ebooks

books
America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin. 2025. FINALLY finished, though I skipped the notes bc I was just done with the book. It's a very thorough and sharply critical history of the Americas, and I loved the first half. The second half is mostly a deep dive into intra-hemispheric politics, most of which I've already studied in detail. I do wish it had started BEFORE the Conquest, rather than at it, but the book's 768 pages as it is.

Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump by Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan. 2026. Started reading just before the Independence Day weekend and just now finished. A chore to read, tbh, bc there's so much orange menace in it, and I hate him. But it confirms gvt by the inept following a plan framed by the vicious. I have been angry at H&S for sitting on so much of this info for up to 3 years, rather than releasing it to the public. But the timing now is good. It's fresh in voters' minds for the midterms. And we certainly won't have an impeachment before the new Congress is sworn in on January 3rd.

iwtv 3.5/tvl 1.5
Holy shit. This show is SO GOOD.

yarning
The cat scarf halves are stitched together & now I only have to weave in five million ends before mailing it out Friday. Didn't make yarn group again bc I slept too late. Stupid sleep disorder.

healthcrap
allergy shot yesterday. I need to remember to make a mammogram appt, though. Also, pain clinic appt. Oops.

wildlife
There's a(n o)possum living in my back porch laundry room. I don't know if it's a nesting female or not. It had diarrhea on top of my washer lid. Which is dried on and vile. (Cleaning it up is my project for maybe tomorrow.) I replaced the burned out light bulb today (and left it on) and left the door open, so maybe it'll vacate the premises on its own. I can call maintenance about relocating it. I just haven't yet. I thought about bombing it with peppermint or something, but peppermint is toxic to cats, and the stray cats use the laundry room for shelter in the winter, so that would suck for them.

#resist
? (I'm still waiting to see an announcement of a new march. Granted, it's hotter than hell, so maybe that's the delay? IDEK.)

I hope you're all doing well! <333

Tags:

Hello from Colorado, which is on fire :( We are not actually near any of the big fires, but we are getting smoke in the mornings from two of them, which means that several times in the past few weeks we've had to get up at 3 am and close the windows and turn on the air purifier. Anyway:

What I've recently read:

The Astrobiology Immersion Program by

startingatmidnight, short-novel-length (~50K) Project Hail Mary gen, I think

petra recommended it. AU in which on the way back to Erid, Rocky and Ryland Grace bodyswap. I love bodyswap as a trope and it's especially rich when the bodies are alien to each other. I thought it was a little long, and the handwaving a little handwavy, though the ultimate "why" resolution was super interesting, and I really liked that the story continues through to the consequences on Erid.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, which is a sort of literary dark-humor western, with a really fun narrative voice. Charlie and Eli Sisters are Bad Men With Guns who wield them for a mysterious mogul called the Commodore. Except Eli's got a sensitive side, and he's starting to wonder why he's killing people for money when he could just settle down and run a trading post somewhere. My favorite part, oddly, was the throughline of Eli being completely unable to hold onto any money; if he doesn't give it away out of soft-heartedness as soon as he gets it, it's stolen, and I was delighted every time it happened.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, which was a recommendation from

merit - I couldn't resist the premise of a woman waking up with amnesia and learning, through letters written from her former self, that she's a high-up bureaucrat in a secret organization of people with supernatural powers who deal with supernatural crimes and threats to the country. Sort of like Rivers of London but with Ghostbusters-level humor. ETA: and now I am reminded of another reason I really liked this: the main character, Myfanwy Thomas, discovers (somewhat to her surprise) that she is frighteningly competent at her job. Also there is a fantastic female character with whom I ship her (and there is fic). Anyway, lots of fun, and I'm now reading the second book in this series, Stiletto.

What I've recently watched:

S4 of Dark Winds, which unfortunately had quite a bit of action in LA - not that I have anything against LA, it's just it's not the familiar Four Corners scenery. As soon as they (metaphorically) hung a German on the wall I was expecting it to fire (metaphorically) Karl May, and I was not disappointed.

We've just watched the first episode of S2 of the live-action One Piece. I love how goofy it is!

Tags:

reading,
viewing

"We call it a society. It involves coming to accommodations with others."

Goes backwards—and sideways—through time, looking at the events of the last three books from another set of perspectives. Introduces some new characters and locations, brings back some old ones, and does a great job of balancing epic world building with the minutiae of being a person in a society.

If you haven't read this series, you can't start here. And if you have, don't expect the corvids from the last book to join us for this one; Tchaikovsky seems to be switching up the way this series works.

Contains: BUGS (like huge gross bugs, plus the usual spiders and ants), GORE (just, guts, everywhere), BODY HORROR (guts and body parts in places they shouldn't be), animal harm.

Tags:

book report

Migraines still stuck.

