spainja

Previous poll review
In the Detectives poll, the most popular options were softboiled (38.2%), ingredient in alcoholic beverages (32.4%) and hardboiled (26.5%). Over easy, poached, and deviled tied for last place with 14.7%.

In ticky-boxes, dinosaur feathers came second to hugs, 55.9% to 76.5%, yay science! Thank you for your votes.

Reading
The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown -- Revisiting my childhood. I enjoyed this so much. It's episodic, good-natured, and now I want to re-read all the sequels.

Just Kiss Her by Clare Lydon, narrated by Katy Sobey -- This was very silly. It's an f/f romance about a lesbian who fake-dates her closeted-to-his-family gay bff at his cousin's destination wedding and finds herself falling for his mother. Which I would have been here for, but a) the only obstacles were the obvious situational ones, b) neither lead seemed to have a character arc, and c) their connection was 30% feeling comfortable with each other and 70% finding each other sexy, in a telling-not-showing way. (I prefer the proportions reversed, along with some shared interests and values, thanks.) DNF.

Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers, narrated by Robert Bathurst -- So much fun! I find the dispassionate descriptions of court appearances and the reading out of letters both drag a little (the letters are always very convenient), but not enough to undermine the general charm of it all. Peter's “justice first” attitude to his brother’s arrest (not a spoiler) was great, and I'm well on my way to shipping him with Parker and/or Bunter. (Will check AO3 when I have more time.) (I know, I know, Harriet, but I haven’t got to her yet. ) I preferred the previous audiobook narrator, Frederick Davidson, but you can't have everything.

Guardian by priest -- The readalong continues, yay! I’m enjoying the mix of ensemble humor, very intense/weird romance, and Miyazaki-esque imagery. It’s pretty easy to lose track of events, but the readalong helps enormously with that.

Still slowly making my way through the 520 Day Guardian Exchange collection. Really need to sit down and write some comments!

Kdramas
Nothing! I hardly recognise myself. (ETA: Okay, now I’ve watched half an episode of Our Unwritten Seoul. Not enough to get a real sense of it yet.)

Other TV
Murderbot -- continues to be a) enjoyable, and b) very different from my experience of the book (and that's okay).
Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life -- a bit less structured than his previous stand-up specials, but still enjoyable.
Doctor Who -- I'm just shaking my head at RTD and whoever gave him this ridiculous budget where he could throw whatever random elements he thought of into the mix. (We still have the final episode to go.)
Turning Point: The Vietnam War -- Turning Point: The Cold War was so good that we thought we’d try this one, too. Fact-filled and meaty.
Department Q -- new Edinburgh-based cold-case unit is staffed by asshole detective with PTSD. Really good so far (two episodes in), even if the asshole detective is... really leaning into the “asshole” bit.
The Expanse -- finished season 4; started season 5. AMOSSSS!!! NAOMI!!! BOBBY!!!! I am earwormed by the opening credits music.
El Eternauta -- we’ve only seen ten or twenty minutes of this eerie Argentinian series, but it looks really good and is on our to-watch list.
Fringe -- my sister and I are still making our way through season 1.
Spy (2015) -- the Melissa McCarthy movie. I loved this when it came out and saw it multiple times at the theatre. So when Netflix said it was being removed in a few days, I thought I should take the opportunity to revisit it. I got halfway through. This is partly attributable to my poor attention span, and partly argh Jason Statham, go away! (I know it’s a deliberate plot/humour choice, but argh.)

Guardian/Fandom
*bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce*

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, and bits of Brandon Sanderson’s writing lectures. (I’ve listened to the latter very haphazardly, and I have no idea which ones I meant to review again.)

Writing/making things
Writing continues apace. I don’t generally keep track of word counts, but I wrote 4,343 words in one day recently, which is astonishing for me. What is even happening? Currently on the hunt for a title, and whittling away at a WIP.

