adding a title

[seperis]

Actually, this is a test of crossposting. But I will add content, because finally I can read my LJ Flist.

Complete disclosure: work has weird issues with some websites at random times, and DW and several other sites (like, say, CNN) go out on me for no reason I can work out other than pure technological spite. So crossposting might be spotty when posting from work.

Part A

I have five spare DW codes. Comment and you are welcome to one of them.

Part B

The great debt clearing of 2010 is almost over. I did a more extensive flocked post on this, but I spent the last year overpaying to my 457 and playing with my honest to God ridiculous stock account and managed to save enough to pull one third of my stock profits and borrow heavily against my 457 to do a mass payoff of what will end up being a total of four credit cards, my Dell account, and a personal loan I got forever ago. This year was very--not bad, but let's say it will be nice to be contributing a normal amount of my check toward my 457 (plus loan payback) and have like, normal disposable income.

Before anyone looks at the stock thing and goes, really? I will be honest with you. This should not have worked. I spreadsheeted worst and best case scenario. I did better than my most realistic best case scenario and this proves the stock market is evil and very possibly controlled by the spirit of Loki, and I need to repeat this--I don't know how this happened.

However, this is not to say anyone shouldn't or couldn't do it. I'll be honest--even if I'd done not so great, it is fun. I started a second custodial account for Child, and while I'm a lot more conservative with him than I was--or I am--with myself, it's still something I think now I'm comfortable doing. So there you go.

Part C

I celebrated my somewhat-freedom with netbooks for my sisters and my personal gift to myself is a new Netgear N Router, which has the highest ratings for a dual-band and will help with the immense amount of internet traffic in a house where the number of computers outnumber the number of people who live here. I'm staring thoughtfully at Road Runner national mobile, which will supplement my phone in assuring I will never suffer the deprivation of not being online at any given second. My major city of visiting is Chicago, where svmadelyn lives, where there is access to it through G3/G4, so it seems like a good idea , along with some other cities that are out there and I could end up in at some point.

(I should get her ten year plan for if she intends to move so I can check those cities for access. Or maybe just give her a list of acceptable cities to move to? What do you think?)

Part D

Gakked from everysecondtuesday here: the community formerly known as fanspastic changed its name to fangasmic, moderators' post and counterpost on the subject.

I apologize to those that were offended or upset by the name--I didn't recognize it as ableist language when I posted the link in my LJ until ratcreature pointed it out and another person confirmed it soon after. I hadn't ever heard it used as a medical term (though I know it's connected to cerebal palsy, I'd only read that and weirdly, that didn't translate to my verbal vocabulary), but that doesn't excuse my ignorance of it being used derogatorily. As an aside, is this where the term 'spaz' comes from? I checked slang entymology on google and I'm pretty sure it does (and even if it doesn't, it's close enough that I really don't feel the niche it has in my vocabulary is so important I need to keep it around), but I just wanted to check.

Part E

I cannot believe how much dw specific html I forgot. Gah.

I'm still torn on the import function for DW, so I haven't made a point to import my entire LJ here, though I'm still archiving it, and I'm seriously leaning toward it if LJ's servers keep up this. For me, ti's been doing the slow-service thing for a couple of weeks now and it's getting both irritating and worrying.

Comments

[niqaeli]

\o/! YAY CROSSPOSTING! *selfishly happy camper*

Also, omg, paying off debt! YAY! I look forward to freedom. (We're steadily chipping away at the debt.)

[seperis]

God, I have to relearn DW code to update my journal style. I CANNOT DO THIS FOR WEEKS AND IT WILL DRIVE ME CRAZY.

Though I did just get rid of those extra commas. *thoughtful* That's good.

[jamethiel]

I'd be really interested in an explanation of how you choose your shares. It's something I'd really like to get into, but unfortunately paying off debt comes before building up any assets (except for my home deposit account which doesn't count because I can't use it for any other purpose than home deposits)

It's possibly something that you're not interested in, but I'm co-mod of a finance and frugal living community on DW, actyourwage. We'd love to have you.

Finally, YAY DREAMWIDTH! YAY PAYING OFF DEBT!

[seperis]

That's part of why I ended up with the stock account was my debt was almost at the point of unpayable. I did an flocked entry with teh breakdown, and my tag at livejournal, finance, has the details up to Marchish.

And joined! I look forward to getting into the habit of staying out of debt.

[jamethiel]

Um, I'm not actually on your flist on LJ. Which is totally not a hint! My journal is pretty much equal parts sewing, running and rage. Maybe slightly more on the rage. I'm a very angry person. Oh, and my tattoo

Ooh! I shall check out your finance tag. Well done on getting out of debt! I have... three months to go, and I swear when i am done you will hear the screams of joy from there.

