Reading

Current Mood: hot
Current Music: The Mighty Nein

Entry tags:

music

Running all over

Yesterday was Federico's Italian store, Aldi's and Kroger's. Today was the liquor store and it was supposed to be CVS but shockingly THIS CVS also doesn't stock my insulin. Fan-tast-tic. The only other thing I've done is edit

fandomtree stories (and found I forgot to post one)

OMG I'm doing bad with the advent tea review so let me catch up....again

Day 17 Gingerbread Black Tea - Organic China black tippy tea, organic cinnamon, organic cloves, organic ginger and gingerbread flavoring. It wasn't bad but it was mostly cinnamon forward

Day 18 Tulsi Orange Cranberry Ginger Organic Herbal Tisane - Organic tulsi, organic orange peel, organic rosehips, organic hibiscus, organic ginger, natural blood orange flavor and natural cranberry flavor. Now this was very tasty. I'd recommend it but sadly I can't drink it often because hibiscus and rose hips mess with blood thinners

Day 19 Cozy Comfort Tea black teas, organic cinnamon pieces, orange blossoms and Black Walnut flavor. I found it to be rather weak and unimpressive

Day 20 Holiday Blend Tea Black teas, rooibos, peppermint leaves, organic alfalfa leaves, vanilla flavoring, malva blossoms, erica flowers, and vanilla beans. - Very mint forward

Day 21 - Goldenberry Herbal Tisane Apple pieces, candied papaya pieces (papayas and sugar), strawberry leaf, hibiscus, lemongrass and natural Goldenberry flavor. Also tasty also not good for me

Day 22 Sugar Plum Fairy - Rooibos Herbal Tisane Organic green rooibos, organic whole cloves, rosehips, hibiscus, sweet blackberry leaf, plum flavor, mallow blossoms, raspberry pieces, natural strawberry flavor, and vanilla beans. I bought this one last year (not seeing that it had hibiscus and rose hips) It's actually dull in spite of all the flavoring

It's music monday and let's make it some of your favorite holiday songs

For solstice

Watch on YouTube

I know I share this one every year

Watch on YouTube

Because Dino

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: relaxed

Pretty quiet day

I got up and had breakfast and coffee, then called

mashfanficchick. Ze texted RK, and he texted back that he was maybe going shopping tomorrow. So all plans are on hold until tomorrow morning.

So instead of going to the store for the rest of the day I did very little. The main thing was wrap the last three presents, the e-spinner for the Kid, the beer brewing thing for her boyfriend, and the ingrediants pack for the beer, which is coming from

mashfanficchick. That was two rather big boxes and one slightly heavy one.

So I put Pandora on Christmas music, and set to it. Then I poured myself eggnog, and that's about it for any actual useful thing I did during the day.

I took a nap, and I played solitaire.

And of course I Teamed the FWiB. Our emailing was disturbed by my email to him from Earthlink bounces as undeliverable. I switched to my gmail account and that worked but it's annoying.

So anyway we'll see what happens tomorrow, either I go shopping with RK and

mashfanficchick or I go to Shop Rite by myself. Or they go shopping without me and get the appetizers for Christmas. We shall see.

Sadly, no new Christmas cards today.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Gmail.

3. Final presents wrapped.

4. Eggnog

5. Naps.

6. Restful day.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Bamberg

Entry tags:

greek mythology

Homer adaptations. Strike 2

Aaaaand the first teaser for Nolan's Odyssey is out. In some ways, my "will be the opposite type of adapatation of The Return " expectation came true - i.e. firm emphasis on the adventure on sea part of the story - in some it didn't, because Nolan seems to go for a traumatized war veteran aura around Odysseus (and his men) as well. Also - is that Tom "Spider-Man" Holland as Telemachus? This conjures up a few weird images. Oh, and, to give credit where credit is due: the aesthetics are gorgeous.

Watch on YouTube

Speaking of Greek myths adaptations, I never read a single one of the books, but I am following the tv series adaption of Percy Jackson on Disney + and am charmed. Definitely much closer to the myths than either Disney's past endeavours (*cough* Hercules *cough* or Marvel's relationship to Norse mythology), though am confused to why the second season apparantly (we haven't seen him yet, he just keeps getting mentioned in dialogue) has decided to include Polyphemus as a villain and yet no one has mentioned ( a major mythological spoiler. )

There are still free spots on the January meme list. Greek (and Roman) myths opinions totally count as a topic. Ditto if you want me to speculate how the Odyssey would have been adapted by: a) Orson Welles, b) JMS (given the Tennyson of it all on B5), c) Ronald D. Moore. Bonus: Charlie Chaplin.

Entry tags:

I've Been Vastly Oversold On The Power Of Friendship.

My household is celebrating House Christmas today, before most of us visit our respective families for Official Christmas, so it's time for the annual bad Christmas manip!

The James image I used as a base is a still from one of these gorgeous GIFs made by

stdismas! James is extremely pretty here. Possibly slightly less pretty once I've badly drawn a Father Christmas outfit onto him, but these are the sacrifices we must make in the festive season.

