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Oct. 10th, 2025 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
musesfoolI had to wait about 45 minutes after my scheduled appointment because CVS's internet was down intermittently or something (and several customers got a little shirty about it) but I finally got this year's covid and flu shots.
In sports news, my friends from Philly, I still love you, but I enjoyed last night's Eagles and Phillies losses tremendously (lbr, I also enjoyed the Yankees getting eliminated but that's not quite the same). I especially enjoyed the Dart and Skattebo show for the NY (football) Giants! Gosh, I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to enjoy a football game my team played in! And then the post-game show with Dart showing his Star Wars fan bona fides (all with prequels questions too, which was funny) and Skattebo ripping his shirt off with Ryan Fitzpatrick! Not only did they win, they were fun! Though Dart needs to learn how to protect himself better on those runs. Yikes. Not that I expect them to win many more games this year, but boy it was enjoyable that they did last night.
In other fannish news, it sounds like book 8 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series is supposed to come out in June 2026, which I guess is ok. Still no word on Alecto the Ninth though.
And now I kind of want a DCC/TLT crossover...they are incompatible canons but oh boy it would be fun.
*
In sports news, my friends from Philly, I still love you, but I enjoyed last night's Eagles and Phillies losses tremendously (lbr, I also enjoyed the Yankees getting eliminated but that's not quite the same). I especially enjoyed the Dart and Skattebo show for the NY (football) Giants! Gosh, I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to enjoy a football game my team played in! And then the post-game show with Dart showing his Star Wars fan bona fides (all with prequels questions too, which was funny) and Skattebo ripping his shirt off with Ryan Fitzpatrick! Not only did they win, they were fun! Though Dart needs to learn how to protect himself better on those runs. Yikes. Not that I expect them to win many more games this year, but boy it was enjoyable that they did last night.
In other fannish news, it sounds like book 8 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series is supposed to come out in June 2026, which I guess is ok. Still no word on Alecto the Ninth though.
And now I kind of want a DCC/TLT crossover...they are incompatible canons but oh boy it would be fun.
*
The worst part of October is over
Oct. 10th, 2025 10:23 pmschneefinkI wrote my accounting/financial reporting exam yesterday, I'm so glad that's done. I'm cautiously optimistic but I'll find out in 6-8 weeks.
That means now I have time for all the things I wanted to do, especially fannish things! ...I thought and immediately felt overwhelmed because there's so much. In addition to playing more Silksong (and after that, Hades 2) there's books I want to read and things I want to watch, and fic I want to read and posts and fanworks I want to comment on and things I want to post and people I want to chat with and fic I want to write, and that's not even mentioning all the chores I've been putting off and RL social things. At least it's a better kind of stress ^^
That means now I have time for all the things I wanted to do, especially fannish things! ...I thought and immediately felt overwhelmed because there's so much. In addition to playing more Silksong (and after that, Hades 2) there's books I want to read and things I want to watch, and fic I want to read and posts and fanworks I want to comment on and things I want to post and people I want to chat with and fic I want to write, and that's not even mentioning all the chores I've been putting off and RL social things. At least it's a better kind of stress ^^
sometimes it doesn't feel so glamorous to be me
Oct. 8th, 2025 03:15 pmmusesfoolI meant to post last night, but I fell asleep on the couch right after dinner and slept for almost 2.5 hours! So I didn't post, or organize my laundry, or take out the recycling, or watch the Rangers (lose) or any of the other things I intended to do last night. Losing that hour of sleep because I had to go into the office hit me hard, I guess, since I also didn't go to bed earlier as intended on Monday night. *hands*
I did frost the cupcakes after work on Monday - I made a 3x batch of the Smitten Kitchen American buttercream since it would use up the whole box of powdered sugar and make measuring less difficult, and only had a little left over once I piped all 72 cupcakes. They disappeared rapidly at work - a lot of people were in and they enjoyed them! As always, people ask if I bake professionally and I'm just like, "nope! Then it wouldn't be fun!"
