Surfacing

[hobgoblinn]

A hobgoblinn! A hobgoblinn! My kingdom for a hobgoblinn!

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Well, I have been a most anti-social hobgoblinn of late. I have been doing a lot of reading and avoiding and am just now coming back to this forum to catch up, to the extent I can. I see nwhepcat is already 11 entries in to her latest serial epic. I see from new friend zeegrindylows that there are 9 days until Christmas (well, fewer now-- I got that from an entry over the weekend sometime I just now read.) I see that the holiday weekend will be busier than usual for the hobgoblinn family, with 3 straight days and nights of services to sing/ usher (depending on whether you are me or Wee Hob). Except for my mom, who is getting a hard copy of my Harry Potter epic Lost Boys shipped to her today, I have purchased no presents whatsoever. Nor a tree, but I was planning to wait until closer to Christmas anyway. It's still Advent, ya'll. We've made it a tradition to trim the tree to stay awake between the vigil mass and midnight mass anyway. And, quite a few years, I have gotten a tree for free or almost waiting that late.

Still very bummed about K and her family. It is hard to watch people be in that much pain and be able to do pretty much nothing. But her guys are surviving, and all the rest of us in the extended friends and family circle will, too. Until, you know, we don't.

Going back through the overwhelming number of posts I've missed in the last two weeks, I am becoming aware I need to make a list cut here, soon. There are people I almost never read anymore, as our interests have diverged wildly. So if I cut you, please do not be offended or upset. Do protest if you have strong feelings about it-- like as not it's because you almost never comment on any of my ramblings, either. I may be doing us both a favor.

While everyone's still here though, Happy Advent to all. And thanks for all the kind words and hugs and condolences, too.

Oh-- one last thing. Before I continue on the Lost Boys sequel, which I still have some delusions of trying to get in shape to start posting by Christmas, I need to write something about K, for her young son to have as a remembrance of her when he is older. So send positive energy/ prayer that direction, if you would, because that's more overwhelming than trying to read back through over two weeks of LJ ephemera.

Oh-- one other last thing-- HP fans on my list should go read this Right Now. It's awesome. And non assholeish Dudley makes an appearance later, if the perfect Snape voice and wonderfully intricate plot and excellent writing are not enough inducement. Trust me.

ETA: It has rightly been pointed out to me that this is still a WIP. Read at your own risk. It's still really good, and it seems to be updated with some regularity. But-- just so you know. My apologies (again) to clavally.

Comments

[ex-shitsu-to509.livejournal.com]

Sending you good vibes across the Atlantic as you write about K for her son. That's a wonderful thing you're doing. I can't imagine how hard it will be for you, but I know that it is something that will be very important to him later on in life.

Hope you and Wee Hob have a great Advent and a very Merry Christmas :-)

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Thanks, lady. Back at ya. *hugs*

[clavally.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

I've been thinking about you and hoping you're ok. I'll send positive energy and prayers your way while you write for K's son.

I applaud you for being one of the last holdouts for Christmas decorating. You're quite right, of course, decorating and celebrating should not happen in Advent. Maybe one day there'll be a backlash to all the commercialism and everyone will go back to a "12 days of Christmas" type celebrating!

And thanks for the rec, I'll make a point of reading it after I finish the current fic I'm reading.

*hugs* again!

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I meant to respond to your e-mail and realize now I didn't yet. *hangs head* I did get about half through your rec. It has its moments, but the nicknames, and some of the rushed nature of the relationship progression are hard for me to get past. But thanks for pointing it out. The Dudley/Harry comments from JKR were very cool.

I'm mostly okay, just shaken, which is not a bad thing. The prayers and energy always help, though. Thanks for that. *hugs*

[father-turtle.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing links and other things.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

You're quite welcome. Thanks for good thoughts and other things, yourself, Padre.

[lady-clover.livejournal.com]

Please don't cut me when you cull your f-list. I'm going out of my mind with Christmas prep and know I haven't been a good friend lately. It's not intentional, I've just been too busy. I want to get back in touch with you after the holiday.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Oh heavens no. Wouldn't dream of it. I still want to see your finished story whever it ends up, too. See you after the holiday, lady. *hugs*

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

I’ hope I don’t get cut off; I’m still new and haven’t quite got the hang of this. I do like that you ask for prayers, because it help me to remember to pray.

