IN A WONDERFUL BIT OF GOOD LUCK, MIKA ALSO CAME HOME FROM THE GACHA AND I AM FEELING BELOVED BY THE GOD OF LUCK!!!!! I'm going into this event with 150% rate up, so I'm gonna call that a win~


he looks so happy!!!! thank you for coming home, Mika ♥


also this Mika is so beautiful....I want to make icons of his bloomed *w*
The only downside is that now I have 3 different blue Mika 5 stars and zero green ones......maybe someday his first feature scout will come home....

Anyway, I did not end up liking the full MV for the MaM event and ended up so upset I slept most of yesterday D: Like I also hadn't slept much the night before, but like......I had a huge crash out and couldn't stay awake any longer. I don't wanna rehash everything I don't like again, because I'm trying to be more positive ;w; I just. Bluh. I'd been trying not to build it up in my mind and I know I still did, but it's not even like sorta not what I like, it's just.......boring.

The song is sooooooooooo boring. Maybe I'll like it more once I play it, but that's hit or miss. Good beatmaps can save things, I guess. But I'm not trying not to get my hopes up, since every part of this event has disappointed me.

except the scout boxes lmao

But honestly getting the beautiful Mika improved my mood XD I also bought enough dia to carry me through the event, so like...I'm ready!!! I just have to lock the fuck in and grind for 8 days straight~

When Pat and Liz get home from work, Liz is gonna take a nap so they can stay up all night with me and Pat is gonna go to Micro Center with me. We're 3D printing some of the stars that are in Madara's card because I'm making some decorations for the event and I need to get some yellow filament. Right now we're printing a glow-in-the-dark one because that's what Pat had on hand, but I also want some in the yellow like the card. Also, I need to swing by Michael's to get more ribbon so I can make my Madara nui a bow inspired by his terrible pastel outfit.

ALSO I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE PASTEL PRINCE BULLSHIT since this week's megaphoto battle theme is "Fairytale Prince" and like. They're usually tied into the current event. But he barely looks like one; he looks more like an easter egg merged with a children's theater performer. And not a good one. Like, an annoying one XD And I'm married to a former children's theater performer, so I would know.

I'm trying to listen to the new song a few more times...maybe if I hear it enough I can trick myself into liking it....................

I'm having so many conflicting emotions about this game, and I'm only an hour in. I am fascinated, irritated, confused, and I must finish it stat. So, I figured I would write up some of my thoughts as I make my way through it.

( Lots of thoughts and spoilers below... )

I never actually posted my Yuletide fic here, and it's almost March. Way behind. But anyway, I had fun with it, so enjoy!

Title: What Abigail And Ione Did That January
Author: beatrice_otter 
Fandom: Rivers of London
Characters: Abigail Kamara/Ione Seaton, Thomas Nightingale, Peter Grant
Written For: Chrome in Yuletide 2025
Summary: Ione comes down for a visit after Christmas. But a quiet visit is not in the cards when there is a missing persons case to be solved.


I am standing in Euston Station, and it's even worse of a madhouse than I expected it to be. But I'm so excited I'm not even bothered by the crush of tourists with roller bags who seem determined to run me over as they dash to catch their trains. Ione is coming, and though we've talked on the phone almost every day, it's been months since we said goodbye in Scotland.

I want to know if she smells as good as I remember. I want to know if her skin feels as good as I remember. I'm almost afraid I've built her up, in my head, to such a peak of perfection, that I'll be disappointed to see her again and find she's just a girl.

( But if I were going to let my fear control me, I wouldn't be a wizard now. I'd never have survived the house on Hampstead Heath, or the Robinette kidnapping, or the wyvern up in Glasgow. And I'd never have gotten to kiss Ione. )

Dear highadrenalineexchange writer,

thank you so much for writing a story for me! I've requested and received most of these fandoms before - some for many, many years, and often with the same prompts, because when I really enjoy something, I immediately want fifty more takes on the same thing. *g* So if that's what we matched on, don't worry about repeating things! I'll be absolutely thrilled about anything you can create about the relationships I requested.

Everything important is in the requests themselves, but if you'd like even more info, general likes etc., here you go.

My AO3 account is Trobadora, and it's set to welcome treats.

