All about YOU

[birdsofshore]

I love talking with you all here each week / day / hour / insert own level of addiction, but I often think I don't even know basic stuff about your LJ , like what your username means, what your icons are, etc etc. Come and tell me everything.

Why did you pick your username, and what does it mean? What's your default icon, and does it have any significance? If it's a famous person, please don't assume I will know who it is - I never know who anyone is unless I have the hots for them. What about those other things we can personalise on LJ - the quotes or messages at the top of your journal, and that odd little thing I've never worked out how to change, for instance who_la_hoop's says "I can see your house from here", which always makes me laugh. Do you have special art or graphics on your header? What are they all about?

I will start you off. My username is from a poster that I have in my living room, which says "Birds of shore & sea", with, er, drawings of different birds. Of shore, and, indeed, of sea. "Birdsofshoreandsea" is more characters than LJ allows, and besides, the shorebirds are the ones I like the best.

My picture is probably self-evident, but it's a curlew, which is my absolute favourite bird. I live quite near to plenty of these glorious creatures and they make me very thrilled and happy whenever I see one. They're just so ludicrous and beaky. They look like they shouldn't exist, and they seem to have really fabulous personalities. I can watch them for hours, just mooching about and digging for worms. They also have subtly beautiful plumage and the most wonderful song. I'm not actually OBSESSED with birds in real life, but I can verge on HIGHLY ENTHUSIASTIC about birds on any given occasion, so apologies if you just glazed over there.

The quotes on my journal are from one of my favourite books, The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving. "You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed" and "Keep passing the open windows" are pieces of advice from the book on how to survive whatever life throws at you. If you haven't read it, it's a big, insane, sexy, sweet, funny, tragic romp of a book and please don't tell me if you don't like it, because I have adored it since I was about 15 and bought it to impress a boy I fancied who worked in a bookshop (my rec for Frequent Patronage will be along any day now, by the way). Fandom is definitely part of my plan to remain sane and to 'keep passing the open windows' (in other words, to avoid falling into depression and self-harm), so both quotes seemed apt when I was picking my layout.

I have only got a standard LJ header thing - it was the one that seemed least offensive when I looked through. I'd love fancy graphics or some beautiful art up there, but OMG, how hard to choose, plus, if I'm being honest, I don't have a clue how to do such things DD:

Please come and do all the sharing. I really, really want to know.

p.s. A very big thank you to whoever nominated me at HPfanficpoll thingy, if you are on my flist. I was very flattered indeed that you liked my fics, and touched that you took the time ♥

Comments

[tryslora]

Sure, I'll bite... not that mine is very interesting. :)

The default icon is me. One day after getting my hair highlighted I was trying to take a picture of how damn brassy it was that time, and I just... liked how it came out. It's a picture of me that doesn't show my face and doesn't make me feel fat. *wry smile* Or old, for that matter.

The name... er... don't laugh. I made it up for a D&D character, ages ago. I created the character in my junior year of college (we're talking in the 80s) and I played her for two years, and when I was online for a group talking about gaming, I used that as my handle. My normal handle for a very long time was "d-singer" and folks called me "D." which was handy since it mimicked parts of my name. But as folks went online, people who were actually named "D. Singer" started to use that as a username, so I switched to tryslora full time. The best part about it is I know that if I see it anywhere, it's me!!

My "name" used to be "ALL WORDS ARE AWESOME WORDS!!!" because I kept shouting that at people during word wars. :) So I guess it's sort of my catch phrase, and it's been borrowed by others at hdw which makes me really happy, because all words ARE awesome words. I decided that I was tired of the capslock and exclamation points, though, and changed it to "call me trys" a while back.

My titles are sort of an ancient in-joke, I guess. I used to be a part of a community which did this kind of RPF roleplaying. It was a strange cross between characters and real, and I ended up naming my brain. Yes, because I was "me" but fictional, I decided that it was all happening inside my head, where all the characters/voices in my head were reflections of me, thus, it was the Hall of Mirrors. It stuck, and I refuse to get rid of it. :) My actual domain is hall-of-mirrors.com but it's sort of non-existent and I need to fix that someday and move it to a new hosting service. My best friend at the time had the um... crap, I can't remember what hers was called, but the space between them (since we shared a brain) was call The Corridor and there were spaces for all our friends along it. Thus my friends page is the Corridor.

See, it makes a weird sort of sense, even if it all makes me sound a bit insane, I'm sure. And it isn't at all exciting.

[birdsofshore]

LOL, it is very interesting and EXACTLY what I hoped everyone would come and tell me! I guessed your userpic was you, but then, I think EVERYONE'S userpic is them. There are a lot of gorgeous people out there, aren't there? ;-)

I like your Hall of Mirrors line. I never wondered what it meant exactly, it's just evocative and intriguing.

[kedavranox.livejournal.com]

Fun fact: I used to be LumosNox. (Yes, I was sure to delete all my badfic before admitting that.) I had that pen name when I was about 18-20. Then Kedavranox is just 20 year old Nox's way of preserving one of my favourite Potter words in my username. Kedavra- from the killing curse.. and then what happens after you die? DARKNESSSS. i.e. Nox!
I don't even know.
I've grown to love it though. :)

I don't have header words or anything. I used to have 'Hi, I'm Nox and I write things.' because I'm Nox and I write things sometimes. :)

[birdsofshore]

I like your username C:

Now you were one of the people I wanted, but you've changed your layout AGAIN. I wanted to know about all those frilly petticoats and things you had. But they've gone.

[facecat.livejournal.com]

Username: When I first came on LJ I was very new to blogging, social net-working, etc. and thought one had to use a nickname. I have no imagination so I borrowed my cat's nickname. In hindsight that was good because my real name is in no way associated with this journal and that's how I like it.

