Writer: Chuck Dixon
Pencils: Tom Lyle
Inks: Bob Smith
Now the Huntress has gotten herself captured.
( Read more... )
So I got an email tonight-- seen in my last check of the evening-- inviting me to beta the new Procreate. Which probably means it's a fairly broad beta at this point, because I'm nobody, but --
Um. Yes PLEASE.
I've only done a bit of playing with the new brushes but holy crap it's so good. Some of them have dynamic color interactions, behaving more like physical media. Some of them have amazing texture. Some of them would make amazing calligraphy.
I've gotten through 12 of the 18 categories in the comes-with-Procreate default library, and I really ought to go to sleep, but eeee this is so cool!
Um. Yes PLEASE.
I've only done a bit of playing with the new brushes but holy crap it's so good. Some of them have dynamic color interactions, behaving more like physical media. Some of them have amazing texture. Some of them would make amazing calligraphy.
I've gotten through 12 of the 18 categories in the comes-with-Procreate default library, and I really ought to go to sleep, but eeee this is so cool!
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I read these back in May, and my memories are not 100%. Here's my best stab at the three noms for best novel, one for novella, and one tangential to the Lodestar.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, narrated by Eliza Foss & Jennifer Pickens ( Read more... )
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley ( Read more... )
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky ( Read more... )
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed ( Read more... )
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, narrated by Kinsale Drake ( Read more... )
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, narrated by Eliza Foss & Jennifer Pickens ( Read more... )
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley ( Read more... )Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky ( Read more... )
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed ( Read more... )
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, narrated by Kinsale Drake ( Read more... )
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1. Today was a pretty laidback day. Didn't go anywhere other than out for walks in the neighborhood.
2. My step-sister is supposed to be stopping by tomorrow with my mom to go through some of her stuff in the shed in our backyard. Fingers crossed she can at least just point out which items she definitely does not want anymore and we can get rid of them, even if she needs to keep storing the stuff she does want to keep.
3. I've seen all the cats except Chloe using the new litter box now, so I went ahead and ordered two more to replace the other boxes. I'll still put just one out first until I actually see her using the new one(s), but I figured might as well order them both now as I'm sure she'll come around soon.
4. Such a big yawn!
2. My step-sister is supposed to be stopping by tomorrow with my mom to go through some of her stuff in the shed in our backyard. Fingers crossed she can at least just point out which items she definitely does not want anymore and we can get rid of them, even if she needs to keep storing the stuff she does want to keep.
3. I've seen all the cats except Chloe using the new litter box now, so I went ahead and ordered two more to replace the other boxes. I'll still put just one out first until I actually see her using the new one(s), but I figured might as well order them both now as I'm sure she'll come around soon.
4. Such a big yawn!
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Friday I left Massachusetts for the first time since last November. I took the train to NYC for a couple of days of bellringing + tourism. The last time I'm sure I was there (for the same reasons) was one very long day in December 2017. Things have changed, some things seem the same. I had a bunch of parents and a marriage then. The Bronx is still up (I guess, I didn't go there). The Battery is still down. Well designed bike lanes are there now. When I got out of the train station at lunchtime on Friday I walked over to Koreatown (sic), something that wouldn't have crossed my mind back then, as the Korean fascination started in 2020. Went into a bookstore, window-shopped a lot of restaurants and finally decided to take my chances eating indoors (!) in a place that let me sit next to the open door (maybe two feet away). I had doenjang soup (coincidence of the few days - it was a featured dish in the Netflix historical drama "Bon Appetit your majesty" but mine was vegan) plus five little banchan dishes. After that I walked to the Javits Center, which was hosting an art mall of sorts (lots of artists in individual cubicles). Since I had to be in a bell tower a couple of hours later, I decided it wasn't worth the $40 it would have cost, so I strolled 3 miles along the Hudson River park to reach my destination. Nice.
General ringing session was good. I stayed in a hotel that was not cheap but was really loud (inside and out), so I didn't get much sleep. Oh well. I picked it online because it's a 3 minute walk from the tower. I got what I asked for in that regard. I left the room before 8 to walk around some more, then went to ring a bit, then back out into the neighborhood. I think the last (and first?) time I rode the Staten Island ferry was 2006, when I was there for the tap festival. Did it again. Took looks of photos of the Statue of Liberty, let the wind blow in my hair, got off and watched some talented acrobat street performers, rode the Seaglass carousel (the fish are plastic or maybe fiberglass, not actual glass, but quite wonderful).
https://www.seaglasscarousel.nyc/
Rang some more, hung around with ringers listening to other people ring, all good. Train back, home by midnight, slept in my own bed.
