netgirl_y2k

In the end I got half a week of violently unpleasant illness and half a week of sanity restoring malingering, so I think we'll call that a no score draw. There is something immensely satisfying about going: No, not today, today I have to lie under this duvet, eat crackers and watch Downton Abbey, it's important.

At some point, once I am all caught up, there will be a post about my many, many feelings about Downton Abbey.

I kept meaning to watch the last series of SJA, but haven't because I know it will make me cry, I'll save it until I'm feeling less wibbly. I did watch the latest episode of Merlin, which is a show that has weird lifecycles with me, I loved the first two series beyond the telling, hated the third with a passion that possibly bordered on the unhealthy, and am enjoying the fourth so long as I keep the ideal level of emotional disconnect. The perfect amount of emotional distance, by the way, is that of a person watching a tourist information film about the more attractive parts of the French countryside, while doing a crossword. I was expecting there to be more made of Uther's death than New Boss, Same as the Old Boss, I don't know why. As it was, it passed with a small "Huh" from me and a smaller "Why isn't Gaius dead yet?" It's taken me four years to understand Merlin, but I think that I do now. The reason why world-building and consistent characterisation and anyone with a uterus seemed like an afterthought was because they were afterthoughts. What they wanted to make was a show about Arthur and Merlin (and occasionally some other boys) having feelings at each other, and when they just focus on that it's a perfectly nice show about boys and their feelings (albeit not one I'll ever have much fannish or emotional investment in) but I think I will always be slightly in mourning for Merlin as it existed in my head where there was elaborate world-building, and girls, and objective morality, and girls, and actions had consequences, and there were girls.

Also, here is someone being smart about Merlin on tumblr.

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I also became briefly addicted to The Mistress of the Art of Death books while I was quarantined. I mean, yes, they're made of anachronisms and slightly naff plots, but our protagonist swans round the twelfth century thinking about how unfair it is to be a woman in medieval England and incidentally solving crimes. That's basically all of my narrative kinks right there.

Yuletide, maybe?

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I'm looking forward to the rugby final. France vs. New Zealand should be a good game. If only because I put a tenner on the All Blacks to win the whole thing ages ago. Although, I can't help but think Wales vs. New Zealand would have been the better match. I'm still a bit baffled, when was the last time you saw a red card in a rugby match? At least, when it didn't look like someone might die?

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I ended up dropping out of

dw_femslash, a ficathon I've always enjoyed, but there was just no way I was going to get anything written. I'm not sure if it was post not liking S6 blech or post stomach virus blech, but there was definite blech.

Although the only thing I've felt moved to write recently was a Lost Girl pirate AU. Um, did I mention I'd been running a very hight fever? At one point I became convinced there was a dragon living in my wardrobe.

Anyway, November is coming up, a month where many people attempt to write one long serious thing, and I write multiple ridiculous things. Which I think works out best for all concerned. So hopefully some writing will be done then.