Insight, or something

Jul. 20th, 2025 09:46 pm
dhampyresa: (Default)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
I wear a brace most of the time rn because of wrist tendinitis, which means drawing isn't just a matter of grabbing a sketchbook and pencil and go anymore. I have to undo and remove the brace -- which doesn't take very long, but it's enough of a roadblock that I have time to consider if I should do it (probably not). I end up not drawing as much as I want to and WOW a lot of stuff I usually watch on youtube feels so much more boring and I retain so much less of it when I'm not drawing at the same time.


Unrelated, but I can't decide and want opinions: is saint worship a form of ancestor cult?

Challenge 196: Orange

Jul. 20th, 2025 09:53 pm
javert: photo of a lion lying on the ground (misc lion chilling)
[personal profile] javert posting in [community profile] iconthat


The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Ganondorf)
https://i.imgur.com/Q52Wsbe.png

Next color: Yellow
settiai: (TLoVM -- settiai)
[personal profile] settiai
The power went off again for a bit but, once it turned back on, everything was working correctly again.

Well, mostly. My AC was still making the odd grinding sound, but I did some googling and opened it up, and I was able to get it fixed. The sudden power outage while it was turned on basically knocked a couple of things loose, but I was able to get them all screwed back in properly so that it's working properly again.

We'll see if it lasts?

No True Pair: Crossover mini-event

Jul. 20th, 2025 02:46 pm
senmut: a bright blue tribal seahorse (General: Tribal Seahorse)
[personal profile] senmut
A Needed Ally (400 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore, Sword-Dancer Saga - Jennifer Roberson
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Catti-brie [Dungeons & Dragons], Delilah [Sword-Dancer Saga]
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fusion
Summary:

Catti runs into an ally



A Needed Ally

Catti-brie would have given a lot of treasure to never see a desert again, but here she was in one that made Calimshan look civilized. The next time she was offered 'something different, something new, just track this wee artifact down' by ANY Harper, she would remember to say 'no'.

About the second time she broke a man's wrist for trying to touch her in brutish ways, she heard a 'ssstt' from one side and a welcome, if unexpected face peered at her, all pale in a sea of darker shades.

"Del?" Catti asked as she made it through the throng to the woman.

"You're a long way from where we met," the elder woman said. "Why are you in the Southron lands?"

"Looking for a trinket that supposedly got traded down here. Care to help me out?"

"Call the debt for the Moonshaes closed, and you have my aid. Possibly my partner's."

Catti-brie wrinkled her nose. "Ne'er counted a debt on helping ye. But if'n it means ye can help me before I have tae kill a man, done!"

"Kill one, ten more will appear," Del answered with a sigh.

"Glad as I met up with ye," Catti-brie said.

"You might not be if Tiger's still addled with liquor." Del's wry smile made her look a little younger, and Catti was glad to see it on her. She'd found the woman very driven, hard-pressed by her past, and too rare in her smiles.

"Dwarf-raised. Can deal with the hangover," Catti told her with a grin.

"You haven't met Tiger yet," Del warned. "Good thing you wear your blade at the hip; over the shoulder is a definite mark of a sword-dancer, and you'd be challenged to prove you can use them."

"I think I'd prove capable," Catti-brie answered with justifiable pride in her skill. After all, Drizzt had been her teacher.

"Yes, but it brings even more attention than just your looks."

"I should nae ask how many ye had to prove your skill to?"

"I lost count," Del said blandly, leading up a narrow alley before getting them inside a cooler building. Both took in the small space, lacking any person at all. "Hmm, maybe he didn't make it back this morning.

"So tell me about the trinket, while we have peace from Tiger's belly-aching."

Catti-brie settled to do just that, eager to be done with this quest.


Or read at the community

(no subject)

Jul. 20th, 2025 02:52 pm
flemmings: (Default)
[personal profile] flemmings
So of course I took the upright walker over to Dufferin for my Vietnamese coffee. It really is an unwieldy beast. The good part is that I can, yes, walk upright with it if I remember not to hunch: hunching is now so habitual after four years that I must mindful my way out of it. The drawbacks however are multiple. Major one being that the seat is too low-- knee height-- for me to sit down in with any assurance of being able to stand up again. Fortunately the kind city has provided  benches at intervals along Bloor, or rather, just off Bloor,  some of them in the shade.

