Two End of Year Memes
Feb. 27th, 2021 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99I am not sure how I have been so busy in lockdown that these are almost 2 months late but I am blaming work.
1) Was 2020 a good year for you?
Reasonably. In the general circumstances, I can't complain.
2) What was your favourite moment of the year?
This has not really been a year for moments. Although, the first "proper" coffee after lockdown 1 lives long in the tasting.
3) What was your least favourite moment of the year?
I could have done without the mini-spirals caused by the job chaos or a meeting with some old colleagues. You ever notice something was an unhealthy situation only *after* you left it?
4) Where were you when 2020 began?
Bradford, I suspect. I also suspect it wasn't a raging party.
5) Who were you with?
Mum.
6) Where will you be when 2020 ends? / Where were you when 2020 ended?
Bradford.
7) Who will you be with when 2020 ends? / Who were you with when 2020 ended?
Mum. And Jools Holland, who if I didn't love him anyway, I would now. In a New Years were all the other channels decided that 24 hour news and misery was the thing for New Years Eve, he kept the socially distanced ante up and still had pipes and drums. It was a necessary experience.
8) Did you keep your new years resolution of 2020?
No, there were extenuating circumstances.
9) Do you have a new years resolution for 2021?
The flat will be tidy.
10) Did you fall in love in 2020?
No.
11) If yes, with who?
12) If yes, do they know?
13) Do you regret it?
14) Did you breakup with anyone in 2020?
No.
15) Did you make any new friends in 2020?
I repeat my previous statement of "there were extenuating circumstances".
16) Who are your favourite new friends?
Not applicable for reasons
17) What was your favourite month of 2020?
2020 had months? End of January - start of February was good for birthday present-related reasons
18) Did you travel outside of theUS UK in 2020?
No.
19) How many differentstates countries did you travel to in 2020?
None
20) Did you lose anybody close to you in 2020?
The answer was no. A few more distantly acquainted people, from non-COVID causes. And then January has happened and one of my old fencing coaches has died. It was very much a situation where if he caught plague, it was going to kill him, but even so, he was fine a few days before.
21) Did you miss anybody in the past year?
Colleague I who left in February. She remains the only non-family person I have seen in person since March. She is an absolute marvel, even if she is presently encouraging me to stand up for myself in a matter which is giving me the wiggles. But she is right.
22) What was your favourite movie that you saw in 2020?
Jo Jo Rabbit
23) What was your favourite song from 2020?
24) What was your favourite record from 2020?
For me, 2020 was the year of Spotify. Partly because I still haven't figured out how to get my music on to my phone, and partly because I have now reached that age where national radio is not for me. So my favourite song of 2020 is not new to 2020 but is new to me:
Turn Your Back - Billy Talent and Anti Flag
I would also like to link you to a fun thing - Judge My Spotify - https://pudding.cool/2020/12/judge-my-spotify/
I particularly like the insults I get e.g. maximally-pretentious-minimalism-middle-school-warped-tour-low-cut-jean-pop which I admit.
Also, you know "bad drag queen brunch" is also true. Yes, Warped Tour/bad drag queen brunch is a horrifyingly accurate description of my taste in music.
25) How many concerts did you see in 2020?
None, but I have been promised Rammstein next year - and will try to sneak a visit to T and D at the same time.
26) Did you have a favourite concert in 2020?
N/A
27) What was your favourite book of 2020?
New to me - Plutarch's Lives, Roman edition. My to be read pile only ever grows.
28) Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2020?
Barely any
29) Did you do a lot of drugs in 2020?
No.
30) How many people did you sleep with in 2020?
0
31) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
I should be more patient with some people.
32) What was the worst lie someone told you in 2020?
We will have the documents back to you by x.
33) Did you treat somebody badly in 2020?
I should have been kinder to people in a certain department.
34) Did somebody treat you badly in 2020?
I think the job could have handled things better, so could British Fencing, but I can only affect one of those, and I am working on that one.
35) How much money did you spend in 2020?
Less than 2019. It turns out coffee and fencing add up.
36) What was your proudest moment of 2020?
That I didn't throw my toys out of the pram at various points.
37) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2020 and change something, what would it be?
A couple of fencing attacks would have gone differently.
38) What are your plans for 2021?
I am making no plans until things are clearer. New Zealand trip will have to be postponed, obviously, but possibly going cathedral hoping in late summer?
