I'm a slave to the Power of Death

Snowflake Challenge 2024 #2

2024-01-03T12:42:57Z

In your own space, set yourself some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I normally love this time of year and I love goal setting. I love the feeling of fresh and new and it feels like a good time to try something new. Although, mine tend to be goals/targets/things to try, rather than giving things up

But this year, with Da dying and everything that happened around Christmas, I haven't really had time to regroup myself let alone even think about 2024.

Book-wise:
Read 100 books
Try and expand into different genres
Complete at least one of the reading challenges I've signed up for on storygraph
Try to leave a review for every book I read - even if it's just one or two lines
Learn to use Borrowbox because my library is switching to that app for ebooks
Figure out using Instagram and Threads

Life-wise:
Build my emergency fund back up - travel disasters after Christmas almost wiped me out
Restart blogging
Stop using electronics in bed
Go on holiday to Egypt
Start playing Palia again - or a similar cosy game
Look into adopting cats
Decide if I'm actually going to write fanfic - and do it

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Snowflake Challenge 2024 #1

2024-01-02T11:11:21Z

Update your fandom information. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I have updated my sticky post to include some fannish information which basically says 'I love SG-1, especially Jack/Daniel - who I always come back to regardless of what else I start reading - but will read anyone/Daniel, with Daniel on bottom and I enjoy most combinations of Jack/Sam/Daniel. I also love team and gen fic.

I talked a little about the types of books/shows/movies I enjoy, that I read a LOT (my goal for 2024 is 100 books), and my love for heavy metal music.

I'm trying to decide if I need to write anything in my profile - and if so, what? Do I put different information, the same information or some kind of summary?

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2023 Book Survey

2023-12-31T11:00:06Z

2023 Reading Stats
Number of books you read: 53 - but I have two books I think I might finish reading today to hit 55!
Number of re-reads: 10
Number of books you DNFed: 0
Number of pages you read: 23,926 pages
Most read genre: fantasy
Number of new-to-you authors you discovered: I lost count somewhere around 28!

Firsts and Lasts
First book you read: The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies by Christopher Scarre
Last book you read: Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
First 2023 release you read: A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

My favourite books of the year have been Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow, and The Human Planet: How We Created the Anthropocene by Mark A. Maslin & Simon Lewis

I've only really been reading as an actual hobby for a couple of years, and only started tracking my reading on goodreads and storygraph since the summer. I'm discovering through Threads that there is a entire community of bookish people out there on the internet and I want to try to join them.

I may need to figure out how to write a book review, so I'm off to do some research - and maybe figure out how to use Instagram too!

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Seasons Greetings

2023-12-25T12:43:22Z

Merry Christmas,
Splendid Winter Solstice,
Cozy Kwanzaa,
Festive Festivus,
Cool Yule,
Happy Hogswatch,
Lucky Litha,
and whatever else you care to celebrate.

Regardless, I hope you all have a pleasant Monday

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Home for the Holidays

2023-12-24T18:08:09Z

I don't often wish I could drive, but when I travel back to the wilds of North Wales by train, I really wish I do. It takes me over 6 hours, and 3 changes of train - into Exeter, Exeter-Bristol, Bristol-Newport, then Newport-Flint, followed by a 16 minute taxi drive. And that's when things go smoothly

Of course, travelling over the festive period, things do not go smoothly and I spend closer to 8 hours on trains. I got plenty of reading and napping done, if nothing else. At least one of my cousins picked me up from the train station.

It's going to be a weird Christmas, our first since my Da died. Mam is still grieving and, understandably, doesn't have a lot of festive spirit but I also think she'd struggle more if I wasn't there, even though she's surrounded by the rest of the family. We've never been especially close and losing Da has not brought us any closer.

I'm hoping it's going to be a better week than I think it's going to be, but I'm not holding my breath. It will be nice to see family, and have dinner cooked for me but I'd rather be spending the holidays at home on my own.

There's always next year

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On Reading

2023-12-03T15:58:05Z

One of the biggest signs for me that I'm feeling more like myself is that I'm reading again. Having barely touched a book in weeks, I've finished 2 in the last week.

