Follow Friday 6-12-26
Jun. 12th, 2026 01:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmith posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
followfridayGot any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).
Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".
The Friday Five for 12 June 2026
Jun. 11th, 2026 11:03 pmanais_pf posting in thefridayfiveThese questions were written by Dreamwidth user archersangel, who used a random letter generator, for random questions.
1. What is place you have visited, or want to visit, that starts with D?
2. What is a food that you like, or don't like, that starts with R?
3. Own anything that starts with the letter M?
4. Know anyone whose name (first, middle, or last) that starts with N?
5. Favorite movie, book, TV show, or song whose title starts with T?
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!
1. What is place you have visited, or want to visit, that starts with D?
2. What is a food that you like, or don't like, that starts with R?
3. Own anything that starts with the letter M?
4. Know anyone whose name (first, middle, or last) that starts with N?
5. Favorite movie, book, TV show, or song whose title starts with T?
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!
Poet's Corner: excerpt of Wordsworth
Jun. 11th, 2026 08:52 pmstonepicnicking_okapia few lines from "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" from by William Wordsworth which I heard today quoted in a video lecture by my guru.
Hence in a season of calm weather
Though inland far we be,
Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
Can in a moment travel thither,
And see the Children sport upon the shore,
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.
Hence in a season of calm weather
Though inland far we be,
Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
Can in a moment travel thither,
And see the Children sport upon the shore,
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore.
Part 4, Week 3
Jun. 11th, 2026 07:37 pmsoc_puppet posting in moodthemeinayearSlipping in a little early this week...
This week's Minimum moods are: Enthralled, Happy, Indescribable
This week's Medium moods are: Discontent, Gloomy, Anxious
This week's Maximum moods are: Impressed, Jubilant, Loved
Some more fun ones this week! And relatively straightforward as well, IMO. Impressed invites a sense of awe, if on a more approachable scale. Jubilant is celebrating loudly and enthusiastically, and Loved, well! Whether you go platonic, romantic, familial, or any other type of love, hopefully it's not too difficult to grasp.
What are your thoughts on this week's moods? Do you have absolutely the perfect plan for any of them? Or do you need to stretch a bit more to find an idea? Some of each? Let's talk about it!
This week's Minimum moods are: Enthralled, Happy, Indescribable
This week's Medium moods are: Discontent, Gloomy, Anxious
This week's Maximum moods are: Impressed, Jubilant, Loved
Some more fun ones this week! And relatively straightforward as well, IMO. Impressed invites a sense of awe, if on a more approachable scale. Jubilant is celebrating loudly and enthusiastically, and Loved, well! Whether you go platonic, romantic, familial, or any other type of love, hopefully it's not too difficult to grasp.
What are your thoughts on this week's moods? Do you have absolutely the perfect plan for any of them? Or do you need to stretch a bit more to find an idea? Some of each? Let's talk about it!
theartistsway
Jun. 12th, 2026 06:51 ammatsushima posting in goals_on_dw
theartistswayHave you always wanted to do The Artist's Way? Maybe you've heard of it but never got around to it or you've tried it a few times by yourself and flopped out (hi).
Sign up here for a creative cluster doing The Artist's Way together starting June 28, 2026.
Community Recs Post!
Jun. 11th, 2026 11:02 amglitteryv posting in recthethingEvery Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.
This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)
(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)
So what cool fanart/fics/fanvids/fancrafts/other kinds of fanworks/podfics have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.
BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.
This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)
(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)
So what cool fanart/fics/fanvids/fancrafts/other kinds of fanworks/podfics have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.
BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.
hornblende
Jun. 11th, 2026 07:11 amprettygoodwordhornblende (HAWRN-blend) - n., a green-black to black mineral in the amphibole group, general formula (Ca,Na)2−3(Mg,Fe,Al)5(Al,Si)8O22(OH,F)2, found in igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Not a single mineral but rather a group, specifically the dark types of amphiboles ("any of a group of complex silicate minerals with like crystal structures that contain calcium, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, or iron ions or a combination of them"). The dark part of this:
-Hornblende-38354.jpg/500px-Apatite-(CaOH)-Hornblende-38354.jpg)
Thanks, WikiMedia!
