Network

Weekly (ish) check in

How goes the decluttering? Have you shifted anything out of the house? Found something to sort through? Had thoughts on things you can let go of?

Comments open to locals, lurkers, drive by sticky beaks, and anyone I've forgotten to mention.

Congratulations to everyone who has found and/or disposed on any clutter in the last week! I haven't had the oomph to come and post replies to celebrate you, but I cheer each comment notification when I read it.

ps: would anyone like a lowkey challenge for January? I have some ideas...

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Yuletide!

I got THREE lovely fics in Yuletide, two Hut 33 and one Saiyuki Gaiden.

Keeping up with the Fanshawe-Marshalls (8160 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 6/6
Fandom: Hut 33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Archie (Hut 33), Charles Gardiner, Gordon (Hut 33), Joshua Fanshawe-Marshall, Minka (Hut 33), Mrs Best (Hut 33)
Additional Tags: friendship if you squint, Canon Typical Shenanigans

Time flies like a knife (811 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hut 33, Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Minka (Hut 33), Archie (Hut 33), Charles Gardiner, Joshua Fanshawe-Marshall, Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Gordon (Hut 33)

Prince of Flowers (790 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Saiyuki Gaiden
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Konzen Douji, Original Characters, Tenpou Gensui, Son Goku (Saiyuki), Kenren Taishou
Additional Tags: gatherings and events, Gods, Attempted Kidnapping, Food, Temptation
Summary: At an event thrown by the Goddess of Mercy, Konzen and his charge encounter a very flowery deity.

All are well worth your immediate attention!

I wrote four fics - I'd say "See if you can guess which", but given the Great Revealing it wouldn't be much of a challenge (wouldn't be anyway - as always, I'm visible from space).

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recs

Nine recs in seven fandoms

Over at my journal! Fandoms are Winslow Boy (1999), Blue Castle - Montgomery, Carmilla - Le Fanu, The Enchanted April - von Arnim, The Ministry of Time - Kaliane Bradley, Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen, and Toby Series - Dorita Fairlie Bruce.

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event: voiceteam

Voice Team Mystery Box - Goals

The discord has now opened for this year's

voiceteam Mystery Box (VTMB), the winter mini-round of an event that’s kind of like

battleship but for podfic. This year I’m on team ‘Over The Top’, named for a team full of members who like to make lots of things! ^^

Earlier this year, I posted a list of personal goals for my participation in Battleship 2025, and it really helped guide me whenever I felt overwhelmed by the fast pace and variety of choices/challenges. So, I’m doing it again for VTMB! Here are my top ten wishes for this year’s event.

ONE: Record at least 5 femslash pods
Apparently, December 2025 has been the month of me getting into new femslash pairings, so I’d like to extend that to making podfic about them!

TWO: Repod one of my older pods
I got a comment from the author on a pod I made in Nov' 2020 recently, which was a lovely surprise. However, it reminded me that I’d always wanted to repod that one, as now that I have more experience, I believe could do it better. I’d like to give it a try and hope there’s a repod challenge this year 🤞 (I’ll still try to do it, even if there isn’t.)

THREE: Record at least three podfics that are over an hour in length
I’m aiming for 2026 to be my year of long pods, so it would be a good way to get started selecting longer things to record. With my pacing, a 1-hour podfic will be of a story around the 8,500 – 9,500 mark.

FOUR: Record gift pods for three specific people who aren’t playing VTMB
I’m combining my potential giftees into this one wish in the hopes I can manage all three. For now, I'll call them M, E, and W.

FIVE: Podfic my Night at the Museum fic ‘On Every Horizon’
I’ve wanted to podfic this one since I wrote it, as it’s probably the all-time fic I’m most proud of. I’ve always been intimidated to do so though (mostly because the character voices are so important for Jed and Octavius and I’m not so good at those) but if I can manage it, I’ll be so happy. It's also 15k so 😅

SIX: Record at least three Pokémon podfics
Just because it’s fun ^^

SEVEN: Record a gift for a member of my team I didn’t know before the event
Who knows who it will be and what they’ll be into! I hope I can deliver 💪

EIGHT: Make something physical for a challenge (crafts, baked goods, cosplay, etc.)
I’ve done this in prior rounds, making zines, wax melts, and cocktails. It’s soooo fun to ~~steal~~ use my podfic-related inspiration to make something tangible, so I hope to do it again this year.

NINE: Write something
I don’t care what it is! It could be a drabble, a tutorial, a rec post, but if it’s words, and let’s say… over 300 of them, then it counts. I’d prefer fic, but my writing mojo has been all over the place this year, so my goal can be a little all over the place too :P

TEN: Make new friends!
Voiceteam is great for this 🤞🤞🤞

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The Day in Spikedluv (Saturday, Dec 27)

I did not go downtown today. Instead I was out shoveling the sidewalk by about 7am. (At least the snow was over so I only had to go out and shovel once.) Pip, sick as he is, was blowing snow (the driveway and walking trails). And then he went up to the garage to plow that out.