Userpic - found at I can haz cheezburger. Has cats and Harry Potter reference. Liked it. Kept it. Use it.

Journal layout - I like summer and the beach. Was the closest one I could find. Too lazy to look for anything else to possibly change it to.

Journal sub-title Worst Case Scenario Girl - pretty self-explanatory really. I expect the worst. If it doesn't come around all the (surprisingly) better but at least I can try to be prepared.

Oh. The Marching to the Beat of My Own Drummer title - my mom described me as that to someone once.

My profile page has some of my world views also.

[birdsofshore]

I agree it can be good to keep your RL name away from LJ. Your icon makes me smile when I see it!

My eldest can be a bit worst-case scenario-ish, and me too, I think. I say that I prefer to be pleasantly surprised when things go right, but I think it would really be better if I wasn't expecting things to screw up so often.

[geneva2010.livejournal.com]

Hi - nice of you to ask. Who doesn't like talking about themselves?

Well maybe me. I haven't shared much personal info on LJ, but it's not a huge deal. I do have a family, and a professional life, and a very active volunteer life where I have a leadership position. So I keep my fanfic stuff pretty anonymous. But if anyone recognizes me from all of this info - Hi! And say hi back!

Anyhow. My username is one that I use all over the net, and I added the 2010 because Geneva was already taken, and that was the year I joined LJ. The name is not mine, but a family member's (not really close family), and I love the name because it's a bit unique, but feminine, and also that the city has connotations of "Peace" associated with it.

My main icon is a piece of H/D art by moonlitdark, used with permission. I love her graphic style, and I think this piece is just brilliant. LIght/Dark contrast is SOOO Harry/Draco! I've had lots of comments from people who think it is sexy stuff.

We've talked about it before, but I share your love of birds. I learned all of the common birds in my area, Southern California USA, and can pretty much ID them by sight and sound, at least enough to go "what is that?" when something unusual calls or I see something weird. I used to be quite obsessed with it, and we have a lot of birds nearby and great habitat variety, including coastal shorebirds, and I learned a ton. I carried binoculars everywhere for years. Now it's a bit more in the background, and I have a camera more often. We spend a lot of time outdoors, and knowing the birds and the plants and the other wildlife by name makes the experience so much richer to me. I love to share with other people, too, but sometimes it's hard to do without coming off as a know-it-all!!

I never really got into chasing rare birds around like some people enjoy, but I do have a funny story. One time a co-worker was talking about Calliope hummingbirds, which had been spotted in our area (very rare for us). She asked me about how you would ID one, and we looked out the window at the feeder to talk about how they might compare to our usual local hummingbirds, and RIGHT THERE AT THAT VERY MOMENT was a Calliope hummingbird. Amazement all around.

Another bird story - I am paranoid about bird poop. My mommy taught me that it was the germiest, dirtiest thing ever, and I don't like it! I would never have a pet bird because of that.

[birdsofshore]

I love your username, I think it really suits you. I agree about your icon really summing up H/D in a sexy visual! You were one of the first people I started to 'recognise' around LJ when I first joined, because it's so bold and simple.

I love your hummingbird story! Amazing (to me) that you get ANY SORT of hummingbird. The rarest thing we have had in our garden are waxwings. We had 10 last year, and at the time, there were estimated to be only 1000 in the UK, so I'm calling 1% of the country's total population rare enough for me.

I try to learn birdcalls but I am not very good at it. I know a few, but my knowledge doesn't seem to increase much over the years. Mr Birds bought me a set of cds but I hardly ever make time to listen to them. One day....

[indyonblue.livejournal.com]

Ok, here goes.

Username: It's a completely made up name and doesn't mean anything! I put blue in there because it's my favourite colour. I have another internet name, which I love, but I wanted my LJ to be separate.

Icon: When I set up my LJ, I googled 'indyonblue' and this icon popped up so I thought perfect! I have another user picture which is a bird saying 'tweet tweet' - that's my twitter icon and is actually a picture of my pjs (my husband bought them for me, saying they were apt!). One day, I may go back to my pjs picture.

Title: An ex-boyfriend once commented that sometimes, if I don't know what to say, I say 'Sooooo'. I couldn't think of anything better to call my journal so that's what it became.

I'm still getting to grips with LJ, it's a monster of a site in some ways. I'd love to be able to design my own journal template but have no idea how you'd go about that!

And that's my (rather boring) story! Sooooo....

[birdsofshore]

LOL! "soooo". I love it all! That's great that your icon sort of found itself. And I have pjs with blue tits on (although post baby G I think I am still too fat for them).

I really admire people who can do layouts and are at ease with html. It sends me spare, it really does.

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Fun. :) I'm enjoying reading everyone else's comments too.

My username is Melusina for the mermaid Melusina. For a long time I participated in mama/parenting communities and my username always had something to do with Girl. On the night I became pregnant with her, I woke up suddenly from a dream in which I found a baby mermaid on the ground outside after a flood. So she's my mermaid baby, and my username is in honour of her. The HP is because it's mostly an HP fandom journal and plain old Melusina was already taken. My usual default icon is the mermaid from the film of GoF.

My journal title thingies are: Flesh, Blood and Bone and Brain and Nerve and Bounding Heart. They are both quotes from HP, Flesh, Blood and Bone is the title of the chapter in GoF where Harry gets tied up and tortured and stuff and that was perhaps a memorable chapter for me and Brain and Nerve and Bounding Heart is part of what Harry thinks as he's walking to face Voldemort in The Forest Again, my favourite chapter of Deathly Hallows and possibly the whole series. Plus both quotes kind of define my interest and pleasure in reading and writing fic in fandom.

