Two End Of Year Memes

[redfiona99]

1) Was 2017 a good year for you?

From October on, yes. In fact, from May onwards yes. Because in May I left Newcastle.

2) What was your favorite moment of the year?

New job wins, I think.

3) What was your least favorite moment of the year?

I know what I should say because of something that I will mention later, but this year has mostly been good.

4) Where were you when 2017 began?

St. Helens

5) Who were you with?

The family.

6) Where will you be when 2017 ends? / Where were you when 2017 ended?

In London with L. The less said, the better.

7) Who will you be with when 2017 ends? / Who were you with when 2017 ended?

See above.

8) Did you keep your new years resolution of 2017?

Sort of. I am better at being tidy but I will never be good.

9) Do you have a new years resolution for 2017?

Tidy the flat!!

10) Did you fall in love in 2017?

No.

11) If yes, with who?
12) If yes, do they know?
13) Do you regret it?

14) Did you breakup with anyone in 2017?

No.

15) Did you make any new friends in 2017?

New colleagues. A couple of new fencers.

16) Who are your favorite new friends?

I like all my work colleagues.

17) What was your favorite month of 2017?

November.

18) Did you travel outside of the US UK in 2017?

Nope

19) How many different states did you travel to in 2017?

0.

20) Did you lose anybody close to you in 2017?

My Grandma, in January. She'd been ill since October (with what turned out to be heart failure), but you know she was 95, and she hated being ill. I think it was because she had to nurse her own parents through two very long final illnesses (something that sounded like motor neurone disease and cancer). And she was pretty much healthy till October, and then was horribly ill over Christmas, improved enough to escape for New Years and then deteriorated again. Cue my uncle informing her that we were all on to her plan and she wasn't dying on Friday the 13th. Which she didn't.

She also managed to astonish one of the ambulance crew who was amazed that 95 year olds existed. Around the corner but one are ambulance crew and told my Mum. She thought it was hilarious.

My grandmother left standing instructions that no one was allowed to wear all black at the funeral, and that there were to be no lilies in the funeral bouquest (I don't know what those are actually called), because they reminded my Nan of funerals. Cue Mum going to florists saying she needed a display for the coffin and them saying "we have lovely lillies" and her having to say "the lady doesn't want lillies." Which is, apparently, an odd sentence. I don't see anything weird about it but ...

21) Did you miss anybody in the past year?

See above.

22) What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2017?

Sleepless In Seattle. Which was new to me. And so good! Actually new films, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

23) What was your favorite song from 2017?

Jax Jones - You Don't Know Me ft. RAYE

Watch on YouTube

It is just so excellent!

Despacito - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJQP7kiw5Fk The non-Bieber version. I feel slightly bad about that, because without him I'd never have heard it but ... he adds very little to the song.

I am liking the new trend of having two different versions of songs. Take your pick of how you prefer your Enrique Iglesias, in Spanish - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sg-A-eS6Ig or partly in English - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BRixQO9qcQ. I prefer Enrique Iglesias in Spanish but the English version has Sean Paul. (Also featuring Sean Paul since I missed most of 2016, with Dua Lipa, No Lie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzU8KqOY8YA, and with Sia, Cheap Thrills - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYh-n7EOtMA)

The other option is Dua Lipa, New Rules

Watch on YouTube

I know all the things wrong with Galway Girl and I still love it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87gWaABqGYs

Little Mix - Power (Official Video) ft. Stormzy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw8B1q1tKgs

Symphony by Clean Bandit gets an honourable mention, not because I like it but because it's an earworm - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aatr_2MstrI

See also Zedd and Alessia Cara - Stay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h--P8HzYZ74

24) What was your favorite record from 2017?

I am so out of music at the moment. My backlog is backlogged at this point.

25) How many concerts did you see in 2017?

None. I think.

26) Did you have a favorite concert in 2017?

N/A

27) What was your favourite book of 2017?

I am still working through the Andrea Pirlo autobiography, something which would go quicker if I didn't have to stop to marvel (or chuckle, or one of the above and text L with a quote) every two lines. He writes the way he plays football and it is glorious.

28) Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2017?

Too much.

29) Did you do a lot of drugs in 2017?

No.

30) How many people did you sleep with in 2017?

0

31) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?

Several things. One of them I will hopefully never have the opportunity to do again, and I am working on making sure the other doesn't happen again.

32) What was the worst lie someone told you in 2017?

The number of companies who said they'd call me back after interviews and didn't. Dear companies of the world, job seekers would rather hear "thanks but no thanks" than silence.

33) Did you treat somebody badly in 2017?

Yes, I am working on making up for it.

34) Did somebody treat you badly in 2017?

Not really. Ex-boss remains my ex-boss and cannot be helped.

35) How much money did you spend in 2017?

Less than I might have, more than I should have (by £400, this will be fixed).

36) What was your proudest moment of 2017?

New job!

37) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2017 and change something, what would it be?

Drink less on New Years.

38) What are your plans for 2018?