(Personal note: not to be confused with pitchblende, which is a uranium ore, and was totally safe to store in a box under my bed when I was a teenager. (No, really, it was -- it emitted low-energy alpha particles only, which couldn't even escape the box let alone get through a mattress.)) We got the word in the 1760s from German Hornblende, from Horn, horn + Blende, pose/deception (from blenden, to deceive, metaphorical extension of original meaning to blind), because apparently some hornblendes can separate into thin layers (much like mica) that can be mistaken for animal horn.
---L.
Not a single mineral but rather a group, specifically the dark types of amphiboles ("any of a group of complex silicate minerals with like crystal structures that contain calcium, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, or iron ions or a combination of them"). The dark part of this:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
(Personal note: not to be confused with pitchblende, which is a uranium ore, and was totally safe to store in a box under my bed when I was a teenager. (No, really, it was -- it emitted low-energy alpha particles only, which couldn't even escape the box let alone get through a mattress.)) We got the word in the 1760s from German Hornblende, from Horn, horn + Blende, pose/deception (from blenden, to deceive, metaphorical extension of original meaning to blind), because apparently some hornblendes can separate into thin layers (much like mica) that can be mistaken for animal horn.
---L.
thursday
Jun. 11th, 2026 08:27 amsummersgate
Firefly. Another one of these kinds of pictures where the background color was already there so I just drew on it with pen. We saw our first fireflies last night. We were sitting under the crab apple tree in the lower lawn. It's like a room there with all the overhanging branches. I took note in some year past that the first firefly was on the 14th of June that year so maybe they are early this year. We sit under the crab apple tree frequently in the evening. Dave is done with his garden for the day and I'm waiting for it to get dark so I can shut the chickens up for the night. We also saw a deer at the far end of the lawn last night. Glad that Andy wasn't paying attention so we didn't have to deal with making him not chase. There are groundhogs that live back there too. He doesn't chase them, but of course they only run into their hole very quickly so there isn't anything to chase. He loves to give the holes a big long sniff though.
Women's group was cancelled today and I'm kind of relieved. It will give me more time to putter around here and get things ready for when we go. I'm going to a funeral in the afternoon in Meadville. Husband of an old friend.
אַ דאַנק (11 June 2026)
Jun. 11th, 2026 06:50 pmmatsushima posting in thankfulthursdayWhat are you thankful for this week?
· Photos are optional but encouraged.
· Check-ins remain open until the following week's post is up.
· Do feel free to comment on others' check-ins but don't harsh anyone else's squee.
· Photos are optional but encouraged.
· Check-ins remain open until the following week's post is up.
· Do feel free to comment on others' check-ins but don't harsh anyone else's squee.
Community Thursday
Jun. 11th, 2026 05:41 amvriddyCommunity Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.
Commented on common_nature (birbs!)
Signal boost:
- Via
![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png)
dw_community_promo - Folks are looking to start doing The Artist's Way together over at theartistsway, hop over and comment if you'd be interested in joining! Expected start on June 28th.
Pipe Dreams
Jun. 10th, 2026 09:02 pmsoc_puppetIn a similar vein to "Does the Dog Die?", I want a physical calibration check website. Like, at minimum, a list of foods and whether they're supposed to taste spicy or not would be great. An "Are Bananas Supposed to be Spicy?" type of web site, that expands to answer questions like, "How long should I be able to stand or walk before it starts to hurt?" or "Is stepping down stairs supposed to hurt?" and stuff like that. Including possible explanations for why you might hurt when doing things is probably a bad idea for legal reasons at the very least, but like. If there's somewhere it's possible to check, "Hey, is it normal to only be able to fully breathe through one nostril at a time?" then it's a lot easier to know that it's not normal and possibly bring it up with a doctor.
IDK, there's probably a lot of reasons it's impractical, but that's what makes it a pipe dream.
IDK, there's probably a lot of reasons it's impractical, but that's what makes it a pipe dream.
