the_old_guard | Member Posts

Yesterday as I posted I made it successfully to the airport, through security, and onto the plane and to Ohio. I was picked up by

mashfanficchick and Dani. We then went and did shopping at Target and Kroger, and then went back to the house where the kids Theo and Winnie, and John were waiting for us.

Also there were the two cats, Moo and Jiji, and the dog, Moose. Fun all around!

Today we went to Target again to get the new Switch which was just released, and which Target had limited supplies of. We got there with only two left in stock!

After that we spent the day in the house, they were playing with the Switch, and

mashfanficchick and I hung out and read with them in the living room.

There was a brief but drenching downpour at one point.

My Earthlink email was not working, it was receiving mail but not sending, so I switched to gmail to keep in contact with the FWiB.

At around 7:30 I Teamed the FWiB, until 8:00 when I called Middle Brother.

Played with Moose for awhile, now getting caught up here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Friends.

3. Fun times.

4. Cute pets.

5. They got the Switch in time.

6. Bed soon (I got very little sleep last night)

Current Mood: cheerful

kaberett

On Tuesday, I picked a kohlrabi. The stem itself got eaten at the plot; the leaves I brought home to cook and eat subsequently rather than compost them. I stuck them in a glass of water to keep them going while I work out what exactly it is I want to do, and -- they are stunning. I am enjoying them so much every time I go past them: dark blue-tinged green leaves, pink-purple stems and veins (the cultivar is Azur; I do not currently have photos but will attempt to get my act together tomorrow.)
I have four spikes of ginger, one thoroughly unfurled into leaves, and at least one more thinking hard about it. I do not expect to wind up self-sufficient in ginger but I am very much enjoying the experiment.
a word you've never understood (Prophet, 9k words). I did not read it all in one gulp -- I paused to take notes -- and I'm now on my second read through, which could in theory be more of a gulp but mysteriously I seem to be taking more notes and also remembering that I wanted to shake the internet for more information about the experience termed "aftersensations", for Book Purposes. (Also I think I've lured another person into at least starting the book...)
Asparagus for lunch! Still in season; still delicious.
My house once again contains Large Quantities of hazelnuts and pecans. I Monch.

delphi

Cloudward, Ho! is the newest Dimension 20 campaign of actual-play D&D with its classic cast of comedy improvisers. This one is an aeronautical adventure set in a steampunk universe, about a motley crew who set out on a quest in search of a lost continent and the expedition that disappeared before them. The first episode just came out yesterday, and I really enjoyed it!

Watch on YouTube

( Some Notes About the Premise (Moderate Spoilers) )
I'm looking forward to seeing where the campaign goes from here! Anyone else watching or planning to watch?

celli

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annathecrow

Inspired by fred_mouse, I'm working through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. A lot of it speaks to me, but the Christian spirituality of it all is a struggle. I'm fine with skipping things over, but the Basic Principles are an integral part of the process - so I decided to write my own version, one that I could actually accept. Here they are:

Basic Principles, for a non-believer

Humans are a creative species.
We have a deep, innate instinct to make things.
It might be an accident of evolution, but it is a brilliant one: it benefits ourselves, our communities, our entire species.
Every human is creative; every human can create.
Our creativity makes the world a better place.
To deny ourselves the freedom to create is cruel - just like it would be cruel to deny a bird to fly or a horse to run.
When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we accept what we are and what we can be.
As we let ourselves to follow our creative instinct, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
It is safe to follow our creative instinct, however far it may lead us.
We are creators. If we let ourselves create, we turn a random side-effect of biology into a power strong enough to change to world.

(The original, for reference).

A bit arrogant to think I can do better, maybe, but I needed them so I made them. I really enjoyed writing them up.

I'm posting them here because I'm proud of them - and maybe someone else could find them useful?

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: amused

mific

I'm doing a longer podfic, about 22,000 words, and have happened on a new technique, partly because my new system of using my iPhone necessitates recording and editing at about the same time because recording sessions separated in time can sound quite different. Also, my voice can't cope with marathon recording sessions - about 2000 words at one time is best. So my new system is to record that much, which takes less than an hour. Then that same day I edit that segment, re-recording any flubbed words if needed. It's manageable and gives me a nice sense of achievement to have a definite chunk completed each day. The best way is to divide the chunks at a section break in the fic, which is luckily possible with this story. It covers slight changes in how my voice sounds on consecutive days.

