covidcoffeecorner | Member Posts

Media intake for the last week or so boils down to "a couple chapters of various non-fiction [nothing new] and Thursday's The Pitt." We'll probably try to get an episode or two of Frieren in tonight, before Dayjob swallows me whole for another week.

My main goal for this weekend has been accomplished: today

scruloose and I decanted some spices from bags into jars (including the cinnamons and chai spice baking blend replenished from Silk Road* since the last time we batch-prepped for banana bread) and then did a round of bagging up dry ingredients for nine quadruple batches of my breakfast banana bread while actually baking a tenth batch. It's only the second time we've done it, and having the dry ingredients bagged and ready makes such a difference, but the prospect was more exhausting than it had any right to be. (Actually doing it was fine. This time we [reversing how we did it last time] went with me reading off the amounts for each ingredient and rotating the bags while

scruloose did the actual measuring and dumping ingredients in.)

*Last time we didn't have nearly enough of any one spice for ten quadruple batches, so some go the chair spice blend and some got the Vietnamese Saigon cinnamon and some got the Indonesian Korintje cinnamon. We also have some of their third type, the Sri Lankan true cinnamon, but the description on the jar says its flavor is pretty delicate, so it didn't seem likely to really shine in the banana bread.

(My erratic spices fascination has resulted in us currently having four kinds, actually, but little idea of what to make that will actually showcase the different types so I can really tell the difference. ^^; [The fourth is the Royal Cinnamon from Burlap and Barrel in the US.])

Current Mood: exhausted

jesse_the_k

The musician explains:

In 2018, I recorded and filmed a cover of "Yellow" by Coldplay under my former name, Lots Holloway. In 2026, I returned to the exact same place to film it again, this time as Dylan Holloway (Dylan And The Moon). What you're watching is both versions, woven together.

Lyrics at the band’s page: https://www.coldplay.com/song/yellow/

Watch on YouTube or ( stream it here )

dine

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hannah

Tomorrow, I have a scheduled meeting for contract negotiations. It's a phone call for the new archive and cataloging gig, where I'll talk to the client to see what he needs and how best to accomplish that, plus to work out the pay rate. There probably won't be any paperwork involved, though I doubt he'll go to the extreme end of the spectrum I enjoyed last summer where I got paid in cash to stay as under the table as possible.

Still. Contract negotiation. It sounds genuinely professional, which is the mentality I know I should bring to the discussion. Professionalism, and my salary record for similar jobs, and a track record for doing good work and being worth the money. I don't think it'll be a full time five day nine to five job, but possibly full time three day nine to five. I'll see how the other outstanding gig goes this coming week to better judge that.

Current Mood: groggy
Current Music: nothing now

delphi

Fandom 50 #6

Continuing my list of fifty Canadian songs I love from the past fifty years, 1982 is just a good old-fashioned banger.

Your Daddy Don't Know by Toronto

Watch on YouTube

shadowhive

So the music post I was planning yesterday fell by the wayside, oops. I did start it I just… got sidetracked and couldn’t watch the things I planned for it (cause I wanted thoughts fresh in my head)

I love that everything I’ve seen about the 5 Seconds of summer show is super slutty, like Calum in a skirt, Luke on his knees, mic sharing, Ashton’s fit. Also I’m so amused, one of the pieces of merch has Calum’s name misspelled like how?

But anyway!

Today was Megacon so this post is gonna be able that. It was odd being up and active so early. I’m not usually a morning person but I was out for the 8:37 train. I spent the trip first reading sfx (going through the reviews), sitting with my eyes closed and ficcing a few paragraphs.

I forgot how far the nec is from the train and with stairs so it was a bit of walking. There was a 5SOS poster I noticed on the way which me squee, then I saw Professor Cox is doing a talk at the same venue in October which is wild.

Getting in was easy enough and I collected the cute pin I got with the ticket. I had early entry which was kinda a good idea cause for the first while it wasn’t too busy.

One of my first stops was mystery dice goblin, cause the only thing I was sure I’d get was some of their dice. They had a thing where you roll a d20 and if you got a Nat 20 you’d win something and I did! It was a mystery box (would’ve been £20) and had two sets of dice bags, a pretty raven/crow book park, a Dm cat pin and a journal. I also got a free d20 from a code they’d posted and it’s very pretty.

I found out the person I got foolish pins from had a stall so I found them and got a Fennekin pin(and another Pokémon one as a gift), I must’ve missed them having mareep (it was in the pics they posted but I must have missed it or someone had it) but ah well.