My header image is some gorgeous Harry/Draco artwork by Marikart. It kind of encapsulates everything I love about H/D in one image.

[birdsofshore]

sorry, but Flesh, Blood and Bone is the title of the chapter in GoF where Harry gets tied up and tortured and stuff and that was perhaps a memorable chapter for me was very funny. I am snorting. I don't even know if it was meant to be funny but I heard it in a dry kind of voice.

I love your name and I have always wanted to call a daughter Melusina or Melusine. I only make boys, though!

Your header art is so striking and very 'you'.

[gamma-x-orionis.livejournal.com]

Oooh, interesting questions (and I'm haunting the comments to read everyone's interesting answers).

My username is a variant (specifically, the available-on-LJ variant) on "Gamma Orionis", which has been the basis for most of my screen names ever since I started out with fandom. Gamma Orionis is the scientific name for the star Bellatrix, so my reasons for choosing it should be fairly obvious. My default icon is connected to that, of course (being a picture of the constellation Orion), because I like when usernames and icons match up. Because obsessive compulsive tendencies :P It was just the first, clearest picture of Orion that I could find, and I've become rather attached to it... it's my icon for most things.

The title on my journal ("Good Evening Starshine") was inspired by something that vaguely bothers me about the song "Good Morning Starshine" from the musical Hair (which is my favourite musical, like, ever) - you can't see stars shining in the morning! You see stars coming out in the evening! *Tsks* these are basic observational skills, songwriters! I like that it keeps up the theme of stars in my username/icon, though I've been pondering changing it... I probably won't, though, because I'm lazy and I can't think of a better title. And hey, because that's not nearly enough star-related stuff, I was also drawn to my theme because of the GLORIOUS NUMBER OF STARS IN IT. STARS EVERYWHERE. STAR BULLET POINTS. STAR HEADER. SO PRETTY.

The only thing not star-related about my journal (besides, you know, the content) is the little banner picture thing I made for my intro post, which I had the idea for when I was waiting for a bus next to a graveyard during a rain storm (kind of an eerie situation, which is exactly the sort of situation I love!) So I spent a very long time searching out and splicing together appropriate images until it was something like how I imagined I looked at that moment (only, you know, prettier. And minus the weird way I was hunched over my book in an attempt to prevent it from getting too wet).

So. The moral of the story is that I have a meteorology fetish, I think.

P.S. Congratulations on the nomination :)

[birdsofshore]

I know! So interesting! I have been literally wondering about some of these for months, but I felt shy or something. Eventually I thought "why not just ASK?"

I like when usernames and icons match up. Because obsessive compulsive tendencies :P

NONO because COMMON SENSE :DD

I love all your starriness. It's satisfying when somebody has really thought about their name and their layout and it all has meaning. Of course, the random ones are fun as well.

Congratulations on the nomination Thank you very much. It was quite the surprise!

[mayfly-78.livejournal.com]

Interesting post and question! I must track this to see everyone's replies!

I like your name. And the being-obsessed-with-birds thing is sort of refreshing since everyone else on the net seems to obsessed with cats! My favourite bird is an albatross by the way. In large part because of the Baudelaire poem.

Anyway, I started off as mayfly on many fanfic archive sites. I was exclusively into HP and I thought it would be more unique if I chose a name that had no HP references. I chose that name because I was very into Belle & Sebastian at the time, and I always identified with their song Mayfly. I think I interpreted the lyrics a little how I wanted to. For me the song talks about someone on the outside looking in, wanting desperately to be included but never being judged worth-while.

When I opened my LJ account I wanted to use the same name, but someone else beat me too it - and abandoned their journal soon after, I checked up on them - I tried out may_fly, but it was also used. My friend who's laptop I was using at the time - I set up my LJ account in a hurry while on holiday because I wanted to take part in a fic writing thingy on the now defunct two_broomsticks - got fed up, typed mayfly_78 in - from my date of birth - and that was that.

On DeviantArt I go by Lazylinepainterjane. Also from a Belle & Sebastian song. Also about a rather sad and pathetic girl. I also Foxinsnow on flickr and for a blogspot blog I no longer use. Also from a Belle & Sebastian song - but also a reference to Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

For my online shop I chose Inkdoodles because I wanted something that expressed my style - until I got obsessed with block-printing, I primarily did ink drawings - and was whimsical. I refuse to take myself too seriously.

The title of my blog is "ramblings of a disjointed mind", because I harbour no illusions about being coherent or consistent.

My banner is one I made myself. It's a collage of some of my fanart.

I can no longer remember where I got my user-pic from. I came across it somewhere on my meanders on the web, before I opened my journal and before I realised it would be best to keep track of where I take things from. I used it because I liked how simple and light-hearted it was. And I think it goes with my tag-line. My ramblings are as inconsequential as soap bubbles. I like to think it makes me easily recognisable which is one of the reasons I don't change despite having a number of other user-pics too.

I think that's all.

[birdsofshore]

That is SO INTERESTING - you know, I'd always presumed your icon was a self-portrait that you had drawn yourself - I can see now that it isn't quite your style, but it's not a million miles from it. I really like it for the reasons you've mentioned; it's simple and charmingly whimsical.

I hadn't picked up on all the Belle and Sebastian refs! And I didn't know the Albatross poem, but I do now! I'm not sure if it's meant to be tragic or farcical? I'm going to read it again.

Your banner is wonderful. It almost shouldn't work, because there's so much in there to look at, but it's so rich and vivid.

