there are oceans and rivers enough

Dec. 3rd, 2025 07:06 pm
pensnest: Bright red shoes against the seashore (Red Shoes)
[personal profile] pensnest
Beast and I were watching 'Madam President' earlier today, and they mentioned having a warship offload a bunch of refugees to a Camp in New Mexico.

"Does New Mexico have a coastline?" said I, dubiously.

It does not. Beast and I had a brief argument on this point, as he was maintaining that Mexico has two coastlines, which it does, but New Mexico? Not the same thing.

So... warship? I mean, how?

(I realise this is an old reference. We are watching on DVDs loaned by Bun. (Still, I'm kinda wondering why none of the Americans in the room where it was made noticed the problem. Or is there a known pipeline from the Atlantic—or the Gulf of wherever—to New Mexico? (Okay now I am imagining a couple of hundred refugees trekking miserably through an actual pipeline, a less glamorous Anatevka march.)))

winter break advent card

Dec. 2nd, 2025 04:55 pm
svgurl: (smallville: clark santa)
[personal profile] svgurl
My card for the Winter Break Advent Challenge.

current fandom events

Dec. 2nd, 2025 12:21 pm
svgurl: (one tree hill: brooke/peyton)
[personal profile] svgurl
[tumblr.com profile] 12daysofchristmas is a multimedia multi fandom winter prompt based fest that runs from December 13-24th, with three options to choose from on each day.

[community profile] mcu15 is a prompt table challenge focused on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[personal profile] elasticella is running sapphic stocking stuffers, a multifandom multimedia f/f gifting event where you post your own "stocking" and fill others requests. Sign-ups are open until December 6th and fills are open until Dec 31st.

[community profile] rarefemslashexchange (:D :D :D), a fic/art exchange for rare f/f ships (less than 250 works, complete, in English, using the otp:true filter), is accepting nominations until December 10th, 10PM PST.

[community profile] polyamships is running Pass That Blorbo: Holiday Edition, a prompt challenge where you try to figure out how to pass that blorbo in as many ways as possible. Sign-ups are open until December 19th, 8:00PM (GMT-4).

Blood Drive is an event encouraging people to donate blood, plasma, or other blood products, register as a donor for bone marrow, organs, research, or other donor programs, and/or facilitating a blood drive by volunteering, organizing, or other kinds of help. If you do those things in December or January, you can leave a prompt to be claimed. :)

Holiday Love Meme is back for another year! :)

holiday love meme 2025
my thread here


[community profile] genprompt_bingo, a multimedia multifandom bingo that has "gen" prompts, is open for Round 29 sign-ups.

[community profile] comment_bingo (:D), a bingo challenge where you used the provided prompts to comment on existing fanworks rather than create your own, is opened for Round 8 Sign-Ups. Click on the banner below to find out more and request a card! :)

blue background containing community name and goal with various social media and commenting symbols

[community profile] fancake's theme of the month is: amnesty. Click on the banner below to learn more!

Photograph of the aurora borealis taken in Norway, text: Amnesty, at Fancake. The northern lights are a bright green scribble that stretches over the horizon, along a snowy mountain ridge, and up into the starry night sky.

Post-Thanksgiving Update

Dec. 2nd, 2025 12:06 pm
halfshellvenus: (Default)
[personal profile] halfshellvenus
I hope those of you who celebrated had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Our daughter was home for it (yay!), and we relaxed and got a LOT more pictures up. All that's left is our bedroom, which requires committing to furniture placement. I would like the arrangement we had before, but that would put the armoire with the TV in an awkward spot as there is now a doorway where it used to be, and also a really inconveniently-placed light switch that cannot be moved. :(

I worked on two Idol entries over much of last week, though I'd hoped to spend more time putting stuff away (dating from the move-in a year ago). :O There are two polls this week, HERE and HERE, and you can read all of the stories off of those links. I appreciate your votes and support more than you know!