I did a thing at another dice store, where I got a bundle with a a student discount. So I had a mystery bag of random stuff (a lil eh), 5 gacha d20’s (including a purple one! They were all quite nice) and rolled a d20 which got me a soft resin set which looks nice, though I can’t work out what’s in them.

I also got another mystery dice set from another stall which was completely random dice but they look nice.

Over the course of the day I wandered round the stalls, mostly adorning the art cause damn. Artists really are so impressive. Like all of it was so pretty. I kinda wish I’d had more warning than a week that I was going cause I’d have been able to plan, cause there were stuff like stamp rally’s and such. (plus I could’ve maybe maybe had more money, as it was I was limited)

What I did get was some Stranger Things art (they had an offer on getting three) so I got Dustin/Steve’s hug, Dustin and Steve at the graduation (with ghost Eddie) and Robin, Eddie and Steve in Scoops outfits.

I saw the was a Pokémon card rally thing so went around and got some of them, Drifloon, Zigzagoon and Noivern (and extra ones the artists had too). I also got a Leon charm too cause it was pretty.

And there was someone doing props of things out of wood and I got a boomerang from Zelda which looks so cool and it wasn’t much either.

I saw a few of the panels. First there was a quiz, with people getting onstage answering questions. I do not have the social skills or knowledge for that. Then I saw an Expedition 33 panel and one of the guys there was a handsome Frenchman which was nice. I also saw a voice actress from FNAF and honestly, she sounds so cool. She can do stunts, collects medieval weapons and horse rides. Then there was one for Epic the musical which was fun too, even though I don’t know it much.

The two main panels I went for were the ones were Seapeekay. The first, had 5 creators onstage and was only half an hour. It felt like too short a time for so many people (the presenter even acknowledged that) but one of them was so cool. She played Elden ring using her mind! I’m not sure how she did it but it sounds impressive. And it was funny how, at the end when asked to share socials Seapeekay was like ‘it’s spelt phonetically Seapeekay, ocean urine okay’ which was so funny.

I didn’t get to see Seapeekay then (he zoomed away too fast) so I hoped to have more luck at the pokopia challenges he was gonna do and… well it was a bit of a disaster. It’s clear there wasn’t much thought as to what the challenges would be, nor was anything set up (a lead was missing). (Though ti was cute seeing Seapeekay dance) It made me think of the simpsons quote ‘it was a veritable orgasm of poor planning’. What was settled on was planning hide and seek/prop hunt for the remainder of the hour.

It was a bit of a disaster really but it was pretty funny. Funnier still cause it was an area Seapeekay hadn’t got to so he was completely lost too and couldn’t even figure out stairs. (Props to the other guy hiding as stairs perfectly)

I did manage to catch him before he left, but only briefly (I overheard him say something was left in the cloakroom at the other con that he went to yesterday😭) but I got to say hi and got a pic. I’m sure I look terrible, but at least I beat the anxiety to get it. I wish I’d had more time cause I carried the cards wound all day in case I saw him (despite being a listed creator he didn’t have, like, as set area or anything.

But by that point too I was flagging a bit anyway, tiredness caught up with me.

By the time I got to the station a train was there so I just got on it and now I’m one stop away from home.

I’ll take pics of stuff and post on insta later, then add links too.

But mostly I’m gonna flop, have some noms and something to drink, maybe finish off The Awakening special features and bundle up

Edit: Eyes too achy to watch stuff alas but! Pics! The mystery dice goblin box I won. Pics of the other stuff, including the dice from the packs

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: 5 Seconds Of Summer - Telephone Busy

fflo

These are the candidates I liked in this season's LearnedLeague Very Best Wrong Answer contest, with my 3 votes at the end.

A: A mini-resurgence of history-based plays on Broadway began in part with the 2007 debut of a drama by playwright Peter Morgan. The play was set in California in 1977, and starred Michael Sheen and Frank Langella as what title characters? (Note, name both characters.)

BERT, ERNIE

B: What is essentially the UK's equivalent to Japan's NHK, Italy's RAI, Ireland's RTÉ, and Germany's ZDF (and perhaps ARD)?

YE OLDE STOCK MARKET

C: What Netflix series, based on a 1989 novel and a 1990 British series of the same name, follows a manipulative congressman and his equally strategic wife as they scheme their way to the top of American politics? It was Netflix's first major original production and the first streaming show to win a major Emmy.

HOW I MET GEORGE SANTOS'S MOTHER

D: While Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen considered 1873's Kejser og Galilaer(Emperor and Galilean) his masterpiece, his international fame was secured by two social plays that followed, titled Et Dukkehjem(1879) and Gengangere (1881). The former is known in English as A Doll's House; give the common English translation of the latter.

