I noted in a previous entry that I would post something to commemorate Thasmin becoming canon.
A day late and a dollar short, but here it is!
categories: television shows; word count: 16 words
Archive of ‘television shows’ category
Self-diagnosis is just as valid as formal diagnosis.
categories: personal, television shows; word count: 446 words
Not too long ago, someone decided to go through my Tweets on Twitter (why do you do this to people you claim not to like? I only read what you have to say because you insist on mercilessly doing it to my friends, screenshotting everything they say that you may not like… I’m surprised no one really turned the tables sooner) and feign offense to me making reference to being autistic. Professionals in the field have repeatedly stressed that self-diagnosis — or in my case, diagnosis by way of Internet and many autistic adults repeatedly telling me that they are sure I am autistic — is valid, because there are many barriers to adult diagnosis and diagnosis in general that might make it so someone never formally pursues a diagnosis. In my case, I feel that I don’t need additional accommodations or supports for being autistic that I can’t already give myself, and I do not reject the opinions of the many autistic adults that I have spoken with over the years that have told me that they see me as being autistic as well. This has been something that has gone on for years, which the person who feigned offense at one particular mention of it on my timeline would have known if they had gone through more of it, but I digress. Growing up, my mother — my primary caregiver because of the sort of work my dad did — was repeatedly told that I was neurodivergent, but among many other things, she refused to permit it to be worked up. Were it not for the fact that she literally neglected me as a child (I was fed and clothed, but not much else), I would have been formally diagnosed.
I find it amusing that when things these people — members of the Supernatural fandom, which is why all of this stays online — take alleged offense at (“she drugs her kids”, referenced in the post that I made about Bub’s medication regimen recommended by the whole of his care team, this) or the fact that I do not dispute what many autistic adults have told me, they stop talking about it. I also find it humorous that they do not appear to be frequent readers of my personal blog (I have a tracker, but it’s not specifically for that purpose), instead choosing to block me on Tumblr and gloat about it… when I only use Tumblr because friends of mine have accounts there. I reblog a few things in the morning, read individual Tumblr accounts of friends of mine who regularly write, but I seldom compose blog posts in there. But this is why fandom stays online for me.
And prednisone is still out here in these streets.
categories: personal, television shows; word count: 438 words
I’ve finished up one of the antibiotics which was for fungal infections and only lasted a few days. Now I have to finish up the other antibiotic, which runs the gamut lasting about as long as these things tend to last, and I have to finish up the low dose of prednisone that both of my doctors want me to end up on (followed by me never touching prednisone again unless it is an imminent, and I mean imminent, matter of life and death… and even then, assuming that I have any choice in the matter by way of having it charted in my medical files, I’m going to want something else first if I can be given something else). There actually seems to be some improvement with the gum and jaw infection that prednisone caused, although I need a lower dose of prednisone to cause the swelling on that side of my mouth to go down and stay down. But for some reason I’ve been having worse migraines since all of this started, even (especially) for me. Par for the course, eh?
At some point I’m going to need to post something up here about “Thasmin going canon” since I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who for quite awhile. It’s actually kind of surprising that I haven’t so far. I got into Doctor Who with the 2012 Christmas special and haven’t looked back. The fandom is also a lot less vitriolic than the Supernatural fandom, and if all fandoms were even remotely like this — I’m aware that most generally are with minimal “fandom drama”, but some of them are not — I might consider going to a convention or two, or at least think about it, but I honestly think that with things the way they are in general right now my best bet is to continue to keep all fandom activities on the Internet (even the good people that I’ve met through them) and not allow them access to my real life. As it is, my real life is markedly different from my “fandom life” anyway to the tune of the fact that I maintain separate social media accounts for fandom-related activities and real ones, excluding Facebook where I run filters on everything so that people I know in real life very infrequently cross paths with those who I know on the Internet, and at that, those who like varying degrees of the favorite things that I do. I may talk about liking Supernatural on my Facebook page, but I scarcely mention anything related to the fandom… or fandoms in general, so no, it’s not “just Supernatural” here.
You literally said the quiet part out loud, y’all.
categories: television shows; word count: 616 words
Only in the part of the Supernatural fandom that ships Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester together (mind, I do have to explain this when I post about it because not all of my readers are fandom-oriented or even know that much about Supernatural… I don’t mind) would being a good parent who monitors their minor children’s Internet usage be a bad thing. This has literally been something that they have complained about on more than one occasion, but especially recently when their behavior made it known that they at least attempt to talk to people’s children online to try and spread the “gospel” of their ship. First of all, I can think of almost no instances where an unrelated adult needs to be talking to a minor online, barring circumstances like that minor’s participation in something like a chat room or a forum that would be modded by…. wait for it, adults. But aside from narrow circumstances like that, I can’t think of any other instances where an unrelated adult needs to be talking to a child online, and the fact that these people want it to be easier to accost people’s children says something about the quality of their “ship” (romantic pairing) within the fandom. (And in the event that I haven’t already mentioned this here, three different people who ship this have made it clear that they would contact my children if given the opportunity to do so. I could have excused one as just plain being a bad person within the fandom, but we’re… uh, we’re working on three.)
My children are fourteen and eleven years old. I do not let the one who can legally use social media have any accounts of his own, particularly ones that would require the use of his legal name. I check my children’s browser histories on their iPad. They are only allowed to use a few apps on it that aren’t games — these are things like YouTube and YouTube Kids… and come to think of it, these are the only two apps that aren’t games that either of them have on their iPads (Monster has one because he’s always been better at taking care of his possessions, and Bub has two because a friend kindly gifted him one in case something happened to his first one). I want to know what my kids are doing online, I do know what they’re doing online, and they do not have a problem with this. Funny how all of that works, isn’t it? They don’t mind at all.
Wincels, as a friend of mine calls them, have also made more of a name for themselves outside of the fandom, which is just… sad. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but people know about the “Sam and Dean shippers”. People in parenting groups that I am a part of know more of what this part of the fandom is capable of, and more and more of them have either decided not to let their children (aged 14-18 since it is a TV-14 show) watch Supernatural, closely monitor their Internet usage to ensure that they are not partaking in any fandom-related activities, or both of those things. They know what “the Sam and Dean shippers” are capable of, and what they do. This is literally a legacy that they are leaving themselves with their behavior. But are us parents who want our children to have safe Internet experiences strict? Are we strict if we curtail our children’s Internet usage because other people on it — sometimes very specific groups of other people — can not be trusted to behave in ethical manners when it comes to children? The answer, of course… is no.