Babylon 5 WIP is finally complete!
Jun. 6th, 2026 08:21 pmThe Living and the Damned (23K, Londo/G'Kar, mature-rated)
Fixit (of sorts) going AU in 5x18.
Some thoughts on writing WIPs under the cut (not spoilery for this fic in particular, more like general musings).
( Under here )
I don't know - what do you all think? Do you post WIPs? Do you read WIPs? It's been a long time since I've been in a fandom that had a lot of WIPs, prior to getting into Murderbot last year, which is almost like old-school ffn/LJ fandom with its very high number of WIPs. Including a lot of unfinished ones! And that's part of what got me back into posting some of my longer fic in WIP form, because there is a certain excitement and energy to it that I miss. Plus, in non-fandom spaces, I've enjoyed serialized media for a very long time (comics, webcomics, TV shows, etc). But it is obviously not without its down side, and I don't think I was prepared for how much trouble I was going to have finishing things when they're being written WIP-style.
and still i wanna tell you everything
Jun. 6th, 2026 07:45 pmThen today, I tried to make baked mozzarella sticks instead of fried - mainly because cleaning up after frying is a lot and also the smell lingers - but I didn't realize you are supposed to freeze them for TWO HOURS so I got a late start and didn't eat until almost 6:30. They were okay but not as wonderfully crisp as they get when fried, even though I used panko. Also, despite what some of these recipes say, you really should season every layer - the flour, the egg, and the breadcrumbs. I am just saying.
My plan for tomorrow is to make bacon so there's that for lunch for the week, along with some chicken pesto meatballs - we'll see how they are. I am apparently on a ground chicken kick, because I have a bunch of recipes I want to try, and as long as it keeps being on sale, I'm good to go!
In other news, the Knicks are up 2-0 on the Spurs and only TWO GAMES away from winning a chip! They've won 13 in a row in these playoffs! What even is happening??? MSG is going to be nuts on Monday. But remember, you absolutely do not have to hand it to James Dolan. #go new york go new york go
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Daily Check In.
Jun. 6th, 2026 06:03 pmHow are you doing?
I am okay
14 (63.6%)
I am not okay, but don't need help right now
8 (36.4%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans are you living with?
I am living single
8 (36.4%)
One other person
9 (40.9%)
More than one other person
5 (22.7%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
New Vid: The Analyst | The Imperial Coroner
Jun. 6th, 2026 06:00 pmWeekly proof of life: a couple weeks' worth of reading, mainly
Jun. 6th, 2026 12:45 pm--Remember You Will Die (Eden Robins), which is SF told entirely through news and obits and correspondence and does some very neat things. It didn't give me any particular feelings, but I enjoyed it.
--The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Shannon Chakraborty), which is pretty much a delight from start to finish.
--The Book of Love (Kelly Link) unfolds in all kinds of interesting ways and had a lot of...emotional momentum?...for me, although I didn't come away with deep feelings about or attachment to any of the characters.
--The Everlasting (Alix E. Harrow), which I finished a few days ago and have seen several people discussing since (probably because it's up for a Hugo). I liked it more than some of you did, but didn't love it.
I haven't started another novel(la) since. After talking to Kas (who's most of the way through the series-so-far) last weekend, I went ahead and put the second Dungeon Crawler Carl on hold, and somehow my brain seems to think that's what I'm going to read next, which is awkward given that I don't expect it to arrive in the super near future.
On the nonfiction front, I read a bit more of Braiding Sweetgrass, flipped through some gardening books, and started rereading Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace in hard copy (I read it in ebook almost exactly a year ago). I really like the feel and the spirit of this, and it's packed full of information that flows in a way that makes it hard for me to actually retain a lot of said information. I picked up the hard copy from Book Outlet in hopes that having a physical book would give me better odds of actually being able to usefully refer to bit of it.
Watching: Some more of both Justice in the Dark and Witch Hat Atelier.
Growing: Yesterday we acquired and planted five tomato seedlings (and a few other seedlings that still need planting). More on that in another post later, hopefully.
