a swiftly tilting planet

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind and I have had absolutely zero energy, like it's all I can do to read and unwind at the end of the day before I fall asleep. Luckily, this weekend has been low key, and I've done a lot of introverting to counteract all the extroverting that I've had to deal with. I like a good balance of both, and I've been on overdrive with some volunteering that I do and I needed a break, both physically and mentally (I've been so drained that I gave up my ticket to go see Marvel Universe Live with my husband and kids today just so that I could rest in the quiet).

The only fandom interaction that I've really kept up with is commenting on what I've read, which hasn't been much and I find myself leaving windows open on fics to remind myself to go back and comment. Only today did I open google docs to work on writing, and I didn't get very far, although there was a prompt that I was working on in my writing journal that had stalled, and I figured out that it worked better from a different point of view, so that was progress.

I feel like I have some catching up to do, so I'm off. My goal this week is to not let myself get so burned out that I don't have the energy for the things that I really enjoy.

I don't get to the movies as often as I'd like, but I saw two movies recently that I'm dying to talk about!

On the Basis of Sex

I didn't know a lot about Justice Ginsberg other than what's common knowledge, so this was an interesting look at the case that launched her career. I knew going in that we'd be treated to the typical smart woman in a man's world theme, but it must have been crushing for her. She's so smart and capable that I wanted to throw things at people on her behalf. I'm glad that a lot of the focus was on her's and Martin's relationship (she basically took his classes for him when he was sick! he stuck up for her when they wanted him to argue the case by himself!) and that they were partners in life. I feel like we don't get to see that portrayed on screen too much, so it was refreshing, especially since it's true! I did feel some parts were Hollywoodized, but Felicity Jones sold me. I think, more than anything, I now want to see the RBG documentary that everyone raves about.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

I'd been wanting to see this since the reviews were so good, and even though I suffer from Spider-Man fatigue, I've been anxiously awaiting to see Miles Morales on the big screen. I like Tom Holland, and I think he's a great Peter Parker, but I still think Marvel missed the mark by not bringing Miles into the MCU, but I digress.

YOU GUYS, THIS MOVIE IS INCREDIBLE PLEASE GO SEE IT!

First off, the storytelling is tight and compelling. They do a great job of introducing everyone and even the minor characters feel well rounded. The cast is SPOT ON (I almost shouted when I realized that Spider-Ham is John Mulaney and Aunt May is Lily Tomlin and I didn't even recognize Nicholas Cage as Spider-Man Noir!!) And not enough can be said about how visually stunning this movie is. What really impressed me was how the animation at times was a direct nod to the comic book medium, but the story was so well crafted that it felt like a movie about a kid from Brooklyn that has to figure out what he's about, just like all of us, but he hears from his father that he has a spark and that spark is going to make him great no matter what he does with it. And then he chooses to become Spider-Man, but in his own way. I'm tearing up just thinking about it.

I asked my kids which Spider-Man was their favorite at the end. My daughter was predictable (Peni Parker and her kawaii robot). My son loved Spider-Man Noir. I surprised both my kids when I said Miles (they thought I'd say Gwen, which is fair). I just loved his story, how he had a real character arc that had to develop as things happened around him, how he had a mom and a dad who love him and want what's best even when they don't know how to give it to him, how he had to find himself and when he did, he was Amazing.

I think I need to go see it again.

Side note: while waiting in line today to see Spider-Man, my 11yo son saw a poster for On the Basis of Sex and the conversation went something like this:

Me: What are you staring at?
Him: That movie looks like it's about history. What is it?
Me: On the Basis of Sex.
Him: Sex?
Me: (He's just has his first dose of Human Growth and Development class at school, so we have to be careful with this word) In this case, gender. It's about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Him: Huh. I thought you were going to say the other one. What's her name?
Me: (not realizing that he'd heard of either) Sonia Sotomayor?
Him: Yes, her. Why does this Justice have a movie?
Me: Justice Ginsberg fought very hard to make the law equal for men and women. This is a movie about that. And can you tell who is playing Justice Ginsberg?
Him: Oh yeah, she looks familiar.
Me: That's Felicity Jones. Jyn from Rogue One.
Him: Oh her! Well I'd like to see it. It sounds interesting.

