primeideal: Wooden chessboard. Text: "You may see all kinds of human emotion here. I see nothing other than a simple board game." (chess musical)
[personal profile] primeideal
I'm not really a horror person but I kickstarted this anthology to support short fiction presses, it would definitely count for bingo, and I was going to send a submission anyway so why not. If that sounds familiar it's because it is. While I don't have a story in this book, I did find more highlights here than the last anthology!

My favorite story was "The River's Revenge," by Jen Mierisch, about monstrous two-headed eels appearing in the Chicago River and wreaking havoc. It's a delightful mix of humor with horror.
 
“We might get to name it, huh?” Suki said. “How about Wriggly Field?”

Was that a smile? “I’m thinking Muddy Waters,” Ron said.

“No, wait! I’ve got it. Eel Capone.”
***
Last night, Suki had gone to Navy Bier, the closest bar to the Chicago Sun-Times office and therefore its reporters’ logical happy-hour spot. It was incredible how much gossip you could overhear while nursing a Scotch and scrolling Instagram.
Yes, the location mentioned on Wabash Avenue is real, and yes, you should look it up after you finish the story. Lest you worry that this is mere one-sided political ranting, be assured that the the RL Mayor Johnson makes a cameo to be like "everything is fine and under control" when everything is not fine or under control, Chicago's political machine is a thing. ;)

All of the authors are people who currently and/or formerly have lived in and around Chicago, so all the little place names and bits of local color were great. In the first paragraph of "Pedal to the Floor into Darkness," K. A. Roy shows off both the very Midwestern dialect of using "pop" for any generic soft drink (where other parts of the country might use "cola" or "soda,") and the obvious double entendre associated with Lake Shore Drive.
The first thing you need to know is that my sister died when I was fifteen and she was nineteen. Story goes that Lisa was driving too fast through the bendy part of Lake Shore Drive, you know the one, smack dab between Grand and LaSalle. She took that s-curve doing seventy, like she was running from something in her rearview mirror. Spun out. Hit the median like a spinning top, front passenger bumper crumpling like a stomped pop can. It was past eleven, which if you’ve ever driven down LSD at night, with all the lights and the trees and city on one side, the lake on the other, is something you never forget.
"Lives Matter," by Jotham Austin II, is set in Hyde Park, on the South Side. Over the decades, Chicago has been de facto very segregated; the North Side is predominantly white, the West Side Hispanic, and the South Side black. The University of Chicago (where Barack Obama was once a law school professor) is in Hyde Park, which is a comparatively affluent and highly-educated area amidst the surrounding South Side. I know and love this area, and Austin brings out the little details (the Carl Von Linné statue!) Turns out he's also a UChicago professor and specializes in electron microscopy!
 
Walking slow. Crossing 55th street. Down Lake Park toward MSI. Fast walking. Sirens scream in the distance. Stopping under the Metra station bridge. Stopping to catch my breath. Think.

Bigmom’s maxims reciting in my head. Pull that hoodie down, so you can hear and be heard. Show respect. Yes sir. No mama. No talk back. If you can, send an SOS text.

"A Good Kid," by Nick Medina, is about a Lego nerd and the mysterious murals in his neighborhood.
The shapes and sizes didn’t matter. The colors didn’t either. Whether he ended up with twenty 2x2s, thirty 1x1s, an equal mix of 2x3s, 1x4s, and 1x2s, or any other of the seemingly infinite combinations he could pull from the box, he trusted his fingers to build something worth bragging about.
There are several stories that lean into themes of discrimination and police brutality, etc. What I liked about this one was that it acknowledged the horror of, even in a great city in the wealthiest country on Earth, there are still people killed by violence that wasn't targeted at them, just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There aren't easy fixes, but it's good to acknowledge that the police aren't just cartoon villains being evil for evil's sake, they're responding to real forces.

