Asenath Waite (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
asenathwaite) wrote2025-12-21 11:38 pm
asenathwaite) wrote2025-12-21 11:38 pm
Entry tags:
tielan (tielan) wrote2025-12-22 05:40 pm
tielan) wrote2025-12-22 05:40 pmmail reminder
Address here: can specify seasonal or not.
Obvs, seasonal is not going to make it to you in time unless you live here in Australia. And even then it's gonna be a toss-up.
(Comments are screened on this one, too, if you want to leave your address.)
Obvs, seasonal is not going to make it to you in time unless you live here in Australia. And even then it's gonna be a toss-up.
(Comments are screened on this one, too, if you want to leave your address.)
tielan (tielan) wrote2025-12-22 12:50 pm
tielan) wrote2025-12-22 12:50 pmfood and depression
When I'm depressed I stop eating. That is, I know I need to eat, I'm vaguely hungry, but my stomach is in way too much turmoil to actually enjoy food. So I stop eating.
Yesterday, I had a banana, a coffee, an egg...a strawberry at church supper...I had a couple of mouthfuls of salad when I got home, but it wasn't much. I heated up a slice of pork with plans to eat it, but just wasn't in the space for it so my sister put it away in the fridge.
Had a banana and a coffee this morning, now for lunch a slice of toast, half with smoked salmon, half with the pork I didn't eat last night.
Yesterday, I had a banana, a coffee, an egg...a strawberry at church supper...I had a couple of mouthfuls of salad when I got home, but it wasn't much. I heated up a slice of pork with plans to eat it, but just wasn't in the space for it so my sister put it away in the fridge.
Had a banana and a coffee this morning, now for lunch a slice of toast, half with smoked salmon, half with the pork I didn't eat last night.
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-12-19 09:46 pm
sholio) wrote2025-12-19 09:46 pmEntry tags:
A couple of Biggles promptfics
I had a long plane flight yesterday (holiday travel) and decided to try to clear out a little more of my Tumblr prompt backlog before the end of the year.
1. Friendly fire: Algy and EvS
200 wds - Also on Tumblr
( Under the cut, with prompt )
2. Drug that mimics death - Erich & Biggles
700 wds - Also on Tumblr.
( Under the cut, with prompt )
1. Friendly fire: Algy and EvS
200 wds - Also on Tumblr
( Under the cut, with prompt )
2. Drug that mimics death - Erich & Biggles
700 wds - Also on Tumblr.
( Under the cut, with prompt )
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-12-18 10:23 am
sholio) wrote2025-12-18 10:23 amEntry tags:
Still thinking about B5? More likely than you think!
And writing about it instead of getting ready to check out of my Airbnb as I ought to be.
( Spoilers obviously, especially for character death/survival )
( Spoilers obviously, especially for character death/survival )
tielan (tielan) wrote2025-12-18 09:29 am
tielan) wrote2025-12-18 09:29 am8am and it already feels hot
IDK. I did go outside, checked the chickens food (bother, just realised I didn't check their water).
Temps are supposed to be 30+ today and the next few days, alas, before cooling down on Christmas Day. By which we mean "mid-20s".
CRIPES. It's a week to Christmas.
My mother wants us to go over on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. *sigh* I just don't want to do "Christmas Day", and then "Christmas Day But With The Stepbro's Family".
I don't seem to have gotten COVID - still testing clear, just feeling generally tired.
--
It's six hours later and it's crazy hot out there.
Temps are supposed to be 30+ today and the next few days, alas, before cooling down on Christmas Day. By which we mean "mid-20s".
CRIPES. It's a week to Christmas.
My mother wants us to go over on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. *sigh* I just don't want to do "Christmas Day", and then "Christmas Day But With The Stepbro's Family".
I don't seem to have gotten COVID - still testing clear, just feeling generally tired.
--
It's six hours later and it's crazy hot out there.
rydra_wong (rydra_wong) wrote2025-12-17 09:29 pm
rydra_wong) wrote2025-12-17 09:29 pmEntry tags:
Okay so more context
(Re: the previous entry.)
Dragonslayer Ornstein & Executioner Smough (also known as Oreo and S'mores, Biggie and Smalls, Pikachu and Snorlax, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and any other name the fandom can come up with) are one of the most iconic boss fights in the entire Dark Souls series.
