Reading

as widely requested

This was the best of the gingerbread cuneiform. I put the good ones in the freezer to give to pals tomorrow at brunch and will eat the rest, or something. This is one of the maple syrup tables, which were lighter in colour and held the clarity slightly better. (More water, therefore harder texture? Not sure.)

I copied characters from Andrew George's excellent renderings of the tablets, as any photos I looked at were way too unclear. However, I freely skipped tricky characters or sections. Sîn-lēqi-unninni would be pissed.

ETA: Oh, I believe this text is taken from a fragment of the third tablet.

§rf§

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weekly update

Me-and-media update

Previous poll review
In the Mind's eye poll, 22.4% of respondents said their mind's eye is as vivid as IMAX (wow!), 20.7% said pretty vivid, 25.9% said they can visualise if they work at it, and 22.4% said it's a bit patchy/vague. Nearly fourteen percent, including me, have no mind's eye. (I do occasionally see things in my dreams, eg, wake up with the memory of an orange cat, so I voted "other" as well.)

In ticky-boxes, spices (56.9%) came second to hugs (67.2%), followed by being able to name characters from Winnie-the-Pooh (39.7). Thank you for your votes!!

Reading
I was trying to write romance for Yuletide, and digressive murder mysteries were not helping my subconscious to deliver the romance beats/pacing, so I stepped away from Murder Must Advertise (Peter Wimsey) for a while and read a Jennifer Crusie instead. Not one of her better ones, but I've read the better ones so many times... I haven't returned to Murder Must Advertise yet, but I will (and I'll have forgotten everything, oh well).

In audio, I'm relistening to The Wedding People by Alison Espach, read by Helen Laser. It's so good! Phoebe's POV is specific and observational. As I said last time I read it, "Give me all the middle-aged women's midlife crises! Warning for suicidal protagonist, but the book is overall life-affirming."

Kdramas
Still loving Knight Flower. It's adorable and dramatic and silly, with many great women. Competent goofballs FTW! And Andrew and I started Jeongnyeon: A Star Is Born, set in the 1950s after the Korean war, about an all-female theatre troupe. It is fabulous, incredibly gay, and I love everything about it. See also "so many great women!" Moon Okgyeong is mesmerising, ahhhh, I totally understand why everyone's smitten with her (or is it him? or them?). We are racing through it (by our standards).

Other TV
We finished Down Cemetery Road, and I want more, especially of Emma Thompson as Zoe. Finished The Lowdown with Ethan Hawke. We're still going on Pluribus, which continues to be fascinating, and Prehistoric Planet. (My Apple+ subscription runs out on Sunday.) We finished the available episodes of Stranger Things, and I have Robin, Will and Max tied for first place as MVP.

I'm having a bit of trouble with season 3 of The Cleaner, but we might watch some more. And then there's Krapopolis, which is mixing things up this season. My sister and I are still watching Fringe and Bluey.

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Letters from an American, Cross Party Lines, some Brandon Sanderson youtube lectures.

Online life
I am seriously not keeping up with Dreamwidth or my inbox. Sorry! I keep opening things in tabs to read/reply to later, but I'm going to have to give myself an amnesty and just close a bunch of them.

I'm enjoying the hockey show squee on my reading page, and though I don't know if the show will be for me, I plan to take a look at some point, just in case.

Writing/making things
I had a good writing run in November, but we got some bad news and now brain is refusing to brain, stories are refusing to story, sentences are refusing, etc. I ended up defaulting on Yuletide, though there is still a chance I'll finish the fic.

I am enjoying doodling, though -- it's freeing not having a clue what I'm doing. I posted one pic to Tumblr and it got notes and everything, and I just posted another to

fan_flashworks. (I bought an ancient second-hand flatbed scanner for $15, but I couldn't convince my computer to recognise it, so I guess I'll continue to photograph my sketches for now, even though it messes with the colour balance. I don't know how long this art phase will last, so investing in a newer scanner seems premature.)

Life/health/mental state things
I've been staying up too late lately (including to write an angry submission on a stupid roading project), and it's taking its toll. Offline things are a bit stressful and distracting (stuck in a waiting phase). Summer keeps coming and going. Christmas is imminent.

I need to get more active here on Dreamwidth again. *clings to you all*

Goals
Maybe I should make some of these for next year? Hm.

