Nov. 26th, 2023 08:39 pm
Several things, in no particular order
I traveled up to my sister's for the Thanksgiving holiday and got back the night before last. It was very nice to see my 7-year-old nephew, who's a little ray of sunshine and bonded with my old, crabby, attention-seeking dog because he was happy to let her lick his face as much as she wanted. Hanging out with my sister's in-laws was a little weird, as I don't know them very well and am very much the "artsy, eccentric, liberal sister" in their eyes. (It's true, but I hate feeling like it's something I have to defend instead of being able to just be.) I only had to endure two thoughtless racist comments, though, so it wasn't all bad. (Though, admittedly, that could be because I spent most of my time out in the yard playing with my nephew.) I didn't bother engaging with the racist commenters, because nobody in that room was going to have a legitimate discussion about their bigotry, which always makes me feel like a shit person, but I'd rather save my energy for things I think might actually effect some sort of change. At one point, my brother-in-law set up a small caliber target shooting rifle, which I got to try out. I'm surprisingly not terrible, as long as I have the time to get myself really set up. Still not the type to ever own a gun and probably won't go out skeet shooting anytime soon, but it was fun and interesting.
I didn't go to church this weekend, as I was a) peopled out from spending three-ish days at my sister's and b) am not feeling great. I've got a little bit of a sinus thing going on, though I'm hoping it's just allergies and not anything more serious. Fingers crossed that an early night tonight will help assuage it.
I got a decent amount of research and writing done for this upcoming week's bee post. It's not finished yet, but it's heading in a direction I'm very happy with, which is nice. And I'm learning a bunch about a bee I was super unfamiliar with, which I always enjoy.
Haven't started on my Yuletide properly yet but have an outline for a more manageable story I should be able to finish to a very satisfactory point by the due date. It's a plot on a smaller scale than I was originally planning, but there's challenging yourself and then there's taking on a fool's errand, and I think this sits comfortably in "challenge" without edging into foolishness, like the previous iteration was probably doing.
I watched Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls tonight. It was really fun, with surprisingly solid emotional beats, a stellar cast (including Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator fame), and fantastic practical effects. It also included a dream sequence that made me shriek with laughter. It's definitely a particular flavor of campy comedy horror that may not be to everyone's taste, but it's more about the camp than the horror. If you're at all interested in classic style practical effects and like a really silly premise approached from a place of sincerity, it's worth a watch. It really spoke to the high school kid in me who wanted to be a cool, mean goth but wasn't cool, mean, or goth enough to pull it off. It also features a badass nonbinary character in a prominent role which is super fun to see. Their style game is on point and I want to steal their whole wardrobe.
I haven't done any fiction writing in the last week or so, largely due to catching up on day job deadlines and holiday travel shenanigans, but I hope to get back into it this week, starting with my Yuletide and picking at the Kidnapped Lost Boys!AU in between, for flavor. I'll be hosting a writing weekend on my HBO war Discord server, Heavy Artillery, this weekend (December 1-3), if anyone is interested in joining regular, hour long sprints. (You don't have to be writing HBO war fic, it's just planned to help out those folks participating in the Holiday Exchange currently running on the server.) I ran sign-ups through AO3 this year, and it went better than last time I tried but I definitely have some notes for myself for next time vis-à-vis tag sets and building the actual form.
I went mattress shopping today and am planning to go back tomorrow to purchase and set up delivery for a new mattress and box spring. It'll be so wonderful to not be sleeping on an air mattress anymore, I can't even tell you. My air mattress is very nice and I really enjoy it, generally speaking, but my mid-thirties bones are not designed to spend several consecutive months sleeping on an air mattress and I don't mind saying so.
I bought a handful of new plants this weekend, because I've finally gotten my furniture set up so I have a place that gets decent sunlight for them indoors. It's not like I really needed anymore, but I'm happy to have them. Will share pics sometime this week, after my little plant shelf arrives and I can get it properly set up.
I hope everyone else has been well!
I didn't go to church this weekend, as I was a) peopled out from spending three-ish days at my sister's and b) am not feeling great. I've got a little bit of a sinus thing going on, though I'm hoping it's just allergies and not anything more serious. Fingers crossed that an early night tonight will help assuage it.
I got a decent amount of research and writing done for this upcoming week's bee post. It's not finished yet, but it's heading in a direction I'm very happy with, which is nice. And I'm learning a bunch about a bee I was super unfamiliar with, which I always enjoy.
Haven't started on my Yuletide properly yet but have an outline for a more manageable story I should be able to finish to a very satisfactory point by the due date. It's a plot on a smaller scale than I was originally planning, but there's challenging yourself and then there's taking on a fool's errand, and I think this sits comfortably in "challenge" without edging into foolishness, like the previous iteration was probably doing.
I watched Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls tonight. It was really fun, with surprisingly solid emotional beats, a stellar cast (including Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator fame), and fantastic practical effects. It also included a dream sequence that made me shriek with laughter. It's definitely a particular flavor of campy comedy horror that may not be to everyone's taste, but it's more about the camp than the horror. If you're at all interested in classic style practical effects and like a really silly premise approached from a place of sincerity, it's worth a watch. It really spoke to the high school kid in me who wanted to be a cool, mean goth but wasn't cool, mean, or goth enough to pull it off. It also features a badass nonbinary character in a prominent role which is super fun to see. Their style game is on point and I want to steal their whole wardrobe.
I haven't done any fiction writing in the last week or so, largely due to catching up on day job deadlines and holiday travel shenanigans, but I hope to get back into it this week, starting with my Yuletide and picking at the Kidnapped Lost Boys!AU in between, for flavor. I'll be hosting a writing weekend on my HBO war Discord server, Heavy Artillery, this weekend (December 1-3), if anyone is interested in joining regular, hour long sprints. (You don't have to be writing HBO war fic, it's just planned to help out those folks participating in the Holiday Exchange currently running on the server.) I ran sign-ups through AO3 this year, and it went better than last time I tried but I definitely have some notes for myself for next time vis-à-vis tag sets and building the actual form.
I went mattress shopping today and am planning to go back tomorrow to purchase and set up delivery for a new mattress and box spring. It'll be so wonderful to not be sleeping on an air mattress anymore, I can't even tell you. My air mattress is very nice and I really enjoy it, generally speaking, but my mid-thirties bones are not designed to spend several consecutive months sleeping on an air mattress and I don't mind saying so.
I bought a handful of new plants this weekend, because I've finally gotten my furniture set up so I have a place that gets decent sunlight for them indoors. It's not like I really needed anymore, but I'm happy to have them. Will share pics sometime this week, after my little plant shelf arrives and I can get it properly set up.
I hope everyone else has been well!
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