No One Was More Surprised Than Me
Jul. 7th, 2025 01:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glindaSo I’m hideously behind on my writing target for the year - even by the standard I was working to last year of having written more at the end of each month than I had the previous year I’m behind - so when I saw that nafs was hosting write every day this month I decided that was probably exactly what I needed. And apparently I was correct? Most days I’ve only written a couple of hundred words but it’s adding up and in some cases it turned out that actually that half written draft article/post I had lurking actually only needed 240 words in the right places to be finished. Very satisfying.
And uh, on Friday I opened my prompt file and stuck its associated playlists on and umm, wrote like 600 words of a fic. I’ve been picking away at it over the weekend and, while it’s not my best work I don’t think it’s terrible. (One of my re-watches the other month was Ocean’s Eight and apparently I had a bunch of Daphne Kluger feelings lurking. The original prompt for this fic was Casual by Chappel Roan but it kinda drifted.) So yeah, first finished fic in almost exactly two years, go me.
Someone You Couldn’t Lose (1341 words) by Glinda
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Daphne Kluger/Lou Miller, Daphne Kluger/Debbie Ocean, Daphne Kluger/Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Characters: Daphne Kluger, Lou Miller (Ocean's), Debbie Ocean
Additional Tags: Friendship, Friends With Benefits, Planning Adventures, Less casual than anyone wants to admit, Thirty-something problems
Summary:
nafs was hosting write every day this month I decided that was probably exactly what I needed. And apparently I was correct? Most days I’ve only written a couple of hundred words but it’s adding up and in some cases it turned out that actually that half written draft article/post I had lurking actually only needed 240 words in the right places to be finished. Very satisfying. And uh, on Friday I opened my prompt file and stuck its associated playlists on and umm, wrote like 600 words of a fic. I’ve been picking away at it over the weekend and, while it’s not my best work I don’t think it’s terrible. (One of my re-watches the other month was Ocean’s Eight and apparently I had a bunch of Daphne Kluger feelings lurking. The original prompt for this fic was Casual by Chappel Roan but it kinda drifted.) So yeah, first finished fic in almost exactly two years, go me.
Someone You Couldn’t Lose (1341 words) by Glinda
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Daphne Kluger/Lou Miller, Daphne Kluger/Debbie Ocean, Daphne Kluger/Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Characters: Daphne Kluger, Lou Miller (Ocean's), Debbie Ocean
Additional Tags: Friendship, Friends With Benefits, Planning Adventures, Less casual than anyone wants to admit, Thirty-something problems
Summary:
The thing no one tells you, is that it’s kinda hard to make new friends in your 30s. (Daphne Kluger would far rather plan a heist.)
Bloody Game
Jul. 7th, 2025 07:29 amscaramoucheI caved! Sort of. I didn't really want to watch the rest of Bloody Game's season 1, but based on the episode thumbnails it looked like the cast who got sent to the basement would be able to get out, and I was curious how it happened. So I ended up skipping through the rest of the episodes to find out how the switch happens (which is that once the two groups have equal numbers, the games turn into team matches instead of individual ones) and who gets eliminated along the way to the finale. I also watched bits of two games: the math expression game and the mine betting game.
A couple of takeaways! The have vs. have-nots situation was IMO handled better here than in The Devil's Plan's season 2, because upward mobility was not dependent on an accumulative mechanic, i.e. the haves do not already have an advantage going in to the games that helps them stay on top. I think also having them play as teams (basement vs. ground) instead of as individuals forces the basement players to not sabotage each other crab-bucket style, though of course it also means that reward and punishment is collective, and they could have just as easily lost all the team challenges. Still, I got the feeling that the gamemakers took care to make sure the basement players got multiple chances to turn things around, even before the team matches started, but the players were unable to take full advantage of them, eg. they didn't solve the black puzzle that Na-yeong had since day 1, which is why I think they gave them the safe as a back-up. (As a puzzle person, I'm like, sure it's one colour and the pieces are in an unusual configuration, but it's not that big! But... I am a puzzle person.)