Speaking of police brutality, though. "Body Cam" by TJ Cimfel is an excellent use of form. It starts as a contrast between the supernatural horror of an unexplained Something, and the mundane horror of police officers manipulating evidence at black ops sites. We see an officer slowly watching a timestamped loop of bodycam evidence from a fatal incident three months prior, and at first it just seems to be bad guy cops trying to suppress the truth. Then it gets weird. A great example of what you can do with text that you can't necessarily do in another medium.
 
It’s at this point the impound lot camera footage jellies, smears to gray. A nebulous conspiracy has naturally formed around this. The CPD got ahold of the impound lot’s drive, wiped out Jackson’s involvement. Like there isn’t enough incriminating footage as it is. Besides, Campos had nothing to do with that. Not that he’s above such moves. Hell, those moves are why they hire him.

He could only stonewall for so long. The prying journalists and their relentless FOIA requests. The family, crying on the news every other day. Woke mobs spitting vitriol outside City Hall, shutting down traffic in the Loop. All of it so tiresomely predictable, so tiresomely effective.
"Lucky Charms," by Sandra Jackson-Opoku, depicts an interaction between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries. A kid overhearing an "as you know, Bob" conversation for the readers' benefit is a little annoying, but what I like about this is that it doesn't just depict contemporary people reacting to something from the past (including an allusion to "Leprechaun in the Hood," and if I have to know that that is a thing that exists, then so do you), but also characters from the past trying to make sense of the present.
 
Suzanne heard a rumble from the other direction, the stomp of marching feet. She turned to see a group from the opposite end of the road approaching in military formation. They were men and women in identical blue clothing carrying weapons and see-through shields.

One voice was magnified by the large cone he carried. “This is an illegal gathering. You are not allowed to advance beyond this point. You must disperse. I repeat, you must disperse.”

Suzanne could differentiate the groups by what they carried—their signs, their weapons, their manner of movement. Could these be the Yankees and British at war once again?

 
Not every story was a winner for me, but overall, I think if you love Chicago as much as I do, you'll probably find something to like in here!

Bingo: Published in 2025, Five+ Short Stories, Small Press, presumably will still be Hidden Gem for a while (the Kickstarter e-books just came out, so right now no one has rated it on Goodreads yet!)

June 2025 Monthly Media

Jul. 5th, 2025 07:53 am
cinaed: This fic was supposed to be short (Default)
[personal profile] cinaed
* = Rewatch/reread
 
Anime/Cartoons
  • Bob's Burgers 15.12-15.15
Books/Short Stories
  • Critical Role: Vox Machina--Stories Untold Collection 
  • The Five-Minute Marriage by Joan Aiken 
  • The Barrow Will Send What It May by Margaret Killjoy 
  • Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee 
  • Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
Manga/Comics/Light Novels
  • Dandadan Volume 8
  • One Piece Volumes 107 by Eiichiro Oda
  • Oglaf (ongoing webcomic)
  • Order of the Stick (ongoing webcomic)
  • Wilde Life (ongoing webcomic)
 Movies/Documentaries
  • Deathtrap (1982)  
  • The Lion in Winter (1968)*
  • The Third Man (1949) 
Podcasts
  • Midst:Unend 
  • Not Another D&D Podcast
Theater/Concerts 
  •  Ain't Too Proud (National Theater)
  • Frankenstein (Shakespeare Theater Company)
  • A Wrinkle in Time (Arena Stage)
TV Shows/Web Series
  • The Afterparty 1.01-2.09 
  • Battle Camp 1.01-1.10
  • The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin 1.01-1.06
  • Critical Role: Age of Umbra 2-5
  • Dickinson 1.01-1.03
  • Dimension 20: Skyward Ho 1-4
  • Loot 2.08-2.10
  • The Murderbot Diaries 1.05-1.08
  • The Nanny 3.03-6.22
  • Tales Unrolled 1-6 
 

(no subject)

Jul. 3rd, 2025 11:23 am
impy: tori from jackie's strength video (Default)
[personal profile] impy
One week til my birthday and three more days of work til staycation can begin.

