Wishing on a Star

...yeah, I don't have anything else creative for this title, so just go with it.

Okay, figured I should probably update since it's been a while, I survived another holiday rush at work and it's the slow part of the year now, so I can catch up on things. World hasn't ended yet, no matter what some people seem to think. (Maybe the end-of-world calendar was off?)

So, since it's been nearly a year since the last post, anyone who still follows this thing is probably wondering what I've been up to, aside from work and stuff. The writing thing...it's slow, but I hope to make some progress this year and get a bunch of projects going. Ongoing stuff might be a bit slow, but I'll get back to it as much as I can.

New stuff, however...well, that's a long list, but anyone who caught any of my little writing bits in the comments to last post (DW side, anyway) will see some very new works. Yours truly has found some more happy magical girl things to follow, and I have in mind not one, not two, but three Pretty Cure fanseries attempts in mind. Still a relative newbie to the whole thing, but I've seen a lot of stuff, I can match names to faces for the most part (obviously the recent ones will be a little harder), and I do like the magical girl material, so I figure hey, why not?

The major bits of it will be over on fadingdaydream, so if you want to follow that, things should be starting up over there soon. I'm hoping to at least break it down into chunks I can manage--profiles, details, some basic writing, and working on one series at a time. For 2019, it'll be the first one on my list, baby's first precure fanseries: Pretty Cure Magical Rewrite.

...I admit, I'm nervous, because it's such a big fandom and there are so many other fanseries people out there, I worry I'm not quite original enough, but hey, if I don't bother trying, then how do I know what I can do? I'll give it a try and see how it goes. (Besides, FDD is pretty small and not really popular, so I don't have to worry too much yet. If I go beyond it, though, maybe...)

I also plan on trying to work on my art skills, such as they are, and am making a list of manga drawing books for references and practice--I have plenty of sketchbooks and paper, tons of pencils and coloring materials, I can do this. Won't be pro-level work, but at least I can get a little better and start making my own character images outside of dollmakers. :)

For anyone who's wondering about the other two communities, I do have some original-type works in mind for sharing in redpenwriters, so that'll be back in action again sometime, and as for the muse community, well...I'm still thinking of ideas.

As for anything else I've been working on, I'm making progress in my backlog of books, almost have a good-sized load ready for the donation bin (but it's been full on and off, so I'm never quite sure when a good time is to take them) and I'm determined to make some progress on this room during my week off from work coming up.

...I also want to try and do the exercise thing and the maybe-try-some-weight-losing thing this year, but I just like food and sleep so much, it's hard to balance everything especially when my schedule is never all that stable. Breakfast is important, sure, but I'm either skipping it to sleep in or I'm having it at random hours, and if I'm getting up in the really early morning for work? I'm not even really thinking of food, I'm still wanting to go back to bed. Bleh.

At the very least, I'll try adding more water to my routine, doing more activity, maybe even looking up yoga poses or whatever to try that a bit. Maybe if we get nice weather this year, I'll be able to go out and do things more...if I can convince myself it's okay to go alone, anyway. (I'll admit, there are days I just don't want to leave the house.)

(Oh yeah, and I want to try actually learning how to wear makeup and stuff. I joke with people that I fail at girl, and I have a lot to learn...that's something I need to learn, heh. Also things like sewing and some crafty-type things, but yeah, it's a start.)

I won't call these "new year's resolutions" so much as "things I want to learn/do/accomplish sometime" because well...that's what they are. I hope to at least get things going this year, even if I don't finish everything.

It's been far too long since I've written anything, and I miss it.

Let's hope 2019 goes better, and I'm still hoping for world peace someday. It'd be nice. In the meantime, maybe just more clarity in the world...we can always use it.

~Virgo

...as I said before, this is the serious business side, so if you're not up for it, scroll away, this might not be pretty. It's something I feel I have to get out, though, so I can at least try and move on to the new year. For those sticking around, here we go.

Normally, I try to avoid talking about politics, but this year, it's been a very difficult topic to escape. People have lost friends or dropped family due to the results of the election, which I think is incredibly sad, and I had hoped I wouldn't encounter that myself...but oh, how wrong I was.

It all started the day after the results were announced, I came home from work and logged onto AIM as usual...and found that someone I had once perhaps considered a friend had decided to leave me a scathing private message blaming me for how our country was doomed, all because those of us who voted third-party basically handed our votes to the candidate she didn't like. (That's not quite how things work, we voted for someone who we could tolerate because by that point, we didn't much trust the big two, but hey, not like she cared about that.)

Of course, she apparently got her ranting out and then blocked me so by the time I did see that message, I had no chance to even begin to defend myself. Perhaps it wouldn't have worked anyway.

