All righty. I was going to hold my tongue on this. I was going to live and let live. But after some of the things I've seen and heard from fandom over the past few days, I can't help myself. I have to say something, even if it's short-ish, and even if it annoys some people on both sides.

I have to admit that I did not expect this kind of garbage - because that's truly what it is, garbage - from BSG fandom. I am not condemning all of the fandom. I'm sure there are some folks out there who, like me, are merely bemused and a little disgusted by the whole thing. I also need to preface this by saying that by and large, BSG fandom has been one of the most considerate, polite, open-minded, non-wanky fandoms I'm involved in. Maybe I just don't hang out in the wanky parts, or maybe I missed the wank, but either way, consider this: within a week of me starting to participate in SW fandom, I'd had my first flamer/batshit person, while I'd gone over a year in BSG fandom before I encountered anyone even remotely crazy, and said craziness wasn't even directed at me. It has been, for the most part, very refreshing.

The funny thing is, I've actually seen more batshit stuff since the end of the show than I ever did while it was running. And that's what I'd like to address - namely, what the hell happened?

( What the hell happened? My theories, under the cut )

Maybe everyone should just become a multishipper, like me! The icon is quite correct: we do complain less, I think.

But I'm not going to make you become a multishipper. Then, I would be forcing my opinion on you - and that's just not kosher, is it? ;)

*Insert requisite disclaimer here about all of the above being merely my opinion, this rant not applying to all BSG fandomers, etc. I have no desire to start even more wank, as should have been made quite clear. :)

So, finally updating again, kind of! Falling off the LJ wagon sucks, but I suppose I've sort of had reason to in the last few days/weeks. My life does seem to be settling down at least somewhat now, though, so I hope that will continue. I think I've earned a bit of quiet, heh.

To address something that's come up in a few PMs and comments from various folks, yes, I have heard about starwarsland, and in all probability I will not be applying or seeking to join. The fact of the matter is, I simply do not need or want another commitment right now, and since the comm is team-based, the chances are high that I would have to produce some kind of fanwork in order to stay a member. I have NO idea when I would find the time for that, since I am just barely keeping up with my regular stuff as it is. (Mind you, a TON of that is catch-up and resetting of schedules from the horrible summer I had, made harder by the fact that I'm working full-time, but even once that's done I'm still not too crazy about taking on something else.)

There are three other issues as well, ones that I need to consider. First is that I will not give up any of the commitments in which I'm currently engaged. I love all of them, and I really want to continue working on my stillness comms, the newsletters, my fics, etc. Ordinarily I have a certain schedule that allows me to accomplish all the tasks I need to for those, and I'm concerned about something else just tipping the load to a point where I can't handle it and it's not fun anymore. DO NOT WANT.

Second is the fact that for many months now, I have had a major fic project on the go in each of my two fandoms, and I am finding it increasingly difficult to focus on anything but those fics when I write. I don't make graphics regularly (i.e. I have to be in the mood, which doesn't happen often) and I don't vid (although it's my ambition this winter to learn, finally). That means that any fanwork-type contribution from me would have to be in the form of fic, and my muses are firmly pointed in the direction of To Ignite the Stars and Insanity Underrated right now. I doubt that chapters of an established fic would be acceptable for the team games. And yet, I can't write anything else. When I try, my mind invariably wanders back to TIS and IU. If I forced myself to write something else, it would turn out crap, and I would not be comfortable sharing it publicly. Again, not exactly a recipe for me to be a good team member! It's for this same reason that I won't be participating in the fall edition of bsgficexchange. Not to give, and not to receive. I had such trouble with my fic submission last time, even though it turned out basically okay, that it took all of the fun out of it for me and I just didn't want to do it anymore. Maybe I'll get back into fic exchanges after I finish Insanity Underrated, and maybe I'll join the Star Wars comm when TIS is done. But until then, nope.

Third and last, I have to think about the future. Obviously my fall will not end up looking like how I thought or hoped it might, which is something that I am still coming to terms with right now. (That's a whole 'nother post on its own, heh.) But there will be certain commitments, like doing the prediction posts and blogging games for ottawa_senators, that will come into play again this fall. There is also NaNoWriMo, in which I'm now hoping to participate. (With a few caveats - see above re me potentially not being able to write anything other than TIS or IU ...) Those things will also take time, time that I need to plan to expend. The good thing is that I won't have school to think about, for the first time in a long LONG time, and so once I arrive home after work, my time will - mostly - be my own to do with as I please, free of essays and papers and reading and such. That's why I can contemplate doing NaNo, where before I would almost certainly not have been able to seeing as many major assignments are due late October-early November. I've made plans for taking on NaNo and devoting more time to the Sens comm, and at the moment, yet another commitment does not fit in. I'm busy enough - just check out my profile for proof! ;)

Unless - and this is absolutely the only situation in which I would consider taking on something else - a certain stillness community focusing on a certain Girlfriend needed a new mod. But I seriously doubt that will happen.

