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Entry tags:

vital functions

vital functions

Reading. Finished my first pass through LIFTOFF by Casey Johnston! Will continue to use it as a reference work (tomorrow starts my third and final week of Phase 1 -- bodyweight practice of compound movements -- before I move on to doing things with Actual Weights...). I should probably note for the record that I have edited it as I've gone through to fix a fair few typos.

More She's A Beast archives (just reached February 2023!).

Tiiiiiny bit of a start on my Wicked Problems (Max Gladstone) reread, in a general spirit of wanting to have any idea at all of what's going on in Dead Hand Rule.

Writing. The document! is over! 9000!!! despite the fact that I've deleted a bunch of bits of variation-on-a-theme as I home in on what it is I actually want to say! I have gone "that will do" about my first draft of the introduction (it definitely needs ... more ... tweaking, but I think all the pieces are now there) and have moved on to the introduction to part the first, working title "What is pain?" I'm very close to having that Good Enough For Now, I think, whereupon... a chapter?!

Watching. 2026 Migraine World Summit. So much Migraine World Summit. BUT I managed to catch everything this year, and now I am working on condensing and transcribing my digital notes into my notebook. More to follow, possibly.

Listening. I caught up to where A had got to with Hidden Almanac (which I had theoretically heard all of but in practice was asleep for... some... of)! We had a long drive! We are now most of the way through 2014, I have learned about Pastor Drom's side hustle, and there is a crow named George.

Playing. Bit more Inkulinati? Tiny bit more Inkulinati.

Eating. Mooooore allotment lamb's lettuce. AND a bunch of TREETS from the local FANCY BAKERY, incl. double chocolate brownie (not quite dark and chocolatey enough for my tastes; too dark for A); bread pudding; and a rhubarb and ginger teacake.

This week I am also experimenting with lentil cakes (like rice cakes, but lentil) and Dr Karg's Pumpkin Seed Protein Thins. I find the former perplexing, in that they taste kind of like crispy seaweed snacks while also being completely the wrong shape and texture, and am much more into the latter (even eaten dry!) than I expected. A considers them alarming cardboard; I think I think they are enough like Ryvita, of which I am fond, to be of at least some interest? Might... get more of these. (Could in theory reverse engineer them but that sounds like a lot of effort.)

Exploring. Had another couple of Extremely Satisfactory errand-bimbles discovering People's Front Gardens.

Making & mending. I have FROGGED the experimental continental knitted portion of A's second glove (tension was bad; have decided I want these gloves Done more than I want to do enough continental knitting to get the tension right) and resumed; I have done A Little More Cuff.

Growing. Aubergines finally! belatedly! sown! Oca into the ground. Broad beans finally coming up. More garlic transplanted.

Observing. THE COOTS! HAVE! EGGS!

Entry tags:

drama,
gaming

The Receipts Are Paywalled

There is Drama going around in the indie TTRPG community. Some people accuse a game designer of being a jerk, a cheat (someone who doesn't pay contractors, not someone involved in relationship shenanigans), a liar, and weaponizing their fame to harass other people in the community.

Others say the above comments are nothing but hate-speech aimed at a person of a marginalized identity, and this person has written great works and brings creativity and fresh insights to the community at large.

I'd love to figure out which is true, or if they both have elements of truth.

The details are apparently covered in a Rascal article, possibly some posts at Medium, and of course, in multiple Discords. If I joined the right ones, I might be able to find out who actually said what. (I will not be joining any Discords over this.)

I can confirm:
• Creator in question has written some amazing stuff, not only much-lauded but also unique improvements to the TTRPG-sphere
• People I respect (but do not know personally) are calling aforementioned creator a scoundrel and abuser

( My analysis )

Current Music: Arlo Parks, "Weightless"

Re-reading our texts from the strawberry days

I must have slept ten hours. Hestia appears to be watching the rain with almost as much interest as the birds sheltering from it. May it and the recent snowmelt amend the drought. Tomorrow, of course, it is forecast to snow again.

selkie was safely collected from the Penn Station-alike that South Station has done its best to inhume itself into since her last visit, provided with an appropriate quantity of local barbecue for an obligate carnivore, and even successfully checked in to her hotel despite the mishegos attending every stage of her conference even before it started. At no point in this process did we apparently remember to take any pictures of ourselves.

