Things that make me happy

[extrapenguin]

Last night, I dreamed that I was trying to have tea in the work breakroom and instead somehow got roped into political debate with the populist racist fuckwit party's chairman, who for some reason was over there (instead of idk doing election work stuff). On live TV. Dream-me did miraculously manage to convince dream-him to care about climate change with the iron-tight logic of "climate change creates refugees and you hate refugees, so you should stop climate change". Nevertheless, it was super stressful, and I am unimpressed with my brain. (Especially as other dreams included a half-remembered "suddenly the whole Guardian fandom hates me and comments passive-aggressively on my posts, also I got accused of murder" one from earlier in the night. Thanks, brain!) So. I have decided to write about things that make me happy!

1. My Ye Zun fic, Ten Thousand Tears, is going down well. So well, in fact, that green made me an icon! Sunshine and happiness!

2. People are engaging with Guardian Episode by Episode: 08!

3. The 520 Reverse Exchange is in matching now. By Wednesday, I'll get an assignment, whee! (Time to type up the 4-5k left in my MDZS WIP. But I have Space Swap admin stuff to do first...)

4. I have tea! Organic Red Snail, from Teavivre, this morning. I don't think I'll reorder this one, but it is tea.

5. I've discovered (via mecurtin's comment on yhlee's post) that the Metropolitan Museum has a series of essays on the arts that is not limited to Western ones! Take this one on Chinese calligraphy, for instance. (As an aside, I absolutely love the written word, and that very much shows in how my interest in Chinese is very heavily on the text side, rather than the "oh I just want to learn to speak, writing is too hard" thing lots of people have when they start Chinese.)

6. Going through old possessions, I found some artworks I made years ago. I've now put two of them up on the wall, as well as some of the artworks I bought for the previous place but didn't have time to hang yet. (I really should get back into painting/drawing/into calligraphy, but that'd require blocking out some time for it, which I'm kinda bad at. Especially since I have to do stuff like laundry as well. Hm, maybe the summer holiday will have time for lazy art outdoors...)

7. Elaborating on the theme of rediscoveries, I enjoy reading philosophy and thinking and diving into things. Both Robert Eno and David K. Jordan have websites of translated Chinese stuff, material philosophical and cultural, and I enjoy nothing more than plopping down and learning something new. My joy is the joy of discovery.

...and with those reminders to self (and links that othere might find useful), I can get into my homework and Space Swap admin + replying to comments on DW and AO3.

Comments

[asya_ana]

Is it wrong that I am sitting here refreshing the page for my assignment? ;) I know it's early, but the anticipation!!

[extrapenguin]

Given that they're hand-matching, I'm assuming they will send the e-mails on Wednesday. If my assignment appears before that, yay, but in the meanwhile I have writing projects to finish. Also I've discovered that if I open Wattpad in an incognito window, I can read more than 3 chapters of Sha Po Lang without it blocking me from reading any further without an account.

[china_shop]

Brains are terrible. Yay for happy things! :-)

[extrapenguin]

Indeed, brains are terrible, but happiness exists! I woke up to two AO3 comment notifications. :3

[jo_lasalle]

Dreams about racist fuckwits should be banned, that's just not fair! Brains... >.<

(I recently dreamed about having to write my exchange requests while trying to catch & get away from a serial killer. My stress level related to the exchange has been a little somethingsomething but that one made me go, 'No, srsly, it's not THAT bad!' o__O)

Good strategy to focus on the happy! Sparkleprincess Shen Wei agrees!

[extrapenguin]

Brains should just stahp occasionally. Only approved dreams, please! No stress dreams, politics-related or otherwise. (Last night's dream of trying to turn off my phone alarm but always swiping in the wrong direction can also go.)

Sparkleprincess Shen Wei is very wise to focus on the happiness!

[rheasilvia]

Ack, brains! Although I am impressed with dream-you's convincing power.

(Whose murder were you accused of, though...? And did you do it? Just curious...)

Those are some excellent things! :-)

[extrapenguin]

Brains! They are too OP on occasion.

It was someone in the Guardian fandom, but I don't think they were ever named in the dream, and I also don't recall if I actually did it? It was complicated. Then my brain swapped out for a fictional people dream that was some sort of Ye Zun redemption arc that would retcon itself every 3 minutes, including changing the time period it was set in.

Happiness is good! It's worth it to concentrate on the positive things of life every once in a while.

[rheasilvia]

Ye Zun redemption arc that would retcon itself every 3 minutes, including changing the time period it was set in

That actually sounds pretty fascinating... tricky to write, though! Easier to dream. :-)

[extrapenguin]

The only way I could make it work is as some sort of RPF crossover thing that broke the fourth wall and was about Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong's No Good, Very Bad, Horrible Workday featuring the script that kept changing all the time. It might be entertaining to read, I suppose, but I don't want to write it...

[rheasilvia]

This reminds me of the movie Living in Oblivion - do you know it? I remember it having exactly this kind of vibe.

No, I wouldn't want to write it either, although it sounds extremely entertaining if done well!

[extrapenguin]

I haven't, but now I want to write the fic even more, dammit. I have other things to finish, brain, shut up! Plot bunnies and scene ideas begone!

[trobadora]

Oh no, those are not the fun kind of dreams. I hope you'll get better ones!

(As an aside, I absolutely love the written word, and that very much shows in how my interest in Chinese is very heavily on the text side, rather than the "oh I just want to learn to speak, writing is too hard" thing lots of people have when they start Chinese.)

Heh. I'm still dithering about actually learning Chinese, but my priority list goes something like, 1) listening comprehension, 2) reading, 3) writing. (There is no 4. I don't much want to talk to people in any language. *g*)

[extrapenguin]

Me too! I want fun fandom-y dreams where the whole cast is fictional, not stress dreams about talking to politicians or being late for a plane. (My subconscious was very unsubtle when it was time to finish my thesis.)

(There is no 4. I don't much want to talk to people in any language. *g*)
LOL! I feel you. Though part of my decision to put reading above listening was that all Chinese shows are subtitled in Chinese. I can just read!

[trobadora]

I wish I could have fun fandom dreams, but I'll gladly take no fandom dreams if I can avoid the stressful ones that way! (The dreams I remember are all terrifyingly mundane. For example, I keep dreaming I'm getting up in the morning and getting ready for work. It's how my brain tries to get around having to actually wake up, I suppose! *g*)

Though part of my decision to put reading above listening was that all Chinese shows are subtitled in Chinese. I can just read!

That makes sense! Except that I don't like subtitles, regardless of the language - my brain will focus on them to the exclusion of everything else, so I don't really see what's happening on screen. Should I ever get to the point of sufficient listenting comprehension in Chinese, that's going to be incredibly frustrating for me!

[extrapenguin]

Oh no, dreaming about getting up in the morning is the absolute worst. One has to wake up and do all those boring tasks all over!

Being completely distracted by subtitles does sound like a recipe for disaster with Chinese. (Unless you decide to be fully illiterate, idk.)

[trobadora]

It's too late for full illiteracy already. /o\

(I haven't actually tried to memorise anything so far, AND YET somehow I've already come to recognise around 50 characters on sight ... It's astonishing what constant exposure will do.)