There are much harder ones in later games (and in the DLC), but they're still legendary and still regarded as a Serious boss fight.
They're also a famous mid-game difficulty spike and cause of rage quitting. Conversely, if you can get through O&S, people often say you should have the skills to beat the rest of the base game.
The major issue is that it's a duo boss fight, with one agile speedster (Ornstein) who can zip most of the way across the room in a single move, and also throws lightning, and one heavyweight bruiser (Smough) who is slower but not that slow -- he has a charge attack to close distance fast that hits like a freight train -- and does huge amounts of damage.
So for the first phase of the fight, you have to try to keep track of where they both are simultaneously (not to mention where you are in relation to the room, so you don't back yourself into a corner and get trapped) and constantly manoeuvre to try to be able to get in a hit on one without being hit by the other.
If you kill one of them, the fight goes into a second phase where the surviving one absorbs some of their powers (so if it's Smough, he gets lightning, while if it's Ornstein he gets sized up and picks up part of Smough's moveset) and also restarts with a full and vastly increased health bar. Though there is a general consensus that the second phase is more manageable than the first phase simply because you're not having to fight two bosses at the same time.
Illustrative example of someone doing the fight:
(You can summon an NPC or other human players to try to help you, but the bosses get extra health to compensate and it's still tough. And also I have been having enormous fun trying to beat all the bosses without summons so far, and am averse to the extra complications and unpredictability of having more people -- human or NPC -- in the mix while I try to figure out a fight. Though I've also had enormous fun being a summons for other people on boss fights, so zero disrespect to people summoning*, it's an excellent game mechanic.)
As I may have mentioned once or twice, my brain has huge difficulty tracking multiple moving objects (which is why I can't drive or cycle on the road) and I have the reaction speed of a slime mould.
So yeah. I knew O&S are the big mid-game stopper and I was very aware that this could potentially be the point where I hit a wall and the game became flatly impossible for me. Or at least where I'd have to summon to get through it.
And that did not happen. I solo-ed O&S.
It took multiple sessions over multiple days before I mastered it, but that's standard for me on DS boss fights. And I had SO MUCH FUN. It's SUCH A COOL FIGHT.
I did a thing that was a real achievement for me and I am very proud, and especially given the shitshow this year has been, I'll take it.
{*Necessary disclaimer only because Dark Souls fandom has historically had a section who are toxic as fuck and would like you to know that you didn't really beat the game if you summoned or used magic or whatthefuckever else they disapprove of.}
Dragonslayer Ornstein & Executioner Smough (also known as Oreo and S'mores, Biggie and Smalls, Pikachu and Snorlax, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and any other name the fandom can come up with) are one of the most iconic boss fights in the entire Dark Souls series.
There are much harder ones in later games (and in the DLC), but they're still legendary and still regarded as a Serious boss fight.
They're also a famous mid-game difficulty spike and cause of rage quitting. Conversely, if you can get through O&S, people often say you should have the skills to beat the rest of the base game.
The major issue is that it's a duo boss fight, with one agile speedster (Ornstein) who can zip most of the way across the room in a single move, and also throws lightning, and one heavyweight bruiser (Smough) who is slower but not that slow -- he has a charge attack to close distance fast that hits like a freight train -- and does huge amounts of damage.
So for the first phase of the fight, you have to try to keep track of where they both are simultaneously (not to mention where you are in relation to the room, so you don't back yourself into a corner and get trapped) and constantly manoeuvre to try to be able to get in a hit on one without being hit by the other.
If you kill one of them, the fight goes into a second phase where the surviving one absorbs some of their powers (so if it's Smough, he gets lightning, while if it's Ornstein he gets sized up and picks up part of Smough's moveset) and also restarts with a full and vastly increased health bar. Though there is a general consensus that the second phase is more manageable than the first phase simply because you're not having to fight two bosses at the same time.
Illustrative example of someone doing the fight:
(You can summon an NPC or other human players to try to help you, but the bosses get extra health to compensate and it's still tough. And also I have been having enormous fun trying to beat all the bosses without summons so far, and am averse to the extra complications and unpredictability of having more people -- human or NPC -- in the mix while I try to figure out a fight. Though I've also had enormous fun being a summons for other people on boss fights, so zero disrespect to people summoning*, it's an excellent game mechanic.)
