If you're annoyed by these new crosspost comment options and you don't want them in your journal, here is a quick and painless way to get rid of them, posted by tod_hollykim (who apparently got the code from delaese; not sure of the original source).

After that, you can go fill out this poll (which is being monitored by LJ staff) to let them know how you feel about the new feature.  There is also another, similar poll over here.

It looks like it's unfriending season, because I've apparently been deleted by several people recently. :-\

Alright, so a couple of them were people I never added back.  But guess what: if I didn't add you, it's probably because you never introduced yourself, or commented on any of my posts.  Is it so much to ask that I get a little interaction from someone before they expect me to friend them?  I know some people — okay, a lot of people — add back automatically; but I don't like adding someone without a reason.  An add-back shouldn't just be taken for granted.

And of course, at least one person cut me who was a mutual lj friend, and I'd been hoping to get to know better... but now that's kaput.  She did have good reasons; heck, they probably all had good reasons.  I'm not mad at any one individual, it's just hard to take when several unfriendings happen at once. :(

I guess this is why I turned off the "when someone deletes you" email notification (it can't make me sad if I don't have to know about it).  But Semagic makes you reload your friends listing when you need a new community to appear in the "post to" section.  *sigh*




Okay, I'm done being morose.  Sorry about that.  Just thought getting my thoughts out on [virtual] paper might help, y'know?

Someone rec me some good fic to cheer me up, maybe?

Okay, this is a question for everyone.  Don't just fill out the poll; give me your thoughts.  Even if you don't know me — if you're reading this, I want to hear your opinion!


I've been thinking a lot about custom-made LJ styles* lately (since looking through many of them while working on dethepisode and st_games).  And I've come to the conclusion that there are way more great ones than I myself could ever possibly use.

I'll be honest: some of the default styles I've seen people using are a bit hard on the eyes; or at best, pretty boring.  Yet of those on my f'list, hardly anyone uses a custom layout — despite the fact that they're free, much prettier than the lj default styles, and usually a snap to install.

So, I want to know...

Poll #1419078
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

Do you use a custom layout* for your journal?

If you don't, why not?

If someone (say, me) offered to help you pick out/install/customize a layout, would you be up for that?

Would the offer of a matching header and/or icon help persuade you?

Obviously if you answered "yes" to the first question, you can skip the next three. :P

Anyway... don't just vote, comment!  Tell me what you think about this, and why you are for or against custom styles.  I'm really curious, guys.

---

* Let me be clear: when I say "custom layout" or "...style," I'm not talking about taking an LJ default theme (that's those ones you chose from when you go to customize your journal) and changing a few colors, or adding your own header/background.  I'm talking about a layout custom made to be of a higher quality, by someone with a keen aesthetic eye and professional coding skills.

Check out the stuff at mintyapple, for example, to see what I mean.

Check it out!  A post that isn't birthday greetings or a rant.  Don't ever say I don't come through on my promises. :P


So, this morning (or was it early this afternoon?) I got a brilliant idea on how to find the solution to a problem I've been having with the dethepisode layout.  And it worked!  I found the issue and fixed it, and now the layout is nearly perfect; just needs a few minor tweaks and a header.  With luck, the community will be up and running by mid-July. &&&

(Do feel free to tell me what you think so far.)

Then I spent the rest of the day playing helper fairy to various people who posted questions about the original layout (by gossymer).  Because she has this policy about not answering questions on layouts older than a week or two,* but not everyone — including myself, at first — seemed to realize this.

Some of these people had the same problems I had had; others just didn't know that they ought to be looking for help elsewhere.  So I thought it might be nice of me to point a couple of them in the right direction.  I even offered to help this one person with a certain rather unwieldy free hosting service, which I myself had much aggravation from last week.  (I sure hope that one doesn't come back to bite me in the butt.)


I tell you guys all this not to brag, but to say that while randomly helping others is all well and good... what I should have been doing today was working out the details of my hostel stay and booking a flight to San Francisco for Azkatraz.**

*headdesk*  And it's nearly July.  Way to be another day late on that one. :\

---

* Hey, I don't blame her.  Not every layout maker has time for individual questions (they're already taking a chunk out of their lives just to make the layouts); and there are plenty of communities on LJ where you can get coding help from the experts.

** Which, by the way, still has tickets left for only $130!  Anyone wanna go who's not already going?

So, jedipirate just linked me to a couple news site articles reporting on LiveJournal Inc.'s recent downsizing:

http://mashable.com/2009/01/06/livejournal-layoffs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10132684-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Supposedly it's due to the global economic decline, though the first article suggests that the bigger culprit here is a general loss of interest, due to the steady rise in popularity of less bloggy and more buddy-system focused social networks such as MySpace and Facebook.

