farwing | Reading

I don't love that Nolan McLean gave up 2 home runs in the same inning in this game, but I do love that Team Italia celebrates with an Armani blazer and an espresso (they literally have an espresso machine in the dugout and if someone hits a homer, he gets a shot) and then the team captain kisses the guy while everyone else does this: 🤌

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Work is currently bananas. Listen, I have a whole document I wrote on how to change/streamline board stuff to foster discussion and engagement, but we were supposed to do it methodically and not implement it until the June meeting, except now we are doing it NOW, and everything got upended in the stupidest way possible. I maybe kind of couldn't control how irritated I am about it because it is basically making me do double the amount of work and is seems to me like it is just going to achieve the exact opposite of what we want it to, but apparently this is coming directly from the new board chair. I told my boss that if I am right, and that this doesn't do what they think it is going to, I might not say it, but I will be thinking the world's biggest "I told you so." And she was like, that's fair. Sigh.

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Current Mood: drained
Current Music: Team US vs Team Italia on tv

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Our beloved floofy bun, Rowan, passed away a week ago. He was ten years and four months old (the average lifespan of pet bunnies I saw quoted some places is 2-4 years, and 10 years is the expected upper limit for his type of bun) and was healthy, cheerful, friendly, and sweet his whole life; he died very suddenly at home, apparently of old age. I miss him - he was always more friendly and cuddly than Japp - but I'm glad he had a long, happy life.

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bunnies

Ugh, daylight savings, why are we still doing this???

Anyway, I got up at my usual workday time instead of sleeping in so I could get the onions in the slow cooker, and I did both the "soak onions in cold water in the fridge for 15 minutes" and wore the stupid onion goggles, and still by the 4th onion my eyes were extremely unhappy with me. *hands* Thankfully I only had 6 onions total, so it all got done, and for dinner I made French onion pasta as planned, and now I have dinner for 3 more days as well. I do love this pasta dish - and I always use bucatini, which is one of my favorite pasta shapes, so it was pleasing all around. Every time I make it after not having made in a while, I'm like, why don't I make this more often!? and then I remember the onion-slicing and how annoying it is. Anyway, definitely recommended for a delicious and easy dinner (except for the onion-slicing). I also made bacon so I have lunch for the week also.

I meant to mention this yesterday and forgot, but The Mountain Goats collaborated with Mary Chapin Carpenter to cover World Party: Put the Message in the Box (don't worry if you only recognize one or two of those names - the song is good!).

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Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Put the Message in the Box - Mary Chapin Carpenter & the Mountain Goats

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Went to the office yesterday and as much as I enjoyed seeing so many of my co-workers, almost no work got done. it is just not a good use of time if they want us to be productive. Since it's an open office and we are all sitting together with no walls between us, we just chat and jump into each other's conversations and people stop by and also join in, and it's great for socializing but most of my work is stuff that requires concentration and quiet, which is in short supply at the office. But the anniversary celebration is a lot of fun and I probably won't have to attend another one for 4 more years. *g*

Our next in-office day is in late April, and I floated the idea of maybe bringing in baked goods, so I'm already considering what recipe I might choose to make, since I can experiment.

Today, I made these orange shortbread cookies and they're good, though I would zest another orange (I did 2 this time) if I make them again. Also I didn't sift the flour and instead of rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters, I rolled it into a log and just sliced them (after chilling), since they are just for me so there was no need to get fancy.

I also planned to caramelize onions overnight in the slow cooker, but then I ended up engrossed in F.D. Signifier's Tyler Perry video (which is FOUR HOURS long - I have one hour left but I'm taking a break to watch the WBC) and didn't end up doing the slicing I need to do, so I figure I'll do it in the morning, let them slow cook for most of the day, and then make French onion pasta for dinner. Anyway, I have never seen a Tyler Perry movie or show, but F.D. Signifier's videos are always worth watching.