I’m also going to read the first three chapters of the fan fic you suggested. I also have a question for you. Last time you mentioned about subliterate writing and I wanted to know what you meant by that.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

You're safe. Until I find myself skipping your posts for months on end and can't for the life of me figure out why we friended each other in the first place, I won't cut you. There are a number of people in the latter category, but they don't post much and hence I don't find myself skipping their entries, so they were also left alone.

Subliterate writing, huh? I'd have to see the context, but I expect I was being snarky and pretentious again. There's a lot of truly apalling fanfic out there, in the Buffy fandom no less than the Harry Potter one, seemingly written by kids who really should be paying more attention in class than attempting to write smut. That's probably what I meant. I assumed the quotient of such writing would be higher in a "children's book" fandom, and I have been humbled to realize my error. That said, there are fics that I bail on within the first paragraph or two, due to mangled grammar/ spelling/ punctuation/ characterization. Can't point you to any examples, as I tend to find something else to scour my brain with immediately afterwards. But ff.net has more than its share of examples.

Thanks for the prayers. I don't ask, or pray as often as I should, but this has been a weird couple of months.

[snarkysneak.livejournal.com]

w00t!!!! I can't wait to read your Lost Boys sequel!! I do totally understand you writing something in rememberance of your friend first though. That is really sweet of you to write something for her son.

Oh, and thanks for the link....more procrastination material!!!!

As for being prepared for Christmas, I just ordered people's presents last night...from England. For some reason, me thinks they will not arrive in time. Meh. That isn't the point of the holiday anyway.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I can't wait to read the sequel, either. Oh, wait, I still have to *write* the damned thing, don't I? Not fair.

Happy to provide the procrastination material. If you need more, there's still time to check out these classic HG/SS fics: http://community.livejournal.com/sshg_awards/6046.html

I hadn't read many of them, as I'm still so new to the fandom, and almost all are really outstanding. That's where I've been spending most of my procrastination time the past couple of weeks. I should pimp that on an entry, actually-- more people should read those fics.

And yeah, you're right about the point of the holiday. I shipped my mom a Kinko's-bound copy of Lost Boys/ Two Dads today, with a couple of pages of synopsis of the books, which she has not read. She's not at all wired or computer savvy, but she does like to read, and I think this story is far enough removed from the source to be read on its own, without absolutely needing to have read the books they were inspired by. Hope so, anyway. We'll see.

Happy Christmas to you.

[clavally.livejournal.com]

I got thoroughly sucked into that fic, made it all the way to the end just to realize it's a WIP!! GAH! That was evil! :p

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

oops. Sorry. It's been updated so recently and it's so close to over, I really didn't think to warn for a WIP. This one looks very like it will get completed in a reasonable time. It doesn't look like it will be a "Falling Further In".

Still, I apologize, my dear. As penance, I will add a note to the entry (closing the barn door and all) and then work on my Lost Boys sequel for a bit while I decide whether or not Cranberry Lambic is a good idea for a beverage.

[clavally.livejournal.com]

No problem, really. It was so long I didn't even think to check if it was complete before I started reading. Even so, I'll be adding it to the list at some point. Thanks for recc'ing it.

And I give up, what does a Cranberry Lambic contain, besides the obvious cranberry?

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

It's a type of beer/ ale-- so hops, malt, I guess. Cranberry flavor is quite strong. Not my favorite. I got a mixed sampler from Sam Adams to have stuff on hand for folks who drop by, and I decided to try this. Ah well.

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the HP link. I don't read in that fandom, but your rec made me want to at least take a look. Brilliant. I blew off most of a day to read the existing chapters.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Happy to be of service, my dear. The author seems kind of like me-- returning to writing after a long absence. Better than my first attempt, of course. But worth the time. Check out her LJ too-- might be a good way to get updates on the last few chapters. Tell her I sent you.

And happy christmas/ hanukkah/ holidays to you.

[rainkatt.livejournal.com]

I'm so far behind--my workload always triples at this time of year, at the same time that I start needing quiet. Not in sync with the world, that's me... I wish you a lovely, not too busy holiday. I will send good thoughts in general your direction, for all of it, including K and her family.

And now I go to work.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Lady. I'll send good thoughts for peace and a slowdown your way, too.

Happy Christmas.

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for recommending that fan fic. I just finished the last chapter posted and it is great. I’m going to have to see what other stories you recommend. Merry Christmas.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome. I have a few recs tagged on my jounral as "fic rec"-- almost all are Harry Potter, which is odd, since I came to LJ from the Buffy fandom. I read a lot more than I rec-- maybe I'll try to rectify that in the new year. And finish some fics of my own....

Happy Christmas to you, too.