DevilWithABirdDress' Summer Swap 2026 Dear Podficcer Letter
Jun. 10th, 2026 01:06 pmdevilwithabirddressDear Podficcer,
Hello! I'm DevilWithABirdDress! Thank you for reading my letter. I’d like to specifically say that I’m a-okay with repods, treats being used for both this and bingos/etc, and treats that are part of an ongoing series. Genfic and shipping are both lovely.
My AO3 bookmarks are all recs, and my "to pod" bookmarks are all hidden so you can feel free to reference those (though I still would prefer no gifts with explicit sex, even though I have bookmarks with it in writing).
Fandoms (in no particular order):
Project Hail Mary - Ryland Grace, reluctant hero! Eva Stratt, complex character! Rocky, lonely lost being who found salvation in an unexpected place! Carl, what's his deal? Adrian, whose mate returns with an alien! Listen I just want to shake them in a jar and see how it settles, very open to ideas. I think crossovers especially are fun in this fandom, doesn't have to be crossed with one of my list as long as I either have been in the fandom or it works without knowledge of the secondary fandom. Please no Eva bashing (characters can be upset but the story should not be just saying that she was wrong), same goes for Grace's choices.
Deadloch - Very much anything, I love this show! Excellent ships include: Cath/Dulcie, Eddie/Miki, any polycule-ing of those two ships. Abby/Leo is also wonderful. It would be so cute to see Eddie interacting with Miki's kids but I don't know if those fics exist (yet)! I also love Sharelle.
Spy x Family - Pretty open to most things in this fandom, though canon-ships only please. I love Yor and her mix of competence and disaster, Loid's pretty-boy-cool-suave demeanor running into the tragic embarrassment of having no idea how to be a non-spy father. Any identity-reveal/powers-reveal would be welcome.
Our Flag Means Death - Zheng Yi Sao is fantastic, I love her on her own, in an ensemble, and especially as part of the lovely Zheng/Olu/Jim/Archie polycule (just /Olu is also good!). Adventures with Spanish Jackie, Izzy being a melodramatic grouch, Buttons being a witch, allllll wonderful.
Star Trek: Lower Decks - Beckett Mariner be still my little gay heart. And also pretty much everyone else, the entire cast are amazing characters. Shippy or gen, most anything goes! Any Starbase-80 shenanigans or anything relating to the Fissure Quest crew (if you haven't seen season 5 don't look up those two things, spoilers!)
Murderbot Diaries - Genuinely hard to narrow down interests in this fandom! Mensah! of course! Polyamorous queer spacepresident of my heart. ART! I love its POV, one of my very favorite characters, anything with superpowerful AI spaceship shenanigans. Three! How’s it feeling? there’s been kinda a lot? Murderbot itself! Delightful! Love to see it exploring its new position in the world (i.e. not being a piece of equipment). Murderbot/&ART is my fav ship to explore but I’m open to a lot. I've seen the show but I have a significant preference for book characterizations - not a hard line tho. I am up-to-date on books so no worries about spoilers.
General beloved tropes:
- Adventure! Let’s go on a quest! Curse breaking! Puzzle-solving!
- Mercyfic
- Close Siblings (complex sibling dynamics can also be fun)
- Touch starved person gets healthy contact
- Asexual relationships, bonus points for non-sexual physical intimacy
- Bodyswap
- Curses! I love them so much I’m listing them twice. Animal transformation, silence, sneeze every time you lie, true love’s kiss needed to save your life but *gasp* you’re sure it’s unrequited, etc.!
- Enemies to Lovers and/or Enemies to Friends
- Exes to Lovers
- Fantasy/Magic AUs, urban magic or swords and sorcery are both great!
- Hurt/Comfort
- Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery
- Post-canon adventures, completely non-canon-compliant is also good!
- Time Loops!
- Rarepairs!
- Character Studies!
- Role-reversal e.g. Jaskier the Witcher and Geralt the Bard etc.!
- Soulmate AUs - the more trouble it adds for our heroes the better!
