st_aurafina: John Reese looking straight ahead, with red and purple lights in the background (POI: John dark lights)
Hey new friends! Welcome!

Mental health update: My new LGBT-friendly unicorn of a GP has put my desvenlafaxine up to 150mg, because, as she says, when you're used to a low bar of mental health, you forget that there's a possibility for mood to be good. I've been at that dose for nearly a month now, and at first I was like, meh, it's not going to make a difference at this point. And then a few weeks in, I was like, ehh maybe it's better? And today I actually felt... good? In control? Is this what good mental health is? That last question is probably 50% sarcasm. Probably. It's getting dark and I'm crashing out again, in a low-key, I-know-what-this-is way, but I want to remember that there were some good moments.



The friending meme is ticking along very nicely, yay! I cruise around keeping an eye out for any hiccups, and I love seeing people making connections and having conversations. It's very heartening. We are a good bunch, fandom. Especially fandom on Dreamwidth.

Friending meme is here, for people who missed the link:
Let's Stick Together: a friending meme for a new year. Image is two giraffes, one leaning almost at right angles to put their head on their friend's neck.


Reccing Thursday Sunday
I promised some Harold/John recs for [personal profile] nerakrose because yay new POI friend!!

[archiveofourown.org profile] astolat is great for Harold/John (and she wrote a really good and plotty Harold/Shaw/John fic too, if that's at all your jam.) I've picked a fave to link here:
Technical Support (Rated Explicit)
It's an AU where Harold is still working at IFT, and John takes a job as a security guard. I love an AU where circumstances change but the characters are still fundamentally themselves. There's an excellent cameo by Detective Carter, too: the way she diverts John from homelessness to a steady job really works for the set-up we saw in the pilot.

[archiveofourown.org profile] the_ragnarok is my go-to author for POI kinkfic - they write the kind of thought-driven, negotiated kink scenarios that focus on mental conversations and sensory descriptions. They're very good with AUs, especially AUs with otherworldy Finch, who occasionally has tentacles. (This is a good thing!) The fic I've linked isn't a kink fic, or a tentacle fic, but it is a vampire AU and it's excellent:
a creature more of night than day (Rated Explicit, Vampire AU)

[archiveofourown.org profile] talkingtothesky is a multishipper - I mean, if there's a rare pairing out there, Sky will have had a go at it. She is fearless! But I think Harold/John is one of the pairings of her heart. (Stop me if I'm wrong, here, Sky.) The one I've linked is set at the end of Identity Crisis, when Harold is off his nut on ecstasy. It's very tender:
Every Time I Fall You Catch Me (Rated Teen, implied drug use, missing scene)

[archiveofourown.org profile] canadianwheatpirates mostly writes (excellent) femslash, but there's also this short and hot Harold/John strip club AU:
For Your Entertainment, (Rated Explicit)

[archiveofourown.org profile] livenudebigfoot has done stellar work this year converting me to the emotionally-messed up yet tender lovefest that is John/Fusco, and I'd love to rec you all of their fic so you too can take that amazing journey, but since these are Harold/John recs, here's a very good, very wrought story set immediately after 2.16 Dead Reckoning:
Time Enough at Last (Rated Explicit)

I lean towards the supernatural in terms of what I prefer in an AU, and this one is fantastic: all ferocious magic and angelic language and fantastic mythology:
Irregular by [archiveofourown.org profile] manic_intent (Rated Mature, Dragon/Angel AU)

This last one is a crossover with something called the Lord Darcy Series, which is something I keep meaning to investigate, because based on this fic, it has a lot of tropes I like. Like, hand kissing. And swearing fealty. And mid-twentieth century spycraft merged with magic. Mix these things with Harold/John, and it's just about the most perfect feast of tropey goodness you can imagine.
For King and Country by [archiveofourown.org profile] killalla (Rated Teen, AU-fantasy)


As for upcoming fanworks in POI fandom, I'm hopeful there'll be a Person of Interest Big Bang this year, and possibly a Reverse Big Bang, which is where you write fic for a piece of art. Possibly the POI exchange. And I'm trying to get myself together early this time so I can run the POI advent.

[personal profile] livenudebigfoot and I are trying to get a Person of Interest bookclub kind of thing together where we all read a fic - we're planning on starting with the last Big Bang. I'm not sure where we're hosting it yet - we're wavering between DW, Discord or giving Pillowfort a try.
st_aurafina: monarch butterfly wings (Butterfly wings)
I was reading Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky, enjoying the octopus diplomacy and the excellent human-spider body language translation science when suddenly cut for horror spoilers )

tl;dr: I scared myself before bed with unexpected horror and now I'm underslept and every annoying customer is the antichrist. (NO THEY ARE, THEY ARE THE ANTICHRIST.)

Yeah, this entry was going to be all about how much better I'm coping with shit. I spent an entire consult with my new doctor convincing her how much better I'm coping now, and she said that it didn't sound like a quality of life she would call coping. And now I'm on 100mg of desvenlafaxine and still trying to convince people of how well I'm coping. (I am coping! But not, as she said, finding much joy in life right now.)

Ugh. When my therapist asked if I wanted to do some breathing/relaxation exercises with her, the word 'relaxation' made me cry. But I'm coping.

Medical stuffs )


ENOUGH OF THIS MISERABLE BULLSHIT.

Linkspam (which has been accumulating for a while, oops)
- Via [personal profile] marthawells, Murderbot fanart:
Murderbot fanart! by [twitter.com profile] FaithErinHicks

- Via network, this very strange, trippy essay about the weirdness of John Le Carre's women, which very much sums up the way I relate to his books:
Like many of John Le Carré’s women, she has a creepy energy that I can only describe as “sex-mother".

- From First Dog on the Moon (at the Guardian):
Look life is really tough, even when it isn’t. You’re allowed to feel shit
Remember, capitalism is working perfectly. You're supposed to be exhausted and frightened you'll lose your job. If you're worrying about the rent, you're not worrying about firing the billionaires into the sun where they belong.

- From network (and I didn't note down from whom, sorry!):
Australian Gothic: from Hanging Rock to Nick Cave and Kylie, this genre explores our dark side

- From [community profile] scans_daily, the Corsair showed up in the IDW Doctor Who comics. I always love it when characters meet other incarnations of the Doctor, so this is very much my cup of tea.
[community profile] scans_daily had a link to the original mention of the Corsair in the Eleventh Doctor episode, and some scans:
Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #10 - The Doctor meets an old friend
And some noble soul on [community profile] fail_fandomanon collected a whole lot of scans together:
So, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #9 introduced the Corsair to the comics

- Via [personal profile] yuuago
cChinese Language Learning Apps and Games
Reviews of Chinese/Mandarin language apps and games

- Via the amazing stoush this video caused on my extremely staid crochet group on Facebook. (I am still laughing at the incredible outrage):
How to Crochet a Vulva Tea Cosie
The Vulva Tea Cosie combines the traditions of sharing tea and crochet, with a vulva, in a brazen celebration of womanhood.
(Still laughing.)

- Via [personal profile] used_songs who introduced me to Dance Your PhD (which is the most best and delightful thing I have come across in a while):
2014 winner: Plant-soil feedbacks after severe tornado damage - Uma Nagendra
2016 winner: A novel polymeric prosthetic heart valve: design, manufacture, and testing - Jacob Brubert
2018 finalist: Dark energy and dark matter via probabilistic data analysis by Alex Malz
(This one pretty much sums up my mental state every time I watch Sapphire and Steel, to be honest. Just baffled and deeply emotional about some very cheap special effects.)

Well, having blown your minds with scientific interpretive dance, I shall sign off. Good day.
st_aurafina: Grace Hendricks from POI (POI: Grace)
Cut for partner illness, cat illness, both are okay-ish )

Actually, I seem to recall that Pristiq gives me a bit of rage. Maybe that's where all the all-caps anger is coming from. I am not normally an all-caps person.