Heat sensitivity sucks too.

If it were a competition, one would win and the other would go away, but it's not, it's collusion.

Yay cooling vest, but yikes that I should have to wear it inside my own home.

The noise of the fan is also not helping my poor brain (see: collusion of nuisances).

Not much to say, just wanted to see who's still around, who's still reading this when it's been so quiet lately and so devoid of fannish content.

I have some new fannish interests too, but in a separate update, after a good rest and maybe a nap.

Current Mood: exhausted

We've reached the halfway point in our week! I am so tired this morning. I had trouble sleeping due to small kitty, and I'm feeling it. I was awake for about an hour or so at about 1:30 AM. It was deeply annoying. Hopefully, today will be a little less crazy at work, because we were 100% slammed yesterday, to the point that I worked until 5 to help out. I don't know how helpful I was, but I tried, dammit. I'm not that quick when it comes to scanning in orders from the fax to the charts. It's a whole process, and I'm definitely out of practice, but I got some done.

I can tell that my hormones are out of whack this week. My ADHD has been really high, and the meds are barely taming it. I spent most of yesterday in the land of terminally annoyed at people's stupidity. Of course, in the middle of that, our big boss dropped a new project into my lap. It's not horrible, but it's going to take a lot of time searching out patients to put in the new slots. And then, Columbia realized that their cardiac tech is going to be out on a day I've scheduled, so I have to fix that, and to top it off I had a high maintenance patient who I've been working with decide to give me a call with 8 million questions. I was actually really glad to go to work the faxes. Not that people still weren't messaging me.

I was going to cook dinner, but then Yoda met Lizzy through a cracked door, and seemed to really like her, so we ordered so that we could put together the oversized baby gate. It's about 5'5 and made of clear plexiglass, so they can see each other, and smell each other through the sides, where there are inch gaps.

It fought us, but we got it up and opened the door for them to sniff. So far, so good! They seem interested, but not overly interested. I have a feeling she's going to be a lot for poor Yoda. She likes to rub against our legs and beg for pettings and I feel like she might be very obstructive for him. We'll see. She's got a few more days in the bedroom, and then we shall begin letting her roam the apartment at night.

The other issue with the ADHD is that when the pills wear off, it's kicking my ass. Nothing like laying in bed and not being able to hold still. I've been getting that great feeling of wanting to claw my own skin off. Fucking hormones. Hopefully, once this period is over, it'll settle back down, because this sucks.

Today, I absolutely shall cook some food. I'm tempted to throw a couple of sausage and a slice or two of bacon in for breakfast. That's technically dinner as well, but we have a lot of sausage, and 2 lbs of bacon, so I can definitely get away with a few pieces of each. Hopefully, work shall be less crazy, and I'll have a little bit of time to think through a bit of lore for Marchen. I managed to pull about three hundred words out of my ass yesterday, and now I must flesh it out.

We've been playing for 8 sessions, but I'm still figuring things about the world I created.

This had to do with their religion and myths. We have three gods--Mother Night, Father Light and the Bastard. But, yesterday I created more of them. There's another two gods mentioned in a myth about the time before the Three. It mentioned the Creator and the Moon. One more little thing to drop at my players feet like a dead mouse.

Today, I also have to get on ticketmaster and get tickets for Danny Elfman's tour at 10am. The venue has limited seating, so I want to get on early and make sure we get seats. It looks like the balcony has seats, so we'll aim for up there and hope. Apparently, he's dropping a new album, so it'll be that, some stuff from Oingo Boingo and some from his films. I'll have to listen to the new album when it drops so I'm familiar.

I'm really hoping that he plays one of his old album called Insanity. I was appropriate for the elder Bush's era and it's applicable now, too. (The white folks think they're at the top, ask any proud white male. A million years of evolution and we get Danny Quayle.) I'd love to see him rework it for the current era.

Tomorrow, of course, I have my gyn appt, which I am deeply anxious over. I'll be fine, but I'm really hoping that this doctor is a little more gentle than my last one and maybe I don't have stabbing pain for three days.

Mostly, I'm just trying not to think about it. Obviously the cure for that is more lore about Marchen.

I was thinking the other day that I 100% understand now why people want to go on cruises all the time. Ours is still 15 mo away and I really want to get back on the boat sooner. They're doing some 5 day cruises next year, but sadly none that would work for us. There's a 7 day cruise with Carnival, which is Holland America's parent company, that leaves out of Baltimore, so maybe we'll consider that.

Okay, on that note, I'm going to hop off and do some prepping for game on Saturday. Everyone have an excellent day!