- Star Trek Fusion AUs
- Crackfic, shenanigans & humor
Do Not Want:
- "Chatty" style cold-reads without a clean version
- Permanent Major Character Death (temporary or faked is fine)
- Permanent Brain Wipe/Permanent Mind Control (even background)
- Sexually explicit works (implied/vague is fine)
- Self harm, especially cutting (“need to remove a cursemark” or other utilitarian reasons is fine, just NOT mental health related)
- Actual suicide - attempts are iffy but not a hard line if part of wider angst, but no successes
- Doctor/Patient or Teacher/Student relationships (& no Boss/Employee if the power dynamic is featured as sexy)
- High School/College AUs
- Canonically "good" heroes as evil/cruel protagonists without redemption (dark Mafia AUs etc.)
- Sad endings, Hurt/No Comfort, overly ambiguous endings
- No dom/sub relationships, sexual or non.
- Underage or Age Play
- No “slavery is normal and accepted” or Handmaid’s Tale-esque worlds
- “Reader” as a character
Thanks for reading! Reach out through the mods if you need anything clarified. I hope you have a lovely season and have fun!
- DevilWithABirdDress
Hello! I'm DevilWithABirdDress! Thank you for reading my letter. I’d like to specifically say that I’m a-okay with repods, treats being used for both this and bingos/etc, and treats that are part of an ongoing series. Genfic and shipping are both lovely.
My AO3 bookmarks are all recs, and my "to pod" bookmarks are all hidden so you can feel free to reference those (though I still would prefer no gifts with explicit sex, even though I have bookmarks with it in writing).
Fandoms (in no particular order):
Project Hail Mary - Ryland Grace, reluctant hero! Eva Stratt, complex character! Rocky, lonely lost being who found salvation in an unexpected place! Carl, what's his deal? Adrian, whose mate returns with an alien! Listen I just want to shake them in a jar and see how it settles, very open to ideas. I think crossovers especially are fun in this fandom, doesn't have to be crossed with one of my list as long as I either have been in the fandom or it works without knowledge of the secondary fandom. Please no Eva bashing (characters can be upset but the story should not be just saying that she was wrong), same goes for Grace's choices.
Deadloch - Very much anything, I love this show! Excellent ships include: Cath/Dulcie, Eddie/Miki, any polycule-ing of those two ships. Abby/Leo is also wonderful. It would be so cute to see Eddie interacting with Miki's kids but I don't know if those fics exist (yet)! I also love Sharelle.
Spy x Family - Pretty open to most things in this fandom, though canon-ships only please. I love Yor and her mix of competence and disaster, Loid's pretty-boy-cool-suave demeanor running into the tragic embarrassment of having no idea how to be a non-spy father. Any identity-reveal/powers-reveal would be welcome.
Our Flag Means Death - Zheng Yi Sao is fantastic, I love her on her own, in an ensemble, and especially as part of the lovely Zheng/Olu/Jim/Archie polycule (just /Olu is also good!). Adventures with Spanish Jackie, Izzy being a melodramatic grouch, Buttons being a witch, allllll wonderful.
Star Trek: Lower Decks - Beckett Mariner be still my little gay heart. And also pretty much everyone else, the entire cast are amazing characters. Shippy or gen, most anything goes! Any Starbase-80 shenanigans or anything relating to the Fissure Quest crew (if you haven't seen season 5 don't look up those two things, spoilers!)
Murderbot Diaries - Genuinely hard to narrow down interests in this fandom! Mensah! of course! Polyamorous queer spacepresident of my heart. ART! I love its POV, one of my very favorite characters, anything with superpowerful AI spaceship shenanigans. Three! How’s it feeling? there’s been kinda a lot? Murderbot itself! Delightful! Love to see it exploring its new position in the world (i.e. not being a piece of equipment). Murderbot/&ART is my fav ship to explore but I’m open to a lot. I've seen the show but I have a significant preference for book characterizations - not a hard line tho. I am up-to-date on books so no worries about spoilers.
General beloved tropes:
- Adventure! Let’s go on a quest! Curse breaking! Puzzle-solving!
