I don't get Channel 5. I've lived in houses with it for the best part of five years now and have perhaps watched five things on it. Which is partly why it's confusing me. But mostly because it's just strange.

Because I was actually in on a Tuesday for a change I watched CSI (mainly for the 'I've been there' factor since it's set in Las Vegas. There's not much more than that worth watching it for). The TV guide says it starts at 9pm. So I switch the TV on to get - news. So it actually started at 5 past - but TVQuick usually gives 5 minutes programs, even if it's just a followed by.

So that threw me but then I thought I'd watch it and then have a quick toilet and e-mail checking break before watching The Lyon's Den, since I had nothing better to do. Well, no, actually, I did, I just couldn't be bothered to do it. But it went straight from CSI to The Lyon's Den! At which point I gave up and had my toilet and e-mail checking break.

And I thought Sky were weird for putting adverts in 5 minutes into a programme and 5 minutes before the end (plus so many that even American programmes are an hour long) but at least that's just normal TV + extra adverts weird.

I would say that's it, I'm not watching it again, but since the next time I'll find something worth watching will be in a years time I'll have forgotten all about how weird it is. And be shocked all over again.

I've heard rather than seen most of Wimbledon, since I've been at work when most of the actual tennis is played, but when I get home I watch it on TV and listen to it on the radio because the commentators are better, they say interesting things and they make me laugh. And when it's raining they discuss interesting things (except when they're talking about the football).

Anyway, there's a British tennis player who took some time out to get a degree from Cambridge. Which is quite impressive. But there were people saying that she would never get anywhere with her tennis because she took that time off. There are also people saying that Venus and Serena Williams spend too much time on their other hobbies and that Tim Henman shouldn't go home to his wife and sprog when he plays at Wimbledon because said sprog (can't remember whether it's a boy or girl) doesn't care whether he wins or loses. Which is perfectly reasonable.

I can see that to get anywhere in sport you have to have no life, other than that sport. But the girl who went to Cambridge can do something else when she's too old to play anymore. She has so many options about what to do with her life, other than commentating or coaching. Which, to me, sounds so much more sensible. Venus, Serena and Henman, on the other hand, are all millionaires so probably don't need a job when they retire.

I found out today I have 1.83GB of temporary files on my computer. Which, with my 80GB hard drive, isn't a terribly high percentage. I'm just getting used to that but my old computer only had 6GB - now 2/6 is a very big number! I'm quite impressed, that although I have just under half the number of temp files than dad, they take up just over more than twice the space

What does annoy me though, that where these temp files are is the default setting for where Outlook Express wants to save it's attachments. I haven't bothered changing it having heard about dad's efforts to do the same (it's not quite as ridiculous a place as Trillian wants to save its files as well).

I accidentally saved one there once (it is so complicated to do and I'm always wanting to press the buttons in the wrong order) and I couldn't work out what I couldn't find it. Turns out it was hidden. I thought hiding the Send To was ridiculous, but this just takes the biscuit. Temp files are useless unless they're currently being used, in which case Windows won't let you delete them! Urg.

On the plus side I've gone up to 408th in Fantasy Wimbledon, as of yesterday's matches. I had a few players go out today so I'm not too hopeful. And here's the Fannish Friday 5 because the questions are actually vaguely applicable!

1. What's the most you've paid for membership to a convention?

I think it would be something in the region of �70-80 for the Wolf SG ones. Which, if you factor in the price of the hotel and getting there etc, actually comes to the same amount as it cost me to go to the Isle of Wight for a weekend. So I look on it as a holiday - and how could you define staying in a hotel as not being a holiday?

2. What's the most you've paid for a zine?

I was going to say none at all but them I remembered Judith has written a follow-up to one of her Stargate stories and that one will be �7.95 I think.

3. What's the most you've paid for fan artwork?

Bugger, I thought that was none. But if that Stargate photo thing that everyone has from Expo, that's �14. Which wouldn't be quite so bad if it hadn't gone all funny.