I apparently live in a place where there are are a lot of indoor/outdoor cats. I'm not quite sure why I see so many cats. I guess there are just a lot of people with indoor/outdoor cats here (oof - mixed feelings). I live in an apartment with no yard (the building itself occupies the yard) but since I live on the second floor, I look out over multiple neighbours' yards. I love this. I look at my yard constantly when I am home. First thing in the morning, all day if I work from home, with my desk set up so I look out, one last time before bed - primarily for birding and just general enjoyment of the outdoors but, increasingly in the last few months, also for cats. I guess I am outside all the time because I walk to and from the train station, I bird all the time, plus I play ingress, I get groceries on foot, etc. Also okay yes I do randomly pspsps on the street sometimes. I see so many that my friend suggested I start a bingo of cats.

Here is a list:

Calico cat, mostly white with scattered orange and tabby spots - Jenny - very friendly, learned her name via tag and also a poster on the street
Big plush grey cat - no idea, often plopped in the yard now
Big fluffy orange cat - probably lives down the street - this cat I have seen for the longest but have no idea who he is
Small white cat with tabby on head & raccoon tail - Luna, owned by the convenience store
White-and-orange, orange saddle - Noisy
Fluffy tabby-and-white, very thin with age, now deceased - Sarah (learned her name bc she only hung out right by her home and I actually talked to the humans who lived there on occasion). She lived till 18!!! but I miss her and when I pass by her place I still reflexively look for her under the bush she liked. I petted her so many times because she would trot to the pavement and let you admire her.
Fluffy large black cat - probably lives near park
Tabby with white paws and white sliver on back - new, I only started seeing them a week or two ago
Dilute tortie/calico - new within a few months, don't know name

This is Jenny:

This picture is so cute I could die

This is how I learned Noisy's name, though I actually saw Noisy after the poster was put up:

But yeah a few days ago I went to get groceries and as I was walking by I distinctly saw Noisy disappear into someone's yard.

Then there are the cats in windows:

Ollie & Luna, the asymmetric and symmetric tuxies in the window (also learned from talking to the neighbour)
A nondynamic duo of a tortie and a tabby tuxie, always sleeping in a bed in the window
White-and-orange shorthair cat, plopped in the window

I have no conclusion for this entry. CATS. (Please keep your cat indoors!)

Tags:

cats

How to fake it in society, KJ Charles
We breed lions: confronting Canada’s troubled hockey culture, Rick Westhead
The husbands, Holly Gramazio
Evil under the sun, Agatha Christie (re-read)
The ark
The Sittaford mystery, Agatha Christie
Till we have faces, CS Lewis

How to Fake it In Society, KJ Charles. Titus is a humble shopkeeper who makes paints for artists, who ends up marrying a wealthy woman on her deathbed in order to ensure that her relative (who may well have had something to do with there being a deathbed the first place) is disinherited; struggling with his sudden elevation, he is thrilled when Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de la Motte, a fashionable French escaped aristocrat with a Mysterious Past offers to help him make his way in society. But Nico is a con man barely a step ahead of some very nasty gangsters, and while he hoped to salvage himself with Titus’ money, his new feelings for Titus make it impossible to admit the truth… This is fine. It’s competently put together and I like the paint details but something about this pairing didn’t quite fire for me, the ending tipped a little too far into farce complete with one too many pantomime villains, and basically I think KJ likes con artists and scammers a lot more than I do.

We breed lions: confronting Canada’s troubled hockey culture, Rick Westhead. Solid, painful documentation of the casualties of Canada’s approach to (men’s) hockey, from juniors to professionals, emphasising the gate-keepers who could (but don’t) change their approach. Pretty awful subject material, with all the sexual assault, misogyny, bullying, homophobia and hazing that you’d expect; it’s about culture, and about those who enforce it, but also those who chose to look away or not look deeper, and how much damage reverberates through the system.

The husbands, Holly Gramazio. Lauren, single, is met one night at the door of her flat by her (previously unknown) husband Michael. When he pops up to the attic to change a lightbulb, another husband comes back down; and, every time Lauren gets one up into the attic, she gets another one back, while with each new husband her own life and those of her close friends also change. It’s a great set-up and it rattles along (what if one of the husbands is awful? What if they move away from the flat?) for the first half before running off the rails a bit in the second. Lauren meets a husband to whom the same thing is happening (also, unlike Lauren, he’s about 50:50 whether he ends up with husbands or wives), which was great, but then things go wrong with a husband Lauren loses whom she wanted to keep, and in response Lauren does some pretty terrible things and it’s hard to know how terrible the author thinks they are. I see the author is a game designer, but the book is pitched as “how to choose when there are so many options” dating app rom com rather than “if I treat other people as NPCs how can I do this ethically, especially if I can just reset everything”, which is what I would have liked her to explore more.

