(no subject)

Mar. 15th, 2026 02:57 pm
turps: (kobra kid 2 (spuzz))
[personal profile] turps
Happy Mother's Day to all that celebrate today. I got a lovely text from Corey saying he'd phone on his way home from work. Which is thankfully around 8 today and not late shift bar closing hours.

It was the Consett Cats craft fair yesterday. I knew going in we wouldn't make any money due to the location, and that's exactly what happened. But what I did do was get to talk to many other adopters, give some money to the rescue from items that did sell, and come home with a Consett Cat tote bag and a ridiculous amount of baked goods and cake. Even more cake than I planned as I was talking to one of the bakers at the end of the afternoon and she asked if I wanted to take three leftover cupcakes, and really, how could I say no?

There was also an Easter egg drive in the run up to the fair, with the donated eggs being put in brown bags and sealed up for a lucky wheel spin. At first they used the wheel correctly, but they'd had so many eggs donated by the end of the fair anyone spinning the wheel won an egg no matter if it landed on win or lose. At £2 a spin I got the eggs I need for the nieces and nephews, and maybe a spare for myself.

There was another good thing, the lady on the table next to us was a professional shopper for M&S for her day job and she was giving us tips on stall product placement and most interesting, the new trends coming in. Apparently, it's going to be tissue box covers, decorative trays that hold candles etc that can sit on coffee tables, wooden bangles and hare decorations. Now, most of those James can do, maybe not the bangles, but the rest, yeah. So, I think he's going to try for some of those for the next fair, which is this coming Saturday.

I enjoyed the season finale of Star Trek Academy, and am glad that season two has not only already being announced, but shown as wrapped via an Insta video from Karim Diane. It really has been my favourite new show recently, and there's not a character I don't like.

I've also watched the last ep of Call the Midwife, and what a bittersweet episode it was. The show did lose it's way a little at times, and was often the Dr Turner show, but I did enjoy it and will be watching the film and prequel show while waiting for season 16 to eventually be show, which will be a while from what the show creatorshave stated.
mark: A photo of Mark kneeling on top of the Taal Volcano in the Philippines. It was a long hike. (Default)
[staff profile] mark posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance

Happy Saturday!

I'm going to be doing a little maintenance today. It will likely cause a tiny interruption of service (specifically for www.dreamwidth.org) on the order of 2-3 minutes while some settings propagate. If you're on a journal page, that should still work throughout!

If it doesn't work, the rollback plan is pretty quick, I'm just toggling a setting on how traffic gets to the site. I'll update this post if something goes wrong, but don't anticipate any interruption to be longer than 10 minutes even in a rollback situation.

Me-and-media update

Mar. 12th, 2026 09:46 am
china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
[personal profile] china_shop
Previous poll review
In the Being an audience poll, 41.3% of respondents have been to the cinema in the last six months, 28.3% to the theatre, and 17.4% to a live music gig. I'm curious about the 10.9% who chose "other".

In ticky-boxes, bakery treats came second to hugs, 60.9% to 73.9%, which is an excellent showing. Snow puppies came third with 47.8%. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
Andrew and I finished Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold, so now I know what [personal profile] minoanmiss meant by SHOPPING TRIP. *takes a moment* Anyway, it was great. I love Bujold's character work and her humour. Looking forward to the next one and getting to know Miles.

Kdramas
Still re-watching One Spring Night, lol. I made a flaily post about it a few days ago, but then realised that my "realisations" were actually explained in the next few scenes, so I don't know if I'm seeing the show differently or just remembering info I learned from the first time around. I've since privated the post, but if you've seen OSN and want to talk to me about it, please do!! I am mildly obsessed.

I also started Undercover Miss Hong on [personal profile] adore's rec. I'm in the middle of episode 2, and it's great so far. It reminds me of Good Manager (AKA Chief Kim) to the point where I checked if it was the same writer (it isn't), and otoh, the lead is played by Park Shin-hye, who was the nun in the "nun undercover as her twin brother in a boyband" drama, You're Beautiful, which was my gateway drug into the world of Kdramas, so in a way it feels like coming full circle. (Here, she's undercover as a 20yo.)

