musesfool: safety first, victoria! (safety first!)
i did it all for the robins ([personal profile] musesfool) wrote2025-08-09 07:02 pm

he got a great charge on it

Arrgh, book 7 is not the last book! And the next one doesn't come out until next year! Arrgh!

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anais_pf: (Default)
anais_pf ([personal profile] anais_pf) wrote in [community profile] thefridayfive2025-08-07 03:03 pm

The Friday Five for 8 August 2025

This week's questions were suggested by [livejournal.com profile] sparklesalad

1. What is one food (or meal) you used to hate but now love?

2. If you had to give up one of your favorite foods (or meals) for good, what would it be, and why?

3. Which food seems like it should be healthy and isn't, and do you eat it? Why?

4. If you were an item of food, personified, what would you be and why?

5. You've seen tomatoes and pies used for this purpose ... now think of a more inventive item of food one could throw at someone. What is it and why would throwing it at someone be hilarious?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
gwyn: (middleman german film)
gwyn ([personal profile] gwyn) wrote2025-08-06 05:04 pm
Entry tags:

Welcome to the boomtown

I don't think I've mentioned before (well, because I never post, so how could I have) that I'm going to WorldCon this month, because it's in Seattle and I figure this is the only chance I'd ever have to do that. I don't have any particular interest in the Hugos or things like that, but I've been going to SF cons since attending my first Norwescon back in 1983, I think, although that definitely tapered off after I discovered what we used to define as "media fandom" back in the day. It was a way to separate SF cons, which were primarily literature based in the olden dayes, from the kind of fandom as we know it now, which encompasses a much wider array of stuff, especially TV/movies. I'm so old, I remember the sneering way the gatekeeper wannabes talked about people who were at cons for Star Wars and Trek or even Road Warrior or whatever. Kind of ridiculous, when you think about it.

ANYway, I'm actually pretty nervous about it. I'm only going on Friday and Saturday, and of course it looks like a lot of the panels I want to see are in the late afternoon/evening (especially [personal profile] wickedwords ' fanfic panels). So that means I'll be basically without any place to rest or relax (I don't know, maybe they'll be better than Emerald City Comic Con, but there was literally no place to sit and rest if you were less than perfectly abled, or even sit and eat most of the time, and there will be a couple thousand more people at WorldCon than ECCC) except on a floor or what have you, and since I live here, I'm just going to take a lyft in or maybe the water taxi. And my fatigue has been through the roof lately; I've been trying a new drug and it's making things actually worse, plus this month is turning out to be just bananas crowded for me. I just need time to regroup but there isn't any.

I thought about getting a hotel nearby, but I'm not sure it'd be much better; when I hurt, I hurt. The room blocks are all sold out, too, so anything would be pretty pricey, plus I'd have to wait to check in, and then check out, when I'd be doing con stuff, so it seems fairly pointless.

I do wish I could go to some of the other days' events, since [personal profile] marthawells is the GoH this year, but, well, cancer always has other ideas. WorldCon does seem kind of different in that they don't frontload all their best stuff on Fridays and Saturdays; it's a long con, and I would love to go to a couple other days, but that's not in the cards. I also wish so much I could go to nighttime events, especially because I love masquerade contests, but I know my limitations. I will have to look into whether having a day pass for Friday will allow me to see the streaming masquerade event...

I'm hoping to see [personal profile] mecurtin, and I think a few other fellow fans here on DW are going, so if you might want to meet up at some point (I honestly don't know what to expect about going through reg on Friday, I had a horrendous experience with Sakura Con years ago, where I was trapped in line for six fucking hours and it left my body broken in a way I've never recovered from, but WorldCon does have an accessible line so fingers crossed), I would love to see people, just because I'm afraid of being lonesome--and also, being able to see people will help with the stamina part, I think. And of course, if you want someone to roam the dealer's room, I will definitely be looking to do that.
musesfool: Mal (i will not speak to lie)
i did it all for the robins ([personal profile] musesfool) wrote2025-08-06 08:07 pm

slow climb, but quick to descend

They are installing some fancy new app-based intercom system in my building, which I'm not particularly a fan of, but I dutifully downloaded the app as directed. They haven't told us when the new system is going to go live, or given us really any other instructions on how it works, but I hope I won't have to keep the ringer on because unless I'm expecting an important call, I Do Not Do That. I guess we'll see what happens!

