Atmospheric

Apropos of nothing: I saw the coolest thing this morning, and I don't even know how to describe it, but I've never seen anything like it. My bus route is probably one of the most beautiful bus routes you could take -- it winds around the little peninsula known as West Seattle, and goes all around Alki beach and then follows Beach Drive towards the Fauntleroy ferry terminal, then back up and around. In the morning, when the tide's out, there are great blue herons feeding in the shallows, and if it's clear, the Olympics are out and towering over the Puget Sound islands of Vashon and Bainbridge and Maury. Sometimes we even get to see sea lions, and there's nothing like having a bald eagle come in for a landing on a walkway railing, right by your bus window.

But this morning was so odd. There was a layer of fog right over the water surrounding only the lower half of Vashon Island. Then in the middle of this layer, there was this... spill, I guess, of fog in a narrow trail coming off the island. It was like a reverse capital T shape, or like a trail of shaving foam spilling out onto the water. A tunnel of fog. I've never seen anything like it, especially since it was all low to the water or ground. I've frequently seen a layer of fog coating the sound, but this was like something out of a novel, this marching line of fog moving down to spread out across the water (although nothing sinister about it, it was really quite pretty).

As much as I hate my job, I love being able to take the bus and getting these incredible mental pictures all the time. Sunsets in fall and spring, around commute time, are breathtaking.

More legitimate stuff later, I hope.

Buffy and me

I've mostly tried to stay the hell away from all the backbiting and infighting in my fandoms lately. If I could make icons, I'd make one of the Buffy gang screaming when they open the door in Tabula Rasa with the caption, "my fandom needs a chill pill." But it got me thinking about why I'd started this LJ in the first place, about how, when I was feeling somewhat down about BtVS, writing about it in essay form and reviewing eps helped me focus on the good stuff, and kind of turned it around. I've always found analysis and discussion to be good ways to see other points of view, and to rethink things, especially if I act initially purely on emotion. But listening to all the character hate, it was hard sometimes. So I didn't write about Buffy herself for a long time, because it was too incendiary, it seemed. These are just my thoughts about how much I identify with her, and why. There's nothing personal about specific other fans, but if you're the type to see personal attacks in non-personal discussions, I'd probably say, run away! It's not flammable, but protective clothing, I've always found, is advisable when dealing with personal opinion.

( Buffy and me, and why I identify with her still )