Good things
The boy! The cat! The house! Coloured pencils and a sketchbook and an ArtLine pen. TV that centres female characters. Also: Guardian! The slo-mo rewatch. ♥ ♥ ♥ Christmas mince pies. Early Christmas present bone-conduction earphones (after years of using this kind of earpiece, now I have stereo sound!).

Poll #33963 dance dance revolution

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27

View Respondents

Have you danced this week?

View Answers

yes, with other people
2 (7.4%)

yes, with a pet or other animal
0 (0.0%)

yes, on my own
6 (22.2%)

kind of / only briefly
8 (29.6%)

no / not yet
14 (51.9%)

other
1 (3.7%)

ticky-box full of "Fighting!" (화이팅!)
6 (22.2%)

ticky-box full of books borrowed from an acquaintance quite some time ago, which really need to be returned but it's super awkward
5 (18.5%)

ticky-box full of enthusiastically and fervently loving what you love
16 (59.3%)

ticky-box full of giant prehistoric otters roaming the savannas
18 (66.7%)

ticky-box full of hugs, so many hugs
18 (66.7%)

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: Rat te Kāinga

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Cold weather is not currently seasonable

All of my cold weather clothing is either military surplus or hand me downs from cousins in the oil fields.

I might need to figure this out. (This is JANUARY weather, not December!)

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DMBJ Calendar Art

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Some recent Guardian fanworks

All Guardian drama, no archive warnings apply. :-)

Title: The Mouse and the Dragon (1559 words) [General Audiences]
Characters: Guo Changcheng, Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei
Additional Tags: Background pre-relationship Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Missing Scene, Episode 4, Guo Changcheng interrogates Shen Wei, zhao yunlan pov, Community: fan_flashworks, Prompt: Fish
Series: Part 1 of The rest of the SID team interrogate Shen Wei (episode 4)
Summary:

Zhao Yunlan watched Shen Wei closely. Could his unflappable demeanour survive Xiao-Guo’s naïve bluntness?

Title: Analysis and Verification (838 words) [General Audiences]
Characters: Lin Jing, Shen Wei, Wang Zheng
Additional Tags: Background pre-relationship Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Missing Scene, Episode 4, Lin Jing "interrogates" Shen Wei, Wang Zheng too
Series: Part 3 of The rest of the SID team interrogate Shen Wei (episode 4)
Summary:

Lin Jing stuffed his dark-energy detector into his pocket and arranged his sweatshirt to cover it as he headed next door. When he passed the boss in the hallway, they exchanged nods, and then Lin Jing was leaning into the interview room. “Professor Shen, I’ll see you out.”

Title: not close enough (300 words) [General Audiences]
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Flirting, Timeloop feels, Episode Related, Episode 6, Yearning, Triple Drabble
Summary:

Zhao Yunlan is across from him, slouching forward with sleeves pushed up, making inroads into Shen Wei’s space.

Title: Sartorial Evidence (550 words) [General Audiences]
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei, Shen Wei's clothes
Additional Tags: Episode Related, Episode 4, Dixing Powers, Clothing, Shen Wei POV, UST, Zhao Yunlan touches Shen Wei A LOT, Community: fan_flashworks, Prompt: First Aid
Summary:

The morning after he’s found at a crime scene and taken to the SID to be interviewed, Shen Wei opens his armoire and—stops.

Title: Crudité (4183 words) [Mature]
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Episode 22, Post-Blindness Arc, Missing Scene, Porn Without Plot, First Time, vegetable sex, Oral Fixation, Non-Penetrative Sex, Unorthodox Seduction Techniques
Summary:

As the clatter of food preparation starts up in the kitchen, Zhao Yunlan folds his arms behind his head. Just how unambiguous does he need to be to override Shen Wei’s reservations? What will it take to get them what he knows they both want? If he’s as weird and over-the-top as his apartment, will that turn Shen Wei on or turn him off?

Title: Hard at work [General Audiences]
Relationships: Da Qing & Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Beginner Art, This is how Zhao Yunlan runs the SID, Ably assisted by his deputy, Episode 2, Fanart, Community: fan_flashworks, Prompt: Boss
Summary: Coloured pencil & ink sketch of Zhao Yunlan lying on the SID couch with cat Da Qing on the table next to him.

Title: The Gondolier of Dixing [General Audiences]
Characters: Chu Shuzhi
Notes: Beginner art (colour pencil, ink, a little digital messing about).
Summary: What if Dixing were flooded and became a city of canals?