(To tell you the truth, I kinda think this last part could almost be a good thing.  If you know me well, you might know that I have a deep-seated dislike of MySpace and its style of social networking, which I feel is geared to appeal most to teenyboppers and emo types, who are typically either around 16, or act like they are (even when they're in fact in their 30s).  I've seen LiveJournal associated with this type of crowd as well... and to be honest, from the depth of my El Jay-devoted heart, I'd like nothing more to see it break free from these associations.  If it means some loss of traffic, so be it; so long as the traffic we're losing is that of mindless, melodramatic teenagers, I'm not so sure we want them here in the first place.*)

But, back to the point:  Who thinks we should be worried about this?  The layoffs, I mean.  Show of hands?  Does LJ struggling financially mean we should all start packing our bags and backing up our journals in a hurry?  Or should we just sit back and wait it out, not paying it much mind?  Maybe something in between?

Frankly, I'm not so sure what to think yet.




------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Please note: this is in no way intended to offend anybody who happens to like MySpace, Facebook, or anything similar, as I know some of you do.  I have nothing against people who do enjoy using such forums, when those people are normal intelligent adults (or even normal intelligent teenagers; they do exist! O_O).

What I have a problem with is MySpace itself.**  It seems to me that it's built to attract a lot of the unintelligent types.  But that certainly doesn't mean that everyone who uses it falls into that category.


** Admittedly, I know far, far less about Facebook than I do about MySpace; other than the fact that, similar to MySpace, it appears to be geared less toward blogging and more toward collecting friends.  I do get the sense that it's a lot less annoying, format-wise.

How is it that not a single person has "charles/pickles" (or even "pickles/ofdensen") listed as an interest?  Not even one.  No lie.  O_o

(I'm looking at you, Itchy.  You too, JediPirate.)

But seriously, people.  This is a true FAIL in LiveJournal land.  I just finally added it as an interest myself... and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it sans underline.  I mean, I know the fandom is small, and not everyone puts their favorite pairings in their interests.  But, damn.  Nobody?



*sigh*  I need more Metalocalypse people on my f'list, because otherwise this post is kinda useless.  But, whatreyagonnado.  Had to vent somewhere. :/

Well, I'm a little disappointed that my last two posts got [almost] no comments.  Especially the second one, which I was kind of excited about.  But I think I've realized something.  And I'd like to do a little experiment to test my theory.

So, if you see this post... notice it, read it, have the time/desire to respond to it, please do.  With anything.  Uh... tell me what you had/are about to have for breakfast, how 'bout that?

So, because I am anal-retentive a Ravenclaw, I have this list where I tally up my userpic use.  (The purpose of it is to know which keywords I use and which I don't, so that if I need to cut some I'll know the ones I can spare.)


What I found out today?  My most commonly used icon keyword is "young sirius":

(Which by the way corresponds to this fic series, that every single one of you should go read, because it's brilliant. *unsubtle*)

Of course, I think it must be pretty obvious why I use him so much... because, OMG.  Sirius Black is such a sex god.  Boy, I wish Annalore were here to appreciate this with me.

So, I finally changed my layout... for the first time in, what, years?  Ugh.  I promise to do it more often from now on, honest.

Still no graphic — because I suck and have not yet finished working on a graphic-inclusive design.  But, oh well.  I just thought the insipid beige really called for a change.  (I might still play around with some of the options... later.  Just not right now.)

So, thoughts?  Comments?  Cries of outrage?  ...Or, did anyone even notice?  Me, I'm just shocked to be posting twice in one day.  O_o

Well, it's been a long time coming... but I finally have art for you.  I actually started this months ago, but had to put it off due to numerous RL demands; it's not technically done yet, since there is a colored version I'm still working on.  I hope to put that up within the next few weeks — whenever I have time to finish it.  But I've decided that I like the lineart so much, it deserves a separate post.

I know it's been a while, but in light of LJ's newly lifted restrictions, I definitely plan to be drawing and posting more.  For now... here's what may hopefully be the first of many:


( Unofficial notes, cut for those who don't careCollapse )


Title: N/A; lineart for "Grief"
Fandom: Harry Potter
Subject: James/Sirius
Rating: NC-17 for sex and partial nudity
Medium: Rough pencil sketch, cleaned up in Photoshop.  References used.
Disclaimer: James Potter, Sirius Black, and the HP universe belong to J. K. Rowling.  This art is not intended for underaged viewing.
Warning: NWS; angst, dubious consent... man!tears.
Notes: I like to think there is a backstory here.  My version goes something like this: ( spoilersCollapse )

...Of course, that's not set in stone; it's just one possibility.  Interpret this as you will, basically.

Preview:


( You can keep the shirt on.Collapse )


All comments (including con-crit), are welcome and appreciated; in fact, anyone who comments may request something for me to draw (please see unofficial note #4 for details).

If you are here from another community, please be so kind as to let me know where you're coming from.  Thank you!

I think traditionally, when you haven't posted in numerous decades or so, the thing to do is to return with something dramatic and deeply meaningful.  Or at least an explanation of what rock you've been hiding under.  This, dear f'list... is not one of those.

I do have a brand new apartment, and some new monez, oh, and I might have OCPD.  I don't feel much like posting about any of those things, however (though, if you absolutely must know, do feel free to ask).  See... one thing I've realized is that posting about stuff that bores you to post about just so you have something to write is not the answer.  And another thing is this: if one's journal is to be kept active, when you see something you do want to post about, filing it away for later is also not the way to go.  Especially when posting it would only take a few minutes of your time.

