Stuff

[out_there]

It's official. I have neither the time nor inclination to catch on Te's comic fics. I mean, on the one side, this is shockingly bad, because I will happily admit that Te is one of the writers who got me obsessed interested in fanfiction again. (I had a year or so of reading lots of TWOP recaps, posting on the boards, and reading very little fiction.) Her and Jenn were my staples of fandom. They were the two girls that I always read, because their stuff was:
a) Hot.
b) Wonderfully written
c) Well characterised
d) Thought-provoking
e) Occasionally horrifying, and
f) Really damn *hot*.

But, yeah... Te's into comics, and Jenn's into QaFUS, and these days, I'm into SN. I mean, yeah, I still occasionally wander through and have a read, but generally... I'm just not interested enough in their fandoms.

(It's not a big deal. I go through friendships all the time, as people may have noticed. I go through phases of being good friends, and in close LJ contact, and then our interests differ and I wander off after the New Shiny. It's just something I've realised.)

Ummm... yeah. I'm still avoiding this assignment like the plague.

Comments

[thornsilver]

That's why I stopped reading Jenn. She no longer writes in fandoms I have a clue about. That kind of thing is very very sad.

Plus, I am not into "Smallville" fanfic all that much any more these days...

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*nods* Indeed.

Although, I have to say I'm not so into SV these days either. I mean, I watch the show, but... I just don't tend to read the fic.

[thete1.livejournal.com]

Awww! Yeah. I mean, really, at this point, there are a lot of people -- including Jenn -- who are on my f-lists for their meta and their life updates. People whose journals I *used* to read for absolutely everything, and now wind up skimming.

It's sad, yeah, but, well. Six years of fandom, and of friendships waxing and waning as we drift into and out of our respective fannish obsessions.

Lots of people are waiting for me to wander back out of comics, I'm waiting for lots of people to wander *in*. *snerk*

In the meantime, I just kind of hope that people still check out my larger metafannish posts, and wait. :D

[out-there.livejournal.com]

I check out the personal stuff, and some of the meta, but when it gets comic-specific, I skim. It's just that... Yeah, live and let live, I guess.

I'm so head-over-heels in love with Sports Night, I absolutely adore the show, adore the fandom, adore the fic. I write more for that fandom than for any other, *ever*, and I'm happy as a pig in mud. I don't want anyone to try to drag me out (because, basically, it won't work), but if anyone wants to join, I'll happily roll out the red carpet.

Having said that, I'm assuming that your interest in comics, and Jenn's love of QaFUS, is the same. It's the New Shiny, the one that you love at the moment. And, still very cool person to talk to/read about/etc, and knowing fandom? Give it a year or so, and they'll be a New Shiny that we'll probably be into.

Of course, this could lead to my lil' rant about the transient nature of friendships, but I am technically supposed to be finishing my assignment... so I'd better go do that.

[thete1.livejournal.com]

Having said that, I'm assuming that your interest in comics, and Jenn's love of QaFUS, is the same. It's the New Shiny, the one that you love at the moment. And, still very cool person to talk to/read about/etc, and knowing fandom? Give it a year or so, and they'll be a New Shiny that we'll probably be into.

*nod nod* Totally. And really, it isn't the friendships that are transitory so much as our ability to communicate around our interests. If, say, Jenn lived *here* -- or I lived down in Texas -- we'd have an easier time holding on to our connection, because, well, we could go out to lunch and see movies and take her kid to the park or whatever. Since the only way we *can* communicate is online, and the only things we could do 'together' involve things that we currently *don't* share... well.

I'm used to it. When LaT and I were both into DS, we talked every day. And then I bailed on that fandom, and I didn't talk to her often at ALL. And then we got into SV, and reconnected. And then I bailed on *that*... and we didn't reconnect again until we both got into JL. The friendship itself endures -- it's not like I stopped caring about LaT when I stopped obsessing about CKR, and she's another one with whom I think I'd spend a great deal of time if we lived closer together.

These friendships are no less deep and true and important than other sorts. They just... wax and wane.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

And really, it isn't the friendships that are transitory so much as our ability to communicate around our interests

*waves hand vaguely*

Well, it's not that I think *online* friendships are transitory so much as *all* friendships are. I'm just like that with friendships. It's not anything personal, it's just moving schools quite a bit as a kid, and knowing that friends come and go. You can't cling onto people in your life, and you know... ships passing in the night, and all that poetic crap.