I went swimming for the first time this year on Sunday, and it was nice aside from the part where I tried to daintily kick some bugs out of the way on the steps into the pool and nearly fell. Whoops. Wore the new bathing suit that I got and realized that this thing was not designed for anyone with hips and an ass. Maybe you could get away with one or the other, but both involves having to do the hop and pray to get into it. Which is a pain because once it's over the hips, we're golden. I love the color and it does dry pretty fast, but the person who reviewed it and said the skirt* doesn't float up like others is a damn liar. Technically what I just said about it not floating like other suits is true, but the review said it didn't float up at all, which is the lie. Sigh. It's mesh so it also manages to go from "whee, we're in the pool and supposed to be wet!" to the "ugh, why are we wet and not in the pool" feeling pretty much as soon as you get out of the water, which none of my other bathing suits have done that I recall.

But pretty and goes fairly well with the skirt I use to go to and from the pool, so we'll allow it. Also tried out the new sunscreen I've accumulated from the clearances at work, which is why I waited so long to hit the pool. Didn't want to burn the shit out of myself before the permit test and prior to that we had the whole no ac thing and only a fool invites that kind of chaos. Anyway, the spray stuff worked pretty well and also seemed to repell water, so that was fun. The face stuff I somehow missed is a mineral one, which means that my pasty ass went from "glow in the dark" to "blacklight reactive!" Which seems like the same thing but y'know, on skin it's just whiter. But I didn't burn and it didn't run into my eyes so score.


Now. The real fun. After spending my Monday inside watching Yellowjackets, I checked FB at dinner time as one does, and saw someone post in the neighborhood pool group that one of the ponds on my street had a confirmed alligator sighting. Still wasn't sure which one though, as technically there are three and one does have a sign that warns there could maybe, possibly be a gator. My brother mentioned hearing a gator call years ago, and ever since then I've tried to figure out if he was full of shit or not and it turns out, not full of shit on this. Because Tuesday I went down to get the mail and looked at our pond, noticed none of the birds were in/on it or near it and then I saw the gator swimming closer and closer. I ignored my inner dumbass white girl and stayed on the opposite side of the street and used my zoom on the camera to take a pic to send Cass, but I didn't need, nor did I want gator confirmation. I'm going to guess that when the AC was out and I was outside overnight trying to cool down a bit and I thought I heard a new "is that a gator?" sound that it was.


Now I need sleep.

Monthly Roundup Returns

Jul. 3rd, 2025 10:38 am
kalloway: Sleepy Cotton from SaGa Frontier (SaGa Cotton Snooze)
[personal profile] kalloway
[community profile] sunshine_revival's first challenge is goals/plans for the month, just in time for me to actually post my monthly plans roundup. (A couple of days late, because hot.)

So here goes:

June )

July's plans are to survive being too fucking hot.

July )

There is another part to the challenge but I'll worry about that later, if at all.

(no subject)

Jul. 3rd, 2025 01:02 am
tellshannon815: (president snow)
[personal profile] tellshannon815
Off on holiday from tomorrow, back Monday, probably will be a bit sporadic on here in terms of comments and not posting, so will catch up properly when I get back!

Sunshine Revival #1

Jul. 2nd, 2025 09:29 pm
tellshannon815: (wally clark)
[personal profile] tellshannon815
Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-1.png

Challenge #1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.

For me I think it's going to be easier to set myself some goals for the second half of the year, rather than focusing on July, bearing in mind that my July involves two trips during which I'll be less online. So, I'll start with finally finishing that Dark series that I started at the tail end of 2023 and then got stuck on because I keep being drawn back to the conclusion that I wanted to avoid (brief spoiler-lite context: once I had more of an understanding of the timelines of this show, I understood that giving this character his happy ending just wasn't possible). I also would quite like to do something with a School Spirits plot bunny that could turn into a series (bit complicated to explain if you didn't watch season 2). And I also keep saying I'll go back to Lost's "Sun went back to 1977" series which I haven't touched since 2010 (Smokey McSmokeFace, that one's on you. Well, technically the writers, for going in the direction that I was not okay with.)

