kskitten | Reading

IDEK what I'm doing with myself these days. I'm maybe sorta sick still? It's hard to tell; this cold disguised itself as allergies at first, and the only real symptom now is that I'm pretty tired, but that could also just be because it's November and Daylight Savings Time just ended. Oh, and also that work is seemingly endlessly stressful. Who knows? I did wimpy skating last week, but at least I made all my lessons, and there are way too many exhibitions on the horizon for my taste (both on the same day, even!). Also, I didn't do any writing last week - maybe I'm just sick, maybe I'm burned out, or maybe I'm distracted by other things. Again: Who knows!

Here's what all is going on:

Exchanges due in September/October (enemiestoloversex, cuppajoexhange, Come in a Flash, sexpollenplus, ficinabox, trickortreatex, seasonofdrabbles + mystery pinch-hits and treats): Final tally is 19/19, and now it's just editing things as reveal dates approach (oh man, FIAB is going to be a LOT of work!) and post here as the anon periods end.

Speaking of which... A couple of fills I did for fandomgiftbasket:
- Not My Rival - A bit of Naruto/Sasuke rivalry from the Team 7 days.
- Magic - Whyborne/Griffin sex-magic.

Exchanges due in November/December (fffx, ficinabox treats, seasonofdrabbles treats, yuletide_admin + mystery pinch-hits and treats + future sign-ups): I'm currently at 0/2. Given how many PHs are going around right now, I feel like I have to help there before starting on my YT assignment, so that number's likely going up this week. Goal-wise, I guess I just want to finish something at this point. See if I can get my mojo back.

Exchanges that will go into 2026: au5k & highadrenalineexchange.

Nope, nothing new on Femslash Salad Bar...

I finished Nona the Ninth, which was enjoyable enough, although now I'm stuck being impatient with everyone else for Alecto to come out. I did not plan this well. Also, I absolutely adore this line: "Camilla said Captain Deuteros thought the solution to every problem was to act like the problem had one solution that nobody else was tough enough to take, and then to pursue that solution as hard as possible." Such a relatable frustration! 🤣 Really liked all the cult stuff and how we got to zombie apocalypse in the first place. Although it sounds like Adam failed to kill all the trillionaires, which is unforgivable. 😔

On a lark (no memory who recced it to me or why), I picked up The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. And: oh my! I am hopelessly delighted and charmed! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Best rock EVER, very relevant to my interests (for reasons that are currently confidential, but WEIRD coincidence), and one of my new favorite books! Also, the second book I've read in recent memory (Harrow the Ninth being the other) that made excellent use of 2nd-person POV! LOVED the alien perspective of the God in this, fantastically well done, and also really liked that the plot was resolved much more satisfactory from the God's POV than the humans'. Just lovely, exactly what I needed to read after my string of not-so-good-luck. The only problem is that I didn't read this in time to request it for Yuletide! I want so much more!

Wen Guan by Qi Xiao Huangshu - I'm going to drop this from the list, at least for now. It's not catching my attention, whether the original writing or the translation, and I have enough things on my plate that I'm not going to force myself.

Dear Door - I've picked up this again, and it's fun enough! Although the storytelling is a bit disjointed, but whatever. It's silly porn, and I'm good with that.

BNHA: Still saving up S8 episodes to marathon in a batch, and I'm also keeping the movies/OVAs on reserve as my back-up treat, so nothing new to report here, yet.

Fall Horror-Movie Season: Now complete! Here's what I watched last week, some good luck with this round:
- Us: Creepy, tense, well-done. Is the premise remotely plausible? No, far from it, but the rest of the movie was compelling enough that I was willing to suspend my disbelief. Interesting themes about privilege and oppression, including the (somewhat obvious) twist that she'd taken her surface-counterpart's place, essentially sacrificing someone else's life to secure herself. Also, given this and Get Out!, the thing this director obviously finds scary is a doppelganger supplanting you, which fair enough! It's not on my top-ten list, but he consistently makes it work! So I'll keep an eye out from more horror here.
- The Night House: Also creepy, tense, well-done. The mirror house and the look-alikes being murdered were all fantastic, as were all the shots where a human figure appeared in the architecture of the house. Another movie that won over my suspension of disbelief through good atmosphere and visual storytelling!
- The Devil's Backbone - I realized a few minutes in that I had actually somehow seen this before - not sure where or when! I debating not rewatching, because my memories were that I found this movie fairly meh, but I decided to give it another go. It showed way more of the ghost than I remembered! (Although I'm generally of the opinion that that's not necessarily a good thing.) I appreciate that this movie was very ambitious, but I feel like it kind of failed in most of its themes. Most of it just fell flat to me, and a lot of it felt like a rough draft of things that were done much better in Pan's Labyrinth. So, yeah, my impression was again meh, but not sorry I rewatched it.

