Ruminations

Brithday links will follow; I just wanted to get this in on time.

http://sexy-salmon-loki.tumblr.com/post/37403593955/i-need-this-in-my-life-give-to-me-loki-black

(Which is to say: give 'em Elle, dungeonwriter!)

dungeonwriter, it's good to hear that you and yours are alive and accounted for; that said, I'm not even going to pretend that I can understand how you must be feeling right now; I wish I were in a position to offer you hot minestrone and tuck you in.

dochermes, good to know that you made it through all right (and I hope Lajka hasn't taken it into her fluffy little head to go surfing down Wall Street or any such foolishness.)

dferguson, you were around at least as of midnight or so, when you posted a link to your SKY CAPTAIN review over at Doc's; weigh in and let me know how you're doing.

pfeffermuse? I know that your LJ activity these days seems to be limited to an occasional fanficrants post, but let me know how you (and your household) are doing when you get a chance. (I've been given to understand that an increasing number of shelters are taking in pets, but there can't be many places prepared to accommodate horses.)

An affirmation for kosaginolegion, dungeonwriter, dferguson, and anyone else out there who aspires to Make Stuff Up for fun and profit:

Maybe instead of saying, "you're not a fraud" to each other, we should say, "Yes you are! A con artist extraordinaire! In fact, you are pulling off the steal of the century by creating this completely made up THING and showing that it has value in an incredibly convincing way! You are making a Made Up Thing, Fantasy Whatever, In Your Head, Into Something That Will Look Like People Living Their Lives In A Room! or On Top of a Mountain! or in a desert or outer space or under the sea! If you keep at it, it will make people have weird dreams and maybe even make them choose specific real-life actions! They may even trade hard-earned dollars as a result of it, and as we all know, nothing makes anything more real than money! Go forth, young shyster, you liar, cheat and bullshit artist, and manufacture mass delusions!"

(Courtesy of ms_violet, by way of metaquotes.)

...to dferguson--biographer to Dillon, grandmaster of the grindhouse, and Writer of the Purple Prose!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VST2KKIYn50

To kosaginolegion in particular; as a Taoist, your big religious winter holiday foofaraw occurs at least a month after most of the others; I wish you health, prosperity, the favorable attention of publishers, and scallion cakes. (And today's sneak preview of an April wind and thunderstorm barrage seems to have gone overboard in underscring the symbolism.)

Some thematic images befitting the occasion:

Bending The Water Dragon by PeridotKitty.

Shiryu by Alfatico.

Water Dragon by Tiantian1008.

Year of the Dragon 2012 by Vijfentachtig.

And the real live Chinese Water Dragons who live under the care of one Tricia at BambooZoo.

dferguson: I seem to recall that you and the Missus had plans to retire to Florida in the near future, but so far you're still in the Big Apple, right?

dochermes: You're upstate, and (I hope) far enough inland to be reasonably out of harm's way; you don't seem to do much commenting on other blogs, but I'll take your continued posting as a sign that you're doing okay. (And this discussion, no doubt, will have developed an acutely personal relevance.)

dungeonwriter: You picked an excellent weekend to spend out of town; again, I'm hoping that the brunt of Irene's onslaught will be well east of where you're staying, and that all your loved ones in the area are safely bunkered down.

ETA: pfeffermuse: I hadn't realized that you live in that general area, too; your post on the subject seems to suggest that the farm is at a safe remove from the coast. The impression created by today's news coverage isn't boding well, but I hope your house in the city came through all right or is at least salvageable.

Take care of yourselves, everyone.

Journalfen, thanks to the kind intercession of pfeffermuse (1), has finally consented to allow me into the clubhouse, where I'll be going by the same nom de net; that account will be serving chiefly as a home base for forays into several metafandom communities.

(1) Pfeffer has also considerately compiled a number of HTML instructions into this handy tutorial--enabling me to progress beyond the old repertoire of USENET typographic conventions and thereby advancing my cyberhousebreaking. (The Goat has, for reasons best known to himself, seen fit to scatter them throughout  LiveJournal's FAQ in an exasperating scavenger hunt.)

..to kosaginolegion , to whom I wish engrossing tech toys, gushing acceptance letters from publishers, and a skin whose existence she can ignore for weeks on end.

(My online time is frequently in short supply during the holiday season, so these acknowledgements are somewhat belated; however, January 6th seems an apropos day on which to honor both a scholar and an icon of Victorian genre fiction.)

ratmmjess  sets forth his lone New Year's resolution:

To always remember this:

It is not necessary to have been a tiger from the first and by nature in order to display tigerish qualities. Social conditions exist by which lambs may be converted into tigers. (1)

And Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Tetradecimal on Journalfen, delivers an exquisite takedown of a particularly officious would-be Fandom Cop (2); a sample quote:

My dear Watson, there is no man so enamored of rules and regulations than he who has no authority to pronounce them.

(1)  http://ratmmjess.livejournal.com/221317.html

(2)  http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1235661.html