Occasional Renaissance

Dear Yuletide Author

2013-10-12T23:33:16Z

Hi Yuletide Author! This is my first year participating, so I'm still flailing around a bit about all this, but the main thing I wanted to say is that the things I'll prompt below are just suggestions. :) If you feel the urge to write something completely your own, that's cool! I'm sure I'll appreciate whatever you write. <3

In general, things I love are: protectiveness & h/c, insecurities & reassurances, pining, and happy endings. I'm also a big fan of well-negotiated and consensual BDSM & D/s. (I realize for some of the fandoms I requested these things might not be applicable, so I'll go into those prompts more specifically. XD)

Things I prefer to avoid: major character death (usually), partner betrayal, and kinks like watersports/scat & ageplay.

My requests were:

1) The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

So this is where my usual likes for happy endings and dislikes for major character death may not apply! XD And I'm fine with that; I requested this fandom because I'm hugely interested in the behind-the-scenes worldbuilding of this 'verse. (the company-o'-horror-movie-doom! what happens after the end credits roll! general extra backstory for the main characters!) Basically, go wild with whatever you feel like writing, it's all good for this fandom.

2) Much Ado About Nothing (2012)

So I'm a big Clark Gregg fan, and I loved the way he portrayed Leonato in this adaptation - a little dorky, a little earnest, but with the ability to amp the intensity up to eleven when it applies. I'd love to see a ficlet from his character's POV here, either during the events of the movie itself or afterwards.

3) Twelfth Night - Shakespeare

For this fandom, I'd love to read a story exploring all the wonderful gender fuckery that goes on in this play. I'd love to see an exploration of Orsino & Viola's relationship after it ends (or Olivia & Sebastian's, for that matter) when so much of the establishment of their romance was based on expectations that turned out to be false. Keeping it light would still be lovely; I'd love to see queering of the relationship between Orsino & Viola, for example - maybe she got rather fond of wearing men's clothes during her time as Cesario, and doesn't necessarily want to give it up!

4) Agents of SHIELD - Maria Hill, Melinda May, Jemma Simmons, and Skye

I requested only ladies for this fandom because I'm interested in seeing them emphasized - I saw a gifset floating around tumblr (link's here if you're interested) that proposed Melinda May/Skye in a way that I found fascinating, and I'd love to see the relationships between the ladies on this show explored, be that platonic or romantic. Go wild! <3

5) Minesweeper

Okay, this was pretty much requested on a whim. XD I just had this crazy impulse to ask for, like, a dystopic AU from the perspective of the bombs or something. idek. :D?

6) The Fionavar Tapestry - Guy Gavriel Kay

I had a friend of mine recommend this series to me a while back, and plowed through them all this past summer. They're wonderful reading, and I was particularly enraptured by the tragic story of the Arthurian trio, and spent several occasions yelling at the book in my hands as they angsted about and completely failed to have a threesome together. So, exploring their dynamic in that vein would be hilarious and much appreciated! I love all of the characters in these books, so I'd be happy with anything set in this 'verse, really.

Alright, that's it for me! Best of luck, and thank you again!

Pod Aware 2012 Day 2: Podfic Fandom

2012-11-13T04:42:56Z

For many of us, podfic is more than just a fanwork, it's a community. We form friendships, support each other, discuss our shared passions and push each other to new forms and heights of creativity. To find out more information on podfic and podfic fandom, check out Pod Aware on DW, LJ or Tumblr.

This is my second and last podcast for Pod Aware 2012! The fest will be going on for the rest of the week, so please check out the other topic days they've got planned, some of them look pretty neat. :D

Podcast Length: 6 min
Download options: mp3 format (2.6 MB) || m4b format (2.3 MB)

The sites I reference in this podcast are jinjurly's Audiofic Archive, the Amplificathon community (also on LJ here), the Podfic Tips community, and the Podfic Big Bang community.

Here's the full transcript for the podcast:

Hi, this is regonym, and this is a podcast for the second day of Pod Aware 2012. The topic for Day 2 is Podfic Fandom.

I’m going to preface this by saying I don’t know how interesting this is going to be to listen to, because since everyone’s experience in fandom can be so individual, I couldn’t really think of a way to talk about this other than to discuss what my personal experience has been, discovering podfic and starting to interact with the community, etc. So, there’s going to be some self-centered rambling ahead, and I apologize for that in advance.

