#all i've got is 2017-2020 + the first few months of 2015 i really need to get the rest of the songs

[apple-grass-and-smiles]

Hello! The ever-sweet and wonderful @marthaskane tagged me to share eight shows that define me/help you get to know me. Without further ado, the shows!

Alias (2001-2006)

Alias has taught me the value of old LiveJournal pages and the Wayback Machine more than any other show I've ever loved. I discovered this show in 2013 when it was on Netflix and then I spent a few months in Germany, where I spent too much money buying almost the entire show on iTunes because I could not comprehend going more than a day without Sydney Bristow with me.

2. The Clone Wars (2008-2013, 2014, 2020)

I remember when this show first aired and my siblings and I had a square dance at our school (very American, I know) so we had to DVR it. The next morning we snuck down early to watch it with the volume super low so we wouldn't wake up our parents. Few shows have continuously come back into my life the way this one has. I can track a lot of how I've changed as a fan through the different ways I've viewed this show over the last 15 years.

3. Fringe (2008-2013)

I've been rewatching this show since January of this year and can confirm: it is still a nearly perfect 100 episodes of TV. Fringe manages to perfect a lot of the plot lines and dynamics that appear in Alias (both are J.J. Abrams/his collaborators projects). It manages to walk the line between a procedural and a mythology-driven show beautifully and so clearly knows what message and themes it wants to share from the very first shot. If you like exploring messy family dynamics, action, and the X-Files, Fringe is a good option for you.

4. Gotham (2014-2019)

I historically have no cared much at all about Batman. He struck me as pretty boring in comparison to every other person he interacted with. Gotham change that for me (turns out he just needed to be put next to any even more boring guy, but I digress...). Loving this show is a lesson in looking past weird choices, wacky inconsistencies, and learning to just trust that writers will give you a fun ride, even if you understand less that 15% of it. It helped me remember that the sentence "I love this show" does not always mean "here is a perfect example of perfect storytelling" and just how freeing that can be. It also gave me a beautiful little group of friends who continue to make me smile on a regular basis.

5. Blindspot (2015-2020)

While this show may not be one I post about often, it was foundational for how I interact in fandom now. It was one of the first times I was active in a fandom from the start of the show. It was the first time I was in a fandom group chat and my Tumblr friends broke containment into being people I followed on Instagram and texted. I organized a Secret Santa. It was the first time I remember actively freaking out of promo photos (1x09 IYKYK) and synopses. Almost all the confidence I have when interacting in fandoms is from these experiences. And the plot is stellar.

6. Iron Fist (2017-2018)

I can't tell you how I ended up watching this. I do not know what prompted me to turn it on but I'm really glad I did. This show has so many amazing nuggets of amazingness and its shortcomings brought me together with two of my favorite people as we tried to understand what had gone wrong and where. (This is not a good ad for the show.) I love getting to play with stories and characters that have seemingly infinite potential and getting to do it with other people who are just as committed to the story as I was meant the world.

7. The Rookie (2018-present)

I fought against this one so hard. I did not want to get into it, but as my dash filled with those gifs of Lucy in the green dress and I had my wonderful friend pitching the show to me over and over, I caved. And I'm really glad I did. The experience of watching a long season over months, one week and one episode at a time, is so different than streaming or rewatching shows and I'd forgotten how much I missed it until I got to do it again for this show. My Tuesday livestreams with my lovely friend single-handedly pulled me through so many rough spots over the last year. For a procedural dramedy, The Rookie continues to serve up some of the best characters on TV right now and consistently delivers some of the best cold opens.

8. Prodigal Son (2019-I'm in denial)

The show that owns my heart and soul. The show I'd sell my organs to get new episodes of. Returning to this show, whether I'm writing fic, doing a TED Talk in my head about the psychology in the show, or actually watching an episode, consistently feels like coming home. I did not know it was possible for someone to stick their hand in your head and pull out a show custom-made for you, but that's what this is. The characters are all so perfectly imperfect and desperate to be better. The plots are just the perfect amount of bonkers. The show being a drama pretending to be a procedural is beautiful. If you'd told me in 2019 that a show about a profiler whose dad is a serial killer and they solve crimes together would be the show that would leave an indelible mark on my life, I would have rolled my eyes because that's so cliche. 2019!me had no idea what she was on about. But I'm glad she figured it out and randomly put on this little show one night that had continued to pull me through good days and bad days and everything in between.

As for tagging other people, anyone is welcome to join but I’ll specifically tag some people I know who haven't been tagged (I think): @electricbluebutterflies, @chenlucys, @shinythinx, @rojaswarren, @meandmyechoes, @padme-deserved-better, @whitesunlars, @harrows-bones, @bpdanakins, and @violetsandmagpies.

[thevoidscreamer]

Hailing 2024... with a farewell to the years before.

2009 was the year when everything changed.

2010 was the year I met my best friend.

2011 was the year I lost to NJROTC.

2012 was the year of my first, true summer love. Intermittent homelessness.

2013 was the year I graduated high school. Intermittent homelessness.

2014 was the year I left my church. Intermittent homelessness.