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monday poems

monday poem #335: Carrie Green, "Eating Apples"

Eating Apples

Every time I eat an apple, I think
of my Uncle Buck eating apples,
or rather I think of my mom
telling me how he ate them,
my quiet uncle who loved horses
and who cracked open
the fresh wounds of our hearts
when the cancer claimed him
so soon after it claimed his brother,
my father. I might have seen it—
Uncle Buck eating lunch
in the shop office, air conditioner hissing,
the smell of oil and gas
laced with sweet apple
as he ate skin and flesh,
his eyes closed as he pushed on,
down and around and down,
biting through the green crunch of core
and the hard black seeds
until all that remained
was a slim brown crook of stem,
a comma that once linked fruit to tree.

— Carrie Green
originally published in Salvation South

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21 multifandom icons for the iconcolors amnesty round

Every 20 rounds (about once a year), there's an amnesty round at

iconcolors where you can make as many icons for as many of the previous palettes as you like. I made 21 icons for seven palettes this time. Enjoy!

( 21 multifandom icons, most from Heated Rivalry, then The Lost Ballad, then everything else )

I love comments, and if you have concrit for me, I'm open for that, too. All my icons are free to take and use, credit is appreciated. The list of makers whose textures and brushes I like to use is here in my resource post.

Previous icon posts:

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writing

Writing in 2026

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Oof

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content: ymmv: misc

Review: A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse

I borrowed the audiobook for a long drive and finished it just now at work. Hm. I've heard good things about Wodehouse's writing, and his prose is indeed good, but I wasn't blown away by the plot or the characters.

I'm actually not sure how to feel after finishing it — I'm not sure that I feel much of anything about this book?

( Spoilers below. )

Girl Genius for Monday, December 15, 2025

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20251215

The Girl Genius comic for Monday, December 15, 2025 has been posted.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20251215

Entry tags:

scribble scribble

I feel Accomplished

I have finished the first draft of my Yuletide pinch-hit (which is, yet again, in a fandom I have never written before, or at least one I've never posted to AO3 - go me?). I'm sure the feeling will fade once the beta-readers have gone over it, and I go back to put in all the bits I thought were in there to begin with but didn't actually make it out of my brain, but for now, I'll enjoy the feeling.

Also we have our Christmas tree up and decorated. Other Christmas decorations, not so much, but then our celebration of Christmas isn't so much Actual Holiday as it is Oh Thank Fuck The Semester's Over And We Have Time Off, with a side of movies and Chinese food.

Next up: finishing my Secret Santa gift. Maybe put on some nice seasonal murder while I embroider. :-D

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Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 8, part 1

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."

Hi, and welcome back to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch. Watch half an episode a week, at your leisure, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here are the previous weeks' rewatch posts.

Episode 8, up to 22:19

Summary
The SID enthusiastically welcomes Guo Changcheng as an official employee, and Lin Jing gives him the fear baton. ♥ Zhao Yunlan arranges to buy some old books and then calls Shen Wei to offer them as a gift, while Zhu Hong and Da Qing gossip about his black-heartedness and obsession with Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing meet a student in the street to buy the books, then sit around and talk about recruiting Shen Wei to the SID. Zhao Yunlan is openly smitten. ♥ But presenting the gift to Shen Wei does not go as planned: Zhao Yunlan gives a fake provenance for the books, Shen Wei leaves, and Zhao Yunlan slinks off to ~~recover his dignity in private~~ drink tea and talk about new SID premises. A mysterious letter gives Wang Zheng flashbacks. Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi run into Ding Dun in the street juuuust before receiving an APB about him. The Envoy comes to the SID to request help tracking him down, but Da Qing is hesitant to proceed without their fearless leader. Chu Shuzhi sets to work anyway and takes Changcheng with him. Meanwhile, Zhu Jiu murders Ding Dun, whose body the others find and take back to the SID? (Or pass on to the Envoy?) On the university campus that night, Shen Wei confides in Ying Chun while wearing an ascot. Zhu Jiu shows up, and fisticuffs ensue (Ying Chun helps Shen Wei), but Zhu Jiu escapes. Ying Chun points out the dangers in Shen Wei's plan to go after a missing item, but Shen Wei is resolved.

The S.I.D. happily welcome Guo Changcheng as a permanent employee.

The S.I.D. happily welcome Guo Changcheng as a permanent employee.