So, to start off… I discovered podfic about a year before I ever thought to try making any of my own. It was 2009, and I was about to go on an extended trip where I wouldn’t have any internet access for a while. I’ve learned from previous experiences that after a time without internet I get kind of cranky at the lack of fic, actually? It’s kind of like someone with a caffeine addiction going off of coffee, I actually start to get cravings for stories, and usually end up in an internet café somewhere reading. So, I was trying to be a bit more proactive this time and figure out if there was some way to take fic with me, and I didn’t have a smartphone to read it on so it had to be some other method. I can’t remember how I discovered audio fic, exactly, but I think I must have stumbled across Jinjurly’s Archive somehow, and gone, just, WOW. Wow. There was already quite a bit out there by 2009, especially in the larger fandoms like SGA and Bandom, and was like finding myself in a chocolate store.

So that was a wildly successful experience – I loaded up my iPod with a collection of whatever looked good and took it with me, and I had fic on-the-go, it was marvelous! But then when I got back from my trip, I pretty much went straight back to reading again and didn’t listen to podfic all that regularly after that. I’m actually kind of terrible at processing information auditorily, I get really fidgety and distracted usually – which is kind of ironic, since I’m a podficcer, but I’m much more of a visual person. If it weren’t for the fact that Audacity is primarily visual in terms of how you edit, I’d probably find it really difficult to make podfic at all. But yeah, if I’m not driving or on a plane or otherwise occupied, I find it kind of hard to just sit there and listen to a podfic all the way through, so for the rest of 2009 I downloaded a few things here and there, but that was about it. It seemed like podfic fandom was very LiveJournal-based back then? I’d follow certain podficcers’ journals to catch their updates, and it was also around then that I started following the Amplificathon community.

It was probably Amplificathon that gave me the idea to try making podfic of my own, finally. It was early 2010 when I made my first one and I’d been reading some fan-made tutorials and thought it would be fun and decided to give it a shot! So I went out and bought a 10-buck stick mic, and found a good starter fic by an author I loved in a fairly obscure fandom, so that if it was terrible at least there wouldn’t be too many people listening to it, and that was all she wrote! I loved it, it was a way of being creative I’d never tried before, and it was really nice to have something that came naturally to me, that felt easy, in a way writing or drawing never had. It was something that I felt like I could be good at.

And the wonderful thing was, once I started posting my first few podfics on Amplificathon, there was a really supportive atmosphere that made it easy to keep going once I started. The Podfic-Tips community, in particular, was invaluable for answering all the technical questions I had as I was figuring out the learning curve. And another thing that really helped in the beginning was that all the authors who I interacted with at first during that initial stage were really podfic-friendly and excited that I wanted to record their stories. So 2010 in general was a great year for me, I made about twelve podfics that year and I liked what I was making.

2011 was kind of a different story, unfortunately, for reasons that were all my own, not because of fandom. Basically what happened was I signed up for PodBang and bit off waaaay more than I could chew – I’d never done a podfic over 10,000 words before, and here I was signing up to do two separate epics, and – a combination of Real Life body-slamming me and some various other things meant I ended up defaulting on it, and though I didn’t realize at the time I kind of burned myself out completely. I kept trying to record for a while after that and it just wasn’t fun, so after a while I kind of thought podfic in general had been one of those one-year hobbies for me, that I was just done with it for good.

And then Avengers fandom happened. And suddenly I was having all these urges to do creative things again, it was awesome. It was interesting to come back to podfic fandom after a year away, because in that interim time there’d been a big shift away from LiveJournal, onto Tumblr and Twitter and AO3 even, so it was a very different dynamic in terms of the interactions I was having with people. It may have just been a side-effect of the fact that I wasn’t recording in mostly obscure fandoms anymore, but it felt like I was getting a lot more feedback, and that was really nice. Getting an account at AO3 in particular helped me a lot, because it felt like I had more of a centralized home base to post things to that was more accessible than my LiveJournal masterlist had ever been, for example.

And then about a month and a half ago I finally broke down and got a Twitter account, and discovered that there were like one million podficcers on Twitter! It was kind of nerve-wracking at first because here were all these people I’d encountered only through their podfics before, and a lot of them were people who I have a lot of respect for, and suddenly there was way more potential for interaction than it felt like there was in exchanging Livejournal comments or whatever. So that was kind of weird. But it’s also kind of awesome, because it really feels like there’s a support network there – you can tweet about how your current project’s going and get responses back, and ask questions, and grouse about podficcer woes, and it’s fun! It feels like that’s where a lot of the community is now, and it’s been really interesting to become more of a part of that. Up until this point in my life I’ve never interacted with fandom all that much, even though I’ve been a part of it for years, and it’s nice!

