Fan Fiction and the Real Girl
As I have said in a previous blog, it has been my goal this year to read more. I have accomplished this. I have read way more than I did last year. Also next year one of my goals is to do every single homework from the Nerdette Podcast so that will require me to read a ton more. However one thing that has stuck more than anything else is fan fiction.
I can’t tell you when I started reading fan fiction, but I can tell you how I got started. I read an article on MSN about fan fiction, and they talked about how this particular work of fan fiction was even better than the work it was based off of, which was Twilight. It was called Wide Awake and imagine my surprise that it was a lot of people’s gateway drug into fan fiction. Since then I have probably read over a thousand stories. Most of them are Twilight. Occasionally I will branch off into Harry Potter or even Supernatural. But for some reason Twilight has always felt like home to me as far as fan fiction goes.
The Twilight fandom also paved the way for a lot of people who wouldn’t normally have gotten published to actually be published. Snow Queens Ice Dragon, or as you guys know her as E.L James burst onto the scene with her 50 Shades of Gray books. This further expanded the universe for people. Say what you want about those books (I read the initial one when it was still a fan fiction), she helped show the publishing world that there are other ways to find new talent. It also helped to show the world new voices and new genres of works. I wanted to write here that gay shape shifting animals chopping wood is a new genre, but then I thought of Anita Blake. It’s totally not a new genre.
Anyway, with this post today I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite fan fictions and authors.
Debra Anastasia – Fire Down Below
Crack fiction is a type of fan fiction not a lot of people rock with. In crack fiction (crackfic) the sky can be green. Your favorites are doing everything completely out of character (ooc) everything is silly and depending on how you feel about it is enough to make you bust a gut. Debra (Ms. Anastasia if you nasty) burst on the scene with the hilarious story of Gynazole, a crackfic featuring all of our Twilight friends. Fast forward a few years and Debra Anastasia is a published author with several books under her belt, most notably the Poughkeepsie series. I lost touch with her on twitter several years ago, but recently made contact again, as I was reminiscing about Gynazole to some friends, and they informed me that she published it under the name Fire Down Below. I went ahead and purchased it, and the second book, and spent the next few days howling laughing. I was doubled over with tears in my eyes at the hilarious antics of Dove Glitch. I now keep bugging Debra to make a third book. I’m fairly certain she is going to block me on twitter any day now.
Twist and Shout – Supernatural Fan Fiction
Over here at Geeky Girl’s Guide to Life, all three of us are Supernatural fans. Kim was the one who encouraged me to watch, and it took some years but I finally did. Rebekah…girl, I am not even going to go there. She is a fanatic. They have both been to cons, and that is how they actually ended up meeting in person. Like I said before I typically stick to Twilight fan fiction, and I am not entirely sure what possessed me to read this one. But I am so glad I do. This fan fiction (which is a Destiel paring) took my heart out of my chest, squeezed it and put it back in. To refresh myself I re-read it a couple of days ago, and my husband found me laying face down on my desk sobbing. I don’t even know where to begin with this. Dean and Castiel are heartwarming and refreshing with true conflicts that match the age in which this store was placed (the 1960’s-80’s). Make sure you have tissues on hand if you pick this up.
So look. I struggled to add this fan fiction. It is going to sound ridiculous because I have read it multiple times. It keeps me entertained. However, I am not a huge fan of the characters. I can’t decide if it is because of Edward, the religion, or what. However, I do know that I would be remiss in not adding it. It is a well written story. The characters are well fleshed out. But “The Cannabean Way” makes me so irrationally angry. LET THESE WOMEN LIVE! Stop being a spoiled bitch because you didn’t get to have sex Edward. STOP HOLDING OUT ON INFORMATION THAT BELLA NEEDS CHARLIE. Man, I hate the Cannabean religion. It isn’t even a real religion, and I hate it. Read this story. Then message me.
Look. Lissa Bryan did her homework. The history in this story is impeccable. This story was one of the things that helped me realize that I enjoy historical fiction. I enjoy the eventual love that Bella and Edward share. The mini stories that play out in this story are also wonderful. I didn’t know any of this history before reading this work. There is a part two to this, but it is unfinished. I have spoken with the author, and she does plan to get back into it. She just has some things going on right now. I can’t wait.
So these are just a few of the ones that enjoy. Do you read fan fiction? Are there any that you recommend? Have any of your favorite authors been published?
A semi-fight on the Twitter
Note: I didn’t intend on having an entry today. I was going to wait until Wednesday. There is going to be one on Wednesday as well 
This entry could also be entitled “I’m too old for this shit.”
