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hamsterwoman Sep. 20th, 2025 04:15 pm)
hamsterwoman Sep. 20th, 2025 04:15 pm)Taskmaster s20e02 -- ( More, with spoilers )
Ania was apparently doing doodles in the downtime between tasks, and has doodled all of her tasks and the various in-studio tasks. She has been sharing these on her Insta, and they are also being linked to on Reddit: episode 1 and episode 2 so far.
I think I'm going to just finish TMNZ s6 after the current main TM series wraps up, like I did last time. 3 TM episodes + 1 rewatch withlunasariel proved a bit much outside of bingeing mode. I know who won TMNZ, and that also made me less excited to finish it, so it'll keep, and make the wait for the next thing (NYT, presumably, although according to people who went to s21 studio recordings this past week, CoC 4 is going to be filming studio in November, so that's probably also coming soon).
*
And finally, let me finish up the Worldcon write-up before I embark on the next set of adventures.
Earlier parts are here:
- part 1: Tues/Wed,
- part 2: Thursday
- part 3: first part of Friday
- part 4: rest of Friday, first part of Saturday (Ada Palmer motherlode)
- part 5: Saturday, Hugo awards and related thoughts
( Sunday, Aug 17: panels and Dealer Room )
And that was the last of my panels for Worldcon -- and also the last of ALL panels for Worldcon, because I certainly got my membership's worth of panels :D
( Dinner with queenlua )
( Hotel and Monday morning flight )
( A few final photos )
So, yay, a very successful Worldcon, despite the bonus Covid infection. No regrets on any panels or events I attended, just low-key frustration with not being able to be in two places at once, and warm "next time" feelings about hanging out withtabacoychanel in person for the first time, Doing a Con as part of a group that was living together, and getting to see/chat with authors/people whose stuff I didn't make it to.
Seriously tempted to do it again next year in LA...
Ania was apparently doing doodles in the downtime between tasks, and has doodled all of her tasks and the various in-studio tasks. She has been sharing these on her Insta, and they are also being linked to on Reddit: episode 1 and episode 2 so far.
I think I'm going to just finish TMNZ s6 after the current main TM series wraps up, like I did last time. 3 TM episodes + 1 rewatch with
lunasariel proved a bit much outside of bingeing mode. I know who won TMNZ, and that also made me less excited to finish it, so it'll keep, and make the wait for the next thing (NYT, presumably, although according to people who went to s21 studio recordings this past week, CoC 4 is going to be filming studio in November, so that's probably also coming soon). *
And finally, let me finish up the Worldcon write-up before I embark on the next set of adventures.
Earlier parts are here:
- part 1: Tues/Wed,
- part 2: Thursday
- part 3: first part of Friday
- part 4: rest of Friday, first part of Saturday (Ada Palmer motherlode)
- part 5: Saturday, Hugo awards and related thoughts
( Sunday, Aug 17: panels and Dealer Room )
And that was the last of my panels for Worldcon -- and also the last of ALL panels for Worldcon, because I certainly got my membership's worth of panels :D
( Dinner with queenlua )
( Hotel and Monday morning flight )
( A few final photos )
So, yay, a very successful Worldcon, despite the bonus Covid infection. No regrets on any panels or events I attended, just low-key frustration with not being able to be in two places at once, and warm "next time" feelings about hanging out with
tabacoychanel in person for the first time, Doing a Con as part of a group that was living together, and getting to see/chat with authors/people whose stuff I didn't make it to. Seriously tempted to do it again next year in LA...
Tags:
I was intending posting a link to a really depressing article in Guardian Saturday about an awful trolling site and the people who seem to have nothing to do but troll on it: but it's not currently online, you are spared.
I was thinking about such people, who seemed to be spending hours of their lives being horrible about other people and trying to dig up dirt on them, did they not have lives? could they not be doing something else?
Like, you know, bringing ghost ponds back to life: An expert team are resurrecting ice age ponds and finding rare species returning from a ‘perfect time capsule’:
The two ponds returning on farmland are the 25th and 26th ice age ponds to be restored by Sayer’s team of academics, volunteers and an enthusiastic digger driver in the Brecks, a hotspot for ancient ponds and “pingos” formed by ice-melt 10,000 years ago. Over the past two centuries, thousands of such ponds have been filled in as land was drained and “improved” for crops. So far, most of the 26 ponds have been revived on land bought by Norfolk Wildlife Trust, which has supported the restoration effort with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Brecks Fen Edge and Rivers landscape partnership scheme.
