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Interminable September has not defeated me yet! My goal for the week is to get through the Dream of Gerontius without attempting to faint. Other than work, chores, and choir I have been doing nothing but read read read and have already finished more books this month than I managed in any other month this year, but do now seem to be slowing down slightly.

My boss has set up a new joint task tracker for our 121s and we went through and added numerous things from my to-do list to it on Friday, but she wants to put predicted end dates on them and I just... can't. "OK, can you finish this one in September?" no I can't do anything else in September I'm going to be in a tent. "Shall we say October for this?" no because there's already two things you wanted in September and also in October I'm going to be spending a fortnight testing something single-handed because everyone else is busy. "OK then this one in November?" right but didn't you also want me to guarantee the bespoke work testing before Christmas because this schedule doesn't give me any room for that in September or October and there's graduations to fit in somewhere, so...

She's not actually unreasonable, but also I don't think I've ever quite been able to explain how much of my workday is taken up by "ordinary" things that never get as far as her list of bigger tasks but, crucially, do still need to be done. And most of the bigger jobs require significant blocks of focussed time and I don't have very much capacity for that in any one day, although I can work on boring maintenance tasks OK... anyway, I was feeling extremely stressed on Friday, and it's trying to creep back now except I don't have time because tomorrow I have a half-day away day and then my singing lesson and then a choir rehearsal and then I have to get home and unpack and repack my bag before bed because I have another on-campus day on Tuesday so I can attend a half-day meeting she can't make, and then another choir rehearsal in the evening and sure theoretically I can't explain why I can't find three hours in there to work on live chat, but also...

Time to go and read another book and do my best not to think about it, I think!!1!

dine

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estirose

With everything going on in the world, I missed an announcement that was in the Nintendo Direct!

Fatal Frame II remake! The costumes look different, but I think it's at least taking some cues from Deep Crimson Butterfly, which along with Fatal Frame IV and V was (re-)released on some form of the Wii (and therefore easier to bring to modern devices). And again, it is not Switch-exclusive.

I'm hoping they ditch the ghost hand mechanic that really was annoying in Deep Crimson Butterfly (and IV, and V). It's the only bit of the game I really didn't enjoy.

Oooh, they seem to have added the ability to run, something that didn't appear until Fatal Frame V... before that, the fastest any of our protagonists moved was maybe a very slow jog.

dine

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trobadora

(So much for that daily posting thing - I've already skipped a few without meaning to. /o\)

Today I rode an e-bike for the first time. Useful for the hills, for sure, but it wasn't as much fun as a regular bike, so I don't see myself doing that often.

Last spring I signed up for a local rent-a-bike service, and ever since then I've been riding bikes a lot again, after a break of something like 15 years. (That was about when my bike got stolen, and I didn't buy a new one because I didn't and still don't have a good place to put it.) I still like biking a lot, though I'm glad I no longer have to in the winter, the way I used to when I was still biking to uni. *g*

I've also been walking a lot again this summer, so overall I've been getting a lot more exercise than I used to! Which, alas, did not turn out to be an unmitigated good. (Turns out that more physical activity makes me hungrier - shock, horror! - but not exactly in proportion. I'd really rather keep fitting into my clothes, and also I don't want not be constantly hungry. So less activity might actually be better. Since we're heading into winter and I don't like going out very much when it's wet and/or cold, I guess I'll see!)

dine

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ysobel

New version now has a release announcement of "next week" [edit: might be available already?]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9QdA_SDnLY is a video going through all the brushes, including effects from pressure and also tilt and barrel roll. (I turn off tilt variation options, because not moving arm or wrist means tilt automatically changes through a stroke ... I may have to disable azimuth for the opposite reason, because I can't change pencil orientation. I don't have the Apple Pencil that supports barrel roll so can't do twists.)

TIL that a pademelon is a small marsupial, not a melon at all... (The new brushes are named after flora/fauna/locationsetc in Tasmania, which means the names aren't functional (no "gel pen" or "smoke" or "medium airbrush", now it's "chocolate" or "sandpiper" or "night heron") ... which means I have no chance at remembering what's what aaaaa

Anyway there are some reeeeally cool brushes and brush options.

(The old brushes will still be available and included, so e.g. old tutorials can still be followed, but I'll probably use the new ones more.)

( notes from brush designer )

wychwood

Interminable September progresses. The next two weeks are going to be the especially busy parts, but I made fifteen portions of pasta (waiting for me in the freezer), started refusing any invitations to do anything whatsoever in September that isn't already in my calendar ("not even for your poor sick mother??" she said, and I said NO but how about the first weekend in October), and am as up together as I can manage (not terribly).

I'm also in full hibernation mode and doing nothing in my actual free time except read intensely and greedily (already finished one of the poll-winners). I haven't bought any more books since last week, though, so that's something. I'm going to bribe myself with volume 2 of Wayne Family Adventures when I survive the month, though.

dine

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estirose

So, I'm planning on nominating the following media for sure:
* Cozy Grove
* Assemble with Care (this is a small puzzle game that I ran across - it's fun but gads they left lots of missing scene material - also my 'break glass in case of pinch hit' fandom)

Possible:
* My Time at Sandrock (at 885 fics after filters, this is likely the game's last year in Yuletide, and I want in)
* Fatal Frame, possibly the third game but more likely the 1st one.
* Coral Island, mostly for mini-programs worldbuilding, but also for the undersea folks

Definitely in but figuring out how I'm going to nominate:
* Fantasy Life/Fantasy Life i. I mostly want the OG characters in the OG setting, but honestly? I also love Carla and Mira and I'd love to see some expansion of Frajeel and the whole Swolean economy. Also, boats come from the OG lands! I don't know whether to nominate this as a series and risk getting people who have no idea about the OG game's setting trying to write my OG prompts, or nominate both games so that I can get good fics for both.

dine

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trobadora

Today I finally updated my word count spreadsheet, for the first time since March.