Merry Christmas, if you're celebrating! May you have a better time than James Sunderland. (I don't know exactly how James spends Christmas, but I feel there's a solid chance he spends it just like every other day: having an absolute psychological breakdown.)

Current Mood: good

Union Square again

Got up later than I wanted, at 10:40, and had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed, and left to join

mashfanficchick at Union Square in the Barnes and Noble.

The trip in went fine, and we met in the science fiction and fantasy section. I didn't buy anything though. We shopped all through the store, and ze got some things.

Then we went to the Union Square Holiday Market, and got lunch, lobster poutine. It was sooooo good!

We shopped through the market, again, I didn't get anything except something to drink.

Then we went to the Strand. Again, I didn't buy anything, but ze did.

Then we went to Forbidden Planet, and finally we got food for dinner at Whole Foods. While we were there, I called Middle Brother.

Then we went home, we took the 6 train together but I got out at Grand Central and transfered to the 7. Took that to Flushing and the 44 bus home.

All was well, and I fed the pets, and then Teamed the FWiB.

Just as we were saying goodbye,

mashfanficchick called, which is good as I had been planning on calling zer to discuss the fact that I forgot the Kid expects us to get appetizers for Christmas. So we discussed getting stuff. An then ze lit the Hanukkah candles while I was on the line and that was very nice.

And today is the solstice, and the days will get longer again now, and this is a very good thing. The light returns.

And now it's time for bed.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2.

mashfanficchick

3. Nice day in the city.

4. Middle Brother doing well.

5. Plans for Christmas.

6. The solstice is here.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: Sharktopus

Entry tags:

Writerly Ways

It's that time of year. I'm too tired for thinking about the craft so let's do this. Let's make now a good time to set some 2026 goal as many or as few as you'd like. I know that can be pressure for some. For me I find them helpful. I've been at it too long to get too worked up if I can't make a goal. If you like some accountability you can still sign up for these

join us as we try to write more than 75,000 words in 2026

Challenge yourself to write 75000 words or more in 2026!

inkingitout offers low key and supportive weekly check ins to help you as you try to write 75,000 or more words in 2026.

Sign ups now open! Sign ups close Noon GMT 3rd January 2026.

getyourwordsout and if those are too high pressure join us for Write Every Day which is super low pressure and bounces from host journal to host journal (if interested just ask me where it's at this week)

If you're looking for an online critique group (also low pressure) that leans into the urban fantasy/SF/horror/mystery genres again just ask me. I'm looking for people to join us. All I ask is if you decide it's not for you, just let me know, no harm no foul.

As for my goals they are as follows

1. keep looking for open calls, especially for the stories languishing in files

2. finish editing the 1980s monster hunter thing and get it to a beta (same as last year)

3. deep edit the werewolf novel which I finally DID start this year (after years of saying I would and didn't) but found out it was in worse shape than I thought

4. even though I said I wouldn't do this again, I DO want to take my thought monster long short story and expand it to a novella to make it more marketable

5. keep working on the sequel to the 1980s story

6. Decide if I ever want to do another story as Jana Denardo

7. I have so many unfinished novels. maybe I should finish one.

8. Do BETTER at balancing fanfic and original fic and the time spent on both

That seems like a nice fat set of goals. How about you? Let's do this. And if you worry about are you good enough, let me point out I'm currently watching Sharkopus and it makes Sharknado look like Oscar Worthy material. If this crap can make it, there's hope for us all.

Open Calls

Fairy Tale Magazine: January 2026 Window Green Man/Woman, Dryad, Yaksha, Tree Spirit

Crepuscular Magazine Microfiction stories exploring places, characters, and questions buried in the gray areas between

Untitled Anthology About Teeth Eerie, or creepy, or Gothic stories about Teeth

Inner Worlds, January 2026 Window. Science fiction, fantasy, or supernatural horror prose with a strong emotional or psychological focus.

Horrific Scribblings New Year’s Apocalypse Challenge New Year’s Apocalyptic stories (particularly the apocalyptic fears that defined the transition into the current millennium)!

The Ranger’s Almanac Winter 2025 Window. Short stories that must relate to a forest or park in any genre

30 Magazines Accepting Flash Fiction

From Around the Web

The Difference Between Tricking Your Reader and Surprising Your Reader

Easy Podcast Promotion for Writers

Comps Can Clinch Your Query

How to Track Book Sales and Identify Your Most Profitable Channels

How To Legally Quote Song Lyrics in Your Book

How To Get Book Reviews

How to Format a Book for Publishing

Optimizing Your Amazon Meta Description

Marketing Planning For First-Time Authors

From Betty

Writing a Short Story vs a Novel

Six Common Villain Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them

Seven Common Causes of Reader Confusion

Five Common Motivation Issues and How to Address Them

here.

Busy Writers: When Does “So Much” Become “Too Much?”