Thursday recs:
Yeah, it's Friday here. Come fight me! I'm on drugs now. *puts up fists*

- Excerpts from A.Z. Fell and Co.’s Yelp Page by [tumblr.com profile] itsclydebitches (Good Omens, Rated Teen, Aziraphale/Crowley)
Just what it says on the label: Yelp reviews. Very funny and sweet. (Also archived in plain text at AO3)

- sing for the angel a psalm of shadows by [archiveofourown.org profile] raven (Good Omens, not rated, Aziraphale/Crowley)
Five times Aziraphale attempted to tempt a human being and failed, utterly and completely, in service of God’s plan.

I'm always glad when I share a fandom with [personal profile] raven because they write so beautifully - this is lyrical and full of history and a little bit dreamy, with lots of non-binary angel love, and it makes me really happy to have read it.

- Turn by [archiveofourown.org profile] kass (Rated Explicit, Good Omens, Aziraphale/Crowley)
Crowley broke the kiss again. "Angel," he said flatly, "where is your cock."

More non-binary angel love, which is exquisitely explained on a scholarly level, because [personal profile] kass is very clever like that. It's a lovely story, easy-going and beautiful and funny.

(I'm starting to see a pattern with me and Good Omens fandom: I don't want to create fanworks, but I sure as hell want to celebrate, especially all the old friends popping up. Also, genderqueer angels are my jam.)

- Things in Bloom by [profile] sunlitstone (Rated General, Person of Interest, John/Harold)

Just a really nice first kiss fic from this year's Not Primetime Exchange. Gentle slice of life stuff, as John lets Harold into his life a little bit.

(Yeah, I'm obviously craving fic that is soft and gentle. Like shredded chicken when you're a cat with no teeth.)
st_aurafina: Shy guy from Mario, rendered in red wool (Crochet: shy guy)
Things are a bit garbage at the moment: there are triggery upcoming medical things, and my anxiety is off the rails as we wait for appointments and further investigations. I'm trying to find myself a sympathetic LGBTQI-aware GP (I know, right? My own unicorn hunt) and I think I've found a possibility but my appointment isn't for a couple of weeks. I really need to be back on meds, but I want a better option than seeing the doctors I work with. (They're perfectly cromulent doctors, though clueless on the queer front, plus it's hard to discuss stuff like self-harm with someone you work with.)

Have a meme, via [personal profile] mergatrude:
Do you live your life with too many tabs open? All this stuff you want to read, all this stuff at your fingertips, all the heartbreak when your browser crashes. List your open tabs, or a handful of them, just to share, or to motivate you.

In my tabs on my work laptop:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox
https://st-aurafina.dreamwidth.org/read
https://www.dreamwidth.org/entry/new
https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/379344.html
https://ask.metafilter.com/324977/Please-rec-me-your-fabulous-fanfiction
https://play2048.co/
https://www.facebook.com/
https://tagcrowd.com/
https://archiveofourown.org/collections/multifandomdrabble2019_2/tags/Dracula%20-%20Bram%20Stoker/works
https://campnanowrimo.org/cabins/current
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#craft=crochet&weight=bulky&availability=free&pc=cowl&sort=projects&view=captioned_thumbs&page=2
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/coraline-in-morocco-cowl
https://simplycollectiblecrochet.com/2014/11/coraline-morocco-one-skein-cowl-crochet-pattern/

I got the metafilter link from [personal profile] mergatrude's meme post, though I've had it open before. It's a good collection of recs.

2048 is my writing game. It's perfect for writing - not too diverting. It lets me zone out enough that my plot brain can spin a few wheels and churn out some ideas but then I get frustrated/bored quickly enough that I'm back to writing again in no time.

I'm still reading through multifandom drabble - there are so many good things there!!

And crochet. It helps keep me sane. I've just finished the cowl that's in my tabs - it needs blocking, but it came out nice! Very stretchy and light, but will protect my neck from dread breezes.
Cowl under here )

Meanwhile, I'm concentrating on keeping up with Camp NaNo and my weekly [community profile] podcastjoy post. And not chickening out on posting chapters of my very long fic.
st_aurafina: A ceramic head marked with phrenology detail  (Brain: Phrenology)
There's lots of things about being ASD that taking medication squashed down - I forgot just how freaked out by textural things I get. I forgot how much my teeth buzz when I'm overstimulated. I forgot how tired I get rerouting my brain to do things like letting go of the little stuff, or not doggedly telling people that they're wrong when it doesn't matter. (I'm kind of surprised at how much the SSRI or SNRI held back, actually? The emotional flattening that I hated also came with a good dose of detachment, and I think I miss that part.)

On the other hand, I'm sleeping better, or I think I am. Executive function is a teeny bit better, too. And I think I'm no more anxious than I was when medicated, it's just a different flavour of anxiety. I think I'm doing okay at recognising it and stepping outside of it when it happens? It's easy when it's something batshit, like 'I'm anxious about the sensation of feathers in my mouth', and it's easy when I can pin the feeling to a time, like sunset or just before bed when everything goes a bit weird. When it's not easy, I feel like I'm reaching for my coping pants more readily in an anxious situation. A little. Maybe.

Then again, when I look at the number of times I've typed "I think I'm..." I remember that everything I say is coming from inside the house, so to speak, and I could be completely wrong.

Weird dreams though. Very neurochemical, very sensory and categorical. Lots of sorting dreams, lots of following long and complicated instructions.

Local
- Brolga family
Not my photo but I have driven past this paddock and seen the brolgas. It was early morning so they were still roosting when I saw them, and it looked like a paddock full of folded umbrellas standing upright, so weird and beautiful. I've never seen the chicks before (probably because they are so smol.)

Exchanges and prompt fests
- [community profile] multifandomdrabble sign-ups are open! This is a fun exchange, for fics of 100/200/300 words exactly. Sign up here: Multifdandom Drabble 2019

- I'm not signing up for [community profile] hurtcomfortex, but the freeform tags are a freaking delight: Hurt Comfort Exchange Tagset 2019.

I put them into a bingo card generator, so I can spin out cards if anyone is interested. (Nnnngh, the tags are so good! I wish I was confident enough to sign up, but hopefully I can write some treats.)

Sample card under here )

- from FFA, a prompt fic generator for meme's 100 words threads: 100 Words Prompts. (Sometimes NSFW, so watch out.)
The 100 words writing prompts on meme have kickstarted a lot of fics for me - the generator should be fun.

- [community profile] historium is having a prompt challenge: Historium Commentfest 2019, for historical fandoms, historical AUs, historical RPF.

- Out of the Auditory, a fest for podficcing works that don't fit into the "standard" fiction format: Out of the Auditory


Other Fandom Cleverness
- via [community profile] the_folly, Rivers of London Draft Pre-Series Timeline 3

- via [community profile] beautifulmechanical (which is a music comm that I highly recommend!), a 90's music challenge in honour of Captain Marvel, with a links round-up for discussion of the Captain Marvel soundtrack: 90's Challenge
(I continue to be a bit freaked out that the 90's are a source of musical nostalgia now. I am old, so old.)

- I don't know if I'd do this, but it's interesting: How to Track AO3 Fanfiction Statistics Using Google Analytics
(I don't know where I found this link, sorry if it was someone on my flist...)

- via friendsfriends, [community profile] theumbrellaacademy, for fans of the Netflix series. (I want to like this show! I *should* like this show! But it hasn't clicked for me yet.)

- Costuming becomes a tricky thing when you're shooting the same few days over and over: Russian Doll Costume Designer Jenn Rogien Explains the Show's Fashion Easter Eggs

- via [syndicated profile] lewis_and_quark_feed and of interest to me mostly because of Person of Interest and AIs: Better Language Models and Their Implications
Discussing the ethics of programs that generate large amounts of text, for example in the creation of fake news.

