A link and a bit of a real-life update

[ciircee]

I wanted to share a link with...well, pretty much anybody. Everybody gets irritated by n00bs sometimes--be they new to Arashi or LJ or whatever. I know I've gotten rude and uppity. But, at the same time, I've been here for so long (since codes, people) that I forget what it's like to be NEW to a place. Lurking is not always first nature to people (my nearly twelve-year-old, for one and my almost-nine-year-old for another). Sometimes its satifying to snap at the n00bs who are asking a question we've seen thousands of times or who can't seem to think to check the memories or tags. But in the end, as with so many things, it's generally better to take a breath and be polite (yeah, I hate that too, sometimes).

I know that I'm still grateful that nobody ever trashed my first attempts at Arashi fic (just a month or so into the fandom) for all the errors that were in there. And I knwo that I was lucky enough to get in (with my first journal) when this place was just being built so I wasn't alone in not knowing what to do--we were all making it up as we went along. So for anybody new to LJ who happens by here Welcome to LJ and Arashi: A Brilliant Primer by Erin.

THAT said: I feel bad that I'm so behind on comments. I'm trying not to let that overwhelm me. And it CAN because I'm actually terribly shy in real life. I manage well if there's a goal or if it's in a big crowd (hey, I actually LIKE public speaking) but there are times when I sort of want to hide. And here? Where the people I know are fantastic and cool? Yeah, I can try to hard to be likable and end up feeling burnt out from being 'on' all the time.

Which is not a good feeling now. Skyla--my daughter's friend--is having a rough time of it. The divorce is turning nasty and her mom pretty much takes it out on her. She's cutting and mean and Skyla still loves her because it's her mother. There's nothing I can do, really, except keep being here and letting her know that Ed and I love having her (and the other kids) here because she is a good kid and we genuinely like her. Honestly? Thank god for Arashi and their music and their PVs and their shows (hey, VSArashi is moving to Golden Time--GO ARASHI!) and their dramas and the zoo show. All of the kids get a kick out of seeing them do some of the stupid stuff they've done and they think the dancing is cool. And that they're 'so cute, omg'.

PS. Tegomass. Which one of them sounds like a girl when he sings?
PPS. I like the song Puzzle.

EVEN MORE PS: I feel bad for saying it but I would totally bang all of TOKIO and probably most of SMAP. Why don't I know anything about V6 aside from 'lolz, boygirls'?

FINAL PS: I feel like I keep missing my flist (because y'all are awesome). Post a comment and ask me what I think about whenever I miss you/am thinking about you away from LJ then, in my next post, I'll tell you what it is and I might even explain WHY!

Comments

[ill-ame.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, that girl is a savior. Out of all the online fandoms I've been in, I feel like this one is in the greatest need of a primer. It's sort of unbelievable to me that I managed to get by as a complete lurker - no asking questions, just hunting around and quietly joining communities and finding pretty much everything on my own - and yet there are people who ask about things that are not even the slightest bit difficult to find. Outwardly I try to be understanding and helpful when I actually reply (I'm pretty sure I was sort of obnoxious when I first joined LJ too, so I have a degree of sympathy for them), but now that someone's written up the rules there are really no excuses.

I am certainly not going to go after you about comments, considering how few of them I've been leaving, lol. I've gotten so bad about checking my flist that I tend to see entries after I feel it's too late to reply to them.

I'm sorry there's shitty stuff going on around you. It's really hard to know what to do when the problem isn't necessarily yours to handle but you want to take some kind of responsibility or help somehow anyway. I'm sure it means a lot to her to have somewhere to go where she feels comfortable and wanted and happy, even if ideally that ought to be her real home.

I adore TOKIO. SMAP have yet to really get to me, but since I seem to be steadily working my way up the senpai ladder in my interests, I'm sure that day will come. (I sort of skipped over V6, though, so I can't help you there. I have a weird animosity towards them that I can't really explain. I have no idea where it came from, considering that they seem to be as full of cracky rainbow joy as Arashi are. I like most of the members individually... Hey, um, it's just 20th Century in this, but have you seen the PV for Ore Ja Nakya, Kimi Ja Nakya? It's, um, really odd but hilarious, and the song is super catchy.)

And finally, I would love to hear what you think about, if there actually is anything for me, hahaha. I'll try to be around more often. ♥