allbingo | Valentines Meet and Greet

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Valentines Meet and Greet

I've been participating in

snowflake_challenge, where lots of folks want to see more activity on Dreamwidth. While researching community activities, I came across the idea of thematic meet and greet events. That seemed like something which might work here, given a membership of several hundred people and a new theme each month. So I made one for this month's theme. It gives people a place to meet folks with similar interests, and to squee about the current theme.

Here is the basic outline. Fill in as much or as little of it as you wish, depending on your interests as they relate to the Valentines Fest.

Name: Whatever you wish to be known by.
Sex/Gender Identity: Share any descriptions you wish people to know about you, including pronouns.
Sex/Romance/Other Orientation: Who you connect with and how.
Find Me At: Your other blogs, services, or venues.
What I Love About Valentines Day: Favorite activities, traditions, decorations, stories, etc.
What I Hate About Valentines Day: Things you wish would go away, in real life or entertainment. Die, trope, die!
What I Love to Do By Myself: How do you treat yourself when you're alone? Self-love, self-romance, favorite sex toys, favorite snuggly things, places you like to visit alone, your One True Chocolate, whatever.
Heartbreak: Ways you enjoy breaking your characters, canonical breakups and betrayals, favorite fanworks about breakups, that time you got your heart broken, creative revenge ideas, horrible ex tropes, and such.
Romantic Favorites: Romance movies or novels, fandoms, tropes, etc.
Erotic Favorites: Sexyfuntimes in fiction, movies, art, or whatever. Slash all the things!
My Kink(s): In person, writing, or reading; favorite toys, pervertables, plausible deniability, kink-friendly fandoms, best kink scenes in movies, and the like.
Platonic Favorites: Nonsexual intimacies, situations. tropes, sex-free movies or books, ace/aro-friendly fandoms, and so on.
Favorite Blogs or Communities: Anything on Dreamwidth, or other venues, relating to the above topics.
About My Blog: A general description of your blog metaphor, what your blog contains, common formats / media, activity level, typical rating level, featured fandom(s) or original work, etc.
What I Create: Anything you make that relates to the Valentines theme or above topics; fandoms, formats, recurring motifs, and so forth.
What I'm Looking For: Things you would like to get from this activity; readers, comments, recommendations of fandoms or fanworks, new friends, wider representation of something, etc.

Feel free to copy this Meet and Greet into your blog as well as filling it out here -- you may catch some of the holiday traffic.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Name: Jenn, Jennifer, Fuzzy J, Fuzzyred
Sex/Gender Identity: Female
Sex/Romance/Other Orientation: I haven't found a perfect fit for my identities, so I'm going to use a lot of words. I am somewhere between gray-asexual and demisexual, and between demiromantic and quoiromantic, possibly edging towards aromantic, or at least not interested in a traditional romantic relationship. Also I lean more poly-whatever than monogamous.
Find Me At: I'm here as

fuzzyred and on AO3 as NCIS_Sherlock
What I Love About Valentines Day: Chocolate and fuzzy stuffed animals
What I Hate About Valentines Day: The mushy romanticness, and the expectation of doing something romantic if you have a partner. Or the endless questions if you happen to be single.
What I Love to Do By Myself: Read, bake, sit on the couch with a nice fuzzy blanket
Heartbreak: Uhhh...
Romantic Favorites: I like slow builds where the characters actually take time to get to know each other instead of just jumping into a relationship with a stranger. It can be a faster build if there is an established history between the two characters. Also, happy endings are a must for me. If I want sad endings, life has plenty.
Erotic Favorites: When reading, I tend towards m/m romance and sex. For myself, I'm more a fan of vibrators than insertables.
My Kink(s): A lot of thinks. D/s, spankings, bondage, knives (but not blood), all manner of sensation play, hair pets, skritches, wax play.
Platonic Favorites: Cuddles, sharing meals, doing stuff outside, being together without having to do anything in particular.
Favorite Blogs or Communities: Ysabetwordsmith, Dialecticdreamer, Siliconshaman, allbingo
About My Blog: I mostly make weekly posts about my life, though I occasionally participate in Bingo Fests, so I post my writing as well, when I do that.
What I Create: Fiction, a lot of poems so far, surprisingly. Blankets, scarves, mittens, and other knit or crochet projects.
What I'm Looking For:
New friends but low pressure situations where infrequent contact is okay. All the stories! I often forget about art, webcomics, and music, but I enjoy all those things as well. Interesting knitting or crochet patterns.