We were able to barbecue our turkey in a Weber kettle for the first time in 4 years. This is a different model than what we had before, which introduced some mystery. A little overdone on the skin, a little underdone at the core, despite what the meat thermometer indicated. Thank goodness for microwaves! I also wanted to post up our cranberry sauce recipe last week, but didn't have easy access to it. Worth sharing? It's reduced-calorie because it has less sugar than the can-log version, and it's just sweet enough with a little tartness. Love it!

HalfshellHusband and our son and I saw del Toro's Frankenstein, which we really liked. Very soulful, and the laboratory sets were swoon-worthy! We also re-watched Return To Me and The Fall Guy so our daughter could see them. The first... who knew David Duchovny could make a character be sweet as well as funny? The latter... is SUCH a fun movie. HSH is getting the DVD of it for Xmas, though he doesn't know it.

I also watched a lot of Orphan Black in the garage, since the foggy weather (and its accompanying cold) lasted all of last week. I thought I'd be biking outside that whole time, but no. Too miserable. :(

Started Xmas shopping yet?

(no subject)

Dec. 2nd, 2025 06:15 pm
turps: (Groot is awesome)
[personal profile] turps
It was James' birthday yesterday. I like to buy him t-shirts that I know will appeal to his sense of humour, and this one went down really well.

Since last, I posted.

I had to change the reservation day for our Christmas meal out with Pauline, my brother, niece, and nephew. Reason being when I went to get the deposit money off my brother to take to the restaurant, he decided to tell me that my niece was actually working on the booked day. It took a bit of organising, and a lot of luck that a table was left at this late date, but I managed to change the reservation to a day everyone was available.

I'll just skip past the fact I also realised I'd double booked myself and James with both our tickets to see Kinky Boots at the theatre and the meal being the same time/day. So, the situation with my niece got us out of a jam, too. Not that I told Pauline what I'd done...

We did a craft fair on Saturday and it was a good one. A long day and it was raining really heavily when we were leaving, so we got soaked packing the car, but it was worth going. I also liked the organisers gave tickets to all the traders to get free coffee or tea and then later on gave out little cones of sweets. It's those little touches that make all the differences.

Our table was opposite the chocolate tombola which was very popular, so we got lots of passing people. Though, sadly, I didn't win when I tried myself.

In an hour or so my brother is coming to put up a hand rail on our outside front steps. There are four pretty steep steps and while we can get up them fine, I'd feel better if some kind of rail was there, especially when things get slippy in the winter. The rail he's putting up is really solid, and in fact, I took it from mam's house when we had to give that up, so it's good it's being installed at last. And eta, it's up and installed.

On Friday I had a one to one with Rosie cut for talk about weight )

It's giving giving tuesday

Dec. 2nd, 2025 11:18 am
jadelennox: its the story of an ice cube but every time he feels happy it make him melt a little bit more (story of an ice cube)
[personal profile] jadelennox

For this week, for everyone who makes a donation to the BIJAN Beyond Bond & Legal Defense Fund, I will write a drabble about some character or show I know enough about to write. Since I've only written one fic since 2014 it's going to be rough, but BIJAN desperately needs the money and I'm going to try.

The Beyond Bond & Legal Defense Fund (the Bond Fund) raises money for immigration bonds to free people in ICE prisons in Massachusetts and Rhode Island or those detained elsewhere who are from or returning to MA.

Donate.

Tell me you made a donation and give me a prompt! If I don't know the source material we can negotiate.

(If you can't give money to a US org, make a donation to an org in your country that helps refugees and undocumented migrants stay.)

Rec-cember Day 3: Generation Kill

Dec. 2nd, 2025 10:14 pm
falena: [Generation Kill] brad and nate standing side by side with a heart-shaped doodle between them (brad/nate)
[personal profile] falena

Generation Kill

Since I mentioned it yesterday, I thought I might post about it today. Generation Kill is a 2008 HBO miniseries about the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. On paper, nothing could be farther from what I normally like. However, I fell into the fandom headlong during the pandemic, and, as I wrote at the time, somehow, watching a bunch of puerile marines fumble their way through a poorly-planned, incompetently-led, questionably-motivated military invasion helped me maintain my sanity during lockdown. Basically, I came for the trainwreck factor and stayed for the awesome fic. I think Generation Kill is the fandom with the highest quality of writing I have ever had the pleasure to read in.