My Year In Fic
Fics
Frustration, PG-12 Kuro/Fai Tsubasa fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1199658.html and it's semi-sequel Ease, NC-17 Kuro/Fai fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1207621.html#cutid1
Distraction Tactic Number 4, PG-12 James Bond/Alec Trevelyan fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1200569.html (Finally, after 15 years)
Ghost at the Feast, PG-12 CM Punk and Raven gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1218376.html
All These Places I Remember, 15 Chris Jericho and CM Punk gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1225350.html
The Needles of Paranoia, PG-12 James Storm gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1230951.html
The Cradle of our Renaissance, PG-12 post-Dark Knight Rises Bat fic, with a slice of background Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1235897.html
Mycroft's Schooldays, PG-12 Mycroft gen - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1250107.html
Ficlets (all written for the 3 Sentence Ficathon)
Some Undefined Future - Torchwood, PG Jack Harkness gen - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1203971.html#cutid1
Elves - the Mummy, PG Evie and Rick fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1203971.html#cutid2
Training Routine - Captain Marvel gen - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1203971.html#cutid3
Third Time's A Charm - Addams Family Values, Joel Glicker/Wednesday Addams - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1203971.html#cutid4
8 proper fics, 4 ficlets. Finally hit the magic 12 mark again, plus some of those are fics I have been working on for a long time.
My favourite story this year: It's a toss up between Cradle of our Renaissance, which hits all the things I wanted it to hit, or All These Places I Remember, because while it doesn't hit hard enough in some parts, I do love some of the parts and I think I got Jericho down.
My best story this year: People liked Frustration and Ease. On the other hand, they were always going to get more of a response because they are for the fandom juggernaut pairing. I am very happy with the response for Cradle of our Renaissance.
Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I write short gen, I am zen about my feedback. On the other hand, I would have been happy for any of the wrestling fics to get more, especially Needles of Paranoia, despite the flaws I will describe below.
Most fun story: Third Time's A Charm. More fun is required in my fics in future. (Looks at the fics I am working on ... well, two of them are sort of fun.)
Most sexy story: Ease, happy smut fic, with characters who are now happy after surviving peril and surviving it together.
Story with single sexiest moment: Is probably Ease, because that's deliberate sexiness. That personally I find both the stubbly kiss in "Distraction Tactic Number 4" and Kurogane not grasping Fai's hair in "Frustration" sexier undoubtedly says terrible things about me. (I am willing to admit it's the strength of will that it took Kurogane not to grasp Fai's hair that I find sexy. The James Bond thing is just the Sean Bean thing which dates to the early 90s.)
Hardest story to write: Do we want to talk about the fic that took me 15 years to write, or the sheer awkwardness that is me trying to write CM Punk?
"Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" story: I have been good. There is no wrong. I can see next year's possibles though.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: None really. They're all either old favourites, or people like Jericho and Punk who have very defined canonical selves.
Biggest disappointment: When I write I see pictures in my head and try to describe them. Often, the pictures are very similar to the medium that the fandom is originally in (for example, a TRC fic I am working on is basically comic book panels in my head). The way I imagined Needles of Paranoia, the camera starts above and behind Storm and then, midway through the fic, sweeps down to be level with him and on his right. I do not feel the story swoops there where it needs to swoop.
Biggest surprise: Distraction Tactic Number 4 and All These Places I Remember both took so long to write that I am reasonably amazed I ever finished them. They were both a case of "once I figured out how to write that one scene" they went forward. In the case of Distraction Tactic Number 4, it was how to get round a scene that had to happen but it turns out Bond wasn't present for. So I swung it round to what did Bond definitely do, and sort of elided the other scene.
With All These Places I Remember it was how to get Jericho to stop the road trip, because all of the sensible arguments Punk makes are well sensible and reasonable, so I needed Jericho to just have a break and I wasn't sure how to write it.
Most unintentionally telling story: All These Places I Remember, although not as much as it could have been. The original idea, which was mostly jettisoned, was from when I visted D+L in California and hit "OMG USA so big". That was sort of lost. But there is a lot of me in Jericho, which is not good, I know. Reflex is a club in Birmingham (Jericho's feelings about the place are pinched from an old colleague). I have had the vitamin I discussion about ibuprofen. I think Jericho still sounds like Jericho (see also, there's a line in it that I wrote before a particular interview and he said it almost word for word, which is worrying because it is not a happy line), but bits of the background detail are me.
