It's my birthday

At 5:05 local time this morning, I turned 43. (Yes, I know the time-of-birth; I have a copy of my birth certificate, which, as it turned out, I did not need to renew my driver's license). Although if you factor in leap years, wouldn't that mean I turned 43 what, nine days ago? (Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anyone really care?)

***

The "Flapjack" I referred to was not American flapjack but British - which is a different thing. It's somewhat like a cross between a granola bar and an oatmeal cookie. A version of the recipe I use is here (converted to U.S. measurements, that's about a stick of butter, 3/8 cup of brown sugar, 3 T of Golden Syrup, and 2 to 2 1/2 cups oats. I also like to add a bit of vanilla and maybe a cup of toasted slivered almonds).

***

The birthday gifts I received was a big tea sampler, plus several boxes of small tea cookies (from parents) and a copy of the Best of Knitscene book (from a blogreader, and again, thank you). I also got a bunch of cards, mostly from people at church.

The Knitscene book is really good - it has several patterns in it I either am knitting (the Oscilliscope shawl) or am planning on knitting (Equinox raglan - and I couldn't find my copy of Knitscene that had that pattern in it, so the book came at an opportune time). One nice thing is they've "reimagined" several of the patterns in different yarns....for example, they have a new edition of the famous Central Park Hoodie in a fuchsia color and that makes me want to make a second one (my first one is a soft grey) in some kind of brilliant color, either an electric blue or a very bright green. 

***

My allergies are really horrible right now. I thought maybe I was coming down with a cold, but I've had no fever, and also, antihistamines seem to improve the symptoms. (And also guafenesin - this is the stuff that's sold as Mucinex as well as under some generic labels. I can't take "real" decongestants; my one experience with Sudafed - taking one dose in high school when I had a bad cold - convinced me that not only did I never want to take decongestants again, but that I would never take any kind of "upper" in my life. (I remember thinking after going three days without sleep, "People take illegal drugs because they WANT to feel like this?!?!")

***

More fallout on the Derpy Hooves stuff. Apparently they redubbed her voice and eliminated the name from the episode it was in. Meh. I can't be upset about this though a lot of the fanbase is. I like the new voice better - it actually sounds like a girl's voice - and watching the redone bit of the episode, it seems more to me now that (a) the destruction to Town Hall partly existed before Derpy's intervention (maybe it got munched by Parasprites and they just never fixed it?), seeing as Applejack had apparently ALREADY decided to donate the prize money and (b) it could be interpreted as Derpy just messing around and being a little inattentive, rather than being so clueless as to be destructive.

I would have a problem if they decided to totally excise the character.(They are, apparently, un-derping her eyes, at least in this episode...though I suspect they'll leave them in the other ones; a person could write that off as "she's photobombing - breaking the fourth wall like Pinkie Pie does and making a funny expression to get attention"

I SUSPECT what happened - and this is entirely a UWAG (unscientific wild-(expurgated) guess) - that some moms somewhere got upset over the Derpy name ("Why, that's an INSULT!") and the portrayal, interpreting it as "They're making fun of people with Down Syndrome/autism/developmental delays/whatever." And having seen a few aggrieved Alpha Moms in my time...well, the only thing you really can do is placate them. (Never mind that there are a few opinions out there from people with strabismus - or people with developmental challenges - who say they like the character.)

I'll be sad if Derpy is absent from future episodes because of this, though. (Though an animator from the show - at least, it seems pretty certain he's an animator and not some random troll - has said "She'll be fine").

Then again: Derpy got her fame long before she was even a regular background pony. Her fame, her name, all of the various backstories - those all came from the fanbase. Hasbro and the animation company decided to do a bit of fan-service* and show her in more detail in one episode and it kind of blew up in their faces - there were some of the "bronies" who were upset, apparently there were others who were upset, there were letter writing campaigns and online petitions** and such, and so they dialed her back...and now people are upset again. (No good deed goes unpunished). I just hope they don't decide she's more trouble than she's worth and pull a "My people need me, it is time for me to return to my planet" with her. Because that would make me sad.

Even if they rename her: she'll still be Derpy*** to us. And as long as there are cute fanart pictures of Derpy, she'll still live on in our hearts. (Urgh. I just made myself a little ill saying that.)

(*Yes, I know what that generally means in Japanese anime and it squicks me out a bit to use the term here, but I can't think of a better one).

(**and I tend to think online petitions are not worth much more than the electrons they are printed on)

(*** IS "Derp" or "Derpy" an insult, these days? I've seen conflicting opinions. I guess it started with South Park (in which case, it probably WAS an insult), but now I mostly associate it with people making silly faces in photographs, either to be funny, or if they're in the middle of doing something like dunking a basketball and they're not thinking about where all their features are at the moment, and so they wind up looking silly in a picture)

I don't know. As I said before, this is where the fanbase kind of loses me. Aren't there enough difficulties in life without fighting over something like this?

March 1 is supposed to be "Derpy Day," in which you eat muffins, send a letter to someone (because of Derpy's fanbase role as the mail-pony), and make a Derp face in the mirror. Oh, and I guess you wear grey. I wonder if people will still celebrate it...

(I...actually can't make a Derp face. I can't even cross my eyes. I have weak eye muscles and I've found I can no longer even cross my eyes for more than a second or two. It's weird...I also get something kind of like  nystagmus if I have to read something too close up. I suppose that may be related to my being on the very cusp of needing bifocals)