I don’t use the actual Twitter application. I use a program called Hoot Suite. It allows me to have different streams that I don’t have to switch back and forth to view. The top ones that I show are my general stream, the hash tags for natural hair and the hash tags for Indianapolis.
I was reading yesterday when this little gem came through:
SHOUTOUT to all the Hoes claiming #TeamNatural because they can't AFFORD the REMY, ACRYLIC, LASHES, AND A HAIR STYLIST.
At first I just blinked. I was confused. I responded to the girl (not woman, GIRL) asking her why would anyone want all of that crap on? That is a ton of artifice. Even if you weren’t natural, that is a lot of stuff. If you met someone with that stuff on, and then took it off they wouldn’t recognize you.
Her response:
I'm guessing your a broke bitch
Um, no, I was just trying to figure out what the heck is going on in your head. I didn’t say much after that, just told her, no, I was not broke, nor a bitch,and I was trying to get into her head and understand the need for all of that.
Her response:
lmao why would u think I would consider explaining anything to u
Then she proceeded to poked fun at my AVI. She went on to say that maybe I should wear all of that.
Honestly? The child is 22 years old. Her twitter background is of her boobs and face with blond hair cascading down (she’s black) her back. It makes no difference what she thinks and what she does. But the fact of the matter that I got caught up in this nonsense, what does that say about me? And did I really get caught up in it? I wanted an honest and logical answer to where her thought processes were on this. Guess I am the stupid one for thinking that this bitch (and yes, she is a bitch) had home training or common sense (when she said she had to get back to work, I may have said she probably worked in the world’s oldest profession. She never said anything back, so she might not understand what I was inferring.)
From now on when I ask a question to someone on Twitter, I am going to look at their profile. If they have boobs all over the place, I’m just going to disregard. I’m too old for all this nonsense.
I made it myself
A rough couple of weeks.
Hey guys.
The past two weeks have been absolute HELL. Filled with school work and more school work. I am weary, the house is a wreck and my writing has slacked. I apologize.
Because of the weather and snow outside, I have pretty much been wearing my hair in two strand twists under a beret. It is really cute. I really like how it looks. I pop in either some dangly earrings or some hoop earrings and VOILA! Instant style.
I was watching some older videos and ran across this long forgotten Musiq Soulchild video:
I just want to say, I LOVE the main girl's hair style. Does anyone know what that is called? *jealous*
In more annoying news, just today I posted this on both my Facebook page, and The Tale of Going Natural Facebook page:
The comment that I put to it was this: "Let's start this weekend off right, shall we?"
Shortly after I posted it to my personal Facebook page. I get a comment from a girl I went to high school with:
I am not my hair? Really? Jeez. My favorite part is when Akon states '...the sex only come when I cut it all off.' Obviously, these artists have nothing more important to say. This is sad, and it really goes to show how superficial, ego-centric, and avoidant popular culture is. 🙁
I just looked at the comment. How can someone be so blind, or stupid? I responded with:
In black culture, we are often told that unless our hair is straighened, you have nappy, knotty slave hair. We tend to be a culture obsessed with our hair. The African American hair industry is a booming business. What she is stating in this video is that we do need to worry less about our hair, and more about the person within. It's not a sad ego-centric video. It's attempting to bring a positive message to an issue a lot of black women (and men) deal with.
I don't know if it is Facebook messing up, or if she deleted the comment, but sometimes you can see her comment now, sometimes you can't. A lot of her posts are pretty much retarded, and I am seriously considering deleting her from my list. It isn't like we talk. We didn't even really talk in high school. She was weird then too.
She just responded again, but I am not even going to waste my time on it. *bangs head on the table*
A lot of time has been spent on twitter when I am on the computer researching or writing or programming. Can I just say that I love the natural hair hashtag (#naturalhair). It is a great group of people with different videos, ideas, advice, and questions. Sometimes it does get a little militant on there with the natural hair v. relaxed hair, but for the most part, they are pretty cool.
I still have not henna glossed my hair. I am really too busy right now and I am not entirely sure what type of conditioner I can use to mix it up. The instructions say to use a no protein conditioner. Well....other than the back of the bottle saying protein, I have no clue what other words are considered protein. If anyone has any ideas on that, please, do not hesitate to let me know.
