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fictional_fanstyger( Sushi update; no real change from last night but not because nothing happened. )
I'm going head-first into finishing the blanket because we got news from the window people - nothing's decided for sure yet but they might be coming as early as the 1st of December, which means I have to move... pretty much all of my stuff out of here. Which is. A lot of stuff. We've gotta prepare somewhere to put it first, which is why I haven't started moving things yet, but getting this project entirely finished so that all of the parts can go AWAY is going to be extremely helpful. Including the sewing machine, because we can then put it away and use the cabinet as a flat surface for storage purposes, hahaha. (Also then I don't have to worry about the weather changing and being without a blanket. That will help too.)
I also played some Terraria this evening - fuck I forgot how hard this game is. Also gotta get used to the UI again etc etc. But even though I got squished by King Slime, I think I made some real progress - found some good accessories (cloud in a bottle, sandstorm in a bottle, and flippers!), plus a magic mirror... it's a decent enough start! :3 Hopefully multiplayer shenanigans tomorrow, but that'll depend on Sushi as much as anything, sigh.
marycatelli posting in bookstygerSoooo Sushi got out again today (he's been trying A Lot the past few days. Even with everyone trying really hard, sometimes he wins :/), and not long after that I heard a catfight outside. Wasn't able to find him, but he was definitely involved, I recognise his voice when I hear it.
Anyway, when he does come back in he's very very quiet, and he was moving a bit off. Didn't think much of it - I mean, he clearly lost a fight but that is not a surprise - but he didn't eat even a bite of dinner, not even when I took it over to him, so now I'm worried. Extremely unlike him! Hopefully he's just sulking and resting up, and will be fine tomorrow... Anyway, there's no obvious wounds or anything as far as I've been able to tell, so I think it's okay to wait and see. But if I have to take him to the vet tomorrow, well, that's what'll have to happen, I guess. But hopefully he'll be okay! Just, you know, stupid.
Other than that I had a pretty good day, though! I did SIX lines on the blanket; it's really getting close to done and I am so! Excited! For it to be over!!! Finishing the pattern can definitely wait until after I have the edging etc done, I definitely need a break from it. Still do want to do it though.
Also I went down the shops and got so many snacks, it's great. I've been out for a couple of weeks or so, which has made me very sad. But now snacks! :V And also now sleep damnit, I need to do that too. Yes.
tygerMy uncle is home from the hospital, finally! :D :D :D He was in there for AGES, but he's better enough to go home now! So great!
Other than that, Mama wanted a break from the chook pen thing, so even though it was a nice day we didn't do that. So I ended up doing FOUR lines on the blanket! :D :D :D The first of the panels is almost completely done! One more line, or possible like. One or two stitches on a second line. Almost! Done!!! Aaaa, I'm excited, it's getting so close!!!
Also did washing and like. Showered and stuff. So no minecraft, just a bit of reading. Probably a sensible thing, given what time it's ended up anyway... >>;;;;
merrileemakes posting in booknook
tygerSo the roof guys came back today, and did the other job they needed to do! :D (Unfortunately the banging around caused it to be Super Obvious the bathroom needs... so much work. There was dirt falling down from the roof and shit. :/) My father also got his shed delivered, though he's not going to start putting it together for a bit. (Sibling's Christmas present to him is to help with labour, but Sibling's also busy for a bit. Also like. The ground needs work, it's not exactly level right now, so gotta do that first.) Still, yay, it arrived safely! :D
I went for a walk with Mama, just to the chemist that takes in blister packs for recycling, and we walked past the op shop on the way, and I saw a frame designed for embroidery! So I got that, because I thought I could put the embroidery Ni-chan made me in it. Alas, it's too big! So I will make some kinda cross stitch to put in it instead, I think. :3 Not for a bit though, still got the blanket to do.
Speaking of blanket, today was the last of the max length lines! \o/ Definitely on the homeward stretch! :D Still working just with the partially-used embroidery floss, too, doesn't look like I'll even tough the full ones, orz orz orz. We have. So much. SO MUCH. Sigh.
rocky41_7 posting in booknookrocky41_7 posting in booksyourlibrarian posting in tv_talk
tygerThis chair isn't bad exactly, but it's a little too high and my back keeps hurting after a few hours in front of it because I keep stooping very very slightly to see things. :/ Honestly I should probably bring my chair in and use it even though it's still missing a cushion - the actual structural work is done, it's just replacing the cushion that's left which is my job, not my father's. Which is fine! I just. Blanket. Do not have brain for other projects, really, particularly not with Mama and the chook run extension thing butting in sometimes.