Have a Judy Garland version of Cole Porter's "I happen to like New York" that is very much of its time (1960). It's not my favorite version of the song - I like a simpler solo version - but I was startled to be reminded what music could sound like then
General ringing session was good. I stayed in a hotel that was not cheap but was really loud (inside and out), so I didn't get much sleep. Oh well. I picked it online because it's a 3 minute walk from the tower. I got what I asked for in that regard. I left the room before 8 to walk around some more, then went to ring a bit, then back out into the neighborhood. I think the last (and first?) time I rode the Staten Island ferry was 2006, when I was there for the tap festival. Did it again. Took looks of photos of the Statue of Liberty, let the wind blow in my hair, got off and watched some talented acrobat street performers, rode the Seaglass carousel (the fish are plastic or maybe fiberglass, not actual glass, but quite wonderful).
https://www.seaglasscarousel.nyc/
Rang some more, hung around with ringers listening to other people ring, all good. Train back, home by midnight, slept in my own bed.
Have a Judy Garland version of Cole Porter's "I happen to like New York" that is very much of its time (1960). It's not my favorite version of the song - I like a simpler solo version - but I was startled to be reminded what music could sound like then
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lost_teen_classics_feed Sep. 8th, 2025 12:06 am)
lost_teen_classics_feed Sep. 8th, 2025 12:06 am)Homecoming is here again- and that means DANCE which translates into DATES AND BOYS…
Back to school! Time to start the year off with the Pratt twins and another snack-themed scheme.
Background: I was pretty harsh on Susan and Christine Pratt back in 2013, when we looked at The Banana Split Affair in this space, when studious introvert Susan (AKA Snooze) and boy-crazy extrovert Christine swapped places to find out how they other half lived during their junior year in high school.
I should have guessed that I couldn’t keep away from a series with two gimmicks (twin-swapping and titles named after foods), and maybe I am mellowing (MARSH-mellowing?) [STOP! -Ed.] in my old age, because this time around the brainlessness tips over into extreme silliness and oh yeah, also now it involves cross-dressing. There are also some well-intentioned lessons, earnestly delivered.
The Plot: I also didn’t realize until this point that the 13 volumes follow a strict chronology, following the twins from their junior year of high school and into college; this is #5 in the series, and they have returned to Whittington High for their senior year.
The weekend before homecoming, Chris and Sooze are joined by their BFFs Beth and Holly for an impromptu slumber party, where they are making hot chocolate and shrieking about life’s greatest mystery: BOYS!!!
Chris has been giving the full-court press to Scott Stevens, the school’s basketball hero, Chris is nursing a secret crush on Holly’s older brother; Holly can’t figure out why her steady dude won’t give her the time of day this week, Beth is so shy she can’t even speak to boys.
“Boys! What on earth goes on in their heads? I sure wish I could figure them out!”
Uncharacteristically, it is the mild-mannered Sooze and Beth who have the impetus for the latest scheme, when Beth wishes she could spy on the boys to find out what they really think, and the next morning Susan has a brainstorm:
“Don’t you see? The best way to find out why boys are the way they are is to pretend to be one.”
Inspired by their hot cocoa from the night before, Susan christens their latest “prank” THE MARSHMALLOW MASQUERADE.
Obviously, it will be Chris playing the role of “Cousin Charlie from Chicago” who will be attending Chris’s classes in her place because she has the flu. First stop is the mall and The Men’s Den to get “Charlie” outfitted.
Chris zeroed in on a rack full of sweaters. They were all half price, and they were all pale colors: blue, beige, and two or three in pink.
“I like these pink ones, I wonder what size I am in boys’ clothes…”
“Christine Pratt! Put that sweater down immediately!” Susan demanded.
“But why?”
“Because it’s pink!”
Yeah, Chris, this is the Very Hetero 80s, you can’t show up as a pink twink on your first day.
“Boys’ clothes are BORING! Why, they hardly get any chance at all to express their individuality through the clothes they wear! Not to mention the fact that they’re not supposed to wear clothes like pink or yellow or lavender…”
They select some suitably boring and butch clothes for Charlie, but Sooze then makes Chris confront the problem with her long hair. After considering wearing a baseball cap or a hooded sweatshirt at all times, Chris finally relents and goes to the mall barber, and get’s a boys’ haircut, which actually does make me admire her dedication to this whole enterprise.