- I think I found this via a discussion on Discord? I haven't played around with Calibre in this way yet, but it looks interesting: On setting up Calibre for fanfic

Craft and Creativity
- via [personal profile] umadoshi, and balm for all the times that I've been told I should be selling/monetising my hobbies: The Modern Trap of Turning Hobbies Into Hustles

- I love it when fandom gets crafty, and I love this excellent Twin Peaks scarf: I made a Twin Peaks Red Room scarf!

Tea Pedantry
- Food Explainer: Why Does Microwaving Water Result in Such Lousy Tea?
People always have opinions on tea. Controversial hot leaf juice!
st_aurafina: Plus sized lady in a pink bathing suit, completely underwater (Exercise: Swimming)
I'm off my meds. I am a free-range brain. It is strange and a little unsettling, like the floorboards of my mind are creaking underfoot but holding steady for the moment.

Cutting for talk of roadkill type car accident with animal harm.
We're okay but the marsupial ain't )

Brief Media Review:

Eps 1-3 of ST Discovery S2
spoilers are mysterious red lights )

Tidelands S1
Which, if this didn't make it to shores outside Australia, is kind of a paranormal mystery story? IDK. This is the imdb summary:
After an ex-con returns to her fishing village, a dead body leads her to uncover the secrets of the town and its half-siren, half-human residents.

Spoilers are too glamorous to get sand in their crack )

Sirens S1 Episodes 1-4
Spoilers are drinking a herring smoothie )

So many mermaids this summer. It's great.
st_aurafina: A ceramic head marked with phrenology detail  (Brain: Phrenology)
I am weaning off escitalopram because I can't handle the flattening thing anymore. It's mashed my ability to initiate actions. For example, at the moment I'm getting up at 6:30am so I can make it to work by 9am. (I live less than five minutes drive from work.) I'm arriving at work without having done all the anxiety self-care things I need to do like meditate and go for a little walk in the garden. All I can get done is the basics: wash, put on clothes, take meds, eat breakfast. And even then, I'm arriving while I'm still chewing the last of my cereal. It's a mess.

I haven't written in a month. All I do is play Subnautica and crochet and hug kitties. That's not such a bad existence, but still. At least it's not too hot this week.

Also, [personal profile] lilacsigil saw a white-bellied sea eagle today (I was looking the wrong way, damn it!) which kind of gives me hope, in this environmentapalooza. (They're a recovering species. Something is going right. One thing, anyway.)

Fandom Things
- via [personal profile] senmut, Multifandom Friendship meme.
Go make friends! I mean, if you want. No pressure.

- there's also a friending meme at [community profile] halfamoon, here. Go meet other fans of female characters.
(Ack, that means [community profile] halfamoon is nearly over and I didn't write anything. Ugh, brain.)

- [community profile] justcreate - A place for crafters, artists, coders, and creators of any variety to share their projects.

- via [personal profile] timetobegin (who btw runs some excellent icon communities): How to Screencap: A Screencap Guide
(Turns out I have a program that can do this?? I did not even know...)

Feelgood things:
- via [personal profile] princessofgeeks, at Captain Awkward's Patreon: Some Social Media & Media Engagement Hygiene And Self-Care Lessons I've Learned From Spending Several Years On This Hellmouth

- PhD 2048
I'm sorry, person who linked this, I didn't note down your name in my haste to play this iteration of the game. I do not have a PhD and only spent a year in academia but I still find this process hilarious: coffee -> panini -> idea -> code -> etc. Sometimes you get garbage! Sometimes there's a random relationship with a ticking clock. (2048 is a particularly good zone-out game for me.)

- This internet rabbit hole I fell down, starting with an ASL version of Ariana Grande's Seven Rings by an EXTREMELY attractive man in a mesh shirt. I'm cutting this because it got a bit scatty )

Podcasts I'm enjoying:
- Ologies with Alie Ward, which is a podcast about sciences.
I'd recommend Egyptology with Kara Cooney, and Testudinology with Amanda Hipps.

- David Tennant Does a Podcast, which is basically what it says on the bottle. I listened to the first one with Olivia Colman and it was delightful. (He calls her 'Collie' and she calls him 'DT'.) The next one is Whoopi Goldberg.

- Monster S2: The Zodiac Killer - the first season, when they covered the Atlanta Monster was really intense and confronting, and I bailed on it. Zodiac has a little distance, maybe because of the hype? A lot of the story is the hype itself, and that is really interesting to me, as well as this peek into the way police departments had to learn on the fly how to deal with this kind of killer.

- Shelf Life, from the Newberry Library in Chicago. I listened to 'Mourning Glory' about the Victorian culture of death and mourning.

- The Case of Charles Dexter Ward from BBC Four. It's a dramatisation of the HP Lovecraft novel, as if it were being investigated by podcast journalists. Modernised, therefore less rabidly racist than Lovecraft usually is. Good and spoopy!


I understand it's a snowpocalypse for the northern hemisphere people. Please stay safe and warm. (Anyone want a scarf? I've made a bunch of scarves...)
st_aurafina: Platypus headshot (Platypus)
Brain report:
It goes up tiddly up up, it goes down tiddly down down. But it goes up? I guess that's good. I'm back to two sessions a week with my trainer and I think it's giving me a mood boost, but with every mood boost comes a kind of mood flop. I wake up, I feel good and optimistic for a few hours, then it feels like the ground has dropped out from under me and I wonder what the point is to existence.

It's one year since 60% of Australia voted to let me get married. I am surprised at how bitter I am about the whole fucking thing. Every time I see my straight friends on facebook congratulating themselves on being so openminded, I want to cry. I mean, in that twelve months I didn't get married. I weaned myself off the extra antidepressant I had to start taking so I wouldn't have panic attacks in public during the debate. Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off. (And down tiddly down down...)

Okay. Up. Go up, brain. There are lots of good things in my life. I have a big bang to post at the end of the month! I'm 22K into this year's NaNo! I have lots of lovely wool to work with! It's okay. I can manage this.


Garden report:
Tomatoes went in the beds on Cup Day (the first Tuesday in November) as is traditionally recommended by old gardners who know things. We've got three from Bunnings (big box hardware): Grosse Lise, mini Roma truss and Nonna's Favourite. And from seed I've got Green Zebra and Red Pear in the beds. In the greenhouse there's Orange Sunrise Bumblebee (this is too many adjectives for a tomato, IJS), valentines, and Wapsipinicon Peach which is apparently a fuzzy tomato. (Not sure if want? But could not resist trying to grow it.)

Cucumbers: Lebanese and Crystal Apple. Zucchini: Blackjack and Costata Romanesco. Climbing beans: Purple King, European and Northern. Peas: purple and yakimono giant. (The giant peas really are huge. Fingertip to wrist in length.) I've optimistically started eggplants - Long Purples, which I call Lebanese - and put lots of dynamic lifter on this time but they've been stalled at the two-leaf stage and I think I really can't grow eggplant which is one of life's cruel ironies.

Is that everything? Lime and Genovese basil... Some other rando tomato leftovers from years past that I can't remember. Oh, purple spring onions, but they're still at the skinny chive-looking stage. Celery is finishing up. Broccoletti is getting lots of brockles. Spinach has been slumbering all through winter, sadly, but is now starting to get leafy.


Linkspam:
History
- I think this comes via [personal profile] jenett? Folklorist shares the untold story of Australian fortune teller, Mary Barrell
I find this fascinating because of my long-languishing YA Melbourne based Victorian-era paranormal novel. I love all these gradually disappearing stories of Australia's occult history.

Politics and Reproductive Health
Via [personal profile] goodbyebird, The California Sunday Magazine: A secret network of women is working outside the law and the medical establishment to provide safe, cheap home abortions.
Interesting but very explicit - it talks medication, equipment, training for providing grass roots abortion.