As I may have mentioned once or twice, my brain has huge difficulty tracking multiple moving objects (which is why I can't drive or cycle on the road) and I have the reaction speed of a slime mould.
So yeah. I knew O&S are the big mid-game stopper and I was very aware that this could potentially be the point where I hit a wall and the game became flatly impossible for me. Or at least where I'd have to summon to get through it.
And that did not happen. I solo-ed O&S.
It took multiple sessions over multiple days before I mastered it, but that's standard for me on DS boss fights. And I had SO MUCH FUN. It's SUCH A COOL FIGHT.
I did a thing that was a real achievement for me and I am very proud, and especially given the shitshow this year has been, I'll take it.
{*Necessary disclaimer only because Dark Souls fandom has historically had a section who are toxic as fuck and would like you to know that you didn't really beat the game if you summoned or used magic or whatthefuckever else they disapprove of.}
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-12-16 08:09 pm
sholio) wrote2025-12-16 08:09 pmEntry tags:
The chaotic Dragaera reread continues
.... but much more slowly. I reread Vallista this past week, and that book sure hits different in a few ways after reading Tsalmoth!
( Spoilers for both Vallista and Tsalmoth )
( Spoilers for both Vallista and Tsalmoth )
rydra_wong (rydra_wong) wrote2025-12-16 11:19 am
rydra_wong) wrote2025-12-16 11:19 amEntry tags:
So
... I just beat Ornstein and Smough.
For anyone who would like context -- Symbalily meets and gets to grips with O&S, from the timestamp: https://youtu.be/3TKhwbveyVE?si=14uuwYlVq1ywUwRk&t=5681
For anyone who would like context -- Symbalily meets and gets to grips with O&S, from the timestamp: https://youtu.be/3TKhwbveyVE?si=14uuwYlVq1ywUwRk&t=5681
mific (mific) wrote2025-12-16 04:48 pm
mific) wrote2025-12-16 04:48 pmEntry tags:
Water gardening with & without ducks
I've always loved water in gardens, but for some years I only managed that through bird baths, which are also handy for emergency plant watering. Then I discovered my local big box store had cheap plastic half barrels, which I've used to repot a couple of small trees, but it occurred to me one would be perfect as a water garden. They came with no drainage holes, but I cut those with a hole saw in the two used as planters. So I got a couple of small water lilies and a black taro (they like sitting in water), and another marginal plant, planted them up in some old perforated peg baskets, and hey presto. Mosquitoes are easily managed by putting a chunk of mozzie dunk in the water (it releases bacillus thuringiensis that kills mozzie larvae, harmless to anything else).
Everything was lovely until two weeks later when I came out one morning to find the tub filled with mud and ripped up water lilies. Ducks. The bastards had gotten in and savaged the plants, rooted about in the planters, and bitten off all the water lily leaves. Not eaten the leaves, just ripped them off. That was when I remembered why I'd never tried to make a water garden here before.
But I had a water garden now, although it took a day to lift and redo the peg basket planters, replanting the sadly denuded lily roots in each one and running the water in the tub clear with a hose. I wasn't going to let the duck pack get the better of me!
One thing I enjoy with gardening is DIYing things. I've made tripods and more complex plant supports, mesh cubes to cover brassicas for my wheelibeds, and so forth. I lay awake in bed trying to figure out how to keep the damn ducks out, and finally had a plan. The duck dome. (shown lifted up off the water garden tub)
1. A circle of hose, joined by jamming a 4 inch bit of thick bamboo in to hold the ends together (a system I often use to make small hose circles to raise pots up for drainage).
2. Four 4-inch bits of hose attached to that circle with the bottom side slit open so as to fit over the lip of the plastic tub. Easier to take it on and off with just a few attachment points.
3. A number of long, thin privet branches slotted into holes drilled in the main hose circle, bent over to make the dome and tied where they cross. I wasted some time researching where to get willow slips for this, then realised I had what I needed already - several Chinese privets that are invasive but provide shade, and I keep them trimmed so they don't flower. They have long, straight branches which I've been using for a while as plant supports.
All that remained was to assemble the bits. It went pretty smoothly, although the privet branches weren't perfectly straight, but it adds to the rustic look. I'm happy with it, and it's been duckproof so far. The water lilies are both making a comeback, as well.