As usual, let's start with some stories that could be enjoyed even if you're not familiar with canon.

  1. Don't You Shake Alone by [archiveofourown.org profile] dsudis. This is PTSD-flavoured baby fic. Yeah... It sounds weird and possibly boring. Yet it isn't. It's romance too (M/M, Brad/Nate for those who know the characters). An excellent depiction of PTSD, new parenthood and two people deciding to commit to each other, all rolled into one. Luckily for me, it also exists in podfic: here by [archiveofourown.org profile] chemm80, who is another pdoficcer who should be doing this for a living, she's so good.

  2. Rock Happy. This is a Stargate Atlantis crossover. Now, I've only watched SG film 20 years ago and possibily caught only a coupe of eps of SGA (dubbed in Italian, lol) in the paleolithic so I wasn't familiar with either canon. It has a bunch of OCs, I think. This was super interesting. Plotty and gen! And so absorbing.

  3. Born Ready by [archiveofourown.org profile] makeit_takeit. 98K of the best kind of M/M romance.20 years worth of The Making of Brad and Nate. Best enjoyed if you know the canon, but since this follows our main characters from when they were teenagers and long after canon has ended, you can totally just be swept along in this epic, amazing romance. I'd buy this as a book if I could. And if I could just pay someone to record a podfic version, I would. It's been at the top of my fannish wishlist since reading this masterpiece.

  4. To Shame The Devil by [archiveofourown.org profile] Kalliste. This is a future!fic AU, with supernatural elements and genderswap. I think it works pretty well for those unfamiliar with canon, honestly.The podfic by Chemm80 is another of my all-time favourites.

  5. I could rec another 10 fics easily, but since it's the lead-up to Christmas I'll leave you with this little festive gem Managing Expectations by [personal profile] alethia. Podfic version: here by [archiveofourown.org profile] chemm80

The Pitt

So, one of the two hot ER cowboys I mentioned yesterday, Dr Jack Abbot, is a marine veteran himself. The crossover with Generation Kill was just begging to be written and the excellent [archiveofourown.org profile] astronomical_light rose admirably to the challenge and delivered: the path we took to get here. Brad/Nate and Robby/Abbot. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Jack says, resting his hands on his hips and tilting his head in assessment. Santos was right—Brad is a little impaled. It’s been something like twenty years since the last time Jack saw him, yet he looks infuriatingly unchanged. His hair’s a little darker, less sun-bleached blond, but for all that he’s still golden California tan he’s got far fewer lines around his eyes than Jack can say about himself.

31 days of gratitude

Dec. 2nd, 2025 01:56 am
ruric: (Default)
[personal profile] ruric
So to combat the general feelings that we're rapidly heading into he'll in a handbasket I'm attempting December's 31 days of gratitude challenge.

Pretty simple rules:

Commit to writing in a gratitude journal daily for 31 days in December. Just 5-10 minutes each day listing what you're thankful for can transform your mindset, improve relationships, and boost happiness. No special skills needed — just a notebook and willingness to appreciate life.

* Write Daily: spend 5-10 minutes writing 3-5 things you're grateful for each day.

* Be Specific: instead of "I'm grateful for my family," write "I'm grateful for my sister's encouraging text today."

* Feel It: don't just list items - truly connect with the feeling of gratitude as you write.

* Mix It Up: include big things and small moments, people, experiences, and personal qualities.

* By hand: write it in a dedicated journal or on a piece of paper by hand. The physical act of writing is important here.
halfshellvenus: (Default)
[personal profile] halfshellvenus
The Three Trolls
LJ Idol Wheel Of Chaos | Week 16, #2 | 1812 words
There was only one bed

x-x-x-x-x

Once, there were three trolls who lived in a cave deep in the heart of the Winsome Woods. The trolls wore rough tunics and carried large clubs, and they terrorized many of the other inhabitants of the forest. When they were not bothering other wood-folk, they squabbled with each other over almost everything.