Speaking of, we did some more work on that today, and we made progress!! ...and then it started raining, so it was only a little progress, but hey, at least the 'take the door apart and put it back together on something flat' idea worked. (It's still liable to twist, but it's much better, and we've determined that it's pretty much a material fault and nothing we can really do about it. If it's still going weird once we've added the chicken wire etc I will consider Adding Shit to keep it vaguely straight.) Also I got to use the mallet on it, which was very therapeutic.
Other than that, couple of lines on the blanket (closing in on the end of the max length lines! Soooon!), some minecraft... nothing much else. Very sleepy day since Mama keeps waking me up, bleh.
tygerI seriously had A Time of it with the blanket today. Got two rows done, but it took forever, I just couldn't fucking concentrate. Dunno why! I got lots of sleep last night! And yet!
Mama and I did do some work on the chook run, and also the chook run extension thing today, which was...
...look we ended up tying one of the poles in place with wire because the fastener provided just Would Not Catch, so. That's. Roughly how it's going. And then we put the door together, which is uh... a rectangle... and we somehow managed to twist it. The instructions are Not Complicated, and yet.
Gonna try taking it apart and putting it back together while laying it on the table tomorrow, and if that doesn't work we'll need to ask my father, which. Will be. Annoying. Still, can't be more annoying that That Goddamn Thing, and who knows he might even have a solution for that. (Doubt it though, it's a fucker.)
tygerThis is not a thing I should be proud of and yet. Sleep schedules, man. Make living with other people hell. (Or, at least, with Mama. My father isn't a great housemate in many ways, but he's extremely accepting of sleep.)
Anyway! Mama and I worked on the chook run extension thing for a bit today! UGH, still so frustrating. But we've made progress!!! Probably more tomorrow, too, as long as the weather cooperates. Which is not guaranteed, at all, everything was soaked this morning it just happened to come good so we could work in the afternoon...
Other than that, couple of rows on the blanket - I don't think I'm quite at halfway, but I'm getting there for sure! Just gotta keep a steady pace and I should get there without too much trouble. If nothing goes wrong, of course, which does mean I'll need to keep it well away from Sushi... He's been made of beans recently, zooming around the house much more the usual and back to climbing up curtains etc. etc. etc. He picked a fight with the cardboard scratcher I have behind me this evening, which was pretty funny. Yeah, you show that cardboard who's boss! XD
kellshaw posting in booknookThe Were Chronicles by Alma Alexander is probably one of my favorite books I’ve read recently. It’s actually three books bundled together, the individual ones being Random, Wolf and Shifter. The introduction posits that it’s a work of ‘Hard Fantasy’, in that the shapeshifting is based on science (the author is a molecular biologist). It’s also a lot more grounded than a lot of fantasy as the book explores the impact of werecreatures on culture, society and on science. (I wouldn’t call it soft sci-fi either, as that always reminds me of Doctor Who, where this is more like Ursula LeGuin playing with urban fantasy tropes.)
Each month, the Were people shift into animal form. It’s not a great existence; they don’t remember their transformations, and have to be kept in cages, lest they run off or hurt people. However, their people are still proud of their heritage and live in large clans that support each other. During adolescence, Weres imprint on an animal that they will turn into for about three days (about the length of a full moon) for the rest of their lives. In a world that reminded me a bit of how the X-Men were treated, Weres are regulated by the government. Weres that don’t have anyone to help them during their transformations are imprisoned in horrific institutions, and there are drugs you can take to suppress (but not completely stop) one’s transformation.
The first book in the collection, Random, is the story of Jazz. As her brother desperately tries to trigger his own transformation as a rite of passage, Jazz’s own transformation is triggered - and she shifts into a human male that resembles her older brother! I was expecting an exploration of gender identity, but it’s really a story of immigrant identity. The focus of the book is a character study of Jazz’s older sister, Celia, her death, and the impact on her family. Jazz reads her sister’s journals and privately blogs about her reaction to them in her internet journal. Celia’s story is about fleeing Eastern Europe, as violence against Weres increases, immigrating to America and trying to fit in. Horror elements are subtly explored through the Turning Houses (where shifters are compulsorily imprisoned by the government each full moon) and the tragic bullying that Celia faces at school. I thought Jazz’s story was largely overshadowed by her sister’s, and yet this thread anchors the entire trilogy.