In other news, I posted pics of our local reservoir dam on common nature, here.
And I'm now completely obsessed with Heated Rivalry on TV. In between episodes I look at all the meta, gifs and despairing posts from other similarly obsessed fans on tumblr, have read the books, am now listening to the audiobooks (Connor Storrie does a vastly better Russian accent than the readers manage - I gather real Russians think he's actually Russian!), and am trying not to rewatch the eps too many times in the gaping voids between Fridays. It's bloody inconvenient, as I have less than a week to finish my due South and SGA Santa fics, but I'll get there. Here are three meta pieces about how THE SEX IS THE POINT, two collected bymachinistm, and one by Gav at the rec centre. Jacob Tierney is a fucking genius, and has taken Rachel Reid's (very readable) books to a new level, like Peter Jackson's loving LotR adaptations. Not to mention the explosive chemistry of Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. Storrie is getting a little more attention as his performance of Ilya is spectacular, but I'm very fond of Hudson's Shane and when you see clips of Hudson being himself you realize how well and subtly he's performing the role. Plus Shane's such a sub; I just love him. God, four days to get through until Friday, but that's one ep a day, right? And then number five drops at 7pm. Not that I'm desperate, or anything...
Everything was lovely until two weeks later when I came out one morning to find the tub filled with mud and ripped up water lilies. Ducks. The bastards had gotten in and savaged the plants, rooted about in the planters, and bitten off all the water lily leaves. Not eaten the leaves, just ripped them off. That was when I remembered why I'd never tried to make a water garden here before.
But I had a water garden now, although it took a day to lift and redo the peg basket planters, replanting the sadly denuded lily roots in each one and running the water in the tub clear with a hose. I wasn't going to let the duck pack get the better of me!
One thing I enjoy with gardening is DIYing things. I've made tripods and more complex plant supports, mesh cubes to cover brassicas for my wheelibeds, and so forth. I lay awake in bed trying to figure out how to keep the damn ducks out, and finally had a plan. The duck dome. (shown lifted up off the water garden tub)
1. A circle of hose, joined by jamming a 4 inch bit of thick bamboo in to hold the ends together (a system I often use to make small hose circles to raise pots up for drainage).
2. Four 4-inch bits of hose attached to that circle with the bottom side slit open so as to fit over the lip of the plastic tub. Easier to take it on and off with just a few attachment points.
3. A number of long, thin privet branches slotted into holes drilled in the main hose circle, bent over to make the dome and tied where they cross. I wasted some time researching where to get willow slips for this, then realised I had what I needed already - several Chinese privets that are invasive but provide shade, and I keep them trimmed so they don't flower. They have long, straight branches which I've been using for a while as plant supports.
All that remained was to assemble the bits. It went pretty smoothly, although the privet branches weren't perfectly straight, but it adds to the rustic look. I'm happy with it, and it's been duckproof so far. The water lilies are both making a comeback, as well.
In other news, I posted pics of our local reservoir dam on common nature, here.
And I'm now completely obsessed with Heated Rivalry on TV. In between episodes I look at all the meta, gifs and despairing posts from other similarly obsessed fans on tumblr, have read the books, am now listening to the audiobooks (Connor Storrie does a vastly better Russian accent than the readers manage - I gather real Russians think he's actually Russian!), and am trying not to rewatch the eps too many times in the gaping voids between Fridays. It's bloody inconvenient, as I have less than a week to finish my due South and SGA Santa fics, but I'll get there. Here are three meta pieces about how THE SEX IS THE POINT, two collected by
machinistm, and one by Gav at the rec centre. Jacob Tierney is a fucking genius, and has taken Rachel Reid's (very readable) books to a new level, like Peter Jackson's loving LotR adaptations. Not to mention the explosive chemistry of Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. Storrie is getting a little more attention as his performance of Ilya is spectacular, but I'm very fond of Hudson's Shane and when you see clips of Hudson being himself you realize how well and subtly he's performing the role. Plus Shane's such a sub; I just love him. God, four days to get through until Friday, but that's one ep a day, right? And then number five drops at 7pm. Not that I'm desperate, or anything...
tielan (tielan) wrote2025-12-15 09:15 am
tielan) wrote2025-12-15 09:15 amEntry tags:
and the hits just keep coming
Work is gonna be slightly stressful the next three weeks. Apart from managing two systems until mid-January (and three for the 10 days after Christmas), they've instigated KPIs on basic tickets, and at least two of mine went overtime, in part because I was waiting for someone to get back to me. *grr*
I hate waiting for people to get back to me.
