"And She Feeds You Tea and Oranges..."

[psalm_onethirtyone]

It’s a little hard to sum up everything that’s going on right now, but I can give it a good try, or at least make a bulletpoint list of the important items, which may work just as well.

--My granddad will probably be dead within the next month. We thought it would be more than that, but he’s sicker than everyone thought. He’s in hospice care, and I know they are going to make him as comfortable as a person can be until he dies. It really is the dying that’s harder than the death--if I thought he would live the same amount of time and die on the same day but without any of the pain I think it would be almost easy to acknowledge. It’s just that he hurts so much, and all the time.

--The good news is that that’s the only really bad news. Otherwise, Christmas was kind of quiet. Will has decided he wants to be a dentist, which is really weird to me, but he’s got two more years before he’s even in college, so. I just find the dentist part surreal, since Will is a very, very handsome boy who keeps a coffin in his room and plays guitar in a rock band.

--I got my ears pierced as a present to me, which is sort of exciting. I have little stars in my ears! It only hurt a lot! I am totally going to forget to turn them every night, and I am going to rely on the_chloroplast to help me know how to do this right.

--Sherlock Holmes was utterly crazy and totally wonderful, and I loved it. Also, Maria has a celebrity crush on Robert Downey Jr., which is really really funny. I think we’re going to watch it again on New Year’s unless there is something better coming out, which I doubt.

--We watched the Star Trek episode where Kirk gets body switched with Dr. Lester last night, and somehow I’ve promised to write Maria Spock/Kirkette. That episode is just crazy, though, because it’s the most incredibly brilliant plot idea and they totally didn’t realise what they had in their hands, I think. The mutiny aspects are played up and the absolutely gorgeous unspoken Kirk-Spock interaction is just treated as mundane, which is really isn’t. Also the loyalty of the crew to Kirk, and also how badass Kirk is as a woman--a lot more badass than he is as a man, actually, but it’s really cool. I can also see how the episode could be perceived as incredibly misogynistic, and I was wondering where anybody else has seen it--particularly greyswandir. Because I want to know what other people got out of it. But I really loved it, and now I owe Maria fic, which is terrible, and it is going to be terrible.

--I’m going to post my Yuletide fic here as soon as I can, but I’m really reassured because my recipient liked it a lot, and that makes me feel really good. I was hoping she would. >_> I might actually creep on her and friend her after the reveal. I wonder if that’s bad manners.

--I also wrote Galahad/Sagramore, for some reason, but I’m not actually planning to post that unless there is some demand for baffling religious imagery and Galahad’s extremely weird relationships with people.

--I’m actually writing all this at two-thirty in the morning, even though I’m posting it now. There are kittens scratching on my door. I am going to kill them. Mabon walked through my paint to-day while I was working in my crafting area, and the Tribble is the cutest, cuddliest looking poof of fur, but when you try to pet her she glares at you and walks away.

--It's no longer two-thirty in the morning, and I have discovered, on the way to the library, that my car's speedometre and odometre no longer work. Also, he does not want to shift into first gear, and is making a very weird dripping noise when I drive. O_o This is really not the time, Car. Much as ilu.

--I swear to God I’m working on people’s Twelfth Night stuff!

--I am still on dialup and do not dare to try to inspect what has been going on in my flist during my absence, so you tell me! How was your holidays? My hopes are for the best--although it’s freezing, there is an almost full moon outside, and it is very beautiful

Comments

[mhari.livejournal.com]

unless there is some demand for baffling religious imagery and Galahad’s extremely weird relationships with people.

*demands these things*

*also, hugs*

[erinpuff]

I'm sorry to hear about your granddad. :( I'll pray for you all.

My holidays:

-I finished my last paper at like three in the morning on the 17th, got two and a half hours of sleep, left for the airport, flew to PA. I'm thankful that the snow came *after* that; a lot of my friends had their travel plans ruined.
-The snow cancelled church on the 20th, which was disappointing.
-I got good grades and my professor really liked that paper that nearly killed me, which is such a relief.
-I basically sat around and watched TV shows on my computer. And didn't think about school.
-My return travel plans were screwed up twice, but it worked out. Originally my parents were going to drive me back so I could bring all my stuff and go on a big grocery run and so on, but my dad crashed his car a few weeks ago (no one was hurt) and it's still being repaired, so he got plane tickets for me and him, with the idea being that he would rent a car and I could still do a big grocery run and stuff... but then he got the flu, so I had to come back by myself (yesterday). I can't really complain, because all this is more of a disruption to my dad's life than to mine!
-I've got a week and a half before the spring semester starts, and I intend to do as little as possible.