The next morning, they sneak out of the house before breakfast to not arouse their parents’ suspicion and unleash Charlie on their first unsuspecting victims, Holly and her older brother Mike. Holly’s still pissed at her boyfriend for ignoring her and starts flirting with “Charlie” which is awkward. Chris-as-Charlie also picks up on the unspoken tension between Sooze and Mike and decides that’s she’s going to do a bonus good deed and play matchmaker for Sooze and Mike.
Having successfully passed as Charlie with her own BFF, Chris is confident when she walks into homeroom… until Charlie immediately gets into a confrontation with Eddie McKay, the school bully who does not like the cut of this new guy’s jib, and challenges him to a fight after school on Friday.
More complications ensue, when she has the opportunity to talk with Scott, only to find out that he hasn’t really given a second thought to Charlie’s “cousin”, Chris. And then there is gym class, although at least the coach has paused wrestling in favor of gymnastics (although swimmer/cheerleader Chris competes so ably on the parallel bars and pommel horse, she ends up wishing that she actually did have a chance to prove that girls are just as good at wrestling…)
More complications develop when class nerd Peter Blake seems to be just as attracted to Charlie as he is to Chris (awkward), although Charlie also gets an invite to come over to Scott’s after school and look at his basketball scrapbooks.
Throughout the week, Chris-as-Charlie learns some minor lessons about how being a boy has its drawbacks and challenges as much as being a girl does… but mostly learns dispiriting things about what a lot of her male classmates think and say about girls when they are not around.
When Chris-as-Charlie makes her long awaited visit to Scott’s house after school, he reveals himself to be a chauvinist creep who is mean to his mom, and the spell is broken:
“I’m please to meet you, Charlie. Would you like a snack? I just made some cookies- “
“What kind?” Scott interrupted her.
“Chocolate chip.”
“Aw, Mom, not again! You ALWAYS make that kind!” Scott, Chris was astonished to see, was practically pouting.
When she was gone, Chris observed “Gee, Scott, it’s awfully nice that you mother bakes homemade cookies for your family.”
“Well, why not? She’s got nothing else to do all day.”
Chris was bewildered. It was growing increasingly obvious to her that Mrs. Steven wasn’t treated very well in her own home. In fact, it even appeared she didn’t expect to!
After seeing Scott’s filthy room and being forced to admire his big basketball trophy, the spell is broken. In fact, Chris-as-Charlie even takes a second look at the nerdy Peter, who seems comfortable in his masculinity and hobby as an amateur animal rehabilitator- when he invites “Charlie” over to meet the strays he has nursed back to health, he is also nice to his mom.
But there is still the issue of that big High Noon fight with Eddie McKay on Friday. Chris is determined that she is going to hold her own and starts lifting weights to better her chances of not getting her ass completely kicked.
But when Friday comes she goes to meet Eddie, who is strangely described as “sashaying” the schoolyard (????), she impulsively decides on a different plan: telling Eddie that he can punch her/him in the face if he wants, but she/he doesn’t care what he thinks of him/her, she’s not fighting him.
Eddie calls Charlie a coward, but Chris walks away with a shrug, and a slow-clap from her classmates, boys and girls alike, who are glad that somebody finally told Eddie where to stick it.
“Charlie” still has a few good deeds to do before the dance, including suggesting to Mike that he ask Sooze to the homecoming dance, and calling up Peter as herself to make the very liberated ask to go to the dance with her (as well as getting him to get his BFF to ask Beth). Sooze returns the favor by getting her own hair chopped off to match Chris’s, so they can be twins again. And as everyone gathers at the Pratt house before the dance, together they break the news that their cousin Charlie has returned to Chicago forever.
Sign It Was Written In 1987 Department:
“I don’t think that boys are any better at dialing phones than girls are, are they? Especially since Touch-Tone phones have made the whole process so simple!”
Stylin’ Department:
Chris was wearing a bright pink nightshirt with the faces of the members of her favorite rock groups printed in front. And Holly, so different in coloring, nevertheless looked as if she were cut from the same mold in the red oversized tee-shirt that she claimed she had talked her older brother, Michael, into giving her.
On the other hand, Susan and her best friend Beth dressed in old-fashioned flannel nightgowns trimmed with lace.
Ladies And Gentlemen, We Have A Title! Department:
Christine Pratt, you and I are about to embark on the Marshmallow Masquerade!”
