Fic Talk > General Discussion

Just a general pop in thread

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RokofAges75:
I never caught a stomach bug from any of the BSB cruises I went on.  Nick Plague, maybe, but that manifests as more of a cold than stomach issues.  At the risk of giving TMI, I did have diarrhea for several days after returning from Mexico, which I'm sure was from the buffets, since I didn't drink the water down there.  The buffets there were kind of gross; we watched birds swoop in and steal food right from the buffet.  Between that and having food sitting out in 85-degree heat, I'm sure they were full of germs.  I don't remember the food from the cruise buffets being very good, but the dinners we had inside the actual restaurants/dining rooms were much better!  I would stick to places where you can sit down and order something as much as you can.

Do you have an accessible cabin?  You are definitely not the first person with mobility issues to go on a cruise, so hopefully it will be fairly easy for you to get around.  I follow a couple of YouTubers who are full-time wheelchair-users, and they have gone on cruises and seemed to have a great time... but you never know what goes on behind the scenes that doesn't get filmed.  Have you looked at reviews or anything online as far as accessibility goes for this cruise line/ship?  You'll have to let us know how it goes.  I'm excited for you and hopeful that everything will be fine, but I totally get the anxiety of trying something new and not knowing what to expect.  I tend to overthink everything and imagine the worst-case scenarios, but it almost always turns out way better and easier than that.

mare:
People always make things sound easier than they actually are. How annoying! I'm glad you finally got it to work though. I can't even imagine what a pain in the ass putting everything in manually must have been. I hate doing even the simple HTML to put my chapters up on AO3, let alone the complex stuff you had to do! Hopefully it'll all be worth it and you'll stay where you are for a very long time! At least until your 35th anniversary!

Sometimes I think he just forgot about AC totally, but like you said, I'm also sure he's paying so I think he understands how many people have their stuff archived on there. I'm not sure if he'll ever feel inclined to make it more than an archived site though. It seems like a lot of work to get it up and functioning again only to have a very few people posting. By now, everyone has moved on or even stopped totally. It would be nice if this place did function as a mini AO3 though. Some fandoms but not the crazy amount on that site. If I knew how to do stuff like that and had the means and totally felt I would be able to devote my time into it, it would be something I'd take interest in, but that's the thing. I'm not sure I am that motivated anymore.

As far as the Boys. I think up until this latest season, many of the people that watched the show that are the same people he is mocking, haven't quite realized it. There is NO way to not get it now though and from some interviews I've seen, some of those people are mad.

How ballsy of those people to start a fanfic podcast! I love talking about fanfic and writing etc... but there would be no way I'd ever consider that! Although, it does seem that fanfic doesn't have the cringe worthy reputation it used to have. I guess thanks to 50 shades of Grey and some others, it's become more mainstreamed. I still won't be telling anyone I write it, who doesn't already know.

Sorry to hear you got sick after your Mexico trip. Yeah, those buffets man. I have such mixed feelings about them. On the one hand I LOVE them! But so many people, so many germs. Those other restaurants all cost money. The cheapest is Johnny Rockets. Most of the other restaurants are at least $50 and up per person. We are definitely going to be dining in some of those and the main dining hall, but there's no way to avoid many trips to the buffet. Especially for a 9 day cruise.

I have done a lot of research on that ship to the point, I think I'll be able to navigate it from day one. I know people do use scooters on there, just not sure how easy it'll be to drive one into a dining room or a restaurant etc.. I'll probably have to park it and depend on my walker. I haven't seen a single video of handicap people on a cruise, but I've also been looking specifically for my boat because it does change from ship to ship. Liberty of the Seas is one of the older ships on the Carnival line, so it doesn't have a lot of the amenities that the larger and newer ships have. I also tend to overthink and catastrophize everything before it happens. I wouldn't be me if I didn't do that! LOL

RokofAges75:
I probably made it sound worse than it really was when I said I had to put everything in manually. I didn't have to do much HTML coding other than editing one file to reflect the new server information. It was more going into the settings for the Wordpress theme I had customized (my layout) and manually changing each one (images, colors, fonts, sizes, etc.) back to how I wanted it because none of that transferred.  But today I transferred all the little subdomain sites I have for my collaborated stories (Code Blue, 00Carter, Song for the Undead), and the theme settings for those seemed to transfer over fine!  So that saved me some time, but I don't know why those worked and the main site didn't.  Oh well.  Making progress!

Yes, I agree, it probably would be more work than it's worth to get AC functional again.  Most people have moved on.  I do miss having our own little version of AO3 for BSB fics and the other fandoms people here write.  That's just another reason why it's important to me to keep my site going, so I have somewhere else besides AO3 to post my stories as a backup.  Hopefully Ash will give us some warning when/if he inevitably decides to let the domain expire.  I think I saved copies of all the stories I wanted to save and my reviews a few years ago when we thought the site was going down for good.  That's all I really care about.