I have made a tactical mistake
Jun. 6th, 2026 04:20 pmAnd then I found an amazing quote from the songwriter, James Keelaghan, which is one of the best descriptions of the book I've read:
https://nathans-roncast.castos.com/episodes/how-james-keelaghan-wrote-cold-missouri-waters-part-1
And so just the story itself is compelling. But for Norman Maclean's writing of it, like, I don't know if you know the book, but Norman McLean was sort of, the fire was an area of specialty for him, for, you know, it was one of his little private obsessions. And he always meant to write a book about it. And he started to write the book, but he died before it was finished. And the book was then sort of completed by his editors and also by his son.
So you not only get the story of the fire and incredible amount of detail about how the smoke jumpers fit into the National Forest Service, how they were created as a unit, but also stuff about the mathematics of how fire spreads in various circumstances. But you also get this sense of MacLean being a writer who is running out of time to tell the story that he really wants to tell because he knows he's dying. He's in a great deal of pain, I think, when he's writing the book. And all that comes through this, this impatient, irascible old man, this voice actually comes through in the book. And then I felt like, yeah, you know, I really need to write a song about this.
Anyway Dodge just ordered them to drop the heavy tools so I have to get back to the book now.
Me-and-media update
Jun. 6th, 2026 04:56 pmIn the Space poll, 44.7% went with Douglas Adams ("that's just peanuts to space"), and the other options were pretty evenly split. Books came second to hugs, 57.4% to 70.2%.
In the Legacy media poll, 82.8% of respondents have a lot of DVDs and access to a DVD or Blu-ray player. Far fewer have cassetts or VHS tapes, and there's only one other person who has Super8/MiniDVD/etc tapes. *high fives* "At this point, it's just a lot of old stuff, help!" garnered 31%. Thank you for your votes! ♥
Reading
A little more Cetaganda (Bujold, narrated by Grover Gardner), and that's all. I haven't even started the little Chinese grammar book I bought for 99 cents. *hides* (It's not that I don't want to; my attention span is currently not conducive to sitting down and doing one thing.)
Kdramas/Cdramas
I finished To My Beloved Thief, which had a slightly draggy ending, but was otherwise a delight. Historical magic realism ftw! It made me want to rewatch the old Hong sisters' version of the Hong Gil-dong story, too (unfortunately, not available in streaming).
Also finished Absolute Value of Romance, which
spoiler
navigated between the ending I didn't want (teacher/student romance), and the ending I craved (teacher is gay) to find a slightly unsatisfying middle ground. I don't know if Ga Woo-Su was actually oblivious to Ui-Ju's love confession or just ignoring it to avoid the awkwardness of rejecting her outright, but an unnecessary childhood connection and significant "first snow" moment kind of point to them getting together in the future, when a) that would still be completely inappropriate and jeopardise his teaching career, AND b) Ga Woo-Su has previously shown no sign of interest in her at all (imo). He and Yoon Dong-Ju are obviously boyfriends or pining for each other! Why on earth else would he have reacted so weirdly to being the second lead in Ui-Ju's webnovel? (Which, btw, was wildly inappropriate.) Someone please write me slash for this!! (Note to self: tag this post for Yuletide.)So now, in solo-watching, I've started episode 1 of Hong Gil Dong on my phone (ie, on my exercise machine), and gone back to The Spirealm (fantasy horror Cdrama) when I'm in front of the TV.
We're still watching Miraculous Brothers (contemporary thriller, time travel) with a friend at a rate of two episodes per week. The central character is a hot mess with no moral compass but somehow likeable enough that I'm engaged, and the mystery built around a cold case is pretty cool. I'd put it in the same category as Glitch and Sisyphus. Hopefully it will delve into the scifi/supernatural aspects more at some point.
Pru came over for some Love Scout, and even with our erratic viewing schedule, it's completely swoony and great. I think once we're done I'm going to zoom through it again by myself.
Andrew and I watched two episodes of The Story of Pearl Girl (Netflix Cdrama), but the acting is too melodramatic for him, and I want some humour in my shows, so I think we're calling it.
Other TV
We're halfway through the first season of Italian drama Blocco 181, which I heard about on
to wit:
leading characters steal drugs from drug dealers, argh,Finished season 1 of Scottish sitcom Dinosaur, about an autistic woman and her newly engaged sister. It's not laugh-out-loud, but I really like it and am looking forward to season 2.