[torino10154]

I had a comment and I copied it, planning to see if other people had blathered on so long and then paste it back in, and then something happened and I copied something else and then when I came back I remembered my comment was now gone like the wind. I am majorly depressed about this and may come back and comment if I find the energy to explain everything again. :P

[birdsofshore]

Oh nononononono! That's always a tragedy when that happens, but especially here when it was going to reveal everything to us and now it's looooost DDD:

I really really hope you come back and comment again. *clutches you*

[raitala.livejournal.com]

Heh, this is fun!

Raitala is the name of our holiday place in Finland. It means 'place in the willows' or 'willow place'. Its pronounced 'rye'(as in the grain) 'tala', but I know a lot of people think of me as 'ray'. Ray of sunshine, me!

My journal name is Pureblood Princess, which, you know, is all ironic and such as a nod to fan girls who take themselves too seriously as gothic Mary Sues in swishy coats. We will not examine how far this is true *swishes coat*

Journal used to be titled "The Great Procrasathon", but I don't actually think of it as procrastination any more. I have owned my fandom life more fully in recent years. It is now called "weirdly identifying with Draco Malfoy since 2005", which is self explanatory.

My icon is Stuart Broad, England cricketer, from a fashion photoshoot. He was bowling a ball in a sharp suit and I loved the focussed intensity of his expression and his whisps of blond hair. Broady is not my head canon Draco, but this picture is, and he is my icon because of weirdly identifying with him ;) When you meet me, you may notice that I look a little bit like the Dracos I draw and you should feel free to call me a freaky narcissist.

X Rai

[capitu]

Ohh, this is going to be fun! And by fun, I mean, I'm pretty boring but I want to find out stuff about other people. LOL

My username comes from a Brazilian book Dom Casmurro. This book is about a man who is absolutely convinced his wife Capitu is cheating on him with his best friend, however, the book isn't about infidelity, it's about Bentinho (the main character) being jealous, distrustful and obsessive, with very little evidence that Capitu was ever unfaithful to him.

We never do find out for sure if Capitu cheated on him, she's in theory an exotic woman, with gypsy eyes who is tormented by the jealously of her husband.

However I picked the name because I love the name Capitu. I mean, I love the character, too, I do fell in love with her through the novel, but if she had been named something like... I don't know, Beatriz (a perfectly good name) I wouldn't have used it, you know? lol

I always thought that if I ever had a girl, I'd call her Capitu, and since later in my adulthood I realised that I didn't want to have children I decided to use it as my username when I was first invited to livejournal. :D

My default icon isn't me. :O People are always thinking that's me. It's not. When I went to my first (and only) Harry Potter convention (Terminus) and I introduced myself as capitu people said to me, hey, you're not your icon! Well, yeah, no, I'm not. I wish though. Isn't this woman lovely? I AM in love with this icon.

This icon was the first icon I got. The person who invited me to livejournal (back then you needed an invitation and a code) made me a beautiful layout and this icon (my name included because I never hid my real name) to go with it. I loved the woman in the icon, and I grew very fond of how it looks. I like the whiteness of it (and yeah, the ankles XD), and have been using it ever since.

Sometimes I feel, having my name on my icon, I'm saying, hey, that's me, and I'm lying, but then I think, other people have their username in plants and actors and stuff, and I think, maybe that notion is on my head. Anyway, I think my flist know me. I post pictures of myself, well, once in a while, so they know what I look like, strangers, well, I can honestly say I don't mind them thinking that's me. :D

The "Welcome to villa cariño" I have as my title is... it sounds rather like a cabana party. I like the idea. Villa Cariño is not a real place. But if it were, it's be carnaval all year round, and people would be dancing and having fun and celebrating all the time. (I can link you to what carnaval in my neck of the woods looks like, I have pictures!)

My header is...well. I made that header a while go. I have to say I'm never very happy with my headers. >.> But this one has been there for ages because, if I'm honest, even if I don't like the graphics I made for myself this one is special. I like the blue. I like the round shades; they remind me of Harry. The original picture isn't like that, it was in colour and I had a good time altering them to look like that. I like the quote and the Hallows symbol I have there. Magic is everywhere, you know? I believe that. :) I'm working on another layout with another header, but I'm very slow with my own stuff. I always get distracted by something better. Like a new fic, a new art, a post, and I'm like... Oh, SHINY! until I remember and keep on working on it. Heh.

That's a bit about me. As boring as you thought it was going to be like! LOL


But YOU! I did think you were OBSESSED about birds. XDXD And, hey, there's a bird who always visits my backyard, well, I think it's the same, I'm pretty sure it's the same, and she's (I think it's a she) is not afraid of me! The other day I was sitting out, drinking coffee and the thing came really close, less than a half a meter, looked at me, ate an ant and left. I thought of you. Lol

You know, if you ever want to change your layout, let me know! I mean, I can edit a layout for you if you have a graphic in mind. :) I did icmezzo and eidheann_writes and mine, of course, and my community, so, yeah, I can some do stuff. :D I'd love to make you a layout if you have time to browse about and tell me more or less how you'd like one. Think about it. This offer does not expire EVER. :D

MAN I WROTE A LOT. *hides in shame*

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

Ooh fun! I love talking about myself. :P

Most Brits probably recognize Tamlane (or Tam Lin) from Child's Ballads no. 39. He was abducted by the Queen of the Fairies and ultimately must go through a series of transformations in order to become a man again. While he waits, he enjoys divesting blond maidens of their virginity. Which, ahem, has nothing to do with why I selected it for my username. >.>

My icon is the central figure in the west pediment of the Temple of Artemis at Corfu. I adore Greek art and architecture. And like all Greek Archaic sculpture, I like the Corfu Medusa because I can't tell if she's smiling because she's happy or because she's off her rocker. Which is how I feel most days.