I'm getting the to-watch list down a bit, but still going to keep that one (I find that easier when I'm properly able to focus, meaning NOT in the middle of a heatwave which for some reason seemed to hit me harder the last two days even more so than 2022 did and left me not feeling like doing anything much. In that state, I can handle old favourites I'm familiar with, but not so good with something fairly new to me.

Ever since Isabella and Isla presented me with a Make Your Own Luna Lovegood crochet kit for Christmas (and that was 2022, so it's been a while) and I didn't like to admit that I'm clueless about it, I've thought I should get round to starting. Maybe this will be the year I get round to it.


I may not do both prompts all the way through, but here's a creative response:

Title: But I Still Need Love 'Cause I'm Just A Man
Fandom: School Spirits
Characters: Wally
Pairing: Wally/Maddie
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers all the way through Season 2
Summary: Wally knows he couldn't expect Maddie to stay with him; he envisions how she could have ended up resenting him if she'd chosen to remain a ghost to be with him, but also can't regret that he's spoken up about what he wants for once.

Read more... )

M-T-W

Jul. 1st, 2025 09:21 pm
kalloway: (GSMSV P-Zaku)
[personal profile] kalloway
Luckily, shutdown this year has us staying on our shifts. (Though I admit to being slightly sad to not be able to grab takeout every day after work...)

Unfortunately it is still stupidly hot despite being dark and the humidity is actually brutal.

Got an amusing postcard from [personal profile] misbegotten, thank you! And zines from [personal profile] used_songs, yaaaay! (I flipped through them quickly, will look properly over the weekend, probably.)

And received some lovely icons over in [community profile] femgiftboxes from [personal profile] cosmic_whore_writes and [personal profile] linky. <3 I wrote three things, which I will try to get archived to my own spaces this weekend for easier reading. ^_^;

[community profile] sunshine_revival has started. The first prompt includes goals/plans, and since I do those monthly anyway, I'll get that posted sooner than later. (but not til after work, at least)

A few minutes ago, the first drop of 'Gundam Summer Fest' went live on the Premium Bandai site. I had a kinda chonky list of things I wanted and low expectations because "things sell out instantly" and yeaaah, lol. I actually managed nine of sixteen things on my list and then added in a couple other normal pre-orders with the same shipping month, so I'm pretty happy! There'll be at least one other drop next month? and then whatever after the pop-up tour is over, and of course I'm actually going to try to get to the last pop-up tour date so there might be some of these kits there?

I owe a post of kit photos and whatnot. Hopefully over the weekend.

The Long Weekend

Jun. 28th, 2025 07:21 pm
kalloway: christmas bubble lights (Xmas Lights 4 Bubbles!)
[personal profile] kalloway
I have bought more dirt though I'm not sure if there will be further plant hijinks this weekend or not.

Back at the beginning of the month, it was announced that there was going to be a Gundam Pop-Up Shop this weekend down in Kentucky and I thought 'well that's only seven hours away' and took a day off- but got talked out of it and a closer location has since been announced... I kept the day off mostly because I've barely used any, the year is half-over, and an extra day off sounded nice. ^^;;

Worked out well because I'll admit that finding out my ancient site was finally going offline did throw me for a bit of a loop. Did I then spend the night frantically archiving? Nope. I finished up HG Sazabi, who is a seriously big boy filled with Yearning, and noodled with some other stuff. And sprawled on my bed and let a cross-breeze blow through my place...

Saturday was mostly fussing around, looking for notes and building a little non-Gundam kit from Sheik Mainland, called a Yunque. Cute little critter, and while I'm not without minor complaints, it was a good build. Started on Starfall, finally, after what, two months of being utterly intimidated?

Going to try to get through a bit of my inbox. It's amazing that no matter what I do, I just don't seem to get anywhere. But, I suppose, it's not getting actively worse, either?

random

Jun. 28th, 2025 09:09 am
impy: Claudia and Stacey from The Baby-Sitters Club at the beach (just beachy)
[personal profile] impy
Widget's playlist this morning is most interesting. We started with the Beach Boys & Wouldn't It Be Nice, went to Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know, and have transitioned to Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance.

