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Vidding

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 06:24 pm

I've been slowly making my way through some of the new vids from this year's Festivids and, oh, do I miss vidding. A song that I used in a vid myself years ago came up on a Spotify playlist earlier, and I could still pretty much see the entire vid playing in my head as I was listening to it.

Part of me really wants to try to get back into it, but I know that I don't have the spoons for it. Not right now. I'd basically be starting from scratch when it comes to the various programs needed to properly vid, and even if I were to somehow get the spoons together to go to the trouble of getting everything I'd need? I'd still have to find the time for it. I barely have time to write fanfiction sometimes, and I can fit it in at work or on the bus - neither of which would be an option with vidding.

But, oh, that doesn't make me miss it any less.

Current Mood: sad

Tags:

rambling: vidding

Monday Media on Tuesday: 02/03/26

owlmoose

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 03:14 pm

Ghostlight by Suzanne Palmer : The fourth and final book in The Finder Chronicles is a satisfying stopping point, but I dearly hope there is more some day. ( Spoilery thoughts. )

Silver & Lead by Seanan McGuire: Somehow I let the new October Daye book get by me last fall, so right after finishing Ghostlight, I picked it up and read it in a day. It picks up four months after the last big story; I hesitate to call it a calmer story, because there is no such thing as a calm Toby Daye story, but in comparison to what came right before it does seem like a bit of a break (although with a warning for child endangerment). ( Spoilers for the book and series. )

Saving Throw: I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the Save Data Team streaming channel here before. I discovered them some years ago through their Ace Attorney with an Actual Lawyer series (they're currently working on Investigations 2, which is the only game in the series I've never played, so it's been fun to discover it along with them), and I've been watching much of their content ever since. But one series I hadn't been following was Saving Throw, which is their D&D actual play podcast. I kept telling myself that I would catch up someday, and I decided "someday" had finally arrived. I've actually been listening to the audio-only podcast version, which makes it much easier to listening while doing other things; I'm now up to Arc 4 (Episode 30) and enjoying it immensely. Chris, the DM, is an excellent storyteller who's created an interesting post-apocalyptic world, and he expertly wrangles a team of five screw-ups who've just graduated at the bottom of their class from an adventurers academy. The stakes start out apparently small, but before long the group is thrown into the deep end of politics and legends, and it's fun to watch them navigate that as well as their interpersonal relationships. The DM and players all know each other really well, and that trust and respect shows in the way they play, even when they're giving each other a hard time. The series is still going -- looks like they just wrapped up Arc 7 -- and I'm looking forward to catching up.

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Captain America: The Winter Soldier soundtrack

Tags:

Second of the second.

hannah

Monday, February 2nd, 2026 08:42 pm

Dinner plans shifted about halfway through cooking: I'd planned to make boxed macaroni and cheese with some vegetables added in, but the vegetables ended up smelling so good, I ditched the cheese. Sauteed onions, garlic, and herbs with rapini and canned tomatoes might've taken well to the cheese sauce, but I'm pleased at how it came out just the same.

My new plan is to make boxed macaroni and cheese with double the cheese sauce at some point in the future, and feel absurdly luxurious for being able to do so.

Current Mood: full
Current Music: nothing now

February the first.

hannah

Sunday, February 1st, 2026 08:56 pm

It remains below freezing, and I remain inside most of the day. I got my laundry done by going to the basement and I spent a little time at the gym by walking down the block to get to the relevant building. Other than that, it's not just been inside my building, but inside my apartment. There's not much desire to get out and head around right now, especially not with a day as slow as a Sunday. I had the possibility to make it more rapid, but I hadn't gotten myself together early enough in the day to spend three hours at the movies far downtown - a screening of Short Cuts - and I'm doing what I can to tell myself it'll come back around sometime.

That said, staying close by got the laundry done, got me to the gym for one of those "something is better than nothing" sessions, and got some lunch prep done, so I can live with that.

