Ten Things to Hate About Me

[trinityofone]

Thank you so much to everyone who's replied to/pimped/glanced at the Why We Slash questions. I'm getting tons of great responses and I really appreciate it. I ought to be working on collating those responses, but I just got back from the World's Most Frustrating Library (what's the point of having all those books if you can't check them out or even, in some cases, read them?), so I feel like screwing around for a while. Also, as there seems to be a lot of new interest in this journal (yay! ...and also, hi!) and the Ten Things meme is everywhere, I thought I'd contribute my own version. So here's the basic rundown on moi, or:

Ten Things to Hate About Me

1. I'm 21; I've been in fandom for 7 years. This means that I've been in fandom for a third of my life. (And that's just internet fandom--if we were talking general fannish tendencies, I'm sure they would date back to shortly after birth, or possibly to the womb.) Yes, this is scary. Yes, this means that fandom is sort of intrinsically tangled up in who I am. And yes, it does mean that I often wonder how my life would be different if I never got into The X-Files--if my aunt never ran into her old friend David Duchovny at a health food restaurant in Brentwood and introduced me, actually, because that's the ass-backwards way I got into The X-Files. If someone had said, "Fuck it, let's go for a pizza," I might not be here right now.

2. I write. Compulsively. When I'm not writing, I feel anxious and depressed. I'm a fast writer when I get going, but I have a hard time getting going. I favor character over plot; I love snarky dialogue; I rely too heavily on pop culture references. If I ever get published, in ten years' time, my work will probably require extensive footnotes in order to be understood. I have written two novels, and neither of them is very good, but the characters are still eating my brain. The first story I ever remember writing was about a Tyrannosaurus Rex who ate all his friends, then was very sad and lonely, and so vomited them back up and everyone lived happily ever after, whee! It was illustrated. I think my writing's improved since then; my drawing hasn't.

3. I was born in Los Angeles, I lived in Vermont for 11 years, I moved back to L.A. when I was 16, and I'm currently studying abroad in Dublin. I mention all this because place is very important to me. I love L.A. unironically: the city is in my blood--kind of like a reverse-infection, as I get itchy and irritable following prolonged lack of exposure. I have recently come to terms with the fact that I'm going to end up there pretty much no matter what. Yet Vermont is where I spent the bulk of my childhood, and it still haunts me. I have a hard time conducting an entire conversation without bringing it up; the joke among my RL friends is that Vermont is my band camp: all my stories start out, "This one time, in Vermont..."

4. I'm kinda Jewish, kinda Protestant, mostly an Atheist. We celebrated all the important holidays growing up, but in a manner that was all about food and family and shiny things, so I've never felt any real need for religion. People are wonderful and awful and complicated enough all on their own, and as far as I'm concerned, the world is beautiful and wonderous without requiring any outside interference. That said, I'm fully tolerant of other people's religious beliefs as long as they're not hateful, and you don't try to inflict them on me. Unless by "inflict" you mean "share your fabulous food/pretty songs/cultural-religious whatever"--'cause that? That's totally cool. ;-)

5. I was recently described as being "in academia," which I find greatly amusing, as I'm not so much "in academia" as "enduring academia." Only 7 months left, whee! ...Of course, then I have to get a real job, and since that "watch TV/check LJ/read/write" post has yet to appear, I'm probably going to end up working at the Hollywood Reporter (summer '03) or at Barnes & Noble (summer '05) again. Um, yay?

6. I can't cook, but I make truly fabulous chocolate chip cookies.

7. I love receiving feedback on stories--really, really love it. But, as I've recently discovered, I'm crap at responding to it. I think this is because compliments, as much as I love them, make me kind of uncomfortable: I'm the type of person who responds to a comment of "That's a nice skirt," with "It was only a dollar!" I kind of wish I could discover the fic feedback equivalent of that--"I wrote it in an hour!" seems rude, though, and also, unlike the dollar-clothing comment, it's (mostly) untrue. Any suggestions? Or alternately, anyone out there who wouldn't mind being told that the nice piece of fanfic they just read and responded to was only a dollar? ;-)

