Snowflake Challenge #1

[ravensilversea]

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

I also have yet to do a proper introduction post here, so guess I'm doing that now LOL

I'm Raven! Right now, I'm staring at 2026 and wondering how it's been a decade since stumbling into my main fandom, Katekyou Hitman Reborn. I'm predominately a fic writer, but I enjoy trying my hand at various styles of fanworks. Some of which I really love, like fanvidding, and some of which I happily leave to the experts, like Ao3 skin coding <- codes their own website on Neocities but Ao3 workskins break their brain.

My main social media of choice is Tumblr, but one of my goals for this year is to be more active on Pillowfort and give Dreamwidth a proper try. I was too young for LiveJournal, so I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing XD But I like reading, writing, coding, video gaming, own 3 cats, and circle through a long list of fandoms. Those fandoms include, but are not limited to: Katekyou Hitman Reborn, Honkai: Star Rail, Genshin Impact, Star Wars, Star Trek, Vampires SMP, Leverage, XCOM, and Lord of the Rings.

I've been doing the Snowflake Challenge over on Pillowfort for years and find it a nice way to start off the new year! I like reading everyone's posts, reflecting on my own answers, and getting the chance to make new connections. Like always, I'm hoping it helps me get into a posting habit. I'm still very much a lurker at heart, but I'm trying to be more active in general. And the only way to do that is by posting! :D

Comments

[unholyghost]

I hope you enjoy your time on dreamwidth! as a fellow lurker who also missed out on the LJ era, here's to being more active 🍻

I totally get the ao3 skin thing alkdkff vanilla CSS makes sense to me but something about ao3 skins stalls my brain. also I'd love to watch any KHR vids you've made :Dc I used to be into it a long time ago and have been meaning to jump back in!

[ravensilversea]

Here's to being more active! 🍻

I feel like the Ao3 skins would be easier for me personally if they had a cheatsheet of all their HTML div names, but c'est la vie. There's plenty of people doing god's work out there and sharing the fruits of their labor o7

I'd love to watch any KHR vids you've made

Absolutely! Sending you to the Ao3 embeds - I have two vids for your viewing pleasure: This Means War for the Varia Arc and The Horse and the Infant for the Cradle Affair/Timoteo and Xanxus' relationship. Anyway, you should definitely get back into KHR imo. It's the 20th anniversary, and supposedly there's some kind of new animation project in the works 👀 (not confirmed; if we don't look at the leaks directly, they may actually happen instead of getting scared and running away again lol).

[unholyghost]

oh that's so true, I think ao3 needs a cheat sheet for a lot of its features because I'm still learning about features that have been around for ages lol but yeah c'est la vie

also thank you!! these were such a fun watch omg This Is War is so hype and made me so nostalgic, it's making me wanna binge watch the anime and ooough The Horse And The Infant makes me so akfjsk no words, just ooough the last shot especially is such a good clip choice!!

and yeah I've heard! it's news of the project that's been slowly getting me back into it, actually. I haven't been looking at any leaks or other news so I'm really excited for whatever it'll turn out to be!

[ravensilversea]

Glad you enjoyed them! They were really fun to make ^-^

Also big same on being excited for whatever the anniversary project ends up being!!

[unholyghost]

lol you know what, I'm gonna read the manga then rewatch the anime because of this

[autumninpluto]

High-five on those who were too young for LJ but are finding their way around DW now! I just started in November, and it's actually been pretty fun to learn. Hope you enjoy this year's challenge and get what you want out of it <3

[ravensilversea]

High-five! It's got a good vibe here. I just blank on what to say a lot of times, so it's also a bit intimidating in that sense 😅 Hope you enjoy the challenge too!

[glitteringstars]

I'm a little scared to know what nonsense is in the AO3 skins.

I'm still pretty knew to DW (had it for almost a year now). I think the best way to interact with this is in the same way as with tumblr: share cool things you find. If you haven't checked it out, there's a whole blog dedicated for those settling in from tumblr: the_great_tumblr_purge

[ravensilversea]

I'm a little scared to know what nonsense is in the AO3 skins.

Not strictly nonsense. I mainly find it hard because I have to inspect the site to figure out what the div names are vs being able to just name them myself. Plus Ao3 has some HTML/CSS limitations as far as I can tell, so tutorials on how to do XYZ may not actually work because they're not geared specifically towards working on Ao3. I'm sure there's skin tutorials out there, but it'd require more digging than I was doing at the time LOL

Thanks for the community rec! I did stumble across that, and the resources there are one of the reasons I decided to give Dreamwidth a proper shot ^-^

[potentiality_26]

Good luck with the challenge and I hope you enjoy your time on Dreamwidth!

[ravensilversea]

Thank you! Good luck with the challenge as well!

[mywitch]

I'm always pleased to meet another cat lover! Good luck (to both of us) that we stick to this challenge!

[ravensilversea]

Cats are awesome, and I love mine dearly (I just wish they would commit a few less crimes sometimes XD). Good luck to you and your challenge goals as well!

[fairyniamh]

Good luck. It's always difficult trying a new blog place. Don't be afraid to ask someone if you need help or direction.

[ravensilversea]

I'll definitely keep that in mind ^-^ Thank you, and good luck to you as well!

[mossy_bench]

I'm still very much a lurker at heart, but I'm trying to be more active in general.

I relate to this very much! I only came back to Dreamwidth in the second half of 2025, but it's been very rewarding so far. I hope you have a good time here. :)

(I've subscribed to your journal, as I'm always looking for more fannish chatter on my reading page, but don't feel obligated to subscribe back!)

[ravensilversea]

Hope you have a good time too! I'm personally finding it kind of cozy here :D

(That's what's fun about the Snowflake Challenge to me tbh. It's a great way to find new people to subscribe to and chat with)