I did two loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, swept and mopped the dining room and hallway, went for a walk with the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. We had more of the chicken noodle soup for supper.

I read fanfic and watched some HGTV programs. Dr. Pol was my evening background tv. Today I tried the pomegranate tea. It was good, though I was familiar with the flavor because I've had pomegranate tea before when I went to the local coffee shop (that is no longer there). It came in a tin, I think Harney & Sons, or something like that? I looked it up, their Pomegranate Oolong.

Pip had cold sweats this morning and wasn’t able to keep his breakfast down, but he seemed to do better as the day progressed.

Temps started out at 17.4(F) (a whopping 10 degrees warmer than yesterday morning!). According to the ruler I stuck in the snow in different areas, we got about 8" of snow overnight. Thankfully it was not wet and heavy, but even light snow is a pain when you’ve got go shovel 8" of it! Temps reached 25.3.

Mom Update:

Mom sounded pretty good when I talked to her. She’s actually eating more! More being relative. She had some protein drink for breakfast, and some mashed potatoes and peas for lunch. Eating anything solid like that has been a real trial. She was thinking about what to have for supper when I called. One of her friends visited and Sister A called her so she did have some social time.

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Heated Rivalry Ep 6 musings (aka Ilya is the man you want in a crisis)

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

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Hundred Line update

H and I finished the initial run of The Hundred Line together, but he’s less available now so I started the next runthrough on my own. I thought he’d be sad if I did a Darumi-heavy route without him, so I very deliberately did not-that, while not knowing anything else. ( I think this is the Coming of Age route? )

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rfe 2025,
sign-ups

Sign-up update: no unmatchables

There are no unmatchables. Assignments will go out in the next few days.

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rfe 2025,
sign-ups

Sign-ups are closed!

Sign-ups are now closed. Matching will be run and there will be an update once the emails to the unmatchables (if there are any) are sent out.

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recs

Yuletide recs (part 1)

Seven recs at my journal for:

True Detective: Night Country
Kyle Murchison Booth Stories
Companion
Kraken
My Sister and the Prince
Dragonriders of Pern (2x)

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nature

Birb!

To PROVE that I am able to make a post without a single mention of K-9 (oh no I already failed), please enjoy pictures of the bird friends I made at the park yesterday :D

I call them magpies because that's what the black and white and beautiful blue-tinted tail colouring makes me think of, but I don't actually know. They are birb. And they are friendly!

One of them came to hang out with us when we took a little break, just sitting there, all puffy and chirping whenever we stopped paying attention to it. Really, surprisingly chill and friendly! I guess people around there are not jerks to them too much.

I know the quality of my pictures is terrible, but that's to encourage everyone to use their Power Of Imagination! I'm actually providing a great public service 😌

( Picture of a not a bird friend, at the same park )

Also I'm no longer the only person posting for K-9 out there :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D And they write a PoV I'm less comfortable with (FOR NOW) and that is just AWESOME. Happy times!!! 🥳🥳

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nominations

Nominations Closed

Nominations for the tagset have closed! The tagset will be finalized over the next few days as the final round of nominations get approved (there are still almost 200 fandoms pending, plus nominations in existing fandoms, so please be patient), wandering tags get corralled, errors get fixed, etc.

Please stay tuned for at least one more post about nomination questions and notes, just in case you need to clarify a tag you've nominated.

Signups will open on January 1, 12:01 AM.

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Daily Happiness

1. We had a nice lunch at Knott's today. I'm glad we were able to get over there one more time before the end of the holiday season as they have some really good seasonal offerings on the menu right now.

2. No rain! It's so nice to have a dry day. It was sunny but not hot. Looks like we're supposed to have rain again by the end of next week into the week after, but at least we have a few dry days in between.

3. We went over to Handel's tonight to get some peppermint bark ice cream but they are out. The girl at the counter said they might still get some in, but she wasn't sure. At least it's close enough and on the general path of our neighborhood walks that we can pop in here and there to see if they've got it back. We did get some other flavors to bring home, including gingerbread cookie, which I hope is as good as the peppermint bark.

4. I've had some sweaty nights lately (fun) so decided to wash my whole pillow rather than just the pillowcase, but this new pillow is a pain in the ass to wash. Well, the washing is fine, it's the drying. It's got this fiber fill stuff that just does not want to dry, even after multiple goes in the dryer. Finally I hit on the idea of taking the filling out and spreading it out between these four mesh laundry bags we have and drying it like that, which I think will do the trick. For one thing, the mesh bags will get heat to the filling much easier than the thick pillow exterior, plus dividing it into four bags will help spread the filling out so there's not this inner core that's just not getting dry. Fingers crossed! I do have an old pillow I can use tonight if this doesn't get dry, but I've still got a few hours until bedtime.

5. Chloe's such a sweetie. *_*

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recs

2025 Yuletide recs

16 recs in: The Summer Hikaru Died, Karaoke Iko!, The Apothecary Diaries, Hustlers, Edge of Tomorrow, Sinners, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Carmilla, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, When Destiny Brings the Demon, Soulmate Goose AU/Australian biosecurity, Womens Literary RPF, Manchild (Sabrina Carpenter video), Hamlet, French fetish terms

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recs

RECS for Yuletide 2025!