I'm going to basically try to live by this notion from now on.  Will it work?  Will I give up after a week?  No idea.  But here's to giving it the old college try.


—Whew.  That was a lot of pointless babble.  Not that I haven't done worse in the past, I'm sure.

Anyway.  This Deathly Hallows prediction survey is a bit dated at this point, obviously.  But the answers crack me up, so I'm linking to it.  Hopefully at least one other person will get a kick out of it as well. :P



By the way, I do plan on getting back into fanart soon, fingers crossed.  And maybe (maybe) even fic.  So if the above post bored you to tears, at least you might have that to look forward to.

So, poll-cutting may be a bad idea, methinks. :\

At least with little ones that don't take up much room (long stuff should always be cut, obviously).  I mean... out of the 30+ people who have me friended, only 8 voted in Monday's poll.  I highly suspect that at least some of that was due to the poll not being out in the open.  When you're scrolling along your friends page and see some radio buttons, it's easy enough to just pick one and click "submit," right?

Ok, I do realize that of those 30+ people not everyone actually reads my journal, and among those that do not everyone cares about Harry Potter or fanart.  But I could really use more votes, guys.  (And linking the poll on 12am_nosh or hp_fringeart would be really lame, right?  Yeah... I probably won't do that.)


I'll even gladly reward you with sentence drabbles:

Everyone who votes (including those that already have) may comment here with up to 3 characters or pairings and I will write something for each.  Just as long as it's a fandom I'm familiar with: that's HP, Buffyverse, Pirates of the Caribbean, Good Omens, or... well, if in doubt — ask, basically.


And speaking of requests: this weekend I will be working on/finishing up those celebratory drawbles I promised you all a while ago; if all goes well, they will be posted next week, maybe even as soon as Monday. :):)

That said, I'd like anyone who may've missed it to be aware that there is still one request spot left.  And it will go to the next person who asks for it.  ETA: Taken!

Just giving everyone a heads up that I've decided to drop the underscore in my username, since supes is now available (it wasn't back when I was registering).

Not a huge change, so I don't expect anyone will care much... but if figured I ought to make a note of it just in case, so no one is confused. And don't worry about broken links or what not: I'll be using the option that changes all previous mentions of the old name to the new name automatically.

Anyway, that is all for now. (Expect real updates once I'm through with school and the stress of finals.)


Ciao!

I'm really not as pure and innocent as these eerily coinciding quiz results might suggest...
( Read more...Collapse )



In Other News: At the expense of my research homework, which I blew off for several hours yesterday to do this, I have finally made my very first icon. Behold!



It's sharable — particularly since it annoys me how too many people seem to think you can't like both het and slash, so from where I stand, the more LJ icons like this are out there the better ;-P

Just remember to leave a comment if you're taking it. And credit me in keywords, of course (click here if you don't know how).

(pictures are from Love That Dares and BuffyWorld)

Indeed it’s true. Hard to believe, I know — I haven’t had a drop of inspiration in, like, forever. Yet, here it is. A miracle, one might say. Or... ok, maybe I’m exaggerating just a tiny bit. But then again, maybe I’m not.

Anyway, cutting to the chase... the other night, I was going to bed, and this ficlet just suddenly came to mind. (You gotta understand, that spontaneity thing hasn’t happened to me since "Been Too Long," so, pretty amazing.) And it’s slash, no less. First time writing it — also a wow. (I blame wherethewind__)

So I typed it up the next morning, m_annalore had the grace to look over it for me, and now here you have it — my very first LJ fic:


TITLE: To Each His Own
PAIRING(S): Spike/Angelus (mention of Spike/Dru, plus slight allusions to other pairing(s) if you squint)
RATING: Hard R/NC-17-ish
GENRE: Character study; dark
TIMELINE: Pre-series
WARNING: Slash (duh), dubious-consent, humiliation; general dark themes
DISTRIBUTION: Ask please. I'll most likely say yes.
DISCLAIMER: Would Joss really do this to his beloved characters?... Ok, so maybe. But I'm still not him.
WORD COUNT: 267

SUMMARY: Some people get off on being degraded. That doesn’t mean they enjoy it.


( Read more...Collapse )



Like I said, first time writing slash (not to mention first time writing anything with Angelus in it), so any comments, good or bad, would be beyond appreciated. Especially by my very fragile self-esteem. And who knows, maybe it'll even encourage my muse to make another appearance.

First time friending someone I don’t actually know. Except I guess for nautibitz, but that’s different, since I’d been reading her journal for quite a while before I’d gotten my own. Anyway, I was just going though random people’s LJ’s all day and kantayra’s seemed pretty interesting, so I figured I might like to read it again. Not really much of a story, I guess...

But, well, it’s a first, so I thought I should commemorate it. Or something.


Also... I really wish I had comments.
*sob*
...Ok, I’m over it.