If you're here, while I'm here, and we happen to share something? Yay. It's another experience, it's another point of view. It's a relationship to be treasured for as long as it lasts.

If you move on, and I move on, not a biggie. It was what it was.

I'm like this in real life. The friendships from highschool died when I left highschool. Ditto to the friendships from university, ditto to the friendships from when I lived in Canberra and was part of the Buffy group. I don't cling to friendships, I let them pass.

It's not that I wish ill on anyone I no longer see, but I no longer care about them in quite the same manner. I hope life treats them well, but if I never see them again, it isn't a problem.

Huh. You know, I don't think of myself as an emotionally distant person, I don't think of myself as emotionally harsh, and yet, whenever I talk about friendships, about empathy for strangers, about feeling passionate about the world and my fellow human being, I always come across as a total cold fish. (I don't know if that's self-deception, or just a case of 'me and mine'... that I think of myself as highly loyal, because I am loyal to mum. Not so much for the rest of the world.)

But, yes... can we tell I'm trying to avoid study? *g*

[thete1.livejournal.com]

You remain the Queen of Procrastination. :D

I just think... yeah. It's not something that makes me sad -- I know I'll find these people again, somewhere, and I know that we'll find ways to connect again.

Because a real friendship is one that endures, no matter what, and no matter how many months -- or years -- pass without the friends in question being able to communicate.

I *do* still have a friend from my school days, you know? I met Jeff when we were *12*, and I'm going to be in his *wedding*. I don't know. Maybe I'm just more mushy than you -- but indifference about fannish issues? Is no reason to give up on a friendship, as opposed to, say, giving up on reading an lj. *g*

[out-there.livejournal.com]

You remain the Queen of Procrastination. :D

*snerk* *polishes trophy*

Although, in my defense, this is a stupid net-based assignment, and now, now that I've finished typing it up, got the word count and vaguely hit close to the issues asked about, *now* I find the easy to read, easy to understand couple of sites that would have made this far *easier*.

*headdesk*

Because a real friendship is one that endures, no matter what, and no matter how many months -- or years -- pass without the friends in question being able to communicate.

*smiles* That's lovely. There is something totally sweet about that sentiment. I mean, I don't know if I agree, but I just *adore* the idea. In general, I don't run into old friends, and when I do... it's... *thinks*

Well, take the cruise last christmas as an example. Ran into a friend from an old highschool, who I hadn't seen since I was 16 (and I'm 22). It was gossiping. It was who's doing what, and who got married (two girls in my friendship group, which is still a total "Bwuh?!" reaction for me. Dude, I'm *22* and they're married?! With kids?! Bwah?!) and... yeah. Comparing and gossiping.

See, I have an inner suspicion that that's what old friendships turn into. Comparing and gossiping.

Maybe not online friendships, because what I have in common with other fen is... y'know, a little deeper, in a really superficial way. It's how I think about things, and weird stuff I value, and which guys look hottest in shirt and ties, and what type of fics I love... it's fantasy and escapism and crapping on, because... y'know, I can. I can sit here and talk about the nature of friendships. I... don't do that so much in real life. (Occasionally I get into nonsense moods, but generally, I keep my mouth shut. It works better that way.)

So, yeah. What I have in common with real friends is the basic 'go to class together' and 'am studying this' or 'working here'. It makes for boring conversation.

Or, possibly the more accurate fact is that *I* make for boring conversation. But if other people are sitting online, stuffing around as well, they don't care so much. *laughs*

[thete1.livejournal.com]

See, well, I don't think that counts as a friendship. A nice acquaintanceship maybe, but... well, I have people like Jeff, and I have people like Tommy, and I have all the people I've met through fandom... and I know full well that, short of some horrific disaster, I'll have them ten years from now, too.

It's a question of who makes it into your heart.

If no one does, then sure, your 'friendships' will be transitory. If people *do*...

It's not like I'm Miss Sunshine and Flowers, you know? When I'm done with people, I'm done, and that's the way it goes. There are all kinds of people who once were close to me and who I have no intention of ever speaking with again, if I can at all help it. But... yeah. There are also kinds of people who I've lost, and will find again.