I’d really encourage anyone who’s more on the fringes of podfic fandom, or who’s just getting started recording or listening, to get more involved! Don’t be afraid to talk to people and ask questions, because podfic fandom people are some of the kindest, most welcoming people out there, and you won’t regret it.

So that’s basically all I wanted to talk about. Hope you enjoyed, and please have fun listening to the rest of the podcasts from today. Bye!

</div>

Pod Aware 2012 Day 1: How We Podfic

2012-11-12T17:27:02Z

There are so many ways to create podfic and so many ways to listen. We might engage with podfic curled up in bed, in our closet, while commuting or at the gym, in our bathroom with makeshift soundproofing. To find out more information on podfic and how we podfic, check out Pod Aware on DW, LJ or Tumblr.

This is my first time participating in Pod Aware, as well as my first time ever making a podcast! So please forgive me if I sound a little stiff, it was deeply, deeply weird to be recording without a fic in front of me. ^^; I think my recording for Day 2 turned out a little better than this one, but hey, I am all about the learning curve.

Podcast Length: 6 min
Download options: mp3 format (2.4 MB) || m4b format (2.1 MB)

The Logitech stick microphone I reference in this podcast is pretty similar to this one; I put a folded bit of kleenex over the end of it to serve as a homemade pop screen. The programs that I reference using are Audacity, of course, and then also Gold Wave.

Here's a full transcript of the podcast:

Hello! This is regonym, and this is a podcast for the first day of Pod Aware 2012! The topic for Day 1 is How We Podfic, so my plan is to ramble a bit about how I go about recording and editing and generally, making something that people will hopefully want to listen to!

I’m curious to hear what everyone else will say on the topic, because everyone’s setups is a little bit different. And that’s part of what I’ve always liked about the podfic community is that there’s no wrong way to podfic, there’s just different ways.

First I’ll talk equipment. I’m a PC user, so I use Audacity for my recording and nearly all of my editing. I do my final noise removal in a separate program called Gold Wave, because it has this really nice ability to create very fine-tuned filters that I like. In terms of microphones, I have a cheap stick microphone that I use, by Logitech, that I picked up for $10 at Staples way back when when I was first getting started. I’ve experimented with using a headset mic before- I have one for Skyping that’s pretty nice – but I found it picked up my breathing and lip-smacky noises and stuff like that way too much for me to really be happy with the resulting sound quality. So, it’s been a stick mic for me, since the beginning.

And that’s equipment out of the way. Next there’s the general process that I go through when I record a story, and the first part of that is story selection. To give you a little info about me, I read a *lot* of fanfiction. Being a reader (and a lurker, mostly) has been the primary way I’ve interacted with fandom for about ten years now – I have pretty much zero talent for writing or drawing, so for the longest time I wasn’t really… participatory, I guess? I’d leave comments, and rec stories to friends, but that was about it. So when I discovered podfic about three years ago, it was kind of a revelation for me, because it was something I felt I could do, it was a way I could contribute. I think I might go into that a little bit more in the Podfic Fandom post I’m planning to make, because it’s a little off-track for today’s topic, so I’m going to try to concentrate more on the process aspect today.

But anyway, since I’ve been reading in fandom for pretty much forever, I know what stories click with me and what stories don’t. For me, I have to have some level of connection with a fic before I know it’ll be one that I can record successfully. It’s kind of a hard thing to put into words – I heard one way to describe it that inkjunket used that I really liked, which was calling it ‘pod farr’ - that feeling when you read a story and you’re going ‘yes, yes’ internally as you’re reading it, because you know it’s right for your voice and you know it’ll be fun to do.

I’ve amassed, as I’m sure many podficcers have, a folder full of fics that have passed this ‘pod farr’ test and are on my potential to-do list. When I decide I’m ready to try for a particular fic out of that list, that’s when I’ll contact the author for permission or check to see if they have blanket permission, or whatever. And that’s kind of my starting gun for the project - I try not to work on more than one podfic at once, because I’ve learned that multiple projects are kind of disastrous for me – I end up not finishing any of them and it just, it all ends in tears, it’s very bad.

I’ll start off usually by doing a re-read of the fic to get it in my head a bit more, and then I’ll set up to record! My set-up is to hook my stick mic up to my laptop, and read the fic off the laptop screen while I’m recording, and it works pretty well – my laptop fan will come on every now and again but it usually edits out just fine at the noise removal stage at the end of everything.

