you've got a pretty face; like that of someone i could save

life is way too short to scream and shout

andplease — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:48:20 GMT

01. New layout! ginger_noodle pointed me towards some awesome overrides and here we are. I'm still not sure I love how light everything looks without hovering, but we'll see. Now who wants to point me to pretty icon makers and new friends? I'm lonely and my userpic page is too.

02. I wasn't crazy about New Girl at first. I have a low cringeworthy tolerance and Jess was a little over the top in the beginning. (She's still over the top, but more bearably so.) However, Jess/Nick was intriguing and I've loved Max Greenfield since I ran his fansite back in the day, so dumping it wasn't a real option. After the last three episodes, I am firmly addicted/shipping Nick & Jess hardcore. (If this was me five years ago, I would already have their fansite up and running.) I don't even care that they're putting on the breaks and bringing in Justin Long. I STILL LUFF THEM THE MOSTEST. (For the record though, CiCi/Schmidt is pretty great, too.)

Since new ships always mean stalking the internet for whatever paltry amount of fic my small-time ship has amassed, I obviously spent too much time at work today digging for New Girl fic. My favorite so far? Lay My Head on the Hood of Your Car by falseeyelashes. It's long, and great, and hot.

03. On a way less awesome note, OMG COMMUNITY I WILL MISS YOU. I wish NBC would let us know how long it will be off the air. Alison Brie made a reference to summer on Twitter, but that could've just been a guess. I swear, if this season ends up being twelve episodes... #nothappy

04. Random Real Life Note: I'm the Publisher/Editor for a zine cooperative in Chicago. We put out a couple zines a year, and the second issue of our mothership is out! You can read it online, and if you do, let me know what you think! <3

05. I miss crossover fic... and choco_cherries. (Someone stop me from doing what you know I want to do.)

half of my heart is a shotgun wedding to a bride with a paper ring...

andplease — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:41:12 GMT

01. I'm back! Finally! [Insert ~~lie~~ promise that this will never happen again.] I miss fandom and you guys, but mostly you guys. Catch me up on yo lives! (For anyone who doesn't remember who the fuck this is, I made a handy dandy life story post for you.)

02. Now that I'm back, I need layout overrides. All my old standbys are long gone. Any suggestions?

03. Let's talk about last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother, shall we?

OMFG. OMFG. OMFG!! I'm so glad I was unspoiled for that. I was watching it while eating breakfast/getting ready for work and almost missed it, that's how off guard it caught me.

I've been so meh about the show this season that I unofficially gave up on caring. But this!! I miss scenes like this between Barney and Robin. When we have to wait this long for cute scenes like the part in the rain, I can kind of forget why I love Barney. Sure, he's always funny and charming--this is NPH we're talking about--but he's only genuine and real when he's alone with Robin. His apology was darling. AND THE KISS WAS SPECTACULAR. The funny faces. Good God. So in character/perfect.

I need a full week of delusional they-went-back-to-his-place-and-had-hot-monkey-sex thoughts before the new episode surely ruins everything.

Nothing else about the episode matters. Kthx.

04. I may or may not be obsessed with John Mayer/Taylor Swift. Up until two days ago, I despised him and had a love/hate relationship with her. I'm not really sure what changed between then and now, other then I accidentally stumbled across and read I Was a Dreamer Before You. Fifteen fics later, I'm shipping it hardcore and scrounging for any and all fic I can find. I have officially become an RPF kind of a fangirl. Don't judge me. (/give me recs if you have them)

05. On a related note, I'm obsessed with their duet. (Even if it isn't a real duet and you can barely hear her.) It's still pretty great. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should listen or download. (On a side note, I don't understand the video for this song. Is he the groom? If so, did he call off the wedding or did the bride? Someone needs to explain these things to me.)

the life and times of a girl (not really) named hider

andplease — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:01:08 GMT

I'm back! I promise. At least, for now.

It's been a long time since I was an active poster 'round these here parts. So I thought it would be nice to share a little (or a lotta) background. Feel free to skip. This is just for people who are interested/new friends who are confused. I though it'd be handy to have this kind of thing around.

hider.
21 years old. writer. designer. nonprofit worker.
feminist. environmentalist. zine-maker. comic book reader.
former nashvillian. current chicagoan. future resident of the northwest.

background....

