in which banui is somewhat embarrassingly materialistic

[ontology]

So, first off: ALKDHGHG PRINCE CASPIAN TRAILER AJHFHGH. Hark their spiffing school uniforms! (What can I say?; I love (British) school uniforms. This is, however, most likely because I've never had to wear one.) And all of the, you know, AWESOME. Er. Don't expect me to be able to be coherent just yet. (EEEE!) Or, you know, actually be capable of speech.

Second off: well, everyone else is doing it, so, um. This is my Christmas wishlist. I feel a bit narcissistic about putting it up at all, but, you know, some of you lot like to get me Christmas presents, and I suppose direction would be nicer than arbitrary stabbing. Also because I have difficulty resisting memes.

step one--
Make a post (public, friends locked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione (WHAT?) Remus/Tonks icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ so that the holiday joy will spread.

step two--
Now surf around your friends list (or friends friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part: If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call. There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

 

* * *

completely ridiculous things which i have no hope whatsoever of getting --

• A great lovely shiny laptop with loads upon loads of memory and a DVD ROM drive.
• A professional art-quality digital camera that will actually make me look like a Serious Photographer when it is slung round my neck, rather than an Arbitrary Snapshot-er.
• Handmade historical costumes. *nods*
• Ink-andwatercolour illustrations for the Emily of New Moon trilogy. Yeah, I know. (Particularly ones of Dean Priest being angsty with books, or Dean and Emily wandering through the woods, or something.)
• The Evenstar. Only $99 from the Noble Collection!
  

things that are actually within vague means of possibility --

• Firefly. And Serenity. So that I may display them geekily on my bookshelf and MEMORISE THEIR CONTENTS and LOVE THEM FOREVER. Also that I may analyse them further for my bizarre (f)anthropological dissertationy things. (Which haven't anything to do with Simon's waistcoats SHUT UP.)
• Knee-high lace-up combat boots. (In size nine. With a bit of extra allowance for thighs.) I have been looking for a suitable pair for three years now, and alas.
•  Things to go on my walls. (Prints of) paintings, photographs, movie or band posters, watercolour paintings of Remus Lupin reading Four Quartets...
  
• Seals and sealing wax. The sealing wax must be richest crimson, because there really isn't any other colour for sealing wax, is there? (Mum, if you're reading this, you know there are nice ones at the Peaceable Kingdom, and they would make excellent stocking stuffers, wouldn't they?)
•  Hats of all shapes and sizes. Because I do love them so. (Except for baseball caps. I loathe them.) I desperately want one of those crocheted caps, sort of like this one, except a bit more delicate, and crimson, preferably --  not pink, anyway. I have also been rather longing for a vintage leather aviator's cap, with goggles, but I suppose that's rather beyond the realm of practical expectations.
•  Interesting jewellery: particularly with a Victorian, Art Deco, bohemian, steampunk, fantasy, or Oriental sort of vibe. Also there is a bracelet at Claire's which is leather buckles and it is all kinds of shiny. WANT.
•  T-shirts wot have geekery on them, especially fandom geekery and punctuation marks. (A heart and a semi-colon? Oh yes.) Over the Rhine and Vienna Teng have gorgeous band t-shirts, but band t-shirts are always so fantastically expensive, especially if they are somewhat under-the-radar artists whose shirts don't end up at retail stores.
• Interesting a) stickers and b) patches and pins which I can a) stick onto my guitar cases, and b) sew or iron or pin onto my satchel. Fandom geekery and punctuation would be welcome here, too; yes indeed. I can never seem to find any hereabouts, alas.
•  I'm stealing this one from builtofsorrow, because, yes. "Anything from anyone I love that's handwritten or drawn or made or just has something to do with anything that would make me think of you (like things from the place you live (or wish you lived), shared fandoms, shared loves, what-have-you). Basically, anything that will make me think of you fondly." I love when lady_moriel  sends me her college's yearly writing-and-art publication, and when trolliepop sent me a mixtape and a Jane Austen quote on pretty paper, and when bonny_kathryn sent me a book she'd jotted down notes in (I love reading people's notes in books, whether or not I actually know the person) (and, er, I never actually did reply to that, but it was lovely and splendid of you, and I loved the doodles and quotes on the wrapping!). I just feel very loved when people give me little, inexpensive gifts that mean things. I suppose my bedroom has sort of become a minor shrine to friends, what withlexiedoh's Ten action figure; Kyra's Moony and ornaments (remember those? I hung them on the curtain rods) and candle-holder and -- well, we've known each other for years; midenianscholar's photographs and drawings -- all of the lovely things that you lot have bought for me over the years and reside in various places around my room (quite a lot on the bookshelf!) that make me feel warm and surrounded and loved.
•  Books, music, films, and, er, shoes. As demonstrated on my Amazon wishlist, which is most likely missing quite a lot of books because I can never think of the ones I want until I happen to see them somewhere. And mostly the books on there are ones that my parents would actually buy. Well, ones illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman which aren't St George and the Dragon or Winter Poems; those'd be nice. And, well. I just love getting books -- new books, old books, books I've read but don't own, much niftier copies of books I own, and books I've never read yet so long as I trust the taste of the person giving to me (new books are kind of like new people: viz. SCARY, but also intriguing). And there really aren't very many films on there, actually, not because I don't want them, but because I don't especially expect to get them. Oh, and don't bother with Patty Griffin's Children Running Through, because I plan to get it for my father for Christmas. We have a tradition of buying music for each other that we both want.