( Cut for length, aka I can't believe I'm watching enough of this genre to have opinions )
A couple of takeaways! The have vs. have-nots situation was IMO handled better here than in The Devil's Plan's season 2, because upward mobility was not dependent on an accumulative mechanic, i.e. the haves do not already have an advantage going in to the games that helps them stay on top. I think also having them play as teams (basement vs. ground) instead of as individuals forces the basement players to not sabotage each other crab-bucket style, though of course it also means that reward and punishment is collective, and they could have just as easily lost all the team challenges. Still, I got the feeling that the gamemakers took care to make sure the basement players got multiple chances to turn things around, even before the team matches started, but the players were unable to take full advantage of them, eg. they didn't solve the black puzzle that Na-yeong had since day 1, which is why I think they gave them the safe as a back-up. (As a puzzle person, I'm like, sure it's one colour and the pieces are in an unusual configuration, but it's not that big! But... I am a puzzle person.)
( Cut for length, aka I can't believe I'm watching enough of this genre to have opinions )
[film] Elio
Jul. 6th, 2025 09:13 ammaluretteTitle: Elio
By:
Language: English (tried not to look too much at the french subtitles
Type: animation, 3D
Genre: family/drama/scifi/adventure/coming of age?
Length:
Release date: 2025
Where: in the theater with a friend
( Read more... )
It may not be a great Pixar but it's not a bad movie; it's good summer fun. I do wonder what it looked like before the heavy retooling though?
By:
Language: English (tried not to look too much at the french subtitles
Type: animation, 3D
Genre: family/drama/scifi/adventure/coming of age?
Length:
Release date: 2025
Where: in the theater with a friend
( Read more... )
It may not be a great Pixar but it's not a bad movie; it's good summer fun. I do wonder what it looked like before the heavy retooling though?
TV report
Jul. 5th, 2025 11:20 pmsasha_featherMy eyes are bothering me lately; anything close-focus is hard. Really challenging as most of my hobbies involve close focus. I have a lot of pain in my mouth and face so concentrating is also difficult.
TV seems to be the way to go but I feel like I've run out of shows.
Enjoying: Murderbot. Also loved The Pitt, and the Old Guard 2. Task Master and DropOut (Game changer, etc), continue to delight.
Other things I've watched:
Mr Robot. Gave up after one season. It's grim and humorless. I liked some of the actors a lot but the aesthetic was so gray on gray, and a high preference for very thin bodies and baggy eyes, like heroin-addict chic. For a thriller it's weirdly slow.
The storied life of AJ Fikry: A cromulent romance / drama on Netflix. Cute if not particularly memorable. It's about people who love reading and live on an island only accessible by ferry. Has multiple characters of color.
I watched 2 episodes of "Nobody Wants This", a rom-com with Kristen Bell. Her character falls in love with a rabbi. The characters felt really thinly drawn and so I did not care about them. There was just no there there, as they say.
The Last Breath: a drama about a survival story involving deep-sea construction workers (based on a true story). I liked this pretty well but think it would have worked better with some documentary-style explanations of what was happening.
Clean Slate: on Amazon Prime, a sitcom about a trans woman reconnecting with her father. I dropped this because I could not see what was happening! There seemed to be a gray film over everything! I might try it again later as it had some good humor and characters.
I tried season three of the Bear but it was unpleasant.
I played Dragon Age: Inquisition through twice, which was very restful for my brain actually. I think it would be a good idea to invest further in video games, which help me pass the time when I'm ill. I don't know much about gaming systems. I'd love to play Dragon Age Veilguard and some other newer games but how to decide on what kind of system to get? They are expensive. I got the Xbox 360 used and have absolutely loved having it.
What are you enjoying watching or playing?
TV seems to be the way to go but I feel like I've run out of shows.
Enjoying: Murderbot. Also loved The Pitt, and the Old Guard 2. Task Master and DropOut (Game changer, etc), continue to delight.
Other things I've watched:
Mr Robot. Gave up after one season. It's grim and humorless. I liked some of the actors a lot but the aesthetic was so gray on gray, and a high preference for very thin bodies and baggy eyes, like heroin-addict chic. For a thriller it's weirdly slow.
The storied life of AJ Fikry: A cromulent romance / drama on Netflix. Cute if not particularly memorable. It's about people who love reading and live on an island only accessible by ferry. Has multiple characters of color.
I watched 2 episodes of "Nobody Wants This", a rom-com with Kristen Bell. Her character falls in love with a rabbi. The characters felt really thinly drawn and so I did not care about them. There was just no there there, as they say.