8. As the above anecdote might indicate, I'm extremely cheap. I'm currently wearing a hoodie that was, indeed, only a dollar, and much of the rest of my wardrobe is similarly the product of thrift shops and yard sales. I do have a good eye--my lovely Guess leather jacket was only 10 bucks!--but I also manage to accumulate a lot of crap, based on the lure of it being "only __" or "50% off" or even *rapturous breath* free. I remember spending hours at the Addison County Fair (you know: one time, in Vermont...) not strolling the midway or watching the cow shows (yes: cow shows) but wandering through the corporate exhibition tents where I could get fabulous treasures like water-conservation comic books, tile samples, mini-tape measures, and free pencils with LEEMAN & SONS UPHOLSTERY printed on them. I saved this stuff for years, and only threw it away when we moved.

9. I love, love, love talking with people, and yet I'm intensely anti-social. I'm still not sure what's up with that: why I can be in the middle of an excellent conversation and suddenly want to run away and hide. According to far too many stories that my mother tells far too often, I was an extremely loquacious child...and that just did not go over very well in a rural Vermont elementary school, I guess. In the past I've dealt with this by becoming first really withdrawn and quiet, and then intensely outspoken--the "she'll say anything!" girl. Even now I tend to bounce between the two extremes.

10. But why are you even listening to me? I'm a virgin who can't drive. ;-)

Comments

[fureux.livejournal.com]

am loving ze icon. nkf's icon's are the pretty. i was going to answer the why we slash questions but then realized i lost my tongue in favour of being shithot with a needle and thread and were my answer would involve stitches and multi-media.. it might not check column 'a' and tick box 'b'. ;)

But why are you even listening to me?

simply 'cause you're right interesting and love the sga!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

i lost my tongue in favour of being shithot with a needle and thread and were my answer would involve stitches and multi-media

I have no idea what this means, and it frightens me. ;-)

simply 'cause you're right interesting and love the sga!

Good as reason as any, I suppose. *eg* Do I get bonus points for quoting Clueless?

[fureux.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what this means, and it frightens me

simply means that were i was once good with words and ariculating what it was i was trying to say i am now better at conceptual art and embroidery! lots of stop-starting dialect and gesticulating ;)

Do I get bonus points for quoting Clueless?

but of course!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm the type of person who responds to a comment of "That's a nice skirt," with "It was only a dollar!"

Heh! I do that too, then I feel all stupid because I couldn't come up with something better to reply with. (Like, um, "Thanks!"?)

I'll try to remember to tack onto all of my feedback to you 'No need to reply to this!'. :D

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

You don't need to tack that on. ;-) I just need to learn to be able to say, um, "Thanks"--like a semi-normal person, right?

*practices* "Thanks." "Thank you." "Thank you--I'm glad you liked it!"

See, I think that's what freaks me out: I start to sound like a robot. But a really sincere robot! Honestly!

*sigh*

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

But a really sincere robot!

And a thankful one, too! :P

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Yes! I'm trinityofone, the sincere, thankful robot! Which would make me...what? The anti-Marvin? ;-)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Have seen it; haven't gotten to read it yet, as for the first time in, like, ever, I have a backlog of fic to get through. WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO? I could do with a good dose of boredom, honestly.

*snuggles you*

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I can't concentrate on anything right now for more than two seconds. But...there's porn? Where is there porn?

...What were we talking about again?

Oh, and Mal is hot.

[leech.livejournal.com]

The first story I ever remember writing was about a Tyrannosaurus Rex who ate all his friends, then was very sad and lonely, and so vomited them back up and everyone lived happily ever after, whee!

That's awesome.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

There's a strong possibility I have yet to come up with a better plotline.

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

... dude, you got into X-Files fandom by meeting David Duchovny?! *is totally jealous, as self only got the X-Files as her first fandom by catching Little Green Men on TV and then happening to mention this fact to a rabid X-Phile friend*

Other than that, I am amused at how many of those are at least partly applicable here, too. (Though I must admit I didn't like LA when I was there. Yeah, I'll be hiding over here. Heh.)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Do I win at Weirdest Fandom Entry? Yes, that's how it happened. Or really, I met David Duchovny, went back home to Vermont and bragged about it, and was subsequently pounced on by a girl hereby known as Cait the Corrupter--she was a rabid X-Phile, and she got me to watch more episodes and gave me my first links to fanfic. She's since gone on to take up swing dancing and live a relatively normal life. It's really not fair.