My dreams seem to be branching out in terms of media, since last night's featured a youngish Alec McCowen starring in the radio version of a Tey-like crime novel as the ambiguously poor relation of an upper-class family who is not actually Kind Hearts and Coronets-ing his way through them, but needs to figure out who is before he's so handily scapegoated for the accidents escalating to murder ever since his arrival; he is, naturally, keeping a secret from the family, the authorities, and even the inattentive reader, but it isn't that. I was very pleased to find that a recording had survived, because the original novel had just been reprinted by the British Library Crime Classics. There were images mixed up in it in the way of dreams, but it was definitely on the Internet Archive.

Outside my head, I have been recently listening to Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn (2020), Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin's symbiont (2024), and Huw Marc Bennett's Heol Las (2026), which I found through its ghost-boxish "Cân Gwasael (Wassail Song)." I like that I do not have to dream their remixes of folk and futurism and time.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Anjimile - Like You Really Mean It

Entry tags:

progress

Done This Week

Hoooboy, all those plates I’ve got spinning sure do wobble a lot…

I don’t know if it’s the executive function issues, the existential despair, or the chronic illness that’s making it so damn hard for me to get everything done all of a sudden. Surprise: it’s probably all three in an elaborate circle jerk! And the harder it is to get things done, the later I stay up, so then sleep deprivation shows up for the party.

Heatwaves in March. What a world to live in.

Saw a grackle at home for the first time in years, though. Exciting developments over here, I’m telling you.

Lewisia: 3 new pieces written

Day job: 43.5 hours

Gardening: weed whacked the whole orchard, extracted the north hose from its deathbed of weeds in preparation for mowing/weed whacking in that area

Reading: reread Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (again: utterly charming, exactly what I needed)

Watching: The X-Files season one, episodes 15 to 17

Listening: You’re Free to Go by Anjimile (new album just dropped, absolutely spectacular, “Waits for Me” took me out at the knees, god I love transmasc musicians), the Frankenstein 2025 soundtrack

Clock Mouse: 82 minutes of planning work

Entry tags:

chinese

catching up on my "immersion" haha

today's bilingualisms

♥ Stella: “不要judge我的化妆技术。”

"Don't judge my makeup skills.

♥ 竹子：“我用筷子 - uh-oh - 我用筷子夹黄瓜，有点难夹住。”（“我hold不住笑。”）

"I'm using chopstics - uh-oh - I'm using chopsticks to pick up cucumber, it's a little hard." ("I can't help laughing.")

♥ Cherry：“。。。加一杯黑咖啡，actually it's 美式咖啡我觉得。”

"...with black coffee, actually it's American coffee I think."

♥ Dawn’s guest：“他们那个音乐一响起来，那个welcome to 西双版纳就是特别吸引人。”

"When their music starts playing, that welcome to Xishuanbanna really draws you in."

Dreamwidth Icons and Images for Newcomers

I really like Dreamwidth and Icons post, there's history, context and advice!

My (hobbit) feet icon gets a lot of use as my feet have been fucked up for 20 years

The guide to images is also incredibly helpful

Entry tags:

five things

1. Someone on here linked to a Trans Rights Readathon, which I probably won't have time to read anything for before April, but the carrd has some book and charity lists.

2. I have been binge-watching YouTube lately (as usual). Some accounts I've watched include FunkyFrogBait, Lost in the Pond, Simon Roper. I also watched the National Theatre's filmed stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring one of the Doctors I haven't seen because I haven't watched Doctor Who regularly since Matt Smith.

3. I've been deleting some unused or lesser-used social media accounts. Currently I'm clearing out my pinterest account because so many newer pins site-wide are maybe-AI and meanwhile the current site design doesn't show posting date so I don't know which pins to suspect and I don't feel the need to help pinterest identify authentic fanart.

