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

[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!