Two things

[emmagrant01]

First, a little RL vent: BG and I followed DH on a business trip this weekend to a lovely warm place to stay at a resort hotel. A colleague of DH's who lives in town invited herself, her husband, and their 5yo son over to the resort to go swimming with us this afternoon. This sounded like fun, of course. Except that it somehow ended up meaning that *I* spent two hours in the pool babysitting their kid while they and DH sat on the side of the pool and drank. TWO HOURS. Their kid was incredibly clingy, and spent most of the time hanging on me on the pool, while his parents (who had come prepared to swim, mind) just sat in lounge chairs and watched, and while I was trying to make sure I kept a hand on my 3yo, who can swim, but not well enough to be on his own for long in 4 feet of water. For Two. Hours.

Seriously, what kind of parent pawns their child off on someone else like that? I actually felt sorry for their son, who desperately wanted to play with us, and there was no way I was going to make my son get out of the pool and go back to the room when he had been so excited about swimming. So yeah, NOT COOL. DH owes me for this one, big time.

Second, I know almost nothing about Merlin. I haven't watched it, I haven't read any fic, and barely know who the characters are. So when I looked at this gorgeous NSFW porny Merlin art by jad, a new-to-me artist whose work I adore, guess what fandom and pairing *I* was thinking of? I'll give you three guesses, but you won't need them.

I think I'm starting to see the appeal... ;-)

Comments

[ella-bane.livejournal.com]

Ugh, how gross. :(( I'm bummed you had to deal with that.

Um. Merlin OWNS me. Totally.

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

That sucks. *hugs*
That poor kid. :(

That art, though, is lovely. And yes, I can see the appeal as well, even though I know nothing about Merlin either. *g*

[mijeli.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear you had to deal with this.. and sorry for the kid. What kind of parents, indeed.


Heh.. with Merlin, my story went a little differently: a friend linked me to an episode, urging me to watch it. After I'd watched a few episodes, I could definitely see the slashy appeal ;) but sadly, I didn't like the show itself (in terms of dramaturgy and fleshing out of characters). In that spirit, I'm positive fandom has more to offer than the program itself :D

Left his heart at St Andrews

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Merlin is adorable, but the ABSOLUTE BEST Merlin/Arthur fic is an AU set today at St Andrews university, written by Pandarus & available at her Dreamwidth journal. RUN not walk.

[trague.livejournal.com]

Merlin is worth getting into - the show is ROFL ridiculous and pretty mush slashes itself.

[smoonyc.livejournal.com]

COME TO MERLIN FANDOM! COME COME! ;D If my plea could not convince you - maybe this interview I did for Geek Syndicate might!

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

I am never surprised anymore by parents who will pawn their kid off at the drop of a hat. Totally unbitchily, I promise, but I'm curious, though, as to why you didn't just return the kid to his parents after 30 minutes or so? Were you concerned because they had been drinking? Or was it one of those things that just kind of got out of hand unintentionally? I know it's kind of awkward when it's a colleague or friend or whatever. I'm not casting blame. I well remember the days where people acted like I was an automatic babysitter just because I happened to be sitting with my kids on a blanket at the park -- and they often would be total strangers! I actually got to the point where I learned to say "I'm sorry, I'm just really not comfortable with that" when people would ask if I would "just watch their kid for a second" while they did God knows what. I was SO paranoid of stranger danger that I couldn't imagine asking someone I didn't know to watch my kids, even for a minute! Sorry, got off on a tangent there. . .

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

Some people are too self-absorbed to have children.

[leela-cat.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why or how parents can do that. It boggles the mind.

As for Merlin, it totally doesn't speak to me. I tried to watch the first episode and couldn't get through it. If it speaks to you, though, enjoy it.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

I have endured many a moment when parents just opt out of being parents because they smell a responsible adult. A pox on them!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Clearly! ;-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting how much pairing-type crossover there seems to be between fandoms. For example, a lot of the people I knew in the Star Wars fandom went from shipping Qui/Obi to shipping Snape/Harry in HP, and people I knew in Buffy who went from Buffy/Spike (or Buffy/Faith) to Harry/Draco. So many H/D people I know now ship Arthur/Merlin, so I keep thinking there must be something interesting there. ;-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

In that spirit, I'm positive fandom has more to offer than the program itself :D

That so often true!

Re: Left his heart at St Andrews

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Sure, after I finish writing all the H/D fics I've got going... ;-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I was pretty much asking myself that after the first half hour. I kept looking over at them and thinking, "Seriously? Are they just going to sit there while I swim with their kid, whom I've never met before today, while I clearly need to be paying a lot of attention to my own?" And they were obviously thinking, "Sucker! Bwahaha!"

