Friday Memeage!

[dawn_felagund]

First order of business: gakked from just about everyone,

If you think you know me well enough to respond to this, what warning label would you slap on me before letting me leave the factory house?

Next, what happened to thefridayfive?? Gah. Well, I wanted to do this one two weeks ago but was busy, so...

1. How far back can you trace your family tree?
Umm...to my great-grandparents? Well, I suppose that if I made the effort, I could go further than that. But really, I've no desire to make the effort. Genealogy is one thing that has never appealed to me.

2. What is the most interesting (or strange) thing you've heard about one of your relatives?
On my mom's side, we are descended from Mary Queen of Scots (the House of Stewart, or something like that), and she was beheaded.

This also means that I am descended from royalty! My title, if you were wondering, is Lord of Caves, though I do not expect people to address me as such.

More recently in my family--like in the last century--my dad's grandmother had something like a half-dozen fiances: She would collect the shiny, then drop the guy. Once she had enough shiny, she had it all melted down and had a single large shiny made. Does that sound familiar? *ahem* Anyway, apparently my dad is in possession of the shiny, and I am due to inherit it. I shall try not to throw myself into a volcano upon receiving it.

3. How do you feel about legacy names like John Henry Smith IV or naming children after other relatives?
Well, my husband is a "third," as in Bobby, III...

And it is a pain in the ass.

Should he and his father have separate accounts with a company, they are constantly mixed up. We recently went through a snafu with Dell, where my father-in-law ordered some printer toner, and Bobby's account was charged. It was so tangled and without solution that we finally gave up, and my mother-in-law wrote us a check for the amount and we paid the bill without further argument. Luckily, my husband's last name is not a common name; I'd hate to be one of the literally thousands of "John Smiths," who probably get charged for every other "John Smith's" freakin' toner.

4. Would you consider yourself and/or your family to be traditional?
Eh...not really. And our traditions tend to be odd, single-generation things, certainly nothing like, "Grandma wore this pink dress for her sweet sixteen party, so you shall do the same, Dawn!" We always ate pizza on Christmas Eve, for example, and Dad would always make the pizza from a kit because we lived in the middle of BF Egypt, and no one would deliver (if pizza joints are even open on Christmas Eve. I don't know, since we never had one near enough to deliver to us!) Or I would always get to choose a place to eat for my birthday, only we'd never end up going until about March. (My birthday is in September.) The only year that I got to actually eat out on my birthday was the year that I was eighteen because Tropical Storm Floyd announced my coming-of-age by blowing down most of the power lines in Maryland, and we were without power for my birthday and the week after. So we had no choice but to eat out...and since it was my birthday, I got to pick.

Or Dad would always make cookies whenever we got snowed in which--see aforementioned comment on living in the middle of BF Egypt--was pretty often.

Bobby and I have far more "traditions," though mostly, they seem to be things that we really enjoy doing, so we call them "traditions" as a good excuse to do them regularly.

We also eat pizza on Christmas Eve, and Bobby also always makes it homemade...though not because no one will deliver to us!

5. What is one tradition you have passed on to your children and/or plan to pass on to them?
Since I don't intend to have children and Golden Retrievers don't make much sense of tradition, then this question is completely irrelevant.

And...the fannish5...

Name five fanfic cliches you secretly (or not-so-secretly) like.

1. I don't think this is really a cliche, but it is done a lot so...

Maedhros/Fingon. I will be a sucker for this pairing forever, I fear. As much as my better sense cries that they were cousins, and I'm reading it all wrong, and I'm on a huge bandwagon besides, I can't help myself. I trot alongside the bandwagon quite happily and occasionally add my chirpy little voice to the fray.

Meanwhile, there's a little cynical voice in the back of my mind saying, "Dawn, you like any story where Maedhros gets nookie, you perv!"

2. I despise the notion that Ambarussa = Weasley twins, but I do quite like stories where the Fëanorian twins have some sort of special connection. I've seen some where the author--probably in a vain attempt to combat the aforementioned Weasley thing--makes it so that the twins don't give a hoot about each other; it just feels wrong to me. It feels wrong canonically (since they are always mentioned together) and intuitively.

Of course, in By the Light of Roses, I created some distance between the twins myself, but I tried also to show that there was an underlying connection between them, even if neither brother would have particularly chosen it. I don't know how successful I was at that, but that was my intention!