Edited (Wasn't finished.) 2022-02-01 00:11 (UTC)

Speaking of interesting crochet patterns: I wish I had the skills for this Barn Owl Shawl!

You should totally save that for the March Poetry Fishbowl on Artistic Endeavors. I could write it up for Arts and Crafts America.

Done! Saved to my "Creative Prompts for Others" folder :)

Woohoo! *high five*

Oh! That looks so awesome! I think it might be out of my skill range too, but I'm not entirely sure without seeing the pattern. (Unfortunately, I haven't leveled up to my grandma's skill yet; she can usually figure out the pattern just by looking at something.)

My grandmother could crochet some things without a pattern, or make variations on a base pattern. I had a lot of crocheted toys growing up. There was this pattern of a pig with applique flowers. She left off the flowers and made pink pigs, black-and-white pigs, and piglets. :D

Nice! My grandma tends to crochet a lot of things without a pattern now. She'll just make something up until it looks the way she wants it to. Those pigs sound wonderful!

The pigs without flowers looked a lot like this:
https://www.planetjune.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=121

This is not the exact pattern, but the same concept with flowers and leaves tacked on a pig:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/288418439/no522-crochet-toy-pattern-pdf-vintage

More pig patterns:
https://crochet-news.com/crochet-pig-patterns/

Crocheted stuffed animals are really nice. I also had a bunch of horses made from fabric. The pattern for them came on the bag of stuffing. I think there were cats too.

Oh, those look really neat! I haven't tried my hand at animals or dolls yet, but I would like to at some point.

The most 3D I've gotten are two square baskets, and a drawstring bag shaped like a pokeball (and about that size too).

There are two basic approaches:

1) Use of cylinders, rectangles, and other simple shapes with caps or junctures added on for relatively simple construction. Sometimes these use pattern pieces that are made back-and-forth like a blanket, than rolled into shape and secured. It doesn't look quite as good as other methods, but is easier to do.

2) Heavy use of increases and decreases creates more complex and realistic shapes, but is more challenging to do right. These often spiral.

I could probably manage the first method, though I'm not sure how well I'd do with the second. I do want to try make a few flat animals soon though, maybe work my way up to 3D ones.

1) The flat style used to be popular on the back of stuffing bags. Later they did more challenging ones. Try searching for "easy" patterns. Or use art references where you draw things by assembling geometric shapes.

2) To practice for the more elaborate models, I suggest:

https://mspremiseconclusion.com/2010/03/14/the-ideal-crochet-sphere/

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ideal-sphere

Add two small triangles for ears: you have a cat.

Add two long floppy triangles for ears: you have a dog.

Add two half-circles for ears: you have a bear, tiger, or lion.

Fill with a bag of sand, rice, polybeans, etc. and you have a stress ball or juggling ball.

This poem has links to hyperbolic crochet, which sounds difficult but is actually quite simple:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/11308073.html

>>1)...<<

That's a really good idea. I have a few blankets saved on Pinterest that use flat animal heads on some of the squares for added interest :) There is also a pattern for a hexagon blanket/fawn lovey that I really want to try.

>>2) To practice for the more elaborate models, I suggest:<<

Spheres sound like a good place to start. I sort of did the beginning of a sphere for the pokeball bag, so it shouldn't be too much harder.

>>This poem has links to hyperbolic crochet, which sounds difficult but is actually quite simple:<<

I've actually used the pattern Shiv described to make Christmas ornaments of my own. It was a surprisingly easy pattern.

>> I have a few blankets saved on Pinterest that use flat animal heads on some of the squares for added interest :) There is also a pattern for a hexagon blanket/fawn lovey that I really want to try. <<

Go for it!