So yeah, I've been sort of paying attention to the WBC and why is the "S" in USA like a strip of curly bacon on the Team USA jersey??? Once I saw it I couldn't unsee it. Also so many of these unis could be cool and yet so many of them are just meh. Design fail, Nike! Come on! Also, I might be rooting for the DR since Juan Soto is on that team; if Lindor were in it, I'd probably be rooting for Puerto Rico. Though of course I was pleased for Clay Holmes just now, and will be interested to see Nolan McLean pitch.

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Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: USA vs Great Britain on tv

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The UTI was the cause after all, but they had to try different medications before they got an effective one, which is apparently why he had a couple of partial relapses. He got to go home for dinner Friday, though.

Wax had the shift that lasted until 7 pm yesterday, and she had to work today and was too tired to go grocery shopping, so tomorrow will be ruined too by knowing we have to leave the house. Tristana continues to complain any time I am with Sipuli up until about 4 pm. I am trying out alternate hours.

Now that it's been above freezing for a week, it's even above 15° in the coldest room in the house, and there have been sunbeams daily. I've swept under all kinds of furniture that we usually don't, and put away Mt. Laundry that has been covering the office daybed all winter, and scrubbed the kitchen cabinet doors, and checked on the bunny four or five times each day.

He seems to be doing well as a lone bunny, but I can't help being concerned about him. Tristana greets him, but they've never figured out how to play together like she did with Rowan. I keep trying to rearrange his bunny furniture to spark his interest and giving him enrichment boxes (a box that teabags come in filled with hay with some dried fruit and a used dry decaf teabag hidden in it: he's crazy for teabags). We ordered him one of those hay cubes, but it hasn't arrived yet. They haven't had one of those in a few years (we've mostly bought a series of hay tunnels more recently).

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( Cut for pet death )

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cats

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[ID: shot of my character from the back as she looks into the blasted ruins of the Kiln of the First Flame. She is wearing mismatched red and yellow clothes and a silver helmet, and holding a halberd.]

And it only took 8 months, and a number of hours I will not disclose. Though, to be fair, since I unexpectedly got into the multi-player, a lot of the total hours actually represent me reading a book while waiting to be summoned.

Dark Souls is slow, janky, eccentric, flawed, wilfully obscure about some of its mechanics, and one of the best games I've ever played. I am in love. Ask me anything.

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dark souls,
games

roasted sweet potatoes* with cumin
sauted Beyond with onions to serve over hummus
red cabbage*, carrot*, and purple starburst daikon* slaw with soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, lemon juice, and toasted cashews
cucumber-mango salad with tajin seasoning
sauted parsnips*
matza balls to put into
soup with veg* stock, dried baby lima beans, carrots*, and onions
seitan to put into
a saute of onions, carrots*, zucchini, Baby Bella mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, and wood ear mushrooms
ginger* cake from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

* locally sourced

Tags:

food

Previous poll review
In the spam SPAM spam poll, 52% of respondents only check their spam folder when they're looking for a specific thing, 30% check it maybe once a month, 10% weekly, and 8% daily. (This question was inspired by gmail sending multiple emails in the middle of threads to spam, wtf.)

In ticky-boxes, blanket cocoons and comfort food came second to hugs, 62% to 74%. Judgy koalas came third with 56%. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
I read Courtney Milan's The Earl Who Isn't, which was just as enjoyable at the others in the series. Her kissing and UST are excellent, and I love everyone in Wedgeford.

Bounced off Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield, with prejudice. (That was one of my library books.) The first "chapter" (of three in the entire book) was a blow-by-blow account of working backstage at SNL; the second "chapter" (which I flicked through) was lockdown correspondence. I didn't like either of the characters.

I don't know what I'm reading next. Or listening to on my own. But Andrew and I have about 2.5 hours left in Barrayar.

Kdramas
Oh no, I finished One Spring Night and kind of... went back to the beginning and started it again. With occasional diversions into Something in the Rain (which ha, is by the same writer, as well as having vast numbers of cast members in common, so that explains that). At some point I'll emerge from this Jung Hae In fever dream and start something else.