3. The notion that Nerdanel and Fëanor had frequent hott monkey love...again, not exactly a cliche but done by the majority of authors who write this pairing. Just like the Weasley example for #2, I've seen stories that take the complete opposite perspective and try to make Fëanor into some kind of ascetic. Again, it just feels wrong, canonically and intuitively. (It would be an interesting angle to explore, actually: the idea of Fëanor as a character who is always trying to be in control of his passions and is not always so successful--hence the seven sons--but I already have a sexually repressed character who is passionately in love with his partner in my Midhavens verse, so I expend my efforts on him and leave my Fëanor quite the little horndog.)

And there's that cynical voice again, pointing out that the root of my liking for this particular manner of writing Fëanor/Nerdanel has nothing to do with canon or artistry but because I am a hopeless perv.

4. Celegorm had a little thing for Aredhel. I know, I know, I'm probably going to catch a thick, hardcover volume of HoMe to the head from rhapsody11, but I do have a weakness for this particular plot. I'm not fond of those that have an all-out sexual affair, but a little sexual tension is a good thing.

Okay, four done so far and three are naughty...I don't even need the little voice to tell me that I'm hopeless.

5. Maglor died at some point while wandering. Sorry again, rhapsody11. *winces* I just hate having him and his wife and brothers parted (mostly Nelyo) and also hate the unfinished feel to the story. That last bit is silly, I know, but with Maglor still wandering about, the story feels incomplete to me. I like to imagine them all back together so that they may begin healing, and I'm a big sap (as well as a perv) so I can't imagine that happening so long as the family is incomplete. I suppose that I need him to die in order to give the family closure...and also, it is necessary before he can be reunited with Vingarië in the Felakverse.

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

You hooked me again, Dawn, and I see we share at least a couple.

Name five fanfic clichés you secretly (or not-so-secretly) like.

1. Fingon/Maedhros – Gotta go with Dawn on this. In fact, I was hooked on this pairing before I ever read a fanfic and discovered it had been done and done and done. Currently it’s quite an obsession with me, since I just finished one story about them and already started another.
2. Fëanor – Share another one with Dawn – Fëanor and Nerdanel had a heavy-duty sex life. Just seems to make sense – spirit of fire and all that, not to mention seven kids.
3. That Legolas is young – even did backwards research to try to find whatever I could in canon to back this one up and found there were others who shared this fixation (Ellen Brundige and Michael Martinez) and footnoted them in an extensive author’s note in two different stories.
4. Legolas – This is embarrassing – I’m giving this character a lot of airtime. That in itself is a cliché. (In my defense, my interest in him dates back to my earliest reading of Tolkien, years before The Silmarillion was published; I was fascinated with the elves. The Silmarillion elves are much more interesting to me now, but I retain this sentimental attachment that predates them for me. He appears more in my Third-Age novel than he does in all of Tolkien and my story, in theory, has nothing whatsoever to do with him.) Anyway, my second Legolas cliché is that he looks an awful lot like Orlando Bloom (actually, taller and bit broader in the shoulders maybe)—not Bloom himself, but Bloom dressed up in the film.
5. I tend to grossly overuse sanwe-latya/osanwe-kenta. Can’t even blame fanfics or my own exaggeration of Tolkien for this one. (of course I defend this abuse with extensive footnotes, of course). Although I have read very few fantasy novels, I loved Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series of novels which deals with an group of telepaths. It is so much fun to play around with, but I am trying hard to curb my excessive use going forward.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Oh Legolas, well as Isil can attest, Legolas never worked for me to get enthused for elves. I mean I just wasn't interested in Elves at all, I was more a Dunedain gurl when I started out. Until those Fëanorians crashed my place, Maglor decided to set things straight and Celegorm never left either *shakes her head*

It's good to see he gets some well-deserved luv and appreciation from you :)

I tend to grossly overuse sanwe-latya/osanwe-kenta.

Wow thanks Oshun, I was pondering about something this morning and suddenly that solved a problem for me. *hops off all happily*

[dawn_felagund]

You hooked me again, Dawn

Mission accomplished! :^D

1. The funny thing is despite loving this pairing and reading almost anything (including some embarrassingly bad) about Maedhros/Fingon, I have only ever written that one story, "Discovering Love." In BtLoR, I kept Maedhros pointedly not gay.

(I can't wait to read the new chapter, btw! Hopefully this afternoon...)