>> Spheres sound like a good place to start. I sort of did the beginning of a sphere for the pokeball bag, so it shouldn't be too much harder. <<

There is a subtle but definite difference between the typical ball (rounded ends but a flat middle) and a proper sphere in creation, shape, and performance.

>> I've actually used the pattern Shiv described to make Christmas ornaments of my own. It was a surprisingly easy pattern.<<

*glee*

Well, you validated my vocation for the day. :D

>>There is a subtle but definite difference between the typical ball (rounded ends but a flat middle) and a proper sphere in creation, shape, and performance.<<

Perhaps I will give both a try, for comparisons sake. I haven't made any spheres yet, just the hyperbolic Christmas balls.

>>Well, you validated my vocation for the day. :D<<

Yay! I always seem to learn such interesting things from your poems and our conversations. It's awesome :D

>> Perhaps I will give both a try, for comparisons sake. I haven't made any spheres yet, just the hyperbolic Christmas balls. <<

That's a great plan.

https://www.supergurumi.com/crochet-shapes-crochet-balls-and-spheres

As you can see here, the easy version has a couple advantages of its own:
1) It lends itself easily to stripes.
2) You can use it to make a capsule shape, like for bolster pillows.
https://web.archive.org/web/20170928141653/https://stitchesnscraps.com/free-pattern-simple-crochet-balls/

I also found a beach ball pattern with vertical stripes:
https://www.craftpassion.com/beach-ball-amigurumi-crochet-pattern/

And a soccer ball, this looks super easy:
https://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2018/05/crochet-soccer-ball.html

>> Yay! I always seem to learn such interesting things from your poems and our conversations. It's awesome :D

That makes me happy.

Oooo! That soccer ball looks really fun to make! Thanks for the pattern ideas!

You're welcome!

In fact, once you have base patterns for the basic geometric shapes, you can make any sort of structure that uses them, just by making the pieces and then attaching them. Look at modular origami, gamer dice, quilt patterns, stained glass, or even architecture for ideas.

Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun! And making shapes then combining them sounds like it might be easier than trying to make a complicated 3D shape all at the same time.

It is a LOT easier to build things from flat geometric shapes (or frilled one, if you like granny square flowers or whatnot) than it is to make a fully shaped piece with complex sculpture.

Quilt patterns:
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/quilts-designed-with-squares-and-rectangles-4051124
https://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com/free-quilt-block-patterns.html
https://quiltingcubby.com/quilt-ideas-for-10-inch-squares-that-make-beautiful-quilts/
https://newquilters.com/9-nine-patch-quilt-block-patterns-precut-squares/
https://blog.shopmartingale.com/quilting-sewing/give-me-quilts-with-squares-and-rectangles/
https://www.favequilts.com/Patterns-for-Quilting/Simply-Stunning-Strip-Quilt-Patterns
https://www.createwithclaudia.com/2019/04/half-square-triangle-tutorial/
https://www.coralandco.com/blog/2019/09/13-free-triangle-quilt-patterns-for-beginners.html
https://www.favequilts.com/Patterns-for-Quilting/Terrific-Triangle-Quilt-Tutorials-Triangle-Quilt-Patterns
http://finitegeometry.org/sc/16/quiltgeometry.html
https://blog.accuquilt.com/inspiration/patterns/quilting-patterns-using-circles
https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/sites/default/files/pdf/geometric_patterns_at_iqm_lesson_plan.pdf
https://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com/quilt-block-patterns.html
https://www.fatquartershop.com/free-quilt-patterns

One approach would be to print out or buy some quilt templates and then use those to make shapes. Circles you just go in a spiral, squares or triangles you go back and forth, until it's the right size.
https://www.ebay.com/b/Quilt-Templates-Stencils/116680/bn_7562967

Modular origami:
https://gurmeet.net/origami/
https://www.polypompholyx.com/2017/01/modularorigami/

Stained glass patterns:
https://pdqpatterns.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=27

Those are some awesome links. I'm definitely going to save them to peruse later, there were some really pretty patterns.

I'm happy I could help.