--
The shooting at Bondi Beach - a public Channukah event was targeted, one of the shooters was non-white, one of the members of the public who disarmed him (and was shot twice but survived) was middle eastern. Reports debate whether he was a Christian or a Muslim: the name suggests Muslim, his country background suggests Christian. Of course the cookers are already calling for a halt to immigration and trying to start up the culture wars again, the conservatives are yelling at our PM (centrist party), and the "anti-semitism adjudicator" has once again used this to basically declare that if you're not 100% for Israel in everything then you're antisemitic.
It shouldn't need saying but we say it all the same.
Was the shooting at Bondi antisemitic? Absolutely.
Is disavowing Israel's actions in the West Bank and Gaza in the removal of/bombing of/cruelty towards Palestinian locals antisemitic? Not even close.
I'm hoping Ahmed el Ahmed is Muslim, at the very least for the optics. Nevertheless, whatever his background, he's definitely a hero to the majority of Australians, and I suspect the fruit shop he runs will be well-frequented in the coming months and he will never need to pay for a meal while out for the rest of the summer.
Whatever faith or origins are revealed of any of the players, this was an awful day for all Australians who aren't cookers (Americans would call them RWNJs). Fear breeds distrust, and events like this breed both copycats and retaliation, and tear at the fragile fabric of our communities and our societies.
And the gun control argument is going to be so fucking stupid, too. The 2A Seppos are all in our faces jeering about us having gun violence, too, and the old "good guy with a gun" shit is coming out of the woodwork - never mind how many people are pointing out that the guy who did successfully disarm one of the gunmen wasn't armed. And the cookers just want violence to justify their itty bitty penii and their terrible self-esteem (cause they can't get jobs when the coloureds take the opportunities)...
God have mercy on us. All of us.
--
A friend tested positive for COVID after we had dinner together (with some other friends) on Saturday night. She thinks she got it at her work Christmas Party on Thursday.
--
I'm standing for the presidency of my permaculture club again, with an eye to changing the way things are done - they're not working for us as a volunteer-based organisation anymore.
Of course, the COVID diagnosis means I'm not going to tonight's meeting with the election. I'll try to put together a short video talking about the forward vision for the club. IDEK.
I hate waiting for people to get back to me.
--
The shooting at Bondi Beach - a public Channukah event was targeted, one of the shooters was non-white, one of the members of the public who disarmed him (and was shot twice but survived) was middle eastern. Reports debate whether he was a Christian or a Muslim: the name suggests Muslim, his country background suggests Christian. Of course the cookers are already calling for a halt to immigration and trying to start up the culture wars again, the conservatives are yelling at our PM (centrist party), and the "anti-semitism adjudicator" has once again used this to basically declare that if you're not 100% for Israel in everything then you're antisemitic.
a few thoughts
It shouldn't need saying but we say it all the same.
Was the shooting at Bondi antisemitic? Absolutely.
Is disavowing Israel's actions in the West Bank and Gaza in the removal of/bombing of/cruelty towards Palestinian locals antisemitic? Not even close.
I'm hoping Ahmed el Ahmed is Muslim, at the very least for the optics. Nevertheless, whatever his background, he's definitely a hero to the majority of Australians, and I suspect the fruit shop he runs will be well-frequented in the coming months and he will never need to pay for a meal while out for the rest of the summer.
Whatever faith or origins are revealed of any of the players, this was an awful day for all Australians who aren't cookers (Americans would call them RWNJs). Fear breeds distrust, and events like this breed both copycats and retaliation, and tear at the fragile fabric of our communities and our societies.
And the gun control argument is going to be so fucking stupid, too. The 2A Seppos are all in our faces jeering about us having gun violence, too, and the old "good guy with a gun" shit is coming out of the woodwork - never mind how many people are pointing out that the guy who did successfully disarm one of the gunmen wasn't armed. And the cookers just want violence to justify their itty bitty penii and their terrible self-esteem (cause they can't get jobs when the coloureds take the opportunities)...