3 and 4. Having come in with the movies, I was never much for Legolas. I can't say that with the books, that wouldn't have been different, but he will always to me be a fangurling icon. Which is odd, since I heavily fangurl Maedhros and Feanor...I'm a hopeless hypocrite, I guess. ;) In a way, I would have loved to have known where my interests would have fallen, had I read LotR before seeing the movie.

5. Guilty here as well, considering that I have a canon character (Carnistir) and an OFC (his wife Taryinde) who are "telepaths" and I use this tactic quite a bit between Nerdanel and Feanor as well, not to mention the fact that my Unbegotten Elves by default are skilled with the osanwe. I don't see a problem with it; it's fun to explore a form of communication that we don't have, to imagine how it would work. For this reason, I love also writing about magic in my original fantasy; it's an interesting challenge.

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

*sometimes wonders if she's the only person in the fandom who usually gets really, really bored when Maedhros and Fingon's relationship turns slashy* (Though I do really like seeing their friendship written about... weird that I don't like them slashed!)

Heh, my family has a lot of Bobs, too... both grandfathers are named Bob, plus an uncle, and my uncle's oldest kid is Robert III (my brother was lucky in that he got a name totally different from either of my parents', and Robert is only his middle name)! I wouldn't want to imagine what it'd be like if the three Robert S.'s all had accounts in the same company someday. O_o

(Though funny story: my mom's first name is not taken from a relative, and she has the same fun Polish last name I do--yet half the places she goes in this town, there's another person with exactly her name, and born in the same year, too... how's that for creepy and annoying? O_o)

< /rambling>

[ford-of-bruinen.livejournal.com]

I like Fingon/Maedhros slash I admit... but I also do like either paired with others...male or female... I think I just like a well written Fingon and Maedhros no matter the pairing or lack there of LOL

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

*sometimes wonders if she's the only person in the fandom who usually gets really, really bored when Maedhros and Fingon's relationship turns slashy* (Though I do really like seeing their friendship written about... weird that I don't like them slashed!)

No you are not the only one. There are darn good stories about those two, I know, but it doesn't work for me. If it works for others, great :)

[sinneahtes.livejournal.com]

Oh, pfft! I completely missed noticing the label meme!

DAWNFELAGUND MAY CONTRIBUTE TO STRANGE COMMENT THREADS ABOUT BIDETS AND URINALS IN YOUR JOURNAL, SO DO NOT TAKE DAWNFELAGUND WITH FOOD OR BEVERAGES OR A SANE MIND. CONTACT YOUR PHYSICIAN IMMEDIATELY IF YOU START SEEING NEKKID ELVES PRANCING ABOUT IN YOUR FIELD OF VISION.

:D

[dawn_felagund]

(Though I do really like seeing their friendship written about... weird that I don't like them slashed!)

I don't think it's so weird. It's done so often that it's bound to get stale after a while for many people!

I simply have an inexplicable weakness, which influences my reading habits more than my writing. With one exception, "Discovering Love," the relationship between Maedhros and Fingon in my stories is pointedly not sexual. Now this might sound strange: I am more apt to defend the fact that Elves can be gay or bisexual than to accept that there was a great level of incest...or any incest at all. So I have less problem with the gay aspect of Maedhros/Fingon than the cousin aspect. And so my slash pairings tend to be between unrelated characters: Feanor/Erestor, Amras/Nandolin, for example. Though this doesn't extend to my reading habits, obviously. ;)

In my writing, I mostly explore their friendship...AMC being perhaps the most egregious example of this. ;)

Heh, my family has a lot of Bobs, too...

My husband is Bobby, of course, and my f-i-l is Bob. My grandfather-in-law on that side is deceased, but he was also Bob. And I have an Uncle Bob whom we call "Crabgrass" because I'd like to deny any relation to him (and luckily, the "relation" is only one of marriage). And now that my grandparents are deceased, I no longer feel the need to see him, and if I should see him ever again, can cheerfully tell him to go to hell.

half the places she goes in this town, there's another person with exactly her name, and born in the same year, too...

Your last name? Wow! That is quite strange.

When I lived in Belair still, there was a family with my (maiden) last name who owned a bunch of car dealerships. That makes a person a celebrity in Harford County, so at The Piece, people were always asking me if I was related. They were disappointed that I was not.

Still, my (maiden) last name is far more common than yours, I'd think...