Sometimes you just have to catalog the small things. To keep with the theme, Mums was singing along to Wedding Bell Blues, and when she hated whatever came next, I got to sing along to Runaway Train.

This has been your musical morning notation.

What Was

Jun. 27th, 2025 10:35 am
kalloway: Neon "Lemonade Cafe" with lemons and flames, truly the most majestic of icons (Lemonade Cafe)
[personal profile] kalloway
Got notice yesterday afternoon that my old website would be shuffling off in short order. A backup exists and I should have all the files/fics that haven't been archived yet, so I am not terribly upset or anything.

A 20+ year run... o7
primeideal: Wooden chessboard. Text: "You may see all kinds of human emotion here. I see nothing other than a simple board game." (chess musical)
[personal profile] primeideal
Last year I read "The Tainted Cup," which kicks off the "Shadow of the Leviathan" series; detective Din, who's been magically modified to have a perfect memory, goes around conducting interviews for his boss Ana, who's brilliant but easily overstimulated, in an empire built on a bio-hacking arms race between humans and sea monsters. My impression of that one was that, as always, Bennett's worldbuilding is fantastic, and the mystery plot was well done. However, I wasn't as engrossed by the characters: Din was harboring a terrible secret that turned out to be neither, and Ana was completely unable to hold her tongue even in front of important people, while the "good guys bending the rules but getting away with it" versus "bad guys breaking the rules and causing problems" felt like a distinction without a difference at times.

Well, I am here to report that "A Drop of Corruption" sticks with the stuff I loved from "The Tainted Cup," while improving upon the stuff I didn't!

Din's personal issues seem more prosaic here: he's working as a civil servant to support his family, but dogged by his father's debts. Last book, he had a thing for Captain Kepheus Strovi, and this book establishes that, a year later, it was more than just a fling; Din still carries a torch for Kepheus, and in the latter's absence, has been having a lot of casual sex as an ineffective coping mechanism. (This book establishes that he enjoys unfulfilling one-night stands with women as well as men.) If anything, I think "A Drop of Corruption" glided over his reading difficulties almost too well; there are several places where Din just...reads stuff, instead of asking for help.

Ana, for her part, is as foul-mouthed as ever around Din, but is less of a nuisance around others. And one of the suspects who, if ultimately innocent of the worst of the conspiracy, was still acting outside the law, does face consequences for their actions.

This book moves the plot to Yarrow, a small monarchy northeast of Khanum. Because of its geographic location, it has great strategic value for the Imperial scientists and researchers; almost a century ago, the king signed a treaty to incorporate it into Khanum a hundred years later. So as that deadline is approaching, there's lots of political and economic integration, but Ana and Din are still technically not on the Empire's soil, which puts their investigation in a legally murky status. And I think that level of "...well, I dunno if our jurisdiction applies, but let's go with it..." makes Ana's shenanigans easier to tolerate.

We meet a new supporting character, Tira Malo, a native of Yarrow who has been modified to give her preternatural senses that help with the investigation. Malo's cynicism about the way monarchy and society work in Yarrow felt like a realistic POV.

There's some potty humor:
"My least favorite part of going out with you lot," muttered Tangis. "Not just the poor rations, but I got to wait for one of you to tell me where to piss."
"You want your prick gobbled up by a lurking turtle, then feel free to piss where you like," said Malo.
"It's been so long since my prick was gobbled by anything, ma'am," retorted Tangis, "that p'rhaps I'd not turn down a reaper-back's kiss."
Malo was so amused by this that she translated it for her fellow wardens, who whooped and chuckled huskily. It made for a strange sound: they had trained so strenuously as hunters, apparently, that they even knew how to avoid laughing aloud.