Quote
Lin Jing: This is my newest invention. It can transform fear into electricity. The more fear, the more electricity. In other words, I made it especially as the perfect, most powerful weapon you could have.
Guo Changcheng: E...electricity? I'm also afraid of electricity.

Detail
When Zhao Yunlan calls Shen Wei about the old books, the original subs say, "What a coincidence! I have a lot of old books," and the VIKI subs say, "You are so lucky as I have some in my home!" while Solo's subs have "As it happens, regarding this, the two of us were brought together by fate." The last is closest to the Chinese subs: 巧了咱俩在这个事上太有缘了 ("What a coincidence! We're so destined to meet on this matter." according to Google Translate).

Poll #33955 Subtitles

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

View Respondents

Which subtitles are you using? (Tick all that apply.)

View Answers

original fansubs
3 (42.9%)

Solo's subs
6 (85.7%)

VIKI subs
2 (28.6%)

Chinese hard subs
2 (28.6%)

other
1 (14.3%)

Questions
Do you have a stand-out favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 8? Is everyone genuinely glad to have Guo Changcheng onboard? Does Shen Wei as the Envoy already have a red stamp, and if so, when/how did he get it? On a scale of 1 to 10, how smitten is Zhao Yunlan with Shen Wei? On a scale of 1 to 10, how sympathetic is Da Qing to this smittenness? Who sends the APB on Ding Dun? (Presumably not the Envoy!) How do you feel about ascots? How great is the fight with Zhu Jiu?

Did you see any parallels in these scenes with other parts of the drama? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares, if at all?

(As usual, these are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in. We'd love to hear your thoughts!)

And here is our schedule -- if you can, please sign up to host a post!

We were the "gifted" kids

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Boost! marina's well-informed meta on Heated Rivalry

I've observed hockey RPF fandom from an immeasurable distance, and I still got a kick out of this post:

https://marina.dreamwidth.org/1576715.html

marina was in hockey fandom, spent her childhood in Ukraine, knows much about filing serial numbers, and has definite opinions about vodka.

I'm reading reading reading.

Hi!

Current Mood: stressed

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Saturday mishmash--household stuff, dyed hair [and work stuff], and a few links

Luck was not with us in the first attempt at clementines this year. (The batch we got are far from inedible, at least, but...not very good.) They're such a gamble these years. :/

Our new freezer arrived a week ago, and the plan is to finally get it in place today once

scruloose gets back from a market run. That hasn't happened yet due to a combination of factors and timing, the biggest of which is the fact that it'll require shifting some things out of the garage onto the driveway to make room for us to work with two upright freezers in play. (

scruloose is going to take a stab at moving the old one out of its place without emptying it, via a hand cart, but we have no idea how likely that is to actually work. It'd sure be convenient, though.)

My hair is dyed! It is. Um. Very dark. By which I mean it's not so much dark purple as "functionally black with some purple highlights that are probably some of my silver hair, but there's less of that than there is silver, so it's a little confusing". Oh, well. It looks fine, other than maybe making me look a bit washed out, and I don't much care about that.

(I might care more when I finally get

scruloose to take a headshot of me to send HR at Dayjob so they can update my long-expired work pass. [Part of why I decided to finally just go ahead and dye my hair was in the name of having it done for this photo.] These days, the process involves just filling out a form and emailing that and a photo that meets their technical requirements to the department handling passes and also to my boss, presumably so the boss can look at the photo and confirm "yes, that is the employee in question". But this means we can make potentially-endless attempts at getting a photo I don't hate, and honestly, if I can live with the horror of my provincial ID photo, I can probably live with just about anything.)

A few links:

--

mrissa's annual lussekatter posts are always good for my heart.

--Jenny Hamilton's "Anatomy of a Sex Scene: Heated Rivalry Edition" (covering ep. 1-2).

--"‘Pushing Daisies’ Season 3 In The Works, Says Creator Bryan Fuller".

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Book #06 We Have Been Harmonized

Mount TBR 2025 Book #06 Neuerfindung der Diktatur/We Have Been Harmonized

Die Neuerfindung der Diktatur / We Have Been Harmonized by Kai Strittmatter

Full English title (it's too long for a post subject lol) is: We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State – How Biometric Control and Censorship Threaten Global Freedom and Privacy

German China correspondent Kai Strittmatter wrote this book after he retired, knowing he'd never be let back into China afterwards. He describes how China is developing widespread surveillance to help the ruling party stay in power. He describes the evolution of dictatorship in China, where it's heading, and what the consequences for the rest of the world might be.