4. Books: Still reading Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution. I also started Star Shipped, the latest Cat Sebastian novel. So far it's fine.

5. I see another pro-Hitler young Republic group chat has hit the news.

Entry tags:

2026,
nominations

Fandom5K 2026 Nominations Open

Welcome to Fandom 5K nominations, 2026 and final edition!

Nominations are open over here. They will close on April 1st for cleanup and will re-open during signups. Note that I will probably clear existing nominations when the form re-opens, so if you want to keep track of exactly what you nominated, please save the list for your own purposes.

There are no restrictions on what can be nominated in terms of fandom size, type, and so forth, and we also allow crossovers and original fandoms to be nominated. Please nominate crossover relationships into the Crossover Fandom tag, and original characters and relationships into the Original Work tag.

Fandom5K does not allow Creator's Choice of Fandom.

In terms of how to nominate characters versus relationships, please follow the format below:( Read more... )

Large franchise fandoms continue to get more and more complicated! I'm going to hold off on those approvals for a few days to see if we need to make changes to past year's guidelines. Below is what we did last year. If you plan to nominate in these fandoms, please discuss either keeping as-is or doing something that makes more sense to you in the comments:

Dragon Age - nominate as "Dragon Age (Video Games)" or "Dragon Age: Absolution".
Marvel Cinematic Universe - please only nominate characters who have appeared in the movies into this fandom. Relationships between movie-only and TV-only characters should be nominated as crossovers.
Marvel Netflix series - early series should all be nominated as "Defenders (TV)"; others should be nominated under the
Star Wars - please nominate films in terms of "Star Wars Prequel Trilogy", "Star Wars Original Trilogy", "Star Wars Sequel Trilogy" etc.; nominate TV under separate titles
X-Men films - as "X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)" and "X-Men (Original Timeline Movies)"
Arrowverse - use "DC's Arrowverse" for Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, Black Lightning, Legends of Tomorrow and Superman & Lois, etc.
Marvel and DC Comics - as "Marvel (Comics)" and "DC Comics"

I am not familiar with every fandom or up-to-date on the needs of every franchise, so I will be taking guidance from you as to how your fandoms work in terms of fandom tags, etc. Please watch this space for queries!

Entry tags:

prompt: #486 - coincidence

Miss Marple - An Expert Witness

Title: An Expert Witness
Fandom: Miss Marple
Rating: G

( What a coincidence )

Entry tags:

hush up and deal with my spam

back at my own beautiful bed

I am returned home from the frigid NE (*waves to

petra,

jadelennox,

the_jack,

teland,

jadelennox,

gingicat,

jjhunter*) to MY OWN BED and MY OWN HOUSE. We stopped on the way back from the airport to pick up some sushi for partner Z and some baked goods for both of us (85 Degrees makes the best strawberry danish croissant things, I love them, we won't discuss my passionate feelings about the choco delight buns and the Hokkaido custard buns).

I hope that the next trip out there will be for a less emotionally-fraught reason, but I know Ny is beaming delight at people who loved her getting to know each other better and is so chuffed at being the reason in-person meetups happened.

Entry tags:

starting week 4 of life on hold

( Fun times )

I will say - it was really nice to get some rain this week, late in the season. Also risked an hour-(gasp!)-long drive to go to the Nachsholim area, a little north of Caesarea, on the coast, for a night of basically nothing but chilling in a hotel with a seaside view with

marina, with a stroll down the historic pedestrian mall in Zichron in the afternoon, which felt like being a tourist in some other universe.

Following recs, I've been reading some Heated Rivalry fics, including Apogee by OpalApparition, a 50k space AU which I enjoyed a lot and felt a little like an Andy Weir book but with good UST and sex, and then followed that up with Wolfbird by the same author, a 170k pro-dom!Ilya AU which has taken over my brain and I am now obsessed, destroyed, all of the feels about. It is also a WIP so read at your own risk (but my god, read it).

Movies I have watched this week: Chaplin (1992), Zootopia 2, old home movies.