Current Mood: cold
Current Music: Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog

(no subject)

aurumcalendula

Sunday, February 1st, 2026 06:27 pm

I manage to drop my iPod classic and break the plastic bezel around the charging port :(

I'm hoping that won't become a problem (it still charges and transfers data fine so far). It looks like the part itself is easily found, but I don't want to open my iPod and risk breaking something else in the process. I'm wondering if getting a cover for the port might be a good idea (it seems the main point of the bezel was to keep dust out).

Festivids!

aurumcalendula

Sunday, February 1st, 2026 06:17 pm

I got a lovely Shetland vid for Festivids!

(I'm still working my way through the rest of the collection)

Tags:

festivids

Holly Poly

settiai

Sunday, February 1st, 2026 04:18 pm

holly_poly went live earlier today, and my gift this year was a lovely Baldur's Gate 3 F/F/F longfic. 💕

We're Stronger Now. Lae'zel/Shadowheart/(Female Black Dragonborn Eldritch Knight) Tav. 11,343 words. Set in Act 3.

Current Mood: impressed

Tags:

ficathon: holly poly

London exhibition trip

dolorosa_12

Sunday, February 1st, 2026 05:46 pm

Matthias and I got back from London about an hour ago. We had a great time, but the Saturday portion of the trip was beset by an almost comical calvacade of chaos. (It's worth noting that we planned everything over a month in advance, with military precision — National Rail website and Google Maps open, planning every event with ample time in mind.) In list form:

The restaurant where we were booked to eat on Saturday night sent Matthias an email at 6am on Saturday saying that 'due to circumstances beyond our control,' they were 'closing permanently' as of Saturday.

When we opened the National Rail website to check that our train was still running (something we had checked and confirmed, as trains on this line on weekends are not always a given due to various pieces of track work), it showed no trains going to London at all. After some trial and error entering different start and destination points, we realised we'd be able to go to Cambridge North, then get on a train going to London Liverpool Street, get off at Tottenham Hale, and get the Tube on to our original destination. But this was going to make us late to our first booked exhibition at the British Museum.

I tried to phone the British Museum to check if being late would be a problem, but their phone box office is only staffed Monday-Friday.

Every seat on the train filled up at Cambridge North, and by the time we got to Cambridge main station, which was packed with a scrum of people wanting to go to London, all available standing spaces were filled. At each new station, I could see the crowds of people (for whom this is normally a very uncrowded train in to London) visibly spotting how full the train was and their faces falling in horror. We got later and later as more and more passengers tried to Tetris their way in at each new station.

We ran through the Tube, then found our way partly blocked by the weekly protest about Gaza, which I'd forgotten always started around Russell Square.

The British Museum had massive snaking queues to get through security. (Our original itinerary had us arriving there about forty-five minutes early, with time to get through the queue, which we knew would be long on a Saturday, drop off our bags, and amble into the first exhibition.) By the time we made it in, dropped our bags and coats in the cloakroom, and got to the first exhibition, we were half an hour later than intended.

We then whipped our way through the two exhibitions at absolute breakneck speed, so that we wouldn't be late to our lunch reservation (where I had had to provide card details when booking, so I knew they would charge me if we didn't show up). Half an hour per exhibition wasn't really enough time, but I'm impressed we managed it at all!

Lunch and the next exhibition at the Tate Modern were both fine, and happened as planned (I was particularly pleased that we managed to walk from Bloomsbury to the Tate, make it inside before it started raining, and emerge about an hour and a half later to find the rain had moved on, just in time for us to walk for forty minutes to our hotel! I now return to the ongoing chaos:

I always have a list of restaurants lined up that I want to try, so when we got the email cancelling our previous reservation I had another one in the list. This one didn't take reservations at all, but said that if no tables were available, you could get a drink at their bar or give your number to waitstaff and they'd phone you when a table became free, but I had forgotten that a) this was a stupid thing to risk in Soho on a Saturday night and b) that this place had become massively overhyped on social media, so when we got there, there was a queue of about fifteen groups lining up outside the door — no chance even to get inside and get a drink as promised! — and it was about to start raining again.