I have a tendency to try to avoid re-recording anything, because it’s a pain and it’s also really hard to get the sound quality to match, so when I’m going through a fic doing my readthrough I’ll usually do multiple takes of most lines, especially when it comes to dialogue, and that way, when I’m done recording and start editing, I have a range of potential options for any given line in the story.

There have been times I wish I could be a little less picky when it comes to that because this makes me very slowww. When I’m editing I do one pass to select which takes I like best out of the initial readthrough, and sort of Frankenstein-assemble the rough structure together. And then I do a second pass to get the pacing all right so the flow sounds natural again. And then I usually do a final listen while I’m comparing the recording to the text, to try to catch any places where I might have flipped words, or left something out, or made other mistakes like that. It’s usually only when I’m totally happy with it that I’ll then move on to amplifying the whole waveform and exporting it so I can do noise removal in Gold Wave.

And once that’s all done, it comes time for the posting dance! I like to have a bunch of options available for people to download or stream, so I make both an mp3 and m4b/audiobook version, and I import them both into iTunes temporarily so I can add all the metadata and cover art and stuff like that. I usually make the cover art for my podfics at some point during the editing process, kind of alongside it – my skills in that don’t really extend beyond very far, I can pretty much just ‘add text to something and crop it’ but it’s worked pretty well for me so far, just to know that much. I’ve been helped out in the past by some very kind fanartists who’ve allowed me to use their art as the base for a few of my covers, which is always very nice of them.

Anyways, after that’s all added I upload it, typically to Sendspace and also to Paraka’s website, which she has very graciously offered to many different podficcers as a place to host their files for streaming options – and once that’s all done I post it as an entry to Amplificathon! The other places I usually post are AO3, and then also my tumblr as well. And then as a final thing I always drop a note to the author of the fic, to let them know I’ve posted it in case they’re interested in checking it out or linking to it or whatever they want to do.

And that’s about it, that’s the life cycle of a podfic for me. Hopefully this was interesting to listen to – if it wasn’t, I do apologize, and please enjoy the rest of Pod Aware! Bye!

Pod Aware starts tomorrow!

2012-11-11T22:13:54Z

Help spread the word on podfic (you don't need to be a podficcer to join in!).
pod_aware || pod_aware)
This November marks the second year that Pod Aware will be going on! Pod Aware is a week-long fest that helps to raise awareness and appreciation of podfic as a fanwork. This year's topics will be:

November 12: How We Podfic (creation and consumption)
November 13: Podfic Fandom (where to go to get started, places to hang out, atmosphere, etc.)
November 14: Recs (share some, talk about your favourite rec'ers or amplirecathon, etc.)
November 15: Acting (how podficcers approach the text, how various styles are received, etc.)
November 16: Special Effects (music, sounds effects, voices, etc. How to add them as a creator, how you enjoy them as a listener)
November 17: Collaboration (between multiple podficcers, podficcers and the author, beta, coverartists, etc.)
November 18: Feedback (back by popular demand)

I've recorded a couple of short podcasts for the 'How We Podfic' and 'Podfic Fandom' days, and I'll be posting them later this week. Please enjoy the fest; there were a lot of fun posts & podcasts & meta that came out of it last year, and hopefully this year will be the same!

Infinite mpg. Also, sexy.

2012-08-30T01:39:07Z

It might be kind of weird, but one of the things I’ll miss most about my job of the last several months is my bike commute to work.

I’ve been riding a lovely recumbent bike I got as a hand-me-down from my sister since January; it is the comfiest thing on two wheels, and rain or shine (I’ve made exceptions for snow, but that’s about it) I’ve been cycling to and from work along pretty much the same route.

I watched and admired the neighborhood yards in February as the crocuses came up and the trees started to put on buds, I muddled along in my raingear on several days with torrential downpours, I oohed and ahhed over the flowering cherries and plums as spring came on, and I breathed a sigh of relief and put my waterproof pants away when Oregon’s lovely summer finally arrived and I was able to enjoy great biking weather for three months straight.

It’s been really nice and grounding to have a bit of exercise at the beginning and closing of my day – I’m absolutely terrible about doing any sort of working out or other physical activity, so I’m glad I've had something obligatory to keep me in shape. I think I’ve actually strengthened my legs a lot simply from the routine, which is nifty. And the only times I’ve had to buy gas for my car is when I’ve driven long distances to visit my sister or my mom; for getting around town my recumbent’s been all I’ve needed!

