Vane

I read the most recent announcement at dw_news this morning, and was surprised to learn about the possibility that the attacks LJ has been suffering are politically motivated. I hadn't heard of this before.

I went to Twitter, typed "livejournal" on the search box, and in a few minutes I found links to several articles on the subject. I'm going to list four of them below, mostly for my own reference (of course, there's nothing stopping you from clicking on the links if you're curious):

• Russia: DDoS Attack On LiveJournal Has Russians Debating Internet Politics


• Russian bloggers accuse authorities of cyberwar


• LiveJournal under attack


• State Blamed in LiveJournal Attack

I don't know whether these theories are true or not, but for me they do make sense. What doesn't make sense to me is the xenophobia expressed by some self-entitled idiots who say that Russian LJ users should be separated from the others. ¬¬ Yes, Russian LJ-ers are the root of all evil! Let's not mix up with them! Yay segregation! *bitter sarcasm*

If you didn't participate in the bets at hp_worldcup_bets, you don't know what you missed! The mods pale_moonlite and tetleythesecond made sure that everything would run smoothly, and everyone had fun with the polls. I'm going to miss it all badly. T__T

Strangely enough, I won the category "bets on individual matches," as you can see below:



When you live in Brazil, you end up learning a couple of things about football, even if by osmosis. ^^UUU I suppose this is why I got 38 results right. Anyway, I'm surprised, because I was so sure I'd *never* win in that category. @__@

If I had had more trust in my gut instincts, maybe I would have made a few more correct predictions. I recall having made mistakes because I ignored that inner voice that would whisper seemingly unlikely results to me, and chose to vote on the more obvious contenders. A notable case: Brazil x Netherlands. I knew deep inside that Brazil was bound to lose that one (and mum, who has a well-developed sixth sense, had told me so too), and still I insisted in voting for a victory that would never materialise.

In case you're wondering, no, I wasn't a fanatic supporter trying to believe in her country's chances until the end. In fact, I don't even cheer for our men's football team--although I have to admit that some rude comments made by foreigners about my country during this World Cup almost made me change my stance on it.

Anyway, now it is all over, and I'm depressed, like I always am when huge sport events come to an end. These things are like drugs: you get used to the daily injections of excitement and react badly when you find yourself out of doses. I miss these events even when they are ridden with unfairness--which they often are. No, I'm not glad that the new men's football world champion is a team which's got there with a (not so) little help from its friends, the referees. On the other hand, Spain's victory has made my beloved Rafael Nadal happy, and if that most adorable gentleman is happy, I have to be (kind of) happy too. *loyal Rafa fan is loyal*

Then again, I won't deny that with or without Rafa, I was given a strong reason to smile like a silly smiling thing yesterday: Diego Forlán was chosen as the best player of the tournament! My sister and I were afraid that this award, which was so very much his, would be given to a less deserving player. Fortunately, Forlán had his worth recognised and justice has been done at least once in this otherwise disappointing World Cup.

(The 3rd place match should have actually been the final one. Uruguay and Germany were much more deserving contenders.)

I've been meaning to become more active at DW for the longest time, and it seems now I have the perfect excuse for this: three_weeks_for_dw. Gotta love this idea! *__*

Yesterday I subscribed for several DW comms, thanks to the recs I've found via Follow Friday. BTW, I didn't know we had Follow Fridays around here; I was only aware of the Twitter version of the meme.

One thing I was aware of is that lovely DW feature known as Latest Things. Except that I'd never put it to use until yesterday. ^^U I played a bit with the "Random Community" and "Random Journal" tools a few days ago, but believe it or not, I hadn't noticed the "Latest Things" link was so close to those ones. ^^UUU I'd read several comments on the LT feature made by other DW users, but always forgot to look for it. Yesterday my memory finally decided to help me and I was able to locate the link. Now I have one more reason to be in love with DW.

Is anyone out there signing up for ladiesbigbang? I think I am. That was one of the comms I found thanks to the FF meme. I adore the concept and the possibilities, plus I'm a feminist who's always criticising the annoying lack of female-centric creations in most fandoms. I just can't decide what exactly I'm going to do. I'm divided among icons (quite likely), meta (unlikely), recs (likely) and fanfiction (likely, but only if I write in my native language). Well, I still have a few days left for deciding. Besides, you don't even have to sign-up in order to participate; I may take advantage of this fact in case I can't make up my mind on time.

Long time no see, huh? I've been busy ... reading as much Harry Potter related stuff as I can. Yes, HP has become an obsession indeed. It's led me to change my default DW icon: the new one is this lovely Hermione/Neville pic made by thamy.

You'll find more Hermione and Neville icons--plus other cool things--at Fans of Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, a brand new LJ community.

I don't plan to open a mirror here for the moment, because I don't think there would be enough interest. DW still is a small blogging community after all.

I'll be back with more I-love-Harry-Potter entries. You have been warned! :-P

I was right when I said thamy would nag me to update this DW if she opened an account of her own. She's just done that. I'm so proud of my friend's efficiency! XD

Pity I'm too sleepy and don't know what to write now. Maybe I should come back after having some rest. Because if I stay around for long, I'm afraid I'll ... zzzzzzzzzz ...

Although I haven't been updating this DW so often, I'm not inactive here. It's just that I've been using this account to post entries on communities.

Maybe I'd post more here if thamy had a DW too. Mainly because she'd nag me all the time and I'd have no choice but to update. ^^U Alas I have no invites to send her. I wonder how long it'll take me to be given this priviledge? I'm too new here, hence my lack of familiarity with DW's invite system.

So this is my first DW entry.

I'm Vane, a die-hard Saint Seiya fanatic, helpless fanfiction addict and passionate pet lover. I work as a freelance Web content writer; it means I usually have no weekends nor holidays. Not that I'm complaining. ;-)

Blame yifu for my being here.

All right, that's enough for an introductory entry. Now I'm off to explore DW a bit further.