"You look Time Lord."

I avoided standing an extra 20 minutes at the bus stop on my way to the supermarket at lunchtime because I checked the live tracking before I headed out. Instead, I decided to continue working for another half an hour and take the next bus, which appeared to be on time. And that worked out nicely. But on my journey home, I was rewarded by a 15-minute extra wait for the return bus, so I'm not entirely sure if not having to wait for the bus out actually helped me to avoid wasting time at all.

At least I managed to do the shopping I was intending to do. And I managed to drop off a big bagful of books at the charity bookshop. When I tried about six weeks ago, I happened to try on a day when they were busy training on the new till system and were not accepting any donations. So I took the books back home then and accumulated a few more before taking them out again today, and was relieved not to have to take them back again.

After work, I had a massage appointment, and I'm feeling relaxed and loose for a change.

Notes on the first 4 prakim of Tractate Oaths, of which two of them were not about oaths at all.

( Read more... )

Proof of Life

It's been a minute, so I decided to touch down for at least half of another minute. 

In brief: before I even got past the third Dr. Who, and despite doing my damnedest to avoid any spoilers, I read the wrong headline *shakes fist at The Guardian*, so I'm avoiding actually watching the remaining episodes until I can bear to watch them. That's not logical in the least, but there you go. 

Acting on advice from lilacsigil , I adjusted my AO3 Stray Kids fanfic's fandom tag, taking it out of SKZ fandom and tagging it as part of music video fandom. I also cut my note so that it didn't sound so awfully condescending. That made me feel better. It also gave me the chance to do a bit of editing, and that  was even better. I'm not sure I'll post it here. I have to see if my conflicting impulses eventually pan out that way.

We have one of our old bachelor friends coming over this afternoon; he wants help navigating his computer, which Bob will handle. He also wants help understanding his smartphone, and that's going to be my responsibility. This gentleman has previously had a flip phone, or some kind of dumb mobile; he really doesn't like mobiles, but I think he finally admitted that they're necessary in modern life, and so he got the smartphone, and now he needs help navigating it. We'll see if I can help him out. 

I think that's all, but I hope to post again later today.

Fandom events in 2025 be like:

>'Can I-?' Just have fun!! :) We're here to create! To enjoy ourselves! Or don't. I can't tell you what to do! :P As long as you make something vaguely completion-shaped, we'd love to see it! <3

>Use of AI, in any way, shape, or form, is strictly prohibited. If you are caught using AI on your works, you will be banned from this and any/all of our future events. This includes using AI to rephrase sentences.
RNG is perfectly fine, but AI is not allowed.

Finished Deltarune chapter 3, gonna play ch 4 tomorrow cos I think that's what Toby recommended? Anyway some random thoughts/emotions/theories below the cut, proper review to come when I've finished chapter 4 it turned into a proper review lol

(also no ch 4 spoilers in comments pls!)

[click here] FOR [SPOILERS!!]