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
I'm not quite sure I understand the hype for this book. Was it good? yes. Was it amazing? No.
I found the characters poorly conceived and difficult to tell apart - and I didn't care about any of them, I found the story a little predictable and I have no great urge to get the next one

Weyward by Emilia Hart
Wonderful writing and storytelling and a completely gripping book. I loved the characters, and the way the stories of the three women across the centuries was weaved together was done very skillfully

I've also jumped feet first into AO3. I've recently discovered the stargateficrec community and I'm working my way through some of the various categories and devouring fic. Right now I'm working on the Sam & Daniel friendship fics and finding some lovely gen/team fic

I've also been really enjoying a lot of the Whumptober fics from a few months ago - and it seems Whumpcember is also a thing and a lot more Jack and/or Daniel whump is getting posted which is wonderful.

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Threads?

2023-11-29T12:16:09Z

Hello Dreamwidth

I think I'm actually about ready to come back - it seems I wasn't last time and the internet was still a little Too Much. I've done a combination of avoiding the internet because it's stressful, and some work curating my online experience to protect my mental health and I think I'm starting to recover.

The world is still a dumpster fire, and there have been some things in RL that have been utterly terrible that I'm not ready to talk about. I'm still struggling but I'm medicated, I've done a self-referral to local mental health services, and I have an amazing support network in my closer friends.

I'm starting to notice I'm listening to music again, I picked up a book for the first time in weeks, and I've opened up Dreamwidth again so fingers crossed the light at the end of the tunnel is the exit and not another train hurtling towards me.

Normal service should return shortly but in the meantime - I've just signed up for Threads. I have no idea how to use it, how to find people but if any of you lovely people are using the site, please add me and say hi so I'm not all alone?
https://www.threads.net/@alismaywitch is where you'll find me

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I don't know how you do what you do

2023-10-23T11:54:02Z

Thank you for all the well wishes on my previous post, I appreciated them a lot.

I think I'm mostly back to being well. I still get tired very easily, and those first few days back at work, even though I continued to work remotely, were exhausting. I've started back at the office today and I've survived the morning if nothing else.

I think I'm as up-to-date on reading and commenting as I'm going to get which, sadly, is not hugely and I apologise for that. If there's anything important that happened in your lives that you want to tell me about, please do so because I'd love to hear it.

Although, I am trying to avoid the news situations in the world right now, my mental health is a little fragile after being sick and I'm head-in-the-sand for personal reasons, because I know I can't handle it. I also recognise the privileged position I'm in to be able to do that

I think I'm going to draw a line and start afresh today, although I'm still fairly fuzzy brained and not completely sure what I'm going to post about. I'm sure once I get back into the swing of things, get back into the habit of opening up Dreamwidth and seeing what comes out, usual service will resume. But somehow getting re-started feels harder than starting itself did.

Logic says it's because when I started, I didn't know what I was going to talk about. But I seem to find my flow in fandom thoughts and meta, so now I feel like I'm putting more pressure on myself to do that again.

Maybe I just need to watch some more Stargate. How terrible a thing that would be!

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thepowerofdeath @ 2023-10-01T11:19:00

2023-10-01T10:29:39Z

I didn't think I'd read much in September, due to a combination of being sick and because The Priory Of The Orange Tree was such a big book, but it turned out I read 12 books again (4718 pages)

The books I read this month are: The Handbook Of British Archaeology by Roy A. Adkins & Victoria Leitch; The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn; The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune; A Practical Handbook of Archaeology by Christopher Catling; The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna; Landlines by Raynor Winn; Chariots of the Gods? by Erich Von Daniken; The Gods Never Left Us by Erich Von Daniken; The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory: Why Did Foragers Become Farmers? by Graeme Barker; Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman; The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon; and First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies by Peter Bellwood

My book of the month was either The Very Secret Society Of Irregular Witches of Chariots of the Gods

The top 'moods' of the books I read were 'emotional' and 'reflective'.