The Last Breath: a drama about a survival story involving deep-sea construction workers (based on a true story). I liked this pretty well but think it would have worked better with some documentary-style explanations of what was happening.
Clean Slate: on Amazon Prime, a sitcom about a trans woman reconnecting with her father. I dropped this because I could not see what was happening! There seemed to be a gray film over everything! I might try it again later as it had some good humor and characters.
I tried season three of the Bear but it was unpleasant.
I played Dragon Age: Inquisition through twice, which was very restful for my brain actually. I think it would be a good idea to invest further in video games, which help me pass the time when I'm ill. I don't know much about gaming systems. I'd love to play Dragon Age Veilguard and some other newer games but how to decide on what kind of system to get? They are expensive. I got the Xbox 360 used and have absolutely loved having it.
What are you enjoying watching or playing?
Small successes and mixed-up veggies
Jul. 6th, 2025 01:33 pmmificI'm very much in winter mode here as although some days are sunny, it's cold, and a lot of days are very wet. So not going outside much and not doing gardening, which I don't feel great about. I seem a bit beset by inertia in terms of things physical, possibly a mid-winter slump, but I'm doing indoors things just fine - well, the things I like doing, anyway. Not cleaning or organising! I do tidy up once a week before Fionna comes to vacuum, and occasionally the dishes get washed, but that's about it.
I've started another longer podfic - this one for the due South Big Bang. Am also continuing to add lots of new podfics to the Audiofic Archive (we got inundated by >600 short ones from a recent Voiceteam challenge). And I finished a personal project with the Audiofic Archive of adding streaming links to all the SGA podfics there so they can be enjoyed easily with no need to download zip files. That's 138 pages of SGA podfics! - and increasing each week, as we make more. Next fandom to complete is due South.
In the process I stumbled on Lim's old Fanvid page on Wayback, and the vid downloads still worked. Lim made avant garde vids with lots of altered graphics. Some are on AO3 but a lot of the SGA ones aren't. The Wayback page is here (with additional info and credits), and I downloaded the SGA ones and converted them to mp4 format here. CW for flashing, fast cuts, loud music in some of them. One, Mission Report, (lyrics) is a multimedia podvid where Lim created the lyrics, music, and vid, and sang it for the SGA flashfic comm.
In "first world problem" news, a grocery mix-up. My online delivery packer needs help with alliums! Ordered a bunch of spring (green) onions:
And got a giant leek. Size matters! (in terms of making salads, anyway)
Finally, I saw this amazing poem on tumblr, apparently written by nine-for-a-kiss as a teenager. It's very Dark-is-Rising-ish.
I've started another longer podfic - this one for the due South Big Bang. Am also continuing to add lots of new podfics to the Audiofic Archive (we got inundated by >600 short ones from a recent Voiceteam challenge). And I finished a personal project with the Audiofic Archive of adding streaming links to all the SGA podfics there so they can be enjoyed easily with no need to download zip files. That's 138 pages of SGA podfics! - and increasing each week, as we make more. Next fandom to complete is due South.
In the process I stumbled on Lim's old Fanvid page on Wayback, and the vid downloads still worked. Lim made avant garde vids with lots of altered graphics. Some are on AO3 but a lot of the SGA ones aren't. The Wayback page is here (with additional info and credits), and I downloaded the SGA ones and converted them to mp4 format here. CW for flashing, fast cuts, loud music in some of them. One, Mission Report, (lyrics) is a multimedia podvid where Lim created the lyrics, music, and vid, and sang it for the SGA flashfic comm.
In "first world problem" news, a grocery mix-up. My online delivery packer needs help with alliums! Ordered a bunch of spring (green) onions:
And got a giant leek. Size matters! (in terms of making salads, anyway)
Finally, I saw this amazing poem on tumblr, apparently written by nine-for-a-kiss as a teenager. It's very Dark-is-Rising-ish.
