When do I not use bullet points for this kind of entry? Sigh.
Skimming back through my DW/LJ reveals that I haven't talked about what's going on in my personal life since ... erm, April. So, a brief rundown of what's been going on in my life:
» Having recently been diagnosed as egg, gluten, and dairy intolerant, I am back on a regimen, with mixed success. There is some hope that a few months of careful avoidance will ... desensitize me and I'll be able to return to a normal balanced diet, but I won't know whether it's working until February at the earliest. Other than that, I'm doing somewhat better healthwise, able to get out more and do more things -- I still occasionally smack right back into my fatigue and can barely leave the apartment for days, but it's happening less and for not as long. Not yet ready to return to school or work but I can slowly, slowly start thinking about what I'm going to do.
» Some months ago I signed up at a social network site for Swiss expats, and have been going to various events and finally developing something of a regular social life here. Weekly brunch and a monthly book club are hardly the stuff gossip columns are made of, but they're about my scene and level of sustainable activity. (Most of the other regular events entail drinking or strenuous physical activity, and thus are not.) Next month I'm leading the discussion for War with the Newts, which should be exciting because it was one of my favorite novels as a kid that I haven't reread in at least ten years.
» A lot of people came by for visits in July/August/September:
xannoside, right around the Olympics; M and L from high school for our 10 year "reunion" which was really just the three of us hanging around on the beach at Geneva; A from grad school, swinging by for a day trip while visiting family in Marseille.
» L has moved back into town with her partner K and the three of us and E spent a day watching Star Wars in machete order, minus RotS because we ran out of time. The consensus verdict: if there's one way to make the original trilogy shine it's to juxtapose it with the prequels -- and that's with fanedits rather than the theatrical cuts.
» A few weeks ago E and I went to his first con. Not too much going on, but we did get to see some cosplayers (including a fantastic Amidala) and buy some swag -- mine being a pair of lightsaber chopsticks and a tin of mints shaped like an NES controller that I'm going to use to store my DS games.
» I've been on a fandom nostalgia kick all summer and have been cycling through all the loves of my teenage years: Star Wars, Rurouni Kenshin, even Wheel of Time (an example of "one of these things is not like the others" if I ever heard one). It was probably a bad idea to start rereading/rewatching RuroKen, Primeval, and Doctor Who series 3 and try to catch up with Psych just as all my currently running fall shows are starting up, while also participating in a non-fannish book club and an Eighth Doctor Adventures readalong. (Join us, we're only in our second month!) Probably by the time I get back on track with some of those I'll have to start all over again because I'll have forgotten everything...
» Surprise surprise, with all the above going on I've fallen way behind on comics. Which I kind of wish I weren't, because it's sad to be so out of touch with my Spidey fannishness on his 50th anniversary and upcoming 700th issue, but I just got tired of hunting down the diamonds in the overall rough that is current Marvel continuity where he's concerned. Stuff like this is definitely not helping. My feelings on Slott's run so far swing on a pendulum between "hate hate hate," and "not without flaws, but pretty damn great," but averaging out I'd say that he plays with a lot of ideas that I (and many other Spider-Fans) have mulled over for years (such as, in this case, the notion that Peter "great responsibility" Parker is perpetually one more tragedy away from going over the edge), but never really satisfies me in the execution. It didn't surprise me at all when I read one of his posts somewhere about how much he enjoys Moffat Who, because I think his and Moffat's writing shares the same key strength which is also their greatest flaw: so many great ideas thrown on the page or the screen that they almost never have the space to resolve them satisfactorily.
» Despite my Spidey woes, I've kept on plugging with @#$% Yeah, Spider-Wife!, which recently hit 1000 followers (1027, now)! This means I should probably start thinking about another giveaway. I also answered a call for papers about women in comics with an MJ-related topic, but haven't been contacted back, which I assume means I didn't make the cut. I'm proud of myself for submitting anything, though, and it was nice to dip a toe back into the academic waters briefly.
» Having recently been diagnosed as egg, gluten, and dairy intolerant, I am back on a regimen, with mixed success. There is some hope that a few months of careful avoidance will ... desensitize me and I'll be able to return to a normal balanced diet, but I won't know whether it's working until February at the earliest. Other than that, I'm doing somewhat better healthwise, able to get out more and do more things -- I still occasionally smack right back into my fatigue and can barely leave the apartment for days, but it's happening less and for not as long. Not yet ready to return to school or work but I can slowly, slowly start thinking about what I'm going to do.
» Some months ago I signed up at a social network site for Swiss expats, and have been going to various events and finally developing something of a regular social life here. Weekly brunch and a monthly book club are hardly the stuff gossip columns are made of, but they're about my scene and level of sustainable activity. (Most of the other regular events entail drinking or strenuous physical activity, and thus are not.) Next month I'm leading the discussion for War with the Newts, which should be exciting because it was one of my favorite novels as a kid that I haven't reread in at least ten years.
» A lot of people came by for visits in July/August/September:
xannoside, right around the Olympics; M and L from high school for our 10 year "reunion" which was really just the three of us hanging around on the beach at Geneva; A from grad school, swinging by for a day trip while visiting family in Marseille.
» L has moved back into town with her partner K and the three of us and E spent a day watching Star Wars in machete order, minus RotS because we ran out of time. The consensus verdict: if there's one way to make the original trilogy shine it's to juxtapose it with the prequels -- and that's with fanedits rather than the theatrical cuts.
» A few weeks ago E and I went to his first con. Not too much going on, but we did get to see some cosplayers (including a fantastic Amidala) and buy some swag -- mine being a pair of lightsaber chopsticks and a tin of mints shaped like an NES controller that I'm going to use to store my DS games.
» I've been on a fandom nostalgia kick all summer and have been cycling through all the loves of my teenage years: Star Wars, Rurouni Kenshin, even Wheel of Time (an example of "one of these things is not like the others" if I ever heard one). It was probably a bad idea to start rereading/rewatching RuroKen, Primeval, and Doctor Who series 3 and try to catch up with Psych just as all my currently running fall shows are starting up, while also participating in a non-fannish book club and an Eighth Doctor Adventures readalong. (Join us, we're only in our second month!) Probably by the time I get back on track with some of those I'll have to start all over again because I'll have forgotten everything...
» Surprise surprise, with all the above going on I've fallen way behind on comics. Which I kind of wish I weren't, because it's sad to be so out of touch with my Spidey fannishness on his 50th anniversary and upcoming 700th issue, but I just got tired of hunting down the diamonds in the overall rough that is current Marvel continuity where he's concerned. Stuff like this is definitely not helping. My feelings on Slott's run so far swing on a pendulum between "hate hate hate," and "not without flaws, but pretty damn great," but averaging out I'd say that he plays with a lot of ideas that I (and many other Spider-Fans) have mulled over for years (such as, in this case, the notion that Peter "great responsibility" Parker is perpetually one more tragedy away from going over the edge), but never really satisfies me in the execution. It didn't surprise me at all when I read one of his posts somewhere about how much he enjoys Moffat Who, because I think his and Moffat's writing shares the same key strength which is also their greatest flaw: so many great ideas thrown on the page or the screen that they almost never have the space to resolve them satisfactorily.
» Despite my Spidey woes, I've kept on plugging with @#$% Yeah, Spider-Wife!, which recently hit 1000 followers (1027, now)! This means I should probably start thinking about another giveaway. I also answered a call for papers about women in comics with an MJ-related topic, but haven't been contacted back, which I assume means I didn't make the cut. I'm proud of myself for submitting anything, though, and it was nice to dip a toe back into the academic waters briefly.