64% of them were medium paced, with 27% slow and again only 9% fast paced - do I not like fast paced books?

42% of the books were under 300 pages, 33% were 300-499 pages and 25% of them over 500 pages long

For the second month running, 67% of my read was non-fiction, and only 33% fiction which I find interesting.

My most read genres were again fantasy and history, which is still not a surprise, followed by nature, lgbtqia+ and memoir

I tag the books that I get from the library or through the Libby app, and this month 5 of the books I read (that's 41%) were library loans. I haven't been leaving the house much over the last weeks so it makes sense there were less library books.

Format wise, it was a complete switch from last month with 58% being print and 42% digital

And my average rating was 4.05, with my lowest rating being 3.0 and my highest being 4.5, and it's nice to see that even as I'm continuing to explore different genres and types of book, I still know what I like!

I'm looking forward to seeing where my October reading takes me

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thepowerofdeath @ 2023-09-23T10:15:00

2023-09-23T09:18:08Z

I wanted to quickly post to apologise for falling off the face of the earth - especially in hilarious timing just after saying I was enjoying being here and would be continuing to blog.

I've been unwell. I caught COVID, for something like the 4th time, and it has hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm still exhausted, fatigued, weak and with a terrible headache but I'm turning the corner and feeling like I'm starting to heal.

It's probably going to be a couple more days before I'm back - and then I'll be updating my goodreads and storygraph with the things I've been reading.

Hope you're all doing ok!

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Other sites

2023-09-10T11:51:56Z

Do any of you use goodreads or storygraph and want to be friends there?
A link to my goodreads, and a link to my storygraph

I don't use any other social media (other than my kink-tumblr) - is there any you recommend I should look at?

Are there any other DW communities you would recommend?

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Dear Dreamwidth

2023-09-08T17:13:48Z

I've been here on Dreamwidth for about 6 weeks right now and I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I'm starting to connect with people which is a little harder than I expected but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I still sometimes overthink what I want to say in reply to someone's post and end up saying nothing. Practice makes perfect though so I'm going to keep working on it, and ask you all to continue to be patient with me.

I didn't have a clear idea of what I was going to write about. I knew this wasn't going to be a diary or daily journal, I have those. I had thought I'd write about my hobbies and interests, but instead this has turned quite fannish and I've been making fairly long rambling posts about things. Meta might be the way this is going and I don't mind that at all. I might look into more about that.

I still want to try turning my hand at writing some fanfiction, but I'm still quite apprehensive there. I don't know if writing about my attempts at writing would be interesting, but I've seen others write about it. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that

I may write a little more about the books I'm reading. I enjoyed seeing the stats for my August writing. I've seen some book-themed link-ups but I'm not sure how interested in those I am, or if anyone else would be either.

So yes, so far so good, I'm enjoying my first attempt at blogging and I think I'll be continuing it!

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August Reading Wrap-up

2023-09-08T14:14:28Z

Thank you to einhornmaedchen for the post idea!

I read 12 books in August (that's 5,868 pages!), and I am loving the fact that one of the tracking website I'm using (thestorygraph.com, highly recommended) gives me stats on everything from mood to genre which I'm going to share because it interests me.

My book of the month was definitely The Once and Future Witches which I've already raved about how beautiful it is so I'll spare you the repeat, but I'm still thinking about it a few weeks later!

The top 'moods' of the books I read were 'reflective' and 'sad'.

55% of them were medium paced, with 36% slow and only 9% fast paced

I somehow managed a perfectly even split between books under 300 pages, books 300-499 pages and books over 500 pages long. I couldn't have done that if I'd tried!

67% of my read was non-fiction, and only 33% fiction which surprised me. I know I read a lot of non-fiction but didn't expect it to be 2/3s of my reading.

My most read genres were fantasy and history, which is not a surprise, followed by LGBTQIA+, thriller, romance, memoir and historical fiction.