God have mercy on us. All of us.
--
A friend tested positive for COVID after we had dinner together (with some other friends) on Saturday night. She thinks she got it at her work Christmas Party on Thursday.
--
I'm standing for the presidency of my permaculture club again, with an eye to changing the way things are done - they're not working for us as a volunteer-based organisation anymore.
Of course, the COVID diagnosis means I'm not going to tonight's meeting with the election. I'll try to put together a short video talking about the forward vision for the club. IDEK.
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-12-12 05:27 pm
sholio) wrote2025-12-12 05:27 pmEntry tags:
Rec-Cember: Two recent short Murderbot gen fics
As I don't have the bandwidth for a lot of reccing tonight, here are two quick recs of short Murderbot friendship gen from the last couple of days that I enjoyed. Both of these are more bookverse than show-based.
Ransom by![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
BoldlyNo (400 wds, Gurathin-centric)
Augment-based ransomware! What a terrible/brilliant idea. This is short but complete-feeling and satisfyingly whumpy.
The Truth, Bitter as It Is byHonorH (900 wds, Gurathin & Murderbot)
An even worse truth comes out about Ganaka Pit. I went into this fic worried that it would be terribly depressing, but it's not; it is much sweeter and kinder than it has to be.
Ransom by
Augment-based ransomware! What a terrible/brilliant idea. This is short but complete-feeling and satisfyingly whumpy.
The Truth, Bitter as It Is by
An even worse truth comes out about Ganaka Pit. I went into this fic worried that it would be terribly depressing, but it's not; it is much sweeter and kinder than it has to be.
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-12-12 03:51 pm
sholio) wrote2025-12-12 03:51 pmEntry tags:
A couple of links
amperslashexchange just announced a collection delay and still needs pinch hitters! See if there's anything you can pick up here - there are some with bigger fandoms as well as some small fandoms.Romance author Fern Michaels died recently, and I enjoyed reading this old article from early in her career (NYT archive article from 1978, not sure if it's paywalled). I didn't know that Fern Michaels started off as a writing duo of two different women! Apparently the one who eventually became "the" Fern Michaels took over the pen name later, but at the point this article was written, they only had three books out. The article is not at all disrespectful, and I was interested in the details of how the two women chose to position themselves in the market, which reminded me of our brainstorming process for Zoe a bit:
“There used to be a market for the little 60,000‐word romance with no plot,” Mrs. Anderson said, “but our publisher has become very demanding.”
Fern Michaels's books usually end up containing about 250,000 words.
Mrs. Anderson credits the success of the books to the authors’ attitude about women. As she put it:
“We don't have women love men who brutalize, beat and brand them. Our women don't put up with that.”
Anyway, I enjoyed this look at the state of the genre circa 1978, as well as the very early days of an author (or authors) who became a powerhouse in the 1980s-2000s romance scene.
tielan (tielan) wrote2025-12-12 08:50 am
tielan) wrote2025-12-12 08:50 amthings and bits
Well, darn.
I found a way to access my old LJ albums, but then discovered the pics I really wanted were stored on my personal website which...I think I relinquished access to back around 2012, and which was never archived...
DAMMIT.
I didn't think to download it before they went bye byes.
There's a part of me that wonders if I have the old HDs which contained photos from...oh, a decade ago, plus probably change.
Anyway, reading through my old LJ entries has been a blast. So many people, many of whom vanished from the intarwebs, some of whom may have renamed and just not kept up, some of whom I am vaguely in contact with...and some of who have migrated over to DW and are still here!
Amazing.
--
So cousin will not be doing Christmas at his place this year - it's an 'off' year with his wife's family. So we are no-go for Christmas Day.
My options are:
1. Quietly do nothing.
2. Volunteer.
3. Offer to host for 'orphans'
I will most likely end up at #1.
It's a bit late to volunteer, and I asked a friend (birthday twin) who has no family here in Sydney if she and her family would like to come around for Christmas lunch, but she has guests and a lot of things are up in the air for her. I might put up an invite for a local 'host a sister' meet up, but I doubt that anyone will want to meet with a stranger on Christmas Day.