The only non-fiction book on my list this year.

The book is based on a lot of interviews he conducted in China, with dissidents/artists/intellectuals as well as people involved in the implementation of surveillance. It reads like a very well researched book. It's not all that new - from 2020 - and it should be noted that it was written by a German, and thus does not specifically get into the developments in the US in that same area. I read the book in German.

I don't really have anything detailed to say about this book. Most of the historical developments were not news to me. I already found things terribly repressive when I was in China decades ago, and it has only gotten worse, and the book illustrates this very well. As for the newer developments, there were quite a few things that I didn't know before or not in that much detail. It's a depressing read, but for me it was worth it.

4 stars - Well researched, important book.

1 - 5 stars - Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky The Final Architecture #1 [DW link]
2 - 2 stars - Miss Merkel: Mord auf dem Friedhof by David Safier Miss Merkel #2 [DW link]
3 - 4 stars - Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire Toby Daye #10 [DW link]
4 - 1 star - Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin [DW link]
5 - 5 stars - Murderbot Diaries 1-4 by Martha Wells [DW link]
6 - 4 stars - Die Neuerfindung der Diktatur/We Have Been Harmonized by Kai Strittmatter [DW link]

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loki,
pb no j

(no subject)

Chewy has a "Chewy Claus" thing around this time of year where you can help your pet(s) write a letter to Santa. How good they've been, whether they prefer treats or toys, and a free-answer "what would you ask for if you could have anything".

Last year I did it and at the end of December got a "sorry the sleigh missed you, here's a coupon code if you want to buy anything". And supposedly they donate food to pets in need for every letter submitted, so why not.

This year, I did it ... and today a box came addressed to Phoebe and Loki. (!!)

There was a dog toy that was a "lunch box" with a rope handle, and a green apple plushy and a juice-box plushy with Velcro to attach to the front of the lunchbox. Al three items contain squeakers. (So far, they are still intact, though the white parts of the juice box are rather, erm, dingy. That tends to happen with her toys, but it's impressive for 8 hours.)

There was a cat toy that was sushi themed (including a green wasabi packet) and has catnip in. Loki is mostly nocturnal these days but I put them in a cat bed that sits on my bed and when I came back in later, one was on the floor... so either he loves it or hates it, lol. Also a food purée treat thing similar to churu, though he's iffy about food.

There was an ornament, metal I think, with a sleigh and presents and "Chewy Claus 2025", which is now on my desk tree.

And there was a card with the cutest illustration of Chewy Claus helpers, and a handwritten note wishing them holiday cheer.

I'm a little astonished because I honestly hadn't expected to get anything, but it was a cute surprise!

Edit: Loki definitely likes. I may regret having them on the bed at the same time I am... lol

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Weird. (a game)

Hey, I posted my game! You can find it here.

Playtests welcome. It is a solo storytelling/journalling/story creation horror game. It uses a simplified version of solitaire to drive the story.

[ETA] From the writeup:

And yet the sun rises.

Weird. is a horror game about a flawed protagonist confronting their worst nightmares.

I, a troubled character, am alone on the longest night of the year.

You, a storyteller, use prompts and the inevitability of card order to tell a story for me, driven by fear and fate.

I am tormented by unfinished business, which, as you know, is a great way to become the target of supernatural forces.

Enjoy bringing about my nearly inevitable and almost certainly miserable end, but also maybe final moment of grace, redemption, or transformation, in Weird.

* * * * * *

Title-wise, I went with Weird, as an archaic synonym for fate, styled with a period: Weird.

I liked the suggestion of Patience quite a bit, but this isn't really a game about being patient. I'd want waiting, duration, something like that, in the mechanics somewhere. Actually, maybe I'll try to make such a game, since I still seem to have Game Fever. Maybe it's to play in waiting rooms.

As predicted, the game jam I made has not posted to the Itch calendar, so I am the only person who knows about it or has submitted anything. But I tried!

( Thoughts on the possibilities of this mechanic )

* * * * * *

Qua writing tool, I find the game a pretty decent method for creating something between a detailed outline and a rough story draft.

§rf§

Girl Genius for Friday, December 12, 2025

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20251212

The Girl Genius comic for Friday, December 12, 2025 has been posted.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20251212