Two Guardian fics: Sunshine and Honey (M-rated) and Pages for You (T-rated)
Jul. 5th, 2025 03:20 pmchina_shopI wrote a self-indulgent Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan treat for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
idproquo and a post-canon Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan domestic-fluff flashfic for the fan_flashworks Amnesty round. Thanks to trobadora for beta on both of them! <3
Title: Sunshine and Honey (4126 words) [Mature]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Outdoor Sex, Feeding, Finger Sucking, Oral Fixation, First Kiss (for one of them), First time (for one of them), Treat
Summary:
Title: Pages for You (1762 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Fade to Black, Community: fan_flashworks
Summary:
idproquo and a post-canon Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan domestic-fluff flashfic for the fan_flashworks Amnesty round. Thanks to trobadora for beta on both of them! <3Title: Sunshine and Honey (4126 words) [Mature]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Outdoor Sex, Feeding, Finger Sucking, Oral Fixation, First Kiss (for one of them), First time (for one of them), Treat
Summary:
They were halfway to the Allied Forces’ southern boundary when the sun came out. Shen Wei pulled back his hood and looked around, conscious of the breeze on his bare face. The heavy clouds were finally breaking up.
Meanwhile, Kunlun had dropped his bag and flopped onto his back on the grassy slope. “Let’s rest here a while.”
Title: Pages for You (1762 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Fade to Black, Community: fan_flashworks
Summary:
Over the course of the evening, an impulse had taken root, and now Shen Wei submitted to it. He switched on his desk lamp, laid out several large sheets of paper and quietly ground some ink. If Zhao Yunlan wanted to read of their time together through the eyes of a Dixingren soldier, who better than Shen Wei to write an account—to show Zhao Yunlan exactly how much his arrival had meant to the war effort and to Shen Wei himself.
Me-and-media update
Jul. 5th, 2025 03:06 pmchina_shopPrevious poll review
In the Routine poll, 84.2% of respondents voted for tooth-brushing, 50.9% for locking up and switching things off around the house, and 33.3% for tending to pets. Night-time routines taking more than half an hour got 24.6%, and "sometimes it takes me an hour or more" got 7%. *high fives*
In ticky-boxes, hugs won with 75.4%, followed by "how stressful it is to ask tradespeople to change things they've done" with 57.9% and "sitting on a mountain ledge in the moonlight, listening to owls" with 56.1%. Thank you for your votes! <3
Reading
Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm, who sounds exactly like Emma Thompson. I spent the middle third of this being unsure what the plot was (or if there even was a plot; "is this a cosy magic-school story?" I asked nobody in particular). Things stirred ominously under the surface, but the tension relied on the reader being more worried about them than the mostly oblivious POV character -- which was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it very much.
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain). A few more chapters. I'm past halfway and it still feels like setup, which I guess is a function of it being the first book of five.
A tiny bit more of Neurotribes. I'm bored with the case studies/anecdotes and ready for some theory.
Two more chapters of Guardian by priest.
My Whimsy binge stalled after bouncing off three different narrators for The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. None of them hit the humour right. I suppose I'm going to have to read in text, but Prydain first (and I still haven't finished my reread of Werecockroach, note to self).
Kdramas
I finished Our Unwritten Seoul and enjoyed it very much. It's about 30yo identical twins, one who works in a corporate office in Seoul, and one who lives in their hometown and does a series of temporary and part-time jobs. The office worker is miserable from being bullied at work, so they decide to swap lives. Contains some pretty good (in my inexpert opinion) disability rep, and
I cancelled my VIKI subscription earlier this week because I wasn't using it, so of course I immediately started watching My Dearest Nemesis, as recced byadore. It has a bit of a "based on a webtoon" feel, but I'm fine with that, and it's a neat twist on the Obnoxious Repressed Chaebol Exec trope. (The leading man is leading a double life: he's a closet fanboy, but his family and position require him to present as a 100% bland, respectable businessman.) I'm obsessed!
Note to self: check out First Night with the Duke next. And maybe renew your VIKI subscription.
Other TV
Poker Face and Murderbot continue to be enjoyable (we're an episode behind on each of them). I found the second half of Andor season 2 a lot more engaging than the first half (and might like the first half more on the rewatch; yet to be determined). Another episode each of Étoile and Krapopolis. The Old Guard 2 on Netflix.
A rewatch of French film Rosalie Blum, which I love.
Guardian/Fandom
The continuing delights of read-alongs and polls.
Audio entertainment
A little bit of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American (US constitutional-law context for current developments), a little bit of Midnight Burger (audiodrama), most of the first season of Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones (which I'm enjoying despite not being familiar with DWJ's earlier books).