[ford-of-bruinen.livejournal.com]

OK I am going to give this a try...five though? that's a lot! LOL

1. Fingon/Maedhros - It is my steadiest pairing in writing I think and even if I enjoy reading them with others male or female I do have a weakness for the pairing, when it is well written. It has been months since I wrote anything with them as a pairing and even then it was just fluff... I will also have to admit here that it sometimes bugs me that no one hardly ever writes them as not a couple. I like variety as much as I love the pairing.

2. The tensions in the house of Finwe. I like there to be tension even if tehre is not outright hatred. I have seen the hate taken to extreme which doesn't suit me and I have read stories where they are all really a fluffy family which also doesn't suit my tastes or my interpretation of canon. Need some nice tension and tempers in there to make it the House of Finwe really.

3. Maeglin was not altogether bad. Nor was he altogether good. He is a complex character damaged by an odd childhood and placed into an alien and in many ways unwelcoming society.

4. Tuor was straight dammit (goes for most canonically married characters really, I am a sucker for romance bot slash and het) I have read stories where he married Idril for political gain or other such reasons and where he loved another instead, usually Voronwe. I like my nice loving Tour and Idril paring.

5. Definintely a cliche. Elven marriages lasting forever as in accordance with LACE. I KNOW that Lace has issues and is supposedly written by a third party. I acknowledge the reasons for not writing elven marriages like Lace suggests and I have written it differently myself. But I AM a sucker for 'love and marriage lasts forever' and so prefer using taht stricter interpretation of Lace most of the time. Did I say that I was a sucker for romance yet? LOL

Ok that wasn't too bad, I could even come up with more but I'll shut up now...

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

4. Tuor was straight dammit (goes for most canonically married characters really, I am a sucker for romance bot slash and het) I have read stories where he married Idril for political gain or other such reasons and where he loved another instead, usually Voronwe. I like my nice loving Tour and Idril paring.

Hmm, I never gave much thought to Tuor, but this idea makes me feel very fuzzy ^_^

[dawn_felagund]

1. As much as I love to read the pairing, I rarely write it. Only one story so far, "Discovering Love," which was for enismirdal. Oh, and there was a suggestive drabble series for my 2006 holiday project (which I just realize I still need to finish! Gah!!!)

But I love to read the pairing...especially your stories! *swoons*

2. I'm totally with you here: the right amount of tension is key. I just about equally despise stories that make it like they all hate each other and stories where there isn't a hard feeling to be found. Like, "Feanor beats all of his sons and rapes Maedhros and won't speak to Fingolfin and tried to poison Indis in her sleep!" and "Feanor snuggles up with Indis and weeps about his lost mommy." Gah. Well-managed tension can be such an asset in Feanorian stories, methinks; it's a shame to go far in either direction.

3. Agreed there too, though for reason of my own sanity (I don't need anymore muses!), I don't touch Maeglin with a ten-foot pole.

4. That's just...weird. Him marrying Idril for political gain, I mean. I'm not even that fond of writing or reading about those characters, but I find that hard to swallow.

5. Agreed here too! This is getting dangerous! :^D

My Elven marriages also last forever. Despite all my griping about LaCE, I tend to follow it in my writing. (More so in AMC, when I didn't yet know that I could break the "rules" as everyone saw them!) Stories where every Elf is f***ing every other Elf annoy me...I prefer the relationships to be developed, even if not into love, for characters to fall into bed for good reasons other than the fact that they look good together.

But of course, to each his or her own. I'm just a sucker for believable character dynamics.

Look who's rambling now...? :^D

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

If you think you know me well enough to respond to this, what warning label would you slap on me before letting me leave the factory house?

Warning, comes with rabid plotbunnies when engaging the reviewing and discussion mode ;)

4. Celegorm had a little thing for Aredhel. I know, I know, I'm probably going to catch a thick, hardcover volume of HoMe to the head from rhapsody11, but I do have a weakness for this particular plot. I'm not fond of those that have an all-out sexual affair, but a little sexual tension is a good thing.

*quickly hides a plotbunny or 4* I never stated a firm opinion about this as far as I can remember, there was one work where I intended it to be a friendship, but Aredhel is determined to follow Celegorm to Beleriand...^-^ I think every kind of sexual, smexy Turko tension is heavenly, whether it is with Lúthien, Aredhel, an OFC...

Speaking of which, the past two weeks I wrote nothing else but steamy & palpable Turko smut.... hmmmm I just haven't told my flist where to find it, yet.