I tag the books that I get from the library or through the Libby app, and 6 of the books I read (that's 50%) were library loans. I've been making a more concerted effort to use the library and it's nice to see it paying off
I'm about a miles walk to my nearest library from home, and another mile walk from the office to the city centre library so I've been using both of them.

Format wise, 58% were print and 42% digital - this again surprised me, I thought I read more physical books that digital. Then again, as I've been utilising the Libby app, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise.

And my average rating was 4.19, with my lowest rating being 3.5 and my highest being 4.5, so it was a month filled with books I enjoyed which is always nice to see!

I'm looking forward to seeing where my September reading takes me

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We provide... Leverage

2023-09-01T10:32:37Z

Apologies for the radio silence over the last week. I discovered, fell in love with and got dragged head-first into a (new-to-me)TV show.

The show is Leverage. It ran for 5 seasons from 2008 to 2012, and a 2 season revival in 2021. Its a bit Robin Hood-esque and follows a five-person team: Parker a thief, Sophie a grifter, Hardison a hacker, and Eliot a retrieval specialist, led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, who use their skills to carry out heists to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens.

From what I understand, a lot of the storylines are based on real events, as are the cons the team pulls. They had actual (reformed?)con artists/pickpockets as consultants on the show as well, which I think is a fantastic detail. Gina Bellman, who plays the grifter Sophie is mindblowing - Sophie plays different characters every episode, often multiple in the same one, with different accents, different body language.

It's produced by Dean Devlin - who was involved in the Stargate movie, and also The Librarians tv show. And Christian Kane, who played Jake Stone in The Librarians, plays Eliot in Leverage. He also has bonus points for not being hard on the eyes. Admittedly, the whole cast is very aesthetically pleasing in various ways.

I found it through fanfiction. I was continuing to explore various kinks on AO3, found a few that related to the show, enjoyed them enough to look the show up. There is so much fanfiction (10,079 on AO3) and I'm enjoying the variety of pairings - although I think my favourite might be the (pretty much canon)OT3 of Hardison/Parker/Eliot.

I know it's a pretty old show now but does anyone else watch it?

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Sexuality & fictional characters

2023-08-29T16:21:38Z

I mentioned at the end of last month, that by the time I got to this age (almost 35), I would know what I like, but it didn't with the discovery, thanks to fanfiction, of some kinks I didn't know I had.

I do not appear to be done with the self-discovery just yet - and this time it's about me.

I signed up to an adult site in order to learn more about the orgasm control fetishes, and when filling in my profile, there was a huge list of sexualities, most of which I'd never heard of. I've considered myself bisexual since my teens but I still fell down a research rabbit hole learning about all these different sexualities.

It turns out I might not actually just be bisexual!
I've been reading up on omnisexual, pansexual and polysexual and doing a lot of navel-gazing and figuring out. From what I can tell
bisexual = attraction to two or more genders
omnisexual = attraction to ALL gender identities, with gender mattering
pansexual = attraction to ALL gender identities, with gender not mattering
polysexual = attraction to 3+ genders but not all of them.
I think I'm wavering between omni and poly (but with gender mattering - I look for different things in men and women, and have never even stopped to consider, for example, non-binary or gender fluid people before) but this is all absolutely fascinating and I love how language is evolving with new terms for all these things.

I also discovered demisexual which the internet is telling me is 'a sexual orientation where you don't feel sexual attraction to any person unless you've had a deep emotional bond with that person. However, sexual attraction can still occur although it's fleeting. A lot of demisexual relationships start out as friendships, and crushes aren't very common'
This is apparently why I crush on fictional characters, and not celebrities or random people I see out and about - and why I have no luck with dating apps. T
This I find very interesting!

This is definitely still something I'm working on. But if I come back down on 'no, I'm still bisexual', I still think it will have been a worthwhile exercise to figure that out and know for certain. And

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WWW Wednesday, 23-August-2023

2023-08-24T10:46:01Z

WWW Wednesday was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Taking on a World of Words Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at.

What are you currently reading?