You might want to explore freeform crochet or knitting to gain skills for filling in odd shapes, as opposed to things you can make in a spiral or back-and-forth.

https://www.craftsy.com/post/10-freeform-crochet-tips/

https://cypresstextiles.net/2019/05/29/freeform-crochet-basics-the-ultimate-beginners-guide-featuring-abstract-blocks-and-much-more/

https://craftscrazy.com/learn-freeform-crochet-15-free-tutorials-to-get-you-started/

https://www.instructables.com/Freeform-Crochet-bag/

https://www.knotjustknitting.com/freeform/

https://ontheneedles.com/tag/free-form-knitting/

https://rensfibreart.com/what-is-freeform/quick-freeform-tutorial/

Then you can make things with geometric shapes.

https://www.treevalleyacademy.com/geometric-animal-art/

https://d1e4pidl3fu268.cloudfront.net/b432f73a-3ffd-471e-9f27-8cb018f8f3f4/GeometricHorses1.crop_655x491_72,0.preview.jpg

http://www.yedraw.com/pictures-animals.html

Oooooooo! So many cool things that I never thought of. I'll definitely have to give this a try at some point, although I will admit that I don't feel creative enough for a lot of that. I suspect starting small will be the key for me, and using other ideas for inspiration, before trying to create something all on my own.

Hats, balls, and cushions are all great small projects. If you're a gamer, or know gamers, polyhedral dice are easy to make in a variety of sizes.

Most of the common methods of freestyle are small things later pieced together into bigger things. You can make stuff like flowers, leaves, and popcorns then assemble them; or make squares and rectangles until you get something the size of a quilt block or a cushion.

>>Hats, balls, and cushions are all great small projects. If you're a gamer, or know gamers, polyhedral dice are easy to make in a variety of sizes.<<

Oo, those are all good ideas :D

>>You can make stuff like flowers, leaves, and popcorns then assemble them; or make squares and rectangles until you get something the size of a quilt block or a cushion.<<

That sounds like a good idea. Indeed, I have a few crochet quilt ideas saved that seem to use the "make squares and rectangles and stick them together" method. That feels like a more realistic starting point for me, then I can get to the more abstract stuff later.

Name: Ysabet, Elizabeth Barrette

Sex/Gender Identity:
Sex/Romance/Other Orientation:
This stuff kind of all goes together, metasexual, genderqueer, if you combine all the spectra I have enough to make a tesseract.

Find Me At:
https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/
https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/
http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/my-work.html
http://greenhaventradition.weebly.com/writing.html
(WARNING: Flypaper for eyeballs.)

What I Love About Valentines Day:
Naturally colored pink to red foods and recipes for same. Taking extra time to invest in a valued relationship. Recs for hawt romance or nonsexual intimacy fics.

What I Hate About Valentines Day: Society's tendency to pick on people who are not with someone at the moment, or ace/aro, or not with an "acceptable" partner or whatthefuckever. >_< Commercialism.

What I Love to Do By Myself: Read, walk in nature, crafts.

Heartbreak: I love stories where a good character has been dumped by an awful partner, or society, and someone else comes along and appreciates them and picks them up. Red Shoes Diaries is a brilliant episodic show about romantic betrayal, including one epic "I betrayed myself" episode. Why is there not a meme of "What would your favorite character write to put in that P.O. Box?" There should totally be a meme of that. I mean, Tony Stark alone could fill that thing with a season's worth of stuff.

Romantic Favorites: Enemies to Friends/Lovers, Odd Couple (or moresome), Polyamory, Slow Burn, Emotional Intimacy, Smat (nonsexual smut), Picturesque Locations, Interspecies Romance, Soulbonds

Erotic Favorites: Guys who know where to find a clitoris and what to do with it, gals who know where to find a prostate gland and what to do with it, alien/fantasy sex toys, Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics, alien sex/genders

My Kink(s): kink in general, societies where kink is the norm, pervertables, gloriously crafted sex toys (seriously you should see some of the ones made of gold, semiprecious stones, or art glass: sculptures you can fuck), women on horseback chasing fleeing men through fields, power exchange, trust edgeplay

Platonic Favorites: Five Moments of Intimacy, Nonsexual Intimacies, Intellectual Foreplay, Teamfamily, No Such Thing as "Just" Friends, Squishes, Zucchini, orientations not based on sex

Favorite Blogs or Communities:

allbingo,

crowdfunding,

dialecticdreamer,

fuzzyred,

ng_moonmoth

About My Blog: I post almost every day, often several times a day. If you're looking for an active blog, this is a good bet; if you're easily overwhelmed, not so much. I post a lot about writing, some nature and current events, especially science news. I share my gardening and birdfeeding experiences, with photos in the warmer months. I'm an active supporter of crowdfunding and often link to other people's projects. My blog has folks from all over the QUILTBAG.

