Doozy of a day... =_= Web volunteer work? :O

I was going to spend tonight working on Rosalia's sheet, but once again, I was thwarted. :/ Deadlines and weariness aside, friends > RP and I really wanted to be there to talk.

I've seen with my own eyes, and lived with my own experience, how much damage depression can do to a person's life -- and sometimes, the lives of others, too. I understand all too well the self-destructive urge, but I have the wisdom of many years of self-analysis and a husband who just never quit when it comes to making me face the *truth* of my condition. I honestly consider myself lucky that I've had these years to think about myself and what's really wrong with me. Many people with my condition never get that far -- they only continue to blame themselves, and believe that everything that goes wrong in their life is their just desserts.

It's not a happy life to continue that way for the entirety of your youth. I just... wish I could make it better, somehow. I get so angry because I believe it's the way society looks down on depression as some sort of "excuse" for weakness / laziness / etc. This point of view is damaging to depressed people, and only reinforces the extreme guilt they may feel about their faults or existence.

Wish I could just make the world less ignorant. =_= Even so, though, that wouldn't necessarily change the situation I'm thinking about now. Maybe help it along towards a better conclusion, though.

Anyway, I did at least get some exercise done today -- two days in a row, woo! -- and I read the entirety of Kalli's Fullmetal Alchemist fic. :D Which... I don't think has a title? Does it? Well, anyway, it was quite the enjoyable read (not to mention eeee~ *fans herself* sexy at parts!), and I sent off some notes to her about it, too.

While Kalli was helping to put me in a better mood, she also sent me the link for the Organization for Transformative Works, "transformative works" being basically a legalese kind of term for fanworks. It's a non-profit organization that stands for the freedom of expression for fanfic authors and fanartists. I had a bit of a chat with Kalli about the rights of fancreators vs. the rights of the original creators -- mostly, I think that fanartists, fanfic writers, etc. ought to write whatever they please, so long as they're not making profit off of it or passing off the work as completely their own (and not based on an original novel/anime/movie/etc.)

I rather dislike when fans have the "I could do it better than them!" attitude concerning the way the original creator(s) write their plots / characters, but I don't know I'd sue for it. It'd just make me irate. :P Like it or not, the characters and plot belong to the person or people writing the canon, so how can one say they know the creations better than their own creators? Just sounds arrogant, and that ticks me off a bit.

Anyway, I was reading through the OTW site and realized "hey -- they want volunteers!" It just so happens they are coming up with this large scale archiving project specifically for the archiving of fanworks, which gives the fancreators maximum control over what and how they display it. It's supposed to serve as a two fold purpose -- one, to provide a single site where people can archive their fanworks (without necessarily replacing their own sites), and two, to provide a convenient place in which fans of both similar and disparate fandoms can convene. Basically, it's kinda like what i wanted to do with the Obsessed Fangirls ML, but on a muuuuch larger scale.

And, well, the people at OTW are creating a whole new open source content management system in order to make this archive work. They need both coders and mods for this ambitious project. It just so happens that I am familiar with creating and maintaining websites and online communities. Soooo... I volunteered. I just sent OTW an email saying I wanted to contribute to their project. :D

I don't know if they'll need me or want my help, but I thought it worth a shot. Even if it's volunteer work, they are still a legitimate organization, and whatever I work on with them could very well be considered resume-worthy. It's both exciting and possibly career-helping... what do I have to lose?

Except time, apparently ^^; I've been giving myself SO many things to do, and now I'm wearing out. I hope I can still get the sheet for Nekira done tomorrow. Poor Rosalia, I've neglected her SO long. I'd like to at least get her artifact done, her Abyssal sheet done (already did her pre-Exaltation version), and the few writeups that need finishing. :/