Overall, it's a far better process than my old way when I used to record in long sessions, tiring my voice, and then I'd be faced with days or weeks of editing, which can get tedious.

A minor annoyance in the last few days has been red, itchy eyes, weeping like crazy. I wouldn't have thought there were pollens about now, in early winter, unless it's my Mexican sunflower which continues in full flower, full of buzzing bees. Not an infection, not painful - pretty sure it's some sort of allergy. Luckily it's a lot better now, thanks to camomile teabags. You make tea (pure camomile teabag, no sugar - mine are Nerada organic brand) then remove the bag to a saucer and let it cool. It's soothing as evaporation makes it cooler than room temp, and camomile also treats the eye inflammation. I put one side of the bag on each eye, in sequence, leaving it on a few minutes when the irritation is bad. It's almost cleared up now.

Made my orange almond mini-muffins, and have eaten too many. I'm telling myself all the fibre's good for me!

spikedluv

This one got long. Sorry about that. o_O

I had a chiropractic appointment and a pedicure this morning. I was relieved about the chiropractic appointment because my back started bothering me this morning in the shoulder blade area, to the point where I got up early because I couldn’t get comfortable and back to sleep. The pedicure was lovely and I chose a salmon-y color for my toenails.

I hit Price Chopper while I was downtown and Stewart’s (for milk) on the way to pick up the dogs. I got in a short walk around the park and did another ‘crazy 8' walk with the puppers (.50mi). (It’s a combination of two other trails that resembles a figure 8, hence the name. It’s my favorite and takes me around the pond and through the orchard.) I realized this morning that the next few weeks will be less than ideal for walking, since I’ll be going to the hospital the first week, then spending time with mom (split with my other two sisters), as she can’t be left alone for long because she’ll need help getting around and with the tubes.

(We’ve been told she’ll need care for three weeks, but we’ll see how that plays out in actuality. My one sister has already offered to take night duty and will be spending the nights with mom, so my other sister and I will just need to figure out the days. It helps that we won’t need to spend every minute of the day with her, so there’s some leeway for one leaving before the other arrives to take over.)

(Those who know me well know that I’m already dreading this, despite loving my mom very much. Not only the disruption to my usual schedule for an entire month, but also having to spend more time than I like ‘people’ing’. *bites nails*)

Speaking of my mom’s surgery, I have just found out from the surgeon (via my sister, the nurse) that the operating room has been reserved for ten hours. Ten frelling hours! For some reason, that makes me more nervous about the surgery.

In other unhappy-making news, I have sores in my mouth. The tongue sores from being burned by the pineapple went away and I had one glorious day without sores, and then, whammo!, more sores. I have a sore on the top of my tongue, inside cheek, roof of mouth, and at least two canker sores on the gum on the bottom front. I don’t know if it’s related to the pineapple, or if it’s from repressed stress, but I’m salt-water-rinsing like a fiend.

(I had a ball of anxiety in the pit of my stomach last night that kept me awake for a while, so another vote for general anxiety over everything that’s coming down the pike in the next few weeks.)

I did a load of laundry (more dog sheets), ran a load in the dishwasher and did the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, paid a bill online, placed an order online, wrote out checks for my aunt, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, and scooped kitty litter.

I finished the Duncan Kincaid book, watched an HGTV program, and talked with mom.

I grilled steak for Pip’s supper and made French toast for myself before Pip got home (he likes French toast, but we haven’t found a good GF bread to make it with and I didn’t want him feeling left out, even though he was getting steak).

Temps started out at 62.6(F) (quite a difference from yesterday morning!) and reached 93.7. (I feel the need to remind everyone (myself) that this is the temp in the shade. It’s probably ten degrees warmer in the sun. *melts*) Pip put the AC in the bedroom last night.

beanside

It's Thursday! We've almost made it to Friday!

Yesterday was a momentous day. The house is officially sold. The albatross is gone. The house that felt like my personal antagonist. (By the end, when there were problems, it felt like it was having problems at me personally.) Perversely, I'm having feelings about it.

I feel relieved, because it's over, but also a bit sad. It had been my grandparent's house since before I was born. We lived there until I was two with them, and then went to the apartments, which were literally around the corner. Then, when I was 17, we moved back in to take care of my grandmother. I'm 52 now, so that's better than half my life tied up in one place.