Recs
Fic rec of great love from the Person of Interest Big Bang:
Just One Stray Match (41961 words) by loveandthetruth, livenudebigfoot
Chapters: 14/14
Fandom: Person of Interest (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lionel Fusco/John Reese
Characters: Lionel Fusco, John Reese, Harold Finch, Sameen Shaw, Root | Samantha Groves
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Firewatch Fusion, Cabin Fic, Wilderness, Hiking Porn
Summary:

1989. Lionel Fusco doesn't belong in the woods in general or the Shoshone National Forest in particular. But he doesn't need to be a good fire lookout. He just needs a place to hide.

Unfortunately for him, he's been found.



---
It's an AU set well before the series, and it's a fusion with Firewatch, a mystery video game where you play someone living in one of those firewatch cabins in the forest looking out for brushfires. It's so good. It's loyalty kink and examining who you really are when you're outside your comfort zone. It's an ode to Fusco and his utter goodness (which as a dirty cop can be problematic.) It's a love song to National Parks and hiking and living wild in isolated places.

If you're not familiar with the fandoms, I'd still rec it, since it takes place long before we get to know the characters from the show, and you don't need much canon info. Think of it as a story about a disheartened dirty cop who takes a summer job he's completely unsuited for, and falls for a mysterious and traumatised stranger living wild in the forest.

(Bearing in mind the week that California has had, if you're unhappy reading about fire or fire damage, this one probably isn't for you.)

tl;dr, it's the kind of fic that makes you pick up a fandom - I've got the Firewatch game in my wishlist on Steam for the next time it goes on special.
---

More recs:
- Fanart - No I in Team - by [personal profile] goss. Beautiful, beautiful Daredevil and Ironman art for [community profile] marvel_bang. Just - when can I see this on a comicbook cover pls? Pls.

- XVII by phoxinus. Tarot fanart for Watership Down in the style of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot. It's beautiful and full of symbolism and very apt. Of course Hyzenthlay is the Star. Of course. I second everyone saying they'd love a deck in this theme.

- Singing Again at Seven Bells by selden, from the Original Works Exchange. I'd say "Lady pirate mermaid femslash" and that would ordinarily be enough for me, but there's so much more going on in this fic. There's boarding school backstory and there's historical pirate world building and there's... so much. It's so good. Nhhgggnh.


Other Fandom Joy
-This Metafilter post: Please rec me your fabulous fanfiction
Take a trip down memory lane or find some new faves

- Femslash Kink 18! The Annual Femslash Kink Meme 2018 is Coming!
Prompting opens soon.

- at [personal profile] navaan, Spicy Advent, a porn advent calendar.
All the slots are filled (snerk) but the collection is open for submission (snerk snerk) and as Advent progresses, [personal profile] navaan will post the links. (I think? I think this is how it works. It sounds like fun.)

Non-Fandom Joy
- At Mashable: If you want to explore the Australian bush as a sleepy wombat, 'Paperbark' is the game is for you.
I cannot wait for this game, it looks so pretty!!

- From the ABC, A sleeping quokka in the Rottnest Island settlement.
Everything quokkas do is adorable.

- Monterey Bay Aquarium Builds Life-Sized Blue Whale Art Installation Made from Discarded Single-Use Plastic to Raise Awareness About Ocean Pollution.
It's a very pretty whale, too.

- Also from the ABC, Warrnambool's popular wombat mural a happy accident.
This is such a country town thing - artist goes to his local bridge to do a trial of chalks on concrete thinking it will just wash away in the next rains. Council worker sees wonderful mural and realises that it's just in chalk, so quickly seals it in place. Presto! Permanent mural!!

- From Eyewatch Warrnambool's facebook, Why did the duck cross the road?
Obligatory 'police stop the traffic for ducklings' video. Interestingly, this is just near the old McDonalds that got turned into a funeral parlour. (Must make for some interesting ghosts, I think.)

- via [personal profile] spindle_ella, the first episode of Wellington Paranormal: Wellington Paranormal S01E01 - Demon Girl.
This show is amazing. Just. Yeah. Amazing.

In conclusion, my NaNo progres:
st_aurafina: Harold Finch's face (POI: Harold)
Ladybird princess is ready for her closeup:
ladybird photo under cut )

I have started the escitalopram. No explosions yet. The brain zaps stopped within a few hours, which seems to me to be pharmacologically impossible, but still. And who knows, I'm still technically withdrawing from desvenlafaxine (and could be for up to three months, according to an article [personal profile] lilacsigil read last night while I was sweating and crying on the floor because I thought I had serotonin syndrome. She's so great at soothing me with fact.)

Exchange of Interest
- the same people who ran this exchange are having a big bang: Person of Interest Big Bang Schedule

- Did you know there's a POI Discord? I think this is a link so you can join (but also links expire in weird ways so let me know if it doesn't work): https://discordapp.com/invite/7FywuYV

- A couple more recs as I work through the collection:

Semantic Errors (Explicit, Root/Grace)
A slow-build romance that sees Root infiltrating Grace's life for purposes of better stalking Harold, then falling for her.

Birds of the Eastern Seaboard
(G, always a girl!Harold, Team Machine)
A really thorough gen fic looking at how things go differently for a female Harold. It's one of those genderswap fics where the differences and the similarities are incredibly satisfying to read.

Other Fandom Things
- Nominations are open for [community profile] multifandomdrabble. I had so much fun with this last year (and the year before when it was on Imzy. Ah, those weird and fleeting Imzy days.) Everything I want to offer is already nominated except for Reverie, so I have some slots to share. See the timetable and pertinent links here: Multifandom Drabblefest 2018.

- [community profile] unconventionalcourtship is on again, also. Choose a Mills and Boon or Harlequin summary and write a romance with your fandom faves. You play by choosing a posting day here:Unconventional Courtship 2018.

- [community profile] fandomgiftbox is coming up, too. Fandom Giftbox 2018 Schedule. It's a mid-year gifting fest, like [community profile] fandom_stocking.

Now, onto writing for the night. The Lil Aussie Writing Group that [personal profile] sassbandit has been hosting is working out really well for me.
st_aurafina: Sameen Shaw walking in a desert with a hat on (POI: Shaw hat)
Me things
I'm doing my washout before starting escitalopram. The next 48 hours should be a real blast. I'm doing okay - a bit breathless and panicky (not helped by people running their woodfires), and really, really cold. And the only thing I want to eat is Baker's Delight Hawaiian pizza rolls (BTW THERE ARE NONE IN THIS HOUSE) and I will fight your face if you say one fucking word about pineapple on pizza. DON'T TEST ME BRO.

But [personal profile] lilacsigil needs fabric, so today we are going to Spotlight. I'm going to buy yarn and I'm not going to feel guilty about it. And maybe some knitting needles, because I thought I could teach myself to knit. *shrugs* It worked for crochet?

In happier and more fun news, Exchange of Interest 2018 is open! Go enjoy new Person of Interest works! There's so much. It feels a bit overwhelming, like Christmas morning. Aside from the creative goodness, it's great to be reminded that POI is a lovely and friendly and thriving little fandom.

The collection is here: Exchange of Interest 2018

The mods are running a friendly bingo challenge to encourage commenting - you can get a card here: Post-Reveal Notes and Commenting Bingo. (Comment with your AO3 name if you're in the collection so you don't have to comment on your own anonymous work.)

And there's a treat writing challenge too: Treatless List. I've written some treats already but I'm going to try and bang out some more before the 17th.

My commenting bingo card is under here )
Some quick recs from early dips into the collection:

Straight into the Late Night (Rated Mature, Joss Carter/Zoe Morgan/Sameen Shaw)
My gift!! It's competence porn extraordinaire, with two chapters (Joss/Zoe, and Joss/Shaw, ending with the possibility of a threesome), it's all beautiful dresses and undercover work and solving cases and making out. So in wonderfully in character. This could be the pilot of my favourite imaginary TV show.

every card is wild, (rated Teen, John Reese and Nathan.) An AU where John gets recruited by Nathan, not Harold.