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Sunday, September 7, to midnight on Monday, September 8 (8pm Eastern Time).
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Poll #33584 Daily check-in poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 17
How are you doing?
I am OK
11 (64.7%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now
6 (35.3%)
I could use some help
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single
6 (37.5%)
One other person
7 (43.8%)
More than one other person
3 (18.8%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
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Following up on the last post, Inbox Zero has been working well. I cleared out my main inbox back to about mid 2019, which appears to be the time that I arbitrarily marked everything in my inbox as read. When I started I had over twenty thousand unread conversations, and I finished with a Trash folder containing over twenty-seven thousand items. I'm now undertaking the same process on my real-name account, and it's going well.
And it's been a pretty good low-effort project to work on while dealing with my first case of COVID-19.
Last Thursday night (August 28), I was feeling unusually antsy regarding my sinuses so I decided to take a COVID test to put my mind at ease. It did not do that. Instead, I woke up Psyche and we figured out how we were going to deal with isolation. I logged into work to tell them that I'd tested positive, but the symptoms were minor, and I would not be working on Friday. I then proceeded to develop a raging fever for the next 24 hours or so. A few days later, Psyche tested positive despite our best efforts, and we have spent the rest of the week muddling through major fatigue coupled with relatively minor flu symptoms.
There is, of course, no good time to be laid out for over a week, but it was particularly rough because we had been the main people organizing the logistics for the 74th wedding anniversary of Psyche's grandparents, an event scheduled to take place last Sunday. So she had to spend a frantic few days collecting all of the remaining tasks and assigning them to various members of her family, all while having to sit at home while everyone enjoyed the party we threw.
As for contact-tracing, I believe I was exposed when visiting with Psyche's other grandmother, who had been sick (untested) earlier that week; and then I exposed Psyche before testing positive myself. Given the way our positive test results seem to be hanging on longer than our main symptoms, it's not too hard to believe that Grammy was still shedding virus when I visited. I didn't spend much time with her directly, but the windows were generally closed in the house.
It's been a week and a half of sleeping and hydrating and then doing it again but reversed.
In less plaguey developments, I'm looking forward to this year's Beyond Fest which will be announcing its full slate this week. So far, the only screenings announced or for a retrospective of Guillermo del Toro, and I have tickets to see his early works (Cronos, The Devil's Backbone, and Mimic) and a screening of Pan's Labyrinth. I will also be in New York at the beginning of October for a work trip and am making the time to see Reeves and Winters in Waiting for Godot before flying back home.
I just need a negative test soon...
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spook_me posted: Spook Me Multi-Fandom Ficathon 2025All fandoms are welcome. Stories can be Gen, Het, Slash or Femslash. All ratings are accepted.
We have TWO new Creatures this year: RAVEN and GRAVEYARD
I have royally failed at this the last like five years, but I do want to keep trying. It's really my favourite prompt fest.
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fandomgiftbasket posted: Spreadsheet of All RequestsHere is the spreadsheet of all requests!
Link.
There are two sheets on it. The first one is a list of all baskets sorted alphabetically by username, and this is where I'll keep track of the number of gifts. The second is every single fandom request posted individually in alphabetical order, for ease of finding. If you spot anything missing or any mistakes, let me know ASAP.
I don't have a basket this year, but hope to maybe write drabbles or something? Possibly?
Reading. Lake of Souls, Ann Leckie: finished the Radch stories; on to The World Of The Raven Tower!
The Painful Truth, Monty Lyman: in progress; not yet Cross with it but also not yet Impressed by it.
More Dreamwidth catchup.
Listening. More Hidden Almanac!
Eating. SO many tomatoes.
Exploring. Poked around Preston a very little!
Growing. ... SO many tomatoes. More watering system established at plot (so hopefully all the peppers will still be alive and well upon my return). Sowed some probably-past-it seeds.
Observing. A saw a deer on the drive up to Preston! A proper big one with antlers and all! We were very impressed.
Also the local owl Yell.
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I don't know where the day went, or the weekend. How is it almost midnight already?!
Anyway: Over atsid_guardian we've kicked off another rewatch - a slo-mo one this time, half an episode per week. And since we've already done the "take an epic amount of notes and write epic post" kind of rewatch, this one's going to be a bit more relaxed. *g*
Here's the first post, episode 1, part 1.