[ineptshieldmaid]

We can import our LJ flists now? This will make me VERY HAPPY.

:-D

[elke_tanzer]

*twirls you in a giddy circle*

[everysecondtuesday]

LJ and I are on shaky ground today (I manged to post one of my two fic \o/), so I haven't checked to see if anyone answered over there, but Feminists With Disabilities/Forward has a ableist word profile on "spaz,", which is to say, yes, it has its roots there.

eta: Also, how excited am I that you are crossposting over here? Very!

[damned_colonial]

o hai *waves* glad you're posting here.

[bientot]

Congratulations on the debt management! That is beyond awesome.

And I hadn't even realized you were here - YAY DW!

[zvi]

Can I unsubscribe you at LJ, or are you not sure what you're doing as far as crossposting yet?

[seperis]

I really want to say yes in the spirit of habit, so yeah, go for it.

[verizonhorizon.livejournal.com]

I'll take DW invite if you still have some. I've considered it several times, went back and forth, but decided it'd be great to have one!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Here you go! Just paste it.

XRHT9JQSCV52XAAADK6X

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I'm just -- I've forgotten to say this, but oh my god, make sure you get the taxes on that stock stuff SORTED, because you do NOT want the tax bill from hell next year.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Ooooh yeah. I already did the taxes for 2009, and in a weird turn of events, I had some losses that look like they'll offset a little this year, but yes, I'm keeping up on that. It shouldn't be too bad, but it will probably eat my tax return, which honestly, is totally worth it.

[loriel-eris.livejournal.com]

Re Part D. I had this conversation with a (USA) friend a few months back. I found the original post, but it's flocked. However, I think I can C&P some of my comments and still have them make sense without the rest of the post/other comments.

"I'm 27 (and grew up on the west coast of Scotland) and 'spaz' was a fairly common playground insult. I never felt comfortable using it as a child, but only because I was A Good Girl (you'd never think it now...) and in my worldview, it was too close to swearing. However, I was much older before I (properly) realised the origins of the word, and that it's equivalent to using (and my apologies) 'Paki' (or similar), ie really derogatory. [snip] [T]here has been a lot of campaigning over the years to stop usage of the word, even when applied 'correctly'.

[snip]

I think (tho I could be totally wrong) that it's one of those words that everyone knows is (really) offensive/they shouldn't say, but some? a lot? aren't actually offended by it. I think this is mostly because up until quite 'recently' (ie 20? 30? years), it was a generally acceptable word (maybe not the politest/most PC, but acceptable), and then circumstances changed the connotations. ie It hasn't always been offensive, so different people will have different reactions to it."

I also linked to the wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spastic) in my comment, which, at least so far as it refers to UK is quite accurate as far as I can tell / in my experience.

Someone else commented, and I agreed, that: "I'd certainly equate it with Paki on the offensive scale. Probably not as strong as the 'n' word, but definitely a no-no."

And then discovered that half of that comparison doesn't work for a non-UK audience. (I suspect that you/other commenters here will get the idea tho.)

The comments on the other post showed a definite cultural divide between US and UK (I think they were the only two nationalities to put forth comments.)

With regards to the comm. I am sometimes pretty oblivious to things like this - I'd see the fannish name and completely miss the un-PC 'real life' name implications. But this one? It pinged almost straight away.

I have never heard of the comm before today and I probably won't visit it again (but only because I'm not interested in the comm content), but I'm still glad they changed their name.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the history on it. I went looking once I remembered cerebal palsy has use of that term (which took an embarrassing amount of time to connect to, actually) and from comments, it looked like it was more common in the UK.

I'm doubly glad the name change was done quickly when the origin was explained. I like how much work everyone is doing to identify and root out ableist language from our vocabularies.

[mrsfjl66.livejournal.com]

Hi. I generally make ad;lffnfadfmfm type comments on your airps fic, but am nowhere to drop a line on Part D as a person with a disability. The term spaz is derived from the spasticity incident to neurological disorders (mainly cerebral palsy).

I tend to ignore it because it's so commonly used (and I can't fix everyone's speech to my liking) but maybe I shouldn't. I police the use of "gay" and "retarded" being used as derogatory terms so why not this?

Related to not this:

I now have an iTunes playlist called "Songs to Die in the Rain to" because of your Kris/Adam. I know the actual playlist title is longer but my iTunes wanted it shorter.