A bit more Night Train with Wyatt Cenac on Youtube. Vaguely looking around for a new show, preferably English-language.
Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Cross Party Lines, and approximately a billion newbie lessons of ChinesePod. (I feel like I'm fiddling while Rome burns, but oh well.)
Writing/making things
This fic is never going to end. I don't even know why I'm writing it anymore. Maybe when we get to
Life/health/mental state things
Messing around with storage and sorting out stuff. Biking a lot. Battling brain weasels at night. I'm in my mid-fifties, and I don't know what I'm doing with my life. My arms are hanging in there, just.
Language Learning
I've been posting Chinese practice sentences, vocab, and occasional observations to
Goals
1. Sort out my stuff. Throw some of it away. (Do I want to start in on my books/DVDs? /o\)
2. Learn enough Chinese characters that I can read a graded reader.
3. Get started on the project of replacing my ancient gas oven with an induction hob/electric one.
Good things
Making sentences in a new language is really satisfying, and I love noticing grammar patterns and looking them up to see how they work. Podcasts generally. TV-watching-with friends. Walk in the bird sanctuary in the not-quite-rain. Good biking weather forecast for this week. Guardian and the Dreamwidth corner of Guardian fandom. *loves*
I estimate my fiction reading speed as
faster than average
24 (53.3%)
average
10 (22.2%)
slower than average
3 (6.7%)
it would be faster if my so-called attention span didn't keep dropping out
10 (22.2%)
depends on the language (I read fluently in more than one language)
5 (11.1%)
other
1 (2.2%)
ticky-box of 我喜欢在家里休息 (I like to rest at home)
14 (31.1%)
ticky-box full of ever more elaborate breakfasts
13 (28.9%)
ticky-box of a raindrop sliding down a glossy green leaf
20 (44.4%)
ticky-box full of stripes waiting for a cat
18 (40.0%)
ticky-box full of hugs
30 (66.7%)
retro technology
Jun. 5th, 2026 06:00 pmSo! Yeah, I'll add a boombox to my mental list of items I always look for at thrift stores.
---
Retro fashion technology: I've been getting into clip-on earrings. Mostly because I want to wear BIG earrings, and some experimenting has led me to the fact that BIG earrings are more comfortable as clips than as pierced.
Did you know that interesting clip-on earrings aren't easily found at thrift stores anymore? Just add that to the pile of reasons why thrift flippers/resellers vaguely annoy me. That, and Goodwill keeping their good merchandise for their auction sites. Grrrr.
Daily Check In.
Jun. 5th, 2026 06:51 pmOpen to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 20
How are you doing?
I am okay
14 (70.0%)
I am not okay, but don't need help right now
6 (30.0%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans are you living with?
I am living single
8 (40.0%)
One other person
8 (40.0%)
More than one other person
4 (20.0%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Scrivener themes!
Jun. 5th, 2026 06:55 pmAs a Mac user, this is exciting, because the Mac and Windows themes for Scrivener are not cross-compatible and I am pretty sure that every other Scrivener theme I have ever seen available for download is for the Windows version. But these come in Mac versions too! Now I can finally have a selection of pretty colors to choose from!
(This is also doubly exciting because the person who was making them was taking suggestions as they were posting them in packs to the subreddit and I asked if they could please make a version of the Cobalt2 IDE theme and they made a Cobalt2 IDE theme! For me! It's pretty great. I understand that not everyone wants Scrivener to look like their favorite VSCode or JetBrains theme, but I love this theme a lot, so.)
Casefic Exchange: Post-deadline pinch hits due 26 June.
Jun. 6th, 2026 07:58 amMinimum requirements: We allow 3 mediums: a minimum of 3,000 words for fanfiction, a minimum of 10 panels for a comic, or a recording of a completed fic of 3,000 words minimum with "casefic" as one of its tags. Works must include a fandom, character/ship and be of a medium that the recipient has requested.
Event link:
Pinch hit link: Current pinch hits.
Due date: Friday 26 June at 11:59pm EDT.
Available post-deadline pinch hits:
Thank you for considering!