October Totals: 234K for the year so far - I should still hit 250K by end-of-year, even with my slow-down. 87 works revealed so far this year - and, with unrevealed ones, I believe I have hit 100, so good for me!

Goals for this week: 1) Stop feeling weird, cold-wise, hopefully. 2) Write at least 1 thing. 3) Pick up some more things to watch/read this week.

badfalcon

October slipped past in a blur, but November feels like a month for gentle structure — reading because it’s comforting, writing because it helps me breathe, and trying not to treat either as a chore.

📚 Reading Goals

Finish at least 3 books
Keep reading a little most days, even just a few pages
Maybe (finally!) finish The Ministry of Time
Prioritise fun and curiosity over guilt - reading doesn’t have to be productive to be worthwhile
Share a few more updates, even the messy or half-formed ones. That’s part of the story too.

✍️ Writing & Fandom Goals

Update Surface Tension
Update Wolf-Tethered - and try to figure out what story it’s actually trying to be!
Update You Wouldn’t Take My Word for It If You Knew Who Was Talking
Write some Sincaraz - whatever shape it wants to take
Write more Darren/Jannik kink (because it’s always fun)
Maybe write some more Team Sinner Polycule fic
Keep sharing, even if it’s just a snippet or a ramble - words in the wild count

🌿 Life Goals

Keep doing physio for shoulder, hip, and knee - consistency over perfection
Have at least one proper rest day with no guilt
Cook something comforting, ideally involving butter or cinnamon
Go outside on at least one clear, cold morning - just to breathe
Keep organising clothes storage a little at a time — it doesn’t need to be perfect, just better
Get back to daily gratitudes
Keep using Finch - it’s been helping, and that’s worth keeping up
Try one small thing that makes life feel softer

November doesn’t need to be wildly productive; it just needs to feel a little steadier, a little kinder. Here’s to slow progress, good food, and stories that won’t leave us alone. 💛

healthygreen_feed

Posted by Christine Johnson

https://www.healthygreenkitchen.com/9-costly-kitchen-sink-mistakes-you-need-to-avoid/

https://www.healthygreenkitchen.com/?p=49441

The post 9 Costly Kitchen Sink Mistakes You Need To Avoid appeared first on Healthy Green Kitchen.

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badfalcon

October was… a lot. Between uni starting (!!!), work chaos, and a migraine that just would not quit, reading was more of a background hum than a main feature. But hey - two books finished is progress, and I’ll take that as a win.

📖 What I Read
The Last Olympian – Rick Riordan ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A satisfying end to the Percy Jackson series! I enjoyed the scale of it, even if it didn’t hit quite as hard as some of the earlier books for me.
The Kiss Curse – Erin Sterling ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Cozy witchy romance with autumnal vibes - perfect for spooky season reading, even if I read most of it under a blanket trying to ignore my migraine.

☕ What I Didn’t Read (But Still Counts)

I made progress on several ongoing reads, even if I didn’t actually finish them. And honestly, that’s kind of the mood for October - slow, steady, distracted by tutorials and caffeine.

I also managed to start three new books this month - because apparently my brain’s motto is “finish? never heard of her.” So despite finishing two, I somehow ended up with more books on my “currently reading” shelf than I started October with. Classic me.

Still, it’s progress. The list may have grown, but so did the stories I’m excited to return to.

🧠 Life Lately

Uni starting has been both exciting and overwhelming - lots of new routines, brain fog, and figuring out where reading fits into my days again. Work’s been full-on too, so I’m trying to be kind to myself about the pace of everything.

Also: I did read a lot of fic (and wrote a fair bit too), so the stories are still happening - just not always in book form!

🌟 November Reading Goals

Let’s try again, but gently.