I also got a couple of Teams messages asking for confirmation that I was the one who brought them so they could be trusted. Only one person opined that the SK ones were better than the Sally's ones, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to do a double batch of the Sally's, with the SK frosting, for Christmas. My co-workers also suggested that if I'm ever invited to give a spontaneous talk, it should be about the different types of frosting that you can make and the pros and cons of them. I may have given them a preview of such a talk. *g*
I also confirmed that there are no nut allergies on the team, so I am planning to do candied pecans as my gift this year. They are SO GOOD. I mean, I've never made them, but my brother-in-law makes them for the holidays and they are seriously addictive. I just ordered some mason jars to put them in, and I think that will be a nice gift. I just have to order the pecans from Costco.
Assistant J is corralling the party planning committee this year, but the COO has decreed who the caterer will be (we are combining the legal dept party with all the operations departments' parties this year at her suggestion), so that should curtail some of their insanity in terms of party planning. I hope. I told J that with the food selection taken care of, they could concentrate on decorations, games, and music, which they were all into last year.
Anyway, as always, people are happy to see me when I show up, but I already told my boss I won't be back in until the day of the party and she is okay with that. Whew.
*
I did frost the cupcakes after work on Monday - I made a 3x batch of the Smitten Kitchen American buttercream since it would use up the whole box of powdered sugar and make measuring less difficult, and only had a little left over once I piped all 72 cupcakes. They disappeared rapidly at work - a lot of people were in and they enjoyed them! As always, people ask if I bake professionally and I'm just like, "nope! Then it wouldn't be fun!"
I also got a couple of Teams messages asking for confirmation that I was the one who brought them so they could be trusted. Only one person opined that the SK ones were better than the Sally's ones, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to do a double batch of the Sally's, with the SK frosting, for Christmas. My co-workers also suggested that if I'm ever invited to give a spontaneous talk, it should be about the different types of frosting that you can make and the pros and cons of them. I may have given them a preview of such a talk. *g*
I also confirmed that there are no nut allergies on the team, so I am planning to do candied pecans as my gift this year. They are SO GOOD. I mean, I've never made them, but my brother-in-law makes them for the holidays and they are seriously addictive. I just ordered some mason jars to put them in, and I think that will be a nice gift. I just have to order the pecans from Costco.
Assistant J is corralling the party planning committee this year, but the COO has decreed who the caterer will be (we are combining the legal dept party with all the operations departments' parties this year at her suggestion), so that should curtail some of their insanity in terms of party planning. I hope. I told J that with the food selection taken care of, they could concentrate on decorations, games, and music, which they were all into last year.
Anyway, as always, people are happy to see me when I show up, but I already told my boss I won't be back in until the day of the party and she is okay with that. Whew.
*
Silksong: Act 2, Citadel of Song, part 1
Oct. 7th, 2025 07:56 pmschneefinkI've been having so much fun with Silksong, an incredible game. There's so much to explore!
I finally got to the first ending (could have done it earlier but now felt like a good time) and that seems like a good point to post, uh, 9.5k of notes about my playthrough.
( Act 2: Citadel of Song. Part 1 )
I finally got to the first ending (could have done it earlier but now felt like a good time) and that seems like a good point to post, uh, 9.5k of notes about my playthrough.
( Act 2: Citadel of Song. Part 1 )
Spooky season fannish events!
Oct. 6th, 2025 09:36 pmscintilla10Two current spooky season fandom events!
Hotties Haunting the Narrative: a festive femslash ficathon, hosted byelasticella
Leave prompts and create fills for femslash pairings, featuring literal and/or figurative ghosts!
At![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ficortreat, you can offer treats (fic, doodles, recs, cat photos, or anything you like!) to visitors (or a selection of visitors, such as your followers). You can also wander around the neighbourhood to see what others are offering. You can participate however you feel comfortable.
Hotties Haunting the Narrative: a festive femslash ficathon, hosted by
elasticellaLeave prompts and create fills for femslash pairings, featuring literal and/or figurative ghosts!