What I Create: I write primarily original work, and some fanfic for fun. I post a lot of poetry, some fiction and nonfiction. My most popular fanfic series is Love Is For Children (The Avengers). See my Serial Poetry page and How To articles. The first Tuesday of each month, I host a Poetry Fishbowl in blog; people give me prompts and I write poems based on whatever I get. Next up will be February 1 with a theme of "flipping expectations." I also participate in the

crowdfunding Creative Jam mid-month. Next up will be February 19-20 on "hopefulness."

Love Is For Children: mostly nonsexual, some Betty/Bruce-and-Hulk, past Tony/Pepper, new Clint&JARVIS as an ace couple

The Blueshift Troupers: Taylor/Zasha

Schrodinger's Heroes: Pat has a polyfamily, Quinn is the fandom bicycle, and other combinations vary by dimension.

An Army of One: The Autistic Secession in Space: mostly nonsexual with a few couples.

Eloquent Souls: all the ways a soulbond doesn't solve everything; orientations vary. "Soul Song" is the first, doesn't have a landing page yet.

Frankenstein's Family: queerplatonic Victor&Igor, a lesbian couple supporting characters, two werewolf couples, and a human couple with vampire third.

Hart's Farm: a free love commune with the whole QUILTBAG, one monogamous couple, and two aces.

The Origami Mage: ace/aro leads in an Asian fantasy.

Path of the Paladins: ace/aro leads in low fantasy.

P.I.E.: urban fantasy with a hot lady in a wheelchair and the several men interested in her.

Polychrome Heroics -- superhero fantasy with the whole QUILTBAG
* Antimatter and Stalwart Stan: Antimatter is a gay supervillain, Stalwart Stan is a demiromantic bisexual superhero, and they work it out somehow.
* Calliope is a transgender superhera with a supervillain platonic-bondmate. Oops.
* Cuoio and Chiara: Mobster romance.
* Officer Pink: Ansel/Janie + Turq as a platonic third.
* Pain's Gray: kinky gangsters. Gray is actually heterosexual but bisensual, other orientations vary. Hawt power exchange.
* Trichromatic Attachments: Tarnish is a gay supervillain. Cavalier is a bisexual gray hat. Princessa is a straight superhera. Won't this be fun? Hot mess is hot.

What I'm Looking For: I'm always interested in new friends and readers, or new things to read in favorite topics. I'd enjoy connecting with more artists.

Name: SweetSorcery

Sex/Gender Identity: Female

Sex/Romance/Other Orientation: Aegosexual

Find Me At:

sweetsorcery

sweetsorcery

What I Love About Valentines Day: An excellent excuse to write/receive soppy fics for exchanges!

What I Hate About Valentines Day: Commercialism

What I Love to Do By Myself: Settle in with a pot of tea or a bowl of soup, and a favourite gothic horror audiobook or old movie; wrapped in a blanket if the season permits it. Settle in to write while listening to a favourite playlist or nature ambience. Astral travel. Have a relaxing bath or foot bath.

Heartbreak: No, thanks

Romantic Favorites: Too many fandoms to list but there's a rundown here sorted by active/anticipating to write/have written and will write again, and I tend to find romance anywhere. Some favourite tropes: AUs - Historical, Classic Movie, Mythology and Fantasy. I love Gothic Romance, Soulbonds, Vampire AUs, anything involving dancing and dance lessons, anything involving masquerades and roleplay, anything involving bathing and swimming and generally splashing about in water. :) I love fluff and humour. Domestic bliss is wonderful. Slow burn, seduction, flirting, and courtship - yes, please. Hurt/comfort is lovely, but only if it's heavy on the comfort and easy on the hurt. Pretending to be a couple, sharing a bed or huddling for warmth? Yay!