I grew up right outside of Nashville but, because of my parents' tumultuous on/off relationship, I moved around a lot. When I was seventeen, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. I wanted to be closer to her and was anxious for a new start, so I chose to move to northern Indiana with my mom and her then-boyfriend (then stepdad, now ex-stepdad) Toe.

I lived there for roughly nine months, just long enough to finish my senior year of high school and move away for college. Toe couldn't find work because the local economy was pretty much dead so he took a job with a friend in Madison. Mom stuck around for a while (because we couldn't sell the house) but eventually joined him. A year after that, they got married in Nashville and moved back there. Unfortunately, they're now separated, but we're all still really close.

school....

I'm currently a senior at Columbia College in Chicago, where I'm pursuing an interdisciplinary BFA. What this means is that I designed my own curriculum with the help of faculty. I'm double majoring in Creative Nonfiction and Interactive Arts + Media, with a minor in Gender Studies. Basically, I write creatively and academically, do graphic and web design on the side, and bitch about gender stereotypes to anyone who will listen.

I'll graduate next May, and my post-graduation plans are a little fuzzy. I've applied for Teach for America and my hope is that if I'm not accepted into the program, I will get to stay at my current job. Which brings me too...

work....

I've held a few random jobs in the service industry but never stuck around long at any of them, until I was hired at Best Buy during my freshman year of college. I worked in the camera department at a flagship location for about a year and a half.

At the same time, I worked as an Orientation Leader at Columbia. It was a seasonal job (six weeks in the summer, two weeks in January) but long hours (10-12 a day). There was minimal overlap and I did both to make ends meet, even though it sometimes meant working 75/hr a week. I loved it a lot.

Last fall, the school's Recycling Program hired me as their Promotions Assistant and that allowed me to quit my job at Best Buy. I now make my own hours, can work from home if I need to, and get to actually work in my chosen field. I plan sustainable events, run the program's social media networks, and design all promotional materials for the program (such as posters, palm cards, an annual report, etc). I love both of my bosses and it's pretty awesome.

Around the same time, my other job promoted me from Orientation Leader to Orientation Coordinator. Which is a weird way of saying Boss Lady. The job is now year around because I plan orientation and hire the Orientation Leaders (who have to apply/reapply every spring).

Both jobs have made me realize that I really want to work in the nonprofit sector. Preferably with an organization focused on young girls or the environment. To this end, I also volunteer at Girls Rock! Chicago and intern at Girls in the Game.

people....

Above all, the most important people in my life are my mother, my (former) stepfather Toe, my grandmother, and my best friend (Blair). These are the people you'll probably hear the most about.

My mother and I have always been very close and she's a BFF of sorts. I'm also close to Toe, a Burmese immigrant, and I sometimes use his last name because I consider him to be my real father even if he is no longer with my mother.

A person you'll also hear a lot about (but for very different reasons) is biodad. I'll spare you twenty years of disfunction by just saying this: we don't get along. He's a drunk who did a lot of bad things to a lot of people, my mother in particular. He also disowned me on my 18th birthday. We didn't talk for a couple years but, at the prodding of a lot of people, I gave him another chance and let him back into my life. Some days I'm still not sure if that was a good or bad decision.

Regardless, he was remarried last year and it's given him a chance to start over with a new family of step-kids and grandkids. I'm very different from all of them, and visit only sporadically, so we're not really close.

I met Blair at college orientation and, as I like to say when I tell the story to mutual friends, he sank his claws in and never let go... It's mostly true. He's pretty much my homosexual soul mate. Though we have our own studios four blocks apart, we practically live with each other and I don't know what I would do without him. (He's also legitimately ridiculous. Like to a batshit degree.)

People from work I often talk about are John and Neale, my boss and supervisor from the Recycling Program. Neale and I are friends, despite his crazy hippy tendencies. John and I are... complicated? Toni is my supervisor through Orientation and is the most impressive individual I've ever met.

So yeah, that's me. I go to school full time, work even more time than that, and have an obsessive personality. Zines, comics, television, and music are just a couple of the things that push my buttons.

