juliette dreams

I think I'm going to unsub from 07refugees. Every time I read a post there about what LJ is up to, I feel as though I'm a survivor of an abusive relationship who finally got up the courage to leave, but still has to spy on what her ex is doing (do they have a new girlfriend? are they beating her up? are they cheating on her with other women?)

I made this decision today after basically giving lj_biz a big fat F you (minus the self-censorship, heh) regarding their latest announcementbacktracking on the whole boldthrough thing, trying to clarify their definition of child pornography while (as I pointed out) the pro-anorexia/child-beating/gay-hating communities still do whatever they damn well please at the expense of Real Children (and how is some HP porn worse than that?). And by now, the cycle at LJ is way too easy to predict; way too inevitable. Fundie-fanatical-religious groups get pissed by something (probably homosexual in content but who knows?) and threaten LJ via their precious sponsors. LJ reacts with bannings and silence. Fandom says WTF and kicks up a stink, and LJ eventually apologise and say 'we didn't mean it' and offer a permanent account sale. Or some other carrot to stick up your bum. And so on. Ping...pong. Ping...pong. And I'm over it, I really am. As I mentioned in the cut section of a previous post, I'm going to keep a basic LJ account over there because I leave places on my own goddamn terms and as a writer I don't see why I should punish myself or my audience, but, bleh, yeah. And I deleted the comment, and a link to it in the refugees community. Not because I'm spineless, but because in the end I thought, "what's the bloody point?" You know?

Anyway, despite all of this, for some reason, I have a journalfen account now. I'm Juliette over there too, although what I'm actually going to do with said account defies my current albeit exhausted imagination for this evening. ;) Anyway, if you want someone to add to your friends list over there, I'm around. Maybe I'll finally scribble some fanfic to post, or something.

And ADSL is back, finally. A lot of hassle, but it makes life easier. InsaneJournal runs like a two-legged dog on 56k, which is a lot more than I can say for deviantArt.

love,
J--

Out of curiosity, does anyone on my F-List have a journalfen account? Is it worth getting one?

love,
J--

Today the significant other alerted me to a news report about the Australian government's latest plans to Censor teh Internetz, by forcing ISPs to place a filter between themselves, users' home computers, and all online content. Hmm, I think I've heard plans like this before. Like, around about 1998. Still, it's an election year, and since it's pretty much a sure bet they're going to lose, I suppose they feel hell-bent on bringing in as many damaging and thoughtless policies as quickly as they can, before they're dragged kicked and screaming from Kirribilli mansion & Canberra. (Don't get me started on nuclear power...) But even then there's no respite, because the policies being touted by Labor (the opposition) are even more ridiculous.

Perhaps ironically, I had to do a bit of searching to find out the details of these so-called plans.

Currently a poll on the Nine MSN news site reflects that roughly 26000 Australians support the idea of internet censorship, versus approximately 32000 who don't. But I couldn't easily find any reference to the story in question there.

So, a quick click over to Melbourne's The Age news site finally paid off somewhere near the bottom of the page (God bless my home town rag).

"It's hard to understand ... how people will make decisions at the network about what Mr and Mrs Average ought to see, and you're talking about a censoring service provided by the private sector," Dalby said... (Sound familiar?) The policy was announced today as part of a $189 million Federal Government crackdown on online bad language, pornography and child sex predators.

Online bad language. o.O Like calling Howard/Rudd an f'ing idiot, perhaps? 6Apart, watch and learn. :P

And while things like this sound good and like nothing to be argued with in Utopian theory, I'm not so young I've forgotten the controversy caused by Net Nanny and their ilk censoring sites with classical nude art, for example, because of all the "naughty bits". Therefore I'm not so ready to believe the level/ease of customisation is there for "Mr and Mrs Average."

Edited to add this tidbit from news.com.au, with comments.

Oh well. What the hell do I care? I use a Mac anyway, so no doubt this filter software will be Vista only. ;)

love,
J--

Hmm...

Just came across this while surfing recently updated asylums, in the pornicators HP community profile.

As of March 2005, Australian laws have tightened. It is a criminal offence to access (or distribute, etc) child pornography material and/or child abuse material. Child refers to a person "who is, or appears to be, under 18 years of age."

No. In Australia, the legal age of consent is actually 16 years of age (unless you're doing it with a teacher/guardian, basically.) Now, don't get me wrong, I don't particularly care that this community wants to keep its fics and art all above the 18 years range, not a problem, and I don't go fishing about for under-18 specific stuff anyway, but the one thing I am tired of seeing is Australia's laws being held up as the holy grail and final verdict on child porn by everyone from asinine vigilante groups to overparanoid mods, when as far as I understand it our age-of-consent is much lower than the US and Canada's at 18 years of age. The only laws I broke in my school days were related to underage drinking, I really wasn't that cool :P

Yeah, there's more important stuff in life to get ticked off over, but this is quick and easy to spill out over a keyboard :P

love,
J--

If this had been in the movie (or, let's be honest, even the comic strip these days) it might have piqued my interest. Maybe :P

( Cut to spare your FL page formatting... )

You can thank the S.O for that one.

love,
J--

I'm not so good at pissing people off, or dealing with feelings arising from that, even though after surviving a string of abusive relationships in one form or another and working in retail, I've apparently had heaps of practice. :/

Gah. Now I shall go and hide behind that conveniently placed rock, right over there.

love,
J--

Found at the "Overheard in Melbourne" community on LJ, taking place at a supermarket in one of the many suburbs where I used to live:

Customer: So, where are you from?
Check-out guy: The Philippines.
Customer: Do they have witchcraft in your country?
Check-out guy: Yeah, I guess.
Customer: Then why don't you get on your broomstick and fly back where you came from?
Check-out guy: I only use my broomstick to sweep out the white trash.