The cave had only one bed, which the three trolls shared. Some weeks, they argued about which of them had to sleep in the middle and get poked by pointy knees and elbows from both sides. In other weeks, they fought over which of them had to sleep at the edges and risk being pushed out of the bed.

They had arguments about whose turn it was to make dinner, and then the two who had not cooked complained about the menu. The tidiest of the trolls lamented the mess in the cave, while the other two fussed about the sterility and the lack of homeyness whenever the cave was clean.

The heart of it was that trolls were contrarians, and frequently that included being contrary with themselves as well as everyone else.

Trog was a great, hulking beast who longed to be delicate and dainty. He stomped up and down the countryside, scattering squirrels and bunny rabbits with the pounding of his footsteps. His voice was like thunder, its power stripping the leaves from the nearby trees.

Fernwick was smaller, and utterly envious of Trog's size. He was the most forgettable of the trolls, and he was all too aware of it. Piplet was the tiniest, with a screechy little voice that made dogs howl and birds lose their feathers. Piplet resented the world and everything in it with a fury exceeding that of the other two trolls put together.

They were a disagreeable bunch, and when they roved as a pack none dared to approach them.

Read more... )

If you enjoyed this entry, please vote for it in the poll here.

Rec-cember Day 2: Merlin

Dec. 1st, 2025 10:45 pm
falena: Closeup of Noah Wylie as John Carter on ER (carter)
[personal profile] falena

Merlin

This BBC show for children is a prime example of one of those fandoms where, for me, fanon clearly surpassed and trascended canon. I don't think I ever finished watching the show back when it was airing, but man, the Merlin/Arthur fic I have saved I have gone back to hundreds of times in the intervening years, especially as podfic. I don't know why precisely the idea of a relationship between a stuckup but brave prince and its bumbling but loyal manservant was right up my alley but it just was.

The Student Prince by [archiveofourown.org profile] fayjay. This is a modern day AU where Arthur is the heir to the British throne and he meets Merlin at university in Saint Andrews, in circa 2010. This is basically the one of the best YA romances I've ever read, better than most traditionally published stuff and it can totally be read with little to no knowledge of the tv show. I re-listen to the podfic version (read by the author herself, who is actually better than most pro audiobook readers) at least once a year.

[personal profile] fayjay has podficced many of my favourite canon era stories, like In Time of Trial by [archiveofourown.org profile] shinetheway; The Beltane Cycle by [archiveofourown.org profile] astolat/ Naomi Novik (here is the podfic); The Crown of the Summer Court by [archiveofourown.org profile] astolat/ Naomi Novik (here is the podfic).

The Pitt

I've fallen down the rabbit hole of Mel/Frank shipping and I regret nothing, the quality of the writing for this pairing is stellar. I have 80+ bookmarks for it on the Ao3. However, I do have a soft spot for another pairing, and that is Robby/Abbot. The two ER cowboys, chief attending of the day and night shift respectively. Old man yaoi at its finest. My interest in the pairing is completely [archiveofourown.org profile] alethia's fault. I've been a fan of her work since Generation Kill and she is just such a talented author I literally cannot choose which one of the 30+ Robby/Abbot fic she's written so far is my favourite. I love them all. Go on, pick one at random and read it, you will be blown away. [personal profile] alethia gets these two characters in a way the writers of The Pitt can only dream of. If you're a podfic nut like me, you could start by listening to Safe Haven by [archiveofourown.org profile] andrasteemraldpetal .

halfshellvenus: (Default)
[personal profile] halfshellvenus
This Lonely Highway
Idol Wheel of Chaos | Week 16, #1
Kako no ashoito (memories/events/influences from the past)

x-x-x-x-x

Wheeling through the dark,
light lost to the stars
and the city far behind us,
we travel the barren highway
toward a distant promise.
The moon gleams cold as ice.

