In the bleak midwinter - parakeets!

Dec. 23rd, 2025 03:57 pm
oursin: hedgehog in santa hat saying bah humbug (Default)
[personal profile] oursin

Had not been seeing these lately, but over the past few days have been spotting several out of the back windows.

Which is one cheering thing among various niggles and peeves -

Yesterday I was informed that my order from Boots was being delivered, and then got two texts saying they had tried to deliver it but no-one answered. WOT. There was somebody here all the time.

Also a text that my other package (fresh yeast via eBay) had been delivered (this comes through the letterbox) - no sign of this so presume it has gone to the wrong door, and so far nobody has come round to pop it through ours.*

However, at least the Boots parcel turned up today: address label had street number blurred so reasons for mistaking, usual postperson recognised name, possibly yesterday was a seasonal worker?

Other annoyance: Kobo ereader running very sluggish - though this does not seem to apply across all books, which is weird?? Anyway, I connected to wifi in order to update the software, as possibly bearing on the matter, and dash it, it synced a whole load of things I had already downloaded and I have been obliged to clean up the duplicates.

I am, though, grateful that Christmas grocery orders have been nothing missing and no substitutions except for 1 thing which was not at all critical. Also oops, the pudding I ordered was rather smaller than I anticipated, but I feel one can have too much Xmas pud, and there are mince pies, brandy butter, etc.

In further happy news, the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has been saved from oil drilling.

^ETA: somebody from 2 doors down brought it round this evening. The address on the package was perfectly clear.

TV Tuesday: Changing Eras

Dec. 23rd, 2025 10:02 am
yourlibrarian: Horario Under Hat look (HORN-HorarioUnderHat-timescout)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian posting in [community profile] tv_talk

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk



Are there things you miss about TV technologies gone by? What about things you definitely don’t?

Alternately, how meaningful is the term "TV" these days given the changes in both method and content?

That's Dr. Tetralogy To You

Dec. 23rd, 2025 08:47 am
tetralogy: (Default)
[personal profile] tetralogy
After a very intense last few months scrambling to get everything prepared, I successfully defended my thesis at the beginning of December and have finished my PhD.

It feels weird.

I was kind of a mess in my late teens and early twenties. I had no direction, no drive, and no idea how to be an adult. I dropped out of college twice and then fumbled my way through a series of minimum wage jobs until I found one that seemed okay—this gave me some much-needed stability, but at some point I was staring down the barrel of the rest of my life and just thought, "I can't keep doing this."

On little more than a whim, I decided I would go back to school to get the highest degree in a field I had absolutely no natural aptitude for.

That was over 12 years ago.

As I went through the process—community college to undergrad to grad school—I never really had the end goal in mind. I had to keep working full-time for six years until I got to grad school, so I didn't have the time or mental energy to even think about where I was going, beyond "forward." I was just trying to get to the next homework assignment, the next exam, the next semester. I'm still not sure how I got here.

I think that's probably why I'm still trying to sort through my emotions about all of it. At some level I'm proud of myself, and conceptually I understand that I accomplished something monumental, but I haven't been able to bask in that feeling at all. And a big part of that is because I was fortunate enough to land a job halfway across the country, so I've been trying to prepare for all of that. And I'm sure another big part is the lingering adrenaline rush of slapping together a 300+ page dissertation in a matter of months—I know that's not going to disappear overnight. But it's led to this persistent low-grade tension for the past three weeks. I want to properly enjoy this time before my new job, but I just feel off, like there's a constant hum of anxiety trying to convince me I have more to do, I must be forgetting something important, what if the UHaul breaks down on the way to New York, maybe I should have bought the insurance for it, I need to send more emails and make more phonecalls and keep packing, I have to see my family for Christmas and I don't want to, oh my god what do you MEAN I have to go grocery shopping AGAIN?!

I guess I thought graduating would feel more definitive, like the end of a very, very long book. Maybe moving to a new city will give me the sense of closure I'm looking for? I don't know.

