The State of Me

[flamebyrd]

🎵 I'm continuing to play Wandersong, but slowly, as it requires me to concentrate on reading text and occasional platforming. It's still adorable and positive with a bittersweet edge.

🎮 I've hit a wall WALL IS STOP in Baba is You right now, I feel like I'm simultaneously stuck on four different levels in Rocket Trip. "Empty" is doing my head in. Even the two hint guides I use aren't helping.

🧠 I'm not in a great place emotionally right now, for various reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture.

📖 One more week of study to go! Even though I feel like I'm putting infinitely more effort in, my grades so far have been only marginally better than my undergrad. Oh well, at least I'm passing. And I've dropped to two units for next semester, so hopefully I'll have time for fun things again.

In what feels like a symbol of our times, I typed "fun" into OSX's emoji search and the first one it suggested was ⚰️.

💥 It feels like four separate fandoms have exploded or reached a Dramatic Finale in one way or another in the last couple of months, and I'm not in any of them*. Hope you're all doing okay (as much as possible)!

* Not even MCU, I decided it was better for my enjoyment of the characters to stop watching Avengers films after Age of Ultron. I'll probably watch Captain Marvel at some point though.

💻 Dreamwidth made a change to their style system (I think) that broke some of the colours in the layout I use (Fruit Salad by renoir for Leftovers)... I could easily fix it in my custom CSS but then it would override the colour picker in the customizer, which feels morally wrong. But it's been so long I can't remember how to modify styles to fix it myself. Alas.

🍪 I really want chocolate chip cookies... If I get ever get this assignment done I think I'll try out this recipe from Cook's Illustrated / Brown Eyed Baker.

Comments

[cimorene]

You can just remove the color selection commands from your layer and select them in the wizard. It will make another layer and put it on top of your theme layer. Actually, I think you can even include the colors and then just open the wizard and select different colors and get the same effect...? Unless the problem is actually with color and you had to hard code it so that using the color picker wizard afterwards would break the color scheme?

[flamebyrd]

The problem seems to be that the underlying HTML has changed, so the CSS the layout is outputting based on the theme customizer is no longer working.

I think the actual correct course of action here would be report a bug, hah.

[cimorene]

Oh, no! The slow-payoff way! Yeah... I'd probably just modify my theme layer if I were you, even if it wouldn't play nice with the wizard subsequently.

[runpunkrun]

Those cookies look beautiful.

[flamebyrd]

The cookies tasted great, but they spread way too much so I'm going to experiment with my flour next time.

[runpunkrun]

Oh no. I hate when that happens. You could also try chilling the dough in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before baking.

[flamebyrd]

I actually tried that! After the first batch all fused into one MEGA COOKIE on the baking sheet, I turned off the oven and let the rest of the dough sit in the fridge for a while before doing the next batch. It didn't really help, though.

I do think my local plain flour is a bit low protein compared to US all purpose flour, so I'm going to try a stronger type next time in case that makes a difference. And if I still don't have any luck, I guess I'll just try a different recipe.

[runpunkrun]

A MEGA COOKIE. Well that's not right at all. I hope a different flour helps!

[nic]

It feels like four separate fandoms have exploded

Being in the first one (Magicians) it meant that latter fandom badness couldn't touch me; it was more of a weary shrug at Avengers. Then again, I had not been "in" that fandom for a while despite still watching the movies.

"Captain Marvel" is a delightful standalone and you should watch it!


Good luck on your assignments. School is SO HARD as an older student. I honestly think our brains aren't as quick; I used to breeze through assignments but my in my last 2.5 years they seemed like a lot of work.

Plus you have all of the stresses of adulthood on top of study. It's a lot. Take care of yourself (which I know you are doing, with taking 2 less units!)

[flamebyrd]

I can't believe how much work assignments take! Was I really just more casual about it in undergrad? Maybe it's the postgrad effect, or, as you say, my brain just isn't as nimble anymore. Halving the workload should make a world of difference.

Maybe I'll even have time for a fandom again, assuming I can find one I like XD

[nic]

I'm just catching up on DW and it seems you do have a new fannish interest? :)

I had my first forgot-to-submit-an-assignment nightmare last night since finishing study all of ~7 weeks ago. That didn't take long!

[flamebyrd]

I'm really enjoying Wandersong, but it doesn't have a significant fanfic-type fandom, as far as I can tell. AO3 has some works but I don't think I'll come out of it wanting to write anything - and I can never keep up sustained interest in small fandoms.

I woke up at 2am on Friday realising that I'd forgotten to check wordcount on the assignment I turned in, and utterly convinced I was short of the minimum. D: And right now I'm in that period where all my assignments are in but I'm waiting on a bunch of marks, and it's awful. But on the bright side, I have time for fun things!

Also, relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/557/

[tielan]

Hello!

I had a pretty strong suspicion that Endgame would not satisfy me, so I knew going in not to expect much.

And those choc chip cookies look goooood...

[flamebyrd]

Well, that's better than going in without expecting to be disappointed, I suppose...

The cookies turned out tasty but rather flat (they spread a lot), so I am going to experiment with stronger flour next time (Wallaby Bakers Flour seems to have the same protein content as King Arthur's All Purpose Flour, which the internet loves, so I figure it's worth a shot).

[velithya]

I heard about two of them... (GoT and Magicians) who else jumped ship? :O

Might be a little belated now, but good luck for your last week! You can do it :)

[flamebyrd]

MCU (Endgame) and Homestuck were the other two I was counting!

Thank you - I have two assignments are due on Thursday night (one large, one tiny), plus a quiz on Friday, and good luck is appreciated!

[velithya]

ahh, yeah I agree with Endgame, although the MCU has been going off the rails for a while now. I know nothing about Homestuck though!

hey guess what it's the weekend now and that means you did it! congratulations! :)