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NORDISH BREAKDOWN

E: In baseball, one of the statistics that measures a pitcher's performance, essentially how many baserunners a pitcher allows, is abbreviated WHIP. What do the letters in WHIP stand for?

WAIT HERE, I'M PITCHING

F: "Relief printing" involves carving away unwanted areas from a surface and inking what remains raised (like a rubber stamp). What Italian word refers to the opposite technique, in which the artist cuts into a plate, fills the grooves with ink, and wipes the surface clean before pressing paper onto it?

GROOVE IS IN THE ART

G: What chicken finger purveyor began in 1996 with a single location near the campus of Louisiana State University and, by the end of 2025, had grown to nearly 1,000 locations and more than $5 billion in annual sales?

BON TEMPS POULET

H: Geosmin, a compound produced by soil-dwelling bacteria, helps create the familiar smell that comes with the first rain after a dry spell. What sensory term, coined from Greek roots in 1964 by Australian researchers Isabel Joy Bear and Richard G. Thomas, refers to this scent?

ANSWER REDACTED - TRADEMARKED BY YANKEE CANDLE

I: A possibly apocryphal 1807 story by English journalist William Cobbett about using a pungent fish to divert hunting hounds is widely credited (and widely questioned) as the source for the name of what literary device?

HE WHO SMELT IT DEALT IT

J: What Swedish warship sank on her maiden voyage in Stockholm harbor in 1628, was eventually salvaged in 1961, and has been housed since 1990 in a museum on the city's island of Djurgården?

FJORD EXPLORER

K: In February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly declined a U.S. government offer of evacuation from Kyiv by saying, "The fight is here; I need [BLANK], not a [BLANK]." What two words fill in the blanks in this quote?

A PITCHER, BELLY-ITCHER

And my votes went to:

3: In February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly declined a U.S. government offer of evacuation from Kyiv by saying, "The fight is here; I need [BLANK], not a [BLANK]." What two words fill in the blanks in this quote?

JETS, JET2HOLIDAY

2: The Yang-Mills existence, Navier-Stokes existence, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, and Hodge conjecture are all associated collectively with what prize?

FIFA MATHEMATICS PRIZE

1: While diamonds are not geologically rare (they're more common than emeralds and rubies), they became artificially scarce due in large part to the actions of what company, which controlled 80-90% of the rough diamond distribution from 1888 to the early 2000s, and essentially created the tradition of diamond wedding engagement rings in America in the 1930s and 1940s?

EVERY KISS BEGINS WITH KAPITALISM

fflo

kat_lair

***

Life keeps on lifing and work keeps on being a sequence of problems to solve and issues to have opinions on. And I'm not getting the pay extra until next month (backdated) because bureaucracy slow.

But spring is here. Even my friend in the northern Finland sent a video message of snow melting and swans returning. And in England the magnolias are almost past their prime (less spring, more climate change caused cos it's early af). And that means I want to write light, hopeful, delicate, pretty things. And small things, in the spirit of they are seeds from which some more substantive writing (eyes wip list) grows.

And so, I've decided that April is for Spring Drabbles (=100 words). So, please help a gal out.

*Prompts welcome!

Theme: Spring
Fandom: Any: my AO3 for a list of almost 200 fandoms I've written in, but feel free also to suggest others, I just need to know the canon well enough to produce 100 words in it lol
Pairing/characters: Any as long as I know them
Original: Original fic/character prompts also welcome

*no 100% guarantee on drabble return but it is more likely than not given the low threshold I've set myself

***

dine

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hannah

Picking up the materials for a new contract project today had me thinking about average expectations. It's a small enough project to fit inside a banker's box, and a deep enough project to keep me busy for quite a few weeks. It's also not a heavy project - like I said, banker's box - but I was told I might need a cart to carry the box the few blocks from its owner's apartment to mine. I carried it on top of the twenty-some-odd jars of herbs and spices I'd bought from someone moving out of their apartment, plus the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and jarred tomato products. It was inconvenient to maneuver, but not hard to carry.

It's going to involve cataloging personal letters, probably with indexing who sent them and who received them, who else was mentioned and where they were sent from, and I'm already thinking about how to set this all up for optimal ease of use. The hauling it over was the easy part. It's why I keep going to the gym - vanity's a small part of it, and a much larger part is being able to haul stuff around without needing the help of other people, or even much in the way of carts.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: nothing now

redbird

I got a text this morning from Chase, asking me about a suspicious charge. I tried to log in to their website to look at it, but couldn't get them to send me a one-time code, so I went ahead and sent back "NO," telling them to cancel/replace the card in question. Now I'm going to have to update a _lot_ of recurring charges and stored payment methods.