But the latest two ponds have been dug out thanks to a Norfolk farmer, who is one of an increasing number of private landowners reviving ghost and “zombie” ponds. New surveys by Sayer’s team have revealed that 22 of the ghost ponds restored since 2022 now support 136 species of wetland plant. This represents 70% of the wetland flora found in more than 400 ponds on Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Thompson Common, an internationally important nature reserve whose ponds have survived since the ice age.
Admittedly this is not quite the sort of thing that I am up for myself, but this other thing struck rather a chord:
The Hunt: Friction to feel. which is about the culture of searching for music before it was (theoretically) All Online:
The hunt is built upon friction. Friction is good. Friction is healthy. Friction develops adaptation. The hunt is also born of curiosity. The desire to seek and discover something you don’t know, and might never know. In the pursuit of knowledge and experience, you teach yourself about empathy, other perspectives, and mold a person who is resilient and grateful. We lost something along the way in pursuit of efficiency and this idea of saving time for productivity.
It certainly resonates with my own days of book-hunting, and these are not, in fact, past. Was having a discussion the other day in another venue about books (not even terribly Old Books) that we longed to see republished and available at prices less than £££/$$$.
And, of course, as I am occasionally moved to point out on The Soshul Meedjas, most archives are not digitised and online (and mutter mutter a significant % of the ones that are were digitised by proprietary bodies and paywalled), and finding them can still involve Expotitions.
(beanside Sep. 20th, 2025 07:08 am)
beanside Sep. 20th, 2025 07:08 am)Why is it morning again? Ugh. The cat decided that I was done napping, and began a little campaign of terror to get me up at around 4:30am. I bravely resisted until 6, at which point I fed her, and tried to go back to sleep, but alas, that was not what she wanted. I finally got up at 6:30.
Yesterday, we went for Jess' post op. We cut the time close, but made it in time to wait quite a while for the doctor. I know in Jess' post, they mentioned 15 min, but it was way more than that. I'd say about 40. Honestly, it didn't matter, because they were so happy with the unveiling, I'd have waited much longer. They look amazing, and even at 1 week, they're healing so well. The drains stayed in, so they have to go back in a week for removal. They're still putting out too much fluid to safely remove yesterday.
We came home to find that my sister had done some work in the house, which I was profoundly grateful for. She also had food waiting for us, which was also much appreciated. Once we ate, Jess had their first shower, which I know they've been waiting for.
Today, I'm supposed to be driving down to the Silver Spring Farmer's market to pick up some meat, which then I will need to coordinate withpoisontaster to deliver. Then, it's back to have game, as long as Jess feels up to it.
Tomorrow, we have brunch at Ammooora. I don't know if Jess will be up to it, so it might just be my sister and I, we shall see. Then, tomorrow night, another game, which the lovelypoisontaster runs.
It's nice to get back into having some games, but I'm a touch nervous, too. I worry that I've forgotten what they're doing and how to weave the story. But I shall deal.
Why is the package that's supposed to arrive today in Albany? That is not Maryland. Ugh. Annoying.
Okay, time to get my shit together. Everyone have a stupendous Saturday!
Yesterday, we went for Jess' post op. We cut the time close, but made it in time to wait quite a while for the doctor. I know in Jess' post, they mentioned 15 min, but it was way more than that. I'd say about 40. Honestly, it didn't matter, because they were so happy with the unveiling, I'd have waited much longer. They look amazing, and even at 1 week, they're healing so well. The drains stayed in, so they have to go back in a week for removal. They're still putting out too much fluid to safely remove yesterday.
We came home to find that my sister had done some work in the house, which I was profoundly grateful for. She also had food waiting for us, which was also much appreciated. Once we ate, Jess had their first shower, which I know they've been waiting for.