- Mercyfic
- Close Siblings (complex sibling dynamics can also be fun)
- Touch starved person gets healthy contact
- Asexual relationships, bonus points for non-sexual physical intimacy
- Bodyswap
- Curses! I love them so much I’m listing them twice. Animal transformation, silence, sneeze every time you lie, true love’s kiss needed to save your life but *gasp* you’re sure it’s unrequited, etc.!
- Enemies to Lovers and/or Enemies to Friends
- Exes to Lovers
- Fantasy/Magic AUs, urban magic or swords and sorcery are both great!
- Hurt/Comfort
- Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery
- Post-canon adventures, completely non-canon-compliant is also good!
- Time Loops!
- Rarepairs!
- Character Studies!
- Role-reversal e.g. Jaskier the Witcher and Geralt the Bard etc.!
- Soulmate AUs - the more trouble it adds for our heroes the better!
- Star Trek Fusion AUs
- Crackfic, shenanigans & humor
Do Not Want:
- "Chatty" style cold-reads without a clean version
- Permanent Major Character Death (temporary or faked is fine)
- Permanent Brain Wipe/Permanent Mind Control (even background)
- Sexually explicit works (implied/vague is fine)
- Self harm, especially cutting (“need to remove a cursemark” or other utilitarian reasons is fine, just NOT mental health related)
- Actual suicide - attempts are iffy but not a hard line if part of wider angst, but no successes
- Doctor/Patient or Teacher/Student relationships (& no Boss/Employee if the power dynamic is featured as sexy)
- High School/College AUs
- Canonically "good" heroes as evil/cruel protagonists without redemption (dark Mafia AUs etc.)
- Sad endings, Hurt/No Comfort, overly ambiguous endings
- No dom/sub relationships, sexual or non.
- Underage or Age Play
- No “slavery is normal and accepted” or Handmaid’s Tale-esque worlds
- “Reader” as a character
Thanks for reading! Reach out through the mods if you need anything clarified. I hope you have a lovely season and have fun!
- DevilWithABirdDress
-Hornblende-38354.jpg){kind=link}
Oh, Look... a Wednesday
Jun. 10th, 2026 12:45 pmlydamorehouseIt's been months since I last posted, but I thought I'd better let all of you know that I'm still alive and kicking.
My days have been busy. The way my schedule works at Anoka County, I basically work every other day. This feels especially true on a week like this last one, when I worked both Saturday and Sunday. The job continues to be FINE. It's not terribly much more than that? But, it's also decidedly not awful. I like books and libraries? Since all I do is shelve books, I have leaned into that and just spend my shift rather idly straightening shelves, double-checking my work (aka light shelf reading), and browsing. Alas, Northtown is small enough that there's not a lot that catches my attention, but, again, it doesn't suck. I've learned to do a couple of other bits of work, like a thing they call "wanding" (which is basically a fancier way to shelf read) and so it's not ENTIRELY boring.
But, it's pretty boring.
Still, it could be worse and I'm grateful for the work.
I'm also slightly busier in my off time than I usually am because I'm once again rehearsing for a show. Remember that gig I had last November where I read a story that was then set to a kind of musical accompaniment? Well, I'm doing that again, with the same organizer (Cole Sarar) but with a new musician, Caly McMorrow, in the Space Lounge at Convergence! As much as I love my super villian adopts a cat story, I decided to better match Cole's missive style story and will be reading "Sincerely, Yours" a short story of mine that appeared in The Reinvented Heart. If you're going to be at Convergence: the performance will be on Friday, July 4, at 12:30 pm in the Space Lounge. (Convergence runs from July 2-5, 2026 and will be at the Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis, MN (1300 Nicollet Mall.) This story routinely makes me cry when I read it out loud, but so far I've been able to recover enough to get through to the end. Practice does seem to be helping.
