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Mar. 7th, 2026 03:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shamanicshayminUggggh, I hate getting reviews from AI and bots. You can tell they didn’t read my fic at all. :/ They might even be worse than flames, 'cause at least flames can be funny.
shamanicshaymin
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Mar. 6th, 2026 09:28 pmyuuagoThings I did this evening:
- Got a vaccination for tetanus and Hep A/B because I was outdated on both
- Ordered takeout for the first time ever
- Cleaned my fountain pen because it was skipping a bit
- Zoned out for an hour while trying to make my grocery list
I think it'll be an early bedtime tonight.
- Got a vaccination for tetanus and Hep A/B because I was outdated on both
- Ordered takeout for the first time ever
- Cleaned my fountain pen because it was skipping a bit
- Zoned out for an hour while trying to make my grocery list
I think it'll be an early bedtime tonight.
Reading notes
Mar. 5th, 2026 02:51 pmfred_mouseI have not been reading all that much* lately. Since the last post I have finished three books, all of which are from the old murder mystery list -- mostly because I have them on my phone, and I've been reading them in waiting rooms. In decreasing order of how much I liked them:
- The Middle Temple Murder by J.S. Fletcher. 4 stars. I didn't entirely follow the plot, and I'm not sure if I was supposed to. But it was well written and the characters were great. review
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. 3 stars. It's a classic, I understand why it is a classic, but I also don't think it is worth reading unless you are already a Christie fan. review
- The Roman Hat Mystery by Ellery Queen. 2 stars. Unlike the Fletcher book, where me not following felt like a me problem, here I felt that the author was going out of their way to make it hard to follow. Also, all the characters are dickheads. review
* not counting a bit of short fiction, a lot of Heated Rivalry fic, and chapters out of a lot of books that I haven't actually made it to the end of because it requires focus I haven't had.
Small updates
Mar. 5th, 2026 02:19 pmfred_mouseuni: sent the ethics application to supervisors on ... Tuesday. Have started setting the foundations for the next sub-project, but haven't gathered together all the notes yet. This will be hunting for kids books. I am being optimistic and also grandiose about how much I'm hoping to achieve.
annual not-goals: reading (1) and music (4) are on track; the others either I've not really done anything on or they aren't currently achievable.
medical: 7/15 treatments down; I look mildly sunburned. I'm getting the expected kinds of side effects, albeit at levels that seem higher than is warranted for such a small area of body (today I am so crashed and food is a struggle, and language is a bit wonky; I told the nurse my head was full of glue). I have found some details that help with the overstimulation: I wear non-slip socks (no shoes on the bed, no bare feet to stress the staff, no taking shoes off), I keep my eyes closed and focus on breathing except when watching the 'how much to breath' lights, I take my belt off even though I don't need to so it doesn't dig in.
craft: I have been making progress on one of the two knitting projects that I'm counting as 'active' which means that some time this year I might get to the pattern that buttonsbeadslace shared with me (which needs to be done for ... September, because b'day gift. and then a second for october, and a third for December, because I think I'm funny). No other craft has had a look in. I did do weekly drawing for a bit but didn't find the spot in the routine it fits and keep forgetting.
music: I have played some of the Hanon's exercises roughly once a week. Monday group (viola) is going well; Wednesday (violin) I've made it to more than I've missed and alternating Sundays (recorder) are also good although there is less music happening there than would be my preference (P's house guest is in the final throes of writing a PhD thesis in mathematics; P does not do math; ariaflame and I have tangentially relevant knowledge, house guest take the opportunity to talk about their maths)
FIC: Entrance protocol (Tempestuous Tours)
Mar. 4th, 2026 05:17 pmduskpetersonThe protocol for entering the palace changes from time to time, so I can only offer a general outline. If your business is with the court or council, you should present yourself and your credentials to the guards at the southern gate of the outer wall of the palace. It is best to arrange beforehand for your visit. If this not possible, or if you cannot provide an exact time for your arrival, expect to wait as your credentials are sent into the palace to be checked.