Today, I'm supposed to be driving down to the Silver Spring Farmer's market to pick up some meat, which then I will need to coordinate with
poisontaster to deliver. Then, it's back to have game, as long as Jess feels up to it.Tomorrow, we have brunch at Ammooora. I don't know if Jess will be up to it, so it might just be my sister and I, we shall see. Then, tomorrow night, another game, which the lovely
poisontaster runs. It's nice to get back into having some games, but I'm a touch nervous, too. I worry that I've forgotten what they're doing and how to weave the story. But I shall deal.
Why is the package that's supposed to arrive today in Albany? That is not Maryland. Ugh. Annoying.
Okay, time to get my shit together. Everyone have a stupendous Saturday!
I have been steeped in everything science fiction and fantasy for decades, but there is one thing I've had no experience with whatsoever:
I have never tried Dungeons and Dragons gaming.
I'm not quite sure why. Heaven knows I have dozens of long-time friends who have been gaming for years, and I've heard peripheral conversations on the topic at many a science fiction convention. Even around my own dinner table, as Fiona has long enjoyed gaming.
So when I sent out my call for ideas for Year of Adventure things to do, one friend,lydamorehouse, hit upon the obvious: why not join her group for a gaming session?
I went over to Lyda's house to consult, and she walked me through the process of pulling together a character to play. I was pretty lucky with my rolls, and Lydra graciously set me up at Level Four. After an hour and a half of questions and answers, I had a new character, a ranger, with a respectable level of skills to test out.
And that's what I did last Saturday over Zoom: I was invited to join the troupe of motley characters by a rather glittery dragon and came upon the assembled company at a windmill, where they were regrouping after their last adventure. I had to follow Lyda's prompts and ask a lot of questions, but I had a general idea of what to do. I spent a fun three hours playing with the others. We stashed some magical pastries, examined a magical rune book in a Bag of Holding, and tangled with a vampire. I took out my bow and quiver, stuck a garlic roll onto the end of the arrow, and shot it into his chest. This gave me the satisfaction of staggering him a bit--although I didn't have much of a chance to savor my victory since he promptly turned me into a frog.
I got better eventually and exited, following a wolf. But the experience was deemed a success for all concerned (and apparently I didn't grossly offend anyone), so I was invited to return for the next session.
I think I'm going to enjoy this.
Image description: Background, bottom layer: a Dungeons and Dragons character page. Overlaid over it: Center: an old-fashioned windmill building. Left: a darkly sinister male figure dressed in black, a wolf at his side. Right: a woman pulls back the string of bow loaded with an arrow aiming at the man, a bread roll (a garlic roll) affixed to the tip. At her feet: a frog. Upper half, semi-transparent: a screenshot of several people in Zoom conference. Hovering over the vanes of the windmill: a miniature dragon.
Gaming
Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
I have never tried Dungeons and Dragons gaming.
I'm not quite sure why. Heaven knows I have dozens of long-time friends who have been gaming for years, and I've heard peripheral conversations on the topic at many a science fiction convention. Even around my own dinner table, as Fiona has long enjoyed gaming.
So when I sent out my call for ideas for Year of Adventure things to do, one friend,
lydamorehouse, hit upon the obvious: why not join her group for a gaming session?I went over to Lyda's house to consult, and she walked me through the process of pulling together a character to play. I was pretty lucky with my rolls, and Lydra graciously set me up at Level Four. After an hour and a half of questions and answers, I had a new character, a ranger, with a respectable level of skills to test out.
And that's what I did last Saturday over Zoom: I was invited to join the troupe of motley characters by a rather glittery dragon and came upon the assembled company at a windmill, where they were regrouping after their last adventure. I had to follow Lyda's prompts and ask a lot of questions, but I had a general idea of what to do. I spent a fun three hours playing with the others. We stashed some magical pastries, examined a magical rune book in a Bag of Holding, and tangled with a vampire. I took out my bow and quiver, stuck a garlic roll onto the end of the arrow, and shot it into his chest. This gave me the satisfaction of staggering him a bit--although I didn't have much of a chance to savor my victory since he promptly turned me into a frog.
I got better eventually and exited, following a wolf. But the experience was deemed a success for all concerned (and apparently I didn't grossly offend anyone), so I was invited to return for the next session.
I think I'm going to enjoy this.
