...and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that yet. Part of me still thinks this is going to be just like any other summer, and that once the warm weather fades and fall starts to roll its way in, I'll be heading back to the familiar halls of Masco to once again see all your lovely faces.

One thing I am sure of though, is that I love you guys. So much. (And yes, I know there's already a post on here made specifically for the kind of gushy love rambling that I'm about to do in this post, but I'm making my own because I feel like it. Nothing personal, I just feel like there's a lot to be said, and I didn't want to do it in the comments.) If there's anything I regret about my high school experience, it's that I didn't get to know you guys sooner. For so long, there was a part of me that I kept hidden and stifled, away from my family, away from my other peers, away from my other friends, because they just didn't get it, and I didn't think anyone ever would. While I sat in class, daydreaming away about fictional characters and pairings and ridiculous scenarios, I didn’t realize that there were others like me in the very same building, who felt the same way, who were just as obsessed with the fictional lives of fictional people in fictional worlds. (Possibly more obsessed). But all of you brought that part of me out. Expanded it. Gave me a place to let it run rampant, made me feel comfortable with it, gave me a way to embrace it. I may not have always joined in on the fangirling, but the point is, I felt safe with you guys, and that makes me more grateful than you could ever know.

For a long time, Olivia was just that tall, ginger kid with the purple backpack that sat on the opposite side of the aisle from me on the bus, red hair hanging in front of her face so that I couldn't really make out her profile. Sometimes I'd spare her a shy glance out of the corner of my eye as we rode along to each stop, thinking that we kind of seemed a little similar. Both of us never sat with anyone. Both of us were on the innermost sides of our bus seats. She appeared to be (somewhat deceivingly) quiet and reserved, and I should've paid closer attention to that little anime figurine swinging from her bag. Maybe if I’d known all it took was a “Sit next to me!” to get to know her a little more, I would’ve said it sooner. (Probably not. I was socially awkward as hell, and still am.)

For a long time, Abbey was that girl who sang in the school chorus and was in my yoga class freshman year. I didn't know much else about her. Or Sam for that matter. I remember thinking she was pretty loud and equally strange, but not much else. I recall that Erica was pretty much, at one point, just the girl who sat across from me in Beekley's English class, until that is, we ended up in the same study and wound up having long conversations about things our families had in common.

I couldn't see into the future, and therefore, I didn't realize that eventually, you'd all be holding a piece of my heart.

I'm usually pretty reticent, and I don't usually get emotional. It makes me feel weird and embarrassed. But as awkward as I am, and as  melodramatic as this may seem, this needs to be said.

Those mannerisms and familiar facial expressions are things of yours that I'll never forget. The way Sam feels the need to speak in an increasingly loud voice every time she gets excited. The way Olivia uses her hands excessively while she talks. Your voices. Erica's fetish for Asian men. Her extremely hilarious and signature laughter. The way your constant unabashed behavior made my face burn on a daily basis (singing show tunes in the hallways and in other public places, screaming and flailing dramatically and without regard to our oftentimes bemused audiences, etc.), while I cursed you all silently and loved you all simultaneously. The way Abbey giggles when the only thing you guys could possibly be discussing is slash. Sam's ability to be absolutely terrifying and to execute the perfect witch cackle. Olivia's smile. The way that Olivia has been the only girl to ever make me question my sexuality. No, I'm not kidding, Olivia. I'm actually serious. Everything.

I just want to say thanks. For all the laughs. For all the fangirling. For all that wonderful feeling of I belong. Thanks for listening to me talk about my obsessions.

High school was, overall, an uncomfortable, horribly confusing time of self-exploration for me. I discovered some things about myself that I don’t really like, and some things that I do - but mostly ones I don’t. I’m still working on fixing myself and straightening myself out. But you people made high school bearable - no, far more than bearable - for me.

I think you all saved me. I turned out for the better because of you. High school would have been truly awful, I think, if it hadn’t been for all of you.

Whatever happens to me down the road, wherever I end up, even though I honestly can’t form a definite picture of my future self, I know that there’s a part of me that will remain behind, on our bench, in that small, strange group of high school friends back at Masco, where it belongs.

So yeah, I guess I kind of went around the world and back trying to say something that could have been summed up in one word.

Love.

I love you crazy bitches. <3

 

 

 

AWESOME THINGS WHICH ARE AWESOME: I'm in the library as I write this, because I literally have nothing else to do. SENIORS, @#$% YEAH \o/

But meme! Here are the rules to this meme: make a list of ten fandoms and number them one to ten. Then click on the cut and answer the questions.

MY LIST:
1. Phoenix Wright
2. Firefly
3. TF2
4. Teen Titans
5. Ouran
6. Havemercy
7. Soul Eater
8. Big Time Rush
9. Harry Potter
10. Portal.