I remember it how it was, sparkling clean. All the years of Christmas morning, going over to open our pile of presents in front of my parents and grand parents, followed by the parade of family and friends. And all the animals that house saw. Tammy, Freddy, Sandy, Tigger, Flakey, Willow, Millie, Gracie, Mao, Samwise, Koty, Kyan, Tucker down to our current pair, Boodle and Yoda. All those memories. So many good things are bound up in those four walls.

But lately, there's been more bad things than good. Watching my grandmother die, my mother's death, Dad's slow deterioration. The flood in the basement, the heat being turned off for three long painful winters. The constant fear that if something happened, we wouldn't be able to afford it. The fear every rain or snow that this would be the time the roof leaked. It was a constant stressor. And with Dad taking up most of our time and energy, cleaning wasn't even a vague possibility. We spent our lives in constant filth, and no one had the spoons left to do anything about it.

Since we moved, so many physical symptoms have eased up. my asthma has improved, my anxiety, though still there, has gotten better.

Still, I feel wistful for what was and for now, what will never be again. I hope the new owners do an amazing job of refurbishing it. I hope it holds another family soon, and I hope they have good years in it. I'm just going to miss the good things that we had.

Tomorrow, I get off work early, and go to the hair dresser to see if she can make my hair look cool. It's way too long at the moment, but I haven't been able to afford to get it cut. I'm also getting it colored, because a vacation from gray sounds lovely. I will post a picture tomorrow, once it's done.

Then, we go to pick up Jess' new computer, and have dinner, and then come home. We're trying out Rodizigo Grill, which is an all you can eat Brazillian steakhouse. I'm looking at it as a possibility for the get together in August. It's a little cheaper than Fogo, so I want to see how the food stacks up.

Okay, time for me to get myself together. Everyone have an amazing Thursday!

schneefink

Pet peeve of mine: Superhero/supervillain AUs that aren't clear on the degree of villainy involved. Is this the kind of supervillain who commits elaborate art heists, or the kind of supervillain who blows up a hospital? Just showing them fighting superheroes doesn't make that clear. I want to assume it's the former in e.g. a civilian/supervillain romance but how am I meant to judge just how careless the civilian is acting if the fic doesn't say one way or the other.

vriddy

I am 57% into my beta edit preps – not the edits themselves based on the actual beta feedback yet, but the list of action items I intend to go through. I'm more or less following the plan I had set out, though I ended up using Scrivener comments a lot instead of a separate file as I had expected. So I have 3 files/file types:

Structural comments, which I'll address first. I think this will be the most difficult and most painful part. Will try to do this in a way that has as few consequences as possible to limit the amount of rewriting (I think that's feasible as long as I'm careful, for this particular story).
Overall comments, for stuff that'll need small changes in every chapter. I plan to re-read this before and after every chapter edit, so I keep it in mind as I edit and potentially find new areas to include these elements. It's about things like certain characters feeling too one-dimensional and/or too unsympathetic (so more options for interactions, flashbacks/memories, and other elements to flesh them out more), worldbuilding elements that still weren't highlighted enough and feel like a surprise when they come up later, etc.
One file per chapter for more generic notes, though so far I'm not really using that much. Scrivener comments are doing the job. And it's very satisfying when several people bring up the same thing and I can edit an existing comment, like, wow! This sure was a confusing paragraph for everyone, huh!

Having said that, I still had massive, massive, massive issues with getting started. Like, I had built this all up into such a huge thing in my head, and it's in the first time I handle feedback on an entire manuscript at once, and from several people... Below the cut is a list of things I did to finally make myself Just Do It (tm). Maybe there'll be a piece of inspiration for someone else, though mainly I want my future self to remember to check here next time I'm stuck! In my case, it was definitely a process problem, like, just not knowing where to start or what to do.

( vriddy's weirdo productivity tips on actually getting started )

In general, I am tremendously enjoying working offline. I got the feedback back in 3 formats: GoogleDocs, Ellipsus, and LibreOffice with tracked changes. I am loving the LibreOffice one, so much that I downloaded all the GDocs too (thankfully the comments are included!) and work like this for everything. Ellipsus didn't work for me for reasons I mentioned earlier, and as a note doesn't seem to allow exporting with comments either, as far as I could see.

Making progress feels nice! Once I have a system, it's easier for me to let momentum carry me. We'll see if that continues to work when it's time to do the actual beta changes! I do intend to take a short break before jumping in.

vriddy

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Vigilantes chit-chat on

bnha_fans.

Commented on

endings.

silver_chipmunk

Posting from my phone cause I haven't got my computer set up yet. But I had no troubles with the airport or anything, got here just fine. More tomorrow.