Not, oh, cool, I want to see the girl from Star Wars. Instead it's I want to see it because it sounds interesting-it's about history in some way and therefore, interesting. I blame Hamilton (in all honesty, it thrills me that he wants to see it and I'll gladly take him, and maybe we can both watch the documentary).

My kids go back to school tomorrow (insert sigh of relief here) and I will finally have my mornings back, so I hope to work on some specific things this week:

1. Reread two of my bookmarked fics and create summaries for them. I've been reading so much new fic that I haven't been able to do this yet, but I'm determined to get started on this project.

2. Finish notes and begin to outline a Han and Cassian met first fic that I've had in my head for a year and a half. I've read so many wonderful fics where Jyn and Han knew each other prior to Rogue One and I thought it'd be interesting for Cassian and Han to have met and possibly worked together before Han shows up in A New Hope. Coincidentally, I think this was also a prompt for the Cassian Andor promptathon, and while it won't be done in time to post for that, I'm excited to explore this.

3. Finish and possibly post a one shot fic that I've been writing in my prompt journal.

4. Continue to read through and comment on new fic that was posted in the Jyn/Cassian tag. This is an ongoing thing, but sometimes I still forget to follow through (I think I'm getting better, though!)

I have some personal life things that I want to work in, too, so I'm hoping to stay pretty engaged this week!

Oh, so I did a scary thing today, and posted my first Rogue One fic. I'm trying to ease my way back into writing, so I thought that starting with a prompt would be the way to go. I found some great ones at thefulcrumcaptain's Cassian Andor Promptathon and thought I'd try one. The prompt was Cassian examines his reflection. Here's the link to my story on AO3:

to grow brave by reflection

I am going to have to walk away from the computer now, but I feel good about doing the thing.

So, this is BY FAR the best Christmas present I received yesterday! I cannot wait to read all about Jyn and Leia and Rey and Amilyn and Lyra (she's in it!!) and Rose and Rey and Ahsoka and Phasma and so, so, so many!! It's like my family knows me and what I might like! They'll have to step up their game, though. My birthday is on Saturday and I'm not sure how they can top this present!!

The days leading up to Christmas were fraught with peril because, of course, I had a terrible, terrible cold and was little help in the last minute prep. I rallied Monday and yesterday and we were able to have a nice Christmas, so that's a bit of a relief. Unfortunately, the crazy continues as my brother heads into town tomorrow and we will celebrate my son's birthday on Friday, mine on Saturday, and then drive to my Aunt's house for Christmas on Sunday. I already am looking forward to next week when I will actually have time to do anything again!

Being that the days are crazy, I think that I am going to set some short term goals and long term goals for myself in the new year. Not resolutions because I can't stand those, but things that I've been wanting to do to engage more in online fandom than I have in the past. I'm already commenting more on fic (I always comment in my head but I'm being very proactive in actually posting the comments!) but I'd love to do more. I'm excited about that.

I hope that whatever you find yourself celebrating this week has been joyous!

I was playing around with my profile and there's a neat feature where you can plug in your user name(s) from other sites and it will easily provide the link right there on your profile. As I was filling that out, I noticed one for Fanfiction.net! I had to go look, and yep, the account that I set up there in 2001 (!!!) is still there, as well as some really, really old fic that I wrote back in my anime days. I realize that I'm showing my age a bit here, but this did get me thinking...

I am really, really tempted to start writing again. I read back through those stories from 17 (gasp!) years ago and I thought about taking them down, but I was really proud of those then, even though they feel cringe-worthy to me now. I decided to leave them there, but I'd love see how I've changed as a writer. Interesting experiment anyway.

Since it's been so long since I did this, I thought I'd ask the writers out there a couple of things. What program do you ultimately use? I used to just open Word and go from there, but I wonder if there are better options. I've been perusing AO3s FAQ on posting, and I think I can figure that out, but I wonder of there is a better program over another to cut and paste from? Is formatting from one to another tricky? I imagine that trial and error will take me far, but I'd love to get some thoughts from those who have been doing this for awhile. In the meantime, I'll use a notebook and a pen and see if there's anything to this.

So in trying to make things easier across all these new sites, I tried to change my tumblr name to match (I am foreverinasmile on here, pillowfort and AO3) but I guess it was taken when I started my tumblr however long ago. Anyway, to avoid confusion, I am twiceihavelived on tumblr and foreverinasmile everywhere else. It makes sense if you're an ee cummings fan ;-)