So then came the fact that another friend was in panic mode, thinking we really were all doomed...and I understand why she was afraid, to a point, but I could only manage to do so much before we basically put all political talk on the "firmly off-limits" list. Much safer that way, and things worked very well. We had no shortage of other topics, we could discuss plenty of better things. Shows we were watching, movies she had seen, ranting about retail work and such. Even talking about the weather...

...but then the weather, somehow, connected to politics one night. I still remember the date: 29 August. I know I had been talking to her, all seemed well, and then I brought up the recent hurricane events (at that time, I believe we were talking about Harvey making a big soggy mess of things) thinking that hey, she's been through hurricanes before, at least this one isn't over her area. Weather is usually a safe topic.

Somehow, I was wrong. Somehow, she managed to bring up politics, mostly with a comment about not minding if the current president had something tragic happen to him...I believe she mentioned a plane crash due to the weather, as he was going there to visit people. I was stunned, I never expected that from her. I understand she doesn't like him, sure, but that just...wow.

So I told her I thought that wasn't cool to say, the storm actually did kill people (luckily not the president, but still, wow) and thought that might be the end of it. No such luck. There were other issues in the news at this time as well, and those were brought up. I didn't call names, I didn't even want to discuss things like this, so I tried to keep my replies simple. Apparently this meant I was sticking up for the president, who again, I understand she doesn't like.

(Did we catch earlier where I said I didn't vote for him either? Just in case.)

Things were getting heated, so I said to her, as I did on the night after the results were announced, that I am still not her enemy. I'm not the one to get angry at, I am not the enemy.

I understand she's afraid, that she feels unsafe, that she doesn't trust this guy. I get it, I do. Perhaps I don't understand all of it, as there are some fears I may never have to face, but I understand that she doesn't like our current president. Remember, I didn't vote for him either.

I am, however, willing to give him a chance. I may not agree with all he does, says, or tweets, but I hear more and more about good things he's done, and perhaps it won't be so bad.

All but calling me a stupid white girl who doesn't understand, however, is not fair.

Exactly why should people like me have to sit down and shut up when others are free to speak their minds, even if it's just to repeat that they hate who got elected? Don't we get to have our say as well?

Apparently not, according to some people. It just makes things worse.

It's been four months now, and I still think back to that night at times, wondering what went so wrong. Did I try to sound caring and it came out wrong? Did I sound like I was flippant, like I was brushing off her concerns?

Was it really me, or did she just want to be rid of me after all this time? I have no idea. I may never know, as she blocked me shortly after that last discussion. Apparently all the things I did for her meant nothing.

All because of politics, especially this year.

On the one hand, this year is almost over, and a new one can begin. On the other, a lot of things will be dragged over the line into the new year, things we may never escape. I'd like to hope that a lot of people will be granted clarity in the new year, so they can perhaps see just what they've thrown away.

I can only hope for peace in 2018. Peace and clarity.

Now that I've been able to get this out, maybe I can get some peace myself. I'm not angry with these people--mostly just sad. Disappointed, even, that I meant that little to them. I thought I had been a little more valuable, but in the end, apparently not.

I have a family that loves me, that explains things to me, and supports me through rough times. They're all dealing with being dumped by 'friends' for political differences, so I'm not alone. I'm sure there are others out there also dealing with this problem, maybe they're looking for a support group.

Maybe that's what this entry is meant to do, help with support.

To anyone who might comment in here, consider this a safe space. Play nice, or don't bother coming into the sandbox at all.

Peace and clarity in 2018. I want to believe.

~Virgo

(The fun stuff will return in the new year, don't worry. This was just a long time coming, and now that it's done, I can relax again. It'll be tough, but I just have to keep moving forward.)

Seriously, starting to get old now.

Okay, so now there's talk of "oh btw we're getting rid of AIM so get ready for all that to be gone" and I'm going into a tailspin because hey, I've been on AIM practically forever.

Then I realize that oh wait, I don't even really talk to many people on there anyway because either they pretty much vanished from the internet in some form, or they blocked me for reasons only they know (and I still don't really get it, but that's more for its own entry...), or they're...family I live with and stuff, so I can just pop downstairs.

So for those who still follow this, I ask you: if you wish to stay in contact after AIM goes offline for good, drop me a line and let me know some of your usual hangouts. If you're on LJ, DW, whichever, let me know your username. Got a tumblr? Let me know, I have one as well. Email more your thing? We can do that.

Jury's still out on if this girl's getting a facebook in the future, though. After dealing with enough crap on other sections of the internet, particularly with political junk? Not quite sure if I want to jump in that pool yet. (Again, though, that's really something for another entry...coming soon, perhaps.)

I admit, I feel a bit bad for the people over on journalfen who are probably still waiting for the site to come back from upgrade limbo. Any of the 'most recent' posts or forum threads for that are like...2015. Yeah.