Mutually Assured Destruction, the gods of Person of Interest (Rated G, Samaritan and the Machine)
Wonderful and creepy fanart representations of Samaritan and the Machine.
st_aurafina: Bare-breasted lady, painted with olive tones (Art: Olive lady)
On the weekend, I broke a trowel and a shovel turning over one of the garden beds, but then I swept the deck of dead leaves to enable [personal profile] lilacsigil's love affair with compost which disturbed all the leaf-mould-eating ladybirds. So I sat in a cloud of black and yellow ladybirds and felt like a fairy princess. A leaf-mould fairy princess, so glamorous.

I've got my fic for Exchange of Interest posted, plus one treat and another one or two coming down the pipes in the next few days. I got bitten by a plot bunny, which is all good except the last thing I need is another wip. Here's the list of requests, if anyone is interested: Exchange of Interest requests. The timetable for the exchange is at [community profile] poi_fanworks.

I am dithering on my [community profile] wipbigbang, I need to get it going.

Linkspams
Fannish stuff
- The Greatest, multifandom SF/F/H characters of color extravaganza
Amazing vid by [personal profile] bironic. So good. I cried. (Which might be the meds, but I'm going to lean into it here.)

- For Aussie writers/people active in Aussie evening timezones, [personal profile] sassbandit is hosting low-key writing sessions at their journal. There's a poll here about preferences: Australians! (and adjacent). Or check out where we all had a go last night: Australian evening writing group.

- [community profile] seasonofkink starts soon! (Tomorrow, I think?) But if you can't wait, or *whispers darkly* want to have more control, here's a nifty bingo generator: Let's make you a bingo card!

- At [community profile] fan_flashworks, [personal profile] highlander_ii posted this amazing creation: No Fandom : game : butt match
It's a butt-matching memory game. *nods*

Science Stuff
- Puffin beaks are fluorescent and we had no idea
I think this link has been around Tumblr like, twelve times, but those puffins in their funky party specs will always make me laugh.

- i miss #hannibal so i made my own. Size doesn't matter
Via The Rec Center's weekly newsletter, this awesome human person MADE THEIR OWN HANNIBAL DOLL HOUSE. It's fricking amazing.

Brains and Bodies
Listen up: hearing aid takes out top design award
Interesting article at The Age about design and stigma of hearing aids.

- not sure who wrote this but it's helpful
Via [personal profile] miss_s_b, one of those brain/thinking lists where I can tick basically every box, plus some strategies for heading them off. (It might be the medication taper, but lately I am having a big mood crash as soon as the sun goes down. [personal profile] lilacsigil just said "I kind of want to fight you for being mean to you...")

When the Way You Love Things Is “Too Much”; or: Why I Went to Portmeirion
Via The Rec Center again. I went in for the autism story, I came out wanting to watch the show. (Which seems to be on Youtube: The Prisoner 01 Arrival, but you know I'm going to be watching the 2005 version with Jim Caviezel: The Prisoner Ep.1 Arrival (2009). As soon as I have time.)

Craft
- At etsy, Alula Creations
Amazing beaded birds.

- Knitted jumper belonging to Lapstone resident the keeper of intriguing tale from First World War
I love that she knitted herself a version of the jumper that kept her grandfather alive in a POW camp.

- Making Nests for Wildlife in care
Knit or crochet nests for orphaned/injured animals. WIRES is one of the wildlife rescue and rehab groups in Australia.
st_aurafina: Appa, looming out of the square (Avatar: Appa is large and looming)
Secret wedding update
Obligatory Avatar: The Last Airbender song break:
Secret wedding!
Secret wedding!
Up in Sydney!
Secret, secret, secret, secret wedding!

It happened. Mum posted one photo on Facebook. I am still trying to understand how she justified two of her children not being at the wedding or responding to the photo, but that's obviously going to be a mystery for the ages. My Aunt who was smuggled into the country contacted me on facebook to ask if she can come visit, which I have arranged. Nobody said nothing about no wedding.

It's so weird.

Brain update
I'm weaning off desvenlafaxine and changing to escitalopram. Since the desven seems to be doing nothing at all, I think it's time for a change. IDK, brains are so annoying. I wish there was a better way.

Fire Nation update
Two of the peat fires are out, yay! One continues to smoulder, but should be out soon. The CFA called in experts who did lots of stuff with drones and IR sensors and long, long pipelines of water. (It was really well handled and reported.) Schools are back. The evacuated nursing care patients have been sent home. I'd say the air quality is better but now that we've had some rain and the fire danger is not extreme, everyone is burning off their heaped rubbish as well as running their wood fired heaters. So things are a little hazy, and it's not just me changing my meds.

Media update
The Good Wife:
Four episodes to go! I have my fingers crossed that Peter Florrick ends up alone and in prison.

My Favorite Murder:
Is now My Favorite Podcast, or at least the one I'm mainlining for sanity. It's oddly soothing to listen to. Also, I learn interesting facts, like Ed Kemper records audio books for the blind. I like the way they talk about mental health. And being safe. Fuck politeness!!

Lost In Space:
I have seen the first and a half episodes and am desperately in love with Maureen Robinson. I am less entranced by how very evil Parker Posey is. For some reason - maybe it's the murder podcast, maybe it's the endless court scenes in The Good Wife - I'm tired of the clever, charismatic sociopath. It's sad, because I love Parker Posey. Maybe when I'm feeling less frazzled I will want to have another go.

Infinity War:
Decided to read this Buzzfeed round-up of memes in lieu of watching the movie. I regret nothing.

Twitter:
I logged into mine for the first time in almost a decade, to change my password. It's a lot different now, isn't it? Ads and political scrums. I also discovered that I had a st_aurafina instagram back in the day. I don't know if I'm going to start using Twitter again, but I had a little tidy up and so on while I was logged in so maybe. (Actually, an hour into scrolling through Twitter and I started to get a tension headache. Maybe it's a good thing I'm not on it? Is there a way to do Twitter joyfully these days?)

The Handmaid's Tale
I am not allowed to watch this. This will send me into an apocalyptic spiral of doom. If I feel the urge to watch it (because it's streaming free on SBS) I have promised to run to [personal profile] lilacsigil and confess. She will save me from myself.

I really want to watch it tho.

Eurovision:
I am saving the semi-finals for the weekend for a long binge, while I crochet the five million projects I must complete. I think my town is having a low-key baby boom, even counting the impending triplets as one.

The Great Painting Challenge:
First there was the Great British Bake-off, then the Great British Sewing Bee, then the Great Pottery Throwdown, and now there's the Great Painting Challenge. These are all excellent and low-stress competitions with very skilled and very kind competitors. I think Pottery Throwdown was my favourite non-baking challenge - the judges are amazing and eccentric and passionate (there are often tears of joy and sorrow at the judging end of the show) but the Painting Challenge is also really good. I'm watching S1, and one of the judges (*coughs* LACK-LAN) is an annoying smartarse who offers little in the way of constructive criticism and much in the way of sassy remarks he thinks are hil-AIR-ious. But the other two judges make up for it with their own comments, and the mentors are lovely. I am not an artist, but I think I've learned how to look at art from watching how the competitors construct paintings each week.

Here's the official website: BBC1: The Big Painting Challenge.

