Misanthropy

If you've friended this journal, you might want to read the third paragraph if nothing else.

I’ve been pretty much AWOL lately, and haven’t been spending much time online at all. (So, if there’s something anyone wants me to know, please tell me/post a link in the comments, because I haven’t been keeping up.)

I’m still working on the next part of Resurrection (a/k/a teh crack). I was hoping to finish it by the end of the year, but it’s going slooowly and I don’t seem to have much time/energy for it, so that seems unlikely--although I‘m going to try to have at least a draft done (provided work doesn‘t decide to explode in my face). I’m up to about 20 pages, although they need severe rewriting. There are a bunch of things in this chapter that I’ve been building toward for ages, so hopefully when it’s done, it’ll be somewhat exciting. It’s funny--I think I originally figured I’d get to these plot points in something like the sixth part. Ha! I actually remember sitting in an airport awaiting my connection on my way back from Austria, o so many moons ago (after I had been prodded into making this a series and realized I probably couldn‘t just get away with making bad jokes), and coming up with these vague plotty things. (I think I was smirking to myself because people in the waiting area gave me a couple odd looks. Or maybe that was because they were just worried I was a terrorist.) Anyway, this just means that in addition to the usual agonizing I do when writing this stuff, there’s no pressure or anything.

Also, I haven’t been paying attention to the friending thing for a while. I think a couple people have friended me. If you’re one of them, and you want me to friend you back, you can post something here. If you want to be added to my personal filter (mostly me venting my rage about work and other stupidities, but not even that lately), let me know, but I tend not to do that unless you have an active journal. And at some point when I get around to it, I am going to prune my filters, which are kind of a mess. This means that if you’ve haven’t commented much but are currently friended and included in the filter, I might defilter you on the assumption that you’re here for the fic (when I post any), which is all public. So, if you’re the quiet type, but don’t want to be defiltered, I’m afraid this is your chance to speak up. If you you aren't sure whether you're filtered and/or likely to be defiltered and care one way or the other, feel free to ask.

Ok, complete random change of topic: in one of the last posts I managed to make, the one after September 11, I quoted from a book by Rashid Khalidi, who is Middle Eastern scholar of moderate bent. I just recently saw this. You know, I do find it infuriating that even the hint of being critical of Israel in this country is enough to brand you as evil. I find this comment, made by a student, telling: "'It should have been like, yes, I know him, and I’d like to know more Middle East experts, because that’s an important thing when you’re making policies.’” How the hell are you ever going to begin to address the situation unless you can acknowledge the positions of both sides? It’s absolutely essential as a starting point--unless, of course, your ultimate policy is actually genocide.

And so what if Mr. Khalidi had babysat Obama’s kids? What’s wrong with the concept? The Colin Powell line seems to be the one to take here, not a simple denial. (And, to my mind, whatever else he’s done that I despise, Powell has completely redeemed himself in my eyes. He’s the only major political figure I’ve heard who’s made the point that I’ve felt like screaming since this whole Obama-is-a-Muslim stuff began.)

And also, btw, if anyone is interested in reading something from the non-Israeli perspective, I just finished Palestinian Walks, which is beautiful book about the landscape of Palestine and the change that Israel’s policies have wrought. It gives some sense of what it means to live in the occupied West Bank. I also read Let It Be Morning, a novel set in a Palestinian village in Israel just before the Oslo Accords were signed. Both are recommended.

And speaking of books, I’ haven’t bought a book in at least a month (I think). That’s pretty scary (and has nothing to do with the frightening state of the economy, since I‘ll forgo food before reading material). Consider it my contribution to the Halloween thing, since I worked late yesterday, did not dress up, ate no candy, gave no candy away, and played no tricks. I’m determined to make a good dent in my Big List of Shame. I’m actually down to under 20 books on my fiction list (we won’t mention the nonfiction). This, if you know anything about me, is pretty much unprecedented.

No, this has nothing to do with LJ's recent policy meltdown. If anyone’s been trying to read fic on my LJ and been unable to find a story that should have been there, I think I’ve fixed the problem.

So, I was procrastinating at work and decided to check something in one of the prior crack stories. I hit the resurrection fic tag and got a shock, when, rather than seeing the stories I was expecting, I got most (not all) of the stories in the series plus a few that did not belong. At first, I thought the tags had somehow gotten screwed up. It took me a while to realize that the actual entries had been replaced with other fic entries all together. Somehow, where, for example “Tools of the Trade” been posted, there was now a different fic entirely. Although the title of the post had been changed as well, the tags remained from the old post, along with, I think, the icon.