In between times that I take my hair out of the twists, co-wash and then re-twist them, they get dry. Another girl on twitter was having this same issue and didn't know what to do. My solution is inexpensive and easy. put olive oil and warm water (who wants cold water?) in a spray bottle and shake. Mist it lightly over your head. I don't have any measurements, I am sorry, but generally speaking I do equal parts of each. When I am in the shower, I bring the spray bottle in there with me, and let the hot water run all over it, heating the cold water up (I put enough for more than one application in a spray bottle so it will cool down after a few minutes or so). Two things I can't stand: Water running down the back of my neck (which is weird because I love to swim) and cold water running down the back of my neck. Warm water is the lesser of the two evils.
Okay, so that is enough babbling for right now. My goals today are to clean the house and get back to programming, database design, and math (my arch enemy).
Oh! One more thing. Book Recommendation of the day:
Have a great weekend guys!
Miss Jessie’s Sale
I am not a huge fan of Miss Jessie's products, but this is a natural hair blog, and I would be woefully ignorant if I didn't let you guys know that Miss Jessie's is having a buy one get one free sale on her site.
Check it out here
Kind of an Idea I have going on
I would love love LOVE to have a natural hair meetup here in Indianapolis. I think we are at a decent place, and there is plenty to do around here.
Problem is? I don't know the first thing about doing a natural hair meetup. I would do it early summer (when I don't have classes, and it would give me a year to plan things!) If you have any ideas, advice, or would like to help, shoot me an email, a message, anything! How do I get sponsors? Things like that.
Also you can find me on twitter with your ideas @mrsckugs.
Torrid is messing with my emotions
Torrid just posted on facebook and on twitter that their clearance is an additional 50% off. It is not! Driving me insane!!!
Hair products and Helping with Leukemia and Lymphoma
Well, that is an odd title isn't it? I mean, even for me it seems a little out of place doesn't it? Normally you would be right, but today that is not the case. On Twitter (or The Twittah as I refer to it) I follow the trend #naturalhair.
That is where I met some of my readers and I also read interesting things that people are doing to their natural hair.
One day there was a post about getting sample sizes of products inexpensively. I contacted the person and they explained to me what was going on.
Shonika Griffin and her twin sister Rashida make up the team PB&J for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They chose the unique way of selling product samples to raise money for their cause. I immediately ordered. 11 years ago I had an incredibly close friend pass away from Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I was 17. She was 19. I know how devastating these diseases can be and was eager to help their cause.
In that vein, I wanted to do an interview with Shonika. This was a unique fundraiser, and the way she was getting attention to her cause was unique as well. She agreed to answer the questions that I e-mailed to her.
1. Why did you pick this charity?
We chose the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) for a few reasons
a. There was a bone marrow drive held in 2009 in the city (NYC) for a little 6 year old girl named Jasmina Anema. She was one of the only African-Americans that we had ever heard of having Leukemia. When she passed in January 2010, it really struck a chord with us.
b. We were on a mission to get healthy. We started running, but didn't really know anything about form, stretching, clothing, etc. LLS had a program called Team In Training that helped train people for endurance events. We thought that was great! We could get more fit and also run for a reason. So we signed up to run our first half marathon (13.1 miles)
We are running in honor of 5 beautiful ladies, including Jasmina
> 2. I think it is a great idea selling the sample sizes of the hair products. It gives us product junkies a chance to try out different things without breaking the bank. How did this idea come along?
Now there are so many different products out there for us natural haired Divas. But even a sample size can run you as much as $6.00 and that's not including taxes and S&H. Who wants to decide between eating or buying one 2oz sample size? We thought this would give people a chance to sample a few different products without breaking the bank. With that same $6.00 you can get as many as 6 different products with us. And it all benefits a wonderful cause!
> 3.
Who is (or are if they're multiples) your partner in helping you? How did you guys meet up?
My partner is my twin sister, Rashida. She's my best friend. I didn't think it was possible, but training for this event together has brought us even more closer. When one of us feels like giving up, the other is right there to lift you up. It's a beautiful thing to have someone who is just as passionate and competitive as you are!! We always stick together (hence our nickname Team PB&J)>
> 4.
Do you have a website I can send people to? One where they can either donate or sign up for products that they would like?
To make a donation, please visit our fundraising websites. Mine is www.tinyurl.com/shonikasanfran. My sister's is www.tinyurl.com/rashidasanfran. To order products, simply email us at shonikagriffin@optonline.net or rashidalgriffin@yahoo.com
You guys, this is a great cause. It is also a great way to try different products without having to shell out a ton of money. I hope that you guys will give Shonika and Rashida a ring....or an email.. You know what I mean.
Tell them Leslie sent you. 🙂
Espionage Cosmetics
