Nostalgia, Post #47

[laurawise]

I cannot explain how run off my feet I've been (and will continue to be for a while), but Lord, Lord, it's been crazy.

So I've been thinking about nostalgia, in part prompted by mental exhaustion that means I'm rereading older works rather than trying new ones, and in part because this should be my cool-weather favorite time of year. (It's too hot

Comments

[gwynnega]

When I lived downstairs from my best friend, we would drop in on each other, but I can't recall doing so in any other circumstances...

[laurawise]

Yes, I think in grad school my friends who all lived in the same apartment complex did do the drop-in thing. I lived elsewhere so didn't participate.

Cheers to you!

[janus_74]

We had a good friend who would drop in on Sunday afternoons. The kind of friend who you don't clean up for anymore, so I didn't worry about the mess. But he was the only one and was always a little left of center.

[laurawise]

Oh, that's interesting!

Cheers for your mid-week, T.

[roguedemon]

No drop ins, not since grad school and dorms -- the dorms at Princeton were really nice, and the dinning hall quite good as those things go, so a lot of us lived in them. And I lived in dorms all through college too. But now it doesn't happen. I have friends I would welcome for drop-ins. Once people have seen my house cleaned up once, I am okay with them seeing it messy if they are close enough to me that they understand my health problems -- crippling fatigue does not lend itself to regular housecleaning

[roguedemon]

So to finish my nostalgic ramble, I was okay with where everyone else ended up. I mean, a lot of Xander's plot line was annoying because of the reunion with Anya, but otherwise he was fine, I don't care as much about him. Ditto Dawn. She was fine, had some good moments but to tell the truth I could never work up much interest in her on her own, outside her relationship with Buffy. Faith and Robin were both enjoyable. Andrew was very funny at times and also problematic. And the "plan" that led to Anya's death was so stupid. You know, I can live with characters dying if they get a worthy death. That wasn't it. :(((( But well, preaching to the choir here

[laurawise]

That's an interesting take on the season I hated. Since Giles and Anya were the only reason I was watching by early Season 7, it was much worse for me.

Cheers and yay for closure and distraction!

[roguedemon]

Okay, wow, I should have proofread that before I posted it. In my defense I was writing on a tiny screen and I just didn't sleep last night (antidepressant withdrawal is a real bitch if it involves serotonin). But, yeah, the writing for Giles was awful all the way through, and that's one thing I was furious about when I was watching it. And you know, I'm fine with Anya getting some closure with Xander -- breakup sex is a thing that happens, even with bad relationships (okay I confess that I've been there and I remember how it works. ;P). I thought it would have a been a good way for her to say, yeah, okay, this was a stage and It's actually not that great, I'm past it. I feel it was reasonable for them to make some sort of peace, but not the way it happened. I liked getting some Anya backstory and seeing her go through some sort of process whereupon she decided how she felt about being a vengeance demon and what she wanted to do with her life, what side she wanted to fight on and why, etc. But you know, the writing was just clumsy.

[roguedemon]

So, yeah, there's another stream of consciousness ramble. in conclusion, if there is one thing I have now learned from fandom is that you have to hold back from having set ideas about what you want to happen if you want to protect your heart. I'm at a point where sure, I get irritated by things but I look to fanfic to give us satisfying shipping, friendships, and character development. I've also come to enjoy meta, as in writing it, in a way I didn't then; I look at fandom as a launching pad for analysis now in a way I didn't before.. TV and Film tend to have to focus on having entertaining action while skimping on deep exploration of any emotional issues. I think I've become more resigned to that. If I watched this season now I would still be very disappointed but not as utterly infuriated

[mobile_alh]

Yeah, in California dropping in was certainly a thing well into my 20s, but not for "tea or coffee", and not the neighbors,just to say hi...now that we live someplace farther from other homes, even B's sisters and children call before they come over, because it's a long drive, comparatively speaking and it isn't on the way to anywhere else they'd be likely going.

Re-reading comfort mysteries again, most recently Edmund Crispin and Dorothy Dunnett's Johnson Johnson series. So soothing....

[laurawise]

Comfort mysteries sound like just the thing.

Hugs, and if I were closer, I'd be calling you for tea. :)