...I have fantastic taste, you guys. XD ( Here are the questions!Collapse )

Hey, gang, guess what! I HAVE RETURNED FROM FLORIDA. And guess what else? I HAVE A NEW MEME. Yeah, you thought I'd run out of memes, didn't you? WELL YOU THOUGHT INCORRECTLY. This one's pretty simple! Name a fandom that I at least ship things in and I'll tell you:

My het OTP:
My slash OTP:
My femslash OTP:
My endgame OTP:
My original OTP:
My crack OTP:
My guilty pleasure OTP:
My anti-OTP:

You know the drill: ask me, ask each other, fill it out by yourself although that kind of takes most of the fun out of it. YAY FOR MEMES! It's good to be home. <3

Today, an adorable British youtuber known as Charlie posted this video in which, if you are too lazy to watch it, he was challenged to prove the level of his nerdiness in a Nerd Off.  Basically, he listed his nerdy traits, and his challenger will do the same, and then somehow it'll be decided who is nerdier.  

Lovely ladies of the MHS Geek Club, I challenge you to the same tournament.  Who among you is the greatest nerd of them all?  

I'll start.  

ARTEMIS'S NERD QUALIFICATIONS

- I went to nerd camp for six years straight.  
- I am taking two English classes, and one of them is essentially about comic books.  
- My nerdy t-shirt collection represents Buffy, Firefly (twice), and Portal.  
- I write fanfiction on FFnet, and though I'm not really that popular I still get a handful of reviews/favorites pretty regularly each week.  
- My brain is an encyclopedia of lyrics, including but certainly not limited to every word to every song in A Very Potter Musical.  
- I've done NaNoWriMo three times, and I won twice.  
- I read 10 webcomics regularly, and dabble in many others.  
- I participate in too many fandoms to count, ranging from Ouran to Harry Potter to Sherlock Holmes.  
- I own so many books that I ran out of shelf space years ago.  
- I have cosplayed as Kaylee from Firefly, Sniper from TF2, Audrey from Atlantis, and Zarla's Hunter (which was even pretty nerdy among nerds).  
- I have acne issues, I am very shy when not around people who I know well, and I'm painfully awkward a lot of the time.  


That should pretty much cover it!  DO I HAVE ANY CHALLENGERS?  

In between all our delicious superhero hijinks, how about some equally delicious meme? This one's pretty simple: leave a comment with four fandoms, and I'll tell you my favorite character from each and why. AND THEN I WILL GIVE YOU SOME. Or you can give each other some, because guys these memes don't always have to be about me. XD Have at it!

 I was thinking that, since we have these fantastic Superhero Lesbian characters and backstories and everything, we should do something with them!  So who's up for a bit of role playing in the comments section?  

Let's just have a really simple scenario - Dr. Echo (you're going with that name, right?) and Muse are doing something nefarious, like robbing a bank or something.  And Kathryn (Binks?) and I swoop in to save the day!  Also we have little screen-watches a la Kim Possible so we can talk to Erica so she can tell us the sitch, et cetera.  ...Hilarity and sexy flirting ensues.  

I think I've mentioned all of the established characters, but if you want to create a character and jump in, GO FOR IT.  And if I mentioned you but you don't want to do it, no problem darling.  Just leave a comment if you want to join the fun!  And after whatever amount have time has passed, and I figure everybody's seen this, I'll get the party started, yo.  LET'S DO THIS!  

So today I was thinking about fanfiction. Somehow. And I started thinking that of all the fanfiction I've read-- and there's been a lot of it-- there have been just a few that really, really stuck with me. And then I was wondering if that was the same for everyone, and then I was like SELF, WHY DON'T YOU MAKE A MEMEPOST ABOUT IT IN THE COMM?

So here we are! RULES: Post your five favorite fics you've read. Or your ten favorite fics. OR POST EVERY FIC YOU'VE EVER READ, IF THAT'S WHAT TICKLES YOUR FANCY. Maybe you've never read a fic in your life, maybe you hate all of them and you keep reading it anyways. LET US KNOW.

MY LIST:

--The Shoebox Project, first and foremost and indisputably. Best fic I've ever read hands down, as I'm pretty sure all of you are aware. It's more well-written and funny and touching and real than a whole lot of published literature I've read, and it defined not only the way I look at Remus/Sirius but the way I look at the entire HP fandom-- hell, the way I look at slash-- to this day.

--Daddy's Gonna Buy You a Looking Glass because yeah, okay, everyone who's ever talked to me knows what Ouran does to me, and how this fic encapsulates everything I love about Ouran and does so gutwrenchingly beautifully, and oh my wizard god you guys there is a sequel now? Which... which I may love EVEN MORE, if that's possible? C-can I just count the two of them as one fic?