Image description: Background, bottom layer: a Dungeons and Dragons character page. Overlaid over it: Center: an old-fashioned windmill building. Left: a darkly sinister male figure dressed in black, a wolf at his side. Right: a woman pulls back the string of bow loaded with an arrow aiming at the man, a bread roll (a garlic roll) affixed to the tip. At her feet: a frog. Upper half, semi-transparent: a screenshot of several people in Zoom conference. Hovering over the vanes of the windmill: a miniature dragon.
Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
Quiet Breaks (1864 words) by Gryphonrhi
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Numb3rs (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ian Edgerton, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Inkvent
Series: Part 1 of drowning in your doubts
Summary: Ian hasn't talked to either Eppes brother since they hunted down a black box together. He's been a little busy with this.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
communal_creators is running! spook_me
prompts are here. Fall is coming! More fic to write. In the meantime, I hope y'all enjoy this one.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Numb3rs (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ian Edgerton, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Inkvent
Series: Part 1 of drowning in your doubts
Summary: Ian hasn't talked to either Eppes brother since they hunted down a black box together. He's been a little busy with this.
communal_creators is running! spook_me prompts are here. Fall is coming! More fic to write. In the meantime, I hope y'all enjoy this one.
I have a set of baskets made to hold paper bags to collect paper for recycling. They're also a VERY useful for collecting cats!
One of our very best friends from college lives close to us. Or rather, we all still (or again) live close to college--I say that "like the salmon, we came back to spawn." She's had breast cancer, was in remission, now it's back ... metastasized. Kind of a lot. I've been to see her, she looks pretty good so far, we had a good time talking about my kids' life changes and about books. But I have a crushing pain in my chest, y'know? And I woke up this morning with my shoulders aching, and I've been *gnawing* on my night guard in my sleep ...
Meanwhile over on Bluesky there's an ongoing multiday ... thing ... because we're asking people to register for the #NoKings protest on Oct.18th, and a BUNCH of high-profile accounts don't understand why & are going on about OPSEC ... and I *do* understand why, I can explain, but it would take so much energy ...
One of the good things in my life is thatsholio has been posting Murderbot recs! I will double her rec (if you can stand WIPs) for Robbing the Hood by ![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Rilleshka, a canon-divergence Space Pirate!AU where Murderbot teams up with a *different*, non-verbal bot pilot before it ever meets PresAux, and things spiral from there. It gets particular praise from me because Rilleshka addresses with the *big* implausibility in canon (shut up), which is that human neural tissue is actually incredibly fussy, & keeping it functional must involve, at minimum, *nutrition*.
So, where can I get some Murderbot icons?
One of our very best friends from college lives close to us. Or rather, we all still (or again) live close to college--I say that "like the salmon, we came back to spawn." She's had breast cancer, was in remission, now it's back ... metastasized. Kind of a lot. I've been to see her, she looks pretty good so far, we had a good time talking about my kids' life changes and about books. But I have a crushing pain in my chest, y'know? And I woke up this morning with my shoulders aching, and I've been *gnawing* on my night guard in my sleep ...
Meanwhile over on Bluesky there's an ongoing multiday ... thing ... because we're asking people to register for the #NoKings protest on Oct.18th, and a BUNCH of high-profile accounts don't understand why & are going on about OPSEC ... and I *do* understand why, I can explain, but it would take so much energy ...
One of the good things in my life is that
sholio has been posting Murderbot recs! I will double her rec (if you can stand WIPs) for Robbing the Hood by So, where can I get some Murderbot icons?
Tags:
That thing happened this week whereby a couple of weeks ago I was looking everywhere for a book I knew I had somewhere (unless maybe I'd lent to somebody sometime and they'd never returned it, it being the biography of an NZ-born sex reformer published by Penguin NZ: and currently available according to bookfinder.com, 2nd hand, from NZ, at PRICES, not to mention, how long would that take?).
And then I was looking for Other Book entirely, in fact just vaguely casting my eye over shelf adjacent to where I was looking for that, and there was That Book, stuck between two other books and way out of any kind of order.
We are not sure that is not, in fact, entirely typical of its subject....