Writing/making things
I wrote a flashfic for thefan_flashworks amnesty round and am poking at a couple of WIPs. My brain seems to be in recovery mode. My only current deadline is the fan_flashworks Science round.
Life/health/mental state things
My thumbs/hands/wrists are not in great shape. My body is working hard to metabolise ambient stress. (*hugs to everyone*) I'm feeling a little under siege by winter and ~the state of things~, but I saw my sister for the first time in weeks (she's had a cold), a friend came over for lunch on Thursday, and last night our tv-watching friend joined us for Rosalie Blum.
Good things
Chocolate. Andrew and Halle. Fandom and all of you. Polls. Kdramas. Books. Podcasts. Eminem. Writing when it happens. AO3 (*clutches*). Love, kindness, and diversity.
In the Routine poll, 84.2% of respondents voted for tooth-brushing, 50.9% for locking up and switching things off around the house, and 33.3% for tending to pets. Night-time routines taking more than half an hour got 24.6%, and "sometimes it takes me an hour or more" got 7%. *high fives*
In ticky-boxes, hugs won with 75.4%, followed by "how stressful it is to ask tradespeople to change things they've done" with 57.9% and "sitting on a mountain ledge in the moonlight, listening to owls" with 56.1%. Thank you for your votes! <3
Reading
Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm, who sounds exactly like Emma Thompson. I spent the middle third of this being unsure what the plot was (or if there even was a plot; "is this a cosy magic-school story?" I asked nobody in particular). Things stirred ominously under the surface, but the tension relied on the reader being more worried about them than the mostly oblivious POV character -- which was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it very much.
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain). A few more chapters. I'm past halfway and it still feels like setup, which I guess is a function of it being the first book of five.
A tiny bit more of Neurotribes. I'm bored with the case studies/anecdotes and ready for some theory.
Two more chapters of Guardian by priest.
My Whimsy binge stalled after bouncing off three different narrators for The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. None of them hit the humour right. I suppose I'm going to have to read in text, but Prydain first (and I still haven't finished my reread of Werecockroach, note to self).
Kdramas
I finished Our Unwritten Seoul and enjoyed it very much. It's about 30yo identical twins, one who works in a corporate office in Seoul, and one who lives in their hometown and does a series of temporary and part-time jobs. The office worker is miserable from being bullied at work, so they decide to swap lives. Contains some pretty good (in my inexpert opinion) disability rep, and
I approved of both the morals (spoilers)
1) if you bottle things up and don't let people see your vulnerability, you can't feel their love; and 2) love isn't about winning or losing, or whether you're a burden; it's about being on the same team, staying together, and supporting each other as you win or lose. <3 <3 <3 (I was so happy when Ho-su stopped pushing Mi-ji away, and with the ending when they used sign language sometimes. <3 <3 <3)I cancelled my VIKI subscription earlier this week because I wasn't using it, so of course I immediately started watching My Dearest Nemesis, as recced by
adore. It has a bit of a "based on a webtoon" feel, but I'm fine with that, and it's a neat twist on the Obnoxious Repressed Chaebol Exec trope. (The leading man is leading a double life: he's a closet fanboy, but his family and position require him to present as a 100% bland, respectable businessman.) I'm obsessed! Note to self: check out First Night with the Duke next. And maybe renew your VIKI subscription.
Other TV
Poker Face and Murderbot continue to be enjoyable (we're an episode behind on each of them). I found the second half of Andor season 2 a lot more engaging than the first half (and might like the first half more on the rewatch; yet to be determined). Another episode each of Étoile and Krapopolis. The Old Guard 2 on Netflix.
Tiny spoiler for the very end.
Andrew was disgusted that, at the end, as [redacted] leave the secret archive full of ancient texts, they turn out the light but leave candles burning. "What about the ancient books?!" LOL!A rewatch of French film Rosalie Blum, which I love.
Guardian/Fandom
The continuing delights of read-alongs and polls.
Audio entertainment
A little bit of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American (US constitutional-law context for current developments), a little bit of Midnight Burger (audiodrama), most of the first season of Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones (which I'm enjoying despite not being familiar with DWJ's earlier books).
