Challenge #14

In your own space, do the Fandom Wrap Challenge. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

What were your top 5 fandoms for 2022 based on the amount of time you interacted with them?
1. Hockey - going to games, reading articles, watching videos, listening to podcaasts
2. Stranger Things - watching season 4, reading a lot of fanfic, writing fic of my own
3. due South - yes, old fandom, but best ending, still enchanting, I wrote several fics
4. Arcane - probably the most mixed media, including writing fic, making art, creating a playlist
5. Avatar the Last Airbender - lots of fanfic reading, wrote a fairy tale
*honorable mention: Supernatural - just because I did art for two Big Bang stories

What were your top 5 fandom spaces (Discord, Twitter, etc.) you experienced fandom in terms of time spent?
1. AO3
2. Tumblr
3. Dreamwidth
4. YouTube
5. Podcasts (various sources)

What are the top 5 things you did to contribute to fandom in terms of time? Did you write? Comment? Send positive energy into the universe? Create art?
1. reading fanfic
2. writing
3. making art (fanart)
4. modding things
5. making icons and other graphics


What were your top 5 most appreciated fandom contributions? (i.e. in terms of likes, kudos, reblogs, comments, etc.). We are just going with most kudos on AO3 and just things written last year.
1. The Kind of Thing that Only Prince Would Sing About - Stranger Things
2. Calling Moon and Moon - Avatar the Last Airbender
3. Last Kiss - Stranger Things
4. Scattered Light - due South
5. Where Your Name Would Echo If I Lost You - Grimm

Have a Top 5 List you'd like to share?? By all means!

My Top 5 places to find vegan recipes
1. Rainbow Plant Life
2. Make It Dairy Free
3. Pick Up Limes
4. Avant Garde Vegan
5. Sweet Potato Soul

I've been looking at my reading page, but haven't had the willpower or concentration to sit down and write up a post.

So beware incoming word vomit!!!

TV Shows (spoilers)

Two shows with a similar pedigree - prequels to massively successful fantasy franchises. Neither perfect, but one being almost flawless and the other a semi going over the cliff by the end.

• House of the Dragon - I really enjoyed this, although, having experienced Game of Thrones, I knew there would be pain, and I was not wrong. I was blown away by the performances, however, especially Paddy Considine. Wow. The best thing about this show is how character-driven it is. The rift and evolution of Alicent and Rhaenyra's relationship was fascinating. All four actresses did really well. I wasn't a fan of grown-up Alicent until she faced down Rhaenys in the Dragonpit. I'm here for this story, even if it's sure to lead to heartache. I think part of the reason I'm partial to this one is that it is fixing the bad taste that the end of Game of Thrones left behind.


• Rings of Power - In contrast to House of the Dragon, I'm having a hard time enjoying this one. It may be because I've read the source material here, and not for HotD. Also, HotD has the advantage of the creator being involved. RoP is more of a surface-level fantasy story, which is fun in it's own right. But it's missing a lot of the depth found in the rest of Tolkien's work. I can't decide if it would be better or not to have watched any of the Jackson movies? The two big twists were telegraphed so early and obviously, by that I mean the reveal of Gandalf and Sauron. The thing the did surprise me was the eruption of Mt. Doom. The whole thing with the tunnels and the key was very confusing, but paid off really well. The main emotion I felt at the end of the season was sadness for what happened to the Southlands. Was this whole thing an anti-colonialism metaphor? The other thing was empathy for the Orcs. Maybe that was the point? I'll say again, I have no issues with the casting of anyone, other than Elrond. He just doesn't have Hugo Weaving's intensity. RoP may have suffered because the bar was so high.


• Duillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities - I'm not sure what I was expecting, more fantasy perhaps? I watched the first episode and found it too horror-focused for my taste. Reminded me of the old series, Tales from the Crypt. del Toro did an outstanding job, no complaints there. But yeah. Not my thing.


• Great British Baking Show - on the other hand, this warms my heart. My safe spot to land. I discovered it during the first few months of the pandemic, and it's been my comfort ever since.


