sqbr | Rambly 4am post

Heroine misunderstands hero and is feisty but wrongheaded, then finds out what is really going on and is justifiably pissed, and goes off to make her fortune before coming back the more powerful partner."

Heh! :)

And it's so true as a description of that book! :)

(I was confused for a half-moment, because I thought at first glance that you were describing Pride and Prejudice [am reading pre-first-coffee-of-the-day],
and went "Wait, what?")

(Now of course I want to read the alternate-universe version of Pride and Prejudice with that plot. *grin*)

That would be pretty interesting. (No plot bunnies, you :))

I love the bit where Jane sits in her room, deciding to leave. And then does. That hinge-point just... wow. I love Jane so, so much.

And then the thing with being told that she HAS to marry what's-his-face? And saying bollocks-to-that? I love Jane. If she's going to put up with shit, she's going to put up with the shit SHE decided to put up with. Not that someone else decided that she "needed" to put up with.

(Why don't I have a Jane icon? Why, why, why?)

/seconds all this like whoa.

Also wait, did you mean Thornfield Manor burning down? I mean, I'm probably burn Rosings down on the account of Lady Catherine annoying the hell out of me but whatever.

In Jane Eyre it's Thornfield Hall.

But in my Mary/Anne fanfic, were I to completely steal the plot, it would be Rosings :D

Have you seen the most recent BBC adaptation? Not perfect, but I felt it captured Jane's emotional journey really well.

See, I was terribly aggrieved by Jane Eyre, because I found it annoying that she could only take Rochester really when he was all crippled and dependent. I maintain my conviction that Rochester should have got an annulment from the crazy woman in the attic on the grounds of BITCH CRAZY and it would have been better had he and Jane established their final detente on grounds of equality.

My English teacher called me a "hard woman".

Charlotte Bronte did not do things by halves, while I love the book a lot of it is a bit overblown.

That said, given the power men had in that society and his naturally domineering nature I don't know that they're that unequal. And it averages out with Every Other Regency Novel Ever, which is what I think she was reacting against. Equality is nice but I think there's room in the world for more romances where the woman has more of the power.

I used to get colds about once a month. You'd expect my immune system to be more susceptible to virii when I'm chronically ill but apparently not. *wonders if this has anything to do with cutting out dairy, since that gives me cold like symptoms*

I've experienced the same thing.

I think this is partly just a matter of age - people get fewer colds as they get older. And maybe partly because being ill I spend less time in contact with other people, especially in crowded places, and thus have less opportunity to catch things.

Personally I don't reckon I have any connection between any food and how I feel. When I am too tired I can't digest food properly and can get various symptoms as a result, but as far as I can tell this is with any food and it doesn't happen when I am OK, so fortunately I haven't had to cut out any part of my diet. I just concentrate on having a generally broad and healthy diet. I'm just tossing this out as a word of caution, because when I first got ill I used to try to eat when too tired, then inevitably couldn't digest it properly and had all sorts of weird symptoms and used to start to think 'Oh my god, I have an intolerance of X'. And of course this is most likely to happen with your favourite comfort foods since those are the ones you reach for when feeling bad. So I'd say don't dismiss any type of food unless you also can't eat it when feeling well.

One thing that does help with colds is taking zinc supplements. I've staved off/reduced the impact of a few that way. This actually has proper medical evidence for its effectiveness, so its not just 'health shop witchcraft'.

Oh no I DEFINITELY have a problem with dairy. Have had my whole life, if I was to eat some cream or cheese right now I wouldn't like to think what would happen. All that's changed is that, on my doctors advice, I've cut it out completely rather than having teeny bits here and there. And on the whole I do feel less congested and gross than I used to (cfs aside)

I've started back at work recently which has meant more contact with disease vectors (ie workmates :D)

bardiegrub once told me that she found that her immune system over-functioned and burnt off colds etc very quickly.

I do seem to suffer from them less than I did when I was "healthy". I actually noticed that before I noticed the fatigue, back when it was a lot more minor. The problem is that while the virus may be dispatched quickly I get these prolonged physiological reactions like shortness of breath :/

Heh, can I be terribly tactless and ask what have you been reading? (I will not be fended if it casually is something I liked/recced/read/wrote, &c.)

You know, I didn't say this before passing the forum links, but if thestories bother you, you have to keep very very much away from the fandom itself. It sometimes takes a lot of patience to survive without bursting a blood vessel.

Heh, it was something you recced (A Most Convenient Mishap) which set me off on my rant, but this was in part because the author was obviously trying not to take away all of Elizabeths agency and this stood in contrast to the others (who have blurred into a homogeneous mess) She was described as "saucy" though :)

You know, I didn't say this before passing the forum links, but if thestories bother you, you have to keep very very much away from the fandom itself. It sometimes takes a lot of patience to survive without bursting a blood vessel.

Heh, yeah, what I've seen of P&P fandom has not made me inclined to jump in too enthusiastically (apart from your good self of course :)) Though "It sometimes takes a lot of patience to survive without bursting a blood vessel" describes most fandoms pretty well, if not the internet in general! I think the main reason I haven't gotten into the forums is that I just don't like the forum mode of communication, I've been too spoiled by lj.

(Also: I HAVE WRITTEN THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE LAST PAGE! Sure there's a lot of pages in between to go, but it makes me happy nonetheless :))

DIT: Also I've been reading your recs on crack_van and quite enjoying them.

Curious thing that I learnt recently, is that Rebecca (AMCM's author) was planing to end her WIP (ASIHC) in a non-happy, feminist, manner. Supposedly. She's from before my time in the fandom, but that's the word I got about it. (That WIP is most talked about.) There's one other author that I can recall that purportedly writes feminism into her stories, but it's not a personal favourite for other reasons. (I can point her out to you if you want, but it wouldn't be a rec, as I haven't read past some chapters into her first story.)

And then there's the good authors--IMNSHO--that don't write politically, but if you've explored my delicious in any way you probably know them already.

I would say, given that I read in other fandoms and follow metafandom, that this fandom is even more special that way, but I'm probably biased by the fact that I've a stake in this one, so the matters infuriate me more.

(First draft of the last page! *does the happy dance* Also, you made me remember. *does the sorry dance* I'm dreadfully late with all my beta work, and I will get down to it soon. I'm just all over the place in general. Sorry! )

Thanks! Hope you like the last two. :D

It's cool, life gets in the way, I've hardly been holding my nose to the grindstone with my various commitments. The only reason I've been writing so much this week is that I had a cold and Nothing Else To Do :)

That's interesting about the alternative ending.

*ponders with a bleary cold addled brain*

User

alias_sqbr referenced to your post from Pamela, or virtue rewarded (http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/216625.html) saying: [...] Following on from my earlier post (http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/215019.html) I was skimming through Pamela since I want to make a reference to it in my fic and Oh My God. This section for examplewould make for a great if disturbing characterisation of a creepy would-be rapist ... [...]