At
ficortreat, you can offer treats (fic, doodles, recs, cat photos, or anything you like!) to visitors (or a selection of visitors, such as your followers). You can also wander around the neighbourhood to see what others are offering. You can participate however you feel comfortable.
Fic or Treat!
Oct. 6th, 2025 07:13 pmscintilla10
ficortreat | Browse the Fic or Treat neighbourhoodHi, and thanks for dropping in! Leave a comment on this post with your request (or you can say "surprise me!"). No guarantees, but I will try my best to give something to anyone who visits. <3
Light is on for: fic or treaters, anyone subscribed to me
( Read more... )
the game changed on this play
Oct. 5th, 2025 06:33 pmmusesfoolSince I'm going to the office on Tuesday and my whole team is supposed to be in, I am finally going to be able to get some feedback on funfetti cupcakes. So today, I baked both the Sally's Baking Addiction recipe (black and white cupcake papers) and the Smitten Kitchen recipe (yellow and red cupcake papers) (pics), and I think the Sally's recipe is the winner. I particularly like that it uses melted butter instead of having to cream the butter and sugar, so it can be done easily by hand. (For Christmas, I will double the recipe, so I'll use the stand mixer anyway, but overall, I do like a recipe that can be made without one.) My plan is to make the SK frosting attached to that recipe (doubled, and potentially tripled if necessary since I have 72 cupcakes to frost (38 Sally's, 34 Smitten Kitchen - overall they made 40 and 36 mini cupcakes, respectively, but I ate 2 of each). Normally, I would go for cream cheese frosting for funfetti, but both my nephews have said they prefer buttercream, and since this is specifically for them (and to replace the vanilla cupcakes I've been making but have been unhappy with), I figured I'd go with their preference. We'll see how it goes.
In other news, I am so sad HGTV cancelled Bargain Block - I still have the last couple of post-New Orleans episodes to watch, but then it will be all over and I will miss Keith and Evan a lot. I heard they also cancelled Married to Real Estate, which I also enjoy but still have a couple of seasons I haven't seen, and that Unsellable Houses is probably also going to get canned, which is a shame because that is my other favorite HGTV show and I have already watched all that is available. On the plus side, it seems like Home Town will be coming back, and I do enjoy that one, plus the new season of Help! I Wrecked My House (now in Park City, UT) has started (though I haven't watched it yet). And of course, my Elementary rewatch continues.
*
In other news, I am so sad HGTV cancelled Bargain Block - I still have the last couple of post-New Orleans episodes to watch, but then it will be all over and I will miss Keith and Evan a lot. I heard they also cancelled Married to Real Estate, which I also enjoy but still have a couple of seasons I haven't seen, and that Unsellable Houses is probably also going to get canned, which is a shame because that is my other favorite HGTV show and I have already watched all that is available. On the plus side, it seems like Home Town will be coming back, and I do enjoy that one, plus the new season of Help! I Wrecked My House (now in Park City, UT) has started (though I haven't watched it yet). And of course, my Elementary rewatch continues.
*
Two New Vids (BtVS)
Oct. 5th, 2025 12:36 pmtafadhali posting in viddingThe penultimate update on periru3 and my vid album Jagged Little Slayer, a mashup of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alanis Morissette. Here are our most recent two:
periru3 and my vid album Jagged Little Slayer, a mashup of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alanis Morissette. Here are our most recent two:Self-drafted Half-Circle skirt
Oct. 8th, 2025 01:00 pmchebeI'm back to self-drafting skirts again. I haven't been completely satisfied with the instructions given in the Sew What Skirts book, so I did a bunch of research around the internet and came up with my own process that works for my brain.
( Details )
( Details )
Finished, front
Photo by chebe
Review: TooHot
Oct. 3rd, 2025 02:55 pmjducoeurHaving just finished the leftovers, a few conclusions about TooHot, a new restaurant in Harvard Square:
- Far as I can tell, it is seriously authentic Szechuan, not something one often comes across in these parts.
- As a consequence, the name of the restaurant is accurate. The waiter asked whether I wanted it "mild", and I said no, I like spicy, so "medium" maybe? As I suspected, "medium" is somewhere near the top of my spice tolerance: this place really likes its peppers.
