Re: "friending/defriending":
- Here in my journal, every day is defriending amnesty day. That means you -- the general you -- should feel free to defriend me whenever you want. No explanations required. I don't take friending/defriending personally. Actually, I think the term "friending" at LiveJournal is a terrible misnomer. Some of the people on my list have become friends, some are acquaintances, some are lurkers or silent readers, and with some of them I have no idea why they added me. :)
- I like to talk to new people; don't be shy.
- You should also feel free to add me. However, unless I know you offline or from another place on the 'net, I will not automatically add you back. The reason for that is very simple: I do post some personal content in this journal, so I like to have a sense of who's potentially reading. I don't always notice when someone's added me. If you want me to add you back, just drop me a note. I add people at my discretion.
- I do make occasional use of LiveJournal's filtering capabilities. That means that some of my personal posts are not viewable by every single person on my list.
- I generally leave a note before adding random people, but if I forgot to do that and added you anyway, please know that it's probably because I found something interesting about your posts.
- To share my own fanworks and be exposed to others' fanworks.
- To post my thoughts, analyses, and squee about fannish obsessions and life in general.
- To vent.
- To be a part of communities of people who share similar interests.
- To talk to people and share in their interests and personal journeys.
- To exchange ideas, debate, disagree, and be involved in passionate but well-reasoned discussions. Not to fight with people, call them names, or threaten them. You won't often find me fighting with anyone in my journal or in others' journals. I believe you can respectfully challenge the substance of someone's opinion without insulting that person or needlessly personalizing the discussion.
- To read and write and talk about both.
- I see a lot of grey in the world now. When I was 16, I saw many things in black and white. At 30, I see things I didn't see at 16. I've since had life experiences I didn't have at 16.
- I don't hate many things, but I detest the notion that if you are critical of something, that makes you a "hater" or a "bad fan." To me, that's as preposterous as saying that you don't love your family and friends if you dislike or disagree with any of their actions or words.
- I believe in thinking critically. Passion is good. Feelings are good. Knee-jerk reactions are not so good. I'll be 31 in August; I try my best to conduct myself like an adult and not indulge in fits of drama. Sometimes I succeed.
- I'm generally slow to anger, but if someone bites me, I just might bite back.
- I'm thoughtful -- full of thoughts.
- I know I'm not perfect, and I don't expect perfection from others.
- I'm interested in people and what motivates them, frightens them, uplifts them.
- As I recently said to
trilliane, I am often aware of how fortunate I am because of the time and place in which I live; I don't think the freedom to speak, dissent, and yes, even laugh, can be taken seriously enough. A different spin of the wheel and I could live in a place where to speak is to risk death. - I laugh a lot -- at my own faults and foibles and those of others. It's one of the ways I process and cope with the world; life is long.
