic squee (or flailing) that shall surely follow, but I did get my Critical Approaches grade back and I GOT AN A, FUCK  YEAH.  I rewarded myself by buying a bunch of refills for my favorite type of pen that nobody carries anymore, because je suis une enormous swotty loser.

4.  I SHOULD NOT HAVE A FOUR, I AM SUPPOSED TO BE BUYING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.  BUT LIVEJOURNAL IS STILL DELETING MY LINE BREAKS.  WTF?

1. Why is lj deleting my line breaks and making me look like a dumbass?

2. My tree is up and it is lovely.

3.  Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy



Poor Sophie Lou. She is so pissed off at me. Mean, mean mama. Mr. Boyfriend was like, "I'm seeing the future...and in it I see you dressing our kids up as elves and shit." And I was like, "Um, duh." Kids looking miserable in costumes? EVEN BETTER than animals in costumes.

4.  Ugh. We were supposed to go to a Christmas party, but decided we would rather stay home and watch The Hangover while we ate delicious pasta with scallops and cream sauce and spinach. I really don't get it. I would love it if we got out of the house more often. But when his friends invite us out to parties and stuff, we spend the day dreading them and then when we get there we pretend to have a fantastic time until we give each other The Signal that we've stayed as long as we have to for politeness' sake, and when we leave it's like we just got out of jail. They're all very nice people, and if they wanted to come over and have dinner and drinks or something I'm sure we'd all have a great time, but when it comes time to party with them Mr. B has to drag me out the door with my nails still clawing the frame.

Oh, social anxiety and laziness, you are just a lethal combination.

5.  Check out my new icon.  It is by waterbath  and it illustrates perfectly the mathematical Baby Deer + Jiggly Puff + Sexy Bastard equation that makes up Colin Morgan, Esq.  Thank you, mklutz, for pointing me in her direction.