Plus I have a cool new hipster sweater with a fox wearing glasses on it, so I've got that going for me.

I totally share that particular Skeletor whenever I can...it's not everyone who has file folders documenting that, lucky me.

Lol, I just got on a plane and over the shoulder of the girl in front of me, I spied AO3. Almost asked her what she’s reading (she was scrolling through some various options, I recognized the symbols but couldn’t see what fandom she was in) but didn’t.

Ha!

It's probably gay hockey, though.

I mean to be fair all I have been reading for 8 months is gay hockey on AO3 so…

My mother read the Valachi Papers when she was pregnant with me.

I had to spend a lot of time off my feet my first pregnancy and much of the time was spent with multiple collections of Calvin and Hobbes. It surely had an impact.

Jess you go first, explain what your formative media is and why is it Buffy

Nice.

Today is my son Bobby's 32nd birthday. The 5th with no contact. It doesn't get any easier.

I just got on a plane and over the shoulder of the girl in front of me, I spied AO3.

Last week Aeryn walked past me on the opposite side of the living room and said, "You read on DARK MODE?!?!?!!" (And...yeah, it was Hollanov.)

I was at a flea market a little ways upstate this morning and had to rescue an Ender (from Ender's Game, not Minecraft) Funko from one table because the idea of turning this traumatized 8 year old's story into a cute little desk toy just made me so sad for him. I also got a soup bowl that has handles and the word SOUP in all caps for a dollar, so all told it was a pretty good haul.

I'm sorry, Laura.

Yeah, Laura, that sucks. Dad and I sort of put the "strange" in estrangement, but we've left the lights on a little bit lately. Also, Tep, I meant to say best wishes for your surgery. Sometimes when I write long posts they get eaten so I tend to post too fast. In "Cool story, Jeopardy contestant!" style news, I can probably confirm that I've dialed someone in all fifty states... New Hampshire was one of the last "Um, maybe?" ones and I did that with PDA today. I'm sure there are prettier milestones that one can reach after twenty years, but I did it.

It's absolutely a milestone. Ya did it and deserve gold stars, at the very least.

Oh Laura. This is tough. I'm sorry.

Steph, lots of surgery~ma!

and back to memememe

Thank you, all! I still can't grasp that this is happening. I've been wanting to do it for so long, and then, for some reason, it's happening. And after years of shit, it's kind of overwhelming to get news that is so good.

keep something that smells like you in the carrier with him

Oh, the little guy gets something better. He gets to fly with me in the cabin, and the rest of the plane can hear his freedom serenades for five hours. And then, since the airline doesn't fly directly to Belgium, we get to take and Uber *that costs more than the flight* from Amsterdam to Belgium, with same very annoyed cat that by that time will be for 3 more hours in a carrier. Can't wait.

My brother is moving to Brussels for 8 months as soon as they sort out his security clearance, so if (when) I visit him, I would love to try to see you!

I'd love to see you too! I'll be in Leuven, so it's very doable!

What are your digital humanities plans? There are so many fascinating projects out there.

Yes, and coming from archives and metadata librarianship I feel like I have a specific angle here. What's interesting for me in data about people is that humans don't dwell in nice and neat categories, and I don't want to arrange us into such categories. So I want to focus on oral histories and testimonies. I've been listening to and taking oral history interviews for years now. Following the war, I want to focus on how survivors are finding a way to tell their stories after everything they know has been shattered. I'm very interested in knowing if DH methods can spot or help us understand better how people are beginning to shape new stories and narratives. I know that I am still at a loss for words after everything that has taken place and is still taking place here. So I'm wondering if I can learn something about how people talk about their new lives. And for sanity, I'm planning to work only with interviews from wars that have ended.