internet-transmutable things --

• Mixtapes! I've got mixes from several of you, and I love that each of them has a particular musical flavour that makes me think of the person who made it. Also, music = win.
• Icons! I like minimalistic icons with unusual perspectives and text only if it's strictly necessary. I would love someone with a better handle on their graphics programme to make icons for The Illusionist, because it's just so gorgeous, but also very dark, which I'm not much good at fixing. And icons with books in, and fantasy icons, and icons of attractive and unusual inanimate objects, and also baked goods. And Sirius/Sarah-Jane icons. *nods wickedly*
  
• Well, I do always love a good fic, even if it's just a wee one. By now you really ought to know what I like. :D (Though have I mentioned my fascination with Grey Lady/Bloody Baron? Also Remus-and-Tonks-are-not-dead fic. *nods* And crossovers make me happy. As do T.S. Eliot references.)
• A timey-wimey device that goes ding when there's stuff.

Well, that's that, then.  

Comments

[builtofsorrow.livejournal.com]

I felt the same way, really, but didn't feel that the people I snagged it from were so, so, you know. But I rather wanted to have some sort of disclaimer like PLEASE TO NOT ACTUALLY BE SPENDING MONEY ON ME BECAUSE I WILL FEEL BADLY EVEN IF I AM SPENDING MONEY ON YOU. AND STUFF. But there were lists involved, and I could not resist.

I will be pondering now. Mwaha. Also, your Christmas card, which is not really very Christmas-y at all, but vastly wonderful, if I do say so myself, should be on its way either tomorrow or the next day. -spins about-

And my Mum used to have sealing wax; it was splendid!

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

Yay, I adore post. I mean, any kind of post especially owl post. It's just lovely to find something in the, well, the mail basket (we've got a slot in the door, and my mother put a basket underneath it to catch the post when it comes) for me. Silly, but fun.

♥

[airys1.livejournal.com]

What a lovely idea...
I love your list, it's so *interesting*.
(My amazon list is huge as well...but I keep it mostly for my own information... :)

[windandtherain.livejournal.com]

I have The Crane Wife CD that I could burn and mail you, or upload to the web and email you, if you'd like! :-)

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

Ooh, really? You are too marvellous. If it isn't too much trouble, I'd love if you'd mail it, just because I love getting things in the mail so much. (I don't suppose you could scan/get a copy of the liner art? I was browsing through it at Starbucks on my birthday and ooh, shiny neo-Victorian illustrationy things! If not, that's totally okay, though. :))

♥!

