Hils's journal

I am in no way doing this to avoid working on my fic <.<

This is fun, though. I love a good scavenger hunt.

Challenge #14

In your own space, post your pictures of your fandom scavenger hunt results. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

( The List )

1. Tokyo Godfathers - I knew nothing about this before we watched it for tonight's movie night. I didn't even realise it was animated until it started. I loved it! Nice to see a trans character who not only lives but also saves the day.
2. Ghostbusters Afterlife - I absolutely loved this! It managed to capture all the joy and nostalgia of the first two movies while feeling fresh at the same time. You can tell a lot of love for the franchise went into this.
3. Hamilton - I'm not sure this counts as a movie because it's just a recording of the broadway show, but it's as long as a movie so I'm including it here. When this dropped on Disney+ in 2020 I was right in the depths of lockdown depression and when I was feeling better I just never got around to it. I listened to the soundtrack obsessively back when it was at its most popular, and I've seen the show in London, but never with the original cast. I loved it! The show in London was fine, but there's no denying the original cast was something special.

Challenge 13.

In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, wild times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Oh, gosh, there's so many. I've mentioned a lot of my past excellent irl fandom experiences over in my Intro Post but I shall try and think of something more recent.

Okay, there's a couple. Fandom has been a real lifeline during the pandemic, especially when we were fully locked down and I was having minimal human contact. I'm an introvert so generally I like quiet time but this was too much.

Anyway, on my birthday in 2020 pretty much everyone from one of my Twitter group chats rallied on Zoom and we had a really fun evening chatting, laughing, watching terrible TV shows and excellent kpop videos. I ended up staying up until 3am and it felt just as good as an in person fandom gathering.

Similarly in Christmas of 2020 everyone rallied around when they found out I was going to be home alone at Christmas due to lockdown not allowing me to visit my parents. Several people over the Christmas break zoomed with me and we watched things and chatted. Really stopped me from feeling alone for the holidays and I'm so grateful.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.

1. Tokyo Godfathers - I knew nothing about this before we watched it for tonight's movie night. I didn't even realise it was animated until it started. I loved it! Nice to see a trans character who not only lives but also saves the day.
2. Ghostbusters Afterlife - I absolutely loved this! It managed to capture all the joy and nostalgia of the first two movies while feeling fresh at the same time. You can tell a lot of love for the franchise went into this.

This is a great idea for snowflake_challenge

Challenge #9

In your own space, list your Fandom Wrap categories. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

What are your top five fandoms for 2021 based on the amount of time you interacted with them?
1. Daomu Biji (The Lost Tomb)
2. Guardian
3. Kpop
4. The Untamed
5. Killer and Healer

( The rest of the questions )

I love Saturdays. It's the one day of the week when I can properly relax. I usually do something online with Emma mid-afternoon for a couple of hours but other than that the rest of the time is my own. I don't feel like I have to rush anything because I have to be somewhere.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy all the social activities I have going on, but I do find it all a bit exhausting. Sometimes I just need quiet time.

This week has actually felt a bit like the lockdown times. My car was supposed to go in for its MOT on Monday, which is the day the MOT expired. At the last minute I got a call saying they had to move my appointment to Friday 'due to unforseen circumstances' which I interpreted as staff shortages due to covid. So, because my MOT expired I couldn't drive my car so I spent Mon-Fri at home.

It's weird I actually missed my usual Tue and Thu trips to the office to do the postage stuff. I think it's just nice to get out of the house.

Anyway, my car is back now and it passed its MOT so it's all good. Back to normal next week.

I've got Monday off work because I have loads of leave to use and I have no holidays planned apart from a week to visit my parents in the summer. I figured I may as well do what I did last year and just treat myself to one long weekend every month.

I'm going to try not to pressure myself into spending the day being 'productive'. I might fire up one of the PS5 games I got for Christmas and haven't even opened yet.