Finish at least 3 books
Keep reading a little most days
Maybe finally finish The Ministry of Time
Prioritise fun and curiosity over guilt
Share a few more updates - even the messy ones

✨ Because even if it’s slow, it still counts.
And hey - if all else fails, there’s always fanfic and hot chocolate. ☕💛

selenak

Got my Yuletide assignment, which is going to be fun - I just have to refresh my canon memories, and it's not a long canon. Also, I just finished the (short) first season of Dark Winds. Now I dimly remember reaidng one of Hillerman's novels decades ago, but only a very few details remained with me - the asking about the clans, for example - which meant that basically I went into this unspoiled. And was v. amused that apparantly Noah Emmerich now gets typecast as an F.B.I agent, though Stan from The Americans and High Pockets here are very different types.

( Spoilers thought it was a solid first season and will continue the show )

Meanwhile, thinking back to ye olde days when shows had 22 episodes per season, I just found this well crafted retroscpective on Six Feet Under, which reminded me of how much I loved and appreciated it:

The Family Tomb: A Six Feet Under Retrospective

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Munich

kantayra

My nose decided to gush forth as the symptom of some delightful cold last weekend. I am not amused by this. It is very annoying, and my eyes run when I stare at screens for too long, so whee!

I could blame my lack of productivity on that, but truly I was failing to get anything done well before my symptoms arrived, so no dice there.

I also had a synchro exhibition last weekend, which normally would be no big deal (I don't get nervous for synchro performances or competitions for whatever reason; something about being one of a group, no doubt - or else not having any difficult jumps), but it's always delightfully miserable skating while sick, so...yeah. There was that, too. I still have to decide whether to cancel any of my lessons this week. Ugh.

However, moving on to fandom stuff!

Exchanges due in September/October (enemiestoloversex, cuppajoexhange, Come in a Flash, sexpollenplus, ficinabox, trickortreatex, seasonofdrabbles + mystery pinch-hits and treats): I'm at 19/19, since getting my SOD assignment done was the one thing I did accomplish last week. I'd wanted to do PHs and treats too, but didn't get anywhere on those. And I'm not sure I'll feel up for it this week. So I'm not going to give myself any sort of assignment this week, and if I get PHs or treats done, that's a stretch goal!

More reveals: sexpollenplus anon period has ended. I wrote Cross Pollination, BNHA, Bakugo/Deku, with Bakugo being very cross indeed at his sex-pollination. Bakugo's POV continues to be one of my favorite things to write.

Exchanges due in November/December (fffx, ficinabox treats, seasonofdrabbles treats, yuletide_admin + mystery pinch-hits and treats + future sign-ups): I'm at 0/2. I got my Yuletide assignment and am pretty clear on what I want to write. So, once November hits, FFFX & YT are both on the table.

Exchanges that will go into 2026: au5k & highadrenalineexchange.

Nope, nothing new on Femslash Salad Bar...

I did not fully finish Nona the Ninth, because it's an ebook and my aforementioned issue viewing screens. However, I am one chapter plus the epilogue from the end, so very close! Still enjoying it and highly hopeful that this has broken my string of disappointing fiction books. However, I do get what people say about this author's pacing issues. As I understand it, Nona was originally supposed to be the first act of Alecto, and...yeah. Nona really could've easily been edited down to a first act (and possibly should've been). There's just SO MUCH dithering about the kids in the school, and it doesn't hold my attention that much. However, I'm now totally onboard with the Camilla/Palmedes ship, which I honestly didn't expect. Soon, I'll be trapped in the same 'waiting for Alecto' holding pattern as everyone else. 😕

Wen Guan by Qi Xiao Huangshu - Nothing on this; I'll pick it up perhaps next. It seems like I'll have a gap in my library queue, maybe?

Dear Door - No progress on this either, but I'll continue to read as it amuses me.

BNHA: Still saving up S8 episodes to marathon in a batch, and I'm also keeping the movies/OVAs on reserve as my back-up treat, so nothing new to report here, yet.

Fall Horror-Movie Season: This is the last week before Halloween, and I have The Night House and Us out, with The Devil's Backbone due in later this week. Last week, I watched...
- The Conjuring: Started out very promising, hit all the creepy bits, then took an unfortunate turn for twee and churchy and preachy. I also wish movies wouldn't try to convince me that they're based on real events. I think The Blair Witch Project is the only one I've ever seen that did that premise well (and even then, it wasn't plausible - just inherent in the media and presentation). So, yeah, you lost me there, Conjuring. And also on the Christian smarm.
- Hereditary: This one caught my eye when it came out, but also the title is kind of a red flag (and also a weird choice, given what the movie's about?), but Midsommar is probably my favorite of the horror movies I've watched so far this fall, so I decided to give the director another try. Hereditary was weaker, I thought, almost a draft of some of the clearer ideas in Midsommar. Also, I start to notice random things the director thinks are scary, like old people standing around naked watching naked young men. Which...I do not find particularly horrifying, or even interesting. I am torn on Hereditary: I think it was kind of a hot mess, but it's got potential. It just feels a bit too meandering, like the script needed some tight edits, or...IDEK what. It was okay, I guess?

