Stuff Wot I Neglected

So Lola pointed out yesterday that I had goofed REAL BAD in neglecting certain Viking Icons, and when I went to find what I'd been missing, MAN OH MAN! THANK YOU LOLA! You're my HERO!

In case there was anyone similarly lacking in education, I present for you:

Erik the Viking Vamp

This is no SPARKLY Vampire! THIS, is a NAKED Vampire!!! A HOT Naked Vampire. None of that rated G monster for the Tart. Lola, Dahlink, I hereby grant you lifetime membership on the executive board of the Naked World Domination Tour!

How is it even POSSIBLE I have missed this man morsel? In my defense, that whole bad writing, ending out of left field thing did serious damage to a genre that doesn't deserve it. I mean seriously... Dracula is pretty good (great, if you consider its 1900 decade peers), I loved Interview with a Vampire (though confess to being a less sophisticated reader 20 years ago--I may have even liked Twilight back then). I enjoyed The Historian. All those though, deal with the monstrosity of Vampirism, even if the Anne Rice version was sympathetic (I guess I expect the narrator to be sympathetic, so it makes sense). I even have a rather classy Vampire (Dracula himself) featured in one of my fan fictions (The Best Laid Plans) that ends up in Romania (because of course that is where Rowena Ravenclaw's WAND should have been (it was my theorized Ravenclaw horcrux... Y'all know I spent YEARS trying to predict Deathly Hallows, right?) Victor Krum even gets BITTEN by a Vampire—it's a fun tale! *cough*

But anyway, again, THANK YOU LOLA for introducing me to Erik, my newly preferred vampire...

Welcome Newbies!

On my Flag counter, I had 3 new countries yesterday! Malaysia, The Czech Republic and Iceland! I also, embarrassingly, had a new Swedish visitor (embarrassing because I poked a little fun at them). I just love watching the Naked World Domination Tour take off! Though I have to wonder a little bit when one of my new visitors is looking for spankings in the bathtub *snort *



And the FINALE: Old Friends... well not OLD, but LONG-TIME

I told you guys all about WAITING for Marie on Saturday, but I DIDN'T tell you about our visit!

I don't know how many of you share this experience, but I suspect, given the dominance of writers among my readers, that it isn't uncommon... you have a more peripheral friend... one you get along with, but don't KNOW particularly well... you find each other on line (two people who LIKE to interact in WRITING) and you find out you enjoy each other more and have more common ground than you ever realized, because in the REAL world, you just run in different circles.

This is Marie and I. Marie is a year older (not apparent) and the personal trainer between us (much more obvious) but we went to the same GRADE school--we're talking 35+ YEARS—her sister is my age and actually the only person who ever inspired ME to act competitive (I am rather mellow unless provoked)--Marie and I seem to share this...

We both took Spanish, and so went to Europe on the same school trip, circa 1980... okay, it was IN 1980...--she encouraged me to 'go for' a boy who was very cute but much older and therefore intimidating to inexperienced me. She was always bubbly, outgoing and popular... I was NICE (nobody really DISliked me), but didn't really find my social footing until college. I never offended, but neither was I the center of attention (that is only my writer persona)--but Marie is the real deal.

When I was first tempted into the social media, after more than a year sticking exclusively to a Harry Potter site... that's right, only the one... (HPANA, I love you-and Cheeser, if I sell a book, you can expect a check!)... I was convinced to give MySpace a try. I had my 14 HPANA friends... and Marie. She was the first person from my high school I found who I knew well enough to say—hey yeah—this would be a fun connection to make... There were more, eventually, though at MySpace I think I only EVER had 50 friends before I switched over to Facebook. But in that early era of social networking, Marie and I had a chance to reconnect before 'the party started to fill up' so to speak. I LOVE each new friend I connect with, but I feel like MOSTLY it is 'catching up' where those first early ones allowed a 'get to know' time before things got noisy—ifyouknowwhatImean...

So I was thrilled and flattered when I shouted out that I was going to Baltimore for my conference, that Marie said she would drive up from Virginia to meet me for dinner.

And you know what I noticed?

That it's TRUE that all this online communication grows a friendship--I KNEW this among 'never met friends', but it works for these 'growing friendships' too. That it is EASY to talk to somebody you've been 'talking to' because you know what to expect. I also noticed that we had a LOT of differences in our perceptions 'back then'. Part of it was probably Marie being older and popular—we had shared events that I remembered HER and she didn't remember ME. But part of it was just our very different interactions with different people, or the TIME when history happened... for instance, my class in the elementary was the LAST for the most popular 5th and the most popular 6th grade teachers... Marie didn't KNOW because she was at the Junior High before that. (I have a THEORY about my class with its 8 Valedictorians—4 of whom I went to grade school with—of 5 grade schools—but that is a DIFFERENT kind of story).  And me... being the 'good girl' (I hear you snorting, don't think I don't) had different expectations from teachers, than poor Marie, who is drawn like Jessica Rabbit.


Mostly, it is just REALLY fun to reconnect. I'd like to say even way back when that Marie saw the potential of the Inner Tart—encouraging the wildness that makes life more interesting at a time when others were painting me 'nice'. Though it's possible she just took on the 'corrupting young minds' mission well before I did.  So Marie—THANK YOU! It was fabulous!