Meme: January Journal

[unikorento]

I saw this on falena' s journal, and it seemed like a fun thing to do! It'll help me get back into the swing of keeping a journal, and to write about things that you might find interesting.

So, the idea is this. Below is a list of the days of the month for January. Leave a comment with a number and a prompt, and I'll write about that thing on that day. It can be anything - fandom related, Finland related, a personal question, etc. Whatever you might want to know. Since it's already 3rd January, I'll start with tomorrow.



4. Best/worst Christmas gift you've ever received. / falena
5.
6. A movie that left a deep impression on you /machinistm
7.
8. Top 5 travel destinations /falena

9. Most underrated TV show/book/comic/film you'd like more people to get into. /falena

10. What do you do to relax/unwind? /machinistm

11. If you could meet one character from television, who would you pick and why (the actual character though played via an actor--ignore the actor :P)? / matopa
12.
13. What would you eat, if you could eat one thing forever? /machinistm

14. Talk about Finnish traditions/food/typical whatever. /falena

15. Favourite thing to wear /corvidology

16. Your favourite words in the languages you speak /falena

17. Favourite cartoon, if you have one /corvidology

18. If you could revive a cancelled/finished tv shows, what would it be? /falena

19. Favourite snack food /corvidology

20. Your typical work day. /falena

21. If you could move ANYwhere in the world, where money was not an issue... where would you move? /matopa

22. Talk about the LARPing scene/groups you frequent. Or just explain what you enjoy about it, or what a larping session is like. /falena
23.
24. What's the worst job you ever had? /machinistm

25. Favorite time of day and why? /matopa

26. What book(s) are you reading right now? /siljamus
27.
28. Did you have a favourite book as a child? (or more than one?) /siljamus

29. (How) do you interact with "organized" Finnish SF&F fandom? /ng_moommoth

30. Do you have a favourite piece of Finnish design? (a piece of furniture, a lamp, some glass wear?) /siljamus

31. What skill would you like to learn? /machinistm

Comments

[falena]

4. Best/worst Christmas gift you've ever received.

8. Top 5 travel destinations

9. Most underrated TV show/boook/comic/film you'd like more people to get into.

14. Talk about Finnish traditions/food/typical whatever.

20. Your typical work day.


I could go on and on. :D If you need prompts to fill empty days, may I suggest snowflake_challenge or questionoftheday.

[unikorento]

So many prompts! Thank you! I was worried no one would reply to this since my access list is still so small still. This totally made my day. <3 And thanks for the tip - I think I'll definitely go find some prompts for myself, just to keep the ball rolling.

[falena]

If you want to find new people, addme seems to be pretty active in the wake of the great Tumblr exodus. So is the_great_tumblr_purge.

Or I can just pimp you out in my journal. :D

[unikorento]

I've been meaning to write something in the addme community, but I've not gotten around to it yet. Perhaps I'll do it now! And you can totally pimp me out in your journal! You have excellent taste in friends, after all. :D

[falena]

I haven't put my hat in either comm, but I've been looking at other people's posts and commenting and asking if I can add them, it's worked out for me.

I'll pimp you out, then. :)

[machinistm]

Some questions:

5. A movie that left a deep impression on you

10. What do you do to relax/unwind?

13. What would you eat, if you could eat one thing forever?

24. What's the worst job you every had?

31. What skill would you like to learn?

[unikorento]

More prompts! Thank you! These will be a lot of fun to write about.

[falena]

If you need more prompts... But I won't be offended if you don't use them cos you're sick of me. :D

+ your favourite words in the languages you speak
+ if you could revive a cancelled/finished tv shows, what would it be?
+ talk about the LARPing scene/groups you frequent. Or just explain what you enjoy about it, or what a larping session is like. (I know very little about it and am curious)

[unikorento]

I'm 100% not offended! Just super happy to get prompts! Thank you thank you :D

[siljamus]

Hello. You wanted more prompts?

- what book(s) are you reading right now?
- did you have a favourite book as a child? (or more than one?)
- do you have a favourite piece of Finnish design? (a piece of furniture, a lamp, some glass wear?)

[unikorento]

Yay for prompts! Thank you!

*waves hi*

[ng_moonmoth]

Here from falena. Was in your part of the world a couple of summers ago for Worldcon 75. Did you attend?

(How) do you interact with "organized" Finnish SF&F fandom?

Re: *waves hi*

[unikorento]

Hi! I was at Worldcon 75 for pretty much the whole week. It was my very first Worldcon! I really really enjoyed it. What did you think of it? Have you been to many?

I want to go to Dublin this summer for 76, but I hear the whole city is pretty much booked solid already at this point.