Congrats on your nomination! ♥

[birdsofshore]

You were very brief compared to a lot of people!

I can't tell if she's smiling because she's happy or because she's off her rocker.

Perfect :DDD

Thank you for the congratulations. And the same back at you!

[isinuyasha.livejournal.com]

You always have these great ideas :D

My username is a combination of my nickname (Isi short for Isabelle, pronounced as 'easy' in German -to avoid the awkwardness of having to say 'Hi I'm easy' I introduce myself as Izzy when talking to English speaking people-) and a Japanese anime series called Inuyasha that I used to watch when I was very small, 12 or something. Nowadays I don't remember anything about the series but the name stuck, so much that I don't want to change it. Sadly on deviantart I'm "Isi-angelwings" because, again when I was small, I thought that was "cool". Now I really wish I could change it to my LJ name but I'd have to have a paid account :D

My default icon is really what it says! My default mood is "I love you all" and it fits in most cases! Especially when I reply to comments on my art because that's exactly how I feel :D I have various other icons to either represent my mood or fandom :)
I think my layout is by scholarslayouts but I'm not sure since I didn't write down the source anywhere >_> I customized the header to suit my LJ and put some of my art in there :)
The quotes on my pages represent pretty much what I think about H/D, since it really is not only my OTP but also OTF (One true fandom :D)

[capitu]

Awww. Love you all. That's the cutest thing ever. <3

Also LOL @ 'Hi I'm easy'. I had never thought of that.

Are we friends? I can be your friend?

[who_la_hoop]

*remains mysterious*

Mostly because of laziness, haha. But I think you know it all already :D

[birdsofshore]

I admit I may recognise the chappie in your icon...

The rest is actually fairly mysterious, but I will just continue with my filthy stalkerish headcanon, so that's fine ;D

[sassy-cissa.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll play.

User name: When I first started my LJ - I used most of my real-life name as my user name, since I never, ever in a million years intended to read, let alone write...slash. Enter stumbling onto slash and becoming hooked. After posting fics for a bit under that name and ensuing fiasco that was involved when my then 19 yr old find my journal *which involved a fight in the Louvre in Paris - a story for another day* - I decided to change my user name. Around that same time I became a member of an RPG called Beyond Seven Years and I played Narcissa. I was in it for several years, playing some other characters *Theo Nott and Severus Snape* but Narcissa has always been a fav character of mine. After I read HBP I knew Narcissa would whatever it took to make certain Draco survived the war. Anyway - because I was "Narcissa-obsessed" I put a request to my flist and sassy_cissa was the user name they came up with for me. *wipes brow* whew - that was a butt-load of info for such a simple question.

Next my default icon is Michelle Pfieffer - who I believe to this day would have made a perfect Narcissa....if they hadn't had that stupid everyone must be British rule for the movies. Not to mention she'd never have allowed her hair to look like a skunk!

My header...it changes seasonally. "Spring into Summer" "Fall into Fandom" and "A good fic warms you on a cold winter day".
The designs generally vary and are created by the mulit-talented femmequixotic. I'm using last years fall one, though, because she is buried in Graduate work at Harvard and I didn't want to bug her for a new one this year. My journal motto is from a song by 3 Doors Down called "Let Me Go". On my main joural is: In this world there's real and make believe and on my friends page it's And this seems real to me.

Oh and I can code a basic layout, but when your bff is a graphic designer...who "lives to code" why bother!!! ♥

And if you read this to the end...congrats. :P

[birdsofshore]

Yours is one of the userpics that I remain convinced must actually be you :DDD And I must hear the Louvre story sometime, please!

The autumn banner is glorious! I agree you need to take advantage of femme's skills.

I read every bit. These are all fascinating, I'm loving it.

[awickedmemory.livejournal.com]

Username: awickedmemory comes from a song from Avantasia: The Metal Opera called "Memory":
          / From the faces in my dream, they are coming back for me /
          / As it was told in their prediction /
          / Is it just a dream... or just a wicked memory /
          / Now I see her coming - on her besom /
          / The smell of brimstone and the mark of the beast /
          / From the open window, is it just a dream? /
I just really liked the idea of not being able to tell if you were in a nightmare or reliving the horribly memories of something you'd done - and the character singing this particular song is being haunted by the ghost of a woman she had tortured, dismembered and killed earlier in the story, so there was a sense of vindictive gratification that he's not going unpunished for his hurtful actions.

Default icon: Most of my icons are character/ship-specific or are reactionary. This one is the most all-purpose, so it became my default.

Customizations: I don't have any text personalizations except for lyrics for the song the username comes from. XD I used to have this layout, which was literally just doodles of my friends (that's me and my BFF snoozing), but I didn't like my journal being graphic-heavy and switched to a text-based layout because I'm boring like that.

I wondered what sort of bird that was in your icon! I love its beak. Even its name is ridiculously adorable. XD And your quotes are very good advice, yes! Ahhh, I'd offer to help customize your LJ but I work better with raw coding and have never been good at tweaking LJ's minor customizations. T_T I find many of their available free layouts to be really... bulky, ugh. XD

[birdsofshore]

I like your username very much, and the quote from your default icon. it makes me smile every time I see it!

The poem reminded me of this: http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/A_Dream_Within.htm
Probably not really much of a connection, but it came into my head straight away.

Capitu has very kindly offered to look at layouts with me. I will put it off forever, though, I know I will, because I have difficulty making up my mind on things... O_o

The curlew is the most adorable bird ever. This is a wonderful video of them doing their thing, including their song, which is amazing, and starts "currrrliiii", so their name is sort of onomatopoeic. <33

[0idontknow0]

Username: I literally didn't know what to use and idontknow was taken I think. I used the 0's just because of their null value.