[windandtherain.livejournal.com]

Aww, I wish I had the liner art still! I'd totally mail it to you. When I get CDs I usually throw away the cases and just copy them into iTunes. :( I'm sorry!

What is your mailing address? I have the CD all ready for you!

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

'S okay, I'll see if I can find a scan somewhere. The music's what's important. :D

I've got a friends-only post with my address here (http://faeriemaiden.livejournal.com/109919.html). Thank you so much! ♥

[midenianscholar.livejournal.com]

*hums and kicks innocent rocks inconspicuously*

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

*scowly face*

MY MOTHER HAS BEEN DOING THIS ALL MONTH. IT IS UNNERVING.

The best and worst part of Christmas is the anticipation, you know?

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

*adds to the total innocence, and would in fact be whistling innocently if she, you know, knew how to whistle*

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

WHAT.

I AM BETRAYED ON ALL FRONTS.

(But at least I can whistle!)

[(Anonymous)]

Jolene!!! It's Hannah (xXFortyAcresXx)!! I love your wishlist. It's so spiffy. I want to make you a mixtape so badly for you of a bunch of songs I have lying around on random CDs, but I have no idea how to burn CDs and mp3 things and do stuff like that. agh.

I have a livejournal now. But it's so angst-ridden and personal that I'm scared to show it to the world. Plus, you're the only person I know who actually has LJ, bah. Maybe you could like, introduce me to all your cool writing friends. haha.

and I emailed you, but I don't know if you got it/checked your mail lately. It's embarrassingly long and dumb, but all my in-real-life friends just back stabbed me and threw a huge party and didn't invite me, so I'm going through one of those. FRIENDS WHO DON'T LIVE A THOUSAND MILES AWAY ARE STUPID. Which is true, sadly. Internet friends can't really backstab you, and throw e-parties and not invite you. Well they could, but it's more difficult, haha. so I need support!! :P

Anyway, sorry I fell off the face of the earth. I do that so much. It's tough, you know? I'm not the person I wish I could be. I'd love to be more like you. :) I can't find any good books to read. Everything I read seems really boring or mediocre. I've only read two good books in the last year and a half. :[ to make things worse, Christian radio is not what I thought it was 3 years ago. I'm having a tough time being me, I guess. You're so unique, Jolene. :) Of all the people I know, I respect you the most for that.

I'm trying to figure out what to get everyone for Christmas. :) So if you can, reply back to that email I sent with your address. If my procrastination gets the best of me, I'll at least get a card out to you. :D

I love you, Jolene! I hope everything is going good with you and your family. :)

(PS. OMG!! SQUEE!! STEAMPUNK RULES FOREVER!! *goes off to watch The Prestige again*)

(PPS. OMG!! SQUEE!! WHAT DOES STEAMPUNK JEWELRY LOOK LIKE?! *calms down*)

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

So, hey! Have you got iTunes or Windows Media Player or something? (iTunes and WMP I can do. RealPlayer, I kind of can't remember anymore.) Cos with that, it's pretty easy, burning and things. (Not to be totally desperate for a mix album. But like I said, I love that the mixtapes I've got all have this distinct flavour that remind me of people when I play them.) Although iTunes is much much faster than WMP. Basically you make a playlist (File > New Playlist) and click burn disc in the right-hand corner. But maybe you don't have iTunes. In which case, um. There might be a tutorial on the internet somewhere? I'm trying to open WMP but I never use it so it's sort of slow going.

It's embarrassingly long and dumb, but all my in-real-life friends just back stabbed me and threw a huge party and didn't invite me, so I'm going through one of those.
*hugs* That is pretty much rubbish and if I weren't strictly non-violent (personally, I mean; I'm not a complete pacifist, just terrified of pain and not very good at administering it anyway) I would go and punch them all for you. But that would be weird and wouldn't really solve anything.