Random aside: partly because of the state of my arms, I reasonably often don’t hit the keys hard enough. One of my common typos is “hae” instead of “have”, which always makes me feel I’m writing in Scots.

Life/health/mental state things
I find it so hard to put anything here these days... which is probably telling. ( Let's try. )

Food
The dish I’ve been referring to as “the vegan thing” (Youtube link) isn’t even vegetarian when I make it, because there’s bonito extract in my miso paste. Oops. It’s still delicious, though. Somehow, the combination of fresh ginger, fresh tomatoes, random vege, miso paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds makes a really delicious gravy.

Good things
Anticipating getting shelves in my cupboard and imposing some order on (*gestures*) all this. Also, anticipating my windows not leaking. Guardian fandom, especially on Dreamwidth. Zhao Yunlaaaaaan. Writing. Books and Kdramas and so much TV. Cooking. Friends, online and off. Wonderful insightful beta. The boy and the cat and the house and the city. The view from my living-room window. Clean sheets. Baby!red panda blep face (Insta link).

I haven't done one of these in a couple of weeks, so this got long. I'll use cut-tags.

Previous poll review
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Reading
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Kdramas
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Other TV and movies
( Many and various. Includes some Murderbot thoughts. )

Guardian/Fandom
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Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses and Fansplaining.

Online life
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Writing/making things
I posted four substantial fics in the space of a week (which, being me, meant frantic last-minute edits on all of them), two for Unsent Letters, and two for 520 Day. Now I'm not sure what I'm doing (other than catching up on email and weekly updates and general life stuff). I wish I could remember even half of the writing theory I applied to my 520 Day assignment, because though the first draft wasn't perfect, it was about 80% of the way there, and that's not nothing.

Anyway, now I have a little flashfic at beta for the Nap round on fan_flashworks, but other than that, I'm contemplating which of my many WIPs to try to actually knock off before guardian_wishlist rolls around.

Most likely options

1. the prehistoric curtain fic, started in 2021, which foundered on the shoals of Ye Zun characterisation; can't remember what was going to happen, but I think I know the ending; currently an unfinished draft of ~17k
2. the Guardian-fic-using-a-Kdrama-trope fic, started in who even knows at this point; my WIP folder contains 21 related files, many of which are versions of retro-engineered outlines, rejigged outlines, new first chapters, an attempt at a complete rewrite with alternating POVs, more draft outlines (and this isn't counting the previous versions of the actual draft, which are archived); foundered on the shoals of Plot Is My Nemesis; I do have a complete draft (40k), but it doesn't work. Maybe the beta feedback I received lo those many years ago could combine with all the writing theory to help me fix it? if I could remember any of the writing theory
3. post-canon everyone-lives AU that tries to tackle, among other things, the problem of Ye Zun; started in 2021, currently 8k, no idea where I was going with it, but I like what I have so far; bonus: already has a title
4. SID team missing scene shenanigans, got distracted/interrupted, will probably get lots of theory thrown at it to firm up the structure/arc, which means it won't be a quick finish; started last year I think? currently 13k
5. the unicorn final part of my time travel series, started in 2018; has undergone multiple rewrites already, lots of ideas but no shape; I weep for the tens of thousands of words wasted on earlier drafts; current easiest-to-find version is 5k, unfinished, plus a million billion notes, argh.

So, idk. Probably #4 to start with, but if you have thoughts, feel free to weigh in.

Life/health/mental state things
I think I need a holiday to re-set my sleep cycle.

House
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Good things
Online and offline friends. Podcasts, books, libraries, fanfic, tv, youtube, such a ridiculous wealth of information and media at my fingertips and earholes. Seeing Julia Clarke speak about the colours of extinct-dinosaur feathers, the kinds of noises extinct dinosaurs would have made, and why a T-Rex would not have roared while chasing its prey. Writing. Fandom. Biking. Hot chocolate. Walnuts. Typing in Korean. My impending junk cupboard.