Some very quick work with my remaining list of restaurants and I managed to snag a booking for a place at 6.30pm at a pasta restaurant I had wanted to try. The only problem — at that point it was 6.25pm, so we sprinted down the street in the rain, and made it there in time to take the reservation.

And then they accidentally gave my dinner to a woman at the table next to us, and her dinner to me! This was rectified in about fifteen minutes, but it was definitely the crowning glory in a day that was characterised by chaos from start to finish.

Sunday, in contrast, was calm and lovely — breakfast in a little cafe with views of the Thames, the Lee Miller exhibition at Tate Britain (spectacular — if you have the ability to be in London before it closes, go if you can), where we inevitably bumped into a former colleague of Matthias and her husband, lunch in a sort of upmarket food court a minute away from Liverpool Street Station, and then a much less crowded train ride home.

I'm glad we went, but that was a lot more everything than I had expected! And I still haven't managed to try the hyped viral Thai restaurant in Soho...

Tags:

Best suit or dress.

hannah

Saturday, January 31st, 2026 07:14 pm

Because I needed a new winter coat after the zippers on my old one broke, a not-insignificant amount of money was spent today on a new coat. It's got me thinking about two things: where this old coat came from, and the last time I got entirely new clothes. I can't remember where I got it, just at some point in the last ten years or so, which means I probably salvaged it from somewhere - likely my building's laundry room. Given the state of the elastic tags to tighten or loosen the hood as well as everything else about it, it must've been tossed aside after a few years of use. I've commented on the quality of cast-offs of New York City in general and the Upper West Side in particular, and this really speaks to that, because aside from the elastics and the zipper, everything works to keep me warm.

As for the last time I got entirely new clothes, excluding undergarments and shoes, I definitely can't remember. Most of the clothes I've bought the last few years came secondhand, eBay and Mercari and Poshmark, so while they're new to me and might be functionally new based on how often they'd been worn before I got them, they're not new to the world. I think the last new purchase was a dress for one of my brothers' weddings, so it would've been 2022 or 2023. Not that long ago, but certainly a while.

The amount spent on the new coat's certainly more than it'd cost to replace the zippers, but I'm buying more than zippers in getting a new, high-quality coat. I'm thinking of buying new zippers just the same, replacing them and then donating it somewhere to give someone else a few more years' use of it.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: The New Year - Death Cab for Cutie

Casefic Exchange 2026 Letter

hokuton_punch

Saturday, January 31st, 2026 09:26 am

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: excited

Tags:

Events of note

rmc28

Saturday, January 31st, 2026 11:14 am

Ice hockey:

I'm trying to practice more regularly with Womens Blues on a Friday, this means I have 4 practices a week over 3 days (Friday nights are double-practice, with just over an hour between Womens Blues and Warbirds). I played for a joint Huskies-WBs game against UCL two weeks ago, and for Warbirds against Chelmsford Chargers last Saturday, immediately followed by watching Huskies play Oxford Vikings B. I had begun to fear that Huskies could only win when I wasn't physically in the building, so was very glad to be proved emphatically wrong by a 7-4 scoreline. Both Saturdays I went out with the students after the game, and ended up staying up way too late (worth it though, I love my teammates very much).

I have yet to play a winning game this season, across any of my four teams (Kodiaks, Warbirds, Huskies, Womens Blues). I'm still having fun every time I step onto the ice to play, and that's what matters. But I would really like a win any time now. This weekend for a change I have no games to play, but will be doing game ops for Tri-Base Lightning vs Peterborough Dynamo, followed by the same for Mens Blues vs Imperial Devils. Huskies are having a social watching the MBs and then going out (of course!). Next week I am driving to Sheffield with Womens Blues for a late night game Monday and taking Tuesday off work to recover.

Theatre:

I love living in the same city as the ADC Theatre, and especially getting a staff discount on the already reasonably-priced tickets. Two weeks ago I took Charles to see Hadestown: Teen Edition (that means they changed the register of some of the parts to make it easier for youth theatre to stage), along with Mick and Joye and a couple of my friends, and he loved it. This week we saw Noises Off together, which is as funny as I remembered. We've been through the rest of the current schedule and while I can't get to anything in February, we're hoping my schedule will let us get to a whole swathe of productions from March to May.