2015 was the year I almost died of malnourishment. Intermittent homelessness.

2016 was the year I left my parents.

2017 was the year I came out. Also the year I met one of my very best friends.

2018 was the year I made the most money. Also the year I met another one of my very best friends.

2019 was the year I left my pimp. Also the year I met my cat, who I adore. Also the year my cousin died, and the year my parents drove a rift between themselves and the rest of my family.

2020 was the year I went no contact with my parents, joined an open triad relationship, and greeted my child. It was also the year I had my NDE in the hospital. It was also the year my business died (though I did try to revive it throughout 2021 and 2022). So I gained perspective and a shit ton of trauma. It was also the year I met someone everyone told me I would hate but we've been best friends ever since and still talk all the time on fb messenger.

2021 was the year when, binderless at last, I could breathe -- and everything I did that year was focused on achieving that goal. It was also the year I traveled twice all on my own for the first time since leaving my pimp -- once to do photography for a really skeevy aspiring model in Maryland, and once to stay at my friend's queer commune in Colorado. It was also the year I published She's Not Here, 400-Year Frost, and Despite the Cold (the Anthology). This was also the year that a few of my friends died, and many others just dropped off and never resurfaced.

2022 was the year I went through the non-legal equivalent of two divorces -- one with a nesting partner with whom I now co-parent, and one with a queer-platonic life partner of ten years. It was also the year I heard from and saw my brother for the first time in three years. It was also the year I started on the right medication for my severe chronic migraines. It was also the year I lost my taste and smell due to covid (and things still aren't entirely back to normal). It was also the year I published Arachnapocalypse! The Anthology! and It Feeds!

2023.

2023 was the year I...

read 55 books (14,341 pages)

reconnected with my parents after almost three years of no contact

reconnected with my best friend (see 2010 bullet point) after some drama and maturing that needed done on both our parts

published The Wheel

did a 24-credit semester

got married with my partner of (now) almost four years, with whom it turns out I am incurably, deeply in love with

got attacked in a parking lot with my partner for being visibly queer

returned to therapy

finally moved out of the city that gave me so much anxiety

drove cross-country four times

fell in love with New Mexico

got to spend two months during summer living in and renovating a formerly-abandoned house with my partner

single-parented for one month

figured out the correct mix of melatonin and tylenol that lets me sleep through the night and feel rested

was forced to come to terms with my two most severe phobias, which I will not list here

got into the best shape of my life doing something I was surprised to enjoy -- cardio

sprained my ankle at a themed waterpark

moved cross-country, twice

got to visit one of my best friends for the first time in two years

drove through the most beautiful state I've ever encountered -- Idaho. I know, it surprised me, too.

started a job in a brand new career field -- and excelled

made my works available for free on my website

learned to write without my ex being a part of the creative process

established a consistent writing routine

learned that there is absolutely no good mexican food in Eastern Washington and that's a problem

published Desert Castle, a concept that first came to me in 2016

saw Moose (plural) for the first time in person (that's a bucket list item! I love me some meese!)

made a local writing-friend

shoveled snow

officially quit drinking starbuck's

think I finally grasped the concept of healthy forgiveness

organized and ran/am running the third and final anthology in the "VeryGood Collab Books" series I started working on in 2020

used points to buy a plane flight back home to help out my chosen family

started writing fanfiction

got halfway through the rewrite of a 90,000 word novel

reviewed the thousands-years-long storyline and universe build for a much bigger series I conceptualized in 2007 and fleshed out intermittently from 2011-2020

may have lost the person who has been like a mother to me since 2011. We don't know how things will go yet. She's in a coma.

Despite its more difficult moments, 2023 was the most fun and the most engaging challenge I've had in a long time. Aside from that last bullet-point and spraining my ankle, everything about this year -- even the hardships -- has been actively good. It's been a tremendously refreshing and healing year, and I attribute much of that to all of the novel experiences I had.

After 2020-2022 being so unbearably rough, I needed something new. This year was exactly that, and it gave me the space and energy I needed to allow myself to soften, to gain a real understanding of forgiveness, and to feel genuine hope and healing (possibly for the first time since COVID hit). I know my mostly-positive experience of 2023 seems to be relatively unique. I really hope 2024 can be for the rest of the world what 2023 was for me personally.

[eggmeralda]

was feeling festive (nostalgic longing for autumn 2017) and in the mood to listen to seasonal music (songs I liked in autumn 2017) but if I wanted the full experience I'd have to switch between spotify and youtube bc not all the songs would be on both platforms

but then I remembered at the start of this year I spent like a month making mp3s of all the music I listened to in the past 8-9 years and I have them all saved in a google drive folder, all categorised by every few 2-4 months in chronological order >:)

[sitp-recs]

hi love! Hope you're having a good day ❤ thank you so much for everything you do. I've been craving some really romantic drarry fics lately, do you have any recs? Like fics that make your heart wrench but in the best possible way. Maybe something where one of them just sits there and realizes that "damn. I love him so much"? Sending you lots of love and sunshine, I admire you so much!