Transforming Negative Traits into Powerful Character Arcs

That Blinking Cursor

Panning For Gold

See Why Three Types of Character Motivation Matter

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Maladaptive Fantasy

What happens when family and friends don't support your writing?

YouTube for Writers, Part 4: Editing Tips to Improve Your Videos

Why Writers Grow Outside Their Comfort Zone: The Power of Discomfort in the Writing Life

How to Begin Your Novel at the Beginning

And of course have a blessed Solstice!

Current Mood: sore
Current Music: Brides of Dracula

Entry tags:

holidays,
science

First party of the season

(since I skipped the work party) My brother and his wife had all our parents over their house plus one of my brother's BFFs since first grade for noshes and playing with kitties. That was the whole of my evening and my morning was putting decorations on the Star Trek Christmas tree (it's our secondary tree upstairs and always left for me) I did a weird job of it. I think I'll need to redo it again.

My brother's new kitten is a little shit. He's exactly like a cat I had in the 90s. He was evil too. He's going to give me trouble when I'm house sitting. I can just see it.

Shockingly my vascular surgeon did NOT send in the script. If he doesn't do it I'm calling my PCP and she will.

I finished another

fandomtrees story, the last of the Hazbin Hotel ones. I have about 3 others I would like to write from my original once over of the list. I might not tackle them until post holiday because there are a crap ton of zero gifts and only 1 gifts so I know this isn't going to reveal any time soon. I have a story I'd like to write for someone not part of a challenge.

Thought this might interest you Free Online Book Talk · Haunted Histories for Yuletide · Tales from America's Most Gothic with Authors Andrea Janes and Leanna Renee Hieber Leanna is the one I mention at Steampunk conventions. It's part history part paranormal. You do have to 'buy' a ticket but it's free (tips encouraged)

Have a little science saturday

Something Just Crashed Into The Moon – And Astronomers Captured The Whole Event

These Are The Best Fictional Spaceships, According To Astronauts – What Are Yours?

Brie, cheddar, and other high-fat cheeses linked to lower dementia risk they admit there are problems with the study. However, since the nervous system does have high levels of fat (in the myelin) this doesn't seem too implausible (or maybe I just want to eat more cheese)

Diarrhea and stomachaches plagued Roman soldiers stationed at Hadrian's Wall, discovery of microscopic parasites finds

here.Strange, 7-hour explosion from deep space is unlike anything scientists have seen — Space photo of the week

Current Mood: cheerful

Al-anon and Starsky and Hutch

Got up a little late, had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed, and made it to my meeting on time, mostly by the luck that there was a 28 bus very shortly after I got to the stop.

The meeting was very good. People had brought treats. Then I went to the diner, driven by S with G as usual. I had my usual bacon, egg, and cheese on an English muffin, but with hot tea instead of iced coffee. It made a nice change.

Taking the bus home, I rode with G until I had to transfer to the 12. That was nice.

Coming home, I had two Christmas cards. One from Laurie, which I expected, she sends one every year. And one I thought at first was from Sue, but the address didn't look right. Looking at the picture on the card, I realized it's from one of the boys, at first I thought Ricky, but looking closer, I think Matt. The problem is it's only signed with the last name, so I'm not sure. But there's only two kids in the picture, and I'm pretty sure Ricky now has three, so I think it's Matt. I had no more of the cards I've been sending left, but I had a box of leftovers from a previous year, so I used one of those to send back to them. And the only name I used was mine, so no fear of making a gaffe that way.

But that's really nice. Three members of the younger generation sent me cards, Sara, Kristen and Matt. Kristen does every year, but Sara and Matt were a surprise. Very nice to be remembered like that.

Anyway, I put the cards up and then went on the Starsky and Hutch chat. I made it just in time for the tag ending to Little Girl Lost, the Christmas episode. I like the tag, it's nice.

Then we chatted until almost 6:00. We talked about many things, including Heated Rivalry, so I was able to rave about that a bit.

After we got off, I puttered online til 7 when I Teamed the FWiB. We talked for an hour and a half, though I got a phone call from

mashfanficchick who wanted to tell me something.

Then at 8:30 we got off and I had dinner. Then I went to the bedroom and played solitaire til

mashfanficchick called me to make plans for tomorrow. We talked for awhile. and then I got off and fed the pets and started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. My meetings and the people there.

3. Christmas cards.

4. Family.

5. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.

6. Plans for tomorrow.

Current Mood: tired

Al-anon evening

Woke up at 10:00 at

mashfanficchick's and showered. Got a text from my therapist that she was ready for my session, I asked if it could be put off til 11:00 as I was just getting out of the shower, she said 11:45. I said OK.

So I got dressed and

mashfanficchick got dressed and we were at first planning on getting a Lyft and taking it together to Flushing, but we changed our minds and walked to Dunkin' Donuts, where I got coffee and ze went to the 99 cent store. Then we changed plans again, and instead of taking the Lyft to Flushing from there, we went back to zer place where I had my session with the therapist, which was good, and then took a Lyft to the grocery store.