Roy & Lesley Adkins and Victoria Leitch - The Handbook of British Archaeology I only started this one this evening, I'm on page 23 and have read the section on The Palaeolithic Period. It's definitely reminding my why I love the subject, and I remember how useful it was being in sections by time period - made it useful on the go, as well as a reference book.
DK Publishing - Feminism Is... I've been trying to use my local library more, and for reading books that I wouldn't usually read. This is one I picked up using the Libby app. I am loving the straight-forward approach the book has to the topic
Alix E Harrow - The Ten Thousand Doors Of January This is just as beautifully written as The Once and Future Witches, I really feel transported to the magical places the book is taking me

I am typically reading three books at a time - one fiction, one non-fiction, and then a library book that I've picked specifically because I'm trying something new.

What did you recently finish reading?

Alix E Harrow - The Once And Future Witches I completely fell in love with this book within pages. Harrow's writing style is - as mentioned above - just breathtakingly beautiful. It's exquisite and I cannot recommend it enough. Feminism, witchcraft, equality, the symbolism from so many paths and a story I feel everyone can connect with. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me do both at the same time, it made me fall in love over and over and it gave me goosebumps!
Frederick Joseph - The Black Friend: On Being A Better White Person This was exactly as eye-opening and challenging as I expected it to be. I am a decidedly middle-class white cis-gendered woman - it's made me aware of some unconscious biases I have, and made me examine some of the language and assumptions I use/make about people. It did exactly what it was supposed to be have done and made me uncomfortable in the process. It was not an easy read but it was incredibly educational.

What do you think you’ll read next?
The book at the top of each of my three piles are

Christopher Catling - A Practical Handbook of Archaeology
T.J. Klune - The House in the Cerulean Sea
Raynor Winn - The Salt Path

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What is fandom?

2023-08-22T15:18:56Z

Another post, I know, I'm sorry but I have all these thoughts rattling around my head and it seems the best way of dealing with them is to get them down on paper.

After my last couple of posts about fanfiction, how we view characters and why only some fandoms make us want to read fic, it got me to thinking more specifically about fandom as a whole.

What is fandom?
What does it mean to be in fandom?

A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part of a social network with particular practices, differentiating fandom-affiliated people from those with only a casual interest.

A fandom can grow around any area of human interest or activity. The subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like an individual celebrity, or encompassing entire hobbies, genres or fashions. While it is now used to apply to groups of people fascinated with any subject, the term has its roots in those with an enthusiastic appreciation for sports. Merriam-Webster's dictionary traces the usage of the term back as far as 1903.

But is just watching a TV show or a movie, or reading a book - is that enough to be in fandom? It makes you a fan, but is that different to being a member of the fandom. How much 'time and energy' is required to being put into being fannish?

Is the difference between being a fan and being in fandom that consuming media is passive, whereas fandom involves being more active. But reading fanfiction, and these blog posts, they're still a relatively isolated activity, I'm not interacting with other Stargate fans. If I follow social media accounts - official ones connected to the show, or belonging to the actors - where does this sit on the fannish v fandom spectrum?

What about if I finish a fanfic, and then post it online? Is that just the equivalent of opening my door, announcing that I'm interested in joining the fandom and inviting people in - but waiting for them to visit

So, is it connecting with other fans, actively seeking out people who share your interests, rather than enjoying them in isolation - is that when one joins a fandom?

Or am I over-thinking it, am I already in the fandom when I watch the show and there's no difference between being a fan and being in the fandom?

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Further musings on fanfiction

2023-08-22T13:14:06Z

I'm not entirely sure how this journal is turning into my random musings on fanfiction. It's not what I expected to be writing about, but I'm enjoying where it's going - especially the way posts are inspiring each other.

Today I'm wondering why it is that I'm only interested in reading fanfiction for Stargate (mostly SG-1, sometimes SG:A). I'm not a huge TV/movie watcher, but I do also enjoy Charmed, Farscape, The Librarians, Relic Hunter and The Sentinel.

I even know that The Sentinel has a pretty large fandom. A quick glance at AO3 shows over 14k fics, and I completely get the Ellison/Sandburg thing, and you could say I shipped them. But I have absolutely no inclination to dive into the AO3 tag for them and start reading.

