I live?

[domarzione]

(1) I've been somewhat absent from fannish social media for a bit. It's been six weeks here and a few weeks on Tumblr and I... haven't minded? I've certainly not been missed. I don't think I post here often enough for an absence of any length of time to be notable. With Tumblr, though, a two-weeks-and-growing pause has made clear to me that I am very, very tired of the toxicity of it and I hate the lack of interaction (and with interaction, respect and understanding) and I don't honestly know what I get out of being there. I post a fair bit of original content, more than tumblr average, and I am just so fatigued by the inevitability of someone hijacking my post to grind their ax or spread their weird headcanon or, my least favorite, to AKSHUALLY a post for no other reason than to show themselves off as knowing more or being more woke. And then, because tumblr, for that hijacked version to go semi-viral because those sorts of people always have sycophants. And there's no recourse unless you want to get into a reblog war. It's exhausting and frustrating and deeply unsatisfying when all I want to use tumblr for is to go "oh, hey, this is pretty/cool/important-to-me" and to annoy acquaintances by spamming them with things I think they'd like.

tl;dr: I'm old and I miss LJ.


(2) I took my beasties to the vet today for shots and microchipping and it was awful. First time for both and one of them was nervous enough (but so, so good) for the vet to remark on his heartbeat and the other... needed two vet techs to hold him down and shrieked horribly the entire time, which was extra-awful because he's a functional mute in daily life and never makes noise. They got treats when we got home and they seem fine now, but it was stressful for all of us.


(3) I am at the point in the semester when all I want to do is slack off and can't. I've essentially been going nonstop since January -- two weeks between spring and summer sessions, five days between summer and fall -- and I just want to watch hockey and work on fanfic. But I've got a team project where I am 95% of the team effort and I've got papers due (one tonight) and I have fannish thoughts but can't act on them because I've either got no time or no energy. Five weeks left.... (Sam has drones instead of wings; Sora turns up in Atlantis)

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

Yeah, I absolutely agree about tumblr.

[domarzione]

It's like the worst of call-out culture combined with the worst of fannish behavior. The ability to track tags has made so many people scolds and trolls. It's not just the real-life posts I get shat upon for, although that happens far more frequently. I've had someone hate-reblog a fannish post, then log out and leave near-identical anonymous comments in far nastier terms and then keep doing it every time I brought up the character. Who has the time to do this sort of thing? Who has the energy to be so vigilant about protecting their version of a pretend person?

[musesfool]

You can do it!

[domarzione]

I did it this time, but... someone in one of my classes said we have 33 days left and it might as well be 33 years.

[kerithwyn]

You are missed.

1) I am very glad I never committed to Tumblr. I'm sorry it's become so toxic, and yeah, I keep hoping for a migration to DW, where conversations can be had. (And! Important! Past discussions are actually findable.)

2) Ugh, all our cats have hated the vet. Mouse needs sedation before we take him because he completely flips out. Poor critters.

3) Wishing you luck on your projects and time for fannish indulgence when the pressure eases.

[domarzione]

Tumblr is every negative fannish community trope uncontrolled, and not even Tumblr Saviour or XKit can hide it. There was an article in a London paper this week about how the fans of BTS are hyper-vigilant in policing news sites and reporters and social media and swarm anyone who says anything less than positive, even if they are reporting confirmed factual news, and it was just very familiar.

Nero just sort of froze in terror until it was all over. Archie was a model patient minus the hiss at the butt check (to be fair, I'd hiss, too) and even accepting scritches until the first needle (there were three) and then it went to pieces; his microchip is actually mid-back because they just couldn't keep him still enough for the shoulders and he was howling and crying the entire time and it was just horrible. In hindsight, I should have recognized the lack of interest in offered treats as a harbinger -- when does that cat ever refuse food?

It's essentially been nonstop school since January and I'm a little fried.

[marcelo]

I can empathize both with tumblr being unsatisfactory (although I left before I really moved in), and with the stress of taking to the vet a pet who's violently terrified during the process. It's heartbreaking, no matter how quickly they go back to normal when they return home.

[domarzione]

Yes. Two days later and they are cheerfully chasing each other around and managed to turn my apartment into an icebox by opening the bathroom window all the way, so I am pretty sure that I am the only one with lingering angst over the experience, but...

[kiratael]

I've missed you and have been thinking about you as the semester progresses.

Re: Beasties; mine always seem to recover from the emotional stress faster than I do. Boomer came to me lo-jacked, but I was in the room when they did Princess and frankly, I wouldn't have let a poke by a needle that thick go unchallenged either!

[domarzione]

Thank you.

Mine definitely recovered better than I did. I was a neurotic and they were busy turning the apartment into an icebox by jumping up and opening the bathroom window (by dangling off of it) all the way on a 50-degree day.