Userpic: Well, it just reminds me not to freak out when deadlines are coming up and I thought others would probably see it when they're pulling their hair out over fic as well.

Other: I like simple layouts so I just sick to anything that looks clean and minimal. I want to change it but I'm not sure what to use. I generally don't like the headers that come with layouts so I avoid layouts with them. It's abnormally easy for my to be impersonal with things. My journal, much like my room right now, doesn't have much to indicate anything about me in terms of decoration.

[birdsofshore]

I like your name and I always 'hear' someone saying it when I read it. In my head the zeros are part of it, so it goes "oh, I don't know", a little bit irritably :D

It can be nice to keep things impersonal and simple. I used to have my bedroom all white with no decoration at all, because it was calm and restful.

[meglw0228.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered about those quotes on your journal! And every time I do I'm in the middle of something and afterwards I forget to google it! I love those quotes, so I might have to check out that book!

My username: My real name is Meagan L Wheeler. Meg for short... or just because nobody, even my family, can ever spell my name right...and I might get a little anal when I see it spelled wrong. And L and W for my initials obviously! The 0228 is my birth date, February(02) 28. I've had usernames before that were fandom oriented, but when the fandom interest fades I found I hated using the name. So back in 2004-05 when I really became interested in HP I came up with a name that fit me, and just used it for everything!

My title/subtitle: I love love love alliteration. So when I came up with my title I wanted all M words... and at the time my mom figured I'd should warn people up front that I'm crazy, or can be in real life. The subtitle is just something I thought of out of the blue, again a warning. It's kinda stupid to keep it because on the internet I'm more shy and reserved, but I've always loved it, and am really bad at coming up with any kind of title!

My quotes: I have one quote on my profile, that one is from one of my favourite books, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, and is one of my favourite quotes ever. I love music, and any time I listen to a song it transports me, usually to the first time I heard it. The other quote is on my banner, and is from the Harry Potter series. Albus Dumbledore says it...and for the life of me I can't remember which book now! (I think Goblet of Fire or Order of the Phoenix.) When I made the banner I was still trying to work through my grief and pain of losing my dad, and chose that quote. The art on that banner is by the lovely ceares who made me four beautiful arts of Scorpius Malfoy, and one portrait of my dad. I instantly fell in love with this one!

My default icon: changes a lot! The one I had most recently was an eye with purple makeup and a butterfly along with my name. All my default icons are something I find very pretty, and almost always include my nickname, Meg. Currently, I have a huge fascination with purple. And I like personalized icons because it helps getting people to address me as Meg instead of meglw or even my full name spelled wrong. Right now, in honour of Halloween I have something festive with my name.

[birdsofshore]

Oh, that's great, lots of snippets. I like your Dumbledore quote very much. I see it as faintly humorous for some reason, but then much of Dumbledore's advice does have an edge of humour underneath the wisdom.

You are very bold having your real name (kind of) on your journal!

I do love the book my quotes came from, very much. It has one of my favourite female characters in, who I identified with a lot when I was younger, in fact my earlier online personas were usually some version of her name, Franny. I am nothing like her in RL but she inspires and comforts me <3 There are many wonderful characters in the book, though. When I met Mr Birds he was going by the online name 'Bear', which is quite funny if you read the book... anyway, I won't go on about it any more!

[notearchiver.livejournal.com]

This looks ridiculously fun, so I shall participate.

Username: For my decade(s) of fandom participation before HP, I used a different handle. Then I stopped being active in fandom for a while. When I started back up again, I decided to pick a new name because I wanted to clearly distinguish myself from my past works in case anyone had read the zine(s) they appeared in. I initially thought of connecting it to my e-mail address, but I decided that since I use my e-mail for personal stuff as well as fandom, I didn't want to explicitly connect it. (If people in real life are suspicious enough to find me in fandom and want to go through fest sign-ups to try to find my e-mail address, then they deserve to know because that's a lot of dedication.) Anyways, I still wanted something that represented me. So I decided upon notearchiver because I take notes about anything that interests me. I have so many notebooks, scraps of paper, napkins, etc around the house and my office that it's not even funny. One of the rooms in my house has walls completely covered by note cards with songs, quotes, ideas, etc jotted down on them. Literally floor to ceiling. So it seemed appropriate that I use the moniker notearchiver.

Default Icon: My default icons is actually part of a self portrait photograph. I don't much like photography, but I was playing around with my Partner's new camera one day, and I took that photo. There's no digital manipulation. The colors are what happens when you fiddle with macro, the f-stop, zoom, and flash like crazy.

Journal Title/Subtitle: My journal title/subtitle is Sir, you are no gentleman! / And you, Miss, are no lady. It's a quote from Gone With the Wind (in the movie, it's in this scene--the specific line is at around 1:40). As a child, Gone With the Wind was one of my favourite books, and it still holds a special place in my heart. I also chose the quote because I'm trans* and waver back and forth and in between man and woman. It felt very apt.

Journal Header Image: My journal header image is just a larger part of the photograph I use for my icon.

[capitu]

I love the meaning of your Title/Subtitle. Wow, the little things you can learn! :D

[lordhellebore]

1) My username comes from Tad Williams' novel The War of the Flowers. All the elves there have plant names, and Lord Hellebore is one of the villains.