Nice. :D

love,
J--

Two contributions for sixwordstories since I think it's a bizarre and somewhat silly challenge.

ADDICTION
Want you. Need you. Hate you.

FAIRYTALE AS TOLD BY A SIX YEAR OLD
"Mermaid foam is dead girl tears."


love,
J--

The money finally cleared into my paypal account, so darkromantic is now a permanently insane member. Yay! It feels strange to be paying for that one first, since at the moment I use this journal far more often, but that's the way things worked out.

Oh well: one down, three to go, since I plan on paying for 30_somethings down the track, as well.

love,
J--

I've recently been reading Holly Lisle's Plot Clinic (one of the few eBook purchases I've ever made) and, via that, came across this website: Archetypes Storytelling Cards. It looks like the sort of thing that might come in handy in moments when ideas need at least a gentle push...

love,
J--

I think I wasted far too much time today, doing frivolous things like picking out a whole bunch of new user icons, and hopefully more rewarding-in-the-long-term things like setting up my writing journal at darkromantic so I can join the voicesinmyhead community. Mweh.

Oh well. Now back to the Editing.

love,
J--

Research for the newest work, and therefore I may come back to add more to this, but for now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Revelation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_angel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam#Angels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_Times
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna


love,
J--

I've been feeling anxious and worried for most of the day. Whether this is because of forcing myself to deal with so many new people, even in the online world (sadly, when dealing with others I tend to find myself becoming more like a mirror, and conversing with those who do not understand me only leaves me feeling spiritually discordant and uneasy), or whether it's the strangeness of growing into this new self, is something I'm uncertain of. Either way, I hope it fades back into nothingness soon.

I also need to work on some character interviews, particularly with "Eve", who will be the main focus of one of the stories, probably a prequel or offshoot to the actual novel I have (vaguely) planned for her to unravel herself (and myself) in. I take my writing so seriously, it's become all I have to give--even though objectively in life I know that isn't strictly true--that I miss that connection with others who feel the same way about these things. It's probably what I miss most, perhaps the only thing, with that one who long ago betrayed me.

But I've done it before. If I have to do it again, I know I can survive, enshrouded in loneliness, trapped in the solitude of my own dreams.

love,
J--

Finally signed up for my own community. :P
( Prompt Tables Angsts & Lyrics for Eve, Morgan and Belle )

love,
J--

Quite an interesting article by Bev Vincent over at Storytellers Unplugged, a blog I visit from time to time (although I've never read any of the actual works by the writers who post there):

http://www.storytellersunplugged.com/2007/06/pushing-rope.html

I think reading this made a tiny light come on inside my mind; not the lightning bolt of Rollins but something tamer, as is typically the difference between discussing art and craft.

Regardless of all that, reading this article made me realise that I've probably been spending far too much time chasing my tail. What do I mean by that? Well, having come up with interesting ideas, and characters to go with them, I've then been trying my darndest to slot or hammer the character into the idea, or where I think the idea should go, rather than letting both meld together the way they should. I mean, my ideas are never so complete or linear that this kind of inorganic growth is even required. And since I discovered this flaw in my ways, I've been consciously trying to change my thought patterns, steering away from letting the development head down the well-trodden path of "What happens next?" and more into the opaque waters of "Who am I within this world?".

Or something. I don't know, maybe I should find it a relief that I'm as old as I am and yet not everything in the world is as obvious as it should be.

love,
J--

Well, I've done it, I've gone and created the 30_somethings community, for writing prompts. It's already getting a good response, and I've not even bothered to advertise it yet. Hopefully all will go well, and then I, too, can join in the fun. For now, I'm off to bed!

love,
J--

Having spent a bit more time having a look around this place in the last twenty-four hours, I've begun to wonder how much of a community is really going on--or likely to take off--here. I mean, it seems like a great place to be, on the surface, but I wonder whether, like so many of the LJ clones out there, it doesn't suffer somewhat from "junk journal" syndrome. I'm also pondering whether to start an "asylum" of my own. I mean, no one likes to type into a vacuum, right? Especially writers, no matter how anti-social we're purported to be.

*sigh*

love,
J--

There's something incredibly liberating about starting again, somewhere new, with a name and a face and a past that nobody knows, that won't be picked apart under the microscope. It's been a while since I've been on the run; there's no reason, though, that I can't go running through the digital wastelands too.

Perhaps that's even the reason I've not written anything in so long. Fear of public expectations, from those I once considered my friends. Fear of failure. Fear of judgement. I'm an artist, you see, but I've never felt comfortable with having my every move my every feeling dissected like poetry in the hands of a tenth-grade English teacher. That's what it came to, in the end.

So no more fear, no more hesitation, no more hiding from the monsters lurking under the bed. This is my beginning--and how I've lost count of how many new beginnings. Perhaps, just perhaps, I can find others to share with here. But I know, no matter what happens, that now I don't have a preconceived persona to live up/down to, I can take a little breath.

And begin to live and dream again.

love,
J--