So far I have had enough trouble finding my other credit card that I went ahead and gave Chewy a debit card for the auto ship order they're in the middle of processing. I then looked further back in the same drawer, found the other credit card, and put it in my wallet. I'm going to wait for the new card to arrive, and use it for most of the recurring charges, because I get slightly better points/cash back on purchases. But this is going to be tedious and time-consuming, and I will almost certainly forget at least one recurring charge.

I think I can make a list of the monthly charges by looking at last month's bill, at least.

Current Mood: annoyed

dine

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tielan

I crossed a mighty ocean
from the bloody tides of war,
I am a storm-tossed seeker
Of a welcome peace-filled shore.
My children will not learn the speech
Their ancestors did tongue
But in this land of hope they will
become Australian

I sought an education
respected through the world,
I yearn for opportunity
to see my thoughts unfurl
This land accepts my knowledge
My work beneath the sun
And here in mind and body I'll
become Australian.

tielan

Short story: I climbed up on an unsecured stool in the garden, fell off and whacked the back of my head on the edge of a bathtub garden. Right parietal. Still the skull, so protected, but there was definite OW involved.

tl;dr I got it checked out, and scans, and no concussion or symptoms, but I'm taking it easy

I had a sore head with a lump, no blackouts or dizziness, definite swelling. Got the neighbour to take me to the doctor, then to the station so I could go get it scanned - ultrasound and CT. Haematoma (ie. blood swelling) but no significant injury that they could spot.

Still no dizziness or blackouts, no memory loss (that I can tell) and everything seems fine so far. I'm still typing.

That said, today, my right side is all achey - I've been having issues along the outside hip, involving stiffness of the muscle - it gets better after movement, but for the duration of the stiffness, it's not fun. Now, my right hand and right foot are feeling tingly. I have a bunch of very marginal neural issues on the right side of my body, so this has probably just exacerbated it. Either way, it's not fun.

Luckily the Edible Garden Trail is done so far as hosting is concerned. I'm planning to go out on the trail with a friend tomorrow - I have a plan, but it's fairly extensive so we'll see how we manage going along. Could be good, could be a problem. I'm going along with the woman I invited over for Christmas Day lunch - she seemed pretty happy to come along and visit gardens, so that'll be nice.

The main issue of going on the Trail is probably going to be petrol and driving. Through Sydney city and inner west, it's going to be just a wee smidge rough.

Although, interestingly, today I went to the doc for the follow-up on the scans. (Everthing's fine.) And although it was lunchtime on Friday there was almost nobody at the cafes next to the station. That's unheard of. I suspect a lot of people aren't eating out as often - which wasn't the case during COVID. The city businesses suffered then, but I suspect that with everyone pulling back from excessive spending, we're going to see a lot of local business going out as well...

*sigh*

Finally got paid via the new payroll company, as well as the 'catchup' pay that I missed out on at the start of the month. Phew.

--

And in other money news...

stories about my father

...well, not quite. Dad is coming to Sydney in April. Probably. If a Sydney client will pay him. He's been waiting for four months for this client to pay him, though... It's eternal optimism with him. And, honestly, I understand the hope, but also...I'm kind of like, "Could you not have just made nice quiet money the way your wife was doing back when you met her? Basic real estate stuff? Did you have to get glamourous and intiative-driven and foward-thinking?" Oh Dad.

I just want to shake my head at my dad. I love him but...

--

Anyway, it is Friday, I have just finished work. It is the weekend, and I suppose I should try to do some writing, but on the writing front I have been absolutely awful. I have to rewrite the Final Confrontation of Book 1 again - finally found the plot notes for it...

So close! SO CLOSE!

--

Did I mention the new chickens we got? We got two, one died, we got another two, and the three are hanging out together pretty happily. Except that we just had a cold snap (went from 25-30C days down to 15-20C days like that) and while they're doing okay-ish outside, we're bringing them in at night.

...Actually, I wonder if we could stick them all in the one cage. We were keeping them separate so we could tell whose shit was whose (for a while we thought they might be experiencing the same issue that the other chick died of) but it's just coccidiosis, which we're treating with special water. And they're not so large that it's impossible to fit them all in one cage overnight right now. Hm. It's a thought.

Right. Time to rest up.

autobotscoutriella

Guess who started playing Hades :D

Which is why I haven't been around much this week! I'm having a fantastic time, and I've also been staying up way too late and generally forgetting to do things because I think I have time for just one more run. Greek mythology was arguably my first fandom as a kid - alongside Narnia and The Hobbit - so the whole thing is extremely up my alley, and it's a really, really pretty game.