Languages:

Modern Irish classes have resumed for this term and I am still so very happy to be studying again, and also happy to have no compulsory homework or exams. Highlight of this week's classes: we were discussing plans for the weekend, and the professor gave us the Irish for "watching a hockey game", saying "as a Canadian, it's 'hockey' not 'ice hockey'".

I have both Pimsleur and Babbel apps to work on other languages (primarily French and Czech at the moment), but I'm struggling to make much time to use either of them at the moment, the university ice hockey season is so intense.

Reading: I'm continuing to make my way through the Rick Riordan backlist and enjoying the journey very much.

Tags:

Pyra Cantha D&D: Summary for 1/30 Game

settiai

Friday, January 30th, 2026 11:42 pm

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: tired

Tags:

d&d: pyra cantha

Wrap up.

hannah

Friday, January 30th, 2026 10:24 pm

Challenge #15

How Did the Fandom Snowflake Challenge Go? 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. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.

It got me back into the habit of daily posting, which I find comfortable and familiar, so I'd say it went well. I didn't do every day's challenge and I didn't follow along with other people much, and I still found myself trying to get a little bit of the day down and a little bit of myself outside of my head on a regular basis, both of which are genuinely helpful. Blogging's a lot like riding a bike: you don't forget how to do it, but you need to rebuilt your stamina. And, of course, you have to want to keep at it. Now that I've gotten back into it, I feel like I do.

I'm sure if I looked back at past years, I'd be saying much the same thing. That's a trick about journaling in general and blogging in particular - you can look back and see what you've put down, and even though you might not remember the choices behind those words, you remember enough to recognize the part of you that said them. Hopefully, at any rate. I don't particularly want to go back and look at this time last year, or the year before, or the one before that. I want to keep moving forward like this for a while longer before looking back. That's another trick about this kind of thing. You build your own momentum.

This year I've spent more time than usual thinking about what's come before and how long I've been doing this. I'm not against having done it for so long or to keep doing it for as long as I can manage to keep the momentum going. Just something to consider as a neutral statement and a fact of the matter. A statement I can look forward to making this time next year, to be around to keep making it.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: nothing now

Baldur's Gate 3: Lilith

settiai

Friday, January 30th, 2026 07:44 pm

When it comes to Baldur's Gate 3, I try to have at least three playthroughs going at any given time. Specifically, I try to have one playthrough (or more) that's currently in each of the three acts of the game, so that I can switch to a different one if I need something new. Once my Act 1 playthrough reaches Act 2, I'll start a new one. (Or sometimes I'll start a new one before then. I don't always have just three playthroughs going at once. Three is the minimum number.)

On that note, Taviana is currently in Act 3 while Apophis is currently in Act 2. Which means I also have an Act 1 playthrough going right now as well.

Meet Lilith, my resist Dark Urge.

Minor spoilers for Act 1, but nothing for later ones.

( More under the cut. )

Current Mood: accomplished

Tags:

fandom: baldur's gate

12 Yuletide Recs

reeby10

yuletide

Friday, January 30th, 2026 05:09 pm

A bit late, but I have 12 recs in 8 fandoms: Cherry Magic, Khemjira, Moby Dick, Never Let Me Go, The Old Kingdom, Perfect 10 Liners, Thai Actor RPF, and ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat.

See them here.

Tags:

recs

January Talking Meme - If you could play only one instrument brilliantly, what would you choose?

aurumcalendula

Thursday, January 29th, 2026 10:46 pm

January 29 - 'If you could play only one instrument brilliantly, what would you choose? (If you're already brilliant at playing an instrument tell me another one you'd like to master).' for

corvidology:

( Read more... )

(there are still slots open for the January Talking Meme here)

Tags:

january talking meme

Girl Scout Cookies!

aurumcalendula

Thursday, January 29th, 2026 09:27 pm

I just realized Girl Scout Cookies are available to order online! I might pick up a few more boxes when the Girl Scouts are selling them in person in a few months.