Anyway: Over at
sid_guardian we've kicked off another rewatch - a slo-mo one this time, half an episode per week. And since we've already done the "take an epic amount of notes and write epic post" kind of rewatch, this one's going to be a bit more relaxed. *g*Here's the first post, episode 1, part 1.
Side by Side (1506 words) by Settiai
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Oghren & Female Surana (Dragon Age)
Characters: Female Surana (Dragon Age), Oghren (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Alcohol, The Black Emporium Exchange, Friendship, One Shot, Sparring
Summary: Oghren might have been a nug humping bastard, but he couldn't just stand by and do nothing after he realized that the big scary Warden everyone was talking about was barely more than a kid.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Oghren & Female Surana (Dragon Age)
Characters: Female Surana (Dragon Age), Oghren (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Alcohol, The Black Emporium Exchange, Friendship, One Shot, Sparring
Summary: Oghren might have been a nug humping bastard, but he couldn't just stand by and do nothing after he realized that the big scary Warden everyone was talking about was barely more than a kid.
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Perhaps overly ambitious for a project, but I'm doing this as a fun hobby fidget with no expectation it'll turn out "well." (In real-life, this is fiber-based trolling.)
I started this a few years ago but life got busy.
(Technical details posted elsewhere toprototypediablerie.)
I started this a few years ago but life got busy.
(Technical details posted elsewhere to
prototypediablerie.)We had originally been planning to go in the morning, but decided to make it an evening trip instead, and then in the afternoon Carla got a message from a friend that he was in town and at the parks this weekend, so it worked out perfectly to meet up with him for dinner.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
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(enchantedsleeper posting in smallweb Sep. 7th, 2025 08:47 pm)
enchantedsleeper posting in smallweb Sep. 7th, 2025 08:47 pm)We’ve reached the first check-in point for Small Web September! How is everyone doing so far? Whether you’re just getting warmed up or are already ticking off goals (or maybe you just found this and want to join – welcome!), come and share your progress in the comments of this check-in.
The theme of this week’s check-in is links! Earlier this year, I came across Coy (osteophage)’s link compilation in praise of links, which led me down a rabbit hole of reading various essays about the importance of hyperlinking and being a good steward of the web. This includes not making your own site into an effective dead end, but sending people on to interesting destinations via links that you’ve included there.
I’ve always been a lover of curating cool webpages and sites, but it struck me that I wasn’t actually doing much of this on my own little website – now, it’s a personal fanworks archive, so you could argue that linking out to random pages is a bit out of step with the purpose of it. However, it broadened my thinking about where I could start adding more links: from archiving rec lists to linking out to gifts that other fans had made for me over the years.
So, the discussion starter for this check-in is: how do you link, and to what? Do you have a link hub or set of interesting finds? Would you like to do more with links?
( Read more... )
The theme of this week’s check-in is links! Earlier this year, I came across Coy (
osteophage)’s link compilation in praise of links, which led me down a rabbit hole of reading various essays about the importance of hyperlinking and being a good steward of the web. This includes not making your own site into an effective dead end, but sending people on to interesting destinations via links that you’ve included there. I’ve always been a lover of curating cool webpages and sites, but it struck me that I wasn’t actually doing much of this on my own little website – now, it’s a personal fanworks archive, so you could argue that linking out to random pages is a bit out of step with the purpose of it. However, it broadened my thinking about where I could start adding more links: from archiving rec lists to linking out to gifts that other fans had made for me over the years.
So, the discussion starter for this check-in is: how do you link, and to what? Do you have a link hub or set of interesting finds? Would you like to do more with links?
( Read more... )
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Review copy provided by the publisher. Also the author is a friend, as you will find out if you read to the end and see that I am in the acknowledgments for the honestly light and easy work of being Brandon's pal.
Good news for those of you who wait until a series is complete to read it: this is the second book in a duology! So you can just pick up Catalyst and Castoff and read them together, if you haven't yet. I'm going to try not to spoiler the first book too much, which is going to leave me vague, because this is definitely my favorite kind of sequel: the kind where the consequences follow on hard and fast from the first book. Happily for those with shaky memories, there's a quick summary at the beginning of this one.
So there are airships! There are strange vast somewhat personified forces! There are people working out their relationships in the face of personal and social change! It's that lovely kind of fantasy novel that almost might be a science fiction novel in its concern with human interactions with truly alien intelligences. I love that kind. I want more of that basically always. And if it can come with airship adventures alongside the ponderings of the nature of intelligence and caring about others, even better. Very glad this is about to make it out into the world so I can talk to more people about these books.