I got eggnog and sugar free creamer. Then we took a Lyft from there to Flushing, two stops, supposedly zer to the train station and me to home.

It didn't work out that way, the driver first tried to let zer out at the subway station rather than the train station. Ze finally got out about a block away and walked. Then I was supposed to go home. The driver said there had been only one dropoff listed, I said no, we said two, and he agreed to take me to my apartment... and went off in the wrong direction. I had to tell him where to go. I eventually did get home.

mashfanficchick called me and said apparently the driver never tapped that he had dropped zer off, and ze got charged super more than correct. Also that explains the GPS guiding him the wrong way. A mess all around.

But I finally got in and unpacked and put stuff away, had a bowl of cereal, and took a nap for an hour and a half.

Then I got up and puttered for a half hour til I went into the Bronx for my meeting. I had to wait too long for the 50, and it's cold and very, very windy out.

Had pizza before the meeting as usual. The meeting was small but good. I had two donuts which I shouldn't have done. M took me to th bus stop afterward.

Had to wait 10 minutes for the 25, which was cold and still awfully windy. Finally got home, and Teamed the FWiB. That was nice as always.

Called

mashfanficchick to fond out plans for tomorrow. Waiting for zer to call back.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Therapy session.

3. Got two things I needed.

4. I finally got home by the Lyft.

5. Nap.

6. My meeting and the people there.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: The Mighty Nein

Entry tags:

Can someone actually DO their jobs?

Here's my day

1. Call vascular surgeon because no signs of my blood thinners. His nurse says Oh, your script was rejected. How did that happen? she asks herself

Me- Why did no one CALL me and tell me this?

Oh, I'm not sure. I'll make sure the doctor signs this today. If he did I don't think it was sent.

2. CVS after specifically being told not to fill my insulin filled my insulin. Now they'll have to put it back.

3. Been tracking my adagio tea order. It left NJ made it to Pittsburgh which sent it back to where it started in NJ. Made it to Pitt again. Wed they put up a can't deliver to that location. Meanwhile I have 2 boxes from Adagio in my bedroom proving they can. Go to the post office and the package it there and the substitute postmaster didn't put the delivery notice in the box. At least it was there

wrote a story that I think is really good but will probably get little notice. Ah well. I'm proud of it regardless

Title: Red Rain Is Coming Down All Over Me

Summary: Angel has gone back to Valentino because what choice does he have? That’s what he tells himself. That’s the only thing that will keep his friends safe. Being constantly high is his only solace but even drugs can only do so much. How long before he breaks?

Rating: Mature

Notes:Written for spikesgirl58s six word challenge. The words were Fireman Draw Pay Undo Exciting Frog
Also written for the allbingo prompt of (What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue and the lyrical titles bingo prompt of Lyric with "red" "green" or "blue". I chose Red Rain by Peter Gabriel.

( Story at the above link or below the cut )

Courting Disaster Torchwood

Style Icon FAKE

Not Fun The Fantastic Journey

Five Times the Knights Lie to Protect Merlin

Got My Eye On You Hazbin Hotel

Always And Forever Torchwood

Mistakes The Murderbot Diaries

Oh, That WAS Niffty! Hazbin Hotel

A Loser Gave to Me Hazbin Hotel

Cowley's the Boss The Professionals

First Aid. due South

My Best Friend Hazbin Hotel

Blue Christmas Hazbin Hotel

Snap, Crackle, Pop Hazbin Hotel

Professional Courtesy Torchwood

Pragmatic The Murderbot Diaries

Etched in Charcoal Hazbin Hotel

Floating on Sunshine Hazbin Hotel

Meliorism The Amazing Digital Circus

brothers in arms 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

It Broke His Heart to Hurt Her So, and Yet He Had to Do Hazbin Hotel

The Aftershow The Amazing Digital Circus

Touchin' Me, Touchin' You Hazbin Hotel

Current Mood: pensive
Current Location: Munich

Entry tags:

Pluribus 1.08

In which someone becomes Sheherazade, but is it Zosia or is it Carol?

( Spoilers go on the charm offensive )

Current Mood: rushed

Just fast

Got up at 10:00 and had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed, then packed to spend the day in Manhattan with

mashfanficchick and then spend the night and watch Heated Rivalry.

Which is what we did. We started at zer place and went in to Rockefeller Center from here. We got food from a Nathan's truck. We saw the tree and went to FAO Schwartz, and the LEGO shop, and Teuscher Choclate, and walked a lot. We saw a lot of the store windows dressed for Christmas.

Finally we ate ate a gluten free Italian restaurant, and dessert at a Korean place.

Then we came back to zer place and watched two episodes of Heated Rivalry, which brings us up to date.

Now time for bed.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB, didn't Team but emailed.

