I get so confused by people in a 'fandom' at times, I really do.

Not the fanfics, or the slash, or the weird pairings or anything like that. I'm cool with that.

What gets me is the weird tendency to find fault with the people who actually created the world/characters they're fandoming in in the first place.

I read this interview with Stephen Moffat on the Guardian that was posted on the SherlockBBC comm on LJ, and it was mildly interesting; he spoke to the rabidness that is John/Sherlock, and to people's speculation that Sherlock is gay/asexual etc, and basically said he is neither gay nor asexual, he's just not interested in sex because it's distracting.

Which is fine. But people went mad, accusing him of being homophobic, or unfair to asexual people. Also he's anti-women; something I've seen on Doctor Who comms, too. (That's something I suppose we could save as a discussion for another day. I get what people say as far as his female characters, but I don't know I fully agree)

Anyway...most of the time the feeling I get is people getting upset because he doesn't agree with them about Sherlock's sexuality. While I think Sherlock/Watson is toats the original slash pairing, I never once for a moment though Doyle or Moffat or Gatis every planned for them to be actually gay.

Does that make slashing them any less fun? No. That's the whole point of it. It isn't canon, but it could be and that is the sandbox in which slash writers can play.

Moffatt and Gatis wrote this Sherlock. It is their right to characterise him any way they want. Heck, it's within their rights to get annoyed at the alternate characterisation of them in fandom, but I get they look at it more in bemusement than horror. They get people do it.

The little 'why do they think I'm gay' digs that were in the recent series did not feel to me like an attack. It felt to me like a fun little nod to the fandom who slashes.

I don't know why people try to vilify the people who brought them such pleasure in the first place. Just enjoy the show, discuss the ending (and seriously, what? Wow.) and write your fanfiction the way you want without expecting the real writers to come to you and say 'Wow. You are so right. You've made the character so much better than I, a professional television writer with several hit shows to my credit ever could. I am going with your vision from now on.'

And as for the whole 'it would be nice if he made Sherlock asexual because asexuals would love to have a role model on tv' thing. Yes, it would, but Sherlock wasn't written to be asexual. Don't get upset that he's not advocating it when he never meant to be in the first place. Yes it would be nice to see that in a story. It's just not happening here.

So the impression I'm getting is that Livejournal is going to be getting annoying with trying to bring in 'new traffic' or something. I've had this account for ages but didn't use it.

However, something tells me I'm going to need to use it more often in the future.

So Hello to Dreamwidth again.

Ordered the cake topper for my eventual wedding cake:

Well, it isn't actually a cake topper it's, er, well its an aquarium thingy, but it will serve its purpose. Tower Bridge is Dave's favourite spot in London, and it means a lot to both of us to have something Englandy involved in Our Big Day.

Now if I can just find a cake I like. I think I'm trying too hard, to be honest, to come up with something super fabulous. What I think I want is maybe scenes of London on the side of the cake in icing, and I was thinking itw ould be cool if there was a TARDIS in there somewhere, and then something for Dave as well, possibly the Manchester United shield or something. But I think I'm trying too hard to make it clever, so I don't know if it will happen.

But...yay cake topper!

It's really hard to go on LJ when I haven't watched Sherlock yet. I belong to one of those Sherlock communities, and I'm avoiding all spoilers. My BFFs and I are watching it tonight, though, so I will be out of my suspense soon. Yay.

In real life news; not sure if I ever mentioned this, but Charlie and I will be moving to Pennsylvania in June. That's where the Fiance lives, you see, and it just makes the most sense. He has a house. We'll be selling it, sadly, because it's a bit too small for the three of us, but this way we'll be in the neighbourhood, and if we don't find a house/sell the house at least Charlie can start school.

It was a very tough decision. I hate the idea of leaving my friends, who've been my rock for so many years. BUT...I think we're good enough friends that we'll still see each other, and with the miracle of modern technology, we can still keep in touch in various ways. And we are already plotting various ways of getting back to Jersey as much as possible, and getting our friends to PA on occasion. It's not that far, really, so it isn't the end of the world.

Even harder was the decision to uproot Charlie. This is literally the only home he's ever known. Everyone knows him, and the teachers all 'get' him. Dropping him into a whole new system is going to be tough. It's a really good school system, though, so if I'm attentive, and make sure he gets the help he'll need, I think he'll be okay.

He wasn't thrilled about the idea at first, but now he's kind of excited about it. That's Charlie for you. Once he embraces a new idea he never looks back.

Actually, not that this will come as a surprise, but Charlie is an amazing kid. Other people his age might whine and bitch about how this is messing up his life, but he's totally rolling with it. He's happy for me, and for us. He's looking forward to the changes, even though they are scary, and has never once tried to guilt me for turning his life upside down. It's pretty amazing.

My life is changing once again; and once again, I am confident it is for the better. So yay me.

Oh, and we've officially booked our flights to England in July, but more on that later.

How are things with you?

So...2012 is rolling along at a steady clip. It's going to be an interesting year, to say the least. Getting married, returning to the idea of co-habitation with another adult, going to England for a longer trip (yay). I'm hoping 2012 is going to be as great as the above laundry list indicates.

Wedding plans are coming along. Waiting for some info from a DJ service, and found a photographer. He's young...very young, a student at Temple, but he's very good, and came recommended by someone I trust.

He actually researched our location, as well as an idea for a 'shot'* I'd said I wanted, so I think he will do a good job. Also he's not expensive. He's exactly in my budget. So yay.

The hardest thing is an officiant. Since we don't have a church that we go to, I was relying on the people who basically do this sort of thing freelance for a living. And since they do it for a living, it's a bit more expensive than I'd thought. And I don't want a long ceremony, so it's hard to reconcile $300+ for it. Although I'm sure the fee includes travel time and meetings and that. Still...ugh.

There was a Doctor Who reference on the show Leverage. Not the first time, as the writer is a fan, but it was nice. I'd been hoping Hardison would say 'bowties are cool' since the first time The Doctor said it. So that was cool.

I'm pretty sure I started off this entry thinking I'd have something interesting to say. I think I was wrong.

How is January treating everyone? Good stories to tell, I hope!

*The winery has a balcony. I thought it would be nifty to recreate the whole 'Royal Balcony Kiss because I am a dork like that.

I have a memory of sitting on my great-grandmother's lap, and she was saying something like 'what does a birdie say' and I was saying 'tweet tweet'. I told my mom that once, years ago, and she said that would have been when I was about 18 months old.

Charlie does, because he memorised the 'Countries of the World' song that originated on that Warner Brothers cartoon.

Over the summer we went to the PA Ren Faire, and saw the group 'The Rakish Rogues'. They were collecting money for charity and this man sitting near us gave $20 if one of the guys would sing that song. Apparently he'd done it the year previously.

Our Charlie, he who had previously memorised the Element Song, thought that was nifty, so I told him that I would give him $20 if he could memorise the song as well.

It took him until around November, but he did it.

At Christmas we went back to the Ren Faire for their Dickens Christmas thing, and one of the 'Rogues' was now playing Mr Fezziwig, and we had the chance to tell him about Charlie's feat, and he actually called Charlie on stage during one of the shows and had him do it. He was suitably impressed.

So, do I know all the countries? Probably not, but I know where I can go find out.

Oh. My. God.

Sherlock.

Just...wow.