The fun thing about the username is that back in the day, I used to participate quite avidly in a lot of Christian LJ communities. Now, there were quite a heap of Christian fundies who will get there knickers in a twist when they even see the letter combination "hell", never mind that it has nothing whatsoever to do with faith and is part of a flower's name (which is, ironically, in German called "Christrose/Pfingstrose" = "Christ rose/Pentecost rose"). So, a lot of the time they would see "Lord" and "Hell" and be all over me, since I also was arguing against stupid things like "being gay is evil" etc.
"Antichrist" is only one of the many names I earned there . . .


2) The two main icons I use for default icons are and . They're both Tilda Swinton, who is a lovely actress and quite good at portraying androgynous characters like the Archangel Gabriel in Constantine.


3) My journal titles:

a) I am not bound to please thee with my answers is a quote from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, which is my favourite play of his, and my favourite play in general. Obviously, Shylock is my favourite character, and this is one of my favourite quotes of his ;)

b) Intelligenz sieht nur von unten aus wie Arroganz is German and means "Intelligence looks like arrogance only from below". Yes, that looks arrogant *smirks*


4) Sidebar text: Tall ships and tall kings
Three times three
What brought they from the foundered land
Over the flowing Sea?
Seven stars
and seven stones
And one white tree.

Tis is a poem called A Rhyme of Lore from Lord of the Rings. Gandalf recites it to Pippin in chapter nine of The return of the King as they are riding from Edoras to Minas Tirith. The ships are the nine ships that survived the fall of Númenor, sailed by Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anárion. The foundered land is Númenor. The seven stones are the palantíri, and the white tree is the sapling of Nimloth (which is an descendant of the White Tree Galathilion, the tree made by Yavanna for the Elves in Tirion, in the likeness of Telperion, one of the two trees that used to shed light on Valinor before the sun, moon, and stars were created) preserved by Isildur before it was destroyed. What the seven stars are, I am not sure, but there are seven stars on the standard of Elendil.

[birdsofshore]

Ah, that's great to learn all of that. I do love the Shylock quote. I did know Tilda Swinton as I am a fan of hers. Your icons are really nice.

The line about arrogance is hilarious. My German was not quite good enough to get it so I have puzzled over that in the past!

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

1) I love John Irving's Writing; A Prayer for Owen Meany was the first I read by him.

2) I had a long comment and lost it, because it wasn't supposed to be a long comment or I would've started it in a doc instead of the comment box.

3) I just changed my profile, again. I do this a lot. I now have no header.

4) My icon will change again here soon, as the witch is just around for Halloween. I'm not sure what it will be changed to yet.

5) My name is Stephanie Jo and I was born in 1984.

6) I plan on that changing at the end of the year to match my pen name I use everywhere else: Josephine Stone.

7) I think that how often I change things says a lot more about me than anything of the things I settle on in the moment.

[birdsofshore]

I have a signed 1st edition of Owen Meany - I met John Irving very briefly at a signing. I should of course keep it in a locked room and never touch it, but I have read it loads and it's slightly tattered. I love the copy too much to never use it.

I think Owen Meany is his BEST book, but Hotel New Hampshire is still my FAVOURITE, If that makes sense.

I'm sorry LJ lost your comment :( I'm glad you still told us these things. I like your icon and I look forward to seeing what you have next. I also like your pen name - it's pleasingly like your RL name, but not blindingly so. Clever.

[firethesound]

Sure, I'll go for this. I decided five years ago that I wanted to write fanfic after years of lurking, and there are some people in my life (including my husband) who think slashfic is the stupidest thing ever so I made another lj account to keep it separate from my personal account (which I don't even use anymore, so whatever.) Every name I tried to make was taken, and I got frustrated and said the heck with it, and typed in the song and band that happened to be playing on my computer at the moment -- Fire, by The Sounds. So, firethesound.

My icon is a picture of the Tenth Doctor's foot, because I love me some Dr. Who, and I also love chucks. My mom bought them for me when I was little, and when I got old enough to pick out my own shoes, I just kept wearing them. I just bought a new pair of red ones and they're the best thing ever!

My journal is pretty boring. No title, no header. I'm keeping it pretty minimalist because despite having had a livejournal account for ten years now, I'm still pretty inept when it comes to customizing it because I'm too lazy to look up how to get it all prettied up, and anyhow I sort of like it how it is. ::shrug::

[birdsofshore]

Ah, now you were someone I wanted to come and explain your username, so I'm very happy about that. For some reason it really stuck in my head and I have found myself murmuring it and trying to work out the significance. That sounds really strange, sorry, I am normal really O_o

there are some people in my life (including my husband) who think slashfic is the stupidest thing ever

some people are just stupid, eh? ;-) Last night, while answering comments on this post, I asked Mr Birds whether he would say I was obsessed with birds. He said "no, not at all." Then under his breath he said "You're obsessed with fucking slash..." :DDD

[calrissian18.livejournal.com]

Okay, mine's probably massively uninteresting because it's not hard to figure out but I love you for doing this, birds. I can't even tell you how many times over the years I end up squinting at people's usernames and going WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! (Especially doing Rectober and having to plug a bunch in - why do some people make them so STUPID hard???)

I am amazed at how few people put together that calrissian18 is very obviously an homage to Lando Calrissian from Star Wars - the coolest motherfucker in the galaxy. I'm a huge nerd and I guess my eighteen-year-old self (the year after I discovered fan fiction and when I made my first account) wanted everyone to know without having to even ask. Hence 'calrissian18.'

Occasionally, I regret it. And by 'occasionally,' I do mean always, because other people's have *wrinkles nose* meaning and mine has no relation to anything I do (I've never written, nor been interested in writing anything Star Wars-related). But I don't think I'll ever change it because I think it's somewhat recognizable now (though that's probably delusion on my part) and confusing people isn't nice.