4. What's the most you've paid for one season of a tv series?

That was looking cheap until I realised my Farscape series one or any oft he Babylong 5 seasons must have cost about �50. I'll point out that we are talking about 10-12 videos though (and I certainly didn't spend more than �5 on any one of them).

5. Do you regret any of your fannish spending?

No because there's not that much of it. Not in comparison to say, oh, rent. Or food. Or alcohol. And because I don't spend more money than I have, I'm not that stupid or desperate to have the latest stuff. That's what amazon was invented for

There was a bit of excitement at work today. Our office is in the town centre (such as it is) and they were filming Rosemary and Thyme in it! We saw Felicity Kendall from the window (she was wearing a red coat and red grannies headscarf thing) and I walked past Pam Ferris in the street. We spent rather a lot of time standing in the window (they are tall windows with low, wide sills).

There was no tennis, due to the decidly late autumn weather (10 degrees C, gale force winds, rain, severe weather warnings(!)) which usually means Five Live have some interesting discussions. Except they spent most of the time discussing Euro 2004 instead. Apparently BBC2 were getting out the McEnroe matches, which is never a good sign.

I've been very good tonight and done most of the stuff on my to do list. Which involved writing fifteen e-mails (Norton complained I was sending more than five in two seconds). All I've got left now is stuff I had on there from this weekend. Which, slightly worryingly, does include reading fileg's birthday present to Avon and listening to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. It's really taking organisation to a whole new level. (I often forget to watch things on TV unless I tape them, so the video coming on reminds me, so it's really not good).

I'm really not going to be able to talk about anything else for two weeks. This morning I was 1157th on the Fantasy league, this evening I'm 862nd. I don't quite know how they're doing these points though because some of my team played today and don't have points yet (Marat Safin, how could you go out like that? And Tim Henman I was expecting some straight set extra points from you, you'd better get your finger out for the next rounds).

:: how jedi are you? ::

And there I was thinking I wouldn't be able to think about anything except Wimbledon for the next two weeks. This isn't really a fic, but it's funny if you've read any slash, specially if it's TPM.

The Fanfic Slashers Field Guide to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

I was not impressed with The Guardian today. I remember, years ago, having to go to the shops specially the weekend before Wimbledon to find a paper with a table to fill in the results. But then they all started doing them on the first Monday. Except when I went to look this morning, The Guardian's consisted of the first two rounds, The Times had the first three and I was forced to buy The Telegraph!

I'm playing Fantasy Wimbledon as well. Not many of my players played today but two of the women went out without winning a single set. I might have a negative number of points once they put the scores up

Other than that, and the rain, it's all very exciting. Except for the football getting in the way. I was convinced we'd lose tonight and I'd get uninterrupted tennis (except for the cricket) and get one episode of The Bill this week. How wrong was I. So the only thing I'll be switching my telly on for is Wimbledon. Muted, so I don't have to listen to Virginia Wade, Ann Jones, Pam Shriver, John McEnroe or Boris Becker more than is absolutely necessary.

I put the MTV movie awards on five minutes after it was supposed to start and discovered Ben Affleck and some other bloke making a film pitch to Peter Jackson for Sam & Frodo. Totally slashy! How cool is that?

Apart from that it was all a bit American and OTT. But Johnny Depp made a cool acceptance speech and confirmed there's going to be a Pirates of the Caribbean 2, woohoo! I got excited for Emma when Tobey was on as well. Although they put some woman in the Spiderman suit. Everyone in the audience knew who she was and they didn't feel the need to tell us, so frankly, they could have dragged her off the street for all I know.

I watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy from Friday. It was so funny. I can see why it wouldn't work in this country though. I can't believe how much money these people must have to get a makeover.

The most exciting thing was the discovery that there is someone at work who watches The OC. There also was someone who watches Stargate (although only because her boyfriend does) and I think there's someone who watches Smallville. So they're not all a complete dead end. I also impressed them by walking up to someone's computer, at which point it started working again and being able to fix the printer (it's a really shite printer, I've just lived with it longer than they have).