L.A. grows on you. Or else, whoever you were with didn't show you the good bits. Come back next year, and I swear, I'll change your mind... ;-)

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

I live in VT; I've visited Dublin; I spent 11 years working for B & N; and I, too, write compulsively with an emphasis on dialog and character (and sex).

Alas, I am not 21. /g/

I am really liking this meme.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

You live in Vermont?! OMG, where? I was a Middlebury gal, making frequent trips to Burlington for movies and Japanese food on Church Street, and not-so-frequently going up to Greensboro to spend a couple of weeks on the shores of Lake Caspian. As much as I disliked it when I was there, I now have mad Vermont nostalgia. Also, on the rare occasions when I meet someone from there, I'm always irrationally convinced that we know the same people. ;-)

Ahh, Barnes & Noble...how would you like to sign up for a membership card today?

I am really liking this meme.

Me, too! I spend way too much time in fandom being willfully oblivious. Also...you live in Vermont!?! *utterly fails to get over it*

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

I'm in St. Albans, about 30 miles northwest of Burlington. I grew up in New York, but close enough to Vermont that people who were severely injured or sick were brought to Burlington.

I went to Bennington College, so I've also lived at the other end of the state.

I love my adopted state and there is no way I could be convinced to move. Life here is just so rational compared to other parts of the US.

Occasionally I get nostalgic for books, but for the most part I miss absolutely nothing about working for B&N. I loved selling books, but I hated supervising people, and our store's staff averaged around 80 people, at holiday time it could get up to 120. Yuck. I'm too much of an introvert for that.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I remember St. Albans! And Bennington! Bennington had a really good Mexican restaurant, as I recall...

As much as I complain, there are definitely many commendable things about Vermont. It's really extraordinarily beautiful, and it gave me certain idyllic childhood moments, like sledding at Middlebury College, and shopping barefoot at Willey's General Store, and Church Street at Christmastime...yeah. I definitely miss it, and I definitely want to go back. I'm glad you're happy there; I myself might have a little of a "Wherever you go, there you are" problem...

I loved selling books, but I hated supervising people, and our store's staff averaged around 80 people, at holiday time it could get up to 120. Yuck. I'm too much of an introvert for that.

That must have been really tough. I, too, loved the bookselling aspect but hated all the corporate stuff, and I didn't even have any real responsibility. I think what we need is a small vanity bookshop with a few charming but eccentric employees and a small but loyal group of customers...and now I've fantasized myself into a Dylan Moran sitcom. *g* But the point remains!

Hey, was the B&N you worked at the one in Burlington? Because if your 11 years line up at all with mine, there's a small chance I once bought a whole bunch of Sandman comics from you. ;-)

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

Naturally, I just got this this morning.

I adore VT. You couldn't drag me away. Of course, compared to where I grew up in NY, St. Albans is downright urban with it's 8,000 people. Plus, Burlington and Montreal are close. And Ottawa and Boston aren't that far.

It's a great lifestyle, relaxed and comfortable. I can walk to just about everything I need: work, the library, the bank, the comic book store, the sex toy shop. And there are seasons.

I was at the B and N in Burlington from 1996 through 2004. Wow, that's just depressing. I bore much of the responsibility for opening the store on Wolf Road. So if you shopped at that store, we definitely overlapped. Which is cool.

Interestingly, I recently that there is a HP slasher who lives in St. Albans. She shops at a friend's comic book store. It seems odd that there is an other slasher in St. Albans. /g/

[spazatron.livejournal.com]

But these are the reasons we love you.

Especially Number 6.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

*loves you for loving me--or even tolerating me--in all my nuttiness*

*especially when I'm in another country and cookies are not forthcoming*

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

You're 21? And you write like that?

*hates you for a little while*

*gets over it, reads more of your fic*

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Um. I don't really know what to say to that.

Except...thank you? It was only a dollar?

[lamardeuse.livejournal.com]

It is a compliment, really. :) You and d_sudis and pearl_o have this astonishing amount of talent that just is so far beyond your chronological ages. It's like the way Judy Garland sang like she was forty when she was eighteen.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Some day, you and I will hit the sales like whoa. There's a great place on La Brea called Jet Rag: every Sunday, they dump a bunch of clothes out onto the ground and let people like us root through it LIKE THE CHEAP PIGS WE ARE. *g* No, seriously, it's great. My favorite skirt is from there.