"King Lalaca has--had?--seventy-six wives in his harem, and two hundred and sixteen acknowledged children. This means he has rather a lot of heirs to choose from."
Stunned, I looked to Malo, who shrugged.
"Wherever did the fellow find the time?" I asked.
"Shut up, Din!" snapped Ana.
Spoilers for this and one of Bennett's other books:
Read more... )

I'm not much of a horror person, and this series has lots of body horror: skin turning into leaves, leaves turning into bones, bizarre research facilities that are made of enormous plant and animal tissue. Yet, with Bennett, it almost always works for me, it's just "part of the aesthetic, let's roll with it." I was squicked by some forced drug use as applies to Din in his investigations. (Ana has her own, very idiosyncratic, methods of sensory stimulus or dampening that work for her; she sometimes enjoys overindulging in lots of food, and/or doing lots and lots of drugs, but that's her own choice.) I've seen some discussion on other people's reviews that sort of primed me to look for foreshadowing about where the series might go later, and that felt intriguing without being too much of a distraction from the main plot.

The way things ultimately resolve (or don't) with Din's feelings for Strovi wasn't really satisfying. But ultimately, it's pretty high praise that the weakest part of the book for me was the author's note at the end. I don't think it's a great look to dunk on other creative works in your own acknowledgements. And the book itself does a good job of communicating the message that "as cool as Yarrow looks to Din" (they don't have the biotech that Khanum does, so all the royal buildings are made of stone, which to Din connotes opulence) "kings aren't some divine creatures, they're just humans, and the power structures are really unjust and unfair for people like Malo." The note goes to tendentiously make the point that Did You Know Tyranny Is Bad Mkay, but like...what do you call the Empire? They don't exactly have the right to use force to unilaterally bring Yarrow under their control; are they at fault if they just leave Yarrow alone? IDK. I personally have been in the position of "aw jeez I'm just a miniscule civil servant, what am I supposed to do to fix all the problems of the world," so I could sympathize with Din, but the note felt tacked-on. Overall, though, this is a fun puzzle, and a fast and engrossing read!

(This has nothing to do with the book itself but I loved the cover art on the hardcover edition. Blue flowers, and silver leaves growing out of a hand. Silhouettes of people in the corner--I think Ana in her robes, Din in a conical hat, Malo with her bow, and who's the fourth figure with the spear? Thelenai???)

P. S. The book has a one page "the story so far" at the beginning, so if you want to skip "Tainted Cup" and jump in here, you can do that too!

Bingo: This series is a perfect fit for the Biopunk square. Could also count for A Book In Parts, Published in 2025, LGBTQIA protagonist.

tw: blood. So much.

Jun. 24th, 2025 10:24 am
impy: Sweet Valley Twins Jessica looking pissed in new glasses with the text 'someone is going to PAY for this.' (pay for this)
[personal profile] impy
Let's catch up, shall we? Over the weekend I got to cross off "pool of blood INSIDE the store" off my unwanted bucket list because some 18 year old dude got into a bicycle accident, then possibly drove himself to the drugstore instead of the ER that is like, three doors down, and tried to bleed out via his foot on our carpet. None of the higher ups answered the call, again, so A's solution was to pour enough peroxide on the bloody pools to make a bloody foamy mess that I literally could not look at for too long without wanting to hurl. I made the mistake of watching (by accident) when she poured the second bottle on the second puddle and seeing the foam go flying was just confirmation that I could never be a nurse.

That and seeing, for approximately half a second, the pool of blood coming outta the kid while A was outside calling 911, again.

Side note... )

Sadly, the person I thought might actually have insight into what should be done either overslept or just straight up didn't show by the time I had to leave. Sigh.


In better news, I went and got my permit yesterday. Again. Whatever. I'm still not looking forward to having to do the actual skills test, but I figured I should go ahead and get the written out of the way. Had I fully realized that yes, having had my permit before (and being ye olden age) would've meant I could skip the excessive (not really) waiting time for the skills test, I would've done this prior to the heatwave time. Probably. Maybe. Dunno, actually. Anyway, going to the DMV was about as fun as you'd expect. Lots of people, very loud, and a lot of waiting. Overall wait 15 minutes my ass. I should've cleaned my glasses while waiting but since I was juggling my purse, my paperwork, and my book that held my "maybe I can get my RealID?" stuff, I didn't really have the hands for it. Passed the vision test, got sent to the testing room where I was told absolutely NO TALKING and no cheating. Cool.