So what is it that Stargate has that the other shows don't have that makes me read the fic. Mostly Jack/Daniel, but I'll read pretty much anyone/everyone if it's well written. And I do enjoy a good, gen, team, mission fic. I especially enjoy reading anyone/Daniel, with Daniel on bottom. Most combinations of Jack/Sam/Daniel or Cam/Sam/Daniel/Vala work really well for me. I've recently discovered Sheppard/Mitchell which I'm enjoying reading. But my heart will always belong to Jack/Daniel.

I don't search for Jim/Blair fic, or (especially considering I read Cam/Vala), I don't read John/Aeryn or have any interest in it. Why do I keep coming back to Stargate SG-1 and Jack/Daniel?

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I have a constant fear that something's always near

2023-08-22T09:11:33Z

It's kind of eerie when one is poking around Dreamwidth how many seemingly abandoned journals there are. I understand that a lot of them might be restricted, posts visible to friends only but it gives quite the ghost town vibe

You find some where people have only made a couple of posts so you assume they were trying blogging out but found it didn't work for them, but they left the journal there, without deleting it.

You also find some where people have used it for years but then appear to have suddenly stopped using it. It makes you wonder what happened to all these random people that you've never even heard of.

(I haven't gone to their profiles to look and see when their post was because that feels a little too stalkery - I don't know why that feels different to just randomly wandering around Dreamwidth to people's journals, but it does!)

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More musings on fandom and fanfiction

2023-08-21T15:51:43Z

smallrobot commented on my post about SG-1 kink-fic saying

I sometimes go into a tag thinking something like, "This pairing and this concept make too much sense. I'm sure there will be lost of fics listed under the tag!", and end up with a few at best. I'm always so puzzled when it happens, but then I realise my view of the characters is just not shared by many other people in this respect.

And it got me thinking how we all see the characters so differently. Everyone in fandom watches the same show, the same episodes, the same stories, with the same characters but we all see them so differently. We all see their attributes and intentions a little differently, we react to different scenes in different ways.

Take Sam Carter in the SG-1 premiere for instance - the 'sex organs on the inside' speech: I know a lot of people (Amanda Tapping included) think it's very cringey but I think it's very typical attitude of a woman in a man's world in the mid-late 90s. I'm sure I've said similar things to old white men on dig sites in my time. I also think it's the moment she won Jack's respect - standing up for herself, matching their jibes, keeping up with them but still remaining (mostly)respectful of the chain of command. I also think Hammond was very amused in that scene.

Then we move into fandom. Even something as simple as which pairing/s we ship. A quick look at the stats on AO3 and there are 6336 Jack/Sam & 6211 Jack/Daniel. There's also 908 Daniel/Vala, 632 Sheppard/McKay, 607 Sam/Janet, 398 Mitchell/Sheppard, 371 Sam/Daniel, 354 Daniel/Sha're.

(There's a whole other train of thought in there brewing about how not just I refer to some characters by first name, and others by surname - why Jack and not O'Neill, or Mitchell and not Cameron when they're both military).

Even in those 6211 Jack/Daniel fics, the variations are multiple. 1090 established relationship vs 813 first time, for instance. Or 420 AU compared to 407 episode related. There's 1224 angst, 826 drama, 615 hurt/comfort, and 595 romance.

The most basic question of who's on top - ask 10 people, get 10 different answers.
Are they written as gay, 'only gay for you', bi, experimenting - ask 10 people, get 15 different answers
Throw kink into the equation, and then you ask 10 people, get 20 different answers.

I'm not well-versed at using AO3 enough to know how to drill down into what other tags are included in fics tagged with BDSM but I imagine there are even more variations than I've had hot dinners in the last 34 years.

Anyone who's been in fandom long enough has undoubtedly experienced the ~drama of 'ship wars' because god forbid anyone else see the characters in a different way! But I absolutely love how we all see the same thing completely differently - whether it's because we have different life experiences, different experiences of queer... or just plain different sexual fantasies.