I believe AO3's code is open source, meaning anyone could rightfully use it to create their own similar archive, but that still requires paying for a place to put it and having enough skills to be able to run it and troubleshoot when something goes wrong.  I wouldn't know what I was doing with that kind of a site either.  But, like you said, I'm sure anyone could learn with enough motivation.  That's how I learned how to make my site, first on Microsoft Word LOL and then on Wordpress.  I taught myself through trial and error and a lot of googling LOL.

Yes, this season of The Boys makes it very obvious who they're mocking LOL.  I'm on Episode 2, where they go to the Truth Con.  Spot on portrayal of the right-wing conspiracy theorists!

LOL I would never record my voice talking about fanfic on a podcast either.  These two go by their AO3 usernames and never say their real names, which helps to make them more anonymous, but I would still be afraid someone would recognize my voice.  You're right, though, fanfic does seem to be more mainstream these days.  I don't think it's as taboo with Gen Z as it seemed for older generations.  I'm with you, though; I will still never tell anyone in real life that I write it, unless they already know.

That sucks that the restaurants on the cruise cost extra money.  Now that you say that, though, I don't remember eating at any real restaurants on the BSB cruises; it was either the dining room for dinner or the buffets.  The dining room food was good, though, so definitely do that when you can.  I can't speak to specifics because it's been so long and I didn't have accessibility in mind when I went, but all of the BSB cruises were through Carnival, and I know there were people in wheelchairs and probably scooters on them.  We were never on Liberty of the Seas, but I think Imagination, the ship we were on for at least 2 out of the 3 I went on, was also one of the older ships, so it probably had similar features.

Here is a disabled cruising video from two of my fav YouTubers, Cole and Charisma: https://youtu.be/fWLnqFkPZFs?si=csfEroE_5W0nInPj  I'm not sure what cruise line this was, so I'm not sure if it will be helpful at all or not.  If you search their channel for the word "cruise," they have another video where they did a Disney cruise.

Hopefully all goes well, but at least you'll have your sister around to help if it doesn't.  The staff on these cruise ships are usually friendly and helpful, too.  I'm sure they will try to accommodate you however they can and make sure you have a great time!

mare:
Oh, that's much better than having to HTML everything. Still a major pain in the butt though!

I do miss our little community as well. It was a special time back in the early 2000's when we had AC this MB as well as LD to chat about all thing's fanfic and fandom. It makes me wonder if every other fandom had the same thing, or if we were kind of just special. I'd like to think it was just us. I do hope Ash will give us a warning before the site officially goes away. I saved all the stories I cared about on AO3 but I didn't save reviews. I still haven't gone on there to see if i can access them the way you told me about yet.

Episode two had me cracking up! That's when I could see the lightbulbs going off on some of the knuckleheads. The conspiracy theorist was great! I don't know if you got to episode three yet with the whole cult in the basement of the pizza shop. LOL

Thank you for that link. Even if it's not the same ship, at least maybe I'll pick up some tips. I plan on possibly making a video about the accessibility on my cruise. I know I say that now, but we'll see.

Yeah, there's a list of places that are free, like the buffets and a pizza shop and the main dining hall but everything else you have to pay. It's a flat rate and I think you can order as much as you want, but drinks aren't included unless you have a package, which we will probably be getting. At least the soft drink one. We're not sure if we're going to do the one that is a little more expensive but includes coffee because I can't live without at least one cup of coffee every morning. I am thankful I'll have my sister with me. I think sadly, I've moved passed being able to do things like travel independently anymore. I haven't driven in over a year, but I still haven't had the emotional strength to get rid of my car. I'm sure that'll change when I need the money, but for now I'm still paying monthly insurance and registration etc... just in case I miraculously will be able to drive again someday.  :crazy:

RokofAges75:
Good news!  I changed the settings on my domain to point to the new server last night, and that went fine and actually worked much faster than the 24-48 hours they said it could take.  So the site is officially up and running on its new server, and so far so good!  I'm gonna update and post a new chapter in a little bit.

I miss that time period, too!  I guess it was inevitable that people would move on as we got older and discovered other interests and other social media platforms, but forums like this just lend themselves better to the kind of discussions we had/have better than social media.

Reviews are definitely still accessible if you log in to AC.  I'm glad I saved mine.  I lost years worth of feedback emails from my early days writing when I let my old Hotmail and Yahoo email addresses go inactive, and I regret that.  It's not like I would go back and read them often, but it's nice to have the option when I get nostalgic and revisit old stories.

I'm on Episode 3 now and just got to that part where the guy bursts in demanding to see where they're keeping the kids LOL.  I haven't finished it yet, though.

You should make a video if you feel comfortable doing it!  I'm sure it would be helpful to others who have the same questions and uncertainties you do.

I can't remember if I bought the beverage package on any of the cruises or not, but it seems like a good idea for the coffee and soda, especially if you're not going to drink a lot of alcohol.  It would get boring drinking just water or juice otherwise.

Totally understandable that it would be hard for you to let go of your car and the idea of driving again.  I'm far from an expert on MS, but can't it go into remission, where the symptoms get better?  I would probably hang on to the hope of that happening, too.  In the meantime, have you looked into hand controls or anything like that?  I'm not sure what that costs and how much practice it takes to relearn to drive that way, but it may be an option.

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