Pru and I finished Family by Choice (I LOVE IT SO MUCH), and next week we're starting Love Scout (\o/).

Other TV
We're on the final disk of extras for Return of the King, and that'll be it. It's stressful seeing the last-minute absolute chaos behind the scenes, but also kind of magical. Still going on The Pitt, and we've watched a couple of episodes of Dinosaur, a UK sitcom about two sisters, one of whom is autistic. I like it!

Got a few things lined up: new seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer and Dark Winds, more Scavengers Reign, there were probably some other things, idk.

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, some Better Offline, some What Matters Most (chatty general life psychology/advice), Cross Party Lines (local politics), Letters from an American (just a few /o\), Heaving Bosoms (chatty recaps of romance novels, just for something relaxing to put in my ears), Movie Briefs (lawyers talk about law movies, ditto).

Online life
*hugs you all, so much*

...

Writing/making things
My Yuletide treat is at beta at last. \o/ Now I've started in on my Yuletide assignment fic, unfinished at 7k words. I'm imposing a new structure on it to see if that might make it more finishable. No drawing practice.

Life/health/mental state things
Idk, I'm okay. Getting some things done, at least. Getting a fair amount of sleep and exercise. Doing righteous battle with my health insurer. Spending too much time tweaking my new phone to make it behave how I want.

Goals
This week: make a batch of vegetarian dumplings, make a mini quiche in the air fryer. All my goals are food, hi!

Good things
Sunshine. Helpful, supportive people. The 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange is coming soon! Kitty. New phone is mostly behaving itself. We went to a delightfully geeky talk about dragonflies.

Poll #34329 Being an audience

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 46

View Respondents

In the last six months, I've been (in person) to

View Answers

cinema
19 (41.3%)

theatre
13 (28.3%)

live music gig
8 (17.4%)

ballet
1 (2.2%)

opera
2 (4.3%)

sports game
2 (4.3%)

other
5 (10.9%)

ticky-box full of bakery treats
28 (60.9%)

ticky-box full of keeping a paper appointment diary
9 (19.6%)

ticky-box full of rambling around the podcast 'verse getting your ears dirty
8 (17.4%)

ticky-box full of softly squishable snow puppies snuggling in a heap
22 (47.8%)

ticky-box full of hugs to you all <3 <3 <3
34 (73.9%)

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weekly update

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fandom trumps hate

Work has been intensely busy these past few days, and tomorrow I have to go into the office because Assistant J is getting a pin for being with the organization for 5 years (even though it's more like six and a half at this point, but no one wants to hear my rant about how anniversaries work again), and I never get much done when I'm in, so we'll see what happens. I do have to take all my tax paperwork and scan it for my accountant. This is much later than usual, eep.

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Shrinking: Dereks Don't Die
( spoiler )

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Lost Recipes was a really good read "about the legal and logistical barriers arrayed against people trying to archive rap media." to quote the email from Defector that included the link. It made me think about how despite its many, many issues (about which I have heard no news of progress at all, btw), the OTW is doing that work for this section of media fandom, and how important that work is (and how no one else was gonna do it). There's already so much that's gone, and that impacts how our stories get contextualized and passed on (thinking of all the thinkpieces on Heated Rivalry that only reference yaoi and animanga fandom and not Western media fandom, for example) and whatever place in the larger history of media and fandom this corner of it might have. Idk. I do recommend reading that post though, even if you're not a rap fan.

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Current Mood: melancholy
Current Music: Falling - Florence + the Machine

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and yet this ice cream truck has the fucking cheek to drive by playing its little tune.

It's not time for ice cream!!! The ground is frozen!!! Stop mocking me!!!

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finland

I wrote a trio of Stardew ficlets for PeacePangolin for

purimgifts. (And the images I shared along with them are simple re-colorings of in-game images; I am chagrined now to see the kinds of beautiful things people created, and I will need to level up before next year!) Anyway: here's what I wrote.

1. Sam (373 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Sam (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1
Summary:

He can’t remember a time before he knew Sebastian.