(All these years later, I'm amused that my otherwise restriction-happy parents handed me unabridged translations of The Odyssey and The Iliad when I was eight and ten, respectively. Return of the Jedi was off-limits because Princess Leia wore a bikini, but The Iliad is probably totally fine!)

shadowhive

So I was hoping to do two posts today but I kinda got sidetracked (but there’s still time for a second, if not it’ll be tomorrow.)

First, I managed to roll credits on Pokopia, so that’s the story quests of the game done. There’s still much to do, there’s plenty of Pokémon to find, I’ve got to reach environment level 10 in each area (and find recipes). However right now I’ve become fixated on Rocky Ridges. There’s a museum there and I’ve been trying to make it look nicer/ger better access by clearing ash but… ugh there’s so much of it. There’s multiple storage boxes filed with the stuff and it feels I’ve not made a dent. (The museum itself does look better though) however I’ve become fixated on the task so csnt really do any of the other things)

I did however, find Mew due to fixating on a puzzle before that. And ahhh so cute!

Yesterday we went to pick up something mum ordered from sainsburys (or rather mums friend ordered for her as a birthday present). That turned out to be… not the best idea. Why? Because wwe got hit by surprise hail! In the way there it was only briefly, however in the way back it came hard, feeling like pebbles hitting my face and arms which wasn’t great.

However I got some things, from tk I got two Agatha books (paperback with fancy covers): The Mysterious Affair At Styles and Murder On The Links. Also I got two books that seemed interesting, The Moonstone and The Mountain In The Sea. There was also a Stranger Things game and a puzzle (which feels a bit random). I did look for the project Hail Mary book in sainsburys but it was out of stock (same with the rabbit set people have got to make a Lego Rocky).

I had considered going to the BMTH concert thing at the cinema, but I talked myself in and out of it, mostly cause I’m not super familiar with the newer stuff. Seeing the festival show they did a few months ago was good but it didn’t matter I didn’t know newer stuff. A full set? But going out made the whole thing moot anyway.

Speaking of cinema I am a bit annoyed Ready Of Not 2 is going from 4 shows a day this first week to only 1 next week, and after 8pm. That’s so annoying. I might try and go, see it with They Will Kill You,but also Mario Galaxy is out too. Maybe I’ll see if they have spdecent showings next Saturday, cause there’s an entertainer Lego Easter egg thing. (Also speaking of Mario anyone going to the odeon next week? They’re gonna have little keyring things so I’m curious at the price)

Other cinema trips are gonna be Undertone, Exit 8 and maybe The Mummy (cause it’s out for Record Store Day).

Other planned trips are Megacon Saturday, mostly for Seapeekay (I really hope to find him, I’ll at least see his panels) and I might go to some of the other panels. I’m not expecting to get much (I’m hunting for Oroject Hail Mary or Pokopia stuff, but most likely I’ll just come back with dice). And there there’s 5 Seconds Of Summer next week yay! The first date of the tour was tonight snd, thankfully, there’s only one t-shirt thta I like the look of. Thank fuck.

Tonight I watched the next of the Doctor Who blu ray episodes, The Awakening. The Awakening is this season’s 2 parter, but it was wrote as being a full 4 part story. I think it really shows it was meant to be longer. It defintely feels it’s lost something.

There’s some good parts to it though. The Malus prop looks pretty cool and the guest cast are all pretty good, especially Jane and Will and Sir George does make a fairly good villian. And the sets area pretty good too. It just feels like it’s lacking in some areas. The central concept, of an entity using a renanctment to get the energy from it, is a pretty good one but doesn’t feel like it’s fully realised.

There’s comments about the whole village being involved in the ‘war games’ (why it’s called that repeatedly instead of a reenactment is baffling), and yet the village is deserted bar the people on horseback. Maybe if there were a few more extras as villagers that part would’ve worked better. Along with a scene or two showing the Malus effecting sir George it would be better. Also it was funny that they came to the village for Tegan to meet her grandfather and the doctor wanted them to leave before they’d even had any time together.

It was an ok ep overall. Two parters are always tricky to do but I think it really showed that this wasn’t intended as one, which made it feel so rushed. Next time is Frontios, which like The Awakeninf, I e not seen in awhile so don’t rememebr much of it. I guess we’ll see if that’s good.

Plan for the night: watch some of The Awakeninf special features, maybe work on the other post or fic, then snuggle.

Tomorrow it’s Father Brown, Beyond Paradise and Death In Paradise, along with Megacon prepping (mostly gathering stuff together.i might take the new sfx magazine cause it came yesterday too