Wolf is the story of Mal, Jay’s brother. During the events of the first book, he ‘cheats’ to trigger his transformation into a wolf, or Lycan. (He’s friends with ‘Chalky’, a mysterious shifter who can turn into any animal, and he can control and keep his human mind during the transformation, unlike the after Weres. And when Chalky bites Mal, he triggers Mal’s transformation into a wolf.) Now Mal is a member of one of the oldest and most mysterious Were clans. The Lycans come for him and indoctrinate him into their society - and they’re all biologists! Mal is taken to the compound and trained in basic labwork. Each month, Mal enters the wolf sanctuary in wolf form. This is probably one of the most original werewolf society studies I’ve read about. It’s a social story about Mal finding a place in the Lycan society and culture when he’s an outsider to such a closed and cliquey group, obsessed with research, family bloodlines and academia. It’s also about a younger generation rising up and challenging the status quo. This was my favourite story in the book.
Shifter is the story of Chalky (alias Saladin) Mal’s friend, who can shift into any shape. He starts off using it for mischief, and then by the end of the book is involved in a full-blown spy plot against the religious authoritarian movement that’s cracking down on Weres.
Overall, I loved the world-building and the character studies. Alexander’s background as a scientist underlies the trilogy, grounding the story in interesting ways. Especially with extracts of academic reports and papers sprinkled through the books. Probably my main caveat is that Alexander spends a chunk of the second book covering the events of the first, and most of the last book covering the events of the second from Chalky’s point of view. It’s fantastic from a character perspective, but by the time we catch up to events, the plot becomes a bit squished, and could have used longer to explore the intrigue that Chalky gets involved in. Anyway, it was a fascinating dive into ‘Hard Fantasy’ and a highly recommended read, particularly if you want to read a book that explores werecreatures in a different light.
tygerNothing huge today. Napped a lot. Two more max length lines! Snuggly kitties~~~
Also some minecraft but mainly I'm up stupid late due to getting sucked into reading orz orz orz self whyyyyy
tygerI really didn't think I'd get there today, but I got to max length! Only one line, but I am not even slightly unhappy about that, just. Wow. (I only did four lines, so like. It was WAY closer than I thought, I guess...)
I'm definitely getting a lot faster than I was even a week ago, though; first time through doing more than two lines when they were nearing/at max length was just... not achievable in an afternoon and evening. Today, I did two in the afternoon, two in the evening, and was done just after 10pm. (So of course I played some minecraft and lost track of time but that is a different issue.)
Other than that, nothing interesting really. I AM getting through thread nicely, though I'm still on partially-used stuff and that... may not change by the end of this direction. There's just. There's a lot of it. Main reason I might get into the whole skeins is simply because some of the colours are too dark for the fabric, so they're hard to see and thus make the pattern look weird. It is not a fading into the background piece of work, hahaha!
yourlibrarian posting in tv_talktygerOkay so I was stupid tired last night and TOTALLY FORGOT about the electrical problem we had! One of the light switches in the bathroom stopped working, which is always a super annoying thing, but in this case it got stuck on.
( Ramble )
Other than that, nothing exciting today. Approaching max length on the blanket again! Probably won't get to it tomorrow, but maybe the day after? Will see how it goes, basically.
author_by_night in fictional_fans - (no subject)tyger - Sushi worries not abated, but blanket is almost finished!feurioo in tv_talk - Speak Up Saturdaymarycatelli in books - Mirror Mirrortyger - My cat remains an idiot :(tyger - Eeeey!!merrileemakes in booknook - Review: Buzzing by Samuel Sattin with Rye Hickmantyger - A day full of things!rocky41_7 in booknook - Book review: Flight of the Fallenrocky41_7 in books - Recent Reading: Flight of the Fallenyourlibrarian in tv_talk - TV Tuesday: Cancellationstyger - Cannot wait until finished with blanket. Then can work on CHAIR.tyger - More sleep = less concentration???tyger - Hey look it's closer to midnight than dawn for once!kellshaw in booknook - The RIB: The Were Chronicles by Alma Alexandertyger - Sleepy Saturdayfeurioo in tv_talk - Speak Up Saturday 🌞tyger - MAX LENGTH AGAIN!!!yourlibrarian in tv_talk - Will U.S. cable TV still exist?tyger - Switch Issueszaluzianskya and skylark_photos