![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sunshine_challenge 2019: Prompts 1 & 2
Jul. 6th, 2019 02:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quietmoonPrompt 1: Fannish Housekeeping — we invite everyone to prepare their journal spaces for new guests who may be visiting.
I finally got round to writing a sticky introduction post for visitors to my journal. My tags and interests are already fairly organised, but I did have to figure out how to put my friending policy and blanket permission statement into words (luckily pretty easy since both are wonderfully lax lmao), and realised I need more icons that aren't just transformers lol. There are just so many amazing tf ones!
Prompt 2: Fannish Identity — we invite everyone to take a deeper look at their own fandom identities.
Oh man, where to start. I guess with usernames? I first discovered fandom in... I want to say 2008? Or early 2009. Anyway, it was also my first foray into the internet in any meaningful capacity, and when fnn.net asked me to make a username I typed in my birth name and it wasn't taken thanks to the obscure spelling, and away I went! I kept it that way until I realised it felt weird to have strangers flame my fics using my actual name hahaha; then I changed it to something I don't remember inspired by some latin word I don't remember, and a few months after that, I chose ambivia.
The reasons for ambivia were, if I remember correctly: fanfiction 'fave author' lists were alphabetical so I wanted something with 'a', I chose a word I liked (ambivalent) and made up a word I liked from it, and thought ambivia sounded pretty. I liked made-up latin-sounding names (see: my fic titles from 2015) That stayed my username for years (also where my online nickname 'biv' comes from) until I had bit of a drama on twitter, and wanted away from any of my previous online associations so I deleted all my ambivia accounts and disappeared under lots of dif usernames.
In the last year, I decided I was okay with having a username people knew me by, so after a lot of trying to figure it out, I settled on 'aruviere'. I don't remember why; again, I just thought it was pretty. But a few months ago I decided it didn't feel me anymore — pretty made up usernames definitely once did, but not really anymore? So I decided to find something spacy that fit me. QuietMoon was free, I grabbed it, and here we are. :) I wanted something that sounded a little melancholic, a little odd, but also spacey and pretty. I'm happy with it! Took me like 2 years to find something I was happy with, but I finally got here in the end hahaha.
So that's the username. With regards to icons: I used to keep the same ones for years on end. But now, it's been more about what suits my mood and interests. I go for what is pretty, and very often end up choosing an new icon as the seasons change.
I go mostly by Biv online now! I spent a long time (around a year after I chose ambivia for my username) trying to find a name I could go by online that sounded more gender-neutral than my given name, which is not only quite obviously gendered but also a huge cultural give-away. I know a lot of people find it easier to derive names from usernames (and as I mentioned, that name is as well haha) so I'm alright with anything from my username quietmoon as well (hell, that'd be adorable). Any pronouns are fine with me, by which I mean I'm happy for people to use they/them exclusively, use he/him or she/her as they associate with me, or a mixture of the three. It doesn't bother me~
With regards to languages — English isn't my native tongue, but I live in an English-speaking country and it's probably my first language now if that makes sense. My native languages are, again, too much of a give-away for me to reveal haha. I studied German for 6 years, and got pretty good until I started learning Japanese, and then all my German went down the drain to be replaced with the new language. It's a work in progress and I'd say my knowledge is rudimentary at best, but I'm having a lot of fun working at it! Languages have always been a love of mine to learn. <3
From the challenge post: Tell us anything else you want to share publicly that would help people know how to interact with you. So what else? Hmm... I live in Scotland (UK) right now and I love history and castles and nature and rain, so it suits me quite well. I'm in academia, I'm old enough, I'm LGBTQ+, I love using smileys and think they're awfully cute. Oh! And I did make this post talking about as many interests that came to the top of my head, so it should definitely help anyone trying to get a better read on what kind of stuff I'm into right now. I desperately need more people to talk about Optimus Prime and Megatron and how they're absolutely paladins and also soulmates. hehe
I think that's all that's coming to me right now! I'd love to invite anyone reading to introduce themselves in the same way. What is your fannish identity? :D
I finally got round to writing a sticky introduction post for visitors to my journal. My tags and interests are already fairly organised, but I did have to figure out how to put my friending policy and blanket permission statement into words (luckily pretty easy since both are wonderfully lax lmao), and realised I need more icons that aren't just transformers lol. There are just so many amazing tf ones!
Prompt 2: Fannish Identity — we invite everyone to take a deeper look at their own fandom identities.