Have you read I Capture the Castle? It's pretty much one of my favourite books ever. It's funny and clever and also rather sad, but the ending is bittersweet and hopeful, not depressing. And the writing is just amazing. If I can ever write half as well as Dodie Smith, I shall die happy, let me tell you. Also, how much L.M. Montgomery have you read? I love Anne, but the Emily of New Moon Trilogy is my favourite. I am also rather in love with The Blue Castle just now, which I should totally not love as much as I do because it's a bit sentimental, but it's so good that it makes up for the sentimentality, and it seems real, and not silly. Also the descriptions of the weather and seasons and country make me want to pack up and move to Canada.

I am also in love with Robin McKinley just now. Check out The Blue Sword. It's sort of alternate Victorian British Empire set in somewhere like the Middle East and it is lovely.

OMG!! SQUEE!! WHAT DOES STEAMPUNK JEWELRY LOOK LIKE?!

Well, there are earrings at Claire's that have cogs and gears on, sort of like watch cogs, I think. They're that size, anyway. And anything neo-Victorian or sort of punk-Victorian or having to do with Victorian machinery. I love the crazy elaborate decadent-ness of Victorian art.

[builtofsorrow.livejournal.com]

-eavesdrops-

OMG JO I TOLD YOU BLUE CASTLE WAS LOVELY DIDN'T I TELL YOU AND I HAVE NEVER HAD ANYONE BUT MY SISTERS TO FANGIRL WITH THIS IS SUCH GOOD NEWS. BARNEY IS MINE.

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

I KNOW IT IS MOST MARVELLOUS AND COSY AND WONDERFUL IS IT NOT. ENOUGH TO FORSAKE REASONABLE PUNCTUATION EVEN.

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

Lucy looks so much older, doesn't she? Edmund does too, for that matter; Peter and Susan less so, but then they were older to begin with. But yeah. SQUEE. I admit I didn't see a whole lot in the trailer that I recognized, which concerned me a little, but they did such a good job with the first one, I trust them with this. (What's up with Caspian's accent, though?)

Heh, I actually bought myself some sealing wax and a seal at...oh, what gift shop was it...I don't even remember, a gift shop at one of the many presidential houses we visited on the D.C. trip. And...never opened the packaging. I rarely send letters, so what would I do with it? The only difficulty is that the seal is the letter K, or I'd probably send it to you. Unless you can think of some reason you'd actually want a K seal.

Oh dear, I really need to get working on fic now. >_< At least I'll have some time between getting done with school and leaving...

[take-a-sadsong.livejournal.com]

erm, okay so, this is my Livejournal. >_< for all the world to see. I'm really uneloquent and raw, so, be prepared. XD

love you!
-Hannah

(ps. Could you find me a few really cool icons maybe? And teach me how to explore LJ? I'm new to all this stuff. :))

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

I love your username! "Hey Jude" is one of my favourite Beatles songs ever.

For icons -- well, italian_jewels is one of my favourites. And simplelimit is an excellent place to start, if you like icons of inanimate objects and scenery and photography and art and things. Which is pretty much my favourite.

[un-titled-love.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm...-ponders-

♥

[charismitaine.livejournal.com]

Questions, because Charis has time to look closely at the Christmas Wishlists she memory-ed now:

Re: wall coverings, do random paintings/doodles of a questionable skill level (http://charis.deviantart.com/) count?

Re: picture books, how do you feel about previously loved/ex-library with marks/etc. books?

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

Oooh, but I love your art! In fact I am quite enamoured, looking now, at your Halloween greeting, with the inkiness and the minimalistic colours. And, oooh, the flying one with the speech bubbles is beautiful! I shall have to remember to be on deviantART again so that I may watch you.

I am perfectly fine with loved and marked books so long as they are not illegible or about to crumble like the book in The Time Machine (ARGH! could there be a nightmare worse than that?). Most of my books are severely loved themselves. :D

*perks up ears* ♥