But I think I am the only one who likes this, there isn't so much readership for an attractive Celegorm (with all his flaws) who isn't evol.

Okay, four done so far and three are naughty...I don't even need the little voice to tell me that I'm hopeless.

Give in to the naughtiness Dawn, it's delightful!

Maglor died at some point while wandering. Sorry again, rhapsody11. *winces* I just hate having him and his wife and brothers parted (mostly Nelyo) and also hate the unfinished feel to the story.

There are other ways that lead to Rome to have Maglor returning to Aman besides to let the poor elf die! The Inner Light deals with him returning home for example. Then there is the prophecy that Isil and I are writing (we're looking for a beta that we both can work with, interested?), which has the initial train of thoughts I have regarding this matter. I think you will like it. There is another story that is in the works, a vignette feel story, that tackles another insight in his fate. It's named 'Brother' for now.

[dawn_felagund]

Warning, comes with rabid plotbunnies when engaging the reviewing and discussion mode ;)

That would be you too! As we say, that's the pot calling the kettle black. ;)

I never stated a firm opinion about this as far as I can remember, there was one work where I intended it to be a friendship, but Aredhel is determined to follow Celegorm to Beleriand...^-^

Eep...sorry I misread you! :) I seemed to recall a Celegorm/Aredhel friendship story where someone insisted on seeing sex between them and you got irritated about it. And I assumed a general distaste for this angle. Sowwy. :(

Speaking of which, the past two weeks I wrote nothing else but steamy & palpable Turko smut.... hmmmm I just haven't told my flist where to find it, yet.

But I think I am the only one who likes this, there isn't so much readership for an attractive Celegorm (with all his flaws) who isn't evol.

*flounders*

You can tell me! I don't have much reading time ever, but if stuff is on sites that I can access at work, then I will gladly read while eating lunch!

You and I see eye to eye on Celegorm...I'm not quite as attracted to him as you are (being more a Maedhros girl), but I don't think that he was evil and grumble about stories who make him so. And I also think that he gets ignored in naughty stories, and for no good reason.

There are other ways that lead to Rome to have Maglor returning to Aman besides to let the poor elf die!

It's unfortunately the only way that I can make it work in my Felakverse (and I am revealing no more about it, even though this story is still about ten years away!)

Also, if ever you want my input as a beta or just a reader, please let me know! As I said, my situation at work--not being able to access most fanfic sites--limits my reading for pleasure a great deal, but I do still enjoy it and try to pursue the recs given me by friends. And I love doing betas/critiques because I'm a sick person like that ;), so if you're ever interested, just drop me a line! :)

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

But I think I am the only one who likes this, there isn't so much readership for an attractive Celegorm (with all his flaws) who isn't evol.

Me. Me. Me. How could he not be attractive! Please. Also, let me know when and where the next one is when you are ready--don't want to lose track of it.

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

2. What is the most interesting (or strange) thing you've heard about one of your relatives?

That my cousin can make a drink that tastes just like a klondike ice cream bar. The other things I've heard are just downright scary.

That last bit is silly, I know, but with Maglor still wandering about, the story feels incomplete to me.

Ah, but that's the good part! You can do whatever you want with the end! And besides, any other way and you can't glance longingly down the beach when on vacation. ;)

I despise the notion that Ambarussa = Weasley twins

AGH!! YES!!! I'm pretty sure I mentioned this as one of my pet peeves, only concerning Elladan & Elrohir.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

And besides, any other way and you can't glance longingly down the beach when on vacation. ;)

Hmmm and suddenly your eyes fall upon a hunky dark haired brooding tall elf, he happens to work out on the beach and ah he wants some oil on his back ...

*grin* See much more fun than letting him die. ;)

[dawn_felagund]

Yes! Sons of Elrond = Weasley twins is just as irritating, just not as pertinent to me since I only read the Third Age stuff of a few authors these days. But I have an unwritten rule that if "twins" and "pranks" occur in the same story, in relation to each other, then I'll probably end up irritated.

As for Maglor dying, for some reason, I have never been able to get into the whole "Maglor in history" angle. I don't know why, and it seems like something that I should love. I've read a few stories like this that are really awesome, but most...meh.

And when I could still get ff.net at work, I was to the point where if the summary said, "Maglor wandering the shores in lament," I skipped it outright. Again, I'm sure that there are great stories that could use this summary, but most just seemed to be a blob of introspective, plotless angst that involved hand-wringing on the same tired subjects.