General Preferences

( Likes & Dislikes/DNWs )

Fandoms and relationships

In somewhat alphabetical order - note that some sections are expanded compared to the sign-up form:

Jump directly to:

• Christabel/Grimm crossover: Christabel & Geraldine & Grimm Worldbuilding
• 绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei
• Grimm: Nick/Renard/Juliette
• 镇魂 | Guardian (TV): Ya Qing/Zhu Hong, Shen Wei & Ya Qing
• Grimm/镇魂 | Guardian (TV) crossovers: Nick Burkhardt & Sean Renard & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Sean Renard & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Juliette Silverton & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Juliette Silverton & Shen Wei, Sean Renard & Shen Wei, Sean Renard & Ya Qing, Sean Renard/Ya Qing
• Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling: Kashtiliash & Raupasha
• 长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing

( Christabel/Grimm crossover: Christabel & Geraldine & Grimm Worldbuilding )

( 绅探 | Detective L: Huo Wensi/Luo Fei, )

( Grimm: Nick/Renard/Juliette )

( 镇魂 | Guardian (TV): Ya Qing/Zhu Hong, Shen Wei & Ya Qing )

( Grimm/Guardian crossovers: Nick Burkhardt & Sean Renard & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Sean Renard & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Juliette Silverton & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Juliette Silverton & Shen Wei, Sean Renard & Shen Wei, Sean Renard & Ya Qing, Sean Renard/Ya Qing )

( Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling: Kashtiliash & Raupasha )

( 长公主在上 | Eldest Princess On Top: Li Yunzhen/Gu Xuanqing )

Plenty more stitching this month:

Quote:

"Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the flowers, Kind deeds are the fruits, Take care of your garden And keep out the weeds, Fill it with sunshine, Kind words, and Kind deeds."

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done."

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Randomness from me, to you... Because it's my birth month!


D - Ouka saki some ni keri - (This is the only band I have ever seen live. The venue was small, less than 500, and took care of me, because I was using crutches… severe fracture to my left fibula. The men were really this beautiful and sounded wonderful. Tanbi kei an of shot of Visual kei… takes 80s hair bands to the next level.)

Episode 8: possibly my favorite fight scene yet!
( more under here )

Episode 9: A wedding!
( under here )

My building at work is collapsing on one side not only are we working to fix that we hope to have money to renno some of the labs. It was a 2 hour meeting with the architect today and that was hopeful plus they teased the idea of other money for equipment and brought up the virtual cadaver table. I have the paperwork for those but they're 100K so let's fix the building first.

I thought my writer's zoom was today but no one was there. Wondering why. Sad I didn't get that. Did I just do it by myself? you know I didn't.

I forgot to share my books yesterday so here are Feb's reads


Cooking with Monsters fantasy LGBT graphic novel

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires Urban Fantasy

Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation dystopic near future SF

When the Moon Hits Your Eye near future SF

Heavy Vinyl Complete Collection LGBT graphic novel

Rebecca Gothic classic

Dark Life YA near future SF

I don't wanna talk about the MaM event so I'm gonna be positive and share what I made before the event announcement last night. I got a bunch of stickers to decorate toploaders with a bit ago and finally picked up a pack of toploaders last night~ I've never made any before, though, so I decided to start with this Tsumugi pasha I got awhile back:


ta-da!!!! I just had to highlight him crying uwu
Overall, a lot of fun to make, but I do feel like I need to buy even more stickers XD As if I don't have enough already ;D

More than anything, I think I need more cards of characters I love....I have so few ;w;

So, I was reading a Thread where a guy was warning about old drives, and how they might not last very long anymore because of degradation of the components used in them.

So, while looking for a mouse this morning, I dug up 2 old HDs (circa 2010?) and two external HDs and figured I'd kick them started and see if they worked.

And I just found the MOTHERLODE of photos!

Dating back to 2011! Including ones of my old cat, and the parentals' old cat, and friends' children as babies! WOW.

And old trips! Including a few that I thought I'd lost forever!

(Apparently, I have always taken lots of photos of builidngs!.)

Also, boy was I skinny!! Either that, or the camera made me look skinny. Oh, younger me, why did you not realise? XD

I've finished a play through of Slay the Princess. I really enjoyed it! I will now try to go after all the achievements héhéhé

I had to turn off the parallax and the ambient sound so I wouldn't get nauseous. Something to keep in mind if you're sensitive to motion sickness and/or vertigo.