Oh man, where to start. I guess with usernames? I first discovered fandom in... I want to say 2008? Or early 2009. Anyway, it was also my first foray into the internet in any meaningful capacity, and when fnn.net asked me to make a username I typed in my birth name and it wasn't taken thanks to the obscure spelling, and away I went! I kept it that way until I realised it felt weird to have strangers flame my fics using my actual name hahaha; then I changed it to something I don't remember inspired by some latin word I don't remember, and a few months after that, I chose ambivia.
The reasons for ambivia were, if I remember correctly: fanfiction 'fave author' lists were alphabetical so I wanted something with 'a', I chose a word I liked (ambivalent) and made up a word I liked from it, and thought ambivia sounded pretty. I liked made-up latin-sounding names (see: my fic titles from 2015) That stayed my username for years (also where my online nickname 'biv' comes from) until I had bit of a drama on twitter, and wanted away from any of my previous online associations so I deleted all my ambivia accounts and disappeared under lots of dif usernames.
In the last year, I decided I was okay with having a username people knew me by, so after a lot of trying to figure it out, I settled on 'aruviere'. I don't remember why; again, I just thought it was pretty. But a few months ago I decided it didn't feel me anymore — pretty made up usernames definitely once did, but not really anymore? So I decided to find something spacy that fit me. QuietMoon was free, I grabbed it, and here we are. :) I wanted something that sounded a little melancholic, a little odd, but also spacey and pretty. I'm happy with it! Took me like 2 years to find something I was happy with, but I finally got here in the end hahaha.
So that's the username. With regards to icons: I used to keep the same ones for years on end. But now, it's been more about what suits my mood and interests. I go for what is pretty, and very often end up choosing an new icon as the seasons change.
I go mostly by Biv online now! I spent a long time (around a year after I chose ambivia for my username) trying to find a name I could go by online that sounded more gender-neutral than my given name, which is not only quite obviously gendered but also a huge cultural give-away. I know a lot of people find it easier to derive names from usernames (and as I mentioned, that name is as well haha) so I'm alright with anything from my username quietmoon as well (hell, that'd be adorable). Any pronouns are fine with me, by which I mean I'm happy for people to use they/them exclusively, use he/him or she/her as they associate with me, or a mixture of the three. It doesn't bother me~
With regards to languages — English isn't my native tongue, but I live in an English-speaking country and it's probably my first language now if that makes sense. My native languages are, again, too much of a give-away for me to reveal haha. I studied German for 6 years, and got pretty good until I started learning Japanese, and then all my German went down the drain to be replaced with the new language. It's a work in progress and I'd say my knowledge is rudimentary at best, but I'm having a lot of fun working at it! Languages have always been a love of mine to learn. <3
From the challenge post: Tell us anything else you want to share publicly that would help people know how to interact with you. So what else? Hmm... I live in Scotland (UK) right now and I love history and castles and nature and rain, so it suits me quite well. I'm in academia, I'm old enough, I'm LGBTQ+, I love using smileys and think they're awfully cute. Oh! And I did make this post talking about as many interests that came to the top of my head, so it should definitely help anyone trying to get a better read on what kind of stuff I'm into right now. I desperately need more people to talk about Optimus Prime and Megatron and how they're absolutely paladins and also soulmates. hehe
I think that's all that's coming to me right now! I'd love to invite anyone reading to introduce themselves in the same way. What is your fannish identity? :D
Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019
Date: 2019-07-06 06:15 am (UTC)I love history and castles and nature and rain
Ditto! I've always wanted to visit Scotland for exactly those reasons, but I'm not sure I'll ever actually swing it. I'm terrible about planning things. (I have been waffling over buying a new laptop for weeks and that's not nearly as big a decision as traveling.)
Guten Tag! I don't know how to say anything useful in German.
Re: Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019
Date: 2019-07-06 07:07 am (UTC)Aw, I hope you do get round to it, it's beautiful! Travelling is a lot of preparation for what feels like only a couple of days but I think it's worth it if you can carve out the time to do it. And there's so much to see here that you'd be spoiled for choice as far as green things and old things go lol. (I like the icon choice, by the way.)
On the contrary, wishing folk a good day is very useful. Guten Tag to you too :*
Re: Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019
Date: 2019-07-06 09:07 pm (UTC)Also, my brain does this weird thing where it flips into Spanish when I'm struggling to remember a word in German. ¿Como se dice 'ardilla'? Except… I don't know Spanish either so when I'm in full short-circuit mode, I'm in the middle of a German lesson and my brain starts going "¡No entiendo!"
