Dare to be different and learn to be lonely

Hello! This was my sort of comment-to-be-added-sticky-post for 2014.
It is now being saved as a list of the books I read this past year.
You can find my new reading-list on top of my LJ in 2015:)
( What I read in 2014 )

Happy Reading! ~ J.

What I read in 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008
My old archive of alphabetized book reviews / Readingcommunity thej2bee

Hello! This was my sort of comment-to-be-added-sticky-post for 2013.
It is now being saved as a list of the books I read this past year.
You can find my new reading-list on top of my LJ in 2014:)
( What I read in 2013 )

Happy Reading! ~ J.

What I read in 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008
My archive of alphabetized book reviews / Recent reviews in readingcommunity thej2bee

Today I finally managed to delete my Facebook account. I felt very lost and uncomfortable there, mainly because I never figured out how to keep up with everyone or check a timeline properly. I could mention the privacy issue* and the annoying habit of FB-buttons popping up everywhere, but to be fair it was mostly my personal lack of control over the lay-out that made me avoid the place. Besides that I had so much trouble following people and I never really connected to anyone, except occasionally with people I already communicate with on other social networks. Even then it felt like more fleeting contact than really talking. One reason I stayed longer than I really wanted was that it's the one place my SIL regularly posts photos of my nephew, so I now have an excuse to visit more in real life;)

I still have plenty of online hang outs, although I am considering cutting down, here's a list of all the places you can find me. (I'm BeeLikeJ everywhere:)

( Love me, love me, say that you love me )

Pfff, I think that's all of them. Feel free to follow me anywhere. I have the same policy for friending back everywhere: I like to keep my dashboard/friendlist/circle/whatever managable, so I don't just collect people to get a high score. Most importantly: these places are my comfort zones, which means I avoid blogs and journals that make me feel awkward. This includes, but is not limited to: an overload of cutesy petpictures or 'revealing' photos of celebs I care not enough or too much about and stuff I have personal issues with, such as a couple of mundane human trades that I'm not even mentioning here for fear of losing my calm.
What I'm trying to explain is that my (lack of) response isn't necessarily a reflection of our actual relationship status or my opinion of you *g*

How many digital hang-outs do you have?

*Obviously I don't mind sharing my personal life :-p

P.S. Thank you, sillie82 for the dragon!

So. The Threesome Handbook. Y'all know why I bought that, don't you? Whatever you think: it honestly wasn't because of the subject. I would have bought Vicki Vantoch's book whatever it was about (with the exception maybe of gardening or golf;) because she happens to be a person that I'm interested in by proxy. *grins*

From my previous posts on the book, both written while I was reading it (about three way marriage in the Netherlands and using astrology to find a partner), you may have gotten the impression that I was disappointed. I am not!
The Threesome Handbook is an interesting and informative book, written in a fun style with loads of personal accounts of the good, the bad and the ugly sides of threesome relationships. I learned a lot. I was surprised there were more combinations of three people than I thought and it was a joy to be educated on the subject.
I can't even handle a relationship with one person, so I'm fascinated by people who are willing to open themselves up to others, and exponentially so by people who are able to share.

It's just that I was thrown off immediately in the introduction by the casual mentioning of a three way marriage in the Netherlands. Based on being Dutch, I knew that couldn't be true (and not because I hadn't heard of it;). It annoys me a lot when authors or editors offer that kind of argument and then fail to provide a source. I tried to let it go and read on, only to find another more specific mention on page 120:
( picture of page behind the cut )

Any Dutch person could tell you right away there is something wrong with this information. The names are obviously misspelled. And if one can't even get those right, what is the worth of the actual statement? Not satisfied with the lack of a source, I decided to do some research on my own, if only to check if I was right about marriage in the Netherlands always being between two people.

Now before I give you my findings, let me once again assure you that the book is awesome. This three-way-marriage issue is the ONLY verifiable news-item on the subject of threesomes mentioned in the book. The rest of the book is based on Vantoch's research amongst American threesomes and contains a lot of useful tips from several personal accounts. The only other actual-fact that's used for comparison is the 50% divorce rate for traditional marriages in the U.S., which I feel no need to dismiss, as I suspect that's pretty accurate.

I would also like to make clear that I don't attack out of spite. Even though my hopes were smashed after inititally being told that bisexual single women are the most desirable amongst threesomes. Apparently being a loner puts me on the list of 'people to avoid in three-ways' and my starsign is the only one that scores a measly 1 out of 4 on the threesome meter. Fuck. It's a good thing Capricorns don't believe in astrology.

( So here is the truth about marriage and civil unions in the Netherlands )

¹When judging my tone; be aware I'm a green, left-wing, feminist, bisexual and celebate woman. (If you need additional, possibly relevant information, ask! :-)

The Threesome Handbook by Vicki Vantoch is available at The Bookdepository

Oh hello flist,
this was my comment-to-be-added-sticky-post. Now all that's left of it is the list of books I read in 2009:) Enjoy. A list for 2010 will be up soon!

Happy reading! - J.

( What I read in 2009 )
What I read in 2008
Alphabetized Reviews!

Oh yes, this is it: MY 1000th LIVEJOURNAL POST! Wahey!
I was going to do a very emotional speech about how I was always a loner and how this journal taught me how to make friends. How there were even a couple of you brave enough to meet me in person and how you all turned my world upside down. How I had to redefine the meaning of the word friend. And how I'm a much better person thanks to you all and this journal.

But let's not get sentimental. You know I'm not that kind of woman *wipes tears from her eyes*.

Instead I'm going back to the guys who are really to blame for me creating a livejournal. It all started when I found this awesome community about CSI's Nick and Greg, where I learned I wasn't crazy for seeing subtext and enjoying slashy thoughts. After some lurking I decided to join the fun and I became an active fangirl. And the rest is history.

To celebrate my LJ-anniversary I made the mother of all picspams. It's filled with 78 screencaps from the latest CSI episode (That's Season 10, episode 1 SPOILER ALERT!) but if you're hoping for a coherent analysis of the casefiles, you haven't been paying attention. This is Nick/Greg focused and very much not about what most people saw on the screen *grins* But it's totally what happened:)
( Thank you guys, for the past, the present and the future )
:-D

*whispers* I just totally misinterpreted a personal message and am now a little jumpy. Meep. Stoopid brain. *hides*