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(doranwen posting in recthething Sep. 7th, 2025 06:38 pm)
doranwen posting in recthething Sep. 7th, 2025 06:38 pm)I haven't posted recs here for a while, other than links to posts elsewhere. I've been busy adding fics to my fic database and finally finished a fandom post or two, and decided I might as well post a few recs here specifically.
I won't post every fic I added - you can poke through my master recs post to find the posts they're in - but I thought it might be a good idea to post any fic that I either consider a favorite (i.e. I love re-reading it) or exceptionally well-written (something about it stands out to me as outstanding writing in some way).
( Icon guide )
( Explanation of ratings )
( Content warnings and spoilers )
( Ships )
Below are the recs:
( Alphas )
( FBI Most Wanted )
( Profiler )
( The Matrix )
If any of the links above no longer work, please let me know so I can flag them as "Dead" in my database, thanks!
Enjoy! :)
I won't post every fic I added - you can poke through my master recs post to find the posts they're in - but I thought it might be a good idea to post any fic that I either consider a favorite (i.e. I love re-reading it) or exceptionally well-written (something about it stands out to me as outstanding writing in some way).
( Icon guide )
( Explanation of ratings )
( Content warnings and spoilers )
( Ships )
Below are the recs:
( Alphas )
( FBI Most Wanted )
( Profiler )
( The Matrix )
If any of the links above no longer work, please let me know so I can flag them as "Dead" in my database, thanks!
Enjoy! :)
Tags:
Brutally hot, followed by power outage amid a massive (for the west coast) thunderstorm, followed by cooler temps. Lovely… And the weather waited to engage in all that drama until Tuesday morning, when I had to be at work again. Why is it always like that? I want to be at home to enjoy absurd weather, not trying to drive in it (or get up on the roof to check equipment…).
Work has been a series of moments in which people say, “huh, we hadn’t thought about that,” with predictably annoying fallout. My boss is aware that I feel moderately homicidal toward my teammates at the moment and does not blame me for it. That’s nice at least. Got to do some interesting repairs and assemblies, so things weren’t dull.
September continues to throw new complications at me, professionally and personally. My gaze is fixed on my Halloween vacation time. I just have to get through to that. Will that fix anything? No, but it will be freaking Halloween and I’ll have a week off work, which might fix me, at least temporarily.
Lewisia: 6 new pieces written--all caught up--and September posts queued
Day job: 34 hours, Monday off, madness prevails
Gardening: wasp battle round two and nest removal
Reading: The Barrow Will Sent What It May and The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy (holy shit, so good, I’m very sad there isn’t more to read immediately)
Listening: TRAИƧA by various artists and published by RedHot.Org--focused on trans and nonbinary artists, over 4 hours, I dedicated three days of listening for this one, it’s so lovely, some delightful covers--Song of the Siren (took me by surprise--hey, I know this?!) and You Make Me Feel and Wolf Like Me--as well as original work, I can’t remember if this was recced on the grounds of Sade or Andre 3000, but I think one of those was how I first heard about it, also it has lots of Beverly Glenn-Copeland, which is always a good thing
NOT Playing: I am one of the approximately three people on the planet not playing Silksong apparently, if money wasn’t so tight right now, I would finally buy and play Hollow Knight eight years after the fact (￣﹏￣；)
Aftermarket Parts: tattoo consultation went well, impressed by her skill and knowledge as compared to some of the general tattoo artists who also moonlight in medical tattooing, which is my justification for paying waaaaaaay more than I had been expecting, main session scheduled for 10/10
Clock Mouse: 1380 words--I’m nearly at my original target word count, but that includes the draft 0 experimentation I did, so I’ll need to recalculate again for this new draft
Other: another power outage...
Work has been a series of moments in which people say, “huh, we hadn’t thought about that,” with predictably annoying fallout. My boss is aware that I feel moderately homicidal toward my teammates at the moment and does not blame me for it. That’s nice at least. Got to do some interesting repairs and assemblies, so things weren’t dull.
September continues to throw new complications at me, professionally and personally. My gaze is fixed on my Halloween vacation time. I just have to get through to that. Will that fix anything? No, but it will be freaking Halloween and I’ll have a week off work, which might fix me, at least temporarily.