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Reading Wednesday!

What I've just finished
So a number of people have been talking about the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and I thought it was graphic novels, so I checked out a sample on Saturday. It's not comics, it's something called LitRPG, the trappings of which are a little tedious to me, but overall, it is pretty engrossing reading. I've finished the first 4 books of the series (out of 7) and I'm 2/3 of the way through book 5. It is about our eponymous protagonist Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, surviving a Hunger Games like set up after aliens invade earth. Expandspoilers )

What I'm reading now
Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade. So far I find the setting more compelling than the last 2 books (though the train book was my least favorite in terms of settings) and I'm wondering how the rest of the book is going to go!

What I'm reading next
The last(?) 2 books in the series! I don't know for certain if #7 is the last book and I haven't wanted to google because I don't want to be spoiled. The series has taken some interesting turns I wasn't expecting and I enjoy that when it happens. Hopefully they can stick the landing!

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firethesound: (Default)
cunning as a weevil ([personal profile] firethesound) wrote2025-08-06 12:55 pm

WIP Wednesday

A pretty successful week, wordcount-wise! Life is still pretty busy and hectic so while the words are flowing, writing time is still in frustratingly short short supply. I've been trying to write at least a little bit every single day, but I still ended up with a couple of zero days this week because sometimes the only available time I have comes at the very end of the day when my brain feels like a boiled potato. Telling myself that all words are good words, and every little bit gets me that much closer to finished!

New words this week : 6935 words which is awesome! About half this wordcount came from a single day, which is even more awesome. It's the best feeling when a new idea just clicks, and the words fly out onto the page.

WIPs worked on this week : 2, with no new WIPs (yay!)

The Old Guard

food truck au : 6165 words which brings the total to 7156 words and I guess I'm not finishing this one in the 5k I thought I would lol. It is pretty close to finished, though, so I think it'll be around 10k (assuming I keep it at a T rating, if I bump it up to E then obviously that'll add an extra scene and take a little longer). Absolutely delighted with it, it's the sort of silly nonsense that I used to write a lot of and it's just so much fun.

Redamancy : 320 words which brings the total to 5872 words. I didn't actually work on this, but I did some writing for the food truck au that started to take it in a direction that I didn't feel really worked for it, and I think I can reuse some of the dialogue in this one so I just copy/pasted all of it over to sort out later.
tozka: Woman looking slightly downward in a field of green grass (van gogh pensive)
mx. tozka ([personal profile] tozka) wrote2025-08-06 12:49 pm

📖 reading log: seasons of the wild by sy montgomery

Book Info

Topics: Nonfiction, Nature

LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/3092900/

Acquired from: Little Free Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA [see visit log]

Started reading: August 6, 2025

Finished reading: August 9, 2025

Review

A book with enthusiastic views of nature (animals, plans, seasons, etc.) presented in a way that just wanted me to see sources. Like, many mentions of things that happened in “recent times” (the 90s) but in a way that reminded me of those newspaper tidbit sections that were just there to give you something to read. Bibliography at the end which does include things used to write the book itself, but I personally would’ve preferred something more science-y rather than casual info-sharing.

Reading Updates

Page 0: This one didn’t come with a bookmark like Moby-Duck did, so I’m using one I got from Downtown Books in Milwaukee. I picked up this book partly because of the topic, partly because the blurbs on the back (“Sy Montgomery has insight into the Others that every nature writer on this continent envies.”), and partly because the author photos shows Sy holding a barred owl.

ExpandRead the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

tozka: illustrated flowers and butterflies (nature spring flowers + butterfly)
mx. tozka ([personal profile] tozka) wrote2025-08-05 10:24 am

morning in the garden

Managed to get up slightly earlier than usual today and got out to the garden just before 7:30am. Absolutely perfect temperature, somewhere in the mid 60s and only needed a light jacket (which I happened to buy in Chicago recently! Score!).

Major difference in sounds from previous mornings! Lots more chipmunk sounds– and in fact I saw lots more chipmunks, too. Fairly blasting my eardrums with noises (birds, chipmunks, cicadas, etc.) and only very minimal human-neighbor noises this time.