Erotic Favorites: Oh, major overlap with the romantic favourites. All m/m slash, all the time.

My Kink(s): Dom/sub dynamics, competency kink and praise kink are my jam! Kissing, Neck Kissing, Biting, Nibbling on any adored body part, Incest (consensual), Possessiveness, Desperation/Urgency, Partially Clothed Sex, Overstimulation and Multiple Orgasms, Somnophilia and Sleepy Sex, Fingering, Rimming, Felching, Come Play, Anal Sex, Frottage, Pet Play (including non-sexual, I love this for the trust & protection angle), (Mutual) Masturbation, Body Worship, Bloodplay/Vampirism, Consentacles, light BDSM (spanking, sensation play, restraints)

Platonic Favorites: domestic fluff, cooking together, feeding each other, hurt/comfort, huddling for warmth or snuggling in general, trust/loyalty, hero worship, having fun together and just being thoroughly in tune

Favorite Blogs or Communities: Many. I leap on every interesting looking exchange or fest too, if time and energy allows.

About My Blog: Fannish rambling, links to new fic uploads, some personal stuff, memes, drumming up interest in exchanges

What I Create: Fiction (I love writing gift fics), Spells, Food, Confusion

What I'm Looking For: Forgiving friends willing to put up with me when I:
1) churn out fics or ramble on about hyper-obsesssions usually involving tiny fandoms they've never heard of
2) go eerily quiet, because I have fibromyalgia and CFS and frequently can't get through an afternoon without napping or a few hours without being in pain; all that can make me seem disinterested or rude when I'm really just fatigued and curled into a corner. I'm also agoraphobic and have depressive and anxious phases, and I tend to withdraw until I'm more sociable again, because no one needs to deal with me like that. I prefer to be uplifting and post/talk about happy things!

Edited 2022-02-01 06:04 (UTC)

>> Aegosexual <<

Oh, that's interesting! I have acespec friends, but I think you're the first of this particular type I've met. I'd seen it before, but looked it up, and then I found this interesting tidbit:

Perceiving someone as "hot" or recognizing someone as sexually attractive, yet not seeing the appeal of having sex with the individual in real life. The aegosexual individual may instead prefer to fantasize about them or admire them.

That's a thing I've long said belongs on the ace spectrum, but some people say if you can perceive hotness then you're not "really" ace. I think asexuality is about not feeling a compulsion to do the sex.

>>An excellent excuse to write/receive soppy fics for exchanges!<<

Oh, good one!

>> feeding each other <<

Food is bonding:
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/faculty/fiske/pubs/Miller_Rozin_Fiske_Food-Sharing_1998.pdf

>>Forgiving friends willing to put up with me when I:<<

I have lots of disabled and variant friends in my audience, so we generally try to accommodate each other's quirks. Feel free to drop by and see if you like it. I'm doing a Poetry Fishbowl on "flipping expectations" on Tuesday, Feb. 1 so there'll be lots of activity. Leave prompts, get poems! Mostly original, but fan prompts are acceptable because I can use them as freebies, and if there's a new prompter or donor, I post an extra freebie.

>>I tend to withdraw until I'm more sociable again, because no one needs to deal with me like that.<<

I'm happy to see someone else who backs off when feeling out of sorts. I figure, if I can't hold the safety cover on The Mouth, I shouldn't be out in public, even internet-public. I go read fanfic or stab squeaky-toy characters or do housework until I can be civil again.

It's taken me a long time to find a term that actually describes me accurately without long-winded explanations, so when I chanced on "aegosexual", I had a real Bingo! moment. :)

I completely agree. To me, asexuality is about not feeling a compulsion to engage in sex yourself. If one wanted to make a point of aegosexuality belonging into the ace spectrum, I guess one could quote this description of the aegosexual flag: "The aegosexual flag is nearly identical to the asexual flag, but it possesses a triangle with an inverted order of colors. The triangle represents a 'reverse' of asexuality, as aegosexuals are likely to be initially perceived as sexual individuals." :)

Food is indeed bonding! Interestingly, my first ever and favourite fandom has food sharing, cooking and food porn of every kind all over it. I've added that PDF to my reading list; it looks very interesting, thanks!