Other TV
We finished the Return of the King extras (omg, so stressful!). Still watching The Pitt, of course, though I really think it works better all in a bunch, rather than one episode a week. (I won't say "binged", because the most we ever manage is three episodes a night -- that's a lot for us.)

Happened to notice that Cheers is on Neon (NZ streaming service, incl. some HBO), and randomly started watching it -- it's aged surprisingly well! Very white, and the sexism vs feminism tension is front and centre, but Sam is fine, and everyone seems to be having a good time. We'll stick with that for a while and see.

The pilot of R.J. Decker, a new PI show loosely based on a Carl Hiaasen novel. It's very network TV, case-of-the-week and easy-going. Good supporting cast. Seems fine. A few episodes of Ponies, about two CIA widows trying to be spies in cold war Russia. They don't have much trade craft yet, so it's equal parts comedic and tense. Half an episode of SurrealEstate.

My sister and I are still on Fringe season 4, in which the entire multiverse revolves around Peter; I prefer Lincoln. And we watched some Bluey, naturally. Just finished season 1 and started season 2. 🧡💙🧡

Audio entertainment
All the usual suspects. More Movie Briefs, more local politics. And the episode of A Bit Fruity recced by [personal profile] sabotabby (who gives excellent podcast recs, btw). A Tech Won't Save Us episode about The Luddite Club. A bit of Ad Astra about pacing. I think I'm spending too much time listening to podcasts.

Online life
The 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange is coming soon!! We've been doing some behind-the-scenes prep for that. And wheeeee, I won a Fandom Trumps Hate auction (my first time bidding) -- so exciting!!

Writing/making things
Still bashing my head against the two things I started for Yuletide. It would be fantastic to get these off my plate before I get my 520 Day assignment and have to redecorate my brain in Guardian. *plugs away* (I feel like my intuition is offline, and I'm having to figure everything out with my inept thinking brain, why?)

In drawing, I did a practice pic of Zhao Yunlan, and wow, expressions are hard; the difference between worried and scared is, like, a millimetre here, a millimetre there...

Life/health/mental state things
The tsunami of ambient stress is making itself felt in my body. When I bought my new phone, I somehow got six months' free premium Fitbit membership again, so I tried wearing my Fitbit to sleep, to build up a data profile. And yep, an "objective" poor rating makes a subjective bad night's sleep feel so much worse. That's why I stopped doing this last time! So I've stopped again. Also, my resting pulse rate was going up and up for a while there. /o\

Had my free breast-squish day.

Goals
I did not do my goal things from last week. Ah well.

Good things
Sunshine. New (second-hand) red bag arrived this week; I don't think it's as waterproof as advertised, but it's a step up from my sponge of a handbag. Showers and kitties and going out to lunch. Biking and bike lanes. The Bingo fanart I received in [community profile] fandomtrees continues to be cheering/soothing. GUARDIAN!!

Poll #34352 Fitness trackers
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 49


Do you use a fitness tracker to monitor your activity?

View Answers

yes, regularly
9 (18.4%)

yes, sometimes
2 (4.1%)

...and an app
5 (10.2%)

I use the pedometer on my phone
8 (16.3%)

no, but I used to
6 (12.2%)

no, but I'm thinking about starting
1 (2.0%)

other no
23 (46.9%)

other
1 (2.0%)

ticky-box full of "I genuflect to the sanctity of the ticky-box"
20 (40.8%)

ticky-box full of otters building obstacle courses
24 (49.0%)

ticky-box of FANDOM SPARKLES
28 (57.1%)

ticky-box full of bears baking blueberry and salmon muffins
21 (42.9%)

ticky-box full of hugs hugs hugs
34 (69.4%)

(no subject)

Mar. 10th, 2026 12:43 pm
turps: (cheerful duck)
[personal profile] turps
I got mail from [personal profile] romantical, thank you so much! ♥

Good news, Rosie has resurfaced!

She messaged yesterday apologising for not being in touch and for any confusion and frustration that had caused. Then said both classes would be back next week, and asked if I wanted a one to one/weigh in this Thursday or Friday. That would have been fine for me, but James always gets his at the same time and would have been at work, so the appointment was pushed back to next Wednesday after class.