Tae Kwon Do was cancelled Friday so I thought I'd play a quick game of Civilization 3. Which so far lasted two hours on Friday and four yesterday. I dreamt about it as well. Now I remember why we used to have all night games of it. In all fairness, though, everyone's being too nice - I should be attacking people not giving them money to go away (I literally have so much money I don't know what to do with it).

I've been good and worked most of my way through my to do list for today. So here's the anglicised version of the film meme, got (I really don't like the word gacked, it sounds like being sick) from .

Using imdb's list of world-wide top-grossing films instead of the US list.

Bold those you've seen in the theaters. Put an asterisk (*) next to those you saw more than once at the cinema. Italicize the ones you saw on TV/video/DVD.

1. Titanic (1997) $1,835,300,000 - wasn't any good though
2. *Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003) $1,129,219,252
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) $968,600,000
4. *Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $922,379,000
5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002) $921,600,000
6. Jurassic Park (1993) $919,700,000
7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) $866,300,000
8. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) $860,700,000
9. Finding Nemo (2003) $853,200,000
10. Independence Day (1996) $811,200,000
11. Spider-Man (2002) $806,700,000 - Didn't quite make it to the cinema for this one - will be there for the next one though
12. Star Wars (1977) $797,900,000
13. Lion King, The (1994) $783,400,000 - I think it was the cinema I saw it in
14. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $756,700,000 - I saw it when I was little and it scared me shitless. Then I saw it again, much later, and realised it was really crap. I can't tell you how much I hate ET.
15. *Matrix Reloaded, The (2003) $735,600,000 - There's nothing quite like boredom for seeing a crap film twice
16. Forrest Gump (1994) $679,400,000
17. Sixth Sense, The (1999) $661,500,000 - Although I read the book first
18. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) $653,200,000 - One of the few films I have on DVD and have actually watched the film off it - although I did have flu
19. * Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) $648,200,000
20. Lost World: Jurassic Park, The (1997) $614,300,000 - I was definitely bored when I went to see this one - I didn't like Jurassic Park
21. Passion of the Christ, The (2004) $604,125,697 - I can't tell you how much I don't want to see this
22. Men in Black (1997) $587,200,000
23. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) $572,700,000
24. Armageddon (1998) $554,600,000
25. Mission: Impossible II (2000) $545,300,000
26. Home Alone (1990) $533,800,000
27. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) $533,800,000
28. Monsters, Inc. (2001) $528,900,000
29. Ghost (1990) $517,600,000
30. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) $516,800,000
31. Aladdin (1992) $501,900,000
32. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) $494,800,000 - I've seen the end of it. And played one of the Indiana Jones computer games
33. Twister (1996) $494,700,000
34. Toy Story 2 (1999) $485,700,000
35. Saving Private Ryan (1998) $479,300,000
36. Jaws (1975) $470,600,000
37. Pretty Woman (1990) $463,400,000
38. Bruce Almighty (2003) $458,900,000
39. Matrix, The (1999) $456,300,000
40. Gladiator (2000) $456,200,000
41. Shrek (2001) $455,100,000 - Well, I managed half an hour before I couldn't take any more. I honestly can't understand why it's so popular because I found it so boring
42. Mission: Impossible (1996) $452,500,000
43. Pearl Harbour (2001) $450,400,000
44. Ocean's Eleven (2001) $444,200,000
45. Last Samurai, The (2003) $435,400,000 - I can't decide whether this film's worth seeing for the sword-fighting or whether it would still be boring
46. Tarzan (1999) $435,200,000
47. Men in Black II (2002) $425,600,000 - I refuse to see anything with Will Smith in it after I heard him 'sing'
48. Die Another Day (2002) $424,700,000
49. Dances with Wolves (1990) $424,200,000
50. Cast Away (2000) $424,000,000 - Meant to See it when it was on at the cinema, and didn't quite get round to it Meant to watch it when it was on telly, and didn't quite get round to it.
51. Matrix Revolutions, The (2003) $424,000,000
52. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) $423,200,000
53. Troy (2004) $420,150,000
54. Mummy Returns, The (2001) $418,700,000
55. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) $418,200,000
56. Mummy, The (1999) $413,300,000
57. Batman (1989) $413,200,000
58. Rain Man (1988) $412,800,000
59. Bodyguard, The (1992) $410,900,000
60. Signs (2002) $407,900,000
61. X2 (2003) $406,400,000
62. Day After Tomorrow, The (2004) $396,662,000 - I've seen the trailer for this, read articles about it and everything has just put me off the idea of seeing it more and more
63. Gone with the Wind (1939) $390,500,000 - I've seen bits but I think they amount to most of it. I got the gist of the plot for a start
64. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) $390,500,000
65. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) $383,900,000
66. Grease (1978) $379,800,000
67. Beauty and the Beast (1991) $378,300,000
68. Ice Age (2002) $378,300,000
69. Godzilla (1998) $375,800,000
70. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) $374,129,000
71. What Women Want (2000) $370,800,000
72. Fugitive, The (1993) $368,700,000 - I've seen bits of it
73. Shrek 2 (2004) $367,340,000 - Is it even out yet?
74. True Lies (1994) $365,200,000
75. Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) $365,000,000
76. Notting Hill (1999) $363,000,000
77. Jurassic Park III (2001) $362,900,000
78. There's Something About Mary (1998) $360,000,000
79. Planet of the Apes (2001) $358,900,000
80. Flintstones, The (1994) $358,500,000
81. Toy Story (1995) $358,100,000
82. Minority Report (2002) $358,000,000 - Still haven't got round to seeing this
83. Bug's Life, A (1998) $357,900,000
84. Exorcist, The (1973) $357,500,000
85. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) $356,500,000
86. Basic Instinct (1992) $352,700,000
87. World Is Not Enough, The (1999) $352,000,000
88. GoldenEye (1995) $351,500,000
89. Back to the Future (1985) $350,600,000
90. Se7en (1995) $350,100,000
91. Hannibal (2001) $349,200,000
92. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) $349,200,000
93. Deep Impact (1998) $348,600,000
94. Dinosaur (2000) $347,800,000
95. Pocahontas (1995) $347,100,000
96. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) $346,600,000
97. Top Gun (1986) $344,800,000 - I think I might have seen the first five minutes of it - that was enough to tell me I didn't want to see the rest
98. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) $340,400,000
99. Catch Me If You Can (2002) $337,400,000 - I'd like to see this one but it's got Leonardo DiCrapio in it, which is ever so slightly off-putting
100. American Beauty (1999) $336,000,000