…of course, now I’m going to be commuting 40 minutes one way for the next year while I’m in school. Le sigh. I’ve sworn to myself that I’ll take up bike commuting again as soon as I can, though! *determined face*

\o hey dudes

2012-08-21T06:57:53Z

It has been a while since I posted on this thing. So. The state of me.

I’m getting prepared to move about an hour north up the freeway in three weeks, and then starting my classes (going back to school, wooooo *waves eeny flag*) three weeks after that. Feeling a little bit (okay, a lot) of anxiety about it. I’ve been in this comfortable holding pattern ever since got my acceptance letter back in the spring, and overcoming that inertia is taking some effort.

It’s been two years since I did the whole full-time student thing, and this program is going to be really really intense. They’ve basically warned us straight up that it’s classes/labs Mon-Fri, 8 to 5 every day. And then homework/other assignments on top of that. I’m going to have to stay on top of things, because I can tell already that falling behind could be really, really bad.

I don’t know – transitions are always kind of stressful for me, and this one’s no exception. I’m wondering what my other classmates will be like – if any of them will be kind of non-traditional like me or not, or if they’ll all be younger than me. I’m wondering if I’ll have any free time to podfic at all, or if that’s going to have to be tabled while I’m in school. That would make me really sad; I’ve been enjoying being so participatory in fandom, on a level I never really have before, to be perfectly honest. I’m hoping I’ll be able to use podficcing as my stress relief, but then again that was also my goal last year during my second term in AmeriCorps, and 2011 was uh, not a good podfic year for me. But there’s a long project I want to start on soon that I’m legitimately psyched about working on (it’s going to take me months ahaha why /o\), so I hope I’ll be able to find the spoons to keep it up.

I think something that’ll help me keep my perspective over the next year is to keep in mind that I know this is where I want to go with my career. This is the culmination of over a year’s worth of research and applications and interviews. I know that I’m nervous, but I bet that the other folks in the program will be too, and hopefully it’ll be a supportive learning environment and not a dog-eat-dog one. :/ We’ll see. This is (hopefully) going to lead to a good, stable job for me, and at this point in my life that’s really my main goal. I can start worrying about other stuff after that.

Awww

2011-03-06T04:17:40Z

My dad just sent me a care package that contained:
1. A book of Darwin Award stories
2. Two jars of Bonne Maman wild blueberry jam
3. Two pounds of buffalo jerky

I love my foodie, geeky family. ♥

A Brief Announcement

2010-10-26T21:14:43Z

It's set; the car rental reservations have been made. I'm going to the Rally to Restore Sanity in DC this Saturday, and I'm dragging 80% of my team with me. >D

Any suggestions for Sane Signs?

baa

2010-09-10T20:25:25Z

Stole this from zolac_no_miko . *shrug* I've never actually felt like filling one of these out before? But this one seemed interesting for some reason.

Is the person you last texted single?
Heh. Nope, they were engaged, married, and in a long-term relationship respectively. (it was a three-people-at-once text)

Do you get jealous easily?
Not really. It takes a fair bit to get me worked up.

What are you currently waiting for?
~~A TRAIN.~~ Um.

Do you think more about the past, present, or future?
Probably the future.

Is there anybody you wish you could be spending time with right now?
All my Whitman besties. My family.

Is anything wrong with your eyes?
AHAHAHAHA... if I don't have my contacts in, my focal point is roughly three inches in front of my face. I am woefully, woefully nearsighted (now with bonus astigmatism!). Hopefully I will be fixing this with lasers sometime in the future.

Who were the last people you saw besides from family?
My AmeriCorps teammates are sitting across the room from me...

Do you have nice eyes?
I like them. They're green.

Have you ever received a love letter more than a page long?
Nope!

If something was wrong, who is the first girl you would go to?
My sister or my mom, probably. Or Becca/Angela/Dar/Lauren, if it were more of a 'SOMETHING IS WRONG ON THE INTERNETS' sort of problem.

Who's thinking about you right now?
This question is kind of dumb. What am I supposed to do, e-mail Professor Xavier?

Is this year the best year of your life?
It's been pretty good. I don't know if I'd call it the best, though.

How do you feel about Diet Dr Pepper?
Bleah. I don't really drink soda in general, but when I do it would be Mt. Dew or Coke.

Think back to the last person you kissed, how many times have you cried in front of them?
Hm. Zero. The thing we had going on was pretty casual.

Do you go to the tanning bed on a regular basis?
Uh, no.

Does your bedroom need cleaning?
Probably. Comes from not having any furniture.