Lots of recs in lots of fandoms from both collections: All of Us Murderers / Amadeus / Bend It Like Beckham / Blackadder / Blue Castle / Born with Teeth & Richard III / Cotillion / Doctrine of Labyrinths / France's Language Watchdog / Galavant / Galaxy Quest / The Goblin Emperor / Jennifer's Body / John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme / Knives Out / Life / Lord Peter Wimsey / The Lottery & The New Yorker RPF / Ludwig / Mansfield Park / Murdle / My Fair Lady / The Nonesuch / North and South / Only Murders in the Building / Page & Sommers / Point Break / Poker Face / The Residence / Revenge / Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead / Running Close to the Wind / The Saint of Steel / Sense and Sensibility / Shadow of the Leviathan / Sinners / Speed / The Sting / Swordcrossed / Swordheart / The X-Files & The Lone Gunmen

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weekly reading

Weekly Reading

Recently Finished
Either Side of Midnight
Sequel to Trust Me When I Lie. This was good, but I do enjoy the Ernest Cunningham series better.

Murder Under Her Skin
Second in the Pentecost and Parker series. Just okay. I'll read more in this series, but it's not a priority.

Damn Straight
Another second book in a murder mystery series. This one the Lillian Byrd series. Same as above, I liked it well enough that I'll continue the series, but I'm not rushing out to read the next one.

Star Trek: Lower Decks, Vol. 1: Second Contact
There's a new series of Lower Decks comics! In fact, there's enough issues for a second volume, too, though it's not coming out until next year. My issue with these is the same with every comic based on a cartoon, which is that they're never quite as good as the show. They're enjoyable enough, though.

My Home Hero vol. 20-22

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knotts

2025 Knott's Trip #4 (12/27/25)

It was a busy day at the park, being a holiday weekend plus the first sunny day in a while. The park opens at nine and we got down there around 9:45 and the line for parking was super backed up, but thankfully the ADA lot still had a ton of spaces left, so once we finally got to it, it was easy to get a spot. The lines for the front gates were probably the longest I've seen, but still moved pretty smoothly.

( Read more... )

I think this will be our last amusement park visit of the year. We're planning on Disneyland on the 1st, but it's supposed to rain again, so we'll see.

This year my totals are 79 at Disneyland (including 4 at Tokyo Disney), 4 at Knott's, and 2 at Universal Studios. That's a lot! O_o

yawn

Yuletide very pleasant; usually I get a comment on an old fic or two in a fandom someone has rediscovered through Yuletide and gone on a deep dive for, but not this year!

About three or four inches of snow (7-10cm) fell overnight and I shoveled my front sidewalk and steps, because the snow removal guys had done next door but not us (?), and then tromped down to my assigned house in the neighborhood, where I shoveled the longest driveway in Rhode Island and enough sidewalk for two houses and what felt like two flights of front steps. Thank goodness it was light and powdery, and almost all of the above was in good repair so I didn't have to fight the asphalt like last year, but I earned every bite of the steak and eggs and homefries (not nearly as good as last time) at the diner.

And then C. and her kid and I went to the ZOO and saw CREATURES. Macaws! Ibis! Elephants! A two-year-old giraffe who is already trying to fuck the other giraffes in the enclosure (this is a good thing, they want genetically-diverse babies from him) but he's not tall enough yet! An anaconda 99.8% percent in the water in its tank, I wanted to boop its snout SO MUCH. Red pandas that were so fluffy they looked fake. The river otters were having so much fun in the snow and splashing in their pool. The docents were super friendly and the French fries were delicious. Would 100% zoo again.

Then a hot bath and a nap. Bliss.

Current Music: Bright Eyes, "Mariana Trench"

Look into that smoldering building's bombed-out fog until it finally lifts

I spent so much of Boxing Day curled on the couch with my books, I failed to notice it was snowing until well after dark when it glittered down through the streetlight in one of those soundstage tinsel veils. One of my goals for this afternoon was to get out into its Arctic wonderland, whose streets were spidered with ice and drift-blue with chemical salt instead of glacial age. I walked further than I had intended and had to come back across the snow of the imaginatively designated Veterans Memorial Park between the iron freeze of the Mystic River and the less elemental red lights of Route 16.

( Look quick, is that something you missed? )

I have been sick for so long, I feel that I have once again come unplugged from any of the places where I live. I don't know that I will be any less sick in the immediately foreseeable future, but I have to try to socket myself back into these streets, this light, the inside of my own head. I remain so tired the latter feels emptier than I would like, but at least I am trying not to punt every idea that crosses it as pointlessly exhausting. In the meantime I am enjoying Eerie East Anglia: Fearful Tales of Field and Fen (ed. Edward Parnell, 2024) and Russell Hoban's The Bat Tattoo (2002).