It might be time to accept that the 'relatives Christmas' will only be happening every second year from now on and to plan accordingly. *sigh*
I found a way to access my old LJ albums, but then discovered the pics I really wanted were stored on my personal website which...I think I relinquished access to back around 2012, and which was never archived...
DAMMIT.
I didn't think to download it before they went bye byes.
There's a part of me that wonders if I have the old HDs which contained photos from...oh, a decade ago, plus probably change.
Anyway, reading through my old LJ entries has been a blast. So many people, many of whom vanished from the intarwebs, some of whom may have renamed and just not kept up, some of whom I am vaguely in contact with...and some of who have migrated over to DW and are still here!
Amazing.
--
So cousin will not be doing Christmas at his place this year - it's an 'off' year with his wife's family. So we are no-go for Christmas Day.
My options are:
1. Quietly do nothing.
2. Volunteer.
3. Offer to host for 'orphans'
I will most likely end up at #1.
It's a bit late to volunteer, and I asked a friend (birthday twin) who has no family here in Sydney if she and her family would like to come around for Christmas lunch, but she has guests and a lot of things are up in the air for her. I might put up an invite for a local 'host a sister' meet up, but I doubt that anyone will want to meet with a stranger on Christmas Day.
It might be time to accept that the 'relatives Christmas' will only be happening every second year from now on and to plan accordingly. *sigh*
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-12-11 12:23 pm
sholio) wrote2025-12-11 12:23 pmEntry tags:
Year in review and next year's plans
I normally do this at the end of the year, but I'm doing it early this year because I'll be out of town 'til the 27th, and I don't really expect much to change; all my publications for the year are publicated. See the tag for previous years' updates!
This year's cover grid:
3 full-length novels, 2 novellas, 1 collection. That's honestly much better than I was expecting; I spent most of the year clawing my way back from burnout, and the final two books were slammed out at the end of the year when suddenly my creative brain came back online.
( Checking in with last year's plan )
( Next year's plans )
( Edited to add: one more thing )
This year's cover grid:
3 full-length novels, 2 novellas, 1 collection. That's honestly much better than I was expecting; I spent most of the year clawing my way back from burnout, and the final two books were slammed out at the end of the year when suddenly my creative brain came back online.
( Checking in with last year's plan )
( Next year's plans )
( Edited to add: one more thing )
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-12-11 01:46 am
sholio) wrote2025-12-11 01:46 amEntry tags:
Babylon 5 fic: Movie Nights
I finished something I started a while back!
Movie Nights (2735 words) - Babylon 5, seasons one to five
Summary: Just a bunch of aliens getting hooked on each other's trashy serial media.
Movie Nights (2735 words) - Babylon 5, seasons one to five
Summary: Just a bunch of aliens getting hooked on each other's trashy serial media.
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-12-10 05:31 pm
sholio) wrote2025-12-10 05:31 pmEntry tags:
MASH Christmas fic
This is actually something I wrote last winter, February or so, when I was bingeing MASH. I figured that although I could post it at the time I wrote it, I could also wait and post it at actual Christmastime.
Goodnight Moon (1816 words) by Sholio
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: MASH (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Charles Emerson Winchester III, B. J. Hunnicutt, Minor Characters
Additional Tags: Christmas, Missing Scene, Episode: s09e05 Death Takes a Holiday
Summary: Hawkeye makes a discovery. (Missing scene for 9x05 "Death Takes a Holiday," the season 9 Christmas episode.)
Goodnight Moon (1816 words) by Sholio
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: MASH (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Charles Emerson Winchester III, B. J. Hunnicutt, Minor Characters
Additional Tags: Christmas, Missing Scene, Episode: s09e05 Death Takes a Holiday
Summary: Hawkeye makes a discovery. (Missing scene for 9x05 "Death Takes a Holiday," the season 9 Christmas episode.)
tielan (tielan) wrote2025-12-11 09:15 am
tielan) wrote2025-12-11 09:15 amEntry tags:
anyone want mail?
Let me know if you want seasonal or unseasonal. I'm okay with either, but I can't guarantee the stamps will be neutral, I'm afraid.
I can send them in Jan when the stamps are back to normal, maybe? Let me know if you'd prefer that.
I can send them in Jan when the stamps are back to normal, maybe? Let me know if you'd prefer that.