Of course, I told her she has nothing to apologise for. Obviously something has been wrong, and while I do think the organisers of the scheme should have kept people informed better than they did, I don't blame Rosie herself for needing and taking the time off.

So, you can be glad I'll stop posting about her being MIA, and instead will change back to posting about her being evil!Rosie again. Which she will be, I suspect I'll need scooped off the floor after class on Monday after two months off. And yes, I've still been going to the gym, but I know I don't push myself as much on my own, especially so as all the strength machines are done sitting down.

I continue to be amused about the TikTok colab offers that James receives. The latest was for black hair dye, and all I could think was, do they even look at the people they're offering this stuff to?

Look who's finally using the the wall furniture )

(no subject)

Mar. 8th, 2026 04:22 pm
turps: (cats and coffee)
[personal profile] turps
It was the second craft fair of the year yesterday, and it went okay. Quiet with only a few sales, but at least we made our table costs this time, and even had money left over after buying coffee. Not that it started that well, it was held in a church, which is a lovely venue, but to get there you have to park on the other side of a very busy road and go down to the greenman crossing. We did that, James carrying the A Frame we use to hang the hanging stuff, me trundling the festival trolled loaded with two big crates and three bags. Finally got to the other side of the road only for some guys in a passing van to yell we'd dropped a bag, and yep, there it was sitting on the other side of the busy road.

Thankfully, some lovely ladies grabbed it and brought it over to me, but still, not the best start.

We were talking to the organiser at the end of the fair, and I was saying how we hadn't made the table cost at our last fair and she was worried the same had happened that day. I could reassure her that wasn't the case, but even if it was, it's our risk to take. At this time of year we're really just out keeping PyroRex's presence going, hanging on until people have spare money again.

To which end, we're at another fair next Saturday, this one in aid of the cat rescue. Historically, not a good one for sales at any time of the year due to the location which has no passing footfall, but a cause we believe in so we'll be there trying to raise some funds for both us and the cats.

Right now James and my Sil are out watching Chris McCausland's stand up show which started at 4. It's their thing, watching comedy shows together. It's also a show they've been waiting a long time for as James bought the ticket back in 2024 as a Christmas present for my SiL thinking the show was happening in 2025, but in fact, it was actually March 26. So, after all that time I hope they enjoy it.

He sent me a message earlier, and I thought he'd managed to see Chris or something, but nope, he'd spotted one of the new Just Eat robot delivery things that have just arrived in Sunderland and sent me a video of it trundling past. They are cool to see, though, I do wonder how long it'll be before one ends up thrown in the river wear or vandalised.

And now as I have an evening alone I intend to have an early lobster bath and book. I know, shocker, right?

February books

Mar. 9th, 2026 12:13 am
littlerhymes: (Default)
[personal profile] littlerhymes
Lieutenant Hornblower - C. S. Forester
Beyond Measure - James Vincent
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie
Post Captain - Patrick O'Brian
NOS4A2 - Joe Hill

belated books )

Me-and-media update

Mar. 6th, 2026 04:41 pm
china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
[personal profile] china_shop
Previous poll review
In the spam SPAM spam poll, 52% of respondents only check their spam folder when they're looking for a specific thing, 30% check it maybe once a month, 10% weekly, and 8% daily. (This question was inspired by gmail sending multiple emails in the middle of threads to spam, wtf.)

In ticky-boxes, blanket cocoons and comfort food came second to hugs, 62% to 74%. Judgy koalas came third with 56%. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
I read Courtney Milan's The Earl Who Isn't, which was just as enjoyable at the others in the series. Her kissing and UST are excellent, and I love everyone in Wedgeford.

Bounced off Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield, with prejudice. (That was one of my library books.) The first "chapter" (of three in the entire book) was a blow-by-blow account of working backstage at SNL; the second "chapter" (which I flicked through) was lockdown correspondence. I didn't like either of the characters.

I don't know what I'm reading next. Or listening to on my own. But Andrew and I have about 2.5 hours left in Barrayar.

Kdramas
Oh no, I finished One Spring Night and kind of... went back to the beginning and started it again. With occasional diversions into Something in the Rain (which ha, is by the same writer, as well as having vast numbers of cast members in common, so that explains that). At some point I'll emerge from this Jung Hae In fever dream and start something else.