Flowers or chocolate?
Oooh, this is actually kind of tough. I really like flowers, and I actually prefer chocolate-baked-goods-type-things to straight up chocolate. (Fondant au chocolat, oh my god. Or drinking chocolate, mmm.)

Sushi of choice?
Hamachi! Mmmmm. Although I love eel, too.

Would you rather take a relationship really slow or really fast?
Probably slow. I've had one relationship that went really fast and it was kind of weird.

Do you ever hang out with someone of the opposite sex?
Every day, given that there are guys on my team.

Are you comfortable with your height?
Yep. I like being 5'4", it feels just about right.

Do you act differently around the person you like?
I'm probably snarkier, because I'd be trying to make them laugh. But I get kind of shy at the same time, so.

Do you think anyone has feelings for you?
Possibly.

Is there one person in your life that can always make you smile?
There are way more than one. Some of them can even make me cackle hysterically.

Do you like thunderstorms?
YES. They always make me feel awake in a unique way. Probably because my adrenal glands are yammering that we're about to get struck by lightning or have a tree fall on top of us, but whatever.

Do you think teenagers can be in love?
Yeah. I think that teenagers don't always know the best way to deal with it, but hey, you have to start learning somewhere, right?

How fast does your mood change?
I'm generally very even-tempered. My first emotional reaction is almost always to be amused.

Are there things that can't be joked about with you?
Jokes that are made in poor taste make me uncomfortable, and if certain lines are crossed I'll get pretty serious pretty fast. Making light of abuse or belittling sexual orientation will get you a push-back from me.

What do you always take with you?
Sunglasses. Water. My phone and driver's license, spare cash, a pen and a scrap of paper.

When is your birthday?
It was yesterday! :D

Where is the weirdest place you have slept?
On a midnight train to Xinjiang. No, really.

Anything on your walls?
At the current place I'm living in? Nothing but my towels, hanging up on dollar-store hooks. ;__; Back at my place in Oregon I've got all sorts of cool stuff up. Posters, masks, a pair of phoenix wings my sister and I made for a costume once... That's got to be one of the most depressing parts about AmeriCorps NCCC, is that you move around too much to really make any place your own.

What do you bite more, your tongue, lip, or cheek?
My cheek. Luckily it doesn't happen all that often.

Has a boy/girl called you babe/baby before?
Chris liked to call me babe. ^^

If so, do you like it?
I don't know, I guess I found it a little embarrassing at the time, but it was also kind of nice that she did it.

Is there something that you want to tell someone but can’t?
Well, yeah. Everybody's got stuff they keep back.

Do you think you can last in a relationship for 6 months or more?
Romantically? I think so, although I haven't had cause to know for sure yet.

Do you crack your knuckles?
Nope. I crack my toes, though, somewhat randomly.

Do you feel comfortable getting up and giving speeches?
It wouldn't be my first inclination, but I could do it.

This time last year, can you remember who you liked?
Ummm... I think I had a few amorphous crushes, but nothing that stands out in particular.

Would you ever want to swim with the sharks?
I'd rather swim with dolphins, but as long as there was either a shark cage in place or they were something nifty like whale sharks, why not.

Does anyone know your passwords besides you?
My dad knows my TDAmeritrade password. Other than that I don't think so.

Have you ever kissed someone under fireworks?
Nope.

What is the last non-alcoholic beverage you had?
My morning tea, earlier today.

I bet you miss somebody right now…
...yes?

Do you get high a lot?
Not so much, no.

Do you have a box where you keep all your important things?
Sort of? I have assorted boxes where I put things that I want to keep from traveling, school, etc. But I have lots of other important things that don't really fit into boxes.

Can you count past 100?
Quite readily. Past 1000, even.

Would you ever date anyone your parents disapproved?
It might be a little awkward, but yeah. My parents are pretty chill, though, so it's hard to imagine who I could bring home that they wouldn't like.

Who introduced you to your boyfriend or girlfriend (or ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend)?
Uh, Metallica introduced me to my last boyfriend, and as for my last girlfriend, I don't remember who introduced me to Chris. I can probably blame Angela.

If you were abandoned in the wilderness, would you survive?
Eh, probably. I'd be pretty grumpy by the time I made it out, though.

Are you afraid of shots?
Nah. It's not like they hurt for very long.

Is there someone you can tell anything to?
My sister and I can pretty much talk about anything. I'm fortunate to have many friends that I could talk frankly with, too.

At this moment in time if you HAD to have someone’s name tattooed on you whose would it be?
'Mom'. XD I don't frickin' know.

