A recent event that was all over my livejournal friendslist got me really thinking about online relationships, how "real" the online world is, and just how seriously people can take it, and yet how little is really understood and is still forming of the boundaries that define our online lives, from the legal to the more nebulous, like etiquette.

I don't know if this marks me out as an utter geek or what, but over on livejournal a lot of the circles I hang in are fannish. I.e., many of my friends are into the fandoms of books, TV shows, movies, etc-- from writing fanfiction to attending cons and the like. Now, I myself am not very heavily involved in any fandoms-- I dabbled in the Lord of the Rings fanfic world while the movies were out, and still occasionally write the odd bit of it, but I have never been terribly fannish. (I did get nominated for an award once, and I have a few fans of my own, but I have never been a Big Name Fan.)
In short, I am just fannish enough that I know what all the words mean. (Although I had to have OTP explained [One True Pairing!], and am not quite sure what the official definition of a 'ship really is...)

But. To sum up, over in the Harry Potter fandom (which is a huge sinkpit for Wank, as these overblown fannish disputes are known), there was a woman. She joined a fic archive and posted a few fics. She immediately had a few oddly rabid fans. Then she was flamed-- oh the drama!!-- by a Christian fundamentalist troll. Then she was flamed by another one, this time racist as well as the usual homophobic. ZOMG the horror! These trolls claimed to belong to a particularly cliquey fanfic archive. The archive didn't notice until much later, and then denied knowing about them, but the damage was done. Other cliques railed against this archive-- how could it harbor these trolls? Eventually, that archive was disbanded under the sheer weight of wank.
More drama ensued. Finally, after literally years of this sort of thing, some bright bulb noticed that... the woman and the trolls flaming her, after a bit of analysis, had the same IP address. As did her oddly rabid fans. In fact, they were all the same person. She had fabricated almost the entire affair.

Under an assumed name, an HP BNF has done some hardcore investigative reporting on the topic, and recently published a ten-part expose on the whole thing.

On the one hand... it's the Internet. It's Internet fanfiction.

On the other hand, these are people's lives. I can attest that you can sink a damn lot of yourself into these online relationships and identities, and moreso when creative endeavors and real social networks are at stake. These are (mostly) real people, with real emotions, with real relationships to one another, even if they're "only" online.

So what do you think, fellow journalers? Is this a big deal? Is it just the Internet? Should we care? Are we more likely to see more or less of this as more people move more of their lives and social relationships online?

And one, somewhat unrelated note of interest:
Every major player in the story related there is a woman. Which is a fascinating and oft-overlooked aspect of fandom life: We're almost all women. Why? I couldn't tell you; I lack the analytical education to draw conclusions from the numbers.

(e:zobar) is going to Little Rock tomorrow, for the weekend. I am going to be alone! I am sort of torn between being psyched at a change of pace, and distressed: I am never apart from (e:zobar) and don't know if I'll know what to do with myself.

I'd ask people if there was anything going on that I could do by myself, but I'll be working all four nights he's gone, until about 9, so I don't know that I'll really be all that able to get up to mischief. Oh well...

Seems like a good time to do all those things I like to do that Z doesn't,but there aren't really all that many. I'll probably just snooze on the couch the whole time...

When (e:zobar) says I took "a mental health day" he neglects to mention that I was lightheaded, disconnected, and seeing goddamned pink elephants.
OK, maybe not elephants, but everything was pretty colors and I was completely disconnected from real life. I woke up groggy and sinus-achey and took a Sudafed-- one, one half-dose, of Sudafed-- and promptly became so fucking high. I mean, the previous night I'd smoked a joint and had three beers and had not been this high. But today, eighteen hours later, one little tablet for the sniffles and I was out of this world.

Going to work on a high like that seemed to be a relatively bad idea. So instead I went to brunch, held my shit together reasonably well, and then went to hit the art festival.

We hit all the festivals, and stopped by Neitsche's. Joe-the-owner was working the door, and charged us the cover but then instructed the bartender to give us a beer. So we each had a beer. Whereupon I was high AND wasted. (Mind you, the Sudafed had been consumed about six hours previous by this point, so I couldn't even tell you what the hell was wrong with me.)
We sat in there in the blessed loud darkness for two or three hours all told, and later did a shot with Joe, followed by a beer chaser.

