Done This Week

Wow, the first three weeks of this month sure have been a decade, huh?

There’s a really tremendous time dilation field effect going on here. Everything is both incredibly slow and racing by. I am accomplishing nothing and also exhaustingly busy. I’m marginally less sick and also feel like I got hit by a bus.

I just want to get through this next week. After that, I’m on my birthday vacation time. Admittedly, that’s going to be extremely busy. But at least I won’t have to wake up for work. That’s something, right?

Lewisia: six new pieces written, plus the bonus, so I’m all caught up again

Day job: 43.75 hours

Cooking: citrus chiffon cake from Great Cakes, aka my fancy-ass cake book that I’ve had since high school, made with Buddha’s hand both fresh and candied, turned out completely delightful and pulling off a “harder” cake like this is a nice reminder that I’m actually a decent baker

Cleaning: bought frames for four new art prints waiting to be put up

Gardening: succulent club meeting, laid down a small portion of the wildflower seeds in advance of the rain

Listening: Actually by Pet Shop Boys (getting back into my 80s groove)

Playing: picked up a couple of games on sale on Steam, playing Garden Galaxy, which is adorable and peaceful--reminds me of the Orisinal games from Back In The Day

Other: D&D again

Fandom Snowflake 2024 Challenge #5

Search in your current space, whether brick-and-mortar or digital. Post a picture (a link to a picture will be fine!) or description of something that is or represents:

1. Something your favorite character would like
Eddie would, I hope, approve of my in-progress battle jacket, though he would probably say it needs more band patches.

2. Something that makes you laugh
One of the people in my D&D group works in a cheese shop, which always makes me think of the Monty Python sketch.

Watch on YouTube

3. A fandom place you would like to visit
Well, Hawkins sure as hell ain't it! Better shift fandoms and say: the Shire! Food and gardening and rolling, grassy hills.

4. A fandom creator (pro or not) you'd like to meet
Hm, never meet your heroes, right? Though I have enjoyed meeting other fic writers in person, it just never occurs to me as something I could do. As a substitute, I'll give a shout-out to a couple of creators--I'm about to frame and hang a print by arstyrannus for Oonionchiver's fic You're Divine.

5. Something you find comforting
Lately, I've repeatedly rewatched Labyrinth. It's not even something I saw until I was older, so it's not really a childhood nostalgia thing. I just find it very soothing. I even bought one of the art books for it, which is at my bedside. I'm a sucker for Froud's sort of fairies.

6. Something from a favorite TV series or movie from your childhood
The game I'm playing lately (Garden Galaxy) has a cute little acorn sprite. And whenever I see acorns, I think of the magic acorns in Willow. I used to constantly have pockets full of gathered acorns as a kid. Very good projectiles, whether they turn things into stone or not.

7. A piece of clothing you love
This tee is now my official D&D night uniform.

8. A book or song with a color in the title
"Battling the Green Death" from the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack--let me tell you, nothing makes the work day more interesting than listening to epic movie soundtracks whilst doing my little routines.

9. Something only someone in your fandom would understand
I ❤ 💅🏻🦇

Fandom Snowflake 2024 Challenge #6

Challenge #6

In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. . Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'm a latecomer to the Discworld books. (I knew they were excellent as a sort of received wisdom. However, in my feral loneliness during college, I had no one to tell me that I absolutely should not read The Colour of Magic first. I bounced off that and only recently started reading them properly, ie in a nonsense order.) At the moment, I'm reading The Wee Free Men.

"What’s magic, eh? Just wavin’ a stick an’ sayin’ a few wee magical words. An’ what’s so clever aboot that, eh? But lookin’ at things, really lookin’ at ’em, and then workin’ ’em oout, now, that’s a real skill."

"Aye, it is," said William the gonnagle, to Tiffany's surprise. "Ye used yer eyes and used yer heid. That's what a real hag does. The magicking is just there for advertisin'."

There's a lot in this that speaks to me in ways I wasn't expecting. (As opposed to Monstrous Regiment, which I knew going in had obviously been written directly to me personally.) I'm frequently frustrated at work by people's stark inability or unwillingness to use their eyes and heads. I don't actually consider myself especially intelligent. Other people must, it therefore seems, be unusually dim witted.

My sense of frustration is comforted by that of Pterry, who obviously spent a lot of time hopping mad at other people in much the same way. What other people regard as magic (such as "magically" being able to make a machine work) is really just paying attention. So I'm apparently a gear hag.