Thanks so much anon, this message made my day! Earlier this week I posted a reclist with fics that include the glorious “oh” moment - you can check them here. Btw I love the way you describe it: “fics that make your heart wrench but in the best possible way”! There’s nothing as fulfilling as finding a story where they’re so in love it hurts. I’m listing below a few of my personal favorites combining heart-wrenching romance with soft, low stakes angst. I can’t promise they’ll work for everyone, but I hope you enjoy ;)

Light Years Away by @lettersbyelise (2019, M, 2.5k)

No one told Harry about the training courses young Aurors and Curse Breakers have in common, just like Harry never told anyone about his one-night encounter with Draco Malfoy two months prior.

Still Life by orphan_account (2019, M, 3k)

The Long Fall by @tackytigerfic (2021, M, 3.6k)

It's supposed to be a simple house renovation, and maybe it's just the paint fumes, but Harry is feeling dizzy around Draco Malfoy. And what's the real meaning of family, anyway?

Sun Stroke by @peachpety (2020, E, 4k)

Draco, Harry, and a handful of friends take a summer holiday at the beach. With the help of a sultry sea setting, encouraging friends, and a fisherman’s jumper, Harry and Draco's mutual attraction swells and things get hot on a salty summer night.

Like Gold by @the-sinking-ship (2021, E, 4.5k)

Draco runs away from home on the back of his boyfriend’s motorbike.

Our Little Life by @tackytigerfic (2020, M, 7k)

Sometimes Harry dreams. Only they're not really dreams at all, and Malfoy is always in them. It's time travel, but not as we know it, and Harry just needs a good night's sleep.

the keys to your kingdom by thistle_verse (2016, E, 7.5k)

It was nothing so elegant as fucking, the first time they came together. It was teeth just a little too sharp— against a collarbone, on the right-side curve of a jaw, drawing blood from the plushest part of a bottom lip.

Stories in E Minor by huldrejenta (2014, E, 8.7k)

Draco has found his place in the Muggle world. He's got his music, he's got his neighbours and he is content. Until a certain someone from the past enters his life again.

Life goes not backward by @shealwaysreads (2020, T, 9k)

Harry still isn’t used to gifts, but this one is different. A story of coming home, finding safe ground, and the wild courage of putting down roots.

fine i'll hold my breath / til i forget it's complicated by teatrolley (2015, M, 11k)

Harry and Draco become friends with benefits, and Harry thinks it's more complicated than it actually is.

Evolution by @potteresque-ire (2016, E, 13k)

Draco Malfoy was condemned to live a Muggle’s life for his three-year probation. His wand was locked away, and he was forbidden to set foot in Wizarding Britain until Hermione Granger secured a job for him in the Aurors’ stock room.

The Courting by the Pureblood Who Only Has Five Milligrams of Romantic Intelligence and Thinks He’s Real Smooth by @cibeewastaken (2020, T, 19k)

Draco could grab Potter and shove him into a stall before proceeding to suck his soul out of his dick, but secretly, deep down, in the part of Draco that he will never admit to anyone, he is (everyone pauses to shudder) a romantic. Potter is not someone Draco wants a one-off with. Potter is — Draco’s beloved!

White as Snow by @bixgirl1 (2018, E, 19k)

After a quick escape from danger, Harry and Draco find themselves trapped in a blizzard, a small cabin their only refuge from the storm. It's the perfect place to recover and regroup — and to have a long-overdue conversation or two.

A Hyperactive Fruit, a Nasty Neighbour and a Love Story by synonym4life (2017, E, 20k)

Potter’s pet Niffler is wreaking havoc in Godric’s Hollow and Draco, the Assistant Head to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, is the one who has to deal with it. Repeatedly.

Nice Things by aideomai (2020, M, 22k)

The first thing that happened was Theodore Nott came back from France.

Waiting By An Open Door by Femme and noeon (2017, E, 29k)

Draco starts following Potterwatch secretly during the War. He wishes Potter would come save him too. But that sort of thing only happens in fairy tales, and Malfoys don't get fairy tale endings, do they?

Against All Odds by momatu (2015, E, 53k)

Beauxbatons is hosting the first ever Quidditch Summer School for children from all over Europe, and Harry has promised to enroll Teddy as his birthday present.

Little Compton Street (One Rainy Night in Soho) by @writcraft (2018, E, 65k)

Draco is lonely, Harry hates the press and it won’t stop raining in London. Harry discovers a magical street that’s close to disappearing forever and Draco realises he’s one rainy night in Soho away from finding everything he’s been searching for.

Little Deaths and How to Avoid Them (or Draco Malfoy's Guide to Stop Dying and Start Living Instead) by nerakrose and dustmouth (2018, M, 96k)

Malfoy is way too interested in coroner reports for somebody who's definitely not looking for ways to die, Harry wants to be friends with him, and Ginny wants to break up with Harry.

Far From the Tree by aideomai (2020, E, 112k)

The arrival of Harry Potter’s children—snapped back in time, the children themselves guessed, twenty or so years—was the most interesting thing to happen at Hogwarts for years.