♡ prompts

Dec. 23rd, 2025 09:18 am
[personal profile] sarabi posting in [community profile] bakerstreet
shipping picture prompts
o1. comment with your character and prefs in a top level.
o2. reply to others, complete with pictures and gifs!
o3. cook up something shippy from those inspirational ingredients.
link 'em:

embed 'em:

shrink 'em:
trobadora: (Juliette - faces)
[personal profile] trobadora
My second [community profile] ficinabox story! This one is Grimm, because how could I resist when someone (*cough* [personal profile] miss_ingno *cough*) requests my tiny OT3? :D

The prompt was, "canon divergence where Juliette copes better with her transformation into a Hexenbiest" - and when I thought about where to branch off and rewatched some episodes, I realised I could start right at the beginning, with her very first woge. Derail it all before it gains any ground! No secrecy to come between Nick and Juliette, no losing control, no shocking reveal in the aftermath of violence ... and if Nick was there for her first woge, she'd see his Grimm eyes, too!

Of course Nick still has issues, and Juliette is still struggling - but that's where Renard comes in, because when the two of them turn to him together, magic happens. *g*

(And so much happens in that one night that I managed to derail some other plot as well, just from having Juliette woge in front of everyone! I had so much fun with that. :D)

**

Farewell to the Monsters (10,183 words)
Fandom: Grimm (TV)
Rating: Mature
Relationship: Nick Burkhardt/Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton
Characters: Juliette Silverton, Nick Burkhardt, Sean Renard, Rosalee Calvert, Monroe, Hank Griffin
Content Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Related, s04e08 Chupacabra, Hexenbiest reveal, Hexenbiest Psychology, Hexenbiest Sexuality, UST, Developing Relationship

Summary:

Juliette almost wished Nick didn't know what was happening to her. She could quietly deal with it on her own, get rid of it, go back to normal before anyone found out.

That would have been so much easier. Instead, she'd woged in front of everyone. And there was no turning back.

Social media's so confusing now

Dec. 23rd, 2025 09:34 pm
autumninpluto: Anya from Spy x Family crying ([sxf] crying anya)
[personal profile] autumninpluto

It's probably because I'm not used to this kind of fandom space, and also because I've mostly never really cared about top/bottom ship dynamics, but I saw some people with "❌🔄" in their bio and thought that meant I wasn't not allowed to retweet their stuff.

I'm an impulsive retweeter, like my hands are quicker than my brain kinda deal, and I get real panicked when I retweet something from someone who has "❌🔄" in their bio.

Apparently, it actually means they won't do reverse pairings! So my panicking was unwarranted!

This experience has significantly aged me :)

The Day in Spikedluv (Monday, Dec 22)

Dec. 23rd, 2025 08:04 am
spikedluv: (winter: mittens by raynedanser)
[personal profile] spikedluv
I hit Walmart and Price Chopper while I was downtown. I also had a meeting at the funeral home, and later went to the nursing home to retrieve my aunt’s personal items. (They’ve ‘lost’ her wedding ring, which irritates me. I don’t know what I can do about it; it was listed on the inventory of personal items when she arrived, but didn’t go to the funeral home with her.)

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for a couple walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I roasted a chicken (with mashed potatoes and corn) for supper. So good!

I read fanfic and watched an ep of The Pitt. Dr. Pol was my background tv in the evening.

Temps started out at 20.8(F) and reached 32.9 (that I saw). There was some sun, which made driving in the car nice, but not walking the dogs. o_O
autumninpluto: Shouto smiling (Default)
[personal profile] autumninpluto
Chibi art of Todoroki, Bakugo, and Deku

Did a lil doodle earlier, hehe. In my mind, I was like, "I need to draw the Todobakudeku I want to see in this world."


Alternate version w/ dialogue + 100px icons that I might use later on once I get more icon slots...
Alternate version with text added

🍰: え?撮影?動画だと思った… (huh? a picture? i thought it was a video...)
🥦: あれ?何だよ、これ… (eh? what's this...?)
💥: お前ら暇すぎじゃん!? (you guys have too much free time, huh?!

Bakugo icon Deku icon Todoroki icon

Art commentary

It was supposed to be a simple doodle but it took me longer than it should have because I truly have no workflow and did not plan for the composition properly (as I usually do)... I kept on messing the coloring up, too.