Westworld S2:
Ooooh, so many theories. So many crack theories. So far, my favourites: spoilers are wearing a black hat )

Upcoming (hopefully soon): Killing Eve, taking [personal profile] lilacsigil through AHS: Coven because I think she'll like it, The Expanse S3, the Deadpool movie (after watching this Celine Dion video, Ashes - from the Deadpool 2 soundtrack I thought we should see the first movie. Also it has the actress who plays Verity in The Exorcist), and Legion S2 (this teaser All in Your Head shows why Aubrey Plaza needs to win all the awards.)
st_aurafina: Comic of Scully, saying "I detest dancing" (X-Files: Scully detests dancing)
Brainbox update
I'm coming up out of a low, low place, enough that I want to post something. I'm not sure why exactly it happened, or more accurately, there's a number of causes and I'm not sure which one to blame: I stopped amitriptyline and maybe that low dose was doing more than I thought, there was a brief spasm of birthday madness in my family around the date of my lovely sister's birthday (my family does not do birthdays gracefully or well), my therapist went to a seminar so I was a free-range brain for the first six weeks of the year, and my not-lovely sister is getting married which is apparently a family secret that I am not to know but I do because nobody told my father this and he wrote it on the work roster.

Looking back at that list, I'm going to blame my family. (How is keeping a family member's wedding secret from half of us going to even work? I am so confused. Baby sister and I are estranged from her, neither of us have any interest in her wedding, but I don't see how it's functional for my mother to hide the details from me and baby sister. Is she shunning us? Are we meant to feel insulted? What are they going to tell the people who know all of us? What are they going to tell my aunt who is flying in from Canada? I feel like I should make some kind of statement of disavowal or something. IDK, how does estrangement even work? I just want to know what the party line is so I can stick to it and not cause more ruckus.)

Three good things
1. I read Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, which was amazing and made me love spiders. I mean, really, I love them now and think they are lovely. And science is lovely, and evolution is lovely, and science fiction is lovely.

It's a stand-alone novel, and part of the story supposes an evolutionary path for spiders on a terraformed planet. Australopithecine-level civilisation! Alchemist spiders! SPACE-GOING SPIDERS. It's really cleverly thought through, and does a lot with the differences that would arise from spiders: they can walk on ceilings, so spatial geometry of their architecture is very different, their technology develops around the concept of silk, they don't have vocal cords so their language is sign-based. It was awesome, and early on I had to google Adrian Tchaikovsky to find out how he wrote science so well. (Answer: zoology/psychology degree.) Part of the reason I clicked with it so hard, I think, is because I'm the kind of person who hangs onto my physiology textbook long after I'd dropped the subject, because I needed it to figure out stuff like how Vulcan haemoglobin would work. So, if you're that kind of person too, you'll probably like the book. Unless spiders are an absolute nope for you. (Whyyyy? They're so great!)


2. On Tuesday [personal profile] lilacsigil and I had a lovely conversation with her brother and SIL-to be, on speaker phone very early in the morning (they're London-based), while we cuddled in bed with cats. They're getting married in June, and we're not going to be able to make it to the UK for the event, so we called to talk in person instead of chatting, and it was really, really nice.

It was one of those moments in the past few weeks when I've had this weird but pleasant feeling of touching base with planet earth again. The first one was sitting at the kitchen bench while [personal profile] lilacsigil made coffee about a month ago, and I just felt everything slide into position: I was there, she was there, coffee was there, we were safe and well and in our home which is a good place. It was visceral, like I had landed safely. Like I didn't even realise how far I had drifted from myself for weeks until I metaphorically felt my feet touch the ground again. It was very strange to not feel those wheels of almost-panic going. Anyway, early morning to meet London timezone, very cosy, many cats.


3. Monster of the Week started up again! It's a webcomic rewatch of The X-Files which went on hiatus at the end of S4 while the artist had a baby. It's loving and wry, and I'm glad it's back. The Post-Modern Prometheus episode is drawn in colour! Monster of the Week: Season Five, Episode One.

This reminds me that in one of my posts that never got posted, I uploaded a snippet of chat that was X-Files relevant. Also Exorcist relevant, since I was quoting something from FFA about Tomas and Marcus:
image and transcript under cut, some mention of feral priests )


Clearing out the linkspam folder
- [community profile] the_good_place! They're having a rewatch of S1. Ooh, there's a banner!
banner for the_good_place rewatch
Join us at [community profile] the_good_place!


- [community profile] theexorcistfans, which seems to have a rolling writing challenge.

- Write Every Day is at [personal profile] ysilme this month. Everyone is welcome.

- Porn Battle anon meme! [community profile] pb_anon

- ETA: The Agent Carter fic exchange, [community profile] ssrconfidential, is running again! Planning post is here: 2018 SSR Confidential.

- The Bright Sessions podcast got optioned for a YA trilogy: Tor Teen Acquires The Bright Sessions Trilogy by Lauren Shippen.

- Keep your lawns short with this nifty guinea pig lawn mower.

- It's from a few Fridays ago, but stiill: Begin Friday With Swinton in a Tux. (I accept that I have a pretty specific women in suits kink.)

- I found this strangely fascinating. From bored panda: 10+ Times People Accidentally Found Their Doppelgängers In Museums

- From Meet Me At Mikes, a list of Australia charities taking crafty donations, like blankets and softies. Crafting for a cause: ace Australian charity crafting campaigns.

- I share this most years, for people who are inundated with zucchini/summer squash. Which is not us, unfortunately. We had a crappy year for squash, with lots of blossom rot. [personal profile] lilacsigil did google research, and possibly the soil is low in calcium, so we're putting lime down tomorrow. Anyway, here's my zucchini recipe collection. If it's tagged 'Imadethis', then I've tried it and found it worthy of making more than once.
My zucchini tag on Pinboard

This was the latest effort (with a gifted zucchini from one of the seedlings I started): Meatballs with Tomato and Zucchini
We used all beef and matched volume of zucchini (it was a massive zucchini - that was only half!), halved the parmesan, and we baked them instead of frying, for 30 minutes at about 160 C. They were fantastic.

Onward, onward towards a better brain.
st_aurafina: A ceramic head marked with phrenology detail  (Brain: Phrenology)
Eleven millionth try at making a post. I have been very slumpy and garbage-headed. There have been actual panic attacks for the first time in ages, and self-harm thoughts, and no sleep, and all that anxiety crap.

I saw a locum doctor and she was twelve, so I helped her decide that I needed some more medical support and that support would be amitriptyline 10mg at night. I dream of a doctor that will actually give me medical advice. (And since I'm dreaming, a doctor who is LGBT friendly rather than oblivious and likely to freak out if I even ask if they're LGBT friendly.)

The amitriptyline is working though: my mood is slowly elevating, I can sleep, and a work day doesn't strip me back to bare bones with exhaustion. I can write this entry! I'm still wanting to sit still with headphones on and crochet all day, but there's no harm in that. I have made a lot of hats.

I managed to get a Yuletide letter written, and and my sign-up done in time. I love my assignment and will love writing it. I wrote a last minute treat for [community profile] femslashex.

I've got so many fics to post - some from [community profile] fandomgiftbox that need posting here, and some unposted for [community profile] 15kisses that are written but I can't seem to find the energy to actually post. And I need to plan for NaNo: I've got a sequel to Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters to write, my never-ending fixit fic for S5 of Person of Interest to finish, and my super never-ending post-Winter Soldier road trip fic to finish. I think the Winter Soldier one is closing in on the end? I think??

And I have made no Christmas cards. And I'm out of sympathy cards. (I make my own sympathy cards because I need them quite frequently, which sounds gruesome, but I work in healthcare with some very elderly patients. It's a nice thing to be able to send a handmade card when one of them passes on.)

Media I have absorbed:

Mindhunter: spoilers for the whole series )

ST: Disco Very - spoilers up to 1.06 Lethe )

Spoilers for The Good Place )

Thoughts on Black Sails - spoilers for the first eight eps )

Spoilers for Supergirl S3.03 Far From the Tree )

It has actually taken me two weeks to write this post. Things aren't great in my treehouse. Kangaroos loose in the top paddock. One snag short of a barbie. Few sangas short of a picnic. (How many of these can I spool out? Mullions, mate.)
st_aurafina: monarch butterfly wings (Butterfly wings)
State of the Writing:
I posted a bunch of fics, but have a few more that only need a little bit of work. (Sanctuary wing-fic, this one X-Men/Sanctuary fic I've had hanging around, that Warehouse 13 fic that I thought was finished but actually had [put kiss here] in the body of the text, ffs.)