If only we were brave enough to live the lives we stole.

andplease — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:24:26 GMT

01. Halloween weekend has been so crazy that, now that it's actually Halloween, I'm wearing sweats and sitting in my apartment alone. Homework time, it is. (Though I think Blair might come over later.) I went to parties Thursday night, Friday night, and last night. I was pretty much on the wake up at 3pm/go to bed at 3am schedule so now my sleep pattern is sure to be fucked up all week. All things considering though, it was a great weekend. I went to the parties as Rosie the Riveter so my costume was cheap/easy but pretty recognizable as soon as I did her signature pose.

02. I got a Wonder Woman tattoo on Wednesday! For those of you who aren't aware, she's basically my idol/topic of my thesis/very important to me. It's fairly large (8" tall, 3" wide) and on the outside of my right calf. Right now, it's just a black outline but it'll be filled in next month and then maybe she'll get a background by Christmas. It wasn't too painful but definitely uncomfortable as I had to stay still while keeping my leg at an odd angle. I only wish it was summer so I could wear shorts and show it off.

03. Why is no one doing the Crossover Comment Ficathon? It's seriously making me sad. GET ON THAT SHIT PEEPS. And pimp like a chimp with a limp.

04. I miss Bones and therefore hate baseball. Though this season has been mediocre. I'm over all this Hannah shit. Mainly because Booth's so obviously trying to convince himself that she's the one he wants and it's really over done. I was re-watching the beginning of last season and there were so many good Booth/Bones scenes! I miss those :( I also need more Daisy/Sweets in my life.

05. I'm wrapping this post up with a meme. Give me the topic for a Top 5/Top 10 List and I'll post it all prettified later this week. It can be as simple or complicated as you like, fandom or real life-related. JUST GIMME.

You know what time it is? CROSSOVER FUCKIN TIME.

andplease — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 21:31:20 GMT

I've been wanting to do this forever so I figured "why not today?" I think the subject line is pretty self explanatory but here it goes...

CROSSOVER COMMENT FICATHON
1. Post a new comment with the fandoms in the subject line. The ship and prompt in the actual comment.
2. Reply to other comments with fic of some sort or size.
3. Any questions/comments can be put in the first thread.
4. Pimp this shit like you've never pimped anything before.

Example Subject Line: Friday Night Lights/Heroes, het
Example Comment: Claire Bennett/Tim Riggins, And if you ever said you missed me, don't say you never lied.

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO PIMP ON YOUR WAY OUT KTHX.

and it's not hard to tell that i learned my lesson well

andplease — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 06:37:22 GMT

01. Work has been particularly great this week. My department is spread across two locations on opposite ends of campus but we're moving to a new joint office in a better location this week. Which means everyone is busy setting things up in the new space. As an assistant whose main job is event planning, promotion, and design, I don't really play a part in that. So I've been sitting in my cubicle, making icons, and occasionally doing homework. 'Tis awesome.

02. I really miss crossover fic. It's been way too long since I've read some and it's making me itch to restart choco_cherries. I love that community so much but I always feel bad going back after an unannounced hiatus and being like NEW CHALLENGE ZOMG GUYS! Maybe I'll host a crossover comment ficathon? Would anyone else be down for that? I think it would be fun but I dunno...

03. Castle
The episode was pretty standard overall until the very end. WHEN I FLIPPED MY SHIT. That last scene! So great! She would break him oouuuuuut. I'd say the fan!girl inside of me was jumping up and down, but that would be a lie. I was physically jumping around my kitchen like a crazy person.

I was very happy to see Michael Cassidy pop out of nowhere. His character seemed pretty douchey at first, but was just so damn smiley and adorable in his last scene that I kind of realized how much I miss watching Cassidy on my screen every week. ~~I want Privileged back, damn it.~~

Also, we can talk about how silly it was for them to pick Taylor Swift as their go-to "song" singer? I mean, I know they need a mainstream/recognizable artist, but at least go with a band. Preferably one that has a unisex following. The plausibility of a teenage boy wanting to go to a T.Swift concert is negative zilch.

04. Chuck
I am already in love with Morgan/Alex. They are adorable. I'm glad Morgan has someone again. I've always loved Morgan/Casey interaction so this father-in-law bit has me thrilled. I hope we get more of that dynamic and him as a quasi spy.

My only complaint is that there hasn't been enough done with Alex and Casey. We've gotten like two snippets all season and I'd really like to see them bond or interact more than just her dropping off movies/him ignoring her phone call. They had the perfect opportunity to give us a B plot when Casey was laid up in the wheelchair but instead we got thirty seconds of her dropping off soup and movies. Sure, that scene was adorable, but more so for the Morgan/Alex component.