• Is the knight thing that took Toriel Dess? Or maybe Rudy? Not super likely and mostly based on the horns + I was randomly thinking about Noelle when they turned up
• Also, weird that Noelle seems not to have been mentioned at all in this chapter - wonder if that's a consequence of Toby having to write around Snowgrave, but trying to work around diverging routes by ignoring them isn't Toby's style
• Also Undyne!! The music when she turned up didn't sound like her at first but it became more familiar as it went on, not sure what it's reminding me of
• Speaking of music, even if you didn't know the Word Of Toby saying that Mike was part of Spamton's backstory, Tenna's boss music (+ also the 'heart on a string' in one of the boss minigames) makes it really obvious that him and Spamton are connected
• Overall Tenna seems like a combination of Mettaton and Spamton, I think I like him but I'm not super obsessed with him - can easily see why someone(/Tumblr) could tho
• His boss fight was HARD, easily took half a dozen tries i think
• The cooking/serving minigame was also really tough, took me like 4 or 5 tries and even then only by the skin of my teeth, mostly cos I kept getting the controls mixed up
• Reappearance in Tenna boss fight was super easy though, by far the easiest of the minigames in that fight
• Rhythm game was also fun and pretty easy, took me like two tries. I wanna look up the lyrics to the song cos the little I caught was a wild mix of silly and serious
• I guess this is turning into a review so quick speed round of the things I didn't like:
• I was probably kinda getting my hopes up but I wish Elnina/Lanino/Rouxles had stayed together
• The format of boards 1 and 2 wasn't bad per se but it was kinda weird and it was a relief to go back to something more normal for 3 - do like how it furthered the Themes tho, in particular I'm thinking of the bit where everyone swaps controllers and so Kris (and by extension, the player) is controlling someone else/someone else is controlling Kris
• Also there really needs to be save points in them - my laptop died right after my first attempt at the rhythm game so I had to replay the whole of board 2
• aaaand finally Toby isn't really the kind of guy who would do this + as I said I do like the character but it sorta seems like Tenna is trying to recapture Spamton's popularity? Though now that I've written that down it kinda seems like it might be the case in-universe/there's some other in-universe explanation for that but idk if/how much it'll ever come up in game
• Okay back to speculation/positivity but I kinda get the vibe that Ralsei isn't gonna be a player character in chapter 4, mainly from the trailer bit + something about the end bit in the LIght World? IDK how to explain it
• Oh yeah I think I'll have to rewatch the ending cutscne (specifically Susie's speech to Tenna) cos my audio cut out for some of it + when trying to fix that I accidentally skipped a few textboxes
• aaaand addressing the beginning at the end - the start hit me with Susie/Ralsei feels (note to self, reblog some art of them when I'm done with chapter 4), but I was also hit with Ralsei/Susie/Kris feels which suprised me cos I wasn't into the ship from ch 1+2 and yet all of a sudden I was?? not complaining tho, new ship acquired I guess lol
• I don't think I ship it as a triad tho, I think Susie dates Kris and Ralsei and Ralsei has an unrequited crush on Kris
• Other ships aquired: Rouxles/Westherpeople (as mentioned above), Tenna/Mettaton, maybe Tenna/Spamton
• OH YEAH Rouxles is confirmed bi and poly, happy pride
• Also one of the quizzes confimed Kris' last name as Dreemur, before I was one of the "well it's not explicitly stated" people but now that it has been I'm now wondering why I thought that/why their AO3 canonical isn't listed as that? Either way that tag's gonna have to be updated
• I think the secret boss was found by sailing for a really long time to the left and up in board 2, and Susie might be the victim of this chpater's Weird Rout if there is one (due to the aftermentioned contoller swapping), but otherwise I have No Idea who/what they might be I wouldn't be very surprised if I'm wrong
• uhhh I guess that's it, see you tomorrow or the day after for chapter 4 yelling
• EDIT forgot a thing: Ralsei’s description of the nature of darkeners at the start REALLY reminded me of the lyrics of Don’t Forget/the credit music
• Also, per TV Tropes: “ This chapter's Superboss fight is the mandatory Hopeless Boss Fight against the Roaring Knight that occurs at the chapter's climax, meaning that the player has to fight the overpowered enemy, unlike the first two being optional in areas you had to double-back to fully unlock. That said, assuming you aren't possessed of godlike reflexes or Save Scumming to get the hang of the Knight's attacks, you still need to defeat another secret but easier boss to unlock the Shadow Mantle, which makes it possible to win the fight, albeit, with much difficulty...just not defeat the knight.”

Tonight, I went to see National Theatre Live recording of Tennessee Williams's The Streetcar Named Desire from 2014, with Gillian Anderson as Blanche. If it had rained the same way it rained when I was coming home from the office, I would probably have stayed at home, but the rain had stopped. Even so, I procrastinated at home long enough that I needed to take the bus to town, which I hardly ever do. But I made it. The Hexagon seats were really uncomfortable for something that lasted over three hours, but it was definitely worth seeing. I thought I'd seen some version of the play before, but having now actually seen it, I'm not so sure. Maybe I've only read it, or just read about it and seen things about it. Some of it was very familiar, other parts a lot less so.

Coming home, I managed to take the bus without much waiting, but only after seeing I couldn't make it at the first possible stop, and then walking fast to the later stop on the route and hoping that the bus would linger it at a timing and sometime driver change stop the usual extra few minutes. As I managed to catch it, it presumably did—otherwise I would have been home faster by walking rather than waiting for the next bus.

Book in a series: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62226126-the-last-devil-to-die
Multiple POVs: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136276174-the-search-party
Female author: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210795013-here-one-moment
Friendship: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/196764063-the-day-after-the-party
Name in the title: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197627190-the-reappearance-of-rachel-price
YA: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174163045-the-dare
Biography/memoir: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211163702-kingmaker
Scifi/fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36630924-here-and-now-and-then
Book from TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28016509-the-girl-before
With a woman protagonist: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200638897-the-fortune-teller
Ebook/audiobook: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204587595-her-majesty-s-royal-coven
Set somewhere you've been: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13614116-natural-causes
From the library: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/179312410-has-anyone-seen-charlotte-salter

Substitution list:
*Author you've never read before
*Book older then you are
*Fairy Tale or Fairy Tale Retelling
*Graphic novel or Comic - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213477761-fate
*Pet or Animal Companion
*A main character over the age of 30
*Under 100 Pages - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63945326-the-gift
*Romance Plot or Sub-plot - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203416581-a-novel-love-story
*Translated https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61448964-g-kungen
*Humour
*Non- fiction
*With a Blue Cover - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62792245-five-bad-deeds
*Horror or Paranormal
*Colour in the Title
*Seasonal Read
*Book made into a film or tv series - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36306720-the-perfect-couple
*Historical (fiction or non-fiction)
*Number in title - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61653791-four-found-dead
*Female author
*Three word title - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37819454-three-days-missing
*Craft, Hobby or Cookbook
*Written by an author from your state or country
*Animal on the cover
*Disability or Mental health
*Read a book from the year you were born
*Mythology
*Title begins with first letter of your name - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40770941-her-pretty-face
*Dystopian - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214471703-sunrise-on-the-reaping
*Book mentioned in another book
*Diverse reads
*One word title - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218455872-sleep
*Award Winning/Bestseller
*Disabled Author
*Non-western Setting - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63247547-last-resort
*Set in your state/country
*Title is at Least Five Words Long - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203019749-things-don-t-break-on-their-own
*indigenous author
*Has illustrations (but not a comic or graphic novel) - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62715477-fire-and-blood
*Set at a school/university (my old one, in fact)- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219491276-when-we-were-killers
*No sex/romance
*Re-read