In summary - I have seen a lot of films but the ones between 1997 and 2000 were at the student cinema where it was nice and cheap (or free). And I had time to go (it did help that it was within walking distance). I'm quite liking the fact that there are two films in there released before I was born that I've seen at the cinema

I can't quite believe how much shite is in that top 100 and how much good stuff isn't.

I can't go to bed until I can get over 1000 on the new Yeti Sports game. I started off well, but have gone downhill rather a lot. Including going entirely in the opposite direction. And to think I was going to get things done tonight.

I went to listen to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue from Monday and discovered there's an adaptation of Mort on Radio 4! Not sure how they'll get it all into 4 parts (although I can't quite remember what happened in the book) but I'm sure I'll find out.

I've just heard an advert on the radio for a Wimbledon guide in the Guardian tomorrow - which I get on Thursdays anyway! I must remember to buy one on Monday as well, so I can fill in filly-in thing (technical name).

I've got quite into using the calendar and task list in Outlook at work now. It ocurred to me that I have all these things I need to do outside of work as well, so I'm now trying to put all my stuff into Organizer. Only trouble is I've reached that time of night where I can't be bothered anymore (plus I'm quite tired). It's just as well I have a free weekend coming up really.

I really can't. I've gone from liking all this new responsibility to wanting it all to go away. Which probably comes from being back at uni and remembering how nice it was to do what you want when you want. And be able to walk to a nice big Tescos.