The dude who was in there nearly the entire time I was waiting was still in there and dude was talking to himself the whole damn time. Naturally my station was right next to him. Part of me wanted to say something after, but I'm also fairly certain he had to repeat the things to himself so he could figure out the answers. So... I didn't say shit, but did have to eventually skip questions that were obviously worded as traps because he was distracting as fuck. Hit my magical number of "yay, you passed!" questions, left the fishbowl of distractions, and went to pay even more fees. Yay. This is where I was asked if I was gonna take the skills test soon because if I got my physical card, I had to wait 31 days to take the skills test. I think. Seriously, this station was right under one of the speakers blaring out the numbers being served, and the lady was very nice but made me seem loud. I went ahead and got my ID made same day, which meant going to wait in the camera line and then getting the Wednesday Addams smile treatment. As in, I tried to smile for my ID unlike last time (where I looked very much like a dour version of my dad) annnnnnnnnd they had to redo it with my glasses off. It is a terrible photo and I loathe it, but I figure maybe that'll help me not drag my feet as much about getting the actual license?

Not gonna stress about that now. To celebrate, first I hit the Dollar Tree where I was trying to get a new laundry basket (success, though they only had the same white and grey as before), and a new garden flag holder. Failure on that one. Sigh. Grabbed a couple of drink mixes for mom and headed out to Michaels to see their early Halloween/Summerween stuff.

I ran into someone who also seemed to be in Halloween heaven and I debated buying some of the cute but def overpriced stuff, but wanted to hold out incase TJ Maxx had any of the Summerween stuff I'd seen online. Spoiler: they only kinda did. They had exactly one very sparse display that filled me with joy but almost everything on it was a candle or kitchen towels and I needed neither. The line was also wrapped through the queue three times so I didn't feel like standing there just to be possibly told that my gift card didn't work. So... I went outside where I almost immediately melted because that heatwave is no fucking joke. Jesus. I couldn't even stand in the shade while I tried to figure out where Mums was parked because there were some people canvasing the area and I didn't want to get roped into whatever weird thing they were trying to recruit people for. Instead I chose to wander around the parking lot, at noon, wearing all black (well, Rainbow Brite was on my shirt), trying to pick our car out of a sea of very similar cars. It was not my brightest move and Mom didn't answer her phone, and there I would have stayed had she not honked her horn when I started to walk right on by.

Oh, there was a stop at HomeGoods between Michaels and TJ but other than a cute crab I couldn't get a picture of because some lady wouldn't get the fuck outta the way and I didn't feel like fighting her over it since I didn't want to buy the crab, it didn't really have anything I wanted. They did have a cute Stitch and Scrump mug and a Queer all Year purple mug, but again, not worth the line.

Came home, cooled down, got some lunch, seethed again over Michaels putting locks on their doors (it's why I ultimately didn't buy anything. I got annoyed even if I do understand why they probably did it. But maybe have a sign at the hallway entrance that says you need an associate now?), and vegged out through Bob's Burgers and The Great North, which I gather is likely on its last season? Booooooooo, Fox. Booooooooo.

Aspirations

Jun. 24th, 2025 08:09 am
kalloway: (SaGa Subier 6)
[personal profile] kalloway
I am constantly finding parts of aspirational projects that were abandoned or otherwise lost to time. While cleaning up my hobby desk, I found four bottles of DecoArt craft paint and have no idea what I was intending to do with them... (black, white, red, purple - so a very basic set of colors that isn't helpful) Reddit helpfully let me know that while it's physically possibly to thin it down to airbrush consistency, it's not fun anywhere in the process. So that's out.