I've read a couple of things since the last time I've posted on a Wednesday, including a book that should be coming out soon which I was able to get an advanced copy of--Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher, which I whole-heartedly recommend. I have not caught up on all the clockwork/swordheart books and I can tell you that doesn't matter one whit. I mean, maybe it's not the best jumping in point? But, it worked okay for me! Pre-order it now? I would for the pillbug alone! (And yes, I said what I said.) I'm also finally reading Witch Hat Atelier. Don't hate me because it's popular. I can still happily say that I bounced out of Demon Slayer, Fieren, and Solo Leveling. So, I'm still the same complete loser you once knew.
Work has definitely slowed my ability to get much writing done. When I sit down at the end of the day, I really don't want to do anything hard. I really don't know how I managed to write so many books while working full-time. All I can say is that I was younger then. Much younger.
I have been drawn back into some fic writing, but I don't know what that means. I might be gearing up into figuring out how to do this while working a Real Job (tm) or it's just a sign that I was not lying when I said that I will never NOT write.
Gaming persists. I'm trying to find a good date that will work for people to do a one-shot in D&D. And, god help me, I'm still running a Thirsty Sword Lesbians campaign on Tuesday nights, which probably means that one of those Tuesdays is coming up again soon. Tuesdays are a day that I always work, so I have come screeching home, jump out of the car, slam food into my mouth, and basically start running a game. (We game at 7 pm; I arrive home from my commute at 6:30 pm.) Luckily, with TSL I have fully become a GM who is like, "Notes? Who needs notes? I run on VIBES."
There's probably a bunch more I could catch you up on, but this is what I know at the moment. I mostly just wanted to post so that you all knew that both myself (and my computer) are alive and well.
My days have been busy. The way my schedule works at Anoka County, I basically work every other day. This feels especially true on a week like this last one, when I worked both Saturday and Sunday. The job continues to be FINE. It's not terribly much more than that? But, it's also decidedly not awful. I like books and libraries? Since all I do is shelve books, I have leaned into that and just spend my shift rather idly straightening shelves, double-checking my work (aka light shelf reading), and browsing. Alas, Northtown is small enough that there's not a lot that catches my attention, but, again, it doesn't suck. I've learned to do a couple of other bits of work, like a thing they call "wanding" (which is basically a fancier way to shelf read) and so it's not ENTIRELY boring.
But, it's pretty boring.
Still, it could be worse and I'm grateful for the work.
I'm also slightly busier in my off time than I usually am because I'm once again rehearsing for a show. Remember that gig I had last November where I read a story that was then set to a kind of musical accompaniment? Well, I'm doing that again, with the same organizer (Cole Sarar) but with a new musician, Caly McMorrow, in the Space Lounge at Convergence! As much as I love my super villian adopts a cat story, I decided to better match Cole's missive style story and will be reading "Sincerely, Yours" a short story of mine that appeared in The Reinvented Heart. If you're going to be at Convergence: the performance will be on Friday, July 4, at 12:30 pm in the Space Lounge. (Convergence runs from July 2-5, 2026 and will be at the Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis, MN (1300 Nicollet Mall.) This story routinely makes me cry when I read it out loud, but so far I've been able to recover enough to get through to the end. Practice does seem to be helping.
I've read a couple of things since the last time I've posted on a Wednesday, including a book that should be coming out soon which I was able to get an advanced copy of--Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher, which I whole-heartedly recommend. I have not caught up on all the clockwork/swordheart books and I can tell you that doesn't matter one whit. I mean, maybe it's not the best jumping in point? But, it worked okay for me! Pre-order it now? I would for the pillbug alone! (And yes, I said what I said.) I'm also finally reading Witch Hat Atelier. Don't hate me because it's popular. I can still happily say that I bounced out of Demon Slayer, Fieren, and Solo Leveling. So, I'm still the same complete loser you once knew.
Work has definitely slowed my ability to get much writing done. When I sit down at the end of the day, I really don't want to do anything hard. I really don't know how I managed to write so many books while working full-time. All I can say is that I was younger then. Much younger.
I have been drawn back into some fic writing, but I don't know what that means. I might be gearing up into figuring out how to do this while working a Real Job (tm) or it's just a sign that I was not lying when I said that I will never NOT write.