Normally, you will be provided with an escort into the palace. If you arrive at a time before the palace begins its day, you will be expected to make your own way to the eastern gate of the inner wall. There your credentials will be inspected again, along with any document that the palace has sent out, permitting your entrance. You will then be allowed to enter the inner wall and make your approach to the palace itself.
The palace being located atop a high hill, you will find yourself faced with the steepest and longest set of stairs in the world. Pace yourself. You may wish to bring refreshments to partake of at the halfway mark.
At the top of the stairs, once you have recovered your breath, you should show your credentials and palace document to the guards at the gate, holding them up for inspection. The guards may not appear to look at you or even notice you. Do not be deceived. Those are real spears they are holding across the doorway.
If the guards grant you entrance, they will lift the spears. If they do not, you must retreat to the palace's inner wall and determine there what the problem is.
Assuming you manage to pass all these barriers, you will find yourself in the entryway to the palace. You will be guided at this point through the remaining stages of reception, which vary according to your rank and status. At some point, however, you will be let loose from Emor's protocol and permitted to take your own path. Let us start with a general introduction to the Chara's palace.
[Translator's note: This breathtakingly long procedure can be cut short if you possess the right credentials, as can be seen in Breached Boundaries.]
FTH offerings - Bidding open
Mar. 4th, 2026 06:54 amyuuagoAll right! Bidding is open in the FTH charity auction! Hooray. It closes 8PM EST March 07.
My offering page is over here and as a reminder I'm offering up to 5k of Hetalia, Promare, and basically any fandom I've written before.
The list of all fandoms is over here if you want to see what else is on offer.
Very excited! I haven't done much browsing yet; only bid on one thing, and was outbid almost immediately. Will have to take a closer look once I have a moment. :V
My offering page is over here and as a reminder I'm offering up to 5k of Hetalia, Promare, and basically any fandom I've written before.
The list of all fandoms is over here if you want to see what else is on offer.
Very excited! I haven't done much browsing yet; only bid on one thing, and was outbid almost immediately. Will have to take a closer look once I have a moment. :V
Random things make a post
Mar. 3rd, 2026 05:45 pmbrithistorian- In one of the books I'm reading right now, they frequently make references to another researcher by the name of "Fruhstuck." On a hunch, I looked it up and saw that her name is actually "Frühstück," with umlauts over the u's, which is German for "breakfast." I suppose this is an occupational surname that you wind up with if your ancestors worked at Waffle Haus.
- In the past I've mentioned Cherry Bullet's "Hands Up", which uses "Für Elise" as part of the song. Today I discovered Twice Dahyun's "Chess," which uses the same song even more directly. Enjoy!
- The fact that I didn't get this posted during the Olympics shows how off-task I've been recently, but I've been doing better for the past couple of days, so you get the post now. This year's Games featured an odd intersection of two of my interests: The Olympics and intellectual property law. Several figure skaters had trouble getting clearance to use the music they wanted for their routines. Intellectual property law is a mess anyway, but once you're crossing pretty much every border on earth and involving major international organizations like the IOC and numerous of the world's largest broadcasters and on top of that there's a lot of money on the line, things just get even more bonkers.
Hope you're all doing well!
(no subject)
Mar. 2nd, 2026 02:01 pmfred_mouseOver the last two months, I've been opening all the dreamwidth posts I intend to read (at length) or reply to, and then not having the oomph to do so. At the beginning of the weekend, I have over 450 tabs open in this window. I ... am not going to read all of those. I'm slowly closing them. I'm reading bits of them, but I'm not commenting.
so, one generic post: To all those who have been through surgery / medical bullshit, I hope you are recovering well. To those who have lost loved ones, I'm sorry for your loss, my condolences. To those posting about weather: I'm very much appreciating it. Also those posting small details of lives, reading, gaming, music, etc. To those sharing your creative endeavours, congrats! (and I'm sorry: if it is writing I have no spoons to go read).