Words I have written this week: zero. At some point in 2023, before the first war (that one) started, I started writing a KinnPorsche/Discworld crossover, and then later 2023 happened, and I have written zero words since other than yuletide, and I really want to finish it before moving on to other stuff! It has, in fact, the potential to be a very cute story! I just need to... get there. And then I can write at least one of my HR fic ideas, which I would really, really like to happen sometime this year please, fingers crossed.

So here's this thread

In which this teacher earnestly wants a word to substitute for "chink" in Midsummer Night's Dream, and one person suggests kink which doesn't mean the same thing.

And on the one hand, I'm sure they all have their hearts in the right place, but on the other hand, maybe they should collectively teach a different play instead. Shakespeare wrote plenty of comedies, just pick a different one off the shelf.

Entry tags:

resources

Link roundup

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Entry tags:

Enjoying Things

Well, it's been a week. ^^;;

I've been playing Final Fantasy VII for the first time in ages and really enjoying it. I'm playing the Switch version, with most of the 'cheats' enabled, which has basically made it into Story Mode, which is fine. I know eventually I'm going to get to endgame chocobo stuff and no cheats will save my arse... (also chocobo breeding/racing my beloved - Sephi can wait lol)

((seriously, if S-E could just make a chocobo breeding mobile game...))

Went down for the local-enough 30 Minutes Label Day/Contest yesterday and there was a really good turn-out. (Seven contest entries!) Winners were store-level only, compared to like, the worldwide gunpla contest, and the judging seemed to favor creativity over craftsmanship. (Which makes sense for 30ML, tbh.)

The store itself has rearranged with a big section for gunpla/bandai kits at the front, unlike the little corner the last couple times we were there. While we were there, an old guy was wandering around complaining loudly about how few 'real' model kits there were and how terrible color-separated snapfit stuff is. I was very tempted to confront him but his absolutely mortified wife was already trying to get him out of there.

Let~ People~ Enjoy~ Things~

That said, color-separated snapfit stuff is great and lowers the barrier for entry and can lead to a person attempting different types of models requiring different skills! Or they may be happy sticking with color-separated snapfit stuff and that's also great! (And either way, hobby shops stay in business! Double-great!)

Need to finish up my Redacted entry next.

( March Was Deadlines! )

When not working on my Redacted project, I'm trying to get my desk cleared off and get things ready for the next Hobby Market, which is the 4th. Also need to get this month's mail sent out, which is 90% ready. And some very minor car repairs (and maybe schedule some more major)... Got my eye exam scheduled too because my right eye seems impressively fuzzy again. Blrgh.

Entry tags:

activity

Activity #104 - At The Movies

This month, your challenge is straightforward: look at the 20 movie posters under the cut and make icons inspired by them. You can get inspired by the textwork, the composition, the coloring, the crops, whatever catches your eye!

I hope you find them inspiring!

( Inspirational Posters under here )

* Please state in your comment which poster(s) inspired you.

* You can make as many icons as you like (if you need a goal, five is a good number :))
* There is no minimum, 1 icon is enough to enter this activity
* Please submit your icons (and URLs!) to this post, all in one comment (if possible)
* Everyone can participate, you don't have to be a member of this community

* I will collect all the icons from the comments and make a result post
* Everyone can leave comments on the inspiration and activity result posts
* There is no voting

Deadline: Saturday, April 11th, your end-of-day

Entry tags:

activity result

Activity Results for #103 Comic

Everyone really went outside their comfort zone, and the results are amazing!

( 44 comic-look icons by 6 makers )

Plus, littlemissnovella linked a texture set she created before: https://i.imgur.com/Iva9yxM.png

Feel free to comment here or on each maker's threads linked next to their name.

Our next activity will be coming up later today.

Entry tags:

movies:misc

Project Hail Mary movie

We went and saw Project Hail Mary this afternoon. It was terrific. I loved it.

You can read my (positive and spoilery) reactions to the Project Hail Mary book at this post from 2024.

If spoilers matter to you, I recommend very strongly going in as unspoiled as possible, including not watching the trailer.