It might seem silly to make a whole new post explaining why I won't be joining a comm, but as I said, it's just something I wanted to address since I've had several folks ask me about it. It's definitely a good thought, and I really appreciate you guys linking me to it and pimping it and so forth. :) But, at this point in time, it's just not for me. I hope those of you who join it have fun, though!

And, alas, I have now run out of time on my lunch break, and must head back to work. So, another friends-locked real life post to come this evening.

Arlene: "Please quit being so much more peculiar than you usually are!"

Terry: "Okay ... I'll try to be normally peculiar."

Liz: *... cracks the FUCK up* *spits copious amounts of coffee directly at her laptop because she is laughing so hard*

I just ... yeah, seriously, THIS NEEDS TO BE IMMORTALIZED HERE even if I have to be Spammy McSpamerson to do it. :D Gods but I do love True Blood. Tonight's episode, without being spoilery, was made of EPIC AWESOME WIN, and that show gets more terrific every time I watch it!!!

*cracks up again*

THINGS I LOVE

Star Wars
Battlestar Galactica
The Sens (ESPECIALLY THE WAY THEY ARE PLAYING TONIGHT OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!)
My Girlfriends
xkatie_kittenx
Obidala
Kara/Lee
Kara/Sam
ADAMA/ROSLIN, BITCHES
The TIS playlist
Obi-Wan Kenobi (even when he's over-guilting)
Lee Adama (even when he's emo)
The icon I'm using for this post (*gigglesnort*)
The Obidala Fan Forum (and all my friends there! *hugs you guys*)
The Oath

THINGS I HATE

Palpatine
The Toronto Maple Leafs
REFEREES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Anakin/Dormé ship. For any reason. At any time. Period. Do not bother to comment and argue.
SHIP-BASHERS. ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO TREAT MY FRIENDS LIKE SHIT. I AM COMING FOR ALL OF YOU! /Laura
Asswipes who talk shit about my friends, PERIOD
Fandom drama
Sidney Crosby
Darth Real Life
My body
TSN
The people at LucasFilm who can't be arsed to put out one, just ONE, book all about Padmé
Being behind on replies to comments and reviews, AGAIN

Wow, I hate a lot of stuff. Heh.

Also, hockey peeps, this one's for you: I've started a hockey blog! It's called Bleed Black and Red: News & Views From An Eternal Sens Optimist, and while I'm still tweaking the design and making a banner and such, y'all are welcome to check it out! I figured since I've been participating in OBC liveblogging of games recently, I should probably make a blog to go with it. That and I need somewhere to talk totally hockey, heh. Here's hoping I can keep up with it!

Also also, I changed my mood theme! Whee! *loves on animated!BSG*

Okay, so basically I'm posting for the sole purpose of showing off this LOVELY icon own_the_sky made for me. Heh. But seriously, YAY for the Girlfriends finally being represented together in a userpic!! (There you go, Katie - 100x100 validation of the nickname you first gave Padmé and Kara. Hehehehe.) own_the_sky also made another one just like this, but with different pictures, so of course I had to upload it too. XD

Also, for once my hockey team is kinda-sorta not sucking! Which rocks, and I'm planning to enjoy it for as long as I can. Knowing the Sens' propensity for blowing leads, that may last approximately five minutes, but meh. I'm easily satisfied these days. ;) Yay to Brian Lee, who got his first NHL goal tonight!

On the writing front, I managed to beat back the BSG bunnies long enough to start editing the fic I owe Anakin/Obi-Wan shippers, and I'm hoping it'll be ready to post by tomorrow. If not, gizzi1213, please feel free to shoot me. Bwah. :D

Also also, I need a Girlfriends tag. *creates* There we go!

A very Merry Christmas to those of you on my f-list celebrating today! I hope your days have all been amazing thus far!

Believe it or not, my fingers are actually sore from opening presents, heh. My family went a bit crazy - got me 23 gifts in total, and that's not even counting things from the extended family that's supposed to arrive later today. Lots of awesome fandom stuff, to be sure: I got Harry, A History (written by the creator of The Leaky Cauldron), Twilight: The Unauthorized Guide to the Series, The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking. And that's just the books! My DVD gifts include the Clone Wars movie, Mamma Mia!, and the first Robot Chicken Star Wars. Brother and I are watching TCW right now, and I'm noticing all kinds of stuff I didn't pick up when we originally saw it in the theatres.

HAHAHA OBI-WAN JUST SAID "MY DARLING" - PERSONAL CANON, BITCHES!

Of course, I'm not only in a receiving mood - I also want to give, which is why I'll be finishing off and posting the gift fics I owe you guys over the course of today. I'm figuring on one fic for each of my OTPs (Obi-Wan/Padmé, Anakin/Padmé, Anakin/Obi-Wan, Adama/Roslin, Lee/Kara, Sam/Kara), so most of you should find something to make you happy. All fics will be posted to jedionpaper, and I'll do up a big link post with all the pertinent titles, summaries etc. Watch for that later today!

My aunt's just arrived, so I'd best sign off for now. Have fun with your families, your presents, your food, and however you are choosing to mark (or not mark) the day!