"I left Maedhros to die on that cliff!" *handwringing*

"I'm a kinslayer!" *handwringing*

"I've failed my father's Oath!" *handwringing*

"I watched my brothers die!" *handwringing*

Perhaps interestingly, I tackled crazy Maglor wandering in lament for the 2006 drabble-series project and am currently working on a series of fixed-length ficlets about Maglor's varying fates. So I am, again, a big silly hypocrite. ;)

Also, I look for Maglor every year among the street performers in Ocean City.

[juno-magic.livejournal.com]

Hmmm ... I really can't participate in this conversation as I have only a vague idea of who all those names are you First Agers keep throwing around. Probably all of them children of Fëanor, you filthy lot! ;-)

But that makes me think that I'll maybe give that warning label a go after all:

WARNING!

Rabid First Ager! Can cause addiction of epic dimensions to Fëanor & family. Often mature content. Recommended for connoisseurs of canned worms only.

;-)

[dawn_felagund]

Yep, all of my fannish5 are from the House of Finwe, and except Fingon and Aredhel, the House of Feanor as well. ;)

I think that this warning would serve both of us well:



ESRB is, of course, the Elf Sex Review Board, on which I believe we are both charter members. ;)

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Juno, it's a terrible affiliction (I'm pretty sure it's worse than cigarettes, coffee or alcohol) and once one is hooked it starts getting hard to even remember their names in Sindarin. I am still working on a Third-Age novel and they are popping up there now (so far by reference only).

[frenchpony.livejournal.com]

Aviso! Product contains Dawn Felagund. Side effects may include long wandering discussions, passionate stances on social issues, and invasions by hordes of semi-crazed Elves searching for jewelry.

1. How far back can you trace your family tree?

Great-grandparents, for practical purposes. One nice surprise we had when Uncle Bernie died was that we stumbled across the grave of Great-grandma and Great-grandpa Pony in the same cemetery, not far away.

2. What is the most interesting (or strange) thing you've heard about one of your relatives?

Well, the classic family story is of our relationship to the man who was Chicago's most powerful vice lord of the 1920s, who had all the judges in his pocket. When Capone took over, he chose Uncle Pimp to run his cathouses, which Uncle Pimp did for a few years. He performed various services, including allegedly obtaining the getaway cars for the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

However, Uncle Pimp wasn't exactly from the bright side of the family, and decided to turn Capone in by writing an anonymous letter to the cops. Capone, of course, had bought off all the cops years ago. He obtained a copy of the letter and called Uncle Pimp into his office. He pointed to the letter and looked at Uncle Pimp.

"Only you could have betrayed me like this," he said, in his thick New Yawk accent. "Ye'r t'rough!"

A month later, Uncle Pimp's charred remains were pulled out of a torched car. One of the best family stories ever, except for the one about Babushka . . .

3. How do you feel about legacy names like John Henry Smith IV or naming children after other relatives?

Total legacy names are a sign of too much money and too little imagination. However, both of my names come from relatives. My first name, "French," comes, in proper Ashkenazi tradition, from a deceased grandmother. My other grandmother is still alive, so Little Sister Pony is named after her in the sense that she has the name that my grandmother always wanted to have. Some of the various Ponies have named kids after grandparents, and some Ponies are "named after" people in the Jewish sense, where they're given a name that starts with the same letter as the person that they're named after.

4. Would you consider yourself and/or your family to be traditional?

Nuclear family -- Mom Pony, Dad Pony, French Pony, Little Sister Pony. We've conformed to some traditions and bypasses others. I don't think it's that important an issue.

5. What is one tradition you have passed on to your children and/or plan to pass on to them?

No children, but I have continued something. Cousin Halbarad always used to send me Hanukkah (and sometimes birthday) presents separate from Aunt and Uncle Pony. Usually something interesting, and always wrapped in newspaper. I now make sure to send Cousins Boromir and Faramir Hanukkah and birthday presents separate from Mom and Dad Pony. Sometimes, I wrap them in newspaper, too.

Lately, I have begun to form My Own Opinions about what happened to Maglor. However, I don't know how much work I'll be able to do on my newest ouvre-in-process, since we have eight hours of Gamelan Hell today.

[dawn_felagund]

I notice that nearly everyone's warning includes mention of my tendency to ramble, to get on soapboxes, and to channel psychotic Elves. Either I'm really predictable or you all do know me well! ;)

1. You know, I find it comforting that someone else only goes back to the great-grandparents. I sometimes feel like an oddity for not tracing my family back to the Revolutionary War...and not caring to.