1) Was 2020 a good year for you?
Reasonably. In the general circumstances, I can't complain.
2) What was your favourite moment of the year?
This has not really been a year for moments. Although, the first "proper" coffee after lockdown 1 lives long in the tasting.
3) What was your least favourite moment of the year?
I could have done without the mini-spirals caused by the job chaos or a meeting with some old colleagues. You ever notice something was an unhealthy situation only *after* you left it?
4) Where were you when 2020 began?
Bradford, I suspect. I also suspect it wasn't a raging party.
5) Who were you with?
Mum.
6) Where will you be when 2020 ends? / Where were you when 2020 ended?
Bradford.
7) Who will you be with when 2020 ends? / Who were you with when 2020 ended?
Mum. And Jools Holland, who if I didn't love him anyway, I would now. In a New Years were all the other channels decided that 24 hour news and misery was the thing for New Years Eve, he kept the socially distanced ante up and still had pipes and drums. It was a necessary experience.
8) Did you keep your new years resolution of 2020?
No, there were extenuating circumstances.
9) Do you have a new years resolution for 2021?
The flat will be tidy.
10) Did you fall in love in 2020?
No.
11) If yes, with who?
12) If yes, do they know?
13) Do you regret it?
14) Did you breakup with anyone in 2020?
No.
15) Did you make any new friends in 2020?
I repeat my previous statement of "there were extenuating circumstances".
16) Who are your favourite new friends?
Not applicable for reasons
17) What was your favourite month of 2020?
2020 had months? End of January - start of February was good for birthday present-related reasons
18) Did you travel outside of the
No.
19) How many different
None
20) Did you lose anybody close to you in 2020?
The answer was no. A few more distantly acquainted people, from non-COVID causes. And then January has happened and one of my old fencing coaches has died. It was very much a situation where if he caught plague, it was going to kill him, but even so, he was fine a few days before.
21) Did you miss anybody in the past year?
Colleague I who left in February. She remains the only non-family person I have seen in person since March. She is an absolute marvel, even if she is presently encouraging me to stand up for myself in a matter which is giving me the wiggles. But she is right.
22) What was your favourite movie that you saw in 2020?
Jo Jo Rabbit
23) What was your favourite song from 2020?
24) What was your favourite record from 2020?
For me, 2020 was the year of Spotify. Partly because I still haven't figured out how to get my music on to my phone, and partly because I have now reached that age where national radio is not for me. So my favourite song of 2020 is not new to 2020 but is new to me:
Turn Your Back - Billy Talent and Anti Flag
I would also like to link you to a fun thing - Judge My Spotify - https://pudding.cool/2020/12/judge-my-spotify/
I particularly like the insults I get e.g. maximally-pretentious-minimalism-middle-school-warped-tour-low-cut-jean-pop which I admit.
Also, you know "bad drag queen brunch" is also true. Yes, Warped Tour/bad drag queen brunch is a horrifyingly accurate description of my taste in music.
25) How many concerts did you see in 2020?
None, but I have been promised Rammstein next year - and will try to sneak a visit to T and D at the same time.
26) Did you have a favourite concert in 2020?
N/A
27) What was your favourite book of 2020?
New to me - Plutarch's Lives, Roman edition. My to be read pile only ever grows.
28) Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2020?
Barely any
29) Did you do a lot of drugs in 2020?
No.
30) How many people did you sleep with in 2020?
0
31) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
I should be more patient with some people.
32) What was the worst lie someone told you in 2020?
We will have the documents back to you by x.
33) Did you treat somebody badly in 2020?
I should have been kinder to people in a certain department.
34) Did somebody treat you badly in 2020?
I think the job could have handled things better, so could British Fencing, but I can only affect one of those, and I am working on that one.
35) How much money did you spend in 2020?
Less than 2019. It turns out coffee and fencing add up.
36) What was your proudest moment of 2020?
That I didn't throw my toys out of the pram at various points.
37) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2020 and change something, what would it be?
A couple of fencing attacks would have gone differently.
38) What are your plans for 2021?
I am making no plans until things are clearer. New Zealand trip will have to be postponed, obviously, but possibly going cathedral hoping in late summer?