Lewisia: 6 new pieces written--all caught up--and September posts queued
Day job: 34 hours, Monday off, madness prevails
Gardening: wasp battle round two and nest removal
Reading: The Barrow Will Sent What It May and The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy (holy shit, so good, I’m very sad there isn’t more to read immediately)
Listening: TRAИƧA by various artists and published by RedHot.Org--focused on trans and nonbinary artists, over 4 hours, I dedicated three days of listening for this one, it’s so lovely, some delightful covers--Song of the Siren (took me by surprise--hey, I know this?!) and You Make Me Feel and Wolf Like Me--as well as original work, I can’t remember if this was recced on the grounds of Sade or Andre 3000, but I think one of those was how I first heard about it, also it has lots of Beverly Glenn-Copeland, which is always a good thing
NOT Playing: I am one of the approximately three people on the planet not playing Silksong apparently, if money wasn’t so tight right now, I would finally buy and play Hollow Knight eight years after the fact (￣﹏￣；)
Aftermarket Parts: tattoo consultation went well, impressed by her skill and knowledge as compared to some of the general tattoo artists who also moonlight in medical tattooing, which is my justification for paying waaaaaaay more than I had been expecting, main session scheduled for 10/10
Clock Mouse: 1380 words--I’m nearly at my original target word count, but that includes the draft 0 experimentation I did, so I’ll need to recalculate again for this new draft
Other: another power outage...
Bread held from last week held out for several days, and then there were leftover rolls.
Friday night supper: (as previously mentioned) sardegnera, with Milano and Napoli salami.
Saturday breakfast rolls: adaptable soft rolls recipe. 70/30 strong white/wholemeal flour, dried cranberries, maple syrup, turned out nicely.
Today's lunch: I'd actually ordered lamb ribs, got lamb cutlets as a substitution, did with them much the same: marinated overnight in olive oil + white wine with crushed garlic, salt, 5-pepper blend, thyme and rosemary, today sauteed chopped onion in oil and briefly browned the drained cutlets, poured on the marinade, heated up and then covered and put into a very moderate oven for 2 and a half hours - very nice; served with sticky rice in coconut milk with lime leaves, white-braised tenderstem broccoli tips, extra fine green beans and red bell pepper, and stirfried tat soi.
(escapade_team posting in escapade_con Sep. 7th, 2025 10:17 am)
escapade_team posting in escapade_con Sep. 7th, 2025 10:17 am)Hey Escapaders!
We’re now just six months out from the next in-person Escapade, and I know many of you have been excited to book your hotel and register for the convention. The wait is over!
To register for the convention:
1. Start by going to https://escapadecon.net/shop/register-for-in-person-escapade-2026/
2. After making your payment, you should be taken to a page to enter your badge name and other information. If you aren’t, try going to https://escapadecon.net/escapade-36-registration-in-person/ and filling out the form there.
That’s it!
If you’ve already registered for the convention, you should be in our system. Unfortunately, you can’t easily pull up the information from the form you submitted (this is something we are working on fixing) but if you want to re-submit your information, you can go to https://escapadecon.net/update-your-registration-info/.
To book your hotel room:
1. Start at our special magic link: https://www.hilton.com/en/attend-my-event/laxabes-rcg-5fcb641f-16e7-47bb-b537-45ad15911160/
2. Click “Book a Room”.
3 .At the top of the page it takes you to, select the dates you want. It will default to a six night stay, so it’s important to change this to the actual dates you want! Make sure you also choose the right number of guests for your room.
4. Choose the room type you want, enter your information, and you’re all set!
Remember, if you book with our link, you get many benefits, including discounted parking ($20 per night versus $60 per night!), a refund of the mandatory $12.92 per night tax, and a reduced deposit (capped at $250 for the whole stay). Plus, you support Escapade! If you have any trouble using the link above, please let us know ASAP.
Pro Tip:
It’s recommended to come in on or before Thursday night and leave no earlier than Sunday if you want to experience the full convention. We might have some fun activities for early birds who get there on Tuesday or Wednesday, too! And of course, if you want to stay for the Tired Puppy Pile party, you may want to wait until Monday to head out…
We’re so excited to see you there!
-glymr
Escapade Director’s Chair
Tags:
(rionaleonhart Sep. 7th, 2025 06:05 pm)
rionaleonhart Sep. 7th, 2025 06:05 pm)Horrible selfcest time! My favourite time!! Please enjoy this gratuitous and unpleasant Danganronpa: Despair Time selfcest.
