Curiouser and Curiouser

I did it.

I joined fanfiction.net.

I told elenuial I was doing it, and though he teased me about writing fanfiction, he commended me for being totally unapologetic about it. And, naturally, reminded me that he had suggested I try my hand at it years ago.

I found an awesome beta who was happy to give my story the once-over, and I posted it after a few rounds of revision and creating a blurb.

Me at 5:00: OHMIGOD I JUST POSTED SOMETHING I WROTE ON THE SITE OMG OMG I FINISHED SOMETHING WHAT IF NO ONE LIKES IT WHAT IF NO ONE READS IT I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE ON MY BIO

And then I went to buy ingredients for dinner. I came back to my browser to check the recipe I was trying, and saw a notification in my FFnet filter.

Me at 5:15: OHMIGOD SOMEONE ALREADY READ MY STORY AND REALLY LIKED IT AND LEFT AN AWESOME REVIEW AND ADDED IT TO THEIR FAVORITES :D :D

I was, and still am, fully aware that this is what people do on that site. But 15 minutes? And added to her short list of favorites? I hummed to myself as I cooked, bouncing through dinner, and PMing my beta reader to share my excitement. She said I was super cute and I could pretty much hear her laughing at me through the text. Or it could've been elenuial actually laughing at me from my left. But I didn't care. Because it kept coming.

Me at 7:00: SOMEONE ELSE ADDED IT TO FAVORITES AND TWO PEOPLE SUBSCRIBED TO ME BASED ON ONE STORY AND THAT MEANS PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT TO READ WHAT I WRITE SHOULD I LEARN TO WRITE SMUT NOW THIS IS SO COOL :D :D

I didn't think anyone would actually read anything I posted. I thought it would be like LJ, where friends who shared the fandom would go to hang out. The idea of a total stranger who is not obligated to be nice to me actually taking the time to read my story?

Pretty fucking great.

Something really small and dumb to be excited over, but this is new and fun and really silly. And I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually.

But for now?

Me five minutes ago: ANOTHER REVIEW AND SHE REALLY REALLY LIKED IT

elenuial: Huge. Dork.

Me: :D

Had to share this picture, even before I post the rest.



<3

Oh, man. Where do I start?

First off, there was a really-well dressed guy there (in some awesome dance shoes) who looked quite like Andy Lau. Sadly, I did not get to dance with him.

I did, however, make it a point to dance with people who are a lot better than I am. And when I didn't suck or get "thank you"ed, or even told I was a good dancer, then I got to glow for a little while. Like my policy of asking the teacher to dance at some point in the night.

I also got paid some really nice compliments last night. Sometimes, nothing feels better than having two new dancers pause and point to you, saying "Watch what they do." And some direct compliments! Like after dancing to Sur o No Sur with an excellent dancer, he pulled back and half-stared at me in this fascinated way.
"Wow, you're a handful!"
"How so?"
"You're great, and you dance when you dance. I love it!"
He told me that he loves dancing with people who actually enjoy themselves and put feeling into it. I told him there was no point if you didn't love it, and he agreed. He mentioned the two ways experienced dancers can go, and I knew exactly what he meant: the cool way or the bitch way. There are some dancers who seem to dance for status, usually identified by less than 2% body fat and their noses in the air. These people don't seem to enjoy themselves at all, and even then will only dance with teachers and people they know are skilled. elenuial and I talked about this last night, bemoaning the fact that the inexperienced but enthusiastic dancers often get overlooked for the ones who look like they know what they're doing but refuse to act like they're having fun. That's why I like a lot of the really experienced dancers who'll dance with newbies: sometimes it's the energy someone puts into it rather than their skill at dancing.

I, personally, would much rather dance with a guy who had no idea what he was doing but was having a great time rather than the professional who looks bored the entire night.

And even though it ached, I like being aware of my body. You can feel every muscle, even ones you didn't know you had, as it moves. Same with your partner - the embrace is such that you take cues from someone else's body by feeling every step of the movement process. The biologist in me loves that. =)

One thing that I also enjoy is picking up new moves from peoplewatching. There's a really slick-looking one that's a sandwich into a levantada, which I'm planning to attempt in the near future.

There were a bunch of photographers there. When I get pictures, I'll post them.

All in all, a v. good night.

-Haz