THANK YOU FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY GIFTS! AND IF I HAVEN'T ALREADY THANKED YOU - I CAN BLAME LIVEJOURNAL

[red_satin_doll]

Firstly: Thank you everyone who sent me the wonderful birthday wishes last week in the form of messages or as gifts in your journal. It really meant a lot to me, and made turning 46 a lot more fun than I'd anticipated. It was a lovely, low-key day: my sweetie took me out to the new Thai restaurant in the area we'd recently heard about; and she bought me a tin of one of my favorite teas from Harney and Sons, "Bankok" (green tea with lemongrass, ginger, vanilla and coconut flavors.) A cup of that before bed is now my nightly ritual.

If you posted birthday wishes or a gift on your journal and I have not thanked you yet, it means one thing: LJ is SCREWING UP notifications and I don't know about it. (I've gotten a grand total of one notification in the last 30 days.) I thought it was just me until I just happened to see that velvetwhip posted a complaint about it on her LJ, just happened to find a lovely birthday message and graphic that she posted for me; and then just happened to see comlodge make a remark about having trouble posting a gift banner (which is utterly gorgeous) she'd made for me, and I'm thinking, "What? What is this gift we speak of?" Then today I just happened to see kikimay's birthday graphic for me with a cap of Buffy receiving her umbrella in The Prom which gives me so many feelings, as well as several other times she name-checked me, and that's not counting the times other folks like eilowyn or kwritten have name-checked me, etc.

Folks, I'm all for "happenstance" and "serendipity" - but not on a social networking site. Not when people are making me gifts and wishing me happy birthday, or giving me free PR by referencing my posts. I want to know about this stuff because to NOT stop by and say "THANK YOU" is just plain damn rude, IMO. That said, I know that children are starving in Africa - starving all over the world in fact - and I'm sitting her whining like a priviledged American white gal. (Which I happen to be, but nevermind.)

If kerkevik_2014 hadn't PM'd me about a completely charming and sexy Tara/Faith drabble he wrote for me, I never would have known about it. Sweet, sexy, taking-command Tara is pure catnip to me - and being the gentle guide for a suddenly-shy and insecure Faith? OH YES PLEASE.  It's easy to forget that Tara possessed a core of strength and confidence even if we rarely saw it before S6. Remember, she is the one who pursued Willow - NOT the other way around. I was a just-out lesbian in the '90's, just before the show came on tv and I know how much courage that would have taken at that time (and probably still does.)

SO - if you've mentioned me or have made a prezzie for me, or just something you think I might like to see, please don't be shy about PM'ing me until this notification nonsense gets straightened out.

SECONDLY: comlodge told me that the aforementioned Buffy tribute banner she made for my birthday was inspired by my recent "happy birthday Buffy" post and that in itself is the best present. If I can make someone else see Buffy and her world through my eyes even a little, not by shouting or arguing or arm-twisting, but simply by loving her and sharing what she means to me, then that makes me incredibly happy. comlodge's banner reflects what so much of what I love about Buffy - the girl, the woman, the warrior; daughter, sister, friend and lover. Her's is an incredible journey.

Speaking of incredible journeys: kwritten posted an insanely gorgeous Buffy, Anya, Willow, Dawn/Faith fic, "Oh, You're Here Too?" set immediately post-Chosen. Anya offers Buffy friendship and solace after the battle. Not AU. She wrote it for a prompt from kikimay but it reflects so much about how I see Buffy in that immediate period about 1000X better than I could hope to. It's a short story but it takes the reader on a complete journey that feels novelistic, in a series of short scenes: from Buffy's trauma and dissociation, the fatigue and inability to process everything after the battle in the Hellmouth, to a place that feels "warm, (un)finished, (in)complete" as Buffy contemplates the "the unknown future" before her, in the company of beloved friends and family.

Comments

[kerkevik-2014.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked :-)

Don't forget it's part of a set of three; do read the others.

http://open-on-sunday.livejournal.com/2913192.html

Must get back on the horsey; been letting myself get far too easily distracted by mere RL howwiblenesses lately.

Ray.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

It's just awful when LJ fails so spectacularly - and on your birthday, of all days. Just glad you finally found all your wishes and prezzies and such.


Gabrielle

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

I hope you had a wonderful birthday! btw i'm working on something inspired by you. It will be a gift if you want it… and if it works out.

[comlodge.livejournal.com]

It's a bit sad when the things we come to rely on let us down. Love kwritten's story. Thanks for the rec. Have you seen kikimay's first fan vid - lovely Buffy tribute. She picked a great song for Buffy, I thought and the snip of Angelus and Buffy just broke my heart.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you found all your prezzies, sweetie!

Thanks for sharing links!

*squish*

[zodiac-sign.livejournal.com]

I'm so out of it lately but did I congratulate you? If not then a happy belated birthday from me :D

[kwritten.livejournal.com]

oh my gosh thank you so much for the lovely rec *blushes*

Sorry about the notifications - but it sounds like your bday was splendid.

idk about anything you may have missed - but I finally wrote my Spike+Dawn meta and also a new Dawn fic series (which should be finished soon) which is really, really dark and ofc - LESBIANS. so. you know. :)

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had a good birthday :)

[debris4spike]

I am so sorry - your Birthday was one of those that got lost in the overall chaos that seems to have swamped me.

It sounds like you were spoilt ... but that's no excuse for me.

Hope you did have a happy birthday ... the start of a special year.

*hugs*

[ruuger]

Happy birthday, if belatedly (I haven't been online much the last few weeks and I'm trying to catch up). Your posts are always a pleasure to read, even though I'm not very good at remembering to comment, and I'm very glad that you decided to join LJ and Buffy fandom :) *hugs*

(As for the notifications not working, have you tried searching for your username? That might uncover more mentions that you've missed)

[http://users.livejournal.com/mazal_/]

So so late to the party but wishing you the happiest all the same!

And, yes, Tara was a wonderful character ... and probably the single best (as in nearly totally saintly) character on the show.

[lanoyee.livejournal.com]

Oh my goood, I missed your birthday! I'm sorry, but -- SUPER BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY! /THROWS CONFETTI