Evil under the sun, Agatha Christie
The Sittaford mystery, Agatha Christie

Evil is Poirot staying in a sunny seaside house in Devon when the alluring Arlena, who is having an affair with another woman’s husband, gets herself strangled, and Sittaford is a standalone murder in a snowstorm that took place at the exact time as a group of related people were having a seance and the table spelled out MURDER and the name of the victim. I liked the ideas behind the solution of Evil while not finding them entirely convincing; Sittaford is solider in that respect, but neither are top-tier.

The ark, Haruo Yuki (trans. Jim Rion, who does the Uketsu books). A group of friends exploring the wilderness find a strange abandoned bunker; when they go down into it, an earthquake traps them. The only way out would require one of them to stay behind and face certain death. Helpfully, someone then commits murder; if they can work out who it was, they can force that person to stay behind, although this assumes a) they cooperate and b) whoever it is stops killing more people…

I did like the atmosphere in this, although it could have done with more pace and a lot less “we’re being murdered so let’s split up and go to places individually”. The characters aren’t that well-developed, but there is at least depth to some of them, and the final twist is satisfyingly dark.

Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis One of those books I’ve always meant to read but never got around to before (I think I first read about it in Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin, which means it’s been at least 30 years of good intentions. The Cupid and Psyche myth, retold from Orual’s (Psyche’s older half-sister) point of view, with and gosh Orual is a fascinating protagonist, flawed and believable, and a product of her society even when she breaks from it (I note that Joy Davidman was at the very least the first reader on this and at most a co-author). The way Orual’s realisation of how her (selfish) love for others has hurt them reverberates.

Tags:

Filched from

viridian5:

Put your mp3 player/phone/streaming collection on shuffle and write down the first line of the first twenty songs. Post the poem that results.

Just as I thought it was goin' alright
Can we forget about the things I said when I was drunk?
I don't want to spend the rest of my life
I like where we are
I know a place

Well, you can't place faith in material things
Following every time
I've got a lot of thoughts
Joey
Here we go

Lady, when you're with me I'm smiling
There's a new dance that's going around
Okay what is it tonight?
If she wants to dance and drink all night
Panic on the streets of London

When I die and they lay me to rest
Sorrow found me when I was young
If you think I'm magical
Maybe I've forgotten
Time, time, time

( List of songs )

I swear I have songs newer than 1990, but this is what kept coming up on shuffle.

Current Mood: curious

Tags:

memes,
music

1) Looks like this obsession with identifying people online is spreading to all sorts of places. I've been working with two survey companies for a long time for some extra cash. One of them recently prompted users to verify their accounts, offering better opportunities if they did. The other unexpectedly asked me to set up verification to access my account, which included uploading ID and revealing other information.

This is an account I've had for over 20 years. No matter what age I was when I opened it, I would clearly be of age since, and I have contacted customer service various times in the past due to problems. They know I'm a real person who has almost always accessed them from the same IP. I even had "diamond status", meaning I got extra points with each survey completed for faster rewards, as a result of being such a longtime member.

Apparently that was unimportant. I closed my account and they have not contacted me. Makes me wonder how many other people are doing so as well.

2) Watched Elle ( Read more... )

2) Brazil versus Norway. ( Read more... )

England versus Mexico. ( Read more... )

Portugal versus Spain. ( Read more... )

United States versus Belgium. ( Read more... )

Argentina versus Egypt. ( Read more... )

Switzerland versus Colombia. ( Read more... )

Poll #34812 Kudos Footer-597

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Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

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In another burst of Shetland-related creativity, I... wrote a fic? For the first time in a decade?? I've never written boyslash before??? What is happening. Anyway here it is:

sail your sea, meet your storm (2380 words) by usuallyhats
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Shetland (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Duncan Hunter/Jimmy Perez
Characters: Jimmy Perez, Duncan Hunter
Summary:

"I don't know," Duncan half shouts over the din, "I just want to be out there," and he's gone before Jimmy can say anything more. Without really considering what he's doing, Jimmy follows him out, closing the door behind him in an attempt to keep the storm outside where it belongs.

Tags:

fic,
tv: shetland

Who should get the $$ per month I was donating to Graham Platner?

We survived Monday! Go us!

The phones were as expected, bullshit, but I spent my day working on scheduling. I called a bunch of cardiac MRIs to see if I could fill up the rest of the Columbia schedule for July. I did, and now I have to work on August. But seeing as we are booked into October, I should still be able to find people. It's just finding the right people. They want to practice the new protocols, which require patients with certain tests and diagnoses. It was much easier when I only was looking at the address to see if they might go to Columbia. Now it's complicated and defintiely takes longer to get together.

The one nice thing is that I've struck up a comradeship with the head of MRI in Columbia, so I can send him questions and get quick answers, whether it's about cardiacs or not.