Since you have to do overtime for your work, which leaves you less free time, when you've got all this stuff to do outside of work and not a lot in work, why can't I take overtime in my life, giving me less time to go to work?

It's not just that though, I have people I should e-mail - people I'd like to chat to as well. And I can't be bothered. I have episodes of Quantum Leap hanging around I haven't seen and I couldn't be bothered to watch those either. But then Emma texted me to say she was so bored she was reduced to watching the football, so we had a bitch about how crap life is.

And I think now I should go to bed.

I should be replying to some other stuff, but instead I'm posting here. I'm in the university computer room at the moment (well, the one in the new maths building). My dad's met lots of friends he hasn't seen for the best part of 40 years, I've seen one I haven't seen since I graduated.

It's good and bad to be back. It's good because there's lots of things that haven't changed and it still feels like home. And the university network is so nice and fast But at the same time it's not home because I can wonder around campus and not see (m)any people I know and I have nowhere to go back to except someone else's house. Plus it's a Saturday so there's pretty much no-one around since weekends are for sleeping.

Mostly it's just nice to get away from the rest of my real life and have a nice little holiday (even if it just lasts a weekend). It's weird how many of my dad's friends have gone into teaching - and how many of them have had kids come here as well (although doing maths - at least I broke the mould by doing a different subject to dad).

I've had a bad week and here's why:

• It was really hot at work on Monday and Tuesday and to make things worse I was migrainy Monday, but I didn't notice because it was giving me the same symptoms as the heat. So I didn't make it to Tae Kwon Do because I felt too ill. My hayfever also went rampant due to the heat. Having said that, it has improved since then and we are getting air conditioning at work the week after next (bets on how hot the next couple of weeks are going to be and how cold it'll be after we get it?)
• A friend of mine who is an IT technician at the school came round to look at my external hard drive. He couldn't fix it. It could possibly be the connector, but could also be the actual drive. I have all my videos on this drive (the ones I haven't got round to putting on CD yet). So I'm now trying to re-download them all. I should be mostly okay though, which is something. I've also bought a new external hard drive, which will be 60GB (the old one was 40GB) so I'll have more space on it, at least (since you can never have too much).
• That, coupled with spending more money on my glasses than I was planning to put away for Australia means I won't be putting any money away for it till August. The plan was to save for it before I went, so I would come back and have money. Don't think that's going to happen now.
• My computer at work is knackered, frankly. So since my boss is away I thought I'd use hers. But she has XP and I don't, so when I log on as me there are practically no programs loaded. I've been nagging the IT guy about sorting this out for weeks now, and guess, what? He still hasn't done it.

Apart from all that, there's just been a constant list of things to do and people needing me to do stuff. I really need to get some writing done and I haven't done any.

On the plus side I have now seen every episode of The West Wing, including the ones at the end of season 3 I saw before I had a clue what was going on. It was odd, going to that from season 5 - I hadn't realised how much I'd missed Sam until I saw it with him in again.

This weekend I am going up to uni, so I am determined to have a good time. And next week I will make it to Tae Kwon Do, twice; I will eat fewer biscuits; and as I'm only in one night next week I suspect I'll be rushing about, then relaxing at the weekend. Which I enjoy in a masochistic sort of way.

I wondered why I had had so few e-mails today but I thought it was just quiet for some reason and my spam had gone down suddenly. No - turns out my paranoidangel e-mail has gone down. And even better, is bouncing! I did read some of my mailing lists and came off the ones I couldn't be bothered to read. If it's not one thing going wrong it's something else. Perhaps I'll just go and watch The West Wing instead.

I suddenly have all these new responsbilities all at (nearly) the same time. I'm mostly okay with Review Admin. I have been doing it for a while, which helps. I'm enjoying the ordinary, boring, day-to-day stuff. The rest can be scary sometimes when I suddenly realise I'm the one making decisions and knowing stuff that the rest of the membership doesn't necessarily know. It might be quite strange when it's my month off.