I'm going to try for a finish-a-thon this Nano. I just totted up my works in progress:
- Post-Winter-Soldier Save Bucky fic now jossed by, I think, four MCU movies, 55K
- Person of Interest 5 Things, with 3/5 of the things done, 15K
- Person of Interest post S5 fixit, 36K
- Person of Interest Sentinel/Guide fic I should never have started but it's so addictive, 5K
- Dracula 2013 Lucy/Mina/Grayson fic 6K
- Original fic, Boarding House of Together They Solve Crime, 50K

That's 167K of unfinished business, holy shit. That's not right. Something has to change here. I think I'm staging an intervention on myself.

Yuletide assignments were super early this year, huh? Mine is great - I'm excited about getting started on that, plus the letter reads like I wrote it. We're obviously very in sync, my recipient and I. For myself, I got my letter in right on the buzzer - Dear Author.

And I have a pinch hit for [community profile] femslashex that I absolutely need to get cracking on. Now.

State of the Garden:
- celery going strong
- snow peas starting to take off
- weird crinkly spinach in that stage where the more you pick, the more grows
- broccolini is down to one plant, but it still has... brockles?
- bok choy gone (it was a really good winter crop though.)
- seeds for button squash, butternut pumpkin, green zebra tomato, apple cucumber and leek are tiny but strong
- 2 zucchini seedlings are in and planning their strategic advance on the house
- coriander is going
- we put in some beetroot seedlings, mostly because apparently the greens are nice in salad? IDK.

State of the Me:
- I hurt my shoulder and the physiotherapist uttered the dread incantation 'rotator cuff'. It's not too bad, just inflamed, definitely not torn, but I'm being extra careful. I feel like I'm in a bad Victorian novel, always checking that my shoulder blades are down and back.
- The plebiscite on same sex marriage went down in flames, thank goodness, but that and world events in general have left me feeling fairly hopeless about the future. I'm still trying to get over the discovery that I live in a world where #nottheonion is a thing we need when reading news.
- I'm feeling generally flat and uncommunicative but I am trying to push out of it. I have NaNo write-ins I want to attend in Geelong. I've scoped out the locale, it looks nice and fairly accessible. I'm still nervous about it. Socialising is nervewracking, even when I want to do it.
- Pokemon Go is giving me life. Even though fewer people are playing, it takes the edge of my anxiety when I go to a new place, because I can scope out the poke-landscape.

State of the Cats:
Spring is here and we opened a window )
st_aurafina: Rainy day, person with a rainbow umbrella in the distance  (Rainbow umbrella)
My favourite Prince tribute, from [tumblr.com profile] lizclimo.



In other news, I am now a medicated person.

talking about anxiety, medication, side effects, mostly for my own reference or because taking Pristiq makes me introspective IDK )

tl;dr: I'm on drugs and they seem to work okay.


I have my [community profile] ssrconfidential assignment, and it's lovely and open and exactly the kind of thing I'd like to write. I just need... to get started, I think. I am a bit worried about the meds knocking down my ability to write, but I think that once I get a plot bunny nibble, I'll be right. And at the moment, I'm coming to the end of a Person of Interest rewatch to get ready for season five (SEASON FIVE OMG) and I'm all about the POI plot bunnies. So many bunnies.


Discharging linkspams:

- The easiest way to get fresh thyme leaves off the stalk. MIND. BLOWN.

- Awesome Breastforms - volunteers knit or crochet breast forms for mastectomy/lumpectomy patients, who can order whatever size, colour, filling they like. The forms are free, and for some people, more comfortable or accessible than expensive silicone forms.

- Artisinal ipsums:
Hipster ipsum
Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction ipsum
Bogan ipsum

- Good Morning Alice - a dreadful short film/jewellery ad featuring Gwenyth Paltrow, which has been delightfully over-masticated by fandom.

- Under Cats - photography series of cats on glass tables. SO MANY TOE BEANS.

- How to make a Black Widow doll, since Marvel is so fail.

- Styrofoam amplified cello - would also be handy in a shipwreck.

- This Took Forever woven tags - for those times when you've slaved over a handcrafted item, and it ends up in the dog's bed.

- Discover the kitchen style for your Myers-Briggs personality type - I fucking love stupid Myers-Briggs stuff. Am I the only one? It's so stupid and yet weirdly satifying. I'm INFP, and my kitchen style is "The Healer". UNCANNY.
st_aurafina: Rainy day, person with a rainbow umbrella in the distance  (Rainbow umbrella)
The Jehovahs just called on us, from which I take to mean that since we have moved, they haven't updated their hobo sign at the gate that says LESBIAN HOUSE. Thanks, lady, I love being told, on my own doorstep, that God loves me despite my choices in life. I asked her to try to be compassionate and then I closed the door on her. (ETA: [personal profile] lilacsigil has ordered us a couple of rainbow flag stickers, one for the mailbox and one for the front door of the pharmacy. We can make our own hobo signs.)


I'm not going to get my Winter Soldier fic finished before Civil War comes out, and it's making me queasy. I want to enjoy and squee over the trailers, but instead I feel guilty and anxious, which is a great mindset to try and write from. I have 60K, I need maybe 15K. I want it done. I like this story a lot, and I want to post it. Ugh.


So, obvs, I am super anxious. Everything is anxious-making. I am very tired and bored of this steam engine in my brain that runs all day and all night, churning out thoughts and feelings that are completely divorced from reality. Even more, I'm tired of knowing these fears are out of perspective and irrational, but still feeling them. It is such a waste of time. I have better things I could with this powerful, energetic, imaginative brain. /is trying to be positive about brain. It's a good brain. It's kept me alive for 45 years.


[personal profile] naye was talking about podcasts, and I am very into podcasts right now! Podcasts are awesome because they free up my hands so I can crochet or shred zucchini or do housework. But even more than that, a podcast puts a brake on my anxiety-based running dialogue with myself. I can't listen to my inner voice berating me when there's a voice in my ear telling me something I really want to know.

I'm going to link to [personal profile] naye's recs for fictional podcasts, because I agree with all of the recs, and listen to all of those stories (except for 'Alice isn't Dead' but it's queued.) ETA: Done and I'm never eating omelet again.

Here are some non-fiction recs:

Well, that ended up a lot longer than I thought )

Oooh, oooh, look what [personal profile] sholio did: [community profile] ssrconfidential, fic exchange for Agent Carter. *hurries off to join*
st_aurafina: The Winter Soldier wearing a mask and showing his metal arm (Marvel: Winter Soldier)
Still haven't moved. Send help and reinforcements. The real estate agent has a tenant lined up for our old place; she keeps knocking on the door to ask when we'll be vacating so we can lease the house. IDEK. At least it won't be sitting empty. At least it's rentable without major renovations (and at least this tenant is willing to move in while the not so major renovations are done.)


I survived my major dental appointment by having a panic attack on the Sunday beforehand that was so intense and so horrifying that two hours of crown work was nothing to fear in comparison. The panic attack wasn't even to do with the the dental appointment - it was my mother's birthday on Sunday, and when I went to text her, I had to scroll and scroll to find our last communication, which was in January - hence panic attack and waves of self-loathing that far outweighed my fear of dentistry. I do not recommend this as a method of dealing with dental phobia. I feel like a piece of fruit leather at the bottom of a schoolbag. But the temporary crown is in and the next appointment is not so arduous. OR SO THEY TELL ME. /dire looks


Tinee media review:

- Doctor Who: tentatively enjoying it on the proviso that I read no negative reviews and allow myself to soak in a syrupy non-critical solution of self-care while watching it. A new Doctor is always a treat, in that assorted chocolates way. I don't really know what Twelve is like yet, but I'm pretty sure he's not a soft-centre. (OMG where is this analogy going? I release my grip on sanity! Let it go!)