2. Got an unexpected Christmas card from Linda's daughter Sara.

3. Called Middle Brother, he had a Christmas party today and enjoyed it.

4. Good TV.

5. Good chocolate.

6. Toasted the memory of

mashfanficchick's mother and remembered her.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: The Mighty Nein

Driving by Instinct

Because seriously how damn bright do we need to make headlights these days? Coming into Steubenville on 7's tight and narrow lanes (in the rain) with my stretched retinas and astigmatism, my god, I was literally blinded to the point I wasn't sure where on the road I was.

But after a late start, I made it here. The neighbors are watching Rocket. The little shit bit me last night after grooming my arm, broke skin, left bruises. I'm going to really have to keep that clean.

I wish that I could have concentrated on one story as I drove. It was more like 12 hamsters going in different directions. Ah well

At least the rain held off for most of the trip.

Tired now and I want to write a little before bed. Finally getting time to sit down with the Mighty Nein and the season of Vox Machina I haven't seen yet.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Tv

Entry tags:

Monthly roundup: November

November

Fics wrote: -
Books read: -
Games done: -
Podcast: Sheeple Chase - Coke-Conspirators, [Unreleased] Magnus Opus, Welcome To Night Vale - Locked Library Mystery, [Redacted] - False Start (part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), post-mortem: false start, Skin, Welcome To Night Vale - How To Solve A Murder, [Redacted] - post-mortem: Skin, Shoeless Man
Who audios: -
Other Big Finish stuff: -
Comics read: Fantastic 4 5
Graphic novels read: -

Things watched
Amazon Prime: Perfect
Blu Ray: Doctor Who - Planet Of Evil, IT, Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars, The Android Invasion, Thanksgiving, Sonic The Hedgehog 3
DVD: -
Disney+: High Potential - The One That Got Away, The Simpsons - Treehouse Of Horror X, Futurama - Murderoni, Hocus Pocus, Futurama - Crab Splatter, The Trouble With Truffles, The White Hole, The Simpsons - Treehouse Of Horror XI, Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Simpsons - Treehouse Of Horror XII, Treehouse Of Horror XIII, Treehouse Of Horror XIV, Treehouse Of Horror XV, Treehouse Of Horror XVI
Netflix: Wednesday - Woe Thyself, Stranger Things - The Piggyback, Wednesday - Woe Me The Money, This Means Woe, Glass Onion, Stranger Things - The Crawl, The Vanishing Of Holly Wheeler, The Turnbow Trap, Sorcerer
Now tv: IT Welcome To Derry - Now You See It, The Great Swirling Apparatus Of Our Planet’s Function, 29 Neibolt Street
Shudder: Horror’s Greatest - Animal Attacks
YouTube: Nintendo - The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Direct, Pokopia extended trailer, Spy films - Eyedrop
Cinema: Frankenstein, Shelby Oaks, Keeper, Predator Badlands

So this is a late one, oops. I blame things being stressful/distracting. Which is also why there’s some things here that aren’t done.

But yeah November ended up being stressful so I lacked focus to read or fic which was irritating. (And this month is similar).

But having said that I did manage to finish some shows! The new Futurama season, season 2 of Wednesday and vol 1 of Stranger Things season 5. The last two have given me so many thoughts and Futurama is always fun to watch.

I need to get back to the Doctor Who run of season 13, I still have Brain Of Morbius and Seeds Of Doom to watch, both of which I’m looking forward to. And I’m glad to finally watch the Sonic 3 blu ray and finally seeing It (and Thanksgiving too).

And, of course, Frankenstein was a cinema highlight (if you haven’t go see it! It son Netflix now) and I also loved Predator Badlands so many.

With Shudder I started the second season of Horror’s Greatest, though honestly I’m not a fan of animal attack stuff. I guess it’s cause I’m an animal love I just don’t vibe with it. Having said that I think the wildest one was something about worms attacking people that looked so wild cause ??

And speaking of roundups…

Month 5: November 20th - December 20th
3: Wake Up Dead Man, Zootropolis 2
10: Five Nights At Freddie’s 2, Pillion

Month 5 of the cinema pass has just been two trips, but back to doubling up with them. I think my order of them is Zootropolis 2, Five Nights At Freddie’s 2, Wake Up Dead Man and Pillion. Though they are pretty close. (And Wake Up is technically the better film, but I’m more likely to rewatch Freddie’s)

***

Last night I had hoped to do stuff, but after watching some things with mum and doing a little on ControlI ended up just getting absurdly tired. I think having mulled wine didn’t help, as it made my head a little hazy.

But right now I’m sat getting Midna cuddles which is good, then I can hopefully fic and do stuff later. (And it’s winterfest on Fortnite so hopefully the freebies this year are nice)

Entry tags:

opera,
tamagno

Tamagno Anecdotes

Hello, Dear Readers. I hope that Dreamwidth will let me post this, considering how long it is. Reddit won't, even when divided into separate translations.