My Goodreads is here, feel free to follow: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/46625765?ref=nav_profile_l

justmarried exchange is currently in the nomination phase, and I have been having trouble because they allow you to sign up with ten fandoms but you only can nominate seven. And my favorite marriage trope is the sedoretu, which is a specific type of poly marriage invented by Ursula K. LeGuin, and requires four people. Which means that I need to have foursomes nominated! (Although I can just go with a pairing and say "I love sedoretus, if you want to write this pairing as a sedoretu you can choose who to have be the other pair in the sedoretu.")

Anyway, the reason I have not nominated is that I am waiting to see what else got nominated to help me whittle down what I want to nominate, and I just checked the nominations and I think that tielan has nominated! (Thank you!) Because the BSG foursome I was going to nominate (Lee/Kara/Sam/Dee) has been nominated, and so has the Steve/Maria/Bucky/Natasha foursome in MCU fandom, and both are foursomes I have written as sedoretus for tielan before. Which means that not only is there someone interested in the same characters, there's someone who's probably going to sign up who is interested in sedoretus, specifically. That is really exciting to me! And it does free up some nomination slots.

Here are some nominations I am planning:

TGE: Maia/Csethiro/Csevet/Vedero (there are a bunch of TGE ships already nominated but they are all suuuuuuuper rare)

DS9: Sisko ships, Worf/Jadzia, Miles/Keiko/Kira/Bashir

TOS: Spock/Uhura and some foursomes (although someone on the Yuletide discord may be nominating sedoretus in this fandom, which would mean I don't have to nominate them and could free up a slot)

B5: John/Delenn, John/Delenn/Lennier, Delenn/Neroon, John/Delenn/Lennier/? (I don't know who I'd put with those three to complete the sedoretu--Anna, maybe? a Minbari OC?)

Peter Wimsey, sedoretu with Parker and Mary? Or Bunter? (Although I can't think of who would be the fourth in a sedoretu with Bunter, so I may just leave that as a poly threesome.

Rivers of London--I think just Peter/Beverly here, because I can't think of any sedoretus and ever since we learned that Nightingale was ace (in the novella Masquerades of Spring) that has completely killed any desire to ship him, for me. RoL is the only one on the list that's iffy, because much as I love it I'm not sure how much I'm into RoL + marriage tropes.

That's six, and with BSG taken care of I can look at some of my other fandoms for the seventh slot. Here are some options:

SW Legends, Han/Leia/Luke/Mara, Han/Leia/Lando, Lando/Luke/Mara. Han/Leia/Lando most properly belongs in SW OT, but that would mean using a second Star Wars nomination slot.

TNG: nobody's nominated this yet, and I can't think of any sedoretus, but I would probably do something like Picard/Guinan (my TNG rare pair OTP), Picard/Ro, Riker/Ro, Troi/Worf, and Data/Geordi

Random Harvest. Look, this movie is just so tropey and melodramatic it would be amazing to pile even more tropes into it.

 

My Google Alert on K-pop today included an article from The Korea Herald entitled "G-Dragon, Le Sserafim, Babymonster push on with overseas concerts amid COVID-19 surge in Asia". Since American news sources have gone radio silent on COVID, I ended up reading this article for infectious disease news rather than musical news. Here's the relevant part:

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Monday, countries including China, Thailand and Singapore have recently reported a notable increase in COVID-19 cases. While the situation in Korea remains relatively stable, the agency warned that a summer resurgence is possible due to international travel and regional outbreaks.

The NB.1.8.1 variant — now dominant in the affected countries — is known for its strong transmissibility and immune-evasive properties, although its severity and fatality rate remain relatively low. The KDCA is advising high-risk travelers to these countries to get vaccinated before departure.

Finished since the last reading post
Family History, which was OK, but what made it hard for me to really feel engaged with it was the feeling that the fun and exciting parts of Evelyn and Miles's relationship were all happening off-screen. And I didn't feel really interested in her as a character—too clingy in her relationship and without other interests in her life.

Currently reading
Still reading Heaven on Earth.

Reading next
Not entirely sure but I'll need to pick up something new. With the new books I've bought recently, I certainly have a few options.

• 3 June
  • I'm in Love with the Villainess, vol. 3 (Inori)
  • Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, vol. 10 (Yuto Tsukuda)