The removable basket is insufficient and tends to remove itself from the poles it hooks on to. The rests for the arms or forearms are hard plastic and in this weather one sweats into them, and (possibly confined to me) they cut off circulation to the hands so my little fingers go numb. Intended for a feature but is actually a bug: if you collapse the walker sideways so as to allow passage into letussay narrow doorways, it also collapses forwards. This is for easy storage in the trunk of the car everyone owns, that takes you to wherever you're going. But it makes it extremely difficult to enter a store whose door is up a step and that opens outwards, like the banh mi place. So I will not be doing this again in a hurry. I know I've walked over to nearly Dufferin before and not died, and my phone would have me believe it's shorter to there than to nearly Spadina, but psychologically, as I've said before, west is much much farther than east.

However it's a much different crowd west than east. In addition to the many cafés that have sprung up west of Ossington it also has most of the city's Ethiopian restaurants. On the way I passed an Indian gentleman in saffron robes taking the sun and a very large Grand Pyrenees in its summer-unfriendly shaggy coat. Coming back I passed an Asian family (I think: two adults and a teen/ early 20s guy who may or may not have been together) notable in that the younger guy was reading a hardcover book as he walked and didn't stop reading, or even look up, when he had to stop for a red light. What was engrossing him so? The lettering on the spine was faded but I could still make out 'Middlemarch'. Sugoi.

As for the walker, well, I shall still use it as long as I'm not intending to do anything but walk.

Challenge 196: Red

Jul. 20th, 2025 03:15 pm
linky: Minato pointing with his ring and casting. (Gotchard: Minato - Cast)
[personal profile] linky posting in [community profile] iconthat
iconthat-minato-red-100.png

Minato from Kamen Rider Gotchard
https://images.squidge.org/images/2025/07/20/iconthat-minato-red-100.png

Next Color: Orange

Mid-year Book Tag

Jul. 20th, 2025 01:45 pm
downjune: (emma)
[personal profile] downjune
Doing the thing from over on Booktube since I haven't been posting monthly :/ So here I am, taking stock of the reading year so far. As of today, I've read 60 books. 

1. How has your reading year been so far? I’ve read as much litfic as I have fantasy, which is unusual for me, 20 apiece. And I’ve read 8 classics! Proud of that bit. Average rating is a 3.95 overall, which is pretty good!

2. What is the best book that you’ve read so far this year? I've got three.

'
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1846). An absolute banger. Expertly plotted, exquisite characters, delicious drama, a total page-turner for preeettty much all 1240 pages. Edmund Dantes is one messy bench. He's basically Batman, the greatest Gary Stu of them all, and I love that for him. Revenge, righteousness, justice, loyalty, filial piety and rebellion -- Dumas packs it all in, along with a bunch of historical context. The wrongs done to Dantes are appalling, the villains reprehensible, and the vengeance he orchestrates so deeply satisfying; I'm so glad we get a (ridiculous) hero we can cheer for.
He loses half a star for drawing out Morrel's misery for 200 pages and for the random epic drug trip, and for everything involving Haydee. Eek. In a book of normal length, these flaws might be fatal, but over 1250-some pages, these bits were relatively easy to skim over. WHAT A STORY. Read this in June. 4.5 *s

Read more... )


 

Culinary

Jul. 20th, 2025 07:44 pm
oursin: Frontispiece from C17th household manual (Accomplisht Lady)
[personal profile] oursin

This weeks bread: a loaf of Dove's Farm Organic Heritage Seeded Bread Flour, v nice.

Friday night supper: penne with bottled sliced artichoke hearts.

Saturday breakfast rolls: eclectic vanilla, strong white flour - perhaps just a little stodgy.

Today's lunch: kedgeree with smoked basa fillets - forgot the egg due to distractions and basa cooking rather more slowly than I had anticipated, still quite good - served with baked San Marzano tomatoes (we entirely repudiate the heretical inclusion of tomatoes in kedgeree but they are perfectly acceptable on the side), and a salad of little gem lettuces quartered and dressed with salt, ground black pepper, lime juice and avocado oil.