If there is something you want me to know about, comment here or DM me please
(This post comes with the soundtrack of Youngest asking "If You were the tax act, what word would you use for tips?" and then complaining that 'gratuities' isn't in section ten, but there is something about grape vines).
(no subject)
Mar. 1st, 2026 09:53 pmyuuagoThis weekend I was running around like a maniac trying to get stuff done. Yesterday it was -37C when I went to get groceries. And today we had more snow on top of the load of snow we've been getting.
I went to a hot yoga class yesterday; that was nice.
Also worked on a little bit of fic. Typing up a thing I finished in Vic. It's not much of a fic, more like a DVD extra (it's a scene that I wanted to put into a thing but ended up deciding it didn't really fit before I ended up writing it, and then decided that I wanted to write it anyway. Just, um, separately.)
I don't really wanna' go to work tomorrow. But. You know.
Even though I did all the things I needed to do today I only did a fraction of the things I wanted to do today and I feel kind of bummed about it, even though that's business as usual.
I went to a hot yoga class yesterday; that was nice.
Also worked on a little bit of fic. Typing up a thing I finished in Vic. It's not much of a fic, more like a DVD extra (it's a scene that I wanted to put into a thing but ended up deciding it didn't really fit before I ended up writing it, and then decided that I wanted to write it anyway. Just, um, separately.)
I don't really wanna' go to work tomorrow. But. You know.
Even though I did all the things I needed to do today I only did a fraction of the things I wanted to do today and I feel kind of bummed about it, even though that's business as usual.
The Friday Five on a Sunday
Mar. 1st, 2026 10:05 amnanila- What made you happy this week?
Notification of winning a small summer research grant. - What made you sad?
I was disappointed in a colleague for trying to conceal some serious underperformance when it could have been dealt with easily much earlier on. As it is, now another colleague and I are going to have to put in a lot of effort to attempt to rectify the situation before a deadline next week. - What made you angry?
An academic colleague being outrageously disrespectful to a professional services colleague. - What are you looking forward to in the next week?
Getting that sad piece of work, which should not have been mine in the first place, off my desk at the end of the week. - What are you not looking forward to?
I have to be off-campus for two days next week. I'm not looking forward to the amount of meetings I've had to ram into the other three days of the working week.
FTH Offers
Feb. 28th, 2026 03:37 pmyuuagoWhoo! I'm participating in the FTH charity auction once again. Offers are open for browsing.
You can see my offers here. You can also see a list of all fandoms on offer here.
Bidding opens on March 03!
This year I'm offering up to 5k of Hetalia, Promare, or any fandom I've written in the past (such as Ex Machina, Vatican Miracle Examiner, Frozen, etc). I'm offering any characters/pairings.
If you're interested in this but don't really get how it works, I might be able to help - I've participated on both the offering on bidding ends before.
I'm really looking forward to seeing whatever the winner requests; in the past I've had asks for pairings that I normally don't write, and in the end those often turn out to be some of my best fics.
Anyway! Whoo! Let's see how this goes!
You can see my offers here. You can also see a list of all fandoms on offer here.
Bidding opens on March 03!
This year I'm offering up to 5k of Hetalia, Promare, or any fandom I've written in the past (such as Ex Machina, Vatican Miracle Examiner, Frozen, etc). I'm offering any characters/pairings.
If you're interested in this but don't really get how it works, I might be able to help - I've participated on both the offering on bidding ends before.
I'm really looking forward to seeing whatever the winner requests; in the past I've had asks for pairings that I normally don't write, and in the end those often turn out to be some of my best fics.
Anyway! Whoo! Let's see how this goes!
1SE for February 2026
Feb. 28th, 2026 09:54 pmnanilaI spent a lot of the first half of the month travelling, and the second half of the month recovering from the travelling while also working. I feel this video reflects those two halves pretty accurately.
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