Then there's the president of Rotaract. I was on the execs of clubs at uni, which was fine, so I was happy being secretary. But when I was at uni I never wanted to be president of anything. I thought that about Rotaract as well. It got a bit scary last night when I realised I'd have to make decisions about things. Well, put it to the membership, but I'll have to come up with things to put to them. My first meeting's not actually till the middle of July, so in the meantime I just have to sort out president's night. Which is mostly done now, so I'm okay with that.

And then there's work. As of tomorrow I am in charge of the department till the end of the month. Most of the stuff I'll have to do I do anyway. It's just that it'll be constant (I assume, I don't really know how often I'll get people ringing up asking me complicated questions). And I have to go out and think about these things for myself, which I'm sure I'll forget.

The thing that has really pissed me off today is the IT bloke at work. I want to borrow my boss's computer because it's better than mine (which isn't difficult) and her desk is in a better location. But she has XP and I don't, so as far as her computer is concerned there are no programs installed on it. We've been on at the IT guy for weeks to sort it out and he hasn't. I'm just really fed up with having to restart mine every couple of hours.

The part that I don't understand is that my boss is going off to get married. So that was the chat in the pub this lunchtime. I don't understand why anyone would ever want to get married, for a start. But quite a few people at work have got married and then immediately had kids. Despite having lived together for years before getting married.

And they have to have church weddings, of course. I've only been to one (and don't plan to repeat the experience) but it seems so weird. I've found out that you have to have a reading from the bible and sing hymns, like you're back in school. But how is that related to marriage? And why would anyone want to bore themselves silly for an hour when they could get it done in ten minutes and then go for the party and presents?

My landlady has a boyfriend. I heard her talking to someone on the phone the other day, and she was saying he's the perfect gentleman, opening doors, pulling out chairs etc. I know I say how much I'd like a rich man to pay for anything but when it comes down to it I'd much prefer to be treated like an equal. I don't mind the opening doors so much, but it should be a mutual thing. And I refuse to sit on a chair someone else is holding, but that could be due to me thinking they're just going to pull it out from under me.

I just don't get some people, I really don't. The trouble with most of the people at work is that they're just too normal. I need some more weirdness in my life!

I'd really quite like to not be boiling hot or freezing cold. Can I please have something in between?

I have some more time wasters. These will make you laugh for a bit but you won't be spending weeks playing.

Computer Stupidities - which proves you just can't underestimate some people's stupidity

Silly Cows - in ASCII, no less

Poke the Penguin - you have to poke him quite a lot but it's worth it

Oh my God! There's an axe in my head in 102 languages (including Goa'uld, Klingon and Quenya)

Three similar ones: Evil Overlord, The Things I Will Do if I Am ever the Hero and The Things I Will Do if I Am Ever the Sidekick (press Control-A or override the page's settings to read this one)

Ice-skating Lord of the Rings style

Molecules with Silly or Unusual Names

Virtual Bubble Wrap - not quite as satisfying as the real thing but manic mode is fun

The Ultimate Build Your Own Cow Page (it doesn't work in IE though)

Area 404 A list of loads of 404 error pages. I like the paranoid one.

I was very good and sorted out my bookmarks today. Which included, shock, horror, actually deleting some! So, here follows some links to some cool games to waste your time with:

There are two games at Yahoo Games I love: Zuma (which I finally finished!) and Rocket Launcher.

Some good shockwave games: Daily Jigsaw, Diamond Mine (which is also at Yahoo Games), and House of Cards.

Yeti Sports is the home of all the flying penguin games going around. There will be ten eventually, at the moment there's only four. There's another version of the first one - Bloody Pingu.

Hamlet - The Text Adventure. There are hints to this one but it's much more fun if you just blunder about killing everyone

There aren't hints for Crimson Room but you might feel the need for them - it's practically impossible to do on your own. Leave a comment if you're stuck (although chances are you don't have everything you need).

I finally got to see Harry Potter today. I can't believe it's only been out six days and it seems like everyone has seen it already. I'm most upset they've changed the uniforms. Okay, so it's nice to watch it without cringing but my Harry Potter scarf is no longer a Harry Potter scarf!