Challenge 196: Violet

Jul. 20th, 2025 08:27 pm
holyscream: A drawing of a vampire by artist GyaGa next to a matching color card. (icon)
[personal profile] holyscream posting in [community profile] iconthat
A pair of long twisted horns with the words, “Do you want me to lie? I will if you need it.”

Quote paraphrased from Jex Lane’s Beautiful Monsters
https://images2.imgbox.com/c9/b2/NrdOOp6p_o.gif

Images used: Ingrid Behrens, Annie Spratt

Next color: Red.

Hotel Life: Power Update

Jul. 20th, 2025 02:15 pm
settiai: (Boromir -- housejackbuilt1)
[personal profile] settiai
Okay, so apparently the sister hotel and the 7-Eleven next door are having the same issue where about half the lights/plugs in the building are working and the other half aren't. So it looks like it might actually be an issue with the power company rather than some of the wires specifically in this hotel getting fried like we were initially suspecting might be the case.

My AC still won't cool, but I have managed to get it to at least have a weak fan blowing which is better than nothing. And the AC in the hallway just outside my room is working, which is helping a little with keeping the temperature from going up too quickly in here.

Both the power company and the fire department are wandering around trying to figure out what the fuck is going on, especially since two extended stay hotels full of people without working AC (in some rooms, not all - the AC is working fine for some people, although most of the rooms with working AC don't have working lights) in 90+ degree weather is... not great.

The temperature in my room is slowly edging upwards, but it's not too bad yet at least. When the power went out at 11am, it was about 68°F in my room as I turn the AC down low at night to sleep so it hadn't had a chance to start warming back up yet at that point. A little over three hours later, with no AC that entire time, it's gone up to 74°F, so it's averaging about 2° an hour. Which, you know, could be worse.

Now, if they don't get it fixed within the next few hours, it's going to start being a problem. My fingers are desperately crossed that they'll figure it out before then, though.

ETA: It only went up to 75°F by 3pm, so it looks like the temperature might not be rising quite as quickly as it gets warmer. We'll see what happens.

Check-In Post - July 20th 2025

Jul. 20th, 2025 07:08 pm
badly_knitted: (Get Knitted)
[personal profile] badly_knitted posting in [community profile] get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.


This Week's Question: What do you like to listen to / watch while crafting?


If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!



[ SECRET POST #6771 ]

Jul. 20th, 2025 02:04 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6771 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 31 secrets from Secret Submission Post #969.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

✨glimmers and good things ✨

Jul. 20th, 2025 07:03 pm
badfalcon: (Geeks at Work)
[personal profile] badfalcon
The past week’s been a foggy one — low on energy, high on friction. I’ve barely touched the computer, partly because I’ve had nothing to give, and partly because every little thing felt like too much. Office politics have been quietly draining, I forgot how much fandom drama can wear you out even when you’re not trying to be involved, and I’m still figuring out how changes in my joints are shifting my spoons, my energy, my everything.

I know those are the days I need the glimmers the most — but sometimes, when everything feels heavy, even looking for them is hard.

But today I’m back at the screen. I want to keep trying. These soft, bright moments matter — especially when they’re hard to find.

✨ today’s glimmers and good things ✨

🌸 I let myself stay in soft clothes all day, and tried not to feel guilty for needing rest. It felt like the kindest thing I could do.
🎧 I listened to music that matched my mood perfectly, and it felt like being held in just the right kind of quiet.
📖 I spent the afternoon reading, letting myself drift a little in someone else’s words. It was soft, and it helped.
spiralsheep: Sheep wearing an eyepatch (Default)
[personal profile] spiralsheep
- The nation state of Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Palestine continues.

- In the UK there continue to be large peaceful pro-Palestinian protests, including a march in Edinburgh attended by thousands of supporters.

- Led By Donkeys released a video explaining that the "charity" UK Lawyers for Israel hosted a far-right Israeli MP who has subsequently been sanctioned by the UK government for supporting genocide, and that the uncharitable wing of UK Lawyers for Israel continues to use vexatious legal bullying to attempt to erase Palestinian culture from multicultural Britain including shutting down a children's kite-making meeting by claiming it was akin to terrorism. Some people would call this "ethnic cleansing" and "cultural genocide" of Palestinians. A previous mention of vexatious claims by Lawyers for Israel that failed to remove a public art work.