After work, we got the table cleared, and set up for hot pot. We have a split hot pot so we can do half spicy broth (for Jess) and then a non-spicy broth for my sister and me. Last night I was especially grateful, because that broth lit Jess up! They were sucking down water, and needed breaks because their mouth was burning.

I had only gotten a tray of beef brisket, a tray of pork belly, some rice cakes, and some enoki mushrooms, but it was plenty. We ate the shit out of everything, but we had enough.

Next time I may get from Weee! I think they're slightly cheaper.

It was delicious and I loved the sauces we had gotten. There was a sesame garlic that was especially tasty. All in all, very good.

But the highlight of my day was popping onto facebook near the end of my work day, and seeing an ad that says that Danny Elfman will be playing at the Filmore in Silver Spring in September! He's one I never thought I'd get to see in person, so I'm very excited. I don't necessarily love his new stuff, but I do love his older mucis, and I love me some Oingo Boingo. I had to go wake Jess up from their nap to tell them, because they're the one who got me into him. Unfortunately, it's on a Monday night, so I'm going to have to take some time off for work, but I think I'll be okay with PTO time. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, so y'know, thanks for the warning!

I was able to get an appt on Thurs to check out the sudden period, so I'm fully anxious about that. I have vulvodynia, so the speculum and the probable ultrasound is going to suck for me. Last time I had a pap smear, I was basically out of commission for 3 days because of the severe pain. I'm hoping they're a little better than that, but I'm nervous.

Lizzy continues to be her cute little playful self. My favorite thing, when she's tired, she'll go sit in the strings of my robe, and just look around.

And then you go from her deep, pensive thoughts to "Huh? What? Hey has that ceiling been there this whole time?

She's such a darling baby.

Today, I shall call some patients back, and see what I can do with this one entitled patient.

Maybe, if I feel especially energetic, I'll go to the farmer's market. The one gentleman has pot pies, which could be a good meal.

I do have some produce, so I could just stay home and cook. Might do that, too. Depends on the weather. If it's raining, I'm probably not going to the farmer's market. Right now it's showing scattered T-storms, so I'm thinking cooking. I don't know what yet, but I'll think about it. I know I have some turnips, so I could mash them. Though I think I'd need to get a little milk to put in that. That would be doable.

I love farmer's markets, but I hate going out in the summer. Sometimes, I will go to the big one downtown. The one by us is more expensive, and kind of bougie. The one downtown is a little less upscale. There are some boutique places, but more of it is just farms. The meat can still be very expensive, but it's also very good. I kind of just want a good burger. We got Checker's yesterday, but everything was just so fucking salty.

So maybe Burgers. And I'll grab a bag of chips to go with it. That should make people happy.

Okay, time for me to hop off and get ready for work.

Last Lizzy for the day, she knows you're going to crush today. Everyone have an outstanding Tuesday!

I have acquired a clarinet and as of today, I know the fingering for five notes (C, D, E, F, and G), and only squeaked a couple of times while figuring out the register key (which pops it up an octave). Fortunately music reading is music reading, so my ability to read music for a clarinet is just like reading music for a guitar is just like reading music for a trumpet is just like reading music for a hymn.

I wonder how some of the hymns are for a clarinet?

It is a red clarinet, and I am rather excited to get to play more on it, but I am also having to remind myself that learning is no more than an hour a day because my mouth muscles get tired.

I'm hoping that the delivery tomorrow of the new dressers from Ikea don't come in the middle of my assigned practice time. I almost started looking up my Uncle's phone number on the internet to call him up and ask, "UNCLE ANDREW WHY WILL THE CLARINET NOT MAKE NOISE???" and I shifted my chin and then it made noise! I have to relax my face a lot more than I did playing trumpet.

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Rat te Kāinga
Current Music: Holly yelling

Tags:

It's Monday already. I actually slept fairly decently last night, so it's not so bad. I'm trying the new thing where I take pills at 5am instead of when I get up at 4am. Just to give it an extra half hour that it'll work in the evening. We'll see.

It ended up being a fun and relaxing Sunday, so that was good. Early on, I was worried, because one of my players lost power in a storm. Fortunately, it came back up well before game time. Whoever her power company is, they're good because it was only down about 45 minutes, it that.

We kind of chilled out and relaxed for in the morning, until I discovered that I seem to have a period. Complete with cramps. Since it's been a while since I had a period, I do have to go get it checked out, but since it's a full period, I'm not quite as worried as I'd be if it was just spotting. Still, I'll go to the GYN soon to get it looked at.

Once I'd taken some ibuprofen and it had a little time to kick in, it was time for Marchen, which is always one of the high points of my week.

This time, the party was arriving in the fantasy analogue of Amsterdam, and immediately headed to the castle to do their check in with the nobles. It went great, as the Piper insulted the queen and they were sent on some fetch quests.