• Over the Garden Wall - My annual October watch!

Fanworks

I'm very happy with my assignment for due South Seekrit Santa and I'm well into writing it. I have both a title (the hardest part, sometimes) and a concept that I'm excited about. I've written over 1000 words so far. I just have to set aside time to sit down and write.

My assignment above side-tracked me from another fairy tale that I've been working on. I hope I can come back to it and get it finished.

Video Games

• Breath of the Wild - Before I got my own Switch, I played the very first part of this game on someone else's Switch. I got as far as first shrine, I think, but it wasn't my console so I stopped. When I bought my Switch, I bought BotW because that's what you do with a Switch, right? But I never played it until a couple weeks ago, when I put it in on a whim. I know I'm extremely late to the party, but I can't even express what a fantastic game it is. I can see why it tops pretty much every list of greatest video game ever. I'm obsessed, and if I didn't have a full-time job, I would play it all the time.


• Hollow Knight - Funnily enough, I also started this game on someone else's Switch, but that person lives with me, so I could play as much as I wanted. I absolutely fell in love with this game. I got as far as the False Knight, and then got stuck. When I bought my own Switch, this game was my number-one priority, and I started over on my own file. Once again, I got stuck at the False Knight. I would put it away and not play for weeks on end, playing Animal Crossing instead, but then I would pick it back up and try some more. I finally beat the False Knight. Now I understand why game-based learning is a thing. The sense of pride and accomplishment when I finally did was just unbelievable, and so motivating to continue. I've gotten 'stuck' in a few more places, but never for long. I'm not saying I've mastered the game play, but I've definitely leveled up and that feels so good.

My Life

For the first time since the pandemic, we had an out-of-town visitor. We had a great time, cooking together, watching the shows mentioned above, and just hanging out. The other thing we did, that I haven't done since before the pandemic, was go to a Dallas Stars game. We had a great time, and the Stars won, so what more could I ask?

It's not a return to normal - we stayed masked the whole time at the arena. When we were wandering through the shops in town, we put masks on every time we went inside one.

Today, I'm making Vegan Pumpkin Ricotta Stuffed Shells, a nice autumn dish. The weather has finally cooled off some; I turned my AC off last week. When I change my sheets today, I'll probably put my down comforter on the bed, and put the summer quilt away.

After my post about the visiting butterflies to my yard, I looked into what it would take to make it an official Monarch waystation. It seems the only thing I still need is some milkweed, so I'm going to try to find some that will grow around here. Then I'll register my yard and get a sign. https://monarchwatch.org/waystations/

Challenge #1

In your own space, introduce yourself! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is an updated version from last year, because a few things have changed in my life, to say the least!

Intro Post

Hello! I go by ‘seleneheart’ because ‘raederle’ was taken when I first set up my Livejournal back in 2003 (I’ve been kicking around for a while). My identity on non-journaling websites is ‘Raederle of An’. So if you run across that, it’s probably me. Both names are from beloved books. My pronouns are she/her. I fall on the Star Wars side of the space epic debate, and am more of a Fantasy fan, although I do enjoy me some Sci-Fi. I watch the extended versions (yes, 12 hours worth) of all three Lord of the Rings movies every other Christmas day (although I’m not the slightest bit religious - the day is for other reasons). And I cry every time.

I’m fascinated by fairy tales (myths, ghost stories), and have adapted many of them for many different fandoms. Some of them are pretty obscure - I have quite a few fairy tale books to use as reference so the odds are good I’m going to adapt one you’ve never heard of before. I’ve even smushed elements from several tales into one story (And one memorable time, I made a fairy tale from a tale that was in a completely different reality from ours). Someday I will make a post and collect the links for all the ones I’ve written into one place and include all the fandoms. We’re talking somewhere between 20-30 tales.

I’m also a huge science nerd and read as much science stuff as I can, and try to learn new things about it. As a result, my journal is full of random science info and videos. I'm also a nature girl, although currently stuck in a large city. Someday, if I get my way, I'll go back to the woods. Oh, yeah, and I'm a hockey fanatic. I believe it was Chris Rock who said, "There are no casual hockey fans."