Mach it happen.

hannah

Thursday, January 29th, 2026 07:54 pm

Challenge #14

In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

You've probably heard of Top Gun at this point. Yes, you - the generic you, the one reading this post right now. I'd be more surprised if it hasn't come up at this point, given the cultural footprint the movies hold, to the point that the first one was considered significant enough to be included in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry and the second one played in movie theaters for over six months in a time when that's practically unthinkable because people kept buying tickets. But maybe you haven't seen it. No shame in that. Maybe you know it's not for you. I can't speak to your tastes. Then again, maybe you're not sure. Maybe you need some enticement. Maybe you need to be told that it's more or less American live-action anime, down to having beach episodes. Maybe you need more than that.

Might I offer a homoerotic volleyball montage, voted "best movie scene" three years in a row by Suck magazine, a fact that made the director tremendously proud?

What about Val Kilmer snapping his teeth at Tom Cruise, a moment he confirmed was improvised?

How about one actor sneaking porn onto set and playing it during a scene, creating the conditions for someone to say "This gives me a hard on" and for someone else to respond "Don't tease me" and for that moment to be included in the final cut?

Were you aware that the first movie's aesthetic was largely inspired by Bruce Weber, noted gay photographer?

How about that for all its endorsement by the US military, it manages to be astonishingly gay by 1986 and contemporary standards, with Kilmer himself being the first Iceman/Maverick shipper?

Would it please you to know that between Top Gun Maverick and the Mission Impossible movies, combined with all the cumulative explosions from his movies, Tom Cruise qualifies as a Dekahelen?

Possibly you'd enjoy knowing that the sequel is a surprisingly somber meditation on aging, loss, regret, and reconciliation in addition to all the thrills of the practical stuntwork?

Or that together, both movies total just over four hours' runtime so it's not even a big commitment, and that all four of those hours are full of beautifully composed scenes and shots?

Maybe you've made up your mind a while ago. I'm cool with that. But if you haven't and you're willing to give it a shot, drop me a line and I can hook you up, no streaming services required.

Current Mood: giggly
Current Music: nothing now

Funeral

rmc28

Friday, January 30th, 2026 01:17 am

I managed to be awake to watch the livestream, and I'm very glad I did. My uncle and cousins spoke movingly, there was the most wonderful collection of photographs (some of which I recognised, many of which I did not), and a gratifyingly large number of people in attendance. Apparently they had to print extra service sheets and still ran out.

Helen was a creator: of quilts and crafts, of food, of community. I am sorry not to be there and see her needlecraft on the walls and hear the stories in the community centre where she ran playgroup, but I am so glad to have had this glimpse from afar of how she was valued in the place where she lived.

Tags:

family,
grief

January recs: Hermitcraft fusions

schneefink

Thursday, January 29th, 2026 09:54 pm

The new year has started and I almost forgot about monthly recs already.
To start with, three Hermitcraft fanworks, 1 animation and two fics: fusions with Slay the Spire, Uma Musume, and Pokémon (knowledge of other fandoms not required.)

Slay the Citadel by

cocoabats
Animation, Hermitcraft s10/Slay the Spire
Summary: i spent way too much time on this but hey! decked out 2 in the style of slay the spire!
slay the citadel?
Why I love it: This is so cool! I know nothing about Slay the Spire but all the Hermitcraft parts are so fitting and look so cool and the atmosphere is so great.

( and two fics )

Tags:

hermitcraft,
recs

Always Reading, Always Moving, Never Still.

February 2026

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Vidding

Monday Media on Tuesday: 02/03/26

Second of the second.

February the first.

(no subject)

Festivids!

Holly Poly

London exhibition trip

Best suit or dress.

Casefic Exchange 2026 Letter

Events of note

Pyra Cantha D&D: Summary for 1/30 Game

Wrap up.

Baldur's Gate 3: Lilith

12 Yuletide Recs

January Talking Meme - If you could play only one instrument brilliantly, what would you choose?

Girl Scout Cookies!

Mach it happen.

Funeral

January recs: Hermitcraft fusions