I tell you, Allentown is at its best when you can't really see straight. I had a blast.
And it's the only time in about the last week that I haven't had a headache. Freaking cold of Doom, here-- I almost called in *last* Sunday, but decided against it. It's sort of ridiculous by this point. I've felt so bad for so long that work must think I'm making it up. At the moment my sinuses are better but I have this killer headache-- I had a glass of red wine with dinner, followed by two cups of coffee and three of water (and it's not like the diuretic effects dehydrated me, as I haven't been to the ladies' room even once, camel-like creature that I am)... Man.

But anyway. Saw the Art Festival while so fucking high and have decided that it's the best way to go. I just wish I knew what it was that made me like that, and that I could kind of do it on command, as it's sort of not a good way to live one's life.


In other news, I want to start making my own clothes. Does anyone do that, around here? In particular (and this is what makes me either weird or dumb), I want to make my own foundation undergarments. Why? Because the only bras I have that fit me cost me like $50 and had to be imported from Britain.
I don't even know what size I am in American sizes, but in British sizes I'm a 34/36F/FF.

I'm glad we've been having all this rain, as it saves me having to water the garden where I just planted more stuff, but it sort of bums me out because I have so much more garden work to do. Oh well. I have work-work to go to instead anyway, and I'm so battered and exhausted from that...
Note to everybody: If flying anywhere in the summer, book your flight in the morning, because in the afternoons, often thunderstorm systems roll in, making the air unflyable. Thunderstorms generate dangerous turbulence and airliners cannot fly in them. If you are flying in the afternoon or evening, there's a damn good chance there'll be weather either this end or at the other, and it means you'll be sitting in the airport bar for an awful long time. Ask (e:jenks) how much a beer costs there, because if I told you, you wouldn't believe me.

Also, when your plane's delayed and you go into the bar, please understand that pretty much the entire rest of your flight just did the same thing, and so the bartenders might be a little overwhelmed. Please have a tiny bit of patience and don't snap at us. Also, when you suddenly realize ZOMG MY PLANE'S LEAVING RIGHT THIS SECOND, perhaps that's not the best time to pay the check, because guess what? The rest of your flight's passengers are probably all saying the exact same thing. Chill out a minute, ok? And next time, don't ignore the waitress for three hours when she asks if you need anything.

Sigh. Good to have that off my chest.

In other news, I really want to buy a harp and learn to play it. Would that be silly? I've studied piano and guitar, so how hard could it be? And they're not all that much on ebay.
A recent Getting Fired (I Wish) scare at work has convinced me not to buy any big-ticket items (like a new computer), so I'm sucking it up with the two I have. But I could get a harp. I'll get a busker's license and if I get fired I'll at least raise the money I spent on the instrument, right?
It's just so hard for me to talk myself into spending money on myself.

Nice weather today.
Laughing at (e:carolinian)'s National Grid saga, as I actually sat down at my computer just now with the express purpose of checking whether I'd paid my National Grid bill, as I just got another, vaguely threatening letter from them but am sure I did just pay them. And, indeed, I did, and it went through a week ago, so I've no idea what they're on about. Dumbasses.

(e:zobar) is wearing a very cool t-shirt today. I hope he'll post a picture.

I have a Saga going on at work, and I'm more amused than annoyed. As I explained to the union steward, I sort of am hoping they'll fire me, because it's too good a job to quit, but I'm damn sick of the bullshit there. Which puts me in a perfect position to fight all my grievances with the union, because The Worst That Could Happen is that they fire me, which I sort of wanted anyway.
The hardest part is that I can't do anything else that would give them an excuse to fire me.

My parents' visit was awesome. We didn't really do any activities at all-- just hung around the house and did work, and then ate out a few cool places and took pictures of pretty stones (and one wild turkey) in Forest Lawn cemetery.
But I miss my folks already.

I am having an idea about another column I could write for the newspaper. It seems overambitious, however. I should stop with this already.
I am feeling a little smug, however, to find out that the other, long-time restaurant critic has also been put on hold lately, so it's not just me who's not getting to write anything. Ha. I guess I feel a bit better about being ignored.