I was pretty happy with how it came out, though! I don't draw chibi very often, AND I find it very hard to draw male characters with short hair because of how precise it has to be compared to long hair. Yay for creating things that make us happy <3

I'm thinking of uploading my stuff onto Pixiv. I also considered backing up my old art from dA onto Pixiv, but I'd have to painstakingly upload them in order since there's no backdate option haha.

sweet dreams are made of cheese

Dec. 23rd, 2025 10:08 pm
[personal profile] buckminsterfullerene posting in [community profile] bakerstreet


D R E A M S ☁ M E M E


Dreams are difficult enough to understand. They range from embarrassing, to frightening, to thought-provoking, to just plain nonsensical. You may find yourself wondering what that was all about, or trying to forget about it as quickly as you can. It may be close enough to reality to confuse you, or dream logic may prevail. Whatever the case, the world of dreams is a way to delve into your psyche and deal with what happened to you that day, your fears, and whatever's on your mind.



Except... what's that person doing there? This isn't their dream.
Read more... )
mific: (Heated rivalry)
[personal profile] mific posting in [community profile] fanart_recs
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: catandcrown on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: A very nice digital painting imagining the boys at a club with Ilya pulling Shane in by his tie. I like the two versions, and the intensity between Shane and Ilya.
Link: coloured version, and grayscale version

badly_knitted: (B5)
[personal profile] badly_knitted posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks

Title: Sacrifice
Fandom: Babylon 5
Author: [personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Delenn, Neroon, Lennier.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 400
Spoilers/Setting: Moments of Transition.
Summary: Neroon accepted his role in Delenn’s plan because it showed wisdom. The rest was the calling of his own heart.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 501: Amnesty 83, using Challenge 419: The Last Word.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Babylon 5, or the characters. They belong to J. Michael Straczynski.
A/N: Quadruple drabble.



Challenge #229 - Favourites 2025

Dec. 23rd, 2025 09:02 pm
mulhollands: (Default)
[personal profile] mulhollands posting in [community profile] your_favourites


Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

links )

(no subject)

Dec. 23rd, 2025 09:56 am
oursin: hedgehog in santa hat saying bah humbug (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] cassandre!

36 Hours to Reveals

Dec. 23rd, 2025 10:06 pm
yuletidemods: A hippo lounges with laptop in hand, peering at the screen through a pair of pince-nez and smiling. A text bubble with a heart emerges from the screen. The hippo dangles a computer mouse from one toe. By Oro. (Default)
[personal profile] yuletidemods posting in [community profile] yuletide_admin
We're so close! This year, Yuletide reveals are at 9pm UTC on 24 December - that has changed since last year.

COUNTDOWN TO REVEALS

Tips

Formatting

Getting your story up on AO3 is the main thing. But, now it's there, please check it over again before reveals - especially to see if you've left in any bits you're going to replace like [xxx]. But also please check for legibility - check for text with no gaps between paragraphs, or text with massive gaps between paragraphs. Click/tap for more information...
Issues often arise when posting from Google Docs. You can use this Google doc or this extension to help convert your document to HTML for a better copy/paste experience. The problem with italics and punctuation can also be solved by including the punctuation inside the italics tags.

If your story has no space between paragraphs, check to see if you pasted your story into the HTML tab instead of the Rich Text tab. Paragraph spacing occasionally gets added to places like summaries when you edit them, so you might want to double-check that also!

Below the cut are examples of spacing that’s too big, too little, and juuuuust right. )

If the spacing in your work is wacky, we recommend editing it to avoid putting off potential readers.

Your comment settings

In recent years, AO3 changed the default settings for comments on your work. If you want to allow comments from guests/readers who aren't logged in, check your work. Click/tap for info...
Before July 2024, the default setting for comments allowed on your work was "Registered users and guests can comment." In July, AO3 changed that so that the default setting is "Only registered users can comment." That means that if you posted your Yuletide work without changing the settings, no one can comment on your work without logging into their account.

If that matches your preferences, that's great. If you'd like to make it possible for anyone who reads your work to comment, please edit your work and change the setting. This setting is directly above the Work Text field.

Tagging and "Unspecified Fandom"

Please tag your work accurately, including warnings. We encourage you to use "Unspecified Fandom", alongside a specific tag, to help users find a fandom that isn't wrangled yet. Please reach out if you're not sure how to tag a new or non-canonical fandom. Click/tap for info...
For warnings, Choose Not to Warn is a valid warning tag. You may wish to use the end notes if there is content that you don't want to spoil with specific tags.