Current Mood: good

scrubjayspeaks

When you say, “They are all out to get me,” or, “The world wants me dead,” you are mistaken. Take this small dog, for instance, which is experiencing the new thrill of receiving head pats from you for the first time, or this bee which has been enticed over by that new perfume you treated yourself to, or this flower which dusted your nose with pollen when you smelled it and gladly made you an accomplice to its reproductive cycle. The world is vast and full of things, and a small and shameful percentage of your own species cannot outweigh the hundreds of thousands of beetle species who think you are entirely acceptable, just for a start.

---

LL#1260

nilchance

( navelgazing about family and top surgery )

kaberett

Picture me: sat on the sofa, opposite the French doors, vaguely paying attention to what was going on at the bird feeder, mildly amused by the extremely ungainly magpie.

The magpie that inspected the water bowl (that someone had thrown off its stand) and the feeder (that was empty) and the me (on the sofa) and Came To A Decision.

It did a tiny hop-skip-flap over and landed, very deliberately, on the workbench just the other side of the glass. It turned its head from side to side to get a good look at me from both eyes.

And then, having glared at me, it started yelling.

And kept yelling until I was up off the sofa and clearly heading for the door, whereupon it retreated to a safe distance, i.e. the garage rooves, and Continued Observing.

I sorted out the water dish. I got the crates of Misc Birdseed out of their cupboard. I sorted out the feeder. I sorted out the other feeder.

I went back inside.

Some time elapsed.

Eventually I got sufficiently puzzled about why the magpie hadn't come back yet to actually notice that I'd left the crates of seed out, and their cupboard door open.

I heaved myself back off the sofa.

I returned the seeds to their cupboard, and shut the cupboard's door. I returned myself to the sofa, shutting the patio door behind me.

Not terribly long after that, the magpie returned, and drank, and nibbled suspiciously (I had changed which food was in which feeder position), and appeared satisfied at least to the extent of not yelling any further...

... right up until the squirrel showed up to claim a portion of the restock.

I am absolutely delighted to have made this neighbour's acquaintance.

china_shop

Previous poll review
In the Detectives poll, the most popular options were softboiled (38.2%), ingredient in alcoholic beverages (32.4%) and hardboiled (26.5%). Over easy, poached, and deviled tied for last place with 14.7%.

In ticky-boxes, dinosaur feathers came second to hugs, 55.9% to 76.5%, yay science! Thank you for your votes.

Reading
The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown -- Revisiting my childhood. I enjoyed this so much. It's episodic, good-natured, and now I want to re-read all the sequels.

Just Kiss Her by Clare Lydon, narrated by Katy Sobey -- This was very silly. It's an f/f romance about a lesbian who fake-dates her closeted-to-his-family gay bff at his cousin's destination wedding and finds herself falling for his mother. Which I would have been here for, but a) the only obstacles were the obvious situational ones, b) neither lead seemed to have a character arc, and c) their connection was 30% feeling comfortable with each other and 70% finding each other sexy, in a telling-not-showing way. (I prefer the proportions reversed, along with some shared interests and values, thanks.) DNF.

Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers, narrated by Robert Bathurst -- So much fun! I find the dispassionate descriptions of court appearances and the reading out of letters both drag a little (the letters are always very convenient), but not enough to undermine the general charm of it all. Peter's “justice first” attitude to his brother’s arrest (not a spoiler) was great, and I'm well on my way to shipping him with Parker and/or Bunter. (Will check AO3 when I have more time.) (I know, I know, Harriet, but I haven’t got to her yet. ) I preferred the previous audiobook narrator, Frederick Davidson, but you can't have everything.

Guardian by priest -- The readalong continues, yay! I’m enjoying the mix of ensemble humor, very intense/weird romance, and Miyazaki-esque imagery. It’s pretty easy to lose track of events, but the readalong helps enormously with that.

Still slowly making my way through the 520 Day Guardian Exchange collection. Really need to sit down and write some comments!

Kdramas
Nothing! I hardly recognise myself. (ETA: Okay, now I’ve watched half an episode of Our Unwritten Seoul. Not enough to get a real sense of it yet.)