My headings are from the song 'Evil' by Interpol because the lyrics are ridiculous and it's a brilliant song. Those lines always jumped out at me and I thought it was esoteric enough that it'd be a good indicator of potential friendlies. In case anyone was straddling the fence on whether or not to do it, I figure them recognizing lyrics from that song might push it over the edge for them. 'I don't know, she seems weird, maybe I shouldn't. Shut the front door. Are those fucking Interpol lyrics? Yes! Decision made *clickity clickity click* friends forever!' is just one example of how that thought process might've gone, LOL.

The headings on my profile thing-y are from Katie Herzig's song 'Lost and Found,' a sentiment I think we can all relate to, and a Creed Bratton quote from The Office. He's trying to remember his job title (the Head of Quality Assurance) and comes up with Quabbity Ashwoods ("No, but it's close," LOL, never fails to make me giggle - and I like having things that make me giggle right there).

My userpics change all the time but my default is almost always one I've made myself and am proud of (as it is now - and I need to change it again, it's been the same for too long. I need a shuffle up!) and it's usually (though not always) related to the fandom I'm playing in the most. I rarely ever use my default though. I like it being the one people see when they come onto my page but when commenting and the like, I use one of my multitude of other icons (because I LOVE icons!) so it doesn't have much of a relationship to me I don't think. Plus, they don't last all that long so I don't perceive that I'm very identifiable that way.

The title of my Friends page is still 'I have friends?' because when I made it, I didn't, and I still don't really trust any of you are going to stay that way, LOL. It's to remind me never to get complacent there. *g*

Now off to stalk everyone else's replies!

[birdsofshore]

Yours is intereesting! Trust me, ALL OF THIS is interesting. Well, I know so little about Star Wars, I did not even know that character existed. I really like the name, it's got a cool sound to it.

The Interpol lyrics had foxed me, but now you mention it, Mr Birds is a big Interpol fan and I think on some level I probably recognised them.

Your Friends page title is adorable! You do have friends!

[traintracks.livejournal.com]

Well, I chose traintracks because I felt like I was starting a journey, but I didn't know where to, so that's where my journal title and subtitle come into play: "Barreling through the night: I can only see the tracks just ahead." I also wanted a username that had a little something to do with HP without naming myself dracoshouseelf or something. So the tracks could sort of be the ones that take people to Hogwarts? Or maybe I just wish I was going there. ;-)

My default icon is this typewriter I found, because I wanted something genericly writery but classy for when three guys fucking is just a tad too much. ;-)

I'm so happy to know where your name comes from and to learn about that 'ludicrous and beaky' little bird! <3

[birdsofshore]

Oh, I love your explanation of your name and titles. I had presumed it was a quote; it is very evocative and works well for the reasons that you explained.

I wanted something genericly writery but classy for when three guys fucking is just a tad too much. ;-)

*SNORT* Well, quite.

The curlew is extremely ludicrous and beaky, but not at all little! It's the largest wading bird in Europe (now there's a fact you'll find really useful throughout your life, hmm? :D)

[all-not-well.livejournal.com]

It's really fun reading these - I have often wondered how people came up with their usernames and what their icons or headers represent to them. But I'm always too shy to ask. :)

My username comes from the last line (I think?) in the DH epilogue. I didn't agree with the whole idea that all was well for Harry with that ending! I really wanted my username to say all_is_not_well but that was too many characters. My journal used to be just a fanfic browser (I didn't want to use my RL LJ to join some darker HP comms in case someone I knew from RL stumbled across it), so I wasn't very particular about the name. But now that this is my main journal, I wish I'd chosen something else. But I don't want to change it because when other people have changed their journal names I felt as though I didn't really recognize them anymore.

The header in my LJ is just one of the generic headers - I don't know how to do my own. I rather liked the raven though. I wanted the colors to be dark and the theme to be very moody and dark as well. There weren't many options to choose from, so this was the closest I could get.

The header says, "Quoth the muse: There may be more... Sometime. When I get around to it. Terribly busy, you know. Stuff to do." Which is basically my muse talking. She is a fickle muse. Some days there is fic, other days, not so much.

My default icon is a photo I found online somewhere at random. I have several different icons that are versions of Ginny. I don't know why - I'm not especially a fan. But I like the windswept look of this one.

[birdsofshore]

Ah, I have wondered if your username referred to the epilogue of doom! I'm glad it does. I agree, it felt awkward or intrusive to ask individual people what their names and pictures were, but asking generally like this, you find out people don't mind and everyone seems interested in the subject, too.

It has made me realise how much time I spend pondering these things. I wonder if I will remember them all, or go back to thinking "I wonder what that quote is from?" :D

[vix-spes.livejournal.com]

Mine's all a tad depressing I'm afraid....

My username is a fairly loose translation of 'without hope' in Latin. I wasn't in a great place when I first started out on LJ and, despite highs and lows, I'm in a much better place now. I have been asked why I haven't changed my username to something a bit happier but I like it and it's part of me now. Plus, it reminds me that one of the reasons I've come so far is because of all of the amazing people that I've met here over the years.

My default icon is a phoenix in flames. When I finally pluck up the courage to actually get a tattoo the first design that I want to get is a phoenix done at the bottom of my back.

My journal title 'La Coeur Noir' means the black heart in French ... I had it on an ear cuff that I used to wear all the time and it's had something to do with my writing online ever since I started about 10 years ago.

My header is just a standard LJ one - I liked the way it looks!!

[birdsofshore]

Aw, I think a phoenix rising from the ashes of 'no hope' really works. Keep it if you like it - it can be good to remember how far you have come. Perhaps one day you'll feel like a change and you can switch to the Latin for 'full of hope'!