Personally, I go for: Jack is bi; Daniel doesn't care about gender; and I don't really care who's on top in either vanilla or kink, both work for me and they're both super hot. There's something about the big powerful general on his knees for Daniel (also nicely cliché), but there's also something fun about Jack making Daniel, the linguist, lose his coherence.

And now I'm going to continue discovering more kinks I didn't know I had LOL

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Always knew someday you’d come walking back through my door

2023-08-21T12:41:51Z

My first - and longest lasting - crush was on Harrison Ford... well, no, specifically it's on Indiana Jones. I don't know, or care to know, enough about Mr Ford himself to have a crush on him although he has always been very easy on the eyes and his smile makes me weak. Just look at him! 😍

I remember seeing Raiders Of The Lost Ark as a child, I would have been probably 8 or 9 years old and I had never seen anything quite like it - or him. I'd already started reading the Horrible Histories books, and we'd looked at the Romans and Egyptians in school, which I'd become obsessed with. And then there was Dr Jones and I wanted to be just like him. All my school friends were crushing on, had posters on the walls of Mark Owen or Stephen Gateley... and I had Indiana Jones.

I don't know which came first - the crush or wanting to be like him - if they were interlinked, or if they're co-incidental and unconnected. It doesn't essentially matter at this point. I do still both want to be him and... uhh... (if you'll excuse the crude language) to be fucked by him, to put not to fine a point on it!

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We are made of stardust

2023-08-20T12:08:10Z

I put some TV in the background as I continued exploring AO3, and found some Ancient Aliens which is always very entertaining. And it occurs to me that considering my love for Stargate, it shouldn't be too surprising that I'd enjoy this kind of thing

For anyone who doesn't know, Ancient Aliens is a 'documentary'-style TV show based around the ancient astronaut theory. This theory posits that intelligent extra-terrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Proponents of the theory suggest that this contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies, religions, and human biology. A common position is that deities from most, if not all, religions are extra-terrestrial in origin, and that advanced technologies brought to Earth by ancient astronauts were interpreted as evidence of divine status by early humans.

Unsurprisingly, this theory is not taken seriously by archaeologists who view it as pseudoscientific, pseudohistorical, pseudoarchaeological and all around just plain unscientific.

This does not stop me from being incredibly entertained by the show. The host Giorgio A. Tsoukalos is... quite enthusiastic and also very entertaining. The show's episodes also cover Atlantis and other lost ancient civilizations, extraterrestrial contact and ufology, and popular conspiracy theories

I'm sure by now - if you're familiar with Stargate, especially the movie - how I'm connecting the dots here. After all, when we first meet Dr Daniel Jackson, he's being laughed out of academia for his radical theories involving cross-pollination of ancient cultures and the Egyptian pyramids being landing sites for alien spaceships and were far older than previously thought

Daniel Jackson - ancient astronaut theorist!

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Some more thoughts on SG-1 kink fic

2023-08-20T09:23:37Z

Following on from my previous post about discovering orgasm control/edging kinkfic in SG-1 last month, I've been slowly exploring the tags on AO3.

Most of what exists, at least what's tagged, is Jack/Sam. I have nothing against Jack/Sam when it's written well (I'm aware that is an incredibly subjective term) - there's already a level of power play between them and I would prefer that to be explored as well. Or subverted with her sexually dominating him. That's not to say I'm not enjoying the fic. I am. Some of what I'm reading is incredibly hot.

I've found very little of it in Jack/Daniel which surprises me. But there's a lot of 'BDSM' tagged for them so it might just be that the specific kink isn't also tagged. I'm learning that I don't mind which of them is on top, it's a lot of fun either way. And I've started exploring bondage fic for them.

I'm now trying to decide if I'm interested enough to investigate the tag in fandoms I don't read - not knowing the characters will essentially make it like reading original fiction. I guess the only way to figure it out is to try!