Re: *waves hi*

[ng_moonmoth]

>> I was at Worldcon 75 for pretty much the whole week. It was my very first Worldcon! <<

Glad you were able to attend. Having a Worldcon in one's back yard makes it much easier to attend. My first Worldcon (ConJose in 2002) was in my back yard, about 15km from where I live.

>> I really really enjoyed it. What did you think of it? <<

We had a great time. We stayed downtown (the Scandic Marski, right across from Stockmann), rode the train every day (thanks to the free transit pass that came with our memberships), met lots of friendly people (especially while queueing in line for panels we didn't want to miss), caught up with our friends located in Europe who we don't get to see much, enjoyed the food (we made sure to try the local cuisine a couple of times), got closed out of panels like everyone else, and did all the usual things we do at a Worldcon. So, aside from the space being somewhat crowded due to the massive influx of locals at the last minute, which took even the organizers by surprise, it was fun.

>> Have you been to many? <<

About a dozen. That's probably "many" by most people's standards, but many of the people we know have been active in fandom much longer than I have, and have attended Worldcons almost every year.

>> I want to go to Dublin this summer for 76, <<

Well, Dublin 2019. Worldcon 76 was last year, once again in my back yard. We went, of course, and participated in programming in our primary areas of interest (filk for myself, costuming for spouse). We'll be in Dublin, too.

>> but I hear the whole city is pretty much booked solid already at this point. <<

Interesting. I've been getting messages from the Dublin concom that the hotel booking site opens this Wednesday at 16.00 your time. I'm not sure whether there are any rooms blocked for that at the hotels that will be listed, but we're going to find out. I'm planning to grab one, and then we will probably see whether we can find a residential booking online somewhere.

Anyway, hope you can make it. Adding you based on shared interests.

Re: *waves hi*

[unikorento]

So, aside from the space being somewhat crowded due to the massive influx of locals at the last minute, which took even the organizers by surprise, it was fun.

Oh yeah. Worldcon was mindboggling for us Finnish con-goers. :D No one could really deal with the pricing (our local cons rarely put us back more than 35€/3 days), so everyone thought they'd just get a one-day ticket since that felt the most familiar. But then they stopped selling those, and no one knew what to do for a while there. I think the organizers figured it out towards the end and everything worked out, but there was a fair bit of culture shock. My brother and I had an ongoing conversation for about four days that centred mainly around "what do you think all the foreigners think of us?". It was a lot of fun :D

Oh, and it was my first time hearing filk! Filk was just the best! I can't imagine participating, but I loved listening. I divided my time between filk, the academic track and eating. It was a pretty awesome time.

the hotel booking site opens this Wednesday at 16.00 your time.

Wait, really? I remember reading months ago that Dublin would get really crowded and there wouldn't be enough space because its so small a city. Maybe I misunderstood. Oh no. Oh, man. I'd really like to go. Worldcon doesn't come to Europe that often. But there's finances to consider. It is not cheap. Oh man. I'm going to have to think about this.

Re: *waves hi*

[ng_moonmoth]

>> No one could really deal with the pricing (our local cons rarely put us back more than 35€/3 days) <<

One of the sessions I went to mentioned that fandom is considered worthy of government support in Finland. Do you think that played a role there?

Our local conventions are often in a similar range if one signs up early. If you sign up closer to the event, membership costs will range from possibly just a bit more than that to about twice that, depending on pricing structures. But Worldcons are almost always pricier because so much more space is needed. Voting plus early membership for Worldcon 76 ran us about 120€.

>> Oh, and it was my first time hearing filk! Filk was just the best! I can't imagine participating, but I loved listening. <<

Then you may have heard me. I only sang a few times, because there were a lot of people there and I didn't want to take too many turns, and they needed to kick us all out around midnight so we could make the last train.

>> I divided my time between filk, the academic track and eating. It was a pretty awesome time. <<

Swap in a broad range of panels for myself, and it looks like my Worldcon, too.

>> Wait, really? I remember reading months ago that Dublin would get really crowded and there wouldn't be enough space because its so small a city. <<

Not that small. Just checked the numbers; it's about 480,000 -- Helsinki's only about 20% bigger than that. And the metropolitan area for Dublin is about 4x the city population.

>> Oh man. I'm going to have to think about this. <<

Let me know if you decide you can make it. Then we'll figure out how to say hi to each other in person.

[corvidology]

Here from falena

Favourite thing to wear

Favourite cartoon, if you have one

Favourite snack food

[unikorento]

Hi! And yay for prompts! This stuff is just making my whole month.

[imarcy]

11. If you could meet one character from television, who would you pick and why (the actual character though played via an actor--ignore the actor :P)?
21. If you could move ANYwhere in the world, where money was not an issue... where would you move?
25. Favorite time of day and why?

[unikorento]

Ooh, these are fun! Thank you!

[imarcy]

You're welcome! :P