Gaming persists. I'm trying to find a good date that will work for people to do a one-shot in D&D. And, god help me, I'm still running a Thirsty Sword Lesbians campaign on Tuesday nights, which probably means that one of those Tuesdays is coming up again soon. Tuesdays are a day that I always work, so I have come screeching home, jump out of the car, slam food into my mouth, and basically start running a game. (We game at 7 pm; I arrive home from my commute at 6:30 pm.) Luckily, with TSL I have fully become a GM who is like, "Notes? Who needs notes? I run on VIBES."
There's probably a bunch more I could catch you up on, but this is what I know at the moment. I mostly just wanted to post so that you all knew that both myself (and my computer) are alive and well.
Into the Void: day late, dollar short edition
Jun. 10th, 2026 12:30 pmstonepicnicking_okapiI have missed doing a 'Tuesday is News & Views day' for three weeks so I'm just going to do an 'Into the Void.'
1. Gosh, life is getting expensive. I know I am not saying anything revelatory but this past weekend I was killing time waiting for Minor to get a haircut and my coffee more than $6 and I came to the conclusion that I have to take a moment and re-evaluate conditioned consumerism on my part.
Because the day before, I took Minisculus to Yogi Castle (frozen yogurt + toppings) to celebrate a speech he had to give for school and Minor tagged along and it was pay by the ounce and I swear Minor was making a Leaning Tower of Pisa out of gummy frogs to the point I was almost yelling at him to 'STOP!' And I decided this cannot be a way I reward Minisculus for anything (before it has been for scoring a goal in a game but he hasn't scored in so long that I made it for the speech).
The treats for myself and the kids along with the mentality of 'this is how we reward X occasion' have got to be re-evaluated and for many of them re-considered. I'm not saying anything remarkable, just saying it's being brought home to me by these end-of-school year things.
So, I cancelled the Netflix. I can't justify the expense. I only got it to watch the BTS Arirang concert and it's only 62 minutes and I have re-watched it about 100 times but still...got to go.
2. Speaking of BTS, it's FESTA week. Saturday (13 Jun) is FESTA day, BTS anniversary. They are showing the BTS concert in Busan in theatres and tickets are $37 in my area. And...I am on the fence...see above budget tightening mindset. I hope I stick to my guns and don't do it but I won't be surprised if I splurge at the last minute and go. I don't know.
3. I'm working on the last two chapters of my soap opera. No more long fic for a while, she swears.
4. I'm trying to get my book club list together.
How about Ume, the baby tapir
1. Gosh, life is getting expensive. I know I am not saying anything revelatory but this past weekend I was killing time waiting for Minor to get a haircut and my coffee more than $6 and I came to the conclusion that I have to take a moment and re-evaluate conditioned consumerism on my part.
Because the day before, I took Minisculus to Yogi Castle (frozen yogurt + toppings) to celebrate a speech he had to give for school and Minor tagged along and it was pay by the ounce and I swear Minor was making a Leaning Tower of Pisa out of gummy frogs to the point I was almost yelling at him to 'STOP!' And I decided this cannot be a way I reward Minisculus for anything (before it has been for scoring a goal in a game but he hasn't scored in so long that I made it for the speech).
The treats for myself and the kids along with the mentality of 'this is how we reward X occasion' have got to be re-evaluated and for many of them re-considered. I'm not saying anything remarkable, just saying it's being brought home to me by these end-of-school year things.
So, I cancelled the Netflix. I can't justify the expense. I only got it to watch the BTS Arirang concert and it's only 62 minutes and I have re-watched it about 100 times but still...got to go.
2. Speaking of BTS, it's FESTA week. Saturday (13 Jun) is FESTA day, BTS anniversary. They are showing the BTS concert in Busan in theatres and tickets are $37 in my area. And...I am on the fence...see above budget tightening mindset. I hope I stick to my guns and don't do it but I won't be surprised if I splurge at the last minute and go. I don't know.
3. I'm working on the last two chapters of my soap opera. No more long fic for a while, she swears.
4. I'm trying to get my book club list together.
How about Ume, the baby tapir