I have no idea how this happened. The only thing I can think of is that, when I copied my journal with LJ-Sec, either I or the program screwed something up--although I can't think of what sort of setting I could have messed with on that program that would have resulted in this. (Any of you who used the program might want to check your own posts just in case it wasn‘t a freakish occurrence or human error.) Or maybe LJ is just trying to screw with me.

I’ve now gone through all the fic posts (procrastination was the plan but not this much), and I think I’ve fixed all the weirdness. There were about 5 that had been replaced. Luckily (which is the only reason you don’t hear screaming), I had backed all the fic that had gotten deleted. I have no idea if the non-fic posts also got screwed up, and I guess I’ll have to go through them when I have time. What a fun time that‘ll be.

I don’t know if anyone’s been looking for fics and having WTF moments when the wrong thing came up (or you might have been getting the message that you weren't authorized to view the post). As I said, I think I’ve fixed the fic, but if anyone encounters anything that seems weird, I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me know so I can look into it.

Also, why am I not getting comment notifications again????

I don't really have anything I feel like saying about the new stupidities of the people who run LJ, but, as a back up/alternative, I now have a greatestjournal account under the same user name, here. I’ve uploaded all of my lj entries there, so the posts, if not the comments, should all be available.

Personally, I’m not particularly worried about getting deleted on lj, and the alternative journal was done more in the interest of seeing if I could figure out how to upload all my entries to another journal site (yes, although if anyone knows a way to transfer the comments and/or tags as well, do let me know). I’m not really planning to go anywhere right now--I’ve a permanent account, so it’s not a matter of continuing to shell out money to the dithering idiots who run LJ. LJ will continue to be my “primary“ journal.

But any of you who are on greatestjournal are more than welcome to friend me there, and to make any comments there if that’s your preference. If I see that any of you have accounts there, I’ll be sure to friend you as well. Until further notice, I will try to crosspost on both journals, although I can’t promise I’ll always manage to synchronize the greatestjournal account with complete promptness.

A couple caveats:

• While I did manage to upload my journal entries on greatestjournal, the links to other livejournals in those entries will not work, since they’ll have been loaded as a link to a greatestjournal rather than an lj account--just substitute “livejournal“ for “greatestjournal“ in the link and that should do it. Links to any of my own previous entries will lead to the entry, but to the entry on lj, not gj.



• There are no tags or memories. If I ever end up making that my primary journal, I’ll try to go back and at least tag the fic, but, for now, if you’re looking for any of my fic (or anything else), you’ll have a far easier time using the lj account with its tags and memories.



• I think the security settings should be working. If you friend the gj account, after I friend you back, you should be able to see the filtered posts you were able to see on lj. If it doesn’t work for someone, let me know.

I know some people have chosen their alternative journal as insanejournal, but, for now, I don’t have an account there--I don’t think I can manage to do triplicate posts. But I chose greatestjournal pretty much at random--if anyone has a reason why they feel insane journal (or something else) is better, I’d be interested in hearing it.

Anyway, it’ll be no frills for now, but it’s up and is an alternative. We’ll see how it goes.

Because I'm busy and sleep deprived, it seems the perfect time to do this.

As relatively small as my friends list is, I realized I don't "talk" to some of you at all. Part of it (beyond busyness/laziness), at least on my part, is that we haven't really been introduced, as the friending was probably done in a silent exchange. So, even when I read your posts, I feel a bit weird just butting in and commenting.

So, here's the Grand Idea: if you feel like it (no pressure), post here and say "hi" (literally, that's cool, or if you're inclined, you can do more of an introduction, say something about why you friended, discuss the weather, or really whatever you want), and then you might have me cropping up on occasion in your comments (since now we've met :D ). Of course, if you’re just here for the fic, and would rather not subject yourself to that, no worries—although I suppose you could post here to complain about why I’m making posts like this rather than actually, you know, writing. ; )

If I know you already, don't feel left out--if you're bored, feel free to post here too, even it's just to tell me what a weirdo I am or to tell me something interesting about yourself that I don’t know, or to inquire why it is I don't respond to your posts either.

Also, if there is anyone out there who does read this journal and is not "friended," as always, feel free to friend (no questions actually asked), and/or now would be an ideal time to introduce yourself. :P

So despite the no pressure thing, it would be cool if someone did respond here, because, you know, otherwise I look kind of stoopid. You wouldn't want that would you?

The very talented lessy37 was so very nice as to make me some Resurrection icons. Here's one. Heeehe. Is it not the bestest thing ever?