Other TV
Murderbot -- continues to be a) enjoyable, and b) very different from my experience of the book (and that's okay).
Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life -- a bit less structured than his previous stand-up specials, but still enjoyable.
Doctor Who -- I'm just shaking my head at RTD and whoever gave him this ridiculous budget where he could throw whatever random elements he thought of into the mix. (We still have the final episode to go.)
Turning Point: The Vietnam War -- Turning Point: The Cold War was so good that we thought we’d try this one, too. Fact-filled and meaty.
Department Q -- new Edinburgh-based cold-case unit is staffed by asshole detective with PTSD. Really good so far (two episodes in), even if the asshole detective is... really leaning into the “asshole” bit.
The Expanse -- finished season 4; started season 5. AMOSSSS!!! NAOMI!!! BOBBY!!!! I am earwormed by the opening credits music.
El Eternauta -- we’ve only seen ten or twenty minutes of this eerie Argentinian series, but it looks really good and is on our to-watch list.
Fringe -- my sister and I are still making our way through season 1.
Spy (2015) -- the Melissa McCarthy movie. I loved this when it came out and saw it multiple times at the theatre. So when Netflix said it was being removed in a few days, I thought I should take the opportunity to revisit it. I got halfway through. This is partly attributable to my poor attention span, and partly argh Jason Statham, go away! (I know it’s a deliberate plot/humour choice, but argh.)

Guardian/Fandom
*bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce*

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, and bits of Brandon Sanderson’s writing lectures. (I’ve listened to the latter very haphazardly, and I have no idea which ones I meant to review again.)

Writing/making things
Writing continues apace. I don’t generally keep track of word counts, but I wrote 4,343 words in one day recently, which is astonishing for me. What is even happening? Currently on the hunt for a title, and whittling away at a WIP.

Random aside: partly because of the state of my arms, I reasonably often don’t hit the keys hard enough. One of my common typos is “hae” instead of “have”, which always makes me feel I’m writing in Scots.

Life/health/mental state things
I find it so hard to put anything here these days... which is probably telling. ( Let's try. )

Food
The dish I’ve been referring to as “the vegan thing” (Youtube link) isn’t even vegetarian when I make it, because there’s bonito extract in my miso paste. Oops. It’s still delicious, though. Somehow, the combination of fresh ginger, fresh tomatoes, random vege, miso paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds makes a really delicious gravy.

Good things
Anticipating getting shelves in my cupboard and imposing some order on (*gestures*) all this. Also, anticipating my windows not leaking. Guardian fandom, especially on Dreamwidth. Zhao Yunlaaaaaan. Writing. Books and Kdramas and so much TV. Cooking. Friends, online and off. Wonderful insightful beta. The boy and the cat and the house and the city. The view from my living-room window. Clean sheets. Baby!red panda blep face (Insta link).

Poll #33200 hair, there and everywhair

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 55

View Respondents

How do you dry your hair?

View Answers

air dry
42 (76.4%)

towel dry roughly
21 (38.2%)

towel dry carefully / squeezingly
16 (29.1%)

hair dryer or other device
13 (23.6%)

other
0 (0.0%)

not applicable
1 (1.8%)

add styling stuff
9 (16.4%)

add conditioning stuff
10 (18.2%)

add anti-frizz stuff
6 (10.9%)

other
1 (1.8%)

ticky-box of other people are, generally speaking, quite mysterious
21 (38.2%)

ticky-box full of poll votes
17 (30.9%)

tickybox full of a yawning cat broadcasting calm and satisfaction into the world
38 (69.1%)

ticky-box full of the tickly froth edge of a wave on pale sparkly sand, at dawn
29 (52.7%)

ticky-box of rationing your exclamation marks
14 (25.5%)

ticky-box full of hugs
37 (67.3%)

celli

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nilchance

this isn't an update or a TTRPG-related post, but I've been obsessed with this mashup lately and I wanted to share it:

Watch on YouTube

minoanmiss

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Current Mood: excited

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We're not meant to be alone.

We're not meant to be alone.

Member Posts

Ohio Day

various sizes of joy

What's Making Me Happy Today: Cloudward, Ho! ep. 1

verbing

The Artist's Way Basic Principles, for a non-believer

Basic Principles, for a non-believer

Today's fun thing to quibble with

Podficcing, and stuff

The Day in Spikedluv (Wednesday, June 4)

Here comes the rain again, falling from the stars. Drenched in my pain again, becoming who we are

Supervillain levels pet peeve

Getting started on beta edits/beta preps

Community Thursday

In Ohio

Lake Lewisia #1260

a top surgery feelings ramble

mugged by a magpie

Me-and-media update

books books books

silly post

My moment may have arrived

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