2. Sebastian (443 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Sebastian
Additional Tags: Purimgifts day 2
Summary:

Nevermind I’m going to delete all of this and start over.

3. Abigail (401 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Abigail (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3

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2 pounds of parsnips
1 largeish red cabbage
3 small bags of spinach
3 pounds of potatoes
4 pounds of carrots (swapped for more potatoes, because I am still inundated with Previous Carrots)
1 medium-large rutabaga (which, unlike last year, is actually a rutabaga, not a Macomber turnip, yay! (I like Macombers too; I just like rutabagas more, so if I have to choose only one, it’s an easy decision))
3 0.75-oz packages of basil (swapped for another rutabaga)

First thoughts: parsnip slices sauted in butter/Earth Balance, with nutmeg or possibly a spice mix. Various cabbage and carrot slaws, possibly with daikon, since I still have at least three big red ones. Roasted rutabagas. Colcannon with potatoes and spinach.

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farm share

My final

purimgifts fic and collage are Lady Astronaut ones again -- absolutely lovely. Thank you so much, Mystery Author! You have brightened my Purim a ton.

2329 Days (329 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lady Astronaut Series - Mary Robinette Kowal
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Elma York, Nathaniel York, Jean-Paul Lebourgeois, Estevan Terrazas
Additional Tags: Canon Jewish Character, Canon Compliant, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Outer Space
Summary:

A moment of prayer for when Elma sees the stars

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purimgifts

They thought they had solved Dad's hallucinations but it was a false alarm.

The sequence of events so far is:

He starts hallucinating mildly, images of animals etc

The visual hallucinations escalate steadily and include audio - first talking to absent people, then thinking he is in a variety of different places, finally briefly not recognizing my mom, though he did a minute later

A new antibiotic is discontinued

They find a UTI, but all mental symptoms stop, so they think the cause was the discontinued antibiotics

He starts hallucinating again, more mildly, before the medical team has had a chance to agree to release him from the hospital

He briefly recovers almost completely, but then gets worse again

It seems his medical team is dealing with a mystery again. 😔

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dad's injury

That Puzzle has hit Tumblr:

https://www.tumblr.com/vassraptor/810048615228866560

Take the warnings seriously, if you are at all susceptible to the lure of Sorting Things.

From the tags:

#if you’ve ever thought about taking a quick break from keeping yourself alive properly #this will make you forget to drink water

It's not even a "logic puzzle" per se, just an invitation to sort a very large number of things into different groups.

A friend sent it to me in December and I lost a solid day to it. Had a great time, but wow it really was like having my brain hijacked.

You know that odd bit of vampire mythology in some countries/traditions where you can delay a vampire chasing you by throwing down sand or seeds or other tiny objects because they will be compelled to stop and count every grain?

Some of us are like that with Sorting Things. You know who you are. Protect yourself.

(On the other hand, if right now you need to be not thinking about some things, and you don't have urgent tasks that can't wait a day or two, and having your brain consumed sounds good: CAN REC.)

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Once again my mystery creator has given me a gorgeous basket of mishloach manot, this time featuring fic and art for The Diplomat.

First Impressions (709 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Diplomat (US TV 2023)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Kate Wyler, Hal Wyler, Frances Munning, Pensey, Eidra Park
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, First Meetings, Canon Compliant
Summary:

Pensey, Mrs. Munning, & Eidra meet Kate for the first time

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Half of what I say is meaningless

another big swing from a young hitter

Memorial Post: Rowan (Halloween 2015 - 28 Feb 2026)

see the world in just one grain of sand

that wasn't a no

My dad is freed!

Cat farewell

updaaaaate

I beat Dark Souls, AMA

Today in food prep

Me-and-media update

Fandom Trumps Hate: podfic from me!

When I'm falling I'm at peace

It's 9 pm, the ground is covered in sheets of ice,

Purimgifts reveal

Winter share, 10 of 11

One final Purim rec

Another dad update

WARNING

Heated Rivalry RPF/BTS fic: Hall Pass

Another fabulous Purimgifts gift!

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