I've read 10 books this month, which seems a little ridiculous...

The Shadow Puppet by Georges Simenon
Continuing my plan to read all the Maigret's in our library this year.  A Parisian based mystery, where all is not as it seems.

Stories for Lovers edited by Lucy Evans
The latest edition in the British Library Women Writers series.  These are short stories from the 1920s through to the 2000s.  I enjoyed some of the stories, mostly the earlier ones.

Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd
I've read a number of books by Jess Kidd, but this is her first crime mystery.  It's set in 1954 in a seaside town in Kent.  It wasn't a brilliant story, although by the end I'd enjoyed it.  I suspect because I'm used to reading crime novels written in the 1950s it felt a bit out of time.  A second in the series is due out later this year, so I'll probably read it at some time.

Death on the Downbeat by Sebastian Farr
A Shedunnit runner up this month, which had appealed for a while.  I liked the idea of the orchestra conductor being shot in the middle of a concert and the story being told in epistolary fashion, with lots of musical references. But I didn't enjoy it.  

The Edge of Darkness by Vaseem Khan
The next in the Persis Wadia series, I reserved a copy as soon as I knew the library were getting them.  Persis, the first female inspector in the Indian police force, has been banished to the Naga Hills.  A murder is committed and events tie in with both the current unrest (it's 1951) and previous times.  It's a locked room mystery with an interesting cast of characters and a lot of action.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Fra Angelico by Christopher Lloyd
Mainly talking about the over 50 colour plates of his paintings, while also providing details about Fra Angelico's life.  Not my preferred style of painting, but nonetheless very interesting.

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
I'd not come across Baldwin before, so it was interesting to read his very powerful essay on the plight of black people in America in the 1960s.  What's alarming is that although some things have changed, 60 years on many attitudes haven't.

The Double Turn by Carol Carnac (E C R Lorac)
The latest British Library Crime Classics book, featuring Inspector Rivers.  This one was written in 1956 and features some interesting characters and a lot of twists and turns.  It also gives an idea of London at the time.

The Saint-Fiacre Affair by Georges Simenon
This time ends up back in the small town he grew up in and where there are people he still recognises.  Very different from the one I read earlier in the month, although both date from the same time.

War with the Newts by Karel Capek
This took me a while to get into, although even at the beginning I knew I wanted to read it.  Capek, a Czech, wrote this in 1936 as an allegory on the current political situation.  Some of his observations of different national characteristics are hilarious, others terrifying.  If you're looking for something a bit different to read this year, then I'd recommend this.  A sea captain discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra who can be trained to do various things, and things take off from there.

I like that we are (seemingly collectively?) trying to use DW more/update more. My problem is usually that I have less things to update on than I did back in the LiveJournal days when I was going to concerts somewhat regularly, and seeing a lot more movies in the cinema.

I watched Bugonia last week - I knew the spoiler going in, which of course made it a different viewing experience, but I didn't know how it would play out. I've only ever watched one other Lanthimos movie (the Nicole Kidman one) and while it was interesting I remember thinking it was maybe not for me. But! Knowing the Bugonia spoiler made me want to watch, and it was probably good for my brain to break from the mindless comedies I've been watching on repeat, and engage with something funky. Yeah, Lake, it's probably not the best that you watch all of The League three times through in a row. Sometimes you just need to watch a fucked-up little movie!!

Neurosurgeon appointment could have been an email, [insert eye-roll emoji here]. He basically does not want to do anything but keep an eye on things for another six months, have me get more MRIs then, and see if there's any change in the syrinx between the two sets of images. Great, yay, another six hundred dollars in medical bills! I mean - I would rather not have a potentially risky spinal surgery if it can be avoided, but "avoided" means I now mentally need to account for having to use some sort of mobility aid more often than not for the rest of my life. But I guess in another decade someone might come up with a better surgical procedure, so who really knows?

Finished Draft 2 of The Nullifae: And If I Rise. Had to rewrite a whole section in the middle, then cram in a sequence where they meet the Oracle, who's a Fae.

There's still some stuff to be done - I need to rewrite the opening scene so it's more happening, less infodumping. And I think I want to write a snapshot at the end where Jenna is getting more or less fired from her job. Do I write her getting fired from her work, or do I just show her in the doghouse before she calls the Director of Crossover who gave her his number if she decided she wanted a change of scenery?