***
I was taking my customary constitutional at lunchtime today, and walking across the grass among the trees, under which there was a certain amount of debris of fallen leaves and twigs (these were not the horse chestnuts that were madly casting conkers on the ground), caught my foot and stumbled slightly, and somebody said, 'Be careful!'
I went off muttering that there is not a lot of point in issuing warnings to be careful after the event, but people do tend to do that, don't they, sigh.
***
I am not sure this is an oddness, but normally, by the time a conference at which I am supposed to be keynoting is only just over a week away, participants will have had at least a draft version of the programme, indicating time the thing is starting, slot they are speaking in, etc.
(I also had to do a certain amount of nudging to discover how long I was expected to Go On for.)
Tags:
I signed up at the last minute for another flash exchange, the Out Of Order Exchange for nonlinear storytelling, and somehow ended up with two lovely Biggles fics: Lost In-Between Here & There, a sweet EvS h/c ficlet, and Just In Time, a clever time travel fic featuring Algy and EvS. Thank you to both anonymous authors! I'm enjoying the laid-back approach and quick turnaround of flash exchanges lately, and there seems to be a steady stream of them with every imaginable theme.
(beanside Sep. 19th, 2025 06:58 am)
beanside Sep. 19th, 2025 06:58 am)Happy Friday! We've almost made it through the week! It's going to be a somewhat busy weekend, as we're going to be going today for Jess' postop and then tomorrow, I have to go to the Silver Spring Farmer's market, and be back for game at noon.
This week has been busy at work, and I'm not really sure why. No real theme, just busy. My low number this week was 45 calls. The rest of the week, I was in the 50s.
Then, I did some actual work, taking the dog for his walk, and then taking all the trash out. I totally succumbed to being a putz and driving the bags to the dumpster. The dumpster was super full, so I'm glad I did, because I needed to kind of loft the bags into the dumpster, and if I'd carried those fuckers all the way down there, my arms would have been noodles.
I think I forgot to mention, but I got new glasses. Actually kind of old glasses. I went back to my Zenni and reordered the frame I really liked in my new prescription. They're the most comfortable glasses I've ever had. The area that was breaking out because of the old glasses is drying up some. I'm hoping if I continue putting lotion on it, it'll fully dissipate. Now if only that worked for my upper lip and chin. Fucking grown up acne is bullshit.
More of my packages came yesterday, and I now have a lovely espresso colored henley shirt, and Jess has a vest and coat.
Oh! I got the best winter coat from Snow Country Outerwear! https://www.snowcountryouterwear.com/ It's heavy and and fits amazingly. Last I saw, they were talking about a cold wet winter here, possibly starting in December.I need to get some gloves, but mostly I'm good for winter. (And coincidentally, cruise.)
And on that note, time to start getting myself together so we can head to Sibley. We don't have to be there til noon, but we're leaving early. Everyone have an outstanding Friday!
This week has been busy at work, and I'm not really sure why. No real theme, just busy. My low number this week was 45 calls. The rest of the week, I was in the 50s.
Then, I did some actual work, taking the dog for his walk, and then taking all the trash out. I totally succumbed to being a putz and driving the bags to the dumpster. The dumpster was super full, so I'm glad I did, because I needed to kind of loft the bags into the dumpster, and if I'd carried those fuckers all the way down there, my arms would have been noodles.
I think I forgot to mention, but I got new glasses. Actually kind of old glasses. I went back to my Zenni and reordered the frame I really liked in my new prescription. They're the most comfortable glasses I've ever had. The area that was breaking out because of the old glasses is drying up some. I'm hoping if I continue putting lotion on it, it'll fully dissipate. Now if only that worked for my upper lip and chin. Fucking grown up acne is bullshit.
More of my packages came yesterday, and I now have a lovely espresso colored henley shirt, and Jess has a vest and coat.
Oh! I got the best winter coat from Snow Country Outerwear! https://www.snowcountryouterwear.com/ It's heavy and and fits amazingly. Last I saw, they were talking about a cold wet winter here, possibly starting in December.I need to get some gloves, but mostly I'm good for winter. (And coincidentally, cruise.)
And on that note, time to start getting myself together so we can head to Sibley. We don't have to be there til noon, but we're leaving early. Everyone have an outstanding Friday!
.