On the way to their fetch quest, the rogue got a sending from the Regent who sent them on the quest (who is also the paladin's beloved), Kristoff. Kristof let her know that they'd found one of her kidnapped children, but that the other had been sold to a hag, and his trail lost. The Regent's men are going to go to a nearby country and speak to the great Baba Yaga for information, as queen of the Hags. Then, the Regent, who up until now seemed like a bit of a socialist, asked what she would have him do with the slaver who they captured. When the rogue gave the word, he whipped out phantasmal killer and executed the man himself, showing off a ruthless streak that most of the party didn't know about. The scene ended with the rogue telling the ranger in confidence that she thought she might be pregnant.

Then, we switched over to the paladin, who wandered into a street festival. IT turned out to be the festival of the Koningsmoordenaar, or Kingkiller. As he moved through it, he discovered that it was a festival to the worst day of his life, and something that he considered the worst thing he'd ever done--murdering the former king to put the Regent he was deeply in love with on the throne. But he snuck in and stabbed the king in front of his children, while the blood splattered on them. And there they were, celebrating it. Celebrating him. There was a reenactment and all. He dissociated at the reinactment, watching the thinned strawberry jam splatter onto the children's giggling faces. The bard pulled him out. Afterwards, we had a little fun roleplay with the local vendors, which involved a flower crown for the pied piper's rat.

Then, it was back to the other team, where a werewolf with personal information on the ranger started shit. The combat was short, but the werewolf attacked in a way that indicated that she knew who the ranger was by referencing the biggest trauma of the ranger's life. The post fight was fun, where the ranger questioned the werewolf who did nothing but spout off how the other members of her pack were out there, and they would end the ranger, and by the way how was her litte sister? Now the ranger is in full freak out.

Then back to the festival, where the pied piper found them being watched by a figure. As he turned, she saw the white knotted scars on his back where he'd been whipped, and she followed, not sure why she was. The piper is a great character. She's angry and nihilistic, and doesn't seem to give a fuck about anyone. But she followed. And she found a creepy flesh golem, who didn't speak, but did sign. Eventually, his master came out, and it became obvious that he was not treating his creation, who he called his son, very well. The bard first tried to buy the golem, but then ended up fighting the dude and killling him for the golem's freedom. Between the golem and the master, they ended up doing quite a bit of damage to the paladin, but it ended well. The piper had her rats eat the body, and they sunk the bones in a bag with rocks into the canal.

It ended up being such a fun session, during which

poisontaster burst out with "T, I love you, but you are a motherfucker." High praise! It was awesome, and revealed a little more about each character. And now they know a few new things about the Regent who sent them.

It was a super fun three hours. Afterwards, the discord was a flurry of messages, with things to do next session and theories and what not. It's glorious for me as the DM, because every message is a little bit of validation that I made good choices.

After that, we had a quiet afternoon. My back was really sore so I took a weed ad dfrifted through the rest of the afternoon. Today, my back/uterus is again pissed and are giving me crap, but alas no weed before work, so I'll need to take some ibuprofen and tylenol and see if that helps. It's been so long since I had cramps that they're really annoying me. It's just not a pain I'm used to.

We got Lizzy a donut that she can get into and play or onto, and she adores it. There's a jingly ball on a string, and she loves to play with it.

Today, we shall have work. I have a doctor's appt tomorrow that I'm not sure about. I was supposed to get labs done, and I haven't. I could run up and get them done this morning, but I don't really feel like it. On the other hand, maybe I could get an referral to the GYN and maybe get in sooner.

I've got til 10am to cancel it, so I may try to call a couple of GYN offices before then and see what I can find.

Okay time for me to get myself together. I hope you all have a stellar Monday!

( The Untamed )
( The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System )
( Marvel )
( Star Wars )
( Harry Potter )
( Crossovers )

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1) Saw Project Hail Mary and had no idea it was a comedic buddy film with pathos. ( Read more... )

2) Also saw Sheep Detectives. ( Read more... )

3) Switzerland vs. Algeria. ( Read more... )

Spain versus Austria. ( Read more... )

Portugal versus Croatia. ( Read more... )

Australia versus Egypt. ( Read more... )

Argentina versus Cape Verde. ( Read more... )

Finally the round of 32 ends with Ghana vs. Colombia. ( Read more... )

Paraguay versus France. ( Read more... )

Canada versus Morocco. ( Read more... )

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fandom: heated rivalry

I started my day seeing Saba had been to the Glasgow MCR show and had sent me Insta DM photos of a certain bassist she thought I'd enjoy seeing. No idea how she knew that....

But yeah, they were great to see, and great to get a Mikey fix :D Also, MCR performed Ambulance for the first time, so it was excellent to hear that live via various videos.