...I suppose now that I've made teaser lines in here, I should make that spinoff post. Ugh. Stay tuned for that, it might be a while. It's heavy stuff, after all.

So yeah, those who still want to talk, drop me a comment with who you are, where to find you, and maybe note what's the most likely way to get your attention. No point in saying "find me on *blah*" when you aren't really there much, right?

...really starting to get sick of change, particularly forced change. Worst kind there is.

~Virgo

So let's see how this thing works.

The new year has started, and apparently LJ is rapidly becoming a ghost town due to the recent news of the servers moving. However, I suppose DW can enjoy the rapid growth due to such happenings!

Including me. I brought over my account and all three of my communities I own, so they can be preserved (and perhaps even added to, if possible). It's not so different, really, so it should be easy to figure out how things work over here.

Survived yet another holiday season at work. Now to have a few more days off, phew.

Christmas? Well, like every year, it went decently enough. People were happy with what I got them, and I got more books on my list. More bookcase sorting to do!

(I now also have my own power drill. Oh, the fun we shall have...)

Other things have changed since the last entry! I finally got a new computer--it's odd, sure, not using a windows-based machine anymore, but the mac isn't too hard to work with. At the very least, I can actually open a ton of tabs and windows without the computer freaking out, and I can actually open things like my tumblr and such now, so it's very much a step up.

Now that the holiday rush is over, perhaps I can get back into writing. After all, it's hard to focus on being creative when one is exhausted from too much stress.

So here we go. Going to see if this actually works...if it does, then those still on LJ may be able to see this as well!

Bring it on, 2017. I think we might finally be ready for you!

~Virgo

(Note to self: get an icon of the little spring fairy.)

So yeah, checked my email and oh hey, a letter from LJ.

...about friends who have left LJ for other sites.

Specifically, about inviting back those friends.

Uh. Right, about that...

Yes, my friends page does look rather empty, but then, those who might still be around don't post much. The communities I'm part of don't update much, and those that do, I don't have them on watch.

I will also admit there are plenty of LJ friends I do miss seeing updates from, but then, some of them are on other sites and I can see their posts there.

(Also wondering where c_suck_snark has gone, and why both mods seem to have vanished...did a crisis happen or something? Wow.)

Even if they've gone to other sites, some of my friends just get too busy to post much anyway--looking at Raine and Lynn, for example, who both work full weeks and are lucky if they get time to rest.

I think it might take more than just offers of paid time and internet trinkets to bring people back. Perhaps this place is a sinking ship, or however others might be looking at it.

Oh well. At least I'm still here. I'll be here for a while yet.

If any of the others want to come back, that's good. But do it for you, not me.

Those who do want to keep in touch, drop me a line.

~Virgo

Coming up to noon, and the storm continues to rage on. City plow has been through, our personal plow guy has been by. Power stable here, for now.

Apparently the mall may have closed after all, or any non-essential stores did. Places that provide things such as winter gear and supplies are still open for the time being, they plan to close a bit later today.

Both of the other 'rewrite' team members are home safely.

Further updates to follow.

~Virgo

...has it really been that long since my last entry? Wow.

I suppose I actually have material to update with, anyway, so let's begin.

Spring: nice enough, didn't seem to be very awful.

Summer: almost seemed too short, but then, I don't like the heat so I'm fine with it not being so long.

Autumn: almost came a little early, but considering where we are, no surprise.

Managed to have a decent halloween, weather mild and only a little cloudy. It was the day or so after that gave us a wild snowstorm, causing damage and outages all over the state. Some people were without power for days!

(Luckily, we only lost our power for a few hours, after the storm passed. That was enough misery for us, anyway.)

Work is...well, work. It's the time of year we start getting more trucks and more shoppers and more chaos. Black Friday approaches, after all.

Outside of that? Well, I continue to work on various writing and I'm slowly making my way through my discard piles. Have to make room in my bookcases for new stuff somehow, right? :)

(I have a lot of books. I almost need another bookcase...or two...)

What's on my current active writing list? Well, I'm focusing on only a few so I don't go completely crazy: rainbow spitefic, for one. If I get burned out on that, I have a few other spitefics I can get back to, and I started notes for a new idea.

Never enough hours in the day to get everything done, sadly. Oh well.

Figured I should at least get this posted so people know I'm still around--I know I should check on (and update) my communities, but I'm not even sure what I should do with them. I guess I'll wait and see.

For now, I'll post this. Now you all know what I've been up to lately.

~Virgo

...if anyone finds any for this winter that don't involve being inside, let me know.

Seriously, though, this winter has just been awful. Going outside and doing anything? Not really a very good idea unless the roads are clear and the weather is actually decent.