Thanks for the invitation, but I think I've probably missed your Poetry Fishbowl by now, plus I'm down to 3 and 4 days, respectively, to get 2 stories finished for exchanges, and I'm dragging my feet a bit. It doesn't help that I've been procrastinating by doing friending memes and commenting on meet up posts. :) *facepalm*

I definitely stay quietly in my corner when I'm having one of those phases. There's more than enough negativity in the world, including on the internet, without adding to it by depressing someone else or risking blurting something out without a proper filter. I try to get through faster by writing happy things, if I can at all manage, because that also means that, once I'm more agreeable again, I'll be returning with gifts! :D

>> It's taken me a long time to find a term that actually describes me accurately without long-winded explanations, so when I chanced on "aegosexual", I had a real Bingo! moment. :)

Yay! I'm glad you found something.

I know the search routine. I've used queer, genderqueer, pansexual, and a few other things before I on the idea of metasexual. Because trying to fit my interests into an ordinary spectrum is like trying to draw a tesseract on paper. It only sort of works.

>>I completely agree. To me, asexuality is about not feeling a compulsion to engage in sex yourself. If one wanted to make a point of aegosexuality belonging into the ace spectrum, I guess one could quote this description of the aegosexual flag: "The aegosexual flag is nearly identical to the asexual flag, but it possesses a triangle with an inverted order of colors. The triangle represents a 'reverse' of asexuality, as aegosexuals are likely to be initially perceived as sexual individuals." :)

That makes sense. Way too many people think that acespec discrimination doesn't happen because acefolk are "invisible." Yeah, tell that to Valentines Day. >_<

>> Food is indeed bonding! Interestingly, my first ever and favourite fandom has food sharing, cooking and food porn of every kind all over it. I've added that PDF to my reading list; it looks very interesting, thanks! <<

Oh, what fandom? I love food pr0n. We watched School of Chocolate recently. Chocolate sculpture, with kitchen physics tricks! Only one or two of which I'd have any chance of doing, but it was so exciting to see.

>>Thanks for the invitation, but I think I've probably missed your Poetry Fishbowl by now, <<

1) It's running now. Drop by and ask for anything you want. You can just pick a square on my Valentine's Bingo if you wish.

2) But it's kinda covered already if you want to throw in with a current piece. I needed an alt-sexuality character and remembered aegosexuality, so that's what I went with.

>> plus I'm down to 3 and 4 days, respectively, to get 2 stories finished for exchanges, and I'm dragging my feet a bit. It doesn't help that I've been procrastinating by doing friending memes and commenting on meet up posts. :) *facepalm*<<

Yeah, I know how that goes.

>> I definitely stay quietly in my corner when I'm having one of those phases. There's more than enough negativity in the world, including on the internet, without adding to it by depressing someone else or risking blurting something out without a proper filter.<<

Exactly!

>> I try to get through faster by writing happy things, if I can at all manage, because that also means that, once I'm more agreeable again, I'll be returning with gifts! :D

Sometimes I write or read happy things. It is uplifting. When I'm really steamed, I write dystopic stuff or stomp on squeaky-toy characters.

I am sometimes very slow to reply to comments. Sorry!
But at least I'm all caught up on doing my assignments and am now just writing treats for exchanges. (Using a bunch of lovely Valentine's Bingo Fest prompts.)

Oh, the foodporn-y fandom is Famous Five - Enid Blyton. It's an English series of children's/YA books written from the 1940s to 1960s, when rationing was still very much a thing in England, so naturally, everyone's always eating. I've been reading them since I was a child myself, and I love it so much. It's a real comfort fandom. And it's alive and well, if tiny, with mostly a lot of post-canon slash.