Choices choices.

It's about 60K finished, which isn't huge but isn't small potatoes either.

I'm gonna try very hard to fight the "haha anxious fears were right" thoughts and also wait until the full MV release, but.......my fears were kinda right and I'm so far just very "meh" about the MaM fanthanx preview :T

The bit of song preview we got is slow and just...not the sort of song I'm into. I know that Halloween Rendezvous is soooooooo good so it's hard to follow up something like that, but most MaM songs have more energy??? I'm really holding out hope that the full version is better ;w;

And then I'm also not a huge fan of the outfit D: The card itself is really pretty, but there's sooooo much going on with the outfit...


I love the stars and sparkles of the bg and his face is so pretty but there's too much going on in the outfit and not enough tying it together
One of the problems is that while the default MaM outfit is cowboy themed, none of his event outfits ever are, so it's hard to design something that captures the essence of MaM when every time he wears something completely different. It does look a bit better in the one screencap of the MV that's been revealed, but like. bluh.

BLUH!!!!!!!!!

Also, my least favorite character in all of enstars is the 4* in the event 🙃 I'm being so strong and brave about it, but like. sobs. why. I know Madara has like 2.5 friends and that it's too much to hope for Kohaku to show up, but like....Leo????? Can him and Leo hang out ever again, or is that forbidden now??? They've barely done anything in !!-era stuff, like?????????????? plz let them hang again ;w;

I have more thoughts but it's nearly 3 am and I like....don't wanna keep being negative right now cuz I'm just gonna wind myself up again.

At least the other scout box 5* is fucking incredible. It's a very beautiful Mika card and I'm holding out hope I'll get him ;w; My mental health hinging on a single gacha card......

also my image hosting is still broken I hate sending support emails I want to give up

I watched The X-Files from the beginning, just on the basis that the trailer looked interesting, and enjoyed it very much the first 4-5 seasons. I was reasonably fannish, attending several conventions, but didn't get much into fanfic or interacting on whatever kind of internet forum it would have been then.

Seeing Chris Carter at a convention was one of the things that started burning me out. Because people were asking about the 'conspiracy' episodes and how they tied together, and looking at him, I thought: you don't have an overall plan and you're really entertained that fans are spending so much time believing you do and trying to figure it out.

I could have been completely maligning him, of course, but the more episodes that seemed to tie together but left viewers dangling, the more I burned out. I think I watched an episode of two after David Duchovny left but I didn't warm to the new characters and dropped it.

I watched the first season of the reboot and hated it, though I don't remember much now.

So I'm not looking for more X-Files but I've read that Ryan Coogler is producing the reboot, and okay. For him, I will give it a try. I thought Black Panther was an excellent movie and I trust that Coogler will have an interesting take. Supernatural stories can be fun.

Did have to give up on doing a lot of the ones with me on my knees and I have made good on my committment to not talk bad about myself during it. I just sat down and did other things or simply waited. Not great but I can only do what I can do.

Also I am not good at this but I try

I met with the football coaches who promised to make the new football team take our classes seriously or else. After the last (which was the first) semester these brand new coaches have their work cut out for them because it was brutal and in 20 years here I've never seen so much entitlement (and see one team make an entire college hate them so fast)



What I Just Finished Reading:

Dark Life - YA book set under the ocean. the world building needed beefed up but over all enjoyable


Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - Not what I was expecting. I don't think it deserves the hype but I didn't think it was awful

This Is How You Lose the Time War - All of SF authors wrote glowing reviews. I thought it was weird for the sake of being weird but I did get into it a little


What I am Currently Reading:

Zombie Day Care - getting painful but at least it's short


The Final Problem - mystery set in the 60s (no progress because I couldn't get the netgalley app to download. FINALLY did and so far it's not freezing up_


Between the Shades of Grey - not sure I'll make it thru this. NOT the right time mentally to read about a government hauling off families for talking bad about the government and slamming them in prison.

Check Please sticks and scones - had to find one for my favorite winter olympic sport. Okay that is NOT hockey but that's what the library had and the first book was cute.

Y the Last man omnibus - not as good as I remember it

What I Plan to Read Next: La Grand Familia, and Luna Park history