Nothing but alibi sentences for most of that time, now all typed up and word-counted. Turns out (not entirely unexpectedly) July and August this year were my second- and third-worst writing months ever since I started documenting my writing ... Time to get out of that slump NOW.

Does anyone have tips for restarting? I think I could use some ...

ETA: Specifically, what I'm struggling with is that I've been writing no more than a sentence or three at a go, for much too long, and now I'm out of the habit and can't seem to go beyond that without a major effort. *grumbles*

dine

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trobadora

Dear

fffx writer,

thank you so much for writing a gift for me! I'll be absolutely thrilled about anything you can create about the relationships or worldbuilding themes I requested. and everything important is in the requests themselves, but if you'd like even more info, general likes etc., here you go.

My AO3 account is

Trobadora, and it's set to welcome treats.

General Preferences

( Likes & Dislikes/DNWs )

Fandoms, relationships, worldbuilding

In somewhat alphabetical order - note that one of them is expanded compared to what's in the sign-up form:

Jump directly to:

Christabel/Grimm crossover: Worldbuilding
绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei
Grimm/Guardian (TV) crossover: Nick Burkhardt/Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton & Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Worldbuilding - expanded
Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling: Kashtiliash & Raupasha
长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing

( Christabel/Grimm crossover: Worldbuilding )

( 绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei )

( Grimm/Guardian crossovers: )

( Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling: Kashtiliash & Raupasha )

( 长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing )

lexin

I have no real news.

I did have a leaky leg for which I had to take antibiotics. It’s all cleared up now, though I have a review of my medications tomorrow. So that will be fun, for some measure of fun.

In other news

I’m still playing the remastered version of Oblivion. My current character is level 34 and has a million gold pieces. He has done this by killing bandits and selling their armour, and making potions and selling them. The actual quests don’t pay that well, not even the Arena.

Cats

Opal has finally started to use the expensive water fountain I bought her. Smokey used hers almost as soon as I put it down, but Opal has taken a couple of months to use hers. I’m pleased, I want to be sure both cats are getting the water they should.

Current Location: Bangor
Crossposts: https://lexin.insanejournal.com/327938.html

dine

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ysobel

So I got an email tonight-- seen in my last check of the evening-- inviting me to beta the new Procreate. Which probably means it's a fairly broad beta at this point, because I'm nobody, but --

Um. Yes PLEASE.

I've only done a bit of playing with the new brushes but holy crap it's so good. Some of them have dynamic color interactions, behaving more like physical media. Some of them have amazing texture. Some of them would make amazing calligraphy.

I've gotten through 12 of the 18 categories in the comes-with-Procreate default library, and I really ought to go to sleep, but eeee this is so cool!

trobadora

I don't know where the day went, or the weekend. How is it almost midnight already?!

Anyway: Over at

sid_guardian we've kicked off another rewatch - a slo-mo one this time, half an episode per week. And since we've already done the "take an epic amount of notes and write epic post" kind of rewatch, this one's going to be a bit more relaxed. *g*

Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purply sky with stars. Text reads "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org."

Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purply sky with stars. Text reads "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org."

Here's the first post, episode 1, part 1.

wychwood

I have inventoried my to-read pile and am slightly horrified to find that it contains 98 books (39 non-fic and 59 fiction, which is interesting because I thought it was mostly non-fic! But in fact it's just that the average non-fic book is much larger so the fiction takes up less space). The fiction is about half SFF. I'm not going to make a poll of the whole lot, because I'd be here forever, but I have picked some categories:

Poll #33582 what should wychwood read next

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14

View Respondents

Which loan book should I start next?

View Answers

Acts and Omissions - Catherine Fox
3 (21.4%)

Cavedweller - Dorothy Allison
3 (21.4%)

Data Structures and Algorithms - Alfred Aho, John Hopcroft, Jeffrey Ullman
2 (14.3%)

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
6 (42.9%)

Which detective story should I start next?

View Answers

Aunty Lee’s Chilled Revenge - Ovidia Yu
6 (50.0%)

In the Shadow of Agatha Christie - ed Leslie S Klinger
2 (16.7%)

Land of Shadows - Rachel Howzell Hall
0 (0.0%)

Murder in Williamstown - Kerry Greenwood
0 (0.0%)

Night Train to Memphis - Elizabeth Peters
2 (16.7%)

The Chemistry of Death - Simon Beckett
2 (16.7%)

Which non-fic book should I start next?

View Answers

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat - Samin Nosrat
5 (35.7%)

Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries - Kate Mosse
3 (21.4%)

Black Tights: Women, Sport and Sexuality - Laura Robinson
1 (7.1%)

The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense - Suzanne Haden Elgin
4 (28.6%)

The Augustinians from the French Revolution to Modern Times - J Gavigan
1 (7.1%)

Carrying the Fire - Michael Collins
0 (0.0%)

The bedside pile is down to four books, including the ongoing Oxford History of England project and the current SFRG book, so it is time to build it up again!