If I read or wrote dystopias, I'd end up in a really bad place. I wrote a very angsty story for an exchange late last year, and I got so into the drama and pining of it all, I was as much of a mess for a couple of weeks as my suffering main character. :|

Name: NSFWords, Brandy, BAM
Sex/Gender Identity: Female biological sex/Lazy female gender. I don't have the energy or inclination to put any effort into being American Culture's version of Feminine.
Sex/Romance/Other Orientation: Bisexual Switch. But its like 90% submissive. Until its just NOT. Monogamous because of a fragile attachment style caused by abandonment/abuse.
Find Me At: Dreamwidth, Wordpress, and Twitter.
What I Love About Valentines Day: Good food, chocolate, sex. Lupercalia the next day.
What I Hate About Valentines Day: Heavy Expectations. All of them, but especially the idea that just because my husband and I don't have "Big Plans" then the "spark" must have left our relationship.
What I Love to Do By Myself: I read. Mostly m/m erotic fanfiction and Paranormal erotica, but also Ysabet's site for warm feels, Fantasy Novels for beautiful and dangerous worlds, and the news only if I want to be pissed at humanity. I binge watch shows like NCIS, Criminal Minds, and My Little Pony. I prefer shopping alone, because I can slowly hunt the things on my list like prey.
Heartbreak: I bruise my own heart any time I read a story featuring addiction, even though I know going in I'm going to cry buckets.
Romantic Favorites: Robin D. Owens is a lesser known author of Paranormal Romance and I adore her Celta HeartMate series and Summoning series. They're romances with BIG doses of world building and plot and I reread them pretty regularly.
Erotic Favorites: This list could be extensive, so I'm limiting myself to a top 5 favorites in fic - D/s, BDSMverse, Soul Bonds, Sentinel/Guide, & Knotting.
My Kink(s): D/s. I only ever flirt with being a Masochist, but am definitely a Sadist when I'm feeling Dominant. Its all complicated and nuanced in practice, but those are handy terms.
Platonic Favorites: Pet me. All the pets are for me. And I'll pet you too, if you're interested. I also love cooking for others.
Favorite Blogs or Communities: AO3, Ysabet's blog, Keira Marcos.
About My Blog: Its usually interesting for the first 1-4 months of the year while I'm posting my drabbles. Then life/job/etc. tends to get me and I fall off the face of the internet.
What I Create: I write drabbles because I've not managed to consistently get my capacity to shush my internal editor to last past 200-600 words. I cook great Comfort Food. I sew and do hand embroidery when I'm feeling really really good.
What I'm Looking For: I dunno. That's the toughest question on this list!

Name: Cat
Sex/Gender Identity: Non-binary
Sex/Romance/Other Orientation: Queer / Grey-Ace
Find Me At: felidae_somni on Twitter. feline_somnambulist on AO3 and Tumblr (minus the _ on Tumblr)
What I Love About Valentines Day: Chocolate. Mocking it.
What I Hate About Valentines Day: Commercialization of affection and toxic societal standards.
What I Love to Do By Myself: Everything
Heartbreak: Erm?
Romantic Favorites: Not my strong suit.
Erotic Favorites: Sex is gross.
My Kink(s): I like power exchange. Consent is very sexy.
Platonic Favorites: Cuddling and communication.
Favorite Blogs or Communities: fandomweekly, allbingo, the mdzs communities on Tumblr and Twitter.
About My Blog: Random shit and writing.
What I Create: Stories about messed up families, crochet blankets, random doodles.
What I'm Looking For: Whatever's out there.

Edited (ehneihohouh) 2022-02-04 22:24 (UTC)

>>What I Love About Valentines Day: Chocolate. Mocking it.<<

Have you seen the mockery chocolates? Along with the splendid sculptures of anatomical hearts and hugging couples are things like broken hearts and crossed-out Feb. 14 calendars.

We watched the School of Chocolate recently and I really admire its usefulness as a sculpture medium. Especially with ruby added to dark, milk, and white chocolates.

>> crochet blankets <<

I admire fibercrafting too. Nothing says love like a crochet blanket.

I really want to try ruby chocolate sometime. I bet it's delicious!

And I really like making blankets. I donate a lot of them and contribute squares to blankets being made for people who are sick or grieving.

Here are a few:

I just gave some of them away. Now it's time to build the supply up again, lol. The eternal cycle.

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