I also have an olive and a grey that I will someday tinker with and mix to repair worn spots on a wooden figure, but I've been putting that off for like a decade now and intend to put it off for a bit longer. I suppose the black and white can stick around for that?

(I guess these can all stick around for the hangar/manger if I ever get back to that? Not so much the red, but maybe the others can get used...)

The dining room table is also covered in zine-binding/related debris. I need to see what's there and what needs to be bound and do some little projects when I'm otherwise just watching something or being a mushroom.

But right now I'm a mushroom because it's too fucking hot.

Hanging on the telephone

Jun. 23rd, 2025 11:13 pm
tellshannon815: (ritchie)
[personal profile] tellshannon815
Well, so far, reports of my hiatus have been a bit exaggerated - as Mum has pointed out, BT are paying for the hotspot I'm currently using while waiting for the correct mini hub as per my last post's story of their screwup, (something tells me I will be needing the link they sent me for a rapid call back, as I'm not overly confident about the correct mini hub turning up tomorrow). Meanwhile, Olly Alexander's Eurovision is permanently stuck in my head due to the amount of time I have spent on hold doing battle! Nothing against the guy, (he actually went to art college here, and the local media practically reports on it every time he farts) but could quite happily never hear the song any more. Hoping it will be sorted soon though and I probably should apologise for the amount of ranty posts this week so far (and it's only Monday).

On the plus side the heatwave is finally over (I'm trying to ignore the usual clickbait spam that I'm still getting sent about 39 degree heatwaves on the way, but hoping this isn't the one time they got it right - who am I kidding though with this rubbish?).

Anyway, since I'm trying for a few less Ranty McRantFace posts for a bit, and also conscious that I haven't done a lot of Fannish 50 ramble lately, I'll quickly do one of those.

Say you come across a show you think you like the sound of, only it was cancelled before you got round to it (or you get a few episodes in and then find out it didn't get renewed) do you still carry on anyway, or decide not to bother once you know it's not going anywhere (and left on a cliffhanger)? Something I've been thinking about since I finally got round to checking out Outer Range (which I think was recommended to me by one of those Shows to Watch If You like Show X lists - considering the subject matter, probably Dark, which is one of my all time top five). I did know going into it that it had been decided not to renew for season 3, already have writing ideas for once I have better wifi, but find myself feeling frustrated at the knowledge that I won't get questions answered and have moments of wondering how much it's worth it in that situation.

Projecting

Jun. 22nd, 2025 06:43 am
kalloway: (Exos Bernavas)
[personal profile] kalloway
I meant to spend about five minutes on plant care and then proceeded to spend about an hour, instead, complete with running myself out of dirt. That's a bit how my weekend has gone, though? I've gotten a lot done.

I took a deep breath and pushed myself past one of my major mental blocks with archiving and it... wasn't bad? Like, I had bumped up against some very old stories that are... Listen, they were never good. And then I asked myself if I really wanted to archive them. Yes, I want them archived. Yes, I've posted them to mailing lists, to Geocities, to my own site, to AO3. I can post them to Neocities and DW. They will continue to be a part of what I've created.

I also reminded myself that I just have to archive them; I don't have to read them. I also wrote a couple of drabbles and then... also archived those! Super-easy, even though one needed a fandom page made. But super-easy! I like this.

Finished up MG Exia, who I totally didn't want to throw out a window multiple times last weekend, nope. He definitely had his moments, but overall I didn't hate the build. (Which is good because I'm going to be doing it a lot.)

I started on HG Sazabi, who will be a much-quicker no-frills build. I'm going to hold off on polls for a bit until I get through my own little to-do list. I still need to build the HG Calrea that got me back into this bullshit.

Caught up with [personal profile] purplehellebore for a birfday lunch and whatnot. Went to the home improvement store and did not buy a 9/16ths wrench. (But I had two people restraining me...) Got some paint from the nerd store. Finished up a prototype for a hollow book.

Shadowverse Worlds Beyond released the other day but the less said about that the better. We're already grousing on [community profile] mobilegames.