This is a fascinating interview with some anecdotes about Francesco Tamagno. Please note that I had Perplexity first transcribe the Italian, and then translate that into English, keeping it as close to the original as possible. I have included both texts. Below, however, is the original link to check for accuracy. I loved the story of how he met Verdi and convinced him to let him take the role of Otello by making the notes higher! The joke at the end also made me laugh aloud. So he did sing Nesun Dorma after all! Just not for us on the living side! (For those new to opera, it was written after his death, and the title refers to no one sleeping.)

Il tenore F. Tamagno raccontato da Mario Ruberi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hGP9UXbSJM
( Italian )

( English )

Current Mood: bitchy
Current Music: NCIS

Entry tags:

Things I did not need

1. To find out my insurance changed coverage and I owed money on a script (not much, just enough to be annoying AF)

2. That CVS doesn't have my insulin. Again. I know why. They have a fucking dorm fridge to store all insulins, GPL1s and vaccine (plus other meds surely that I don't know but need refrigerated)

3. taking a half hour to get thru the CVS line and the line to the car wash was even longer so I had to skip it (I had a thing I had to get to) which sucks because I was on the ground floor of the parking garage yesterday and the level above me is outside and they salted it and it dripped everywhere.

4. There was an 18 wheeler on its side and I was thinking that is going to take me forever to get home but they did something I've never seen before. About 5 miles north of the accident they put up 'accident head' signs and moved everyone over there and there was no back up.

5. My olive oil brined garlic leaked in the pantry bin. I was digging through to find the food part of my parents' holiday gift and it didn't just leak, it coated everything in at least an inch of oil. It took over an hour to clean off every can and bottle and toss out things in boxes. Ugh. Ruined my clothes in the process.

6. My vascular surgeon never called in my meds.

At least I got the car partially packed. I still have to clean the kitchen in the morning since the damn pantry issue took up too much time.

Still half ready to cry. But I had my writers zoom thingie and I'm 4K into a story.

What I Just Finished Reading:

Death at the Door - paranormal mystery wanted to bitch slap the protagonist

What I am Currently Reading:

To Die Once - a Maisie Dobbs mystery which I haven't read one of these in a while and this is...slow. It's way more about the effect of war on the English people (who were still recovering from WWI) than it's a mystery

Tell Tale Treat - another paranormal mystery with another protagonist ripe for being bitch slapped

What I Plan to Read Next: Poorly Made and Other Things

Current Mood: drained

Wrapping and stuff

Got up somewhat after 10:00, and had breakfast and coffee. Heard from

mashfanficchick that ze didn't need me to go to zer place today after all, so that freed me up for wrapping. And that's what I did.

I put Pandora on the computer and put on Christmas music, had an awful time with the computer, restarted it twice, and finally got it going good.

Then I first wrapped all

mashfanficchick's presents, and then the Kid's boyfriend's, and finally the Kid's. And that is a lot of stuff. There's still three things to wrap, I may have to get more paper. Maybe not, we'll see.

After that I lay in the bedroom and played solitaire. Then at 6:00 I came out and puttered on the computer. My psychiatrist called for a session, and that was good. I realized I am feeling pretty good this holiday season, have most of the stuff I need to do for the holiday done early.

Got a call from

mashfanficchick about plans for tomorrow. We're going into the city to shop, though I have pretty much everything for Christmas.

Then at 7:00 I Teamed the FWiB and we talked until 8:00 when it was time for my gaming session.

The computer was awful. Discord kept freezing up, the audio wouldn't work, I kept switching over to using my phone, and I was almost out of battery. I plugged it in to the computer and that didn't charge it.

Finally I plugged it in to the extension cord powering the Christmas tree, and sat on the floor to play. And the worst thing is that right at the end of the game, the audio topped working so I missed the end.

mashfanficchick texted me to ask me to call, so I did and we made more plans for tomorrow. I'm going to spend the night tomorrow and we're going to watch Heated Rivalry.

So then I fed the pets and made dinner, and here I am.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. My wrapping almost done.

3. My psychiatrist.

4. My gaming group.

5. I was able to use my phone for Discord.

6. Plans for tomorrow.

Current Mood: stressed
Current Music: Tv

Entry tags:

‘Why are you all insane?’

Once again this time of year has proven to be stressful and/or annoying.

We were due to go to the co-op on Saturday morning, because we had got a leaflet through the door with money off (£5 off £20, £6 off £30) though annoyingly it was only at the one that was by the station not up the road. Alas we had to go later than planned, cause we’d ordered a new tree stand and it came in the morning.

That does mean the tree is up, though it is bare currently (bar a Bulbasaur bauble I got from town) but at least it’s up.

We did go down to the co-op, closer to lunch than I hoped, and used one of the vouchers (we had to get cat food and stuff anyway so I figured may as well use it). We did get some party food to try but there wasn’t the selection I’d hoped for (and the seluction box wasn’t as tasty as I hoped) but at least they had the hash brown stars they had last year, hopefully they’re nice as I rememebr, and jalapeño things too.

