rusty_halo

Anyone going to Dragoncon this year? 10zlaine and I got a Marriott room and memberships, so I guess we’re going. ;) I’m looking forward to it; it’s hard to get bored at a con where there’s so much content and even when none of the programming interests you, just sitting in the lobby people-watching provides hours of entertainment.

Work has been ridiculous. Like staying in the office until 10:30pm and working from home until 1am and coming in at 8:30 the next morning ridiculous. It’s so stressful I don’t even have time to process how stressful it is, because it’s always on to the next thing, and any free time I get, I just want to sleep. I slept until 1:30pm today. I should be exercising or cleaning, but, ugh, I can’t work up the energy to get off the couch, because I know tomorrow morning the mad rush is going to start up again.

I got assigned to be the manager of a big project about a month and a half ago, which I guess is a good thing because it’s a lot more interesting than the little afterthought projects I was working on before, and I’m actually working with people who are really smart and competent, and it’s a topic that I’m interested in. It’s just, OMG, so much, and going so fast. I can’t even think about vacation because this project is going nonstop until at least next March. Ugh.

Anyway, I ended up spending much of today reading posts about the OTW election. It all makes me sad, because as far as I can tell, there aren’t actually any villains, just a lot of people trying to do good work who don’t necessarily have the skills to accomplish their goals successfully, which unfortunately often ends up hurting other people.

(The post I found most compelling was this one, because it expresses a lot of the same concerns I have that the fannish golden age we’re living in now isn’t likely to last forever.)

Also, having spent the past year learning to be a project manager, I have to say: no matter how smart and well-intentioned you are, being a good manager is really hard. And it’s a hell of a lot easier with a good mentor than when you are trying to figure it out on your own. Maybe the OTW should either recruit experienced volunteers or hire consultants to teach project management skills to people in key roles within the org?

Anyway, I think the ideas behind the OTW are wonderful, and I hope that these are growing pains that they’ll be able to work through and emerge from in a better state.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

Should I watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles? I almost never watch TV shows as they air unless I know that they've already managed to pull off at least one decent season. But Sarah Connor is one of my all-time favorite fictional characters, and The Terminator is in my list of top five movies of all time. (I'm one of those freaks who prefers the original to the sequel; it's just so raw. And it's infiltrated my subconscious to the point where I have nightmares about being chased by the Terminator on a regular basis.) I'm kind of freaked out that Linda Hamilton isn't in it, although I understand that wouldn't really work because of the age issue. And I'm glad that the character, and the whole fictional world, is having a life beyond its original writers and actors. So. Is it worth watching, or am I just going to end up ranting about how disappointing it is?

I'm kind of boggled that so many of my friends are getting into Torchwood. I mean, yes, there's bisexuality, but the show is so badly written. I'm just hoping that people will follow the Torchwood trail back to Doctor Who, and see how much better that show is, and discover the slashtastic awesomeness of the Doctor and the Master.

Today's fic recs:

John Simm did an interview in which he confessed to having worked as a cage dancer when he was young and needed the money. No, seriously! So versaphile wrote fic in which a young inexperienced David Tennant meets cagedancer!Simm. And then they have some of the hottest sex I've ever read. And the end almost made me cry. Read it here: Kiss Me Quick.

versaphile also wrote more Doctor/Master. (versaphile, I swear I am not stalking you. I just kind of want to live inside of your brain.) Three for a Wedding. It's actually Doctor/Master and Doctor/TARDIS, and it's extremely disturbing, but it's the good kind of disturbing.

yahtzee63 wrote The Yankee's Loot, in which the Tenth Doctor picks up Scarlett O'Hara as a companion. And it works, brilliantly, because she perfectly captures Scarlett's inner voice. That woman is a sociopathic megalomaniac, and somehow you can't help but love her. I'd never have imagined that these two fandoms could be combined, but Yahtzee makes it work.

Here's another Life on Mars fic that I greatly enjoyed. It's like an episode--70s police show plot, entertaining dialog--just with the bonus of gay sex. You wouldn't think those things would blend together so well, but, obviously, they do. (Sorry, I know there's tons of slashy police show fandoms out there, I've just never been into one before.)

I've been following the metafandom discussions about the Organization for Transformative Works, and I continue to think that it's awesome. One of the things that boggles me about the internet is that people just take for granted that things disappear. You can read a story that's stunning, life-changing, brilliant, and then look it up one morning and find that it's completely gone.

( here is me rambling on about the OTW, as if you haven't read enough about it already )

[Cross-posted to InsaneJournal]