Get good at this job. Finish the second novel. Drop some weight. Bodyweight deadlift and squat. I think the deadlift is possible. Top 100 foil ranking, again, having lost it. Possibly doable.


My Year In Fic

Fics

Mutatis mutandis, because everyone writes an X-Men fic by this name - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1073704.html Sean-centric First Class ensemble gen fic for lgbtfest

Rough Cut, 50kinkyways Orton/Anderson fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1087257.html

Curiosity Killed The Cat, 50kinkyways Orton/Batista fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1091519.html

This Time Next Year, We'll Be Playing The Palladium, Solly/Gloria Ain't Half Hot Mum fic for lgbtfest - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1102662.html

Man Indivisible, Bruce/Harvey Dent, Bruce/Rachel Dawes, Harvey/Rachel fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1114942.html

Father and Son, Finlay and Hornswoggle gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1126337.html

Short fic

I Can Never Hut Up - Han and Chewie Star Wars gen fic for the OPI fest - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1107414.html#cutid5

Crown Me Already - Octavian gen fic for the OPI fest - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1107414.html#cutid4

Microfic

Ink - Firefly River gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1107414.html#cutid3

Lies - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Giles gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1107414.html#cutid2

Everything Adds Up - MCU Natasha gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1107414.html#cutid1



My favourite story this year: This Time Next Year, We'll Be Playing The Palladium. I don't even care, this is my favourite because it's the fic I wanted to write and it's so stupidly happy.

My best story this year: People seem to like Man Indivisible, which makes me happy, because it was a story I wanted to write when I read the prompt. And they think that I caught Bruce, Harvey, Bruce and Harvey and their friendship. I am more than happy about that.

Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I Can Never Hut Up, probably my fault for writing silly Star Wars gen when the fandom was not in the mood for it.

Most fun story: I Can Never Hut Up is stupid fun. I love it.

Most sexy story: Curiosity Killed The Cat, mostly because I was half way through and went, oh that's gloriously obscene. Which is the reaction I want to cause.

Story with single sexiest moment: Curiosity Killed The Cat. It continues to be one of my frustrations as a writer that I can't get people to hear the noises I imagine while I'm writing. One day etc.

Hardest story to write: Man Indivisible. Or rather, one bit of it. It was the bit after Bruce finds out that Harvey's Dad has been beating him. Because I know I'd have no idea what to do, and I know that Bruce's only idea at mumblety age would be to tell Alfred and that would end badly for all concerned. For story reasons, I had to think of a reason why Bruce didn't tell anyone, when that was the only reasonable course of action. I'm not sure if I managed to get across (or that Bruce at that point would understand) how much Harvey loves his Dad, but it meant that I could use that as the reason. But it took some writing.

"Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" story: Hello Rough Cut. Which was always going to be that, the moment that the pairing became Orton/Anderson. I blame Anderson! It's just, normally even when I write ships with no reasonable basis I try to at least have them like each other, but the absence of like is so central to this. It just feels wrong!

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: Curiosity Killed The Cat, except not. Basically, a lot of the Orton/Batista fic I write are 'idiot jocks in love' or more often, 'one slightly less stupid jock trying to survive whatever Randy is up to this time'. And that was what this one was, and I did worry that it was wandering into the land of IKEA porn. I'd written the opening and I loved it, and I knew that the kink quotient was coming from Drax's knives, it was the linking bit that was missing. Or rather it was there but missing spark. I'd got as far as "don't touch my knife, don't touch my johnson," and there was even a bit that came after it:

"Randy could understand that saying in normal situations but it really didn't apply to them. Because Randy never knew when to shut up, he decided to point that out. "It's not like I don't touch your dick all the time."

Randy decided to emphasise his point with a long, slow press of his palm along the zipper at the front of Dave's trousers. Yes, he was having to guess where precisely to put his hands, but he was used enough to this position - Dave pressing him against a wall, right knee almost between Randy's legs - that it didn't take much guess work. Sure, normally, Dave's hand was on the wall behind Randy or wrapped around Randy's head rather than holding a knife to his throat, but Randy was trying not to think about that."

Which wasn't bad, it was just the part after that that fell flat. And I was sitting, thinking about it, and realised that this was the perfect set up for a first time, Randy pushing that bit too far and Dave knowing that he's not staying, and all the times they hadn't had a first time. It just fell into place after that.

Biggest disappointment: I'm actually happy with how these turned out so, none of the fic. Maybe the small amount of it I've written?

Biggest surprise: People liked 'Crown Me Already'. Because yea though verily I <3 Octavian, my darling little brainbox who could, I will be the first to admit he's a repellant lizard oh, about a 3rd of the time, and this is him at his most pompous and impossible and about to win. But people liked it!!!

Most unintentionally telling story: None of them are really. I don't think. Maybe Rough Cut in the worst sort of way, because, yes, I decided on the pairing because in the advert for UK Lockdown, Anderson said, "some times I just like to bleed". Once my brain recombobulated itself, my first thought was "could it not have been somebody, anybody, else doing that line", and then I realised that could be the hook for a fic.