I'm not very good at saying no to people in situations like that, honestly. In that case I was particularly reluctant because it was clear that if I put them on the spot, their son wouldn't have gotten to swim, and he seemed really desperate to have some adult attention. If they were people we saw on a regular basis, I think it would have been different, but they're not, and there didn't seem to be a reason to cause any tension between DH and his colleague.

But DH definitely got an earful later!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

True!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I don't have time to figure out if it speaks to me any time soon! It's all I can do to be in one fandom at the moment. ;-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I also tend to be the mom who's really a big kid and enjoys being in the middle of the game and pretending to be a racecar or Swiper the Fox or whatever, and not all parents are into that, I know.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

The last thing I need right now is another fandom. I barely have time for the one I'm in! :-P

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Is there a highlight I should watch, or is it the whole thing?

[kerryblaze.livejournal.com]

Ugh. So rude

Merlin and Arthur are very very pretty<\a>
<333333

[themadfish.livejournal.com]

Ugh, some people. Sorry you had to deal with that. Poor kid.

Also, Merlin! It's a great show, in that sorta ridiculous and silly way. It really is a silly show, which is why I love it, and why others may not. It's also extremely slashy. Personality wise, I don't think Merlin/Arthur is very much like Harry/Draco though. Merlin is a bit like Harry, but Draco and Arthur are not at all alike. There's also less rivalry between the two, rather just a lot of banter. There are a ton of great Merlin fics out there, but I haven't been keeping with the fandom or the show in awhile. Being reminded of it makes me want to rewatch the first season and get started on the rest. The nice thing is if you do want to watch it, the seasons aren't very long. Only about 12 episodes each I think?

[smoonyc.livejournal.com]

If there's only one part to watch, my favorite is from the "Describe the Series in one sentence" question at 0:50 - Colin & Bradley are too funny!

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

I can understand feeling uncomfortable saying no. Especially when it would be the little boy who would suffer for it. I would have wanted to make sure the little guy got to swim as well.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

At least the little fellow now knows there are good parents in the world. And is probably wishing he had one ...

Merlin is good fun, but the fandom looks too addictive. I've dipped my toe in a few times and always decided I had enough unfinished over in my own pool!

[winstonmom.livejournal.com]

I hear you about the parents forgetting about their kids. I finally came up with something to say that has worked so far (pool, park,etc) I will tell the kids that I can't help them jump,swim,catch..etc, because I don't want to be responsible if they get hurt. Then I encourage them to grab their parents and ask them to help him. It puts the parents on the spot and I wash my hands of their kids. I had one child by choice, can't be taking care of other kids when their own parents aren't doing it.

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

If you are at all interested in catching up with Merlin, it's a BBC program. I'm sure it's available on Netflix for the first two seasons. It's also available on CastTV, but would not be free anymore. The 3rd season is now being played on the SYFY network and I think it just started a couple weeks ago. So you could probably catch the first two shows on the syfy website. Just sayin', in case you want to see what all the fuss is about. I enjoy it.

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

I love Arthur's looks. I think he's gorgeous! (And those lips! Guh!) I've never thought Colin was much to look at, kinda duffy, at times. However, he has grown into himself a lot the last couple of years. He's maturing nicely. I have to say, though, when the guy relaxes and smiles...his whole face lights up. He could light up a room with those dimples and smile. I'm liking his looks more and more.

[nimielle.livejournal.com]

That's just wrong. D: Those parents behaved like they want to IKEA and you were the one minding the Småland, substitute water for blueberry coloured balls and you've got the same thing. Just incredibly rude! D:

OMG! That's SUCH a hot piece of art! RAWR! I can totally tell! *lol* 't was my first thought as well. :D

[denitta.livejournal.com]

I've never seen an episode of Merlin, but I enjoy reading some of the fic. I just stay away from what seems episode-related, because I have no context.

[dark0feenix.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you were abandoned to look after the kids alone but I'm glad the little boy got the chance to swim and play with you guys.

[giggling-marlin.livejournal.com]

Merrrrrlin

is so much fun! :)

[stormwynd.livejournal.com]

You can count me as one of those H/D people who are now into Merlin/Arthur....

[stormwynd.livejournal.com]

S1 and S2 are also available on Hulu, if you're like me and are too impatient for Netflix. :-)

[stormwynd.livejournal.com]

Emma, Merlin fandom is clearly calling you!

[sugareey.livejournal.com]

Gah. That's not cool. It really is ridiculous that some parents don't claim enough responsibility for their own kids. BOO. I mean, really!

Also. Epicness of teh art! HOT. And with Merlin, OMG. I love this fandom. Perhaps it might be much to get into another one, but you can still appreciate them, yes? They're pretttyyy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypO0gUzbXqY&feature=related

[acromantular.livejournal.com]

Awful excuses for parents. At least you don't have to deal with them again, and this was probably the highlight of their little one's year.