Bodhisitting didn't go as I expected on Friday. Well, it did to an extent in that we were there to nearly 1am which I had expected, but things for Kayleigh and Lucy were a bit of a clusterfuck.

Bodhi was no bother to look after, we took her out to get some stuff for tea, she ate, played, did a magic spell to try and make me move faster and asked why I had dusty toes ie, dry skin on my toes. Then finally fell asleep at 10pm.

At which point Kayleigh had messaged saying they were on their way back as she was in a load of pain and had to leave the concert after two songs. ( cut for medical stuff )

On a nicer note, we went to a cake shed yesterday. There are now four of them in the local area and by chance we passed the closest one to where we lived on Wednesday, but it was closed then. If you haven't heard of them, they're basically small sheds that are made to look pretty and placed outside private home. Then the home owners/bakers, bake cakes and stock them in the sheds for people to browse and buy on an honesty basis, though they do all have CCTV. It's all above board, with hygiene ratings etc and many have fridges inside so things like cheesecakes can be sold.

Anyway, the sheds only open on a weekend so yesterday we went to buy something. I got a white chocolate cookie and James a double choc cheesecake, and they were delicious. But, also a bit expensive so I can see the cake sheds being an occasional treat.

It's England v Mexico tonight and usually I'd be half watching the match, but no way will I be awake at 1am for kick-off. I do wonder how many people will take advantage of the pubs being allowed to stay open until 5am, and hope Corey doesn't have to work until then. What did amuse me this morning was an email and push notification from Greggs saying they're not selling their Mexican chicken range today. It's good publicity for them, but sucks for the people who want a tasty chicken sandwich.

Wow, we had some major storms last night. We didn't lose power, but goddamn, it was gnarly. A couple of times, I heard Yoda clawing at the door to try to get away from it, poor thing. Lizzy got perturbed with one big crash, but overall, she gave no fucks. She is at home and safe, and she wants treats and that's all that mattered. Unlike Yoda, she is not neurotic at all. She's got ADHD like whoa, but she's the most confident little thing on the planet.

She continues to be also the friendliest cat. Apparently, the brother in law came over and slipped in to see her. She was all over him, wanting to rub against him and get pets. This delighted BIL, who suffered through like 8 years of us only having Boodle, who was deeply skittish. She'd allow the occasional ear scritch, but not much.

We slipped out early before it got too hot to go see a movie. Unfortunately, the theater we went to had AC on the struggle bus. We stayed and saw the movie, but good lord, my shirt was stuck to my back by the time we finished.

We saw He-Man, which was a lot of fun. It has a lot of cringetastic moments as Adam tries to workshop his way across Eternos in that fun HR way. Still, the movie has a lot to say on Toxic Masculinity, and how you can be a man without being an asshole. Adam is sweet, good hearted and a little bit of an idiot. He's only He-Man in a few scenes, and even then, he prefers conflic deescalation than beating the hell out of someone. When he does decide that talk time is over, he gives every Gen Xer exactly what they wanted. The CGI was dicey at points, where it just looked fake, but honestly, not a dealbreaker in this type of movie. Idris Elba spent the entire movie chewing on scenery. The man knew exactly what movie he was in, and he worked it. The early cameo by (spoiler) was perfect, and made baby-me happy as hell.

After the movie, once we'd cooled down a touch, we decided to grab lunch. After my usual schtick of settling, then changing my mind, we got Indian food, which was delicious. There's one place near us that does something called Junelly. It's a step from Tikka Masala, but more buttery, and it's SO good. I get the Himalayan Junelly, which has paneer instead of a meat for the protein. It was perfect for a hot day. We also had the big ass Samosas, which were lightly spicy, and hit real good, even though they're deep fried.

Then it was home to relax and spend time with Lizzy. Towards evening, I started thinking about Marchen today and how much fun the introductions were, with the musical cues behind them. So I went looking for some good instrumental music. I found way more than I needed, but I think I have theme music for everyone's scenes. Jess said that I was sitting here muttering "too pretty." I found a lot of very pretty music. Unfortunately, in one case I was looking for music for a battle that could change the course of a character's arc. So I wanted something crunchy. Fortunately, I found a dude who has done heavy metal covers of a lot of songs, and I found something I liked. For some things, Bardcore just won't cut it. But I do plan to use the Bardcore version of "Hips Don't Lie" at a later time, because it amuses me. Also an instrumental of Anti-Hero, the one Taylor Swift song I know. But those are for later. When I mentioned that I was sourcing music, my players immediately gave me ideas, and I'm definitely using one of them. Unfortunately, the song is a song from a playstation game, so there's the little noise at the beginning, which I kind of hate, but the music was too perfect.

There's one cover that I can't use for many moons, but when I'm able to, the needle drop is going to be amazing.