( Talking about the movie some more, and movie vs book )

(no subject)

omgggggg that was the cough that wouldn't leave, urgh.

Let's see...
- whirlwind week of interviewing 3 candidates was horrible, but we have actually successfully hired 2 of them, and I'm pretty excited!
- then it was a week where Miss R got sick about halfway through the week, which threw everything off-balance. I was coughing a bit and descending into illness, but it was also the weekend of the comics pop-up so I just kind of .... pushed through it.... which is ultimately not great, because this week I really should have just called out from work, but instead I dragged myself into school and taught my classes while hacking my lungs out, yay. (I was masked and made sure to stay 6+ feet distant, and I only had to teach 3 classes, so it's actually not *that* bad. And I stayed in my car in-between classes so that I wouldn't infect anyone.) Wed-Friday was parent teacher conferences on Zoom, which was its own flavor of miserable, but at least I wasn't infecting anyone, and I did get to catch up on some work on Thursday. Friday afternoon (yesterday?!!) was when I finally started feeling better and getting energy back. And Miss R finally felt good enough to go back to school after missing 9 days, so ... yay!
- Just in time for the resumption of Chinese school today, and tomorrow Miss R has a joint minecraft-themed birthday party! Wow she is entering the double digits!!! I printed a bunch of minecraft block textures at work and last night I made some minecraft cubes (crafting table, furnace, cake, and chest).

Spouse is awesome and has made a Creeper piñata :)

So tomorrow is the big party!

Gotta remember to do tomorrow morning:
- make Minecraft cake
- buy candy to fill into Creeper
- maybe buy some chips/salsa? uncertain
- maybe buy some gluesticks and tape?
- disambiguate and put colored cubes in bags?

Gotta remember to bring:
- tape!!!
- boxes, made
- boxes, raw
- scissors and maybe exacto knife. ruler
- markers for folks who want to draw directly on the boxes
- cake!
- creeper!
- bandana for piñata hitting
- picnic blanket or tablecloth
- foods and snaxxx (cheese balls, chips & salsa)

Oh, I finished the Community Center in Stardew Valley on Year 2 Summer day 10, so now.... I've got nothing to do except to wait for Grandpa's approval, I guess. (I'm so disinterested in the late-game stuff lbr)

Entry tags:

"it's just an ordinary day, and it's all your state of mind" (great big sea)

♥ Garden update:

Holding steady with 8* out of 22 dahlias sprouted at the two-week mark. (They're gonna need more space and more light.) 2 of 3 canna boxes are still sleeping; I will probably give in and pot some of the more reckless from the top box tomorrow. (They don't need as much light as dahlias, and I do have extra soil, if not space.)

ETA: 12 hours later there's 9 and I genuinely don't know which one is the new one.

Cleaned up some leaves and old pumpkins from the side and dogwood gardens today, pruned the crabapple and montauk daisies yesterday. Still watching the maybe crocus/scilla sprouts in the rock garden, no further evidence at this time. (Now I am even side-eyeing the chiondoxa: maybe it's daffodils this year! Who knows! Apparently not me.)

( pictures )

♥ Miscellaneous notes:

What America Could Learn From Asia's Robot Revolution, article adapted from Candi K. Cann's book augmented. I found the "conclusion" particularly memorable:

"To me, this is the crux of why Americans have such a hard time accepting robots and other new technologies into our everyday lives, and why our science fiction is filled with stories of humans versus robots. In the United States, robots are viewed as soulless, unlike in Asia, where they are viewed as soul-possible or soul-different. For those who cling to the notion of human exceptionalism, if robots could be viewed as sentient, then perhaps humans are not that special after all. Until we take seriously the ways in which our cultural and religious heritages inspire and impede our attitudes toward technologies, the development of these technologies will remain the realm of only a select few."

Finally, Duolingo has added "B2" levels to its Chinese course as A/B. For once I am on the exciting side of A/B testing, so I got to bump my level from 100 to 130 yesterday. According to last year's Duocon, there are no current plans to add further content after B2, but Duolingo has defined levels up to C2/160.

...What does this mean? idk, but probably owls all the way down.