Writing/making things
I wrote a flashfic for the
fan_flashworks amnesty round and am poking at a couple of WIPs. My brain seems to be in recovery mode. My only current deadline is the fan_flashworks Science round.Life/health/mental state things
My thumbs/hands/wrists are not in great shape. My body is working hard to metabolise ambient stress. (*hugs to everyone*) I'm feeling a little under siege by winter and ~the state of things~, but I saw my sister for the first time in weeks (she's had a cold), a friend came over for lunch on Thursday, and last night our tv-watching friend joined us for Rosalie Blum.
Good things
Chocolate. Andrew and Halle. Fandom and all of you. Polls. Kdramas. Books. Podcasts. Eminem. Writing when it happens. AO3 (*clutches*). Love, kindness, and diversity.
Poll #33324 Crowd-sourcing randomness
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 35
Crowd-sourcing randomness
View Answers
heads
6 (17.1%)
tails
8 (22.9%)
edge
8 (22.9%)
zero-g (the coin never falls)
14 (40.0%)
ticky-box full of grumbly cats in search of treats
23 (65.7%)
ticky-box full of being protective of your blorbos
17 (48.6%)
ticky-box full of surviving AO3 outages
24 (68.6%)
ticky-box full of soft, bright-green moss nestled at the base of a tree, glittering with beads of dew
21 (60.0%)
ticky-box full of hugs
26 (74.3%)
Book Log: Laughing All the Way to the Mosque
Jul. 5th, 2025 09:31 amscaramoucheThis was such a quick read, I literally started and finished it while waiting for my car service to be completed. It's a humourous semi-memoir by Zarqa Nawaz, creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie, a Muslim Pakistani-Canadian who has an irreverent view of life. I say it's a semi-memoir because the stories in her book are totally embellished one way or another to the polished sheen of a tumblr post or stand up routine, and that's fine, it doesn't offer accuracy, only self-deprecating neurotic humour and emotional insight of her experience as a Muslim woman in a Western world.
I laughed a lot, I cringed a lot, I went "oh nooooo" a lot, but I also got some useful understanding here and there to chew on. Zarqa details growing up the only brown girl in her school and envying the blonde white girls who wore miniskirts, wrestling with body hair, using religion as the means to rebel at her parents, dealing with family expectations regarding her career and marriage, and her various misadventures in journalism, amateur filmmaking, making waves in her local community and eventually kicking off Little Mosque on the Prairie. The kernels of the stories may be true but parts where she details her cluelessness (like her being unprepared for her journalism interview, or Hajj, or cooking for Eid) made me so stressed on her behalf, but her successes are also fun to read about, and there is freshness, I suppose, in Zarqa detailing the many many things that went wrong on the way to learning something about herself. There's an Ally McBeal kind of feel in her confidence to do things her way and fall flat on her face as she does.
It's a good thing by now I've read enough books by Muslim peeps who live in the Western world, so I'm not as alienated by their expressions of faith as a modern person in the modern world. I think the best thing was a few books back that pinpointed our specific SEA-flavour being influenced by animism and it's like, YES THERE'S A TERM FOR IT. So I can read Zarqa stating that "Muslims don't believe in ghosts" and just be like, speak for yourself, sister! (Instead of getting hurt and confused.)
I laughed a lot, I cringed a lot, I went "oh nooooo" a lot, but I also got some useful understanding here and there to chew on. Zarqa details growing up the only brown girl in her school and envying the blonde white girls who wore miniskirts, wrestling with body hair, using religion as the means to rebel at her parents, dealing with family expectations regarding her career and marriage, and her various misadventures in journalism, amateur filmmaking, making waves in her local community and eventually kicking off Little Mosque on the Prairie. The kernels of the stories may be true but parts where she details her cluelessness (like her being unprepared for her journalism interview, or Hajj, or cooking for Eid) made me so stressed on her behalf, but her successes are also fun to read about, and there is freshness, I suppose, in Zarqa detailing the many many things that went wrong on the way to learning something about herself. There's an Ally McBeal kind of feel in her confidence to do things her way and fall flat on her face as she does.
It's a good thing by now I've read enough books by Muslim peeps who live in the Western world, so I'm not as alienated by their expressions of faith as a modern person in the modern world. I think the best thing was a few books back that pinpointed our specific SEA-flavour being influenced by animism and it's like, YES THERE'S A TERM FOR IT. So I can read Zarqa stating that "Muslims don't believe in ghosts" and just be like, speak for yourself, sister! (Instead of getting hurt and confused.)