Monday was a trip to pick up the last of mum’s present (a clothes order from sainsburys) but that was tiring as mum wanted some other things (and on the way back I ran into her and Naryu and knew she’d not walk with her unless I stayed with them). On the plus side I did get the new Stranger Things sticker album! If anyone sees the boxes for it (or multipack stickers) please let me know which store you see them in. The site that does the stickers sold out before the release which is crazy

Tuesday I was at the library cause mums friend had issues so had to leave early. It meant I did read but not as much as I hope (reviews in the new sfx, which finally arrived a few days ago and one chapter of Halloween Party).

Then in the night we had a call from her and, ugh more stress. She does a Christmas food order at M and S and we tack a few things onto her order, but apparently there’s been some issue and a lot of the stuff (including our stuff) is not coming. That means that stuff for we’d planned to have next week isn’t gonna be there which… it’s annoying but some of the stuff does feel pricey. On the plus side it means not being up at 6am on Christmas Eve to pick it up, but she’s offered to take us down Monday to try and get alternative stuff which… ugh. At least that’s in the afternoon.

But yeah that’s a stress we didn’t need and it got to mum (which this’ll got to me) and it didn’t help the call came through as we were sorting food.

And all of that has led to me being drained again.

But good things.

Aside from the aforementioned SFX magazine there was also a delivery of a silly Coelacanth plush I got preordered ages ago, which is both big and soft and ahh he has a cute silly face (if anyone has seen ditto faces stuff it’s like that). There was also the stranger things qwertee that I ordered and I’d also done a random tee, which was also Stranger things. Random tees are usually older ones but this was one of the others from the same day so it was an Eddie tee!

I got sent a Funko code with 20% and I spent the weekend debating back and forth on if I should use it. It is a big discount to have but the timing for it is so bad. I did cave though and I used it on some of the new stranger things stuff (including two exclusives that probably won’t come down). Alas they had no Will but no one seems to.

Saturday night was strictly and I’m so glad that George got through to the final! And Karen too, I hope one of them win.

I saw on the tv listings that The Batman was on so I finally decided to watch it. I’d heard good things about it and damn. Robert Pattinson was sold to me as Batman in the first few minutes. It was really good, I loved the detective vibes and making the riddler into a more serious threat actually worked really well. If it hard a flaw it was around the end, which felt a bit rushed and long at the same time (but maybe that could’ve been just tiredness).

Sunday night was the next War Between episodes. The first was the best of the two managing to nail tension in the descent down into the depths. But ughhhh. Mum caught that the globe could be a bomb before I did and I’d really hoped that it wouldn’t be. Alas it was and it just… ugh. It pissed me off seeing the aquakind and diplomatic delegation (who we’d got to know on the trip) get blown up.

It did lean to a good thing in the next ep with Tide appearing and calling humans insane for it, which is true. It is insane for us to blow up our own people, just like it’s insane for us to pollute the oceans and screw things up just for rich people to make profits.

Other than that the second ep did feel off, I think mostly due to Salt acting so different. Like yeah she is her own person and would be different when not playing the role of diplomat, but even so it did feel strange for her to suddenly abandon her people/cause to go on the run.

I also dunno how they can resolve everything in just one ep to go. It’s called ‘the end of the war’ so it must resolve things but the whole series has felt a misnomer (but in a good way I like that there’s actually been diplomacy as a solution rather than shooting first). I guess we’ll see. (The end credits did have a thing name checking The Underwater Menace which makes me wonder if we’ll see the remains of atlantis)

I also watched the recut Sea Devils too which was really good, unlike other recuts it didn’t feel like it lost anything (it still had the Clangers scene, the master and the doctor’s sword fight, the politicians being idiots) so it was a good choice.

Lastly, and less of a good thing I’m not seeing The Shining at the cinema. I wasn’t 100% on going in the first place but for some reason the afternoon showing for it got taken off (leaving only ones at night) so that, combined with money took off my will to go. So it looks like I won’t be going to the cinema again until the new year (for Anaconda, and maybe The Housemaid or something else).

Now though I’m gonna sort food, then hopefully poke my fic brain into writing (I had a burst the other night before sleeping) and maybe watch something.

Current Music: NCIS Origins

Entry tags:

Warp nine

That's how my day is moving. Even working with timers I got so very little done and it was suddenly it was time to go to the endocrinologist. I could use another day down here but I'm afraid to go home friday. Thursday is meant to be nearly 60 and raining but then down to freezing again. I'd rather be home to avoid that.

I'm getting to that overwhelmed, gonna cry state. But at least I finally got the damn holiday lights out there (boy that little solar panel battery is something. They turned on immediately after being in a closet for a year. I put the garland on the other side of my porch, the one that's collapsing. I think at this point the garland is gonna be what's holding up the side rail if it get another heavy snow.

It looks like maybe, just maybe I can keep most of my meds and/or qualify for coupons. I make like 200$ too much a month to qualify for medical assistance. Let that sink in for a little while. We're doctors. We're college professors. Our pay is SO low we almost qualify for medicaid. And If I had kids I WOULD qualify. And oh, I signed up for the new insurance with the 9K deductible. It's costing 1100$ a month. Let that one soak in too. FFS. No wonder they won't hire help for my department.