My journal is sometimes personal, especially my explorations of the gluten-free world as one of my children is extremely allergic and I try to figure out ways to keep his weight up. Most of the time I don't really vent on here.

In addition to writing sporadically, I dabble in various art mediums from digital art to painting to ceramics (I love wheel throwing). I’m constantly watching tutorial videos or taking classes.

Recently, I’ve barely had any time for creative endeavors because I have completely switched careers. I became a teacher the year before I started this journal on Livejournal, so most everyone on here knows me as teacher!Rae. However, before I was a teacher, I was a lawyer. In recent years, I have started missing the practice of law, and have gotten increasingly frustrated with the treatment of teachers and the education system as a whole in the United States. When COVID hit, and everyone’s plan for sending kids back to school was, “Let the teachers figure it out. They always do.”

Yeah, no. I’m not a babysitter, and I’m especially not a stopgap for all the social safety nets that have been removed over the years. It isn’t heroic; it’s disheartening.

As one of the teachers in our locked Facebook group says, “Teachers are the most bullied and micromanaged profession in the county.”

When all that bullshit came down, I started job-hunting. and was completely shocked when I found a law firm willing to take a chance on someone who hasn’t practiced law in 18 years. And thus I walked away from teaching and back to law.

I won’t say that it hasn’t been stressful and having an extremely steep learning curve. And it’s much longer hours with no ‘breaks’ just weekends. Overall, I’m enjoying myself. But it’s much better for the anxiety level of the people I live with, who were extremely stressed out about the idea of me going back into the classroom at the end of the summer.

What I will say is it’s very hard to start a new job in the middle of a pandemic. So there ya go.

Current Fandoms: Stranger Things, Letterkenny, Dallas Stars, Teen Wolf (a bit of a revival)and due South. In the last year, I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed Schitt'$ Creek (my heart!!), The Witcher, The Old Guard, Community, and Bohemian Rhapsody, which led to an obsession with Queen in general over the summer.

First, my day today:
Went for a walk with a friend who has been going through chemotherapy and who finally felt well enough to walk. Another friend, who's husband is in hospice, is coming over for a lunch of Italian beef. She's another transplant from the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes to Texas. When I lived in Illinois, every Tuesday, the Italtian beef lady would come by our office to get our orders, but it's pretty impossible to find it here in Texas (never mind a decent Philly cheese steak). Someone sent me a gift of Italian beef from Portillos so I'm sharing with my fellow refugee, in addition to giving her a break from being a caregiver. Cancer can go fuck itself.

Normally, we go to Dallas Stars games on New Year's Eve, but as they are playing in the Winter Classic tomorrow, they aren't playing tonight. I'm sure the whole NHL is holding its breath to see how ice works outside in Texas. It's cold today, but very sunny.

Now, my year:

• Writing: 2019 started out with my full participation in the snowflake_challenge for the first time, which kicked my languishing creativity into gear. I started several epics, but finished only one. However, that's way better than zero, which was my tally for the past few years. I also completed a few shorter things for ds_flashfiction. Additionally, I cautiously put some of my fic back up on AO3. Shelter turns out to be the most popular! Go figure.


• Work: I'm ending the year finding myself contemplating a career change. I teach in American public schools, which should tell you all you need to know. But one of my friends, who is one of the most dedicated teachers I've ever met, is leaving to work for a corporation that is education-adjacent. I've been mildly dissatisfied for a year or two, but hearing that, along with some other things, really rocked me. I'm exploring my options at this point.


• Family: My youngest is about to go back to school in two weeks. He's taken off since last May due to circumstances that negatively affected his mental health and well-being. He transferred to a school that is a three-hour drive away, rather than a three-hour plane ride, so I can at least get to him more easily if another disaster befalls him. I'm hoping it won't be necessary and the new school will give him a fresh start. The other two are getting along with their lives, but far from here, so I'll be on my own once the youngest leaves. It will be weird, but hopeful at the same time.