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Books are the best weapon in the world

2023-08-19T20:41:28Z

I've started using my local library - and their ebooks service - more and more lately. It's saving me heaps of money on the cost of buying books, as well as storage space for keeping them. And it also means I can try reading lots of books, types of books, genres, authors, subjects etc etc that I wouldn't normally try.

So far this summer, from this library experiment of branching out into different subjects, I have read

Bill Bryson - The Body: A Guide for Occupants. A damn good 4.5/5, I learned a huge amount, really enjoyed Bryson's voice and he's on a list to check out more of.

Allison Hoover Bartlett - The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession. A 3/5, interesting but it felt a little underdeveloped, a little too much of the author's opinion and not enough about the men involved - only what she thought about them.

Anne Frank - The Diary Of A Young Girl. 4/5. I hadn't actually read it before, and felt like I should. I'm glad I did, but don't think there's anything I can say that many people have already said, better than I could

My current read on Libby is The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person

From the perspective of the friend everyone should have, Frederick Joseph offers an essential read for white people who want to be better about race—and people of color who long to see their experiences validated.

“We don’t see color.” “I didn’t know Black people liked Star Wars!” “What hood are you from?” For Frederick Joseph, life in a mostly white high school as a smart and increasingly popular transfer student was full of wince-worthy moments that he often simply let go. As he grew older, however, he saw these as missed opportunities not only to stand up for himself, but to spread awareness to the white friends and acquaintances who didn’t see the negative impact they were having and who would change if they knew how.

Speaking directly to the reader, The Black Friend calls up race-related anecdotes from the author’s past, weaving in his thoughts on why they were hurtful and how he might handle things differently now. Each chapter includes the voice of at least one artist or activist, including Tarell Alvin McCraney, screenwriter of Moonlight; April Reign, creator of #OscarsSoWhite; Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give; and eleven others. Touching on everything from cultural appropriation to power dynamics, “reverse racism” to white privilege, microaggressions to the tragic results of overt racism, this book serves as conversation starter, tool kit, and invaluable window into the life of a former “token Black kid” who now presents himself as the friend many of us need. Back matter includes an encyclopedia of racism, providing details on relevant historical events, terminology, and more.

It's already hard-hitting and eye-opening, especially to a decidedly middle-class white woman - it's making me aware of some unconscious biases I have, and making me examine some of my beliefs. It's doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing and making me uncomfortable in the process. This is not going to be an easy read but it's going to be incredibly educational for me.

So I'm opening up the floor - do you have any recommendations, fiction or non-fiction, of books you would recommend, books you think I should read, books you absolutely love and rave about? I will see if my library has them, and I'm excited to open myself up to even more challenges and experiences

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people are the same the whole world over - except when they are different

2023-08-19T16:55:40Z

Having talked a little about my love for all things Ancient Egyptian, and about archaeology, I thought I'd take a little time to talk about my other part of my degree - and still one of my main nerdy interests - which is anthropology

What is anthropology? At the most basic level, the study of human societies and cultures and their development. It's how we interact with each other, within our own societies & cultures and with those from different ones, and with the world around us. It's when you look at the contents of someone else's shopping trolley in the supermarket and wonder what they're doing with that particular collection of items!

It's one of the reasons I've started blogging online - to get little glimpses into peoples worlds through the things they (you!) choose to share online. And for me to participate in the same. I'm already surprising myself with the things I'm choosing to share, and that actually feels wonderful and utterly fascinating!

So, breaking it down a little
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behaviour, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species.
Social anthropology (the dominant branch here in the UK) studies patterns of behaviour.
Cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values.
The portmanteau term sociocultural anthropology is commonly used today for the mix of these two - and this is where my interest lies. I've always loved seeing how people adapt to their environments - ones that are often in constant flux - in non-genetic ways, how this leads to people in different environments creates different cultures, and how each culture develops its own values.

The other two areas are linguistic anthropology, which studies how language influences social life, and biological or physical anthropology which studies the biological development of humans.

Archaeology sometimes gets referred to/classed as 'archaeological anthropology', as it studies human activity through the investigation of physical evidence

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