Now, onto snowflake_challenge

Challenge #8

In your own space, celebrate a personal win from the past year: it can be a list of fanworks you're especially proud of, a gift of your time to the community, a quality or skill you cultivated in yourself, something you generally feel went well. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think the thing I'm most proud of is sticking with my Mandarin lessons. It's been over a year of practicing every day and I can see the progress I've made. I'm struggling with my current module on Duolingo so I need to remind myself that it's okay if I don't pick everything up immediately. Some things will take longer than others to grasp and that's okay.

(I'm also really proud of the amount of fic I posted last year)

Been a while since I did a ye olde friending meme



Dreamwidth Circle Meme

And snowflake_challenge continues

Challenge #7
In your own space, tell us about 3 fandom resources, spaces, or communities you use or enjoy. (One or two is fine, especially if you're in a smaller fandom!) Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

My current fandom is very small (well, the English speaking corner at least) so we tend to all just hang out on Discord. It's a good little group. We have channels for cultural questions, one for language learning, one for brainstorming, one for talking about fics we're writing and more

The link is here but is only valid for 7 days. If you want an invite after that just drop me a comment and I can send you a new one.

Today I hit my 1 year streak of learning Mandarin on Duolingo, which I'm really pleased about. This is the longest I've managed to stick with studying a language outside of the ones I learned in school or at university.

I think being stuck at home for most of this time has helped. It's easy to get into a routine when you have no social life.

I'm still very much a beginner, but at the same time I can see the progress I've made over the past year which is the important thing.

Hopefully now I've settled into it I'll be able to keep going. I don't anticipate ever getting to the point where I'm fluent unless I decide I want to pay a tutor, which I don't, but I'm enjoying learning and I think consuming a lot of Chinese media is helping.

Now, back to snowflake_challenge

Challenge #5


In your own space, talk about an idea you wish you had the time / talent / energy to do. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

You know what, I kind of did this to myself, because I keep thinking about the AU I came up with on a whim in my Day 3 post.

Those of you who have read my stuff know that I don't really do long fics. I did a couple of bigbangs back when I had more time and energy several year ago but these days a long fic for me is 10k.

So, I do want to write this AU but it's going to be long and I don't know if I have the time for that, or the talent for that matter. AUs are hard, and they need a lot more groundwork than a canon fic does.

I've said that I might write it in the background around shorter challenge/exchange fics and see what comes of it. I don't know.

It's honestly depressing how little the world has learned during this pandemic. Governments are saying we now need to 'live with it' despite doing nothing to actually facilitate that. So basically it's get sick and if you're one of the unfortunate ones who dies well so be it.

I'm fully vaccinated and boostered so I'm as protected as I can be, but the idea of going anywhere now has me as anxious as I was this time last year. Chances are if I get covid at this stage I'll be unwell for a few days and then be okay, but I might not be. And even if I am that doesn't mean I want to go out and knowingly get myself sick because all preventions are being removed.

This morning I got a gleeful email from one of the airports down in London proclaiming that 'travel is back on' because PCR tests are no longer mandatory before getting on a plane. Yeah, no, I will be staying in the UK for the forseeable, thanks.

It just feels like we haven't made any progress at all, or at least that no one cares anymore. It's all about making money.

I am Tired.

I'm trying not to dwell on it too much, or I'm just going to wind up depressed to the point where I don't want to get out of bed.

So, carrying on with snowflake_challenge

Challenge #4

In your own space, make a list of things that you wish existed in fandom or elsewhere, and/or that you'd like someone to create or do for you. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

1. I have a blanket transformative works policy so if anyone wants to do art, or remix one of my fics, or record a podfic, they are more than welcome.

2. More queer Pangzi fic. It makes me sad he's either relegated to the best friend or given a female love interest a lot of the time. Let him be queer!

3. More Iron Triangle OT3 fic. I feel like me and my little discord clan are the only ones writing it.

4. Comments/Kudos on my fics. This fandom is actually pretty good at this but it's always nice to get more

5. More ace rep in fic. I'm as guilty of this as anyone, but I've written a couple now and I'd love for there to be more.