I've got two tracks from Hazbin hotel, and I thank whoever did these instrumentals, because they're super choice. One is Bardcore, and one is one of the best songs for an antagonist introduction. It just immediately establishes the character as a threat, and gives them a WWE style entrance song.

At this rate, I'm going to be dropping "One Winged Angel" at some point.

I'm so excited about game today. So much planned. I don't know how far we'll get, but we shall see how things go. There are basically four scenes (for four players) and each is going to touch on the players backstory, and their trauma. I'm really curious to see how they play out, and how under the character's skin we can get.

The thing I love about this server is that I can do more adult and fucked up things. There are very few lines. I have hard and fast rules about no sexual assault and no animal cruelty. If the animal has an attack, it's fair game. If not, then it is going to live for all eternity. Mind you, I don't care of the player's backstory has sexual assault, we're just not going to play it out. And flashbacks will be limited.

I've got a pile of severely traumatized characters in this game. We've got the paladin who is in love with the current Regent of Hamlin, and killed his brother, the former king in front of his kids to put the Regent on the throne. He immediately took a vow of non violence, which lasted like 6 sessions before someone threatened his boo. Now he's taken a new vow to the Regent, but is still haunted by his past. Second, we've got the rogue whose children have been kidnapped by slavers to help pay the debt her husband incurred with the Thieves guild. The Regent has promised to find her kids, if she'll do this job for them. Next up is the shifter ranger with a dark secret in her past, and a sister she'll do anything for. Some areas they're going into are not shifter friendly, so we've got good danger there. Last, but not least is our Pied Piper bard. She's got a death wish, and doesn't like anything or anyone. She's sarcastic and occasionally cruel, but her past is horrific and I love working with her. I will be interested to see how her character arc goes over time. Does she find a reason to live, or does she keep her nihilistic death wish?

Ugh, I want it to be 12pm instead of 7am! I've been waiting for this a whole week! The players are pretty good at keeping the hype going, but I threw in a few gifs on the server as well, just to keep them guessing.

They're in the medieval version of Amsterdam today. There is a fairy tale they'll interact with, but it may not be for a bit, as there are quests to complete. I don't expect that they'll get to that today. Depends on how long the quests take. The fairy tales are fun, but the player interaction is the best part. I know I've said it before, but the role play in this game is top notch. The characters are at the uneasy "We're not friends, I don't necessarily even like you, but I'll die to keep you alive during this quest."

Tonight, if it's not too hot, we may have hot pot. It did occurr to me that I don't have the sauces, so I will put in a small order at the Hmart to get them. I should make Yoda's food today, but I'm thinking about waiting til tomorrow because it's still going to be 93 degrees, and tomorrow it's only 83.

We're supposed to have more strong storms this evening, so that'll be fun. They're not supposed to hit til around 6, so we'll have dinner early just in case of power outage. Kock on wood, the power has been staying on pretty well. I think the biggest power outage we've had was for about 10 minutes. I think because our wires are buried, it's been pretty good.

I'm so grateful that dad is gone and we don't have to worry about the power going out, or the AC failing. It would suck, but I'm not trying to figure out how long his canisters of Oxygen will last or if we can keep him cool enough to stay out of the hospital. I have to worry about the dog and the cat, and if needed, Yoda can go to daycare, and Lizzy can be boarded. It would suck but it could be done.

Tomorrow, we shall go back to work, and it shall probably be batshit. Day after a holiday weekend always is. I can hope that they're all still on vacation, but I doubt it.

I ended up using some of my PTO for Friday, but I still have enough that I can put in PTO for the Weird Al concert. The Animate!Philly con will have to wait a week.

Okay, Jess is up, so I'm going to hop off and poke at Marchen some more. I'm sure there's more trauma I can wring out of this! Everyone have an amazing Sunday!

fancake's theme for July is Unreliable Narrator! This round is dedicated to all the cats out there claiming they haven't been fed. It's a good story, but we know the truth.

If you have any questions about this theme, or the comm, come talk to me!

Tags:

let them eat fancake

What I'm Doing Wednesday

wednesday reads and things

Children of Strife (Children of Time #4), by Adrian Tchaikovsky

flop

Put your hands up and reach for the sky, cry for absolution

a list of cats I see around

Books read, June

Meme Time!

On to the Quarterfinals!

fic: sail your sea, meet your storm (shetland)

Well, ugh.

Twenty five years and my life is still trying to get up that great big hill of hope.

I am learning the woodwinds

Even now when you're here you are moving, hysterically seeking out what needs improving

Untamed, Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, SPN, SVSSS, and Heaven Offical's Blessing recs

On to the Round of 16!

What will everyone else think, though?

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All those things that you desire, you will find here in the fire.

Fancake's Theme for July

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