If your fandom is completely new, please use the tag that was approved into the tag set. These tags were formulated to meet archive guidelines and will be more quickly canonized, so that your work can be found from the Fandoms page of the collection. We recommend you also use "Unspecified Fandom", because this will show up in the fandoms list immediately, even if the actual fandom tag isn't wrangled straight away. Please do not tag your work with Unspecified Fandom as the only fandom tag. Instead, tag with both Unspecified Fandom and the actual fandom tag.

If your fandom is a subset of a canonical tag (like an RPF fandom that belongs in Actor RPF, or a season of a Let's Play fandom that has an overarching canonical), we recommend tagging with the parent fandom. Please reach out to mods if you're not sure that's what you should do.

Your author's notes

Please keep these positive. Please don't identify yourself - no social media links! Also, please don't apologize for your work, tell your recipient all about what a tough time you had writing, or otherwise ask your recipient to accept a negative sentiment along with their gift.

Treats!!

Additional works are warmly welcomed for participants signed up to Yuletide* and all additional pinch hitters.

Please check these guidelines for whether to post treats in the main Yuletide collection (closes Dec 24) or the Yuletide Madness collection (closes Dec 25). Unlike in some exchanges, Yuletide's treating period does not continue indefinitely. Please get your treats in before reveals - or you'll need to wait until next year.

Not all users accept treatsPlease do not create treats for: Arsenic, BluebirdCT, Budouka, couch1141, theblakery, Witgifu. This list is subject to change, as you can change the setting to accept treats (or not) at any time. Check with mods if unsure.



Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app

Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.

[personal profile] inuyasock posting in [community profile] bakerstreet







the phone sex +
sexting meme


what it says on the tin. leave a blank comment, include your preferences or a starter, it's all good. reply to others with a text, a dirty picture (please link all nsfw things!), misfires, misdials, drunk filthy voicemails, whatever your heart desires.

hamsterwoman: (Taskmaster -- John time starts now)
[personal profile] hamsterwoman
I was watching/reading a bunch of CoC IV-related content in the lead-up, and I’m going to post about it before posting about the episode itself, though I’ve obviously watched it as soon as that was an option. Askmaster and interviews )

Which reminded me that I should revisit my quantitative ranking of the series, because I’d fallen a couple behind, and some of the more recent ones were worth re-scoring.

original post

Revisiting s15-17, scoring s18-20 )

OK, and the main event:

Tasmkaster CoC 4 – So, I did end up going and spoiling myself for the winner and the scores before sitting down to watch, which was the correct decision. SPOILERS )

I’m just really sad we don’t get more than one episode with this group. This was a really good line-up (even if one of them is someone whose comedy I don’t enjoy that much).

*

There’s some kind of weird thing with me and the Penric books, where I’ll read a bunch in a row, then not read any of the new ones coming out for a couple of years, until I have a bunch in a row to read again, repeat. So, like, the last time I read Penric, it was to read 6 in quick succession in late 2022, and meanwhile she’s released 4 more, that I’m finally getting around to reading. (I think it’s that the novella length is not quite long enough to be worth re-immersing myself in the world and the growing cast for just one of them.)

7. Lois McMaster Bujold, Demon Daughter (Pen & Des #12) – I was intrigued by the premise of this one, and enjoyed it, even though it was very, very domestic – much more so than I expected from the dramatic cover. More, with spoilers )

8. Lois McMaster Bujold, The Adventure of the Demonic Ox (Pen & Des #14) – I skipped Penric and the Bandit semi-accidentally – by which I mean that I finished Demon Daughter on the plane to Oregon, went to see what else was openable on my Kindle, and it was the ox one, so I figured it had to be the next one. Then when I realized it was not, because there was a significant time-skip and it referenced an incident with bandits, I figured I’d just keep reading. (And later it turned out I did have ‘Bandit’ on my Kindle, I just couldn’t call it up for some reason, in offline mode.)

This was a weird one… I found the first half of it slow and fairly boring, and found myself skimming, which I pretty much never do with LMB’s books. But then it picked up some (spoilers) )

I’m presently catching up on reading Penric and the Bandit, so we’ll see if I make it through all of the currently-out Penrics (that one + one more) before I run out of reading steam…

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