On a looming hilltop,
a lone steer stands, starkly
black against the dimness behind it.
The unfenced land crowds close,
the highway an inky ribbon
stretching into the night.

Nothing thrives in this desert,
in this unforgiving land
along the road to somewhere else.
Time waits frozen, as unyielding
as the desolation
of this lonely, forgotten place.

Wakeful, I watch the hills unfold,
mark a field light's deathly glow.
Ghost songs on the radio
float up through the static
in this in-between nowhere
caught so very far from home.


--/--

If you enjoyed this entry, please vote for it in the poll here.

Rec-cember Day 1: Veronica Mars

Nov. 30th, 2025 11:37 pm
falena: mel and langdon from the Pitt, side by side (Langdon/mel)
[personal profile] falena

So, as I said a couple of weeks ago, I'm going to take part in this challenge where you post recs for the month of December. I'm not sure I'm actually going to be able to keep up with daily posts for a whole month, but I can sure try. Few things fill me with more excitement than proper fic recs. I still miss the golden days of fic reccing, back when crack_van or epic-recs were active on LJ. Anyway, the way I decided to play it is this: I'm going to try and do a different fandom each day (though I might do repeats for those fandoms I have more recs for); I'm also going to do a single story for The Pitt every day as that's my current fandom (and I haven't been this obsessed with a single fandom and pairing for years, lol); I'm also going to add podfic links whenever possible, because podfic makes everything better.

Veronica Mars

Rich Dirt by theohara. Logan/Veronica, spoilers for S1, technically, though this is an AU of Shelley Pomroy's party. 3K words. I can't believe I'm kicking off this challenge with a fic which is on LJ and actually still accessible. Lol. It's been over 20 years since this was posted. Maaaan, I'm a true Fandom Old. This fic is second-person narration which is something I usually abhor, please don't let it put you off? It's very good. There's a great podfic by [archiveofourown.org profile] knight_tracer (one of my fave podficcers, I just love her voice and accent!) here.

A Strange New Story Every Time by [archiveofourown.org profile] gyzym Logan/Veronica, futurefic, spoliers for the first three seasons only. Almost 20K. Veronica and Logan meet again in NYC, 10 years after the end of the original run. There's a tiny White Collar cameo, btw. Fantastic characterisation and the dialogue is * chef's kiss* perfect, the banter between these two. Also, the character have aged and thank God matured. Love a future fic that actually allows for character growth. Podfic (a collab!) is available here

The Pitt

Okay, this is mostly for those of you who haven't watched The Pitt yet, Noah Wyle's new medical show set in a Pittsburgh ER. If you haven't you totally should, it's the best tv I've watched in a long while, though of course I literally grew up with ER and John Carter was my first tv crush back when I was 12, lol. Still, what really stole my fannish heart is an unlikely and yet absolutely perfect pairing between two doctors: Frank Langdon, canonically known as ER Ken, a heartthrob, cocky, talented and very damaged fourth-year (senior) resident and just-starting-at-this-new-ER second-year resident Mel King, who is neurodivergent (probably autistic), kind, empathetic and such a darling. They have a mentor/mentee dynamic in canon but their chemistry is undeniable.

I'll get you started with an instant fandom classic for the pairing:2:00 AM by orphan_account. 8K words. Frank/Mel. “I don’t understand why you’re letting that asshole crash at your place,” Santos says, flopping back on the couch in the break room. “Seriously, Mel. There's a reason his wife kicked him out.” You can listen to it as a podfic here. Do not read this if you haven't watched the show yet, as it'll spoil a big character development point for Langdon that was a huge plot twist-. As I said, this is already considered a fandom classic even though The Pitt has been around for less than a year. It showcases Langdon and Mel's dynamic perfectly with great characterisation. It also features a lot of medicine and many of the other characters, it encapsulates pretty well what the show is all about while delivering grade-a shipping stuff.

pensnest: Text: Don't touch my chocolate! (My chocolate! Don't touch!)
[personal profile] pensnest
It was Long-Tailed Tits day today! There were about eight of them—they are very hard to count—at the feeders today. Very sociable diners, all clustering together. So cute!

