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

[mab.livejournal.com]

Okay... I'm going to jump in late. I love reading all the comments people have left.

My user name comes from the character Queen Mab in Arthurian legend and mentioned in Shakespeare's R&J. I fell in love with Miranda Richardson's portrayal of Mab in the miniseries, Merlin from the 90s and also had a real thing for Mercutio in the 1996 R&J movie (though I really liked Claire Danes in that too)... and the Mercutio monologue where this couplet struck me "And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love"
And so I started using Mab as my goth handle, back in the days I used to frequent clubs and fetish nights, then when I started writing and sharing it online, it just made sense to use it.

My layout is a simple lj one because I have no idea how to muck around with that. I like it because it's simple and has rainbow tabs. My quotes say Mab's Mad Musings which... I think is pretty accurate. I don't post personal stuff often, more because I don't think people really want to read it, than me being secretive. I switch back and forth between being outgoing and extremely introverted. I was misdiagnosed as bipolar for about ten years and during that time the meds they gave me really messed with my head and made things hell... then lo and behold, when I was pregnant with my baby (now 2 and a half) and had to go off them all, my brain righted itself and I feel like ME again. Then they diagnosed me as ADHD and I'm doing a million times better with a wee bit of ritalin.

The other quote: "I may be getting older, but I refuse to grow up" has been a staple to my family since I was born. My grandmother had a paper sign with this quote proudly displayed in her dining room and basically the whole family rose up to meet the challenge. We're all very much kids at heart.

I use my journal to promote my fics when I archive them at Ao3, for HP fanworks recs, and an occasional blip about me or to pimp another community. It's all rather boring.

Congrats on your nomination! I got a notification too, just yesterday. I was nominated for Lucius dark!fic and thought that was rather cool and flattering and very unexpected.

[eidheann_writes]

Oh man, Miranda Richardson was awesome as Mab. That entire miniseries was great- campy, yes, but they did a good job making fae scary and alien and lovely.

I am sad I haven't seen it in forever.

[birdsofshore]

Ah, well done you on the dark!fic nom. It is lovely to think someone has been bothered to make that nomination, isn't it?

I love your 'refuse to grow up' line and it's great to hear where it comes from. Everyone's snippets are so interesting, thank you for answering!