My external hard drive no longer works. I eventually got hold of a cable the right size at both ends and it still doesn't work. Which is not good because I have all my videos on it - the ones I haven't managed to put on CD yet.

On a better note, there are pictures from Farscape:Peacekeeper War (ie the mini-series).

My dad said the fatal words today: I'm doing an amazon order, do you want anything. Hmm, now let me see... My favourite shop these days is Borders (aside from the cheap shops in Poole, and The Lemon Tree, but they're more difficult to get to). I did buy Una's book. Dad suggested I get it signed - just need to remember to take it to Redemption '05 now

I meant to say something about this before, but fandom is a funny thing. Perhaps it's something to do with not being able to see people when communicating with them, but people in it, are in general, a lot more tolerant. Tolerant of race, gender, disabilities, species, I mean. It's everything else that goes downhill.

I suspect it's the extent to which I'm involved with fandoms that makes me more able to see it in some than others. Stargate, for example, is not always a nice place. I discovered the newsgroup during the fourth season and I remember what it was like. Hence the reason I don't go near the place any more. There are still people who can't believe that I am friends with Jack/Daniel slashers being as I am a Sam/Jack shipper. Well, mostly, the dark side is looking distinctly grey these days.

There was talk on another site about why slash fics are labelled so people can avoid them, but het ones are not. On the one hand it is a sad fact of life that heterosexual relationships are more accepted. Certainly when I was young they were the only relationships I thought existed, being as they were the ones portrayed in books/on TV etc. I do remember the lesbian character (Helen?) on Drop the Dead Donkey not being particularly shocking, though.

It is entirely subjective as to which pairings squick which people though. Although I remember someone mentioning Arwen/Bilbo at one point, which I don't think anyone can quite cope with. But then that's an age and species difference. It's the ones that go against our moral values that squick us, I think. Although I'm inconsistent. I'll do Qui/Obi but not Obi-Wan/Anakin and definitely not Elrond/Aragorn, which I see as a similar relationship to Qui/Obi. I'll also read Elladan/Elrohir but nor Boromir/Faramir.

I think perhaps some of that comes from wanting to reading fic about friendships between particular characters and not minding if they have sex. And also, for me, knowing that people love each other and not minding what type it is. That's certainly how I got into Qui/Obi and Frodo/Sam. Plus some really good authors writing them.

Having said that, I'll read anything funny. Which is how I got into the whole Jack/Daniel thing in the first place. I also think you can do anything, it's just that the harder stuff has to be better done. I've heard there's a Servalan/Orac one that was actually believable.

It's nice to ship with the majority as well - there's more choice of fic to read (although more likelihood much of it is bad, I suspect). I've also found it's nice to ship with the minority. Qui/Obi and Sam/Jack is definitely the majority. John/Aeryn and Sydney/Vaughn are canon (at which point they bored me, although in the case of J/A it took till the end of the series, S/V was only halfway through season 2).

When it comes to Enterprise, though, I ship for Trip/T'Pol. Now that's a minority, or certainly was at the start. I feel quite protective of this one because I saw it right from the start. I preferred their relationship when they constantly wound each other up, but then I suppose all relationships change over time.

And now I'm rambling. It may not sound like it but fandom is a wonderful place. You get to meet new people for a start. The best thing anyone ever said at a con was that everyone at their work only ever talked about Eastenders because then I knew it wasn't just me. There is a tendency to get to know people really quickly as well - shared opinions help that (and it is nice to have someone to go squee over blokes with that people at work have never heard of).

It was at Redemption '03, I think that someone pointed out that once you know you have one thing in common with someone else, you'll find a whole load more as well. Actually, it's a lot like uni, where the closest friends I had were the ones I knew from clubs and societies, rather than the ones I happened to end up living with in my first year. Although we were quite close as a tutor group by the end - there's something about having a group whinge to pull people close (not literally).

This long post is inspired by Sel (so you know who to blame). So to everyone reading this you're all appreciated 'k? Perhaps it's time again to make sure I don't loose touch with old friends I haven't spoken to for ages.