I will probably at some point reply to your slash post. Last I looked, you didn't have many guys replying, which may perhaps be due to a difference in male and female readers of slash?

I have had zero guys respond, and it would be really great if I could have at least one. If you don't want to reply on LJ, you can always e-mail me: kaufmaa@tcd.ie or akirgo@yahoo.com . Whatever makes you most comfortable, though.

[violin-road.livejournal.com]

I absolutely command that's how you respond to my fb from now on. For that matter, that may be how I respond to fb from now on — "Thanks! It was only a dollar." Awesome.

Also, YAY PEOPLE WHO CAN'T DRIVE. My Mum finally made me get my license this summer past — the day before I turned nineteen, and I haven't been behind the wheel of a car since.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

that may be how I respond to fb from now on — "Thanks! It was only a dollar." Awesome.

New. Fandom. Trend. YAAAAAAAY!

People who can't drive walk rock. Seriously, we are totally doing this because we are, like, super environmentally conscious and hate Bush's War for Oil and refuse to support the American auto industry because Henry Ford was an anti-Semite.

Or we're too lazy to learn and worried that if we do, we might kill someone. One of those.

[violin-road.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly that. Yay the environment! As long as it doesn't come anywhere near me.

[aurora]

--if my aunt never ran into her old friend David Duchovny at a health food restaurant in Brentwood and introduced me, actually, because that's the ass-backwards way I got into The X-Files.
Eeep, that's so awesome. :))

The first story I ever remember writing was about a Tyrannosaurus Rex who ate all his friends, then was very sad and lonely, and so vomited them back up and everyone lived happily ever after
That's strangely endearing. Did he have a name?

But why are you even listening to me? I'm a virgin who can't drive. ;-)
I'm really amused. Also, same here on both counts. :)

xxx

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Eeep, that's so awesome

Heh. In retrospect, it kinda is. =D

That's strangely endearing. Did he have a name?

It was rather cute, especially since I bound the thing with pieces of fuzzy red string. And I'm sure he had a name, but I don't remember what it was. Judging from what I was naming my stuffed animals at the time--"Cowie," "Beary," "Brownie," "Blackie"--it was probably something like "Rexy." Or maybe "Scaly."

same here on both counts.

You, me, and Cher, baby! *g*

[aurora]

Heh. In retrospect, it kinda is. =D
It so is. What was he like? *curious*

Rexy. ♥
Yeah, I have the annoying habit of naming everything. My stuffed animals had first and last names :| Like Robert Scott Jason :|:|

*g*

[sonofzeal.livejournal.com]

but I also manage to accumulate a lot of crap, based on the lure of it being "only __" or "50% off" or even *rapturous breath* free.

Heh. I have subsidized shirting, and it's quite nice. Hell, one of the forms I filled out today even asked my t-shirt size, so they can give me a free shirt later. Now if only they had subsidized pants, I'd be set.

10. But why are you even listening to me? I'm a virgin who can't drive. ;-)

And if you can't drive yet, that back-asswards right-hand drive that they have over there isn't going to help you. Although today was my first day driving in icy conditions. Rear-wheel drive favors dry conditions, but since my commute is pretty much a straight line, it wasn't so bad.

Also, stuff you will care about happened at work today. It'll be in my journal.

[wychwood]

Ooh, pretty mood icon!

I love, love, love talking with people, and yet I'm intensely anti-social. I'm still not sure what's up with that: why I can be in the middle of an excellent conversation and suddenly want to run away and hide.

Heh. The thing I love most of all about fandom is seeing people say things like that, and thinking I'm not alone! It's a big part of why I like LJ - social time without the actual people, and I can hide whenever I want...

I decided that it's a sign of a relatively out-going introvert. I have a severely limited amount of people-energy, and being social uses the energy right up (hence introvert). But I do like spending time with people, even though it's tiring.

I'm thinking about doing this meme, too - it's very cool. But I'm not sure how many of my non-RL friends are actually reading it, and the RL people clearly already know most of the things I would say *g*