*

Have been trying to help our Boy prep for a job interview again. He has many good examples of where he has been an Excellent and Useful employee, but he is not at all fluent at expressing them.

*fingers crossed*

*

Concert last night at one of the localmost churches, which is a very pleasant place in which to sing. We sounded good. It was nice.

Week 49 - final month almost here!

Nov. 30th, 2025 12:41 pm
ruric: (Default)
[personal profile] ruric
December looms which means I have 3.5 weeks to get my flat in order so I don't spend the time I have off work stressing about going into the new year totally disorganised. Challenge accepted!

#ORJENISE100 I've started on these but not finished any yet.

HOME: have maintained tidy kitchen, bathroom, hall, landing, stairs which is a win. I'm chipping away at the bedroom but plan to push on with this a couple of nights next week. Aiming to have it at least tidy by close of play 7 December.

HEALTH: pretty good!

LIFE ADMIN: a little financial jiggery pokery.

DIGITAL DECLUTTER: got email down to 11,500 then it went back up to 12,000 but currently back to 11,700. Need to set aside 30 mins a day to deal with archived folders. No progress on phone images recently. May just need to leave this to Xmas hols!

GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: just have the three living room windows boxes to do. Still not made it into the back garden Lots of tidying to do in the tiny back gardenmnor taken the compost to the allotment, also have to sort out houseplants. More tasks for Xmas hols.

COOKING/EATING: last week was still about eating down deli items and living on sandwich lunches. Onn the plus side my fridge is almost empty for my next Oddbox which arrives on Friday and I am currently defrosting some stuff from the freezer to see me through next week and I plan to make a giant curry tomorrow.

READING/LISTENING: nope.

WATCHING: still watching Pluribus and Robin Hood. I like how they've pitched this iteration with Henry II gallivanting in France, we get Eleanor of Aquitaine scheming, plus Sean Bean is a pretty decent Sherrif caught between a rock and a hard place. Since I subscribed to Acorn TV I've had detective shows on in the background. Have just hammered through Hinterland which would lead you to believe Aberystwyth is the murder capital of Wales - it led me to check 34 homicides in the whole of Wales in 2021/22. It was a good show with a compelling storyline through all 3 seasons but was grim viewing. I'm ready for an overload of saccharine Hallmark Xmas movies now.

CREATING/LEARNING: I've been to one Monday and a couple of Friday crochet sessions. I think I'm going to pass or only do 1 Monday a month and focus on the Friday lunchtime ones. I've almost finished my freestyle beanie hat and the Xmas garland is coming along. We did granny square Xmas trees on Friday which are cute and simple - finished one in class and made 5 more at home. Also made some simple stars at home. Focusing at the moment on fast makes that can be completed in 15-30 mins and have been raiding Pinterest and YouTube for free patterns. I also bought a giant load of wool (thank you Black Friday sale) from Wool Warehouse so I can make a start on the totally mad granny square blanket next year. I seem to also have acquired lots of wool over the last year - obviously bought for specific projects but I did not label them at the time (yet another task for the Xmas hols).

CATS: all good.

VOLUNTEERING: still can't get back into allottment Insta but did chase up the other things I needed to do. Will miss next committee meeting tomorrow as it's the AGM for the 23 sites at work tomorrow night.

SOCIALISING: online catch up with friends last Thursday which was good.

WORK: did 3 late night's last week with a colleague as we're both inundated. Productive but long days and it did mean last week was all about work and nothing else! No work-life balance at all. Which I will remedy in December and in to 2026!

it's that time again!

Nov. 29th, 2025 09:21 am
althea_valara: Photo of my cat sniffing a vase of roses  (Default)
[personal profile] althea_valara
holiday love meme 2025
my thread here


If you're not familiar with this: you comment on the post with your username(s), and then people ANONYMOUSLY leave comments on why they like you.
sine_nomine: (Default)
[personal profile] sine_nomine
"Know that holy no's are what guide us towards the Divine yes."
-- Blair Trygstad Stowe
azurelunatic: Vivid pink Alaskan wild rose. (Default)
[personal profile] azurelunatic
The new dryer is just fine, except the top is ever so slightly slanted in a way that makes it a bad place to set your dryer balls.