My blood work is not great. My kidneys are working great but with my HGA1C sneaking ever higher. That's not great. I'm unhappy which is only going to make my sugar higher thanks to the stress. At least my hemoglobin is coming up. I still have too many tiny pale red blood cells but they're functioning better than last time. She did agree I'll probably have to start B12 shots. Cries. But at least the evolutionary bullshit adaptation for malaria is behaving itself for now.

From there I went to Gallipolis for dinner and the Christmas lights. I knew the Mexican place (since it's owned by the same brothers as the one in Jackson) would be giving out those envelopes for free stuff in January. I was laughing at the new offerings. One of them is punny. Juan Huge Burrito.

the lights were beautiful. They always are. I didn't upload the pictures yet. I will. but I haven't even showed you anything for months.

I forgot my tea advent again

Day 12 - Rocky Mountains - National Park Tea Black teas, raspberry leaf, raspberry flavor, sage leaf, and raspberry pieces. How did I miss this one? I had a sample box of these ones. either I had gotten a bad sample then because this was phenomenal very raspberry

Day 13 - Rooibos Sweet Sizzlin Cinnamon Herbal Tisane Rooibos, organic cinnamon pieces, sweet sizzlin cinnamon flavor and safflower petals. At least the cinnamon overpowers the rooibos funk.

Day 14 Apple Sage Black Tea black teas, apple pieces, natural apple sage flavoring and blackberry leaf. oddly weak sauce and boring. At least it didn't taste like sage

Day 15 Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Black Tea Blend Black teas from India, Sri Lanka, China and Taiwan and bergamot oil. They have a whole collection of literature inspired teas (Poe is my favorite) What says Dostoyevsky about this? Nothing but it is a nice complex earl grey

day 16 Snickerdoodle Rooibos Herbal Tisane Organic Green Rooibos, organic cinnamon pieces, sweet blackberry leaf and snickerdoodle flavoring. Needs more snickerdoodle/cinnamon

Fannish 50 ( Spoilers for The Amazing Digital Circus episode 7 )

Current Mood: calm

Doctor's appointment

Got up at 10:00 and had breakfast and coffee. Then before I did anything else I got out a light bulb and my ladder and changed the dead bulb in the living room light. That is always scary and dangerous, and I really shouldn't do it alone, but with

mashfanficchick in Ohio, and Oldest Brother gone, there was no option.

After that I showered and dressed, and played on my phone a few minutes, about 12:20. Then I left for my doctor's appointment.

I got the 44 to start, but when we got to Main and 39th there was a fare inspection, and there was supposed to be a change of drivers too, but the new driver was late, so after we waited quite awhile they told us there was another 44 behind us and we should get on that. So I did, and it was crowded. Luckily I got a seat.

Got to Union Turnpike, transferred to the 46 with no problem. But I'd lost so much time to the 44 that I was really afraid I'd be late, despite leaving quite early!

I got off the 46 and walked to my doctor's as fast as possible, and was just barely on time. Then I waited well over half an hour to be seen! Closer to an hour I think.

But the news was good, I am doing fine, and although he doesn't think I really need it, he put me on a glp 1 drug to help me lose weight. But he said if my insurance didn't cover it, don't worry, do without it, because I have been losing weight, though slowly. I go back in three months.

I texted the Kid to tell her about the glp 1 (her idea) and she was pleased.

I walked back towards the bus, resisting with difficulty the lure of Barnes and Noble, and went to Target for a bag of bows. Got that, and went back to wait for the bus.

And waited. And waited. The crowd grew bigger, and one bus never showed at all. Finally one showed, jam packed of course, and I couldn't get a seat.

Eventually, just before my stop, I got one, and it's a good thing because it took us forever to get from the stop before mine, to mine. It turned out that there was a terrible traffic tie up because Con Ed was doing emergency street work and the Con Ed flag man was directing traffic.

Finally I got off the bus and went to wait for the 20 or 44. The 20 got there first, and although it was full, I did get a seat and made it back to my stop, and got off and walked home.

When I got home, the door has NOT been fixed. I am really annoyed.

In my mail I found that the card I sent to my ex-sister-in-law had been returned addressee unknown, which I don't understand. I got it off anywho and it was absolutely her. Maybe she moved and this is new residents, I don't know. Well, I tried. No new Christmas cards for me.

I got here eventually at 6:30, just had time to get a glass of eggnog and set up the computer before the FWiB Teamed. We talked til it was time for my meeting.

The meeting was very good, M and S were both there.

Then I had dinner, and went to the bedroom to play solitaire until pet feeding time.

I had been hoping to be home by 5:00 and get some wrapping done, but no such luck. Maybe I can fit some in tomorrow.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Got the light bulb safely changed.

3. Good report from the doctor.

4. Glp 1.

5. My meetings and the people there.

6. The Kid.