- It's already impressively popular (after being open just a few months), especially with people who are actually Chinese (based on glancing at the crowd) -- at 6pm on a Tuesday, they had to think about whether they could seat three people without reservations.
- The specialties of the house are also pretty authentic.
- Authentic Szechuan apparently involves a lot of frog.
- Frog mostly tastes like chicken, except with a lot more bones.
- So many bones.
- Too many bones.
So overall: excellent restaurant, especially if you like spicy food. But I think the frog dishes may be more effort than I'm willing to put in.
Six years late to The Expanse show
Oct. 3rd, 2025 07:42 amtassosss On the life front, I'm furloughed but so far still employed. Can't say I mind that much tbh. It's been an awful year and I needed the break.
***
I leant my niece Leviathan Wakes a couple weeks ago, and she texted me two days later "do you have the next book?" So I leant her the next three books. Then she's on her own with getting them from the library. I checked out the audiobook and relistened to LW too, and I forgot how much I really love these.
Now when I first read The Expanse it was a few months before the show started. I read books 1-3 with watching the show in mind, but then as so often happens, it was a long enough break that I didn't end up watching the show. I also took a break before reading book 4 (I don't think 5 was out at the time, or it was coming out soon, or something?), and didn't get to book 4. This is a very common pattern for me with in progress series.
Anyway. My reread of Leviathan Wakes got me all excited again and reminded me how good they are and how much they've shaped how I think about modern sci-fi. So I'm waiting on Calaban's War on audio from the library (because my niece has our hardback copy) and after I got home from my orderly shutdown on Wednesday, I binged the first season of the show.
The show does such a good job! I'm really enjoying it! The vision of the world and bringing it to life is so cool. I'm really glad they brought in Avasarala in the first season because she is one of my favorite characters, and it really adds to the depth of the story from the beginning.
***
While I wait for Calaban's War, I got Jade City from the library too. Jumping in the deep end on that one too. I'm only a few chapters in and it's good so far.
***
I leant my niece Leviathan Wakes a couple weeks ago, and she texted me two days later "do you have the next book?" So I leant her the next three books. Then she's on her own with getting them from the library. I checked out the audiobook and relistened to LW too, and I forgot how much I really love these.
Now when I first read The Expanse it was a few months before the show started. I read books 1-3 with watching the show in mind, but then as so often happens, it was a long enough break that I didn't end up watching the show. I also took a break before reading book 4 (I don't think 5 was out at the time, or it was coming out soon, or something?), and didn't get to book 4. This is a very common pattern for me with in progress series.
Anyway. My reread of Leviathan Wakes got me all excited again and reminded me how good they are and how much they've shaped how I think about modern sci-fi. So I'm waiting on Calaban's War on audio from the library (because my niece has our hardback copy) and after I got home from my orderly shutdown on Wednesday, I binged the first season of the show.
The show does such a good job! I'm really enjoying it! The vision of the world and bringing it to life is so cool. I'm really glad they brought in Avasarala in the first season because she is one of my favorite characters, and it really adds to the depth of the story from the beginning.
***
While I wait for Calaban's War, I got Jade City from the library too. Jumping in the deep end on that one too. I'm only a few chapters in and it's good so far.
i could've done better, but i don't mind
Oct. 2nd, 2025 06:56 pmmusesfoolUgh, I woke up at 3:30 this morning coughing my lungs out and didn't really sleep much after that. It's that itchiness in my throat and chest that make me think allergies, especially given that I haven't really been around people except at the dentist's office yesterday, so I don't think it's covid? But who knows at this point? My quest to get this year's flu/covid shots has been derailed a couple of times but I am off again next Friday, so that is going to be my next attempt.
In more fannish news, I read that Dungeon Crawler Carl has been optioned for tv, and now I want a Carl vid to Mike Ness's version of "Don't Think Twice."
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In more fannish news, I read that Dungeon Crawler Carl has been optioned for tv, and now I want a Carl vid to Mike Ness's version of "Don't Think Twice."
*