Most memorable thing that’s happened to you over the summer?
Oh man, how do I even pick. Um, probably seeing the 4th of July fireworks over the Washington Mall from the steps of the Capitol.

Has anyone called you perfect before?
Not that I recall.

Do your best friends’ parents tend to like you?
Yes, I seem to be a likable-by-parents person.

What’s your all-time favorite ROMANCE movie?
Love Actually. I could roll around in that movie forever.

TV channels/shows you watch?
TV's the thing with the box that glows, right? With the annoying noises where they try to sell you stuff? I haven't had all that much time to watch things so I'm ludicrously behind, but I've been watching Doctor Who, Generation Kill (*shakes fist at novembersmith *), Sherlock (*shakes fist at platoapproved *), and I'm currently trying to addict my entire team to Firefly. XD Oh, and I've been working my way through back issues of The West Wing, Bones, and The Mentalist, too.

Are any of your friends taller than you?
Some of them are. Some of them are shorter than me.

Name the bands you have band tees for?
The Decemberists! Um. I think that might be it. I need to buy more.

Do you prefer the ocean or pool?
The ocean, by far. Although I don't actually like to swim.

Ever really cried your heart out?
Oh yes.

Are you the same person as you were at the beginning of 2010?
...I'd actually say I'm not. This has been a big growth year for me, and I think the experiences I've garnered in AmeriCorps have changed me a fair bit. For the better, I hope.

Do you make good grades?
Yep! I'm actually pretty proud of my track record there, in both high school and college.

Is there a difference between love and IN love?
I think so. It's kind of a squirrelly one to pin down with words, though.

Have you ever been on a motorcycle?
No, but it's something I want to try.

Does it bother you when someone says they will call you and they don’t?
Hmm. A little bit, I guess.

What is the main ringtone on your cell?
It's sort of this D-major arpeggio thing.

Do you speak any other language other than English?
I speak Japanese pretty well. My Spanish is in pretty poor shape, although I'd like to work on improving it.

Did 2009 treat you good?
Yeah! Graduated from college, that was pretty sweet. I liked my summer job from that year a lot, too.

Do you think you were raised well?
Yeah, I think my parents did the best they could.

Could you name all 50 states and point to them on a map?
Probably, barring brainfreezes.

Are you someone’s best friend?
Hm, probably not? I wouldn't mind being somebody's, though. ^^

Where was the last place you were when you got sick?
Huh, I think it was in New Orleans, back in March. Although I nearly got sick later when we were in New York, too. Managed to fight it off with copious amounts of green tea.

Have you ever smuggled something into America?
Nothing huge.

What’s your favorite super-hero?
Tough question! If pressed, I'd probably pick Tony Stark. He's such a badass woobie.

Can you say the alphabet backwards?
I'd take a while to do it, but yes.

Pen or pencil?
I used to use mechanical pencils exclusively, but since AmeriCorps I've turned into a pen-user. I like these. They don't stab me in the leg when I keep them in my BDU pocket.

Ever had an 11:11 wish come true?
I don't really make 11:11 wishes. I almost always notice when it rolls around, though.

Do you get bad headaches?
Fortunately, no.

What’s worse: liars or cheaters?
Cheaters. White lies grease the wheels of the universe.

Have you ever broken someone’s heart?
Possibly, but hopefully not irreparably. ...that was a few too many adverbs for one sentence.

Does it matter if your boyfriend/girlfriend smokes?
I couldn't date a smoker. The smell is a big turn-off for me.

What’s usually colder, your hands or your feet?
They're both usually really cold. >>; There's a reason why I drink so much tea.

What’s your favorite type of flower?
Hard to choose! I like daffodils a lot. Anything that smells nice, really.

Give me a random lyric from the song you’re listening to.
One smile, one smile
Carries on

Do you think two people can last forever?
Yep. I don't think it happens all that often, though.

Do you consider yourself lucky?
I never win at bingo or raffles, if that's what you're asking. But I think I've had a lucky life so far.

Is there someone that cares about you more than themselves?
My parents, maybe.

Who was the ugliest person you saw today?
What kind of question is this, seriously.

Freedom or safety?
Freedom. Safety is overrated. (Yes, Angela, I did just steal your answer.)

Has a song ever made you cry?
Yes. I'm not telling you which ones, though.

A book ever made you cry?
No, although a few have made me pretty upset.

Is the world crumbling to pieces?
Nah. It might not always be suitable for humans, but I think the earth will keep chugging along okay.