Your posts are always incredibly informative and thought provoking, btw.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I tend to ignore it because it's so commonly used (and I can't fix everyone's speech to my liking) but maybe I shouldn't. I police the use of "gay" and "retarded" being used as derogatory terms so why not this?

*nods* That's kind of where I'm going. It's surprising sometimes how much there is and how much we don't know the origin of at this point. I'm just glad so many people are jumping up to start getting rid of it and it's easier for those who don't know the origin or definition to access it quickly.


I now have an iTunes playlist called "Songs to Die in the Rain to" because of your Kris/Adam. I know the actual playlist title is longer but my iTunes wanted it shorter.

*falls over and dies* I love it.

I need to posts my complete playlist list one day. They have such horrible emo-teenager names it's ridiculous and just looking at them reminds me to laugh at myself when I play them.

Thanks so much for this comment. *hugs*

[mrsfjl66.livejournal.com]

Please ignore the type fail in my above comment (now here became nowhere). Anyway, I'd love to see your playlist titles. My most dorkaliscious one is a playlist called "Marmalade" for songs I consider to be my jam. Oh yeah. I went there.

[elaran.livejournal.com]

LAUGHING PRETTY HARD AT THIS XD

[cofax7]

That's kind of where I'm going. It's surprising sometimes how much there is and how much we don't know the origin of at this point. I'm just glad so many people are jumping up to start getting rid of it and it's easier for those who don't know the origin or definition to access it quickly.

I remember when "Band Candy" aired and there was some discussion then about "Summers, you drive like a spaz," and the offensiveness thereof. From that point, I pretty much dropped it from my vocabulary. At least I've tried.

I'm still amazed how many people use "gypped" in complete ignorance of the etymology.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Weirdly, I get why at first. When I first saw it written like that, I had to say it out loud to figure out what it was. I've heard it on TV, but had rarely seen it written (afaik, maybe Anne McCaffrey?). I'm not sure I ever connected the word written to the sound.

Of course, looking at it, yeah, it's pretty obvious what it is.

[sidara.livejournal.com]

*cheers for you on the debt-freeness* i applaud your focus. it's difficult getting out from under debt.

[methosfan.livejournal.com]

I'd love a DW code if you still have any available. Thanks!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Here you go!

HVF4B4PTHT3J3AAADK6Y

[alwaysaddled.livejournal.com]

I would also appreciate a DW code if you still have any. Thanks!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Here you go! Just paste it in to create a new account.

DKMW8T9WJ4CDNAAAEFE8

[alwaysaddled.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!

[hiza-chan.livejournal.com]

...Don't suppose you still have a code? I hate it because I always have a really hard time commenting on some of your fic.

can I be a code fairy?

[the-groke.livejournal.com]

if you still need one
S5CRG6CZ3PVDCAAAFTB5

Re: can I be a code fairy?

[hiza-chan.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much!

[riazendira.livejournal.com]

I would very much adore a DW code if one was still available.

[the-groke.livejournal.com]

33Q9AX4TBPWS3AAAFTB6
*hides*

[riazendira.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[littledrop.livejournal.com]

Re: Part D

Oh, god, that DW comm. I saw your post and I was like, "Why the is she showcasing a comm like that?" And then I went to take a look because I thought, well, maybe they're reclaiming the word or something? But then I got there and I thought, "They seem smart, so what's with the name?"

I mean, I didn't exactly take offence, because there was clearly come cultural divide at work and I don't expect people not from my country to know the ins and outs of what is and is not offensive here, but I was also a little bit confused. My uncle has cerebral palsy (and often refers to himself as "a spakker", which is truly hideous), so I cannot imagine anybody not being aware of that word and its connotations.

Re: Part E

I imported my LJ to DW and it was the worst thing I ever did. The appeal of DW for me was its lack of LJ clutter! It's a psychological quirk of mine, I like new starts. But now my DW is all cluttered with my LJ, and so I'm systematically deleting. Which takes forever. There needs to be an ... un-import function or something. *sigh*

[spark-variance.livejournal.com]

Hoping to give DW a try, if you've still got codes left I'd appreciate one!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

PMG78DWXES2KXAAAEFE9

Have fun!

[rhiaa.livejournal.com]

Yea for you being debt free - I'm working on it slowly but at least I'm trying. If you still have a code I'd love to take it off your hands :)

[demilo19.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't happen to have another DW code would you?

[seperis.livejournal.com]

EGE4PADY5Z2CAAAABFFC

[demilo19.livejournal.com]

OMG! Thank you! Thank you so much!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! I hope you enjoy it!