- Led By Donkeys previously made
a 6min video about intentional destruction of our right to peaceful protest in the UK by authoritarian politicians such as Keith Starmer (who is handing the next election to Farage on a plate complete with fascist garnishes).

- In the UK over 220 people have now been arrested and could be imprisoned for 14 years as "terrorists" for holding signs saying things such as, "genocide in Palestine, time to take action" and "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine action".

- One woman in Kent was threatened with arrest by armed police for standing in public displaying the sign "Free Gaza" with a Palestinian flag: "It’s terrifying, I was standing there thinking, this is the most authority, authoritarian, dystopian experience I’ve had in this country, being told that I’m committing terrorist offences by two guys with firearms." The police officers are on vid saying, "We could have jumped out, arrested you, dragged you off in a van." Kent Police issued a statement supporting the illegal actions of their armed fascist officers.

- Multiple legal British organisations with "Palestine" or "Palestinian" in their names have had their bank accounts frozen by multiple banks with no explanation. Some of these orgs send aid to Gaza, amongst other legal activities.

- Article, posted here for archiving purposes, from Scottish newspaper The National:

I'm a journalist covering Palestine Action arrests. This is all absurd.
By Laura Webster, 18th July

archive )

None of it makes any sense to me, or our team.

The people doing the killing and destroying face no consequences. The people raising the alarm are taken away in handcuffs.

I wonder how many arrests our reporters will witness before the UK decides to take real action against Israel? 

If this really is the new normal, Scotland shouldn't have anything to do with it.

I'm a journalist covering Palestine Action arrests. This is all absurd. (Link to The National)

note )

Nifty New [community profile] fan_writers Community

Jul. 20th, 2025 12:38 pm
jesse_the_k: Scrabble triple-value badge reading "triple nerd score" (word nerd)
[personal profile] jesse_the_k

[community profile] fan_writers community -- for meta about writing

Moderated by [personal profile] china_shop and [personal profile] mific

Banner shows busy hands typing on laptop and handwritten edited page

Challenge 196: Blue

Jul. 20th, 2025 06:45 pm
skysedge: (goku)
[personal profile] skysedge posting in [community profile] iconthat


Lies of P - P & Sophia

https://i.imgur.com/pXBeTBs.png

Next colour: Violet

10 Years of Race to the Edge Week

Jul. 20th, 2025 01:38 pm
evilwriter37: (Default)
[personal profile] evilwriter37
Back in June, Race to the Edge (the Netflix How to Train Your Dragon show) hit its 10th anniversary! I can't believe it's that old. It feels like it shouldn't be. Time is a weird thing to process and understand, honestly.

But one of my friends on tumblr ran an event to celebrate! 10 Years of RTTE Week! Despite all my struggles with writing lately, I managed to write a story for each day of the event, and you know? I think they're pretty damn good. 

Here's the series on ao3!

(no subject)

Jul. 20th, 2025 10:36 am
bleodswean: (Default)
[personal profile] bleodswean
The story is posted! 

Tell Your Park Fire Story



I have to take an unwanted BYE in Idol this week as the story and work has kept me too busy to pen anything fictional and fun. Next prompt. 

I'm Alive!

Jul. 20th, 2025 01:31 pm
evilwriter37: (Default)
[personal profile] evilwriter37
Hello! I'm still kicking over here! (Kind of surprising.) I'm still very much struggling with my health. We've ruled out a lot of things, and have figured that my adrenal insufficiency is not under control despite the steroids I'm taking for it. It's gotten life threatening. I had an adrenal crisis early this past Monday morning. The hospital took excellent care of me though! I have an endocrinology appointment at the end of August that I am desperately trying to get pushed forward. I need to be seen sooner. 

Sadly, all of this has made me so much more exhausted. It takes a lot more spoons to write and do anything I enjoy, really. I've been trying so hard lately to get back into my hobbies though. The writing isn't going too badly! I'm just a lot slower than I used to be and it's frustrating me a lot. 

And I'm so sorry that in the midst of all this I accidentally ended up abandoning this account. I truly do like it here! I just haven't really had the energy to post. I'll definitely try to log in every once in a while though.

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