Is your handwriting large, tiny, or pretty normal?
It's on the small side. And the unreadable side, especially when I write fast.

Will you be in a relationship next month?
I seriously doubt it. But you never know.

Who was the last person to piss you off, and why?
The person who sent me a rejection letter for the job I really wanted, yesterday. >:((( I was a little annoyed, more at the situation than at them, I guess.

Your phone rings, what do you say?
Usually just 'Hello' or 'Hey'.

Has anyone ever said they wanted to marry you?
Chris proposed to me once. XD I give pretty good head-and-back massages, apparently.

Have you ever been a gymnast or a cheerleader?
Nope! I've done ballroom dance since I was twelve, though. And I like modern dance a lot, too.

Is your birthday on a holiday?
No, but last year it was on 09/09/09, which I thought was pretty neat. :D

Do you always answer your phone?
Not always. If it's not a number I recognize I'll usually let it go to voice mail.

Has someone of the opposite sex ever told you they loved you?
Outside of family, no.

Are you ticklish?
Yes. I try to keep that a secret though.

Is there someone you wish you were still close with?
Yeah, there are some people from back in high school that I'm sad about losing touch with.

Yay memes! And now have a random video that my teammate Kristen showed me:

Ow. It's ibuprofen time.

2010-01-17T01:45:36Z

Hours snowshoed today: 4.
Hours skiied today: 2.

Percent of my body that hates me at the moment: 110%, approximately.

I CAN HAZ EMPLOYMENT.

2010-01-13T01:38:35Z

I've been getting itchy feet feelings lately. I haven't worked since getting back from my trip to Japan, and while it's been wonderful to let my brain take a break and recharge my batteries for a month or two, I've been feeling the urge to get moving again. I'm still not sure what I want to do in the long-term, but I'm ready to start figuring that out, at least.

In the meantime, though, I figured I may as well use the skills I've developed over the past five years, so I got back in touch with a professor I've worked with before and found out that they could in fact use another lab tech about the place. Go me! Starting in February I shall be helping to keep the enormous wheels of scientific research a-spinning.

And in the meantime I'll be brainstorming and volunteering a lot and trying to figure out what the heck to do with my life. It's a cunning plan indeed.

Because those homeless waifs could always use more angst puppets.

2009-12-08T18:03:59Z

In 2010, regonym resolves to...

Cut down to ten cats a day.
Put fifty veronica mars a month into my savings account.
Give some angst puppets to charity.
Get back in contact with some old shiny things.
Find a better yaoi.
Admit my true feelings to legomyarrow.

regonym @ 2009-11-08T19:56:00

2009-11-09T04:50:20Z

I went to see Okuribito (送り人), aka Departures at my town's little Indie film theater this afternoon. I'd watched a trailer for it a few months ago after hearing that it won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but it had then fallen off my radar, until it startled me by randomly popping up in the paper's movie listings. I'm really glad I got a chance to go see it, because it was awesome.

It's been a long time since I was so moved by a film. There were several bits where practically the whole theater was sniffling. I mean, a lot of the movie was about various funerals so it's not that surprising, but it also managed to be insanely funny in other parts, and the entire story was told with this sort of... heartfelt genuineness that drew me in completely. Plus, the score had tons of awesome cello music - some of it being played by the main character - which is always an instant zap to my Inner Happy Music Place.

In conclusion, go see it! It is an amazing and wonderful movie.

For lo! A glass jar descended, and after it, a lid.

2009-08-03T20:36:32Z

It remains spider season, and I continue to traumatize them by sticking them in containers.

Today's catch: a Cat Faced Spider! It's probably the biggest spider I've ever seen outside of the time I found a Hobo spider in my room: about 1.2 cm from chelicerae to abdomen tip, and one of its legs stretched out is probably about 2 cm. It's not venomous in the least, and it's actually pretty cute - the legs are all striped and fuzzy and the two protuberances on its back really to make it look like it has a itty bitty kitty face riding around on its butt, watching its back for it.

Since it's beneficial to have it in your garden as it eats a bunch of different pest bugs, I'll probably release it back into the wild tomorrow at work. My co-workers will most likely not be as thrilled as I am to have it there, but oh well.

A Post!

2009-08-01T01:26:12Z

So I found a black widow spider at my work the other day, and after a bit of epic flailing with various plastic containers managed to capture it.

I think I'll call her Vera.

Edit: Due to ~~popular~~ shichahn's request, there are now pictures! As well as a short crappy phone vid of Vera spinning like a maniac. Link!