Re: Sunshine Challenge ☼ 2019
Date: 2019-07-19 12:49 am (UTC)The "¡No entiendo!" isn't something that's ever happened to me, and yet... I find it very relatable... I think we all sometimes have moments of "¡No entiendo!" honestly lol
Guten Tag
Date: 2019-07-19 06:48 pm (UTC)I just realized that I don't know how to say, "I don't understand" in German. "Ich nicht kenne?" … Google translate says I wasn't even close: Ich kann Sie nicht verstehen.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-06 08:39 am (UTC)i'm also a big language learner, but totally capricious about it. i'm learning german at the moment, actually. the word order is really tricky D:
no subject
Date: 2019-07-06 08:59 am (UTC)I definitely relate to that; I was more regular a few years ago, but every time life gets even a little rocky things like regular language learning sessions fly out the window and it takes hard work trying to fit it back into your life.
Best of luck with German! The grammar is such a pain lol, but so satisfying when you say a real long sentence and get it all right >:) I recently had a German friend stay over and I kept trying to test out my German on them. The conclusion was that for some absurd reason, I now speak it with a French accent. (I can't speak a word of French.) For some reason learning jp truly destroyed all my german knowledge lmao
no subject
Date: 2019-07-06 09:18 am (UTC)i know what you mean about trying to fit it into your life. i do all my language learning on duolingo, so it's good for keeping up with it but not great for depth. i did the danish course before a trip last year and of course forgot it all the moment i arrived in denmark LOL
no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 01:55 am (UTC)Man, I'd love to know what that would even sound like. I wish I knew Latin well enough to have any inkling.
Duolingo... I always go really hard with that app for like three weeks, and then just drop it for months on end. It feels productive but when I go back I retain none of what I learned. I think I'm someone who benefits a lot when I'm writing out notes for myself when learning. :(
no subject
Date: 2019-07-06 06:26 pm (UTC)Of course I won't pressure you to share this info, but your intentional vagueness about your name and language immediately sent my puzzle-loving brain into overdrive to try and determine your origins. Of course the clues left here are so vague and minimal that there is no real way for me to guess, but I'm not letting that stop me! For your personal enjoyment, I will leave you with my final answer: the Philippines.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 01:48 am (UTC)God, fandom wank... (see: icon)
CUTE I LOVE LE PETITE PRINCE ♥ I will very gladly take that association haha.
The last part of your comment did make me laugh. It reminds me of ye olde online days when it was commonplace in the online circles I was for guessing games to be part of introducing oneself. As for your conclusion: I would love to have more association with the Philippines, but alas, I have never been and have exactly zero ties.
I feel like I should reward you with the right answer but jsdkghsd I'll just give a clue: think closer to the Himalayas. :P
no subject
Date: 2019-07-06 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 01:01 am (UTC)It doesn't help that paladin is one of my favourite dnd classes every and is generally an all-round very sexy archetype. But like, just even thinking about it on the surface, Optimus is a mouthpiece for Primus, enacting justice, using himself as a shield and self-sacrificing constantly, essentially fighting as the hand of Primus -- one could argue those are also clerical rather than paladin-y, but for me clerics are more like... the priests, while paladins are the holy warriors.
I feel like Megatron is a Paladin of Conquest (http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/paladin:conquest). He respects power, to him might is right, and I love the tie in for him with a past as a gladiator obviously being nurtured (if one can call it that) in an environment where that was very much the case. Either you were the strongest or you died. Anyway I think there's still argument for him to be some other way, too. Perhaps even in the same vein of paladin as Optimus, but with such different philosophies that it isn't obvious.
Optimus changes from iteration to iteration, but my favourite version of him is as an Oath of the Ancients (http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/paladin:ancients) Paladin. I think there's definitely an argument for him being more of a Devotion paladin, dedicated to Primus wholly, but for me it always feels like his truest allegiance is to the innocence of life, to keeping his people going. He'll protect sentient life and its freedom. He won't let the light go out.
/clenches fist/ god I'm getting emotional, I just!!!! They're the greatest warriors of their people bound by fate to clash in battles that define the fate of their world, their people, sometimes the universe--
And when Megatron gets all Unicron-ed (of which my knowledge is limited) it links SO MUCH to the idea of a paladin getting corrupted by an evil deity. And Optimus deriving power from the matrix, looking to it for wisdom and guidance, and finding knowledge of primes past through it is SOOOO a paladin artifact archetype.
Man. Sorry. I could go on forever but you really didn't ask for this giant dump of squee. gjksdhkgldh I get v excited thinking about this topic (as you can probably surmise) orz
no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 10:45 pm (UTC)I'll pass your thoughts on to my wife; she's a big TF and D&D fan so she might get a kick out of it!