Goals for this week: 1) Kill this stupid cold! 2) Finish Nona the Ninth. 3) Anything else is gravy.

selenak

From

astrogirl. Clearly, I must write stories to cover the J and X gaps.

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for starting a fic title? One fic per line, ‘A’ and 'The’ do not count for 'a’ and ’t’. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A - Age of Iron (I Medici, Lorenzo "Il Magnifico" de' Medici/Francesco de' Pazzi)

B - Bad Reputation (16th Century CE RPF, Barbara Blomberg & Fernando Álverez Toledo III. Duque de Alba)

C - Cover her face ( The King's Touch - Jude Morgan, 17th Century RPF; Henriette Anne Stuart (Henriette d'Angleterre)

D - Discordance (Merlin (TV), Morgana & Gwen)

E - Eve of Destruction (To Walk Invisible (2016), 19th Century RPF, Branwell Bronte/ Joseph Bentley Leyland)

F - Five ways in which Frederick the Great and Maria Theresia did not meet (18th Century CE RPF, Frederick the Great & Maria Theresia)

G - Graham O'Brien's Survival Kit for Companions (Doctor Who, Graham O'Brien & Thirteenth Doctor)

H - Here lie we (Merlin (TV), Gwen & Morgana)

I - Invicta (3rd Century CE RPF, Helena (Mother of Constantine)

J -

K -Kin (Merlin (TV), Arthur & Morgana)

L - Learning Frederick (18th Century CE RPF, Frederick the Great/Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf)

M - Murder in Florence (16th Century RPF, Margaret of Parma, Alessandro "Il Moro" de'Medici/ Lorenzo "Lorenzino" di Pierfrancesco de' Medici)

N - Nusquam (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Ziyal & Dukat)

O - Opposites (Beatles RPF, Yoko Ono, Yoko Ono & Paul McCartney)

P - Prussian Doll (18th Century RPF, Frederick the Great & Prince Henry of Prussia, Frederick the Great/Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf)

Q - Queen's Gambit (Don Carlos - Friedrich Schiller, Elisabeth de Valois & Princess Eboli, Elisabeth de Valois & Philipp II of Spain)

R - Repercutio (Babylon 5, Londo Mollari & G'kar)

S - She blinded me with science (18th Century RPF', Émilie du Chatelet/Voltaire)

T - Till our shadows blend (Babylon 5, Delenn & Londo Mollari)

U - Unforgivable (Angel the Series, Holtz & Connor)

V - Vita Guineveris (Merlin (TV), Gwen (Guinevere)

W - We happy few (Beatles RPF, Brian Epstein & The Beatles)

X -

Y - You should see me in a crown (18th Century CE RPF, Catherine the Great & Prince Henry of Prussia)

Z - Zinc Man (The Americans (TV), Elizabeth Jennings/Philip Jennings)

That's 24 letters out of 275 stories. For easiness, I started with the most recent ones, but even so, clearly history is a dominating theme. Also, I would have bet Z to be the most difficult letter to find, but no, The Americans came through for me.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Munich

mark posting in

dw_maintenance

Good morning, afternoon, and evening!

We're doing some database and other light server maintenance this weekend (upgrading the version of MySQL we use in particular, but also probably doing some CDN work.)

I expect all of this to be pretty invisible except for some small "couple of minute" blips as we switch between machines, but there's a chance you will notice something untoward. I'll keep an eye on comments as per usual.

Ta for now!

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The Late September Dogs

Reading

Discombobulation is a great word!

🍂 November Goals 🍂

📚 Reading Goals

✍️ Writing & Fandom Goals

🌿 Life Goals

9 Costly Kitchen Sink Mistakes You Need To Avoid

📚 October Reading Wrap-Up

This and that

Blargh! I sick!

Alphabetical Fic Meme

Database maintenance

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January 2015

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