Title: Self-Discovery
Fandom: Danganronpa: Despair Time
Rating: 16
Pairing: David/David, one-sided David/Xander
Wordcount: 1,500
Summary: “It’s almost like the whole universe is telling you to go fuck yourself.”
Warnings: dubious consent, generally kind of fucked up, spoilers up to the end of chapter two
( Self-Discovery )
Title: Self-Discovery
Fandom: Danganronpa: Despair Time
Rating: 16
Pairing: David/David, one-sided David/Xander
Wordcount: 1,500
Summary: “It’s almost like the whole universe is telling you to go fuck yourself.”
Warnings: dubious consent, generally kind of fucked up, spoilers up to the end of chapter two
( Self-Discovery )
Writer: Dennis O’Neil
Pencils and inks: Ric Estrada
Richard Dragon must thwart the plans of a madman with a silly hat.
( Read more... )
(joyfullyjay_blog_feed Sep. 7th, 2025 03:30 pm)
joyfullyjay_blog_feed Sep. 7th, 2025 03:30 pm)Hi all! I hope you had a great week! As some of you may remember from my post last week, I am out of the country right now spending two weeks in the UK. If you are reading this on Sunday, I am currently finishing up our second day in York, before heading west for […]
Fruit trees have very much been the theme of this weekend. Someone was giving away pears from a box in their front garden on my return walk from the gym yesterday, and another person was giving away apples when I passed on my way back from the pool this morning. Yesterday afternoon Matthias and I scrambled around on a ladder, and even in the tree itself, picking all the bramley apples from the tree in our back garden. Now two shelves, plus the vegetable crisper in our fridge are entirely filled with apples. Last year they lasted us from August to March!
Everywhere in our house, there are little scattered clusters of fruit — a trio of pears and two large tomatoes ripening on the front windowsill, bowls of apples on the kitchen table, a handful of black cherry tomatoes on the kitchen windowsill in between the indoor plants — like votive offerings to household or harvest gods.
In general, the garden is making me very happy.
If that wasn't enough, after breakfast today, Matthias and I walked out to Little Downham, past hedgerows laden with sloes, rosehips and ripe blackberries, until we got to the community orchard, and filled his backpack with yet more apples and pears. The leaves are yellowing at the edges, and the air has that slightly crackly, woody autumnal scent, although it's still as warm as ever.
Last night, Matthias and I rewatched Casablanca, which I had last seen about twenty-five years ago. It really is that good, and I cried buckets, of course (although about the politics, more than the interpersonal stories). It's extraordinary to me that it was made not post-WWII, but in 1942 — an incredible act of hope and optimism, and faith in human effort turned collaboratively towards an existential struggle. It is of course incredibly emotionally manipulative, but sometimes I just want to see a bunch of traumatised exiles stand up to totalitarian bullies, you know?
( This week I finished three books )
In the time since I started writing this post, the UK government sent me its (scheduled, warned-for) blaring, vibrating phone test emergency alert, and the sky outside has turned from burning blue to cloud-covered grey. The weekend is winding down, and gathering itself in, like a blanket thrown over tired legs.
Everywhere in our house, there are little scattered clusters of fruit — a trio of pears and two large tomatoes ripening on the front windowsill, bowls of apples on the kitchen table, a handful of black cherry tomatoes on the kitchen windowsill in between the indoor plants — like votive offerings to household or harvest gods.
In general, the garden is making me very happy.
If that wasn't enough, after breakfast today, Matthias and I walked out to Little Downham, past hedgerows laden with sloes, rosehips and ripe blackberries, until we got to the community orchard, and filled his backpack with yet more apples and pears. The leaves are yellowing at the edges, and the air has that slightly crackly, woody autumnal scent, although it's still as warm as ever.
Last night, Matthias and I rewatched Casablanca, which I had last seen about twenty-five years ago. It really is that good, and I cried buckets, of course (although about the politics, more than the interpersonal stories). It's extraordinary to me that it was made not post-WWII, but in 1942 — an incredible act of hope and optimism, and faith in human effort turned collaboratively towards an existential struggle. It is of course incredibly emotionally manipulative, but sometimes I just want to see a bunch of traumatised exiles stand up to totalitarian bullies, you know?
( This week I finished three books )
In the time since I started writing this post, the UK government sent me its (scheduled, warned-for) blaring, vibrating phone test emergency alert, and the sky outside has turned from burning blue to cloud-covered grey. The weekend is winding down, and gathering itself in, like a blanket thrown over tired legs.
.