Did a lot of chipmunk-watching. The easiest way to spot chipmunks was to look where the sounds were coming from, and then watch for moving branches. Eventually I was able to make out little chipmunk shadows racing around, and it was fun to watch them scream at each other.

Even more exciting was the chipmunk(s) who came close to my chair. One even went to far as to run UNDER my chair, after we accidentally made eye contact.

Spotted several birds of unknown type, but probably finches, of various colors (yellow, brown, black/white). Also saw a bright red one, larger than a finch but doesn’t seem large enough to be a cardinal. Some small white butterflies visiting flowers, and ants investigating my coffee mug per usual. (No worries: I have a silicone mug cover to keep curious insects out from my coffee.)

Later, after heading back inside to my temporary writing desk, the groundhog ventured out and snuffled around some bushes looking for food.

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

musesfool: orange slices (orange you glad)
i did it all for the robins ([personal profile] musesfool) wrote2025-08-03 02:55 pm

the summer of four to three

I made a half-batch of corn fritters this morning, but having neither scallions nor chives, I used garlic and onion powder and Italian seasoning, and Parmesan instead of cheddar for the cheese. They are a little bland. Also, I definitely need to dig out my splatter guard, because they do spit and pop while they fry. If you have a fear of frying - and I know some people (reasonably) do - definitely invest in a splatter guard.

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runpunkrun: combat boot, pizza, camo pants = punk  (punk rock girl)
Punk ([personal profile] runpunkrun) wrote in [community profile] fandomcalendar2025-08-03 08:35 am

Fancake Theme for August: Marriage of Convenience

Photograph of a young Vietnamese couple in a sunny urban environment, with added text: Marriage of Convenience, at Fancake. A bride in a white dress and sunglasses leaves her groom behind at a bus stop. The bride is smiling and carrying a bouquet of lilies as she hikes up the long skirt of her dress and walks away. The groom is in the background, wearing a dark grey suit and sitting on a bench. He's blurry, but it looks like he might be smiling at her.
[community profile] fancake is a thematic recommendation community where all members are welcome to post recs, and fanworks of all shapes and sizes are accepted. Check out the community guidelines for the full set of rules.

This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!
musesfool: a loaf of bread (staff of life)
i did it all for the robins ([personal profile] musesfool) wrote2025-08-01 08:36 pm

he is throwing a gem tonight

Anyone got a good recipe for corn fritters? We used to make them when I was a kid, but I have not turned up a recipe in the folder of old recipes I inherited from my parents, and neither my brother nor sister had a recipe. I'm guessing it was probably the Bisquick recipe, but I don't have any Bisquick, so I will probably end up halving the Smitten Kitchen recipe.

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firethesound: (Default)
cunning as a weevil ([personal profile] firethesound) wrote2025-08-01 01:20 pm
Entry tags:

July Wrap-Up / August Goals

2025 GOALS

2021 Total Wordcount Goal : 13,708 / 50,000

2021 Total Writing Days : 12 / 365


JULY
Well this has been more productive than I thought it would be! I had set 8k as my goal for the month, and felt like that was pretty ambitious considering I didn't start tracking wordcount until halfway through the month. And then I ended up going well past it!

July Wrap-Up : I finished the month with 13,708 words and I am over the moon about it. A total of 2 WIPs & 1 new work got words, with all words going into 3 Old Guard fics.

AUGUST
My biggest goal this month is to keep this momentum going!! I also want to post at least a fic a month through the end of the year.

August Wordcount Goal : 10k and while I was tempted to make it higher, I think this is probably more realistic. August is a pretty busy month, I have family visiting for a lot of it, I'm not sure how my writing time is going to shake out.

August Fics to Focus On
food truck au : because it's so close to done already. Inspiration hit like a ton of bricks with this one and it's practically writing itself. Writing has not been this effortless or this fun in absolutely ages, and I'd forgotten how much I love it. Estimated wordcount, 10k.

Old Kingdom au : But probably not until the end of the month. I'm hoping a short break from this will be good for me. Food truck au is basically the polar opposite of this one and I think that shifting gears completely, plus the momentum of (hopefully!!) getting something done and posted will carry me through the worst of the struggle with this one. I love the idea. I have such a vivid image in my mind of what I want to happen and how, and the words just won't come. Estimated wordcount, 40k