Have I mentioned that especially after Colonoscopy Week I've had more trouble than usual walking? I've been using my cane inside the house for the first time in quite a while, and I'm limited in how much I can carry without (more) pain. It sucks. Belovedest has set up the short ramp against the shortest outside stairs, and while going up it is Bad, going up the stairs without it is Worse. (Both outside doors have stairs.)

I wasn't available to assist with any of the Thanksgiving cooking. Belovedest did it themselves! Including: turkey, the epic tray of dressing, biscuits from the mix, and instant potatoes made the way that erases the taste of Box. (There was also salad available, but there's quite a bit of vegetable in the sausage-cornbread dressing.)

Today we had some roof inspectors. The inspection's free; the quote for fixing things up is *sigh* very much not free.

another day older

Nov. 28th, 2025 02:31 pm
pensnest: six marshmallows in a rough tower; each has woeful, zombified features (Zombie marshmallows)
[personal profile] pensnest
Yesterday I shovelled two tons of sand.

I just thought you should know.
pensnest: close up of smiling cartoon hippo from Fantasia (Adorable hippo)
[personal profile] pensnest
Dear Becky

No, I don't want you to update my website and maximise my sales. Do you in fact know what my website is for? What exactly it is that I am selling? Didn't think so.

Yours, irritably,
Pen

*

Last night I thought I was incubating—had incubated, indeed—the most horrendous cold. I was miserable! I cancelled this morning's yoga and prepared to battle with Vicks and tissues.

This evening I'm... more or less fine. I do emit an occasional mighty sneeze, and I don't think I can manage any top notes, but otherwise, I'm good. It's nice, but rather baffling.

Spent Sunday at a mixed chorus rehearsal, which was interesting and useful although possibly less fun than I had anticipated. We had a drama chap come to work with us on our performance. He choreographed a number of carefully-thought-out moves, but I had hoped he would work with us on conveying emotions through body language or learning to make our faces work harder for us, or something. Still. It was a useful start on a more disciplined presentation of our song.

Now we just have to remember it all.

*

I think my procrastination skills are faltering a bit, which is just as well as I have a Yuletide story to write and Christmas stuff to organise. I have made a start on the Yuletide thing, which is flowing reasonably well, so far, but it's fairly canon-y at present and I shall flounder far more once I am further adrift. Meanwhile I have also found myself writing a Romance of a not-fannish kind, unless it be a rather remote tribute to Georgette Heyer. Sentences keep forming themselves in my mind when I am trying to go to sleep. So far I have not resorted to phone or notebook to deal with them, as I more or less trust myself to be able to say what I want to say, but argh! Months and months without the ability to write so much as a sentence of fiction, and now, abundance! And I'm sooooo indolent. Sigh.

*

Christmas will be getting under way for me this coming weekend. Well, no, that is not strictly true, of course, I have parcels arriving daily and even went shopping yesterday in Jarrolds Food Hall, always a pleasure. I approve of Norfolk Stuff. And they have a Chocolate Library. Anyway, do sign up for a card from me, on my previous post! I like sending cards out, despite the eyewatering costs of postage.

But this weekend is the chorus concert at the local church, just up the road. It is the traditional start to my chorus's Christmas season, except last year when somebody at the church managed to double book and we ended up not going there. Grump. As mentioned above, I may not be able to hit the high notes, but there are few of these as I only sing Tenor on one song with the women's chorus. (Oddly, I managed an F# on Sunday in brief rehearsal with my quartet, though my voice was feeling the strain at Eb earlier.) I am arming myself with a handful of very short Christmas poems, as I'll probably be doing some of the MC's duties.

*

I seem to have developed an alternative personality for Reddit. Rather more astringent than I am here, where I am myself, and also, rather wittier. Hmm.

Back to the story with the deadline.