My Year In Fic
Fics
Frustration, PG-12 Kuro/Fai Tsubasa fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1199658.html and it's semi-sequel Ease, NC-17 Kuro/Fai fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1207621.html#cutid1
Distraction Tactic Number 4, PG-12 James Bond/Alec Trevelyan fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1200569.html (Finally, after 15 years)
Ghost at the Feast, PG-12 CM Punk and Raven gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1218376.html
All These Places I Remember, 15 Chris Jericho and CM Punk gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1225350.html
The Needles of Paranoia, PG-12 James Storm gen fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1230951.html
The Cradle of our Renaissance, PG-12 post-Dark Knight Rises Bat fic, with a slice of background Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1235897.html
Mycroft's Schooldays, PG-12 Mycroft gen - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1250107.html
Ficlets (all written for the 3 Sentence Ficathon)
Some Undefined Future - Torchwood, PG Jack Harkness gen - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1203971.html#cutid1
Elves - the Mummy, PG Evie and Rick fic - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1203971.html#cutid2
Training Routine - Captain Marvel gen - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1203971.html#cutid3
Third Time's A Charm - Addams Family Values, Joel Glicker/Wednesday Addams - https://redfiona99.dreamwidth.org/1203971.html#cutid4
8 proper fics, 4 ficlets. Finally hit the magic 12 mark again, plus some of those are fics I have been working on for a long time.
My favourite story this year: It's a toss up between Cradle of our Renaissance, which hits all the things I wanted it to hit, or All These Places I Remember, because while it doesn't hit hard enough in some parts, I do love some of the parts and I think I got Jericho down.
My best story this year: People liked Frustration and Ease. On the other hand, they were always going to get more of a response because they are for the fandom juggernaut pairing. I am very happy with the response for Cradle of our Renaissance.
Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: I write short gen, I am zen about my feedback. On the other hand, I would have been happy for any of the wrestling fics to get more, especially Needles of Paranoia, despite the flaws I will describe below.
Most fun story: Third Time's A Charm. More fun is required in my fics in future. (Looks at the fics I am working on ... well, two of them are sort of fun.)
Most sexy story: Ease, happy smut fic, with characters who are now happy after surviving peril and surviving it together.
Story with single sexiest moment: Is probably Ease, because that's deliberate sexiness. That personally I find both the stubbly kiss in "Distraction Tactic Number 4" and Kurogane not grasping Fai's hair in "Frustration" sexier undoubtedly says terrible things about me. (I am willing to admit it's the strength of will that it took Kurogane not to grasp Fai's hair that I find sexy. The James Bond thing is just the Sean Bean thing which dates to the early 90s.)
Hardest story to write: Do we want to talk about the fic that took me 15 years to write, or the sheer awkwardness that is me trying to write CM Punk?
"Holy crap, that's *wrong*, even for you" story: I have been good. There is no wrong. I can see next year's possibles though.
Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: None really. They're all either old favourites, or people like Jericho and Punk who have very defined canonical selves.
Biggest disappointment: When I write I see pictures in my head and try to describe them. Often, the pictures are very similar to the medium that the fandom is originally in (for example, a TRC fic I am working on is basically comic book panels in my head). The way I imagined Needles of Paranoia, the camera starts above and behind Storm and then, midway through the fic, sweeps down to be level with him and on his right. I do not feel the story swoops there where it needs to swoop.
Biggest surprise: Distraction Tactic Number 4 and All These Places I Remember both took so long to write that I am reasonably amazed I ever finished them. They were both a case of "once I figured out how to write that one scene" they went forward. In the case of Distraction Tactic Number 4, it was how to get round a scene that had to happen but it turns out Bond wasn't present for. So I swung it round to what did Bond definitely do, and sort of elided the other scene.
With All These Places I Remember it was how to get Jericho to stop the road trip, because all of the sensible arguments Punk makes are well sensible and reasonable, so I needed Jericho to just have a break and I wasn't sure how to write it.
Most unintentionally telling story: All These Places I Remember, although not as much as it could have been. The original idea, which was mostly jettisoned, was from when I visted D+L in California and hit "OMG USA so big". That was sort of lost. But there is a lot of me in Jericho, which is not good, I know. Reflex is a club in Birmingham (Jericho's feelings about the place are pinched from an old colleague). I have had the vitamin I discussion about ibuprofen. I think Jericho still sounds like Jericho (see also, there's a line in it that I wrote before a particular interview and he said it almost word for word, which is worrying because it is not a happy line), but bits of the background detail are me.