• Fandom: I've found a few new fandoms over the course of the year, revisited some old ones. Kept up with a few forever fandoms. I'll talk more about this in the upcoming days for the snowflake_challenge.

This has been such a busy year - hard to believe it's over already and we're into a new decade! I wish all my friends a productive and healthy 2020!

Otherwise know as the Dallas Stars did a thing. Which, not gonna lie, they do the thing pretty frequently. I attended a game right after Leonard Nimoy died and they played the full Good Morning Starshine on the Jumbotron in tribute. The Stars' media team are also known as meme lords, which there's a link to that effect floating around somewhere if I feel like finding it.

(apparently I do feel like it)

When the NFL let Spongebob fans down, the Dallas Stars came through:


I just found out about it yesterday, but apparently it blew up Reddit on Monday.

Personal things that have happened:

• one kid graduated high school and left for college, then got caught in a hurricane, but is fine now. Considering the amount of stress and upheaval he experienced, his first semester of college went fairly well.


• I changed positions within the same organization, but have a whole new set of co-workers to adjust to


• one kid moved to Michigan to be with his girl (she's awesome, so I have no objections, he's just far away)


• I was offered a beautiful young German shepherd from a friend who has too much family to properly deal with the dog. I reluctantly turned it down because I work too many hours and have no other pets to help with socializing him. Plus, my knowledge of what a German shepherd needs is pretty limited. All of my prior dogs have been Labrador retrievers. I remain tempted, but am resisting.

Fannish things:

• My active (non-lurking) participation in fandom remains in the art direction. (Can a person use up all their words? I write a sentence or two of an idea, and then abandon it. I think I used up all my words in the previous decade). I've arted for Captain American Reverse Bang, and the Captain America Big Bang over the past year.


• Fandoms I've been lurking in: MCU (see above), Stranger Things, due South (way to be late to the party, Rae), and anything else my friends throw my way in the form of recs. *hint hint*

Books, movies, TV shows, etc.:

• Aside from the non-fiction books that I read as a way to improve my professional practice, I read The Martian, The Terror (I've read several fictional treatments of the Franklin Expedition, and that was before I ever watched due South), and The Mountains Echoed, which I sort of stole from my school library, but then gave back when I finished. Currently, I'm reading The Children of Húrin, which was a Christmas gift from one of my children.


• I don't really go to the theaters much for movies anymore. Actually I think the only thing I saw in the theaters this year was Black Panther. I'm attempting to get in the entire oeuvre of Taika Waititi before year end. The only film I have left to see is Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which we are going to try to watch either tonight or Sunday night. Whichever night we don't watch that, we plan to watch Venom, which is my younger son's fav Spider-verse character.


• I watched all of due South over the summer. I've watched the first season of several shows but been 'meh' about getting to the next season, including Glow, The Magicians and The Good Place. For completely unhinged baking, I watched Zumbo's Just Desserts.


• I will attend only two live NHL games this calendar year. I did not get a Dallas Stars ticket package for the second season in a row, mostly because the people who frequently go to games with me live in different states (see above). We're going tomorrow night, though.

Personal thinky things:

• I consider myself pretty well plugged-in with tech, but this year I found that I really enjoy analog journaling. I don't do the full-on bullet journal thing, which would work better if my job involved doing different things from day to day. But I have a nice hardbound journal and a good fountain pen, where I keep up with tasks and events in my days. It would be excruciatingly boring to post here, but I like having a summary and record of happenings.


• With my kids scattering to different corners of the country, I've started thinking about where I would move if I could. What would my ideal situation be? I don't know at this point, but it's on my mind. I would hate to leave this house, but like everything else, sometimes you just have to let go. I have a realtor friend who would love to sell it for me.^_^


• Another Christmas gift from a child was a water color art journal, so I'm going to try to make something in it once a week. A full piece, but not one that I would necessarily feel like posting somewhere. I haven't had anything that fills in the gaps between the random crap in my sketch book and full-on, hours-of-work paintings, so I'm eager to start with the art journal!

Okay, the coffee is gone, so I need to go finish a piece for artyuletide.

(Also: *so* many html tags! I hope I closed them all!!!)