[snowyofthenight.livejournal.com]

I think it just bugs me that what's-her-face lady makes such a shitty captain. I had high hopes it would be like "look! all she needed was a chance to prove herself and be given the respect a man accords and she was great!" But actually she really did just suck as a captain.

But I would so read that fic. XD

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

It really is the dying that’s harder than the death

It really is. But hospice care is good. And *hugs you*

You know there is demand for weird Galahad/Sagramore.

I'm pretty sure making new friends is part of the YT AWESOMENESS.

[perculious.livejournal.com]

I might actually creep on her and friend her after the reveal. I wonder if that’s bad manners.

I hope not, because I'm planning to as well.

Your life seems hectic. Everyone says getting your ears pierced doesn't hurt, but that's because they did it so long ago they don't remember.

My holidays were quite nice, but lonely.

I am so sorry about your grandfather, darling. ♥

[softerthansound.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry about your grandfather. I hope he stops being in pain soon. ♥

Also: I got your card and it made me smile so hard. Hope your holidays were lovely and that your New Year's will be even better.

[starpolish.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about your grandad.

Re: your ears (so a much lighter note). o.O Don't turn them! If you got them done with a gun, eek. Be very careful, but really the best thing for healing piercings is to leave them alone. If you do feel like you need to "clean" them, use sea salt solution, not soap, and don't turn them. That gets icky germs into the healing area and gets any cleaner on the inside, which actually makes healing take longer and causes itchiness.

[tinyammmy]

It is totally not bad manners to make friends/fangirl your yuletide recipient OR author, post-reveal. Part of the Yuletide fun is finding people who love your fandoms. XD

[the-chloroplast.livejournal.com]

I will remind you to turn them! (Also, put alcohol on them. It helps.)

I love Turnabout Intruder...it isn't my favorite episode (Amok Time I mean whoa), but I love it because lol it's totally not indicative of anything if Kirk and Spock hold hands while one of them is a girl hurrdurrdurr :]

My holiday is lovely so far...nothing major has happened, which is good...

[the-chloroplast.livejournal.com]

I forgot to say. I'm sorry about your granddad.
*big hug

[gileonnen.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Happy New Year! I wish to see this Spock/Kirkette. WOW have I been wanting genderswitch fic lately.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grayswandir_/]

I can also see how the episode could be perceived as incredibly misogynistic, and I was wondering where anybody else has seen it--particularly greyswandir.

I read this back when you first posted it, and had been meaning to comment, but as you can see I've taken forever to get around to it. :P That episode is indeed incredibly brilliant on principle, and I think you're right that the writers had no idea what they'd stumbled on. I liked the mutiny stuff, but yeah, I think somehow they didn't even notice the Kirk/Spock, which was approximately the most blatantly obvious thing ever.

I'm not sure whether I can say anything helpful about the whole subject of misogyny, though, because mostly when I think about misogyny, I'm just trying to figure out what other people are thinking about it. A lot of people seem to think that if there's a vain/stupid/evil/batshit female character on a show, that means the show's writers believe all women are vain/stupid/evil/batshit. Which to me seems incredibly dumb, since there really are plenty of unpleasant women in the world, and there's no reason why they can't appear in fiction just because it's not PC or something. Even if the show was trying to make some kind of statement about crazy, bitter, man-hating feminists, and how they need to calm down and make their point in some less insane way, I don't see anything wrong with that. There are crazy, bitter, man-hating feminists in the world, and I often think it'd be nice if someone would tell them to just stop, because they're making women look worse instead of better. Is that misogynistic? I don't know, but it seems reasonable enough to me.

And honestly, I thought the episode did a pretty good job of implying that the fault was at least partly (if not mostly) Starfleet's, for denying women the rank of captain. Sure, Dr. Lester was a crazy bitch who probably shouldn't have been a captain anyway, but it was Starfleet's unfair standards that made her think she was only being denied her dream job because of her gender, and not because she was -- you know, mentally unstable.

And sure, the episode could also be perceived chauvinistically, as a testament to the fact that women can't handle positions of power, or shouldn't aspire to men's work, or whatever. But the thing is, we've seen other powerful female characters, including a Romulan captain and the stern and austere T'Pau of Vulcan, so it seems plain to me that the writers considered some women perfectly capable of command. Just not this woman.

Anyway! You see what happens when you ask my opinion on something; I will rant about it forever. Really I should watch the episode again, because I might not even be remembering it correctly. But I seem to recall thinking Dr. Lester was a crazy bitch, but an interesting crazy bitch, and that she made a pretty decent villain. And a pretty convenient way for Kirk/Spock to happen without slash. ;)