05. Mike and Molly
This show has pretty much bored me from the start but I've stuck with it because Melissa McCarthy is adorable and I will never tire of correcting their Chicago inaccuracies. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that there is nothing else going on. It's all Mike/Molly romance 24/7.

This week was a little improvement, what with the double date, but only barely. It was totally predictable but, I guess that's something? I still think I may be done.

I will leave you with the best line of the night: "You best be putting on some clean drawers and praying she ain't picky!"

Things I Realized This Week

andplease — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 21:58:52 GMT

01. Wishing LiveJournal would be more active is really hypocritical since I've been flisting and commenting, but not actually posting. Need to work on that.

02. Annie Edison is my fandom bicycle. Her and Jeff will always be my Community!OTP, but I also love the idea of her with Troy and/or Abed (plus a number of crossover ships). In fact, the whole show is like a big seven-way tandem bike. I totally ship Britta/Troy and I could deal with Shirley/Pierce in a passive 'let's pair everyone off' sort of way. The only one I just really don't like is Britta/Jeff, which I'm not saying to alienate anybody who does ship them. I just... don't see it. To me, they're more like crutches for each other. Also, Slater can go die in a corner somewhere.

03. This fall's television season is pretty lame. None of the new shows have been obsessed and/or addicted. In fact, none of the new ones even seemed all that interesting but I tried out like five or six just for the heck of it. None of them have really stuck. I'm still on a Community high from my obsessive watching last month, and really loving The West Wing (though I'm quickly losing steam now that I'm in season four). Even though I'm downloading like 10+ shows a week, most of them sit in a folder for several days before I get around to watching them. Mainly I've just been getting hooked on 30 Rock via Netflix Instant.

04. I miss making fandom graphics. I'm constantly using Photoshop and Illustrator for class and work, but it's just not the same. I made a new graphics community, pushtopull, and posted a new bunch of icons and such here. Some of them are new, but a lot have been sitting in a folder for over a year (which is sad on a lot of levels). So please, check them out/friend the community/etc.

05. My opinion on a possible Gilmore Girls movie has completely changed, thanks to Milo's recent comments. Like most Literati shippers, I got over the crappy ending by telling myself that Rory and Jess found their way back together and are now living happily ever after in Philadelphia. I was fanatically against a movie because I assumed my bubble would be popped. Now... maybe not. I still don't think it will happen and, even if it does, and even if he's in it, a million other things could still go wrong, but you never know...

PS. Welcome new friends!!

new journal; new hider

andplease — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:07:37 GMT

01. After multiple attempts at a hide_r comeback, I realized that it just wasn't going to happen. The girl that made that account over five years ago was someone else entirely, and I think it's time for a fresh start far away from all the clutter and emotional baggage stored in that journal. The only thing I brought over are some of my all time favorite icons and you guys. So if you missed me/still love me, add me back.

02. Community is my new obsession. I kind of fell into it like I did How I Met Your Mother oh so long ago. I immediately liked it but about two discs in, all the genius came together and I got hella obsessed. It doesn't hurt that Annie/Jeff is all kinds of awesome and the ensemble cast kicks all kinds of ass. (Marry me, Donald Glover?) Suffice to say, I've been fanfic-ing it up all week. (The fact that I've hit week three in the new semester and the homework is starting to interfere with my fic reading is annoying to say the least.)

03. Sometimes I wish I could hit a button and immediately shut down my Facebook, Twitter, and phone so that any time someone tries to contact me through any or all I can be like "I'M NOT LISTENING NANANANANA." Someone invent that please. Today has been filled with so much unnecessary drama thanks to a friend of mine who acts like we're all still in high school. Someone please let me know why we all can't just grow the fuck up?

04. I'm carotoe on tumblr if anyone wants to be buddies over there as well. It's part fandom, part things that amuse me, part me getting on my soapbox. As in, it's just like everyone else's. Gimme your link though!

05. I need a real mood theme almost as much as I need to get off my butt, go to the Walgreens next door, and buy another box of Flav-o-Ice. Bonus points to self if the mood theme is full of pretty shippy goodness or if the latter still comes in coke flavors (Dr. Pepper FTW).

PS. UPDATE ME ON YO LIVES.