Pru and I finished Family by Choice (I LOVE IT SO MUCH), and next week we're starting Love Scout (\o/).

Other TV
We're on the final disk of extras for Return of the King, and that'll be it. It's stressful seeing the last-minute absolute chaos behind the scenes, but also kind of magical. Still going on The Pitt, and we've watched a couple of episodes of Dinosaur, a UK sitcom about two sisters, one of whom is autistic. I like it!

Got a few things lined up: new seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer and Dark Winds, more Scavengers Reign, there were probably some other things, idk.

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, some Better Offline, some What Matters Most (chatty general life psychology/advice), Cross Party Lines (local politics), Letters from an American (just a few /o\), Heaving Bosoms (chatty recaps of romance novels, just for something relaxing to put in my ears), Movie Briefs (lawyers talk about law movies, ditto).

Online life
*hugs you all, so much*

...

Writing/making things
My Yuletide treat is at beta at last. \o/ Now I've started in on my Yuletide assignment fic, unfinished at 7k words. I'm imposing a new structure on it to see if that might make it more finishable. No drawing practice.

Life/health/mental state things
Idk, I'm okay. Getting some things done, at least. Getting a fair amount of sleep and exercise. Doing righteous battle with my health insurer. Spending too much time tweaking my new phone to make it behave how I want.

Goals
This week: make a batch of vegetarian dumplings, make a mini quiche in the air fryer. All my goals are food, hi!

Good things
Sunshine. Helpful, supportive people. The 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange is coming soon! Kitty. New phone is mostly behaving itself. We went to a delightfully geeky talk about dragonflies.

Poll #34329 Being an audience
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 47


In the last six months, I've been (in person) to

View Answers

cinema
19 (40.4%)

theatre
13 (27.7%)

live music gig
8 (17.0%)

ballet
1 (2.1%)

opera
2 (4.3%)

sports game
2 (4.3%)

other
6 (12.8%)

ticky-box full of bakery treats
28 (59.6%)

ticky-box full of keeping a paper appointment diary
9 (19.1%)

ticky-box full of rambling around the podcast 'verse getting your ears dirty
8 (17.0%)

ticky-box full of softly squishable snow puppies snuggling in a heap
22 (46.8%)

ticky-box full of hugs to you all <3 <3 <3
34 (72.3%)

(no subject)

Mar. 3rd, 2026 04:27 pm
turps: (MikeyPete (turloughishere))
[personal profile] turps
I had my behind the knee scan today. My appointment was at 8:30, I was at the place by 8:10, waited until exactly half past, when I was taken to the scan room and scanned and done within ten minutes. Apparently results will be sent to my doctor in about a week, so guess we'll see if anything shows then.

As I was in the same building I'd always planned to go to the gym after my appointment, which is exactly what I did. The receptionist called me over on the way in, asking if I'd had news about Rosie, as it seems they're as clueless as me. We got to talking, and I was saying how I missed the class, and the receptionist said why didn't I try one of the actual gym classes.

I admitted to her that they still intimidate me a little, so she said there another class that was for beginners and could be adapted. It has two levels, one for people who need to sit while exercising, and a next level class for those that could stand but could adapt moves if needed.

I was a bit unsure, so she said she'd sent the trainer in to see me so we could have a talk, and well, I'm going back to the gym and to the level two class in about an hour. I have to admit though, after talking to him, where he gave me an example of the stuff they do, I suspect it won't be challenging enough. But, even if it's not, it's making me accountable to actually go back out and do something.

This burst of energy is helped by the fact it's a gorgeous day today, cool, but so sunny it lifted my spirits when I was out walking earlier.

ETA: I got distracted by a survey and had to leave in hurry to get there on time, so couldn't post before leaving. I'm back home again now and like I suspected the class was easy, only three circuits of 5 exercises, and you got to sit down between each circuit. I'll go back as I do like the community aspect of the classes, plus there's the walk either side on top, but doubt I'll break a sweat while there.

The survey I talked about amused me. The screener was have you watched Heated Rivalry, so of course I had to click yes, and then ended up with a survey that kept asking if I related to Shane and Ilya personally, and especially, to their sexual relationship. It was quite easy to say my own relationship may not be that intense.

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erilyn

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