Today is rather nice, with bright sunshine and mild temperatures. A little wind, but still not very bad. I not only went out and shoveled a bit, but also did some walking around the neighborhood.

Shoveled yesterday too, after work, and I feel much better having been active two days in a row.

I looked over my last entry, and I think I'm off to a good start this year. Things at work are good enough, and I've managed to not only re-learn things I had forgotten but also learn some nifty new tricks. :)

As for the being active part? Well, two days in a row of shoveling and walking helps! I've also figured out that yes, my eating habits are probably not helping me any. I'm pretty much to the point I might start posting what I've eaten and all each day, just to see if I can manage to guilt myself into behaving.

On days I can't go outside and don't work, well, I have access to a treadmill and I have a yoga mat. Also, I have two little hand-weights to use. I can come up with something.

Hopefully when the weather gets nicer, I can be outside more and more. More walking, more activity, more fresh air. I figure since I know shortcuts to get home, I may walk home from work more. After all, it'll save gas money, right?

The writing...well, I'm trying. :) I have so many ideas that sometimes I just don't know where to start. However, I'm looking over my list again, and I'll see what jumps out at me. Whatever I do get done, well, I may start posting to FDD again.

I think I'm mostly posting for myself, though, since I never see updates from anyone else. Did everyone bail on LJ for greener pastures? Oh well. If anyone does read this still, drop me a line of some kind. Leave a comment here, shoot me an email, whatever works. :)

Spring will come soon, I'm sure of it. Just have to get through winter first...

~Virgo

...wow, really? Huh.

So it's been a while since the last post, but luckily not as long as some of my other breaks have been. My birthday was two days ago, and it went rather well.

The 'rewrite' gang surprised me with a lunch meetup and gifts, which I really didn't expect...especially on the actual day! I thought for sure they'd both be too busy.

Nothing fancy for lunch, we did pizza and I got to bring home the leftovers. :)

While we were out, we decided to go browse the toy store, and I bought a few new pony blind bags. Five new friends for my display shelves!

As for what the girls brought, well, I'm sure I won't have to worry about buying more starlight mints for a long time, haha. I also got a bar of really nice chocolate (dark with raspberry, sounds wonderful~) and a small bottle of sparkling apple cider.

The crowning glory, however, is the wonderful Princess Twilight plush they created with love for me at the local Build-A-Bear. She currently sits in my room, staring happily at my well-stocked bookshelves. I think she'll enjoy being here. :)

(Hey, with our group? I'm the Twilight, so it all fits.)

Not only did I get a party offline, but I got a party in my Animal Crossing game too! Rather fun to get gifts and celebration from my villagers. Quite a day~

In other news, the house we've been working so hard to clean out? Finally done! The last truckload was brought home this week, so we're officially out and the new owners no longer have to deal with us being around. I finally have my lamp, which I plan on giving a nice coat of paint to and a new plug before I bring it in and set it up.

Also, I've been working on my writing more. It feels good to be spinning stories again, and when I feel ready, I'll start posting chapters of this latest piece to FDD. Things have been quiet in there again, so I suppose I should get back to it. Even if nobody else joins or posts anything, I rather like the fact I've gained enough courage to post my work online. It feels like a step in the right direction. :)

Oh hey, this is another milestone post! Like with the others, I declare this an open-request post. Maybe we can get to high comment counts, maybe not, but if anyone has questions they want answered or just want to chat, or request ficlets, or whatever, drop a message.

Let's hope I can keep going for a long time!

~Virgo

So now we go back to regular...ish...stuff. Yay?

Been trying to get back into writing. Since I have a little time off this weekend and all, figure I might as well work on things.

Posted the first ten chapters (what I currently have done) of my newest work-in-progress to what I'm using for a personal fic dumping ground. Hey, I wanted to save fadingdaydream somehow, so why not use it for a fic journal until things pick up?

OSW closed up shop. Actually, it ended about a month or two ago, but I never remembered to post here about it. We tried our best, but real life gets in the way sometime. Oh well, we still have the posts to look back on, and there's always fic and a possible revival, right?

Very nice weather lately, warm and sunny. Of course, the fire danger is sky-high, but hopefully we'll get a little rain and bring it back down. If it stays warm like this for a while, we might need to put the AC units in.

Got through inventory, though I ended up with a headache afterwards and slept most of the day. Had all short shifts this week, and started my cycle halfway through yesterday's five-hour. Guess I can't hate the timing, though--it wasn't when I woke up, causing me to call in, and it wasn't the day before, when I had to work.

(I have the weekend to get through it, anyway, and still get to enjoy my week off.)

Not quite sure what else to cover here, so I guess I'll wrap this up now. Hope everyone else is doing well, and you all know where to find me.

~Virgo