--Unconditional. There is a lot, a lot of Havemercy fanfiction I love, because this fandom is filled to the brim with wonderful, fantastic, talented people, but Unconditional is probably my favorite. sweetjerry has character voice down, and she takes a pairing that came out of nowhere and makes it suddenly and unavoidably emotional.

--To Each a Tempo. pyrasaur is probably one of the best writers in the PW fandom, and maybe one of the best fanfic writers ever-- her oneshots, once you know Phoenix Wright, are unbelievably beautiful, and she has this fantastically dreamy, lyrical style-- but Tempo is her masterwork (fic-wise), and it shows. It takes a very unique kind of person to turn a Phoenix Wright/EBA crossover into a funny, compelling story, and Pyra does it. Also, this is the reason why Don't Stop Me Now will always be my favorite Queen song, so. You know.

--Speaking in Code WOULD be the fluffiest thing on this list, were it not for the ADORABLE TINY CHILDREN coming up next, but it's still up there nevertheless. Every single time I read this (and believe me, there has been many a time), I can't stop giggling. Not to mention the way it nails Hanna's voice so impeccably perfectly, NOT TO MENTION the way it takes a pairing I had previously just thought about in passing and singlehandedly brings it into OTP territory. Plus it's really, really goddamn cute, you guys.

--Flip Turn = aforementioned adorable tiny children. FULL DISCLOSURE: part of my complete and undying love for Flip Turn is probably the fact that it was my first real fanfic. Another part is probably my complete and undying love for azelmaroark herself, who is an amazing person, one of my heroes, and possibly the most notable influence on my being a writer. BUT. I think the biggest part is the fact that it is Teen Titans AU like Teen Titans AU has never been done before, the fact that it's adorable and heartfelt and well-crafted and still a joy every time I read it. Plus, you know. SMALL CHILDREN.

Honorable mentions go to Wish I Was Somebody Else and Respawn of the Dead, because while I don't think they're as well-written as the others I still adore them more than is healthy. Somebody Else is a post-Serenity fic that you are NOT ALLOWED TO READ UNTIL YOU WATCH SERENITY but once you do I think it will make most of you enormously happy, and Respawn is the best (THE BEST) TF2-meets-zombies fic in the whole entire universe. It is hilarious, it is exciting, and it actually made me cry. YES, A FIC ABOUT TF2 AND ZOMBIES MADE ME CRY. I KNOW. WTF.

    So I drew a pretty awesome dragon today and dubbed it my super villain dragon form. I just kept on drawing pretty random pictures from their and I'm actually running out of interesting things to draw really fast.
    Anyways! I'm sitting here with lyricalecho and mentioned that I actually really want to draw these superhero/super-villain people and their super powers! So leave a comment and description of what your person looks and does for their super powers! Be ultra descriptive actually! The only downside is that I can't guarantee that it will look anything like how you imagined. If you are okay with that though then I'll post it here or facebook, or DeviantArt... I WILL FIND SOME WAY TO GET YOU TO SEE IT.

 COMMENTS. NOW.

Edit: I want it to be known that I'm still getting human anatomy ^^; BUT HEY. I CAN DRAW DRAGONS XD

[IMG]http://i56.tinypic.com/2evrskg.jpg[/IMG]

In a brief diversion from our various superhero shenanigans (which are, obviously, epic), recently I've been thinking about how, in every fandom I find, I almost always fall in love with one character intensely and immediately, and after that I find it almost impossible to let go. And so, as I am wont to do, I made a list! A long, long list of my favorite characters, along with a few statistics about said list. I shall post it here, if you are curious, and obviously you are, oh ho. Comments? Questions? Lists of your own? Additional patterns you notice?

( The list! Not The List, natch, though many of the members of this list are indeed part of The List. :DCollapse )

 You guys, I really really really want to write in this universe.  Like, you have no idea.  But I was looking at our last brainstorming post, and you know what I noticed a distinct lack of?  

COOL.  SUPERHUMAN.  NAMES.  

I know, I know, I suck at naming things too, but this has to be done.  I tried to write a scene, and I didn't get very far at all because I didn't know what to call everybody.  

My idea is to come up with names that are at least loosely based on our LJ names.  It could wind up being really awesome sounding.  So mine could be...well, just Artemis I guess, which fits surprisingly well with the whole man-hating super lesbians thing, but if anybody can think of anything more interesting please let me know.  

Also, we need a name for our city.  The supervillains are Themyscira, but we need an organization name for the superheroes.  

(On a side note, I decided just now that when I'm a crazy hobo, I do parkour with my crazy hobo friends, only I cheat at it all the time because of my wings.  And no, Olivia, I did not get that idea from LadyHunter, that is a crazy and totally untrue accusation and I am insulted.  :D)