I am cleaning up my Goodreads account by adding books, shelves and reviews. Like I have nothing else to do. I re-posted my old reviews from LJ mostly, which proved to be a fascinating read - I forgot about them and the stuff I wrote five years ago. Several reviews I couldn't find by my tags, which means I haven't yet finished tagging the entire lj. Oh, bother.

anyways, the books are here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2187951
or here: http://avrelia.livejournal.com/tag/books

I have two of them - if anyone still needs them, you are welcome.

And while I am at it: Happiest of birthdays to writteninstars!!! Much fun and much good luck to you, dear!

So I created an account over there, because I Am a sheep, and that is a thing to do.

http://avrelia.dreamwidth.org/ I added those whom I remembered first thing in the morning, so if you think I missed you, come and say.

I do not believe I will be moving there, though.

Happy May 1st!!

I've noticed a tendency throughout my flist in these last months: we comment less. I comment less, you comment less, everybody comment less. I read (well, skim) my f-list almost every day, but too often I have nothing to add or just don't have time to write anything meaningful. I assume everybody else is plagued with the same lack of time. or a different lack of time. another reason is of course, that our interests diverge more and more - I cannot find time to watch much of the often-discussed movies and TV, many of you are hardly interested in small children (but they are very funny to look at!) we converge in the universal topics like weather (do YOU have as much snow as we?), health or politics (Russian, Canadian or USA - take your pick). So our entries look like monologues instead of heated or relaxed conversations of the bygone days. Or is it an illusion? I should go back in time and check, though it won't be telling - I never posted as much as I thought of posting. maybe it just seemed that way because we all discussed the shared interests more. Monologues or not, I love reading my friends and see what is going on in your life or just what do you read or watch nowadays. I love my friends (YOU), and I miss them when they disappear from LJ-world.

So, there: even if I do not comment, I am here, I read and I care.

but occasionally I feel like I am twelve and I really want to get comments. ;)

It seems my recent posts all concern either pregnancy or books - and you might think nothing else happens or interest me. Well, it is almost true.
However, not completely - I also watch movies and follow the kerfuffles here and there.

Well, a week ago, my blogging site devoted to pregnancy and children was hit by a major kerfuffle - probably its first, as the service is rather young (hardly over two years). It felt like a kerfuffle we usually have here ten per summer, but because it was a relatively small community (a babies fandom, I guess), because it was personal and not about fictional worlds and because the emotions of future and new mothers are running high, it was hot there for a time. I felt that nothing is ever new and ran here, back in my familiar fandom haven for some peace and quiet...

Yeah... So much for peace and quiet... I don't have much energy for moral outrage and I am way too cynical to expect anything good from 6A in the matter, but I am deeply sad that lots of people are planning to leave for good. Yes, 6A/LJ screws up and it doesn't care. Which raises some questions - what do they care about? Money, yes, but in what context applicable to LJ? I've read somewhere they are preparing for public offering, but the getting rid of HP porn seems too random an action. They obviously don't need paying members of LJ, as I guess it is not very profitable to rely on them. But what is profitable here? Is it actually possible to make money on LJ? You know, maybe they should cancel all permanent accounts, because those people are not going to pay for it again...

and the same goes for the Cyrillic segment, with its own problems and kerfuffles and the owner that nobody quite sure what they own actually. (Or maybe it's me who doesn't know what exactly SUP owns, because I hardly ever present in Cyrillic segment).

I, however, found this piece of news in Russian source It's in English, and it's about Brad leaving and some hints on general situation at 6A

I do not, however, planning to leave. I stated my reasons after the May crisis and they stays the same. It is a place I've built for myself, and I am not only here for fandom large or small, but for friends in many completely different areas. And if I pay, it will be not for the sake of 6A, but for my own comfort, because though I lived for years on basic account, I don't see why I have to cause myself inconvenience to jab at 6A, when they will hardly ever notice me...

I feel like I am the most boring person ever - what with not posting and lurking rarely commenting. I can't even claim that I was awfully busy and/or exhausted.

I just worked and slept and read books and didn't find it in myself to write in LJ about it. :) and the longer I don't post...

oh, whatever.

the work is as usual and require a separate post. So does the reading - actually several posts, that I am writing for the last month. The sleep is of no interest to anyone except me.

What's left? the weather, the TV and the news. I spent this April at war with the weather. I was mentally kicking the gloomy sky and seething when watching the forecast and waving my fists at all silly winds.

At this moment I am winning.

What is about TV? I watch more or less regularly Bones and Ugly Betty.

I didn't like Bones when I tried it last year, but this season I caught one episode, and now I am loving it more and more. Nothing much to discuss though about it - I just enjoy watching.

The similar feeling I have watching Ugly Betty - I enjoy watching it, and I love their self-mocking humour, and good acting work, and the way the show can find in every character something to sympathize with, but it's just not a deep discussion material for me. maybe not yet, of course, but so far it is just silly fun.

I tried Heroes - back in autumn, but then I found I am making myself to watch it, and what's the pleasure in it? I do love Hiro (though I like the actor himself much more than the character - based on some bits of information I caught. Anyway, I think I'll give it another try now at the end of season.

Occasionally I watch House - or, to be exact, I watch Hugh Laurie there.

I never managed to get into The Office - I tried, but it is just not my show.

I keep forgetting to watch some shows.

I actually managed to remember watching Drive - I liked some of it, didn't like other parts, wasn't sure the premise was going to work for me in the long run... But what's the point anyway? I probably only need to start watching shows which full first season is assured.


The news consist of the new courses we started taking with my husband: Introduction to Creating Writing. So far the most fun of it is going to the course together and doing exercises. Our first exercise scenes were the best (in our humble opinions :-p -- and judging by the reactions.) Next up - a poem. Cue my misgivings about it. I have no idea how to write poetry in English.

Well, that's pretty much it. Next up: memes

Friendster, known for breaking new ground in online social networking and promoting self-expression among peers, fired one of its employees Monday for her personal Web log, or online diary. Joyce Park, a Web developer living in Sunnyvale, Calif., said her managers told her Monday that she stepped over the line with her blog, Troutgirl. They declined to elaborate, except to say that it was CEO Scott Sassa's ultimate decision, Park said.
http://news.com.com/2102-1038_3-5331835.html?tag=st.util.print#yourtake

The best part though is the comments. They diverge in three main direction:

This person should know better than talk about her employer in her blog.

This company should know better than that – it would ruin their publicity, especially since they are promoting self-expression, etc.

They probably just were looking for a pretext to fire this person, since the job she was hired to do was done.

I was trying to make up my own mind on it – and I strangely find all these options bearing some weight. I like the third most, but do we really know what happened there? Anyway, now it seemed to generate much more noise than the management expected.


Also I remember reading somewhere – may be on the same site, that many company encourage blogs of their employees, believing that it gives the company “a human face”. But isn’t it a stretch to think that people wouldn’t talk about their work? Or that they would give their posts to pre-approval to PR department? I mean I understand also that any company want to control the information about itself that goes public. But shouldn’t there be clear rules?