(And actually, much of my family was still in Europe, particularly Poland, during the Revolutionary War!)

2. Wow, you make my decapitated distant relative and gold-digger great-grandma look positively boring in comparison!

(Dare I ask about Babushka?)

3. I agree with you on legacy names, partially because I'm married to a man with one, and I know what a pain in the ass they are. Even if I was having children, I don't think that I would choose "Robert" as a boy's name. And no Golden Retrievers named Robert either.

Alex, of course, is named after Alex Ovechkin, but I turned down other "hockey names" that I didn't feel fit little Alex well enough.

Meanwhile, I think that my parents chose "Dawn" because they simply liked it. Nothing special there.

However, I don't know how much work I'll be able to do on my newest ouvre-in-process, since we have eight hours of Gamelan Hell today.

I would like to hear a gamelan...but you've convinced me that I never want to actually part of playing with one!

[angelica-ramses.livejournal.com]

Maedhros/Fingon slash: I found that little drabble "Hatred" more plausible than many other "You're the elf of my life"-type stories. Gay issues are bound to be more complex (even among elven princes) than usually shown.
Maeglin and Gondolin: I haven't read enough but it's a great subject for a sociological/anthropological study: How can a population of immortals remain happily locked up for five hundred years or so and not kill each other in the process? How can you expect the poor guy to integrate into such a society and not end up frustrated?
A question for Frenchpony: What's a gamelan? (I couldn't find it in the dictionary)

[frenchpony.livejournal.com]

A gamelan is an orchestra common to several islands in Indonesia. The one I play on is Javanese: Friends of the Gamelan. There are some links there to recordings, so you can hear what it sounds like.

[aramel-calawen.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha... cliches, Dawn? *archly raised eyebrow* :P

Although I'm afraid the moment you mentioned Celegorm and Aredhel, I pleaded guilty as well. I didn't envision them actually getting the chance to... erm... do anything (because Turgon seems to watch his little sister wherever she goes), but it does explain a bunch of things in Aramel-verse (such as, for example, why it was Curufin who met Eol at the fords, because Celegorm wouldn't have kept his temper at all. Besides, Turgon actually broke his rule about not having contact with the outside world by writing a very angry letter to C&C after Aredhel's death. That begs for a story).

Me, I'm not really a sucker for slash, because I didn't actually come into contact with slash until after I'd read all the books and my "Arda-view" was more-or-less formed, and it just never occurred to me before then (actually, I didn't even know that guy on guy was possible. But hey, I was a sheltered little girl). But I read just about everything, and some Maedhros/Fingon stories are actually well done. I think the first ones that made me feel something other than total bafflement were Nol/Applegnat/Earmire's fics. *swoon*

As for the Maglor dead/alive ones... I have no idea what I think. I've written fics that had him die in the fourteenth century and I've written fics about him wandering around in modern-day city parks. Yes, I'm hopeless.

I'd hate to be one of the literally thousands of "John Smiths," who probably get charged for every other "John Smith's" freakin' toner.

*snickers* You know, the other day on TV they were naming baby pandas, and one of them got my name, exactly down to the last pictogram. At least it won't be buying any toners.

[aramel-calawen.livejournal.com]

Whoops, forgot about warning labels...

MAY BE ADDICTIVE, AND CAUSE EXTENSIVE DAYDREAMING ABOUT ELVES. MAY ALSO CAUSE PRINTER TO RUN OUT OF INK. USE WITH CAUTION.

** NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT DOCTOR'S PERMISSION BY THOSE WITH ALLERGY TO WORMS, WEASELS, OR CAVES**

Although that's pretty much what everyone else said. Hmm... what label would you stick to me? /curious

[ssotknapsack.livejournal.com]

More recently in my family--like in the last century--my dad's grandmother had something like a half-dozen fiances: She would collect the shiny, then drop the guy. Once she had enough shiny, she had it all melted down and had a single large shiny made. Does that sound familiar? *ahem* Anyway, apparently my dad is in possession of the shiny, and I am due to inherit it. I shall try not to throw myself into a volcano upon receiving it.

Ahh, the interesting things one learns when they are accidentally let into the loop...

[dawn_felagund]

You're welcome to the shiny, if you want it. I prefer my jewelry of the cheap, three-dollar Claire's variety. :)