- Reign: Watched the first two episodes and really, really enjoyed them. It's like, history on crack with fancy dresses and ooooh, boys, and lots of girls hugging.


Tinee linkspam:

- Seriously adorable crochet pattern: Crochet a baby Groot (warning for animated gif)

- Somewhat underbaked science that nonetheless rang true for me and my many hearing problems: Middle ear may hold answers for autism treatment (Warning for discussion of familial abuse)

- H/T to [personal profile] cofax7 for this one: The Most Amazing Lie in History (I feel like I want some kind of Peggy Carter encounter with this guy. Maybe Judy Dench's M can be in it, too. She must have been pretty deadly in WWII.

- Misty Copeland will be performing Swan Lake in Australia - this photo from her instagram is just beautiful. I love the strength and compassion on her face - I usually find Odette a bit mimsy, but this is amazing. (Eeeeeh, using facebook to embed from Instagram to my journal - this is a little too close to crossing the streams, if you ask me.)

Instagram clearly too evil - am hotlinking like a crime lord )

- I wish this scene had been in the Winter Soldier: This Is What Hawkeye Was Going To Do In Captain America: The Winter Soldier

- Speaking of Winter Soldier, [personal profile] famira has made a trillion textless icons from the movie: all under their Captain America tag. Go snaffle them up!


Since my last post, I've mostly been reading comics: re-reading Captain America's Winter Soldier arc, also Young Avengers (omg Miss America! Amerikate foreva!), Ms Marvel (omg the latest team-up killed me with the adorability).


Also made a bunch of icons suddenly and out of the blue: some Doctor Who, some Young Avengers which are, admittedly, 90% America Chavez )

And that's all there is. There isn't any more.
st_aurafina: Captain America, looking somber, holding his shield (Marvel: Captain America)
It has been
730ish
21
7

0 days since my last panic attack.


Which is to say that there is medical stuff of the 'It's probably nothing' variety and it has done my brain in. I am getting better at dealing with these panic attacks, but at the same time, they're kind of intense this time around. Today at work, I thought I was going to black out. Lots of zippy little black dots and a feeling of imminent doom. It is a crapballs way of coping with stress and I am miserable that it is back on my mental menu of cope.


On the other hand, I can get my shoulders well and truly off the mat when I do an abs crunch. Like, right up there, shoulder blades clear off the mat. I used to just be able to lift my head. That is 100% my work of the past two years. I am very proud of this. Do not harsh me on it even if this sounds like a piddling effort to regular folk. I am on a hair trigger and I have a fork handy.


Reading:

Still reading heaps of fic, still wallowing in Winter Soldier feels. Also reading the Winter Soldier arc in Captain America - I had forgotten how much detail was transposed directly to screen. ("Who the hell is Bucky?", oh, my poor heart.)

Revenant (73471 words) by stele3
Chapters: 11/11
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Bruce Banner
Additional Tags: Dubious Consent, Dehumanization, Hostage Situations, Torture, Ableism, Suicidal Thoughts, Canon-Typical Violence, Post-Movie(s), slightly AU, Suicide Attempt, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Body Horror, Panic Attacks, Mind Control, Period-Typical Homophobia, Bisexuality
Summary:

Post-movie AU in which Bucky didn’t just leave Steve on a river bank...he took him.

Many thanks to rennemiles and sansets for beta-reading this and being willing to talk at length with my incoherent ass. I will be posting a chapter a week.

This chapter contains no sexual content, but future chapters include several scenes of varying dubious consent. I will make note of that and the exact situations in the chapters that it applies to. If anyone spots anything else in the fic that I should have tagged for but did not, please do not hesitate to tell me.



I still have one chapter to go in this one, but since I'm probably not going to be posting for a bit, I wanted to rec it - I have loved ten of the eleven chapters I've read thus far. It's AU in the sense that Bucky takes Steve with him when he goes on the run. There are many good and bad feels in this, but also a satisfying amount of plot, and visits from many Marvel characters, including Agents of SHIELD. I hope the last chapter is good too - it seems to be heading to awesome places.



Slowed Me From My Ruining (5997 words) by galfridian
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers
Characters: Sharon Carter (Marvel), Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Nick Fury, Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes
Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship
Summary:

After SHIELD falls, Sharon Carter joins the CIA and finds herself assigned to track down the Winter Soldier.



A hyper-competent Sharon Carter on mission to find Bucky. Lots of professional relationships, lots of weaving in and out of espionage circles, glimpses of what it is like to be Agent Peggy Carter's niece.



depends on where you're standing (4118 words) by dirgewithoutmusic
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Sharon Carter & Natasha Romanov, Sharon Carter &; Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov
Characters: Sharon Carter (Marvel), Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers, Agent 13 (Marvel)
Additional Tags: Bechdel Test Fix, Aftermath, Idealistic little girls who grow up to be fierce women, coffee with an assassin, spies around the watercooler, SHIELD falls
Series: Part 1 of bringing the war home
Summary:

Sharon Carter expected to pull a gun in the line of duty. She didn’t expect to pull it here. SHIELD was her holy ground.

--

Some aunts take you to mass, but Sharon’s took her to the shooting range.

When Sharon finally met Captain Rogers, she was almost startled at his size. She’d read the comics, sure, but to Sharon, who had heard all the stories (and to Peggy, who had told them), Steve Rogers would always be 5’4” and breakable, had always been a hero.

Her mother had told her bedtime stories about Aunt Peggy saving the world. Her aunt had told her stories about a skinny kid who hated bullies, and a crew of wisecracking soldiers who followed his lead—about Steve and Bucky and all the Howling Commandos out to save the day and chase away each of Sharon’s nightmares.

Her father told her stories about talking elephants and singing mice who built treehouses together.

Sharon carried all of those with her, into the lies of pink nurses' scrubs and the chaos of SHIELD's fall, into everything that came afterwards.

But this came first.

(A Sharon Carter character study)



Ignore the annoying tags - this is excellent Natasha & Sharon friendship fic, and Sharon & Peggy mentorship fic. (I do not like that tagging style! I know it makes me sound curmudgeonly, especially since I use them on Tumblr, but I don't like them on AO3. I'm cranky and I know it.)



When I feel down, I want you above me (2706 words) by lanyon
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Avengers (2012), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Tony Stark
Additional Tags: Phone Sex, Unadulterated silliness, The Winter Soldier - Freeform
Summary:

In the twenty-first century, Steve Rogers still has inordinate difficult talking to women, or men, or anyone with a pretty face. Tony Stark suggests that he try calling a phone sex line. Under the influence of severe exhaustion, he does just that. He has no explanation for why he keeps calling, though.



Silly but hilarious and endearing.



He Who Pours Out Vengeance (148808 words) by Underground
Chapters: 26/26
Fandom: Hannibal (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Will Graham & Hannibal Lecter, Alana Bloom/Will Graham, Alana Bloom/Hannibal Lecter
Characters: Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter, Alana Bloom, Jack Crawford, Beverly Katz, Dr. Chilton, Jimmy Price, Brian Zeller
Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series, Drug Use, Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Mental Institutions, Emotional Manipulation
Series: Part 1 of The Better Angels
Summary:

Post-Savoureux. Will fights back.



Long and thinky, written between Hannibal S1 and S2, lots of Will behind bars doing his Will thing. It was really interesting to see how much of S2 must have been telegraphed in S1, because there were weird and satisfying areas of overlap between this suggested S2 and the canon one.



Odd One Out (27652 words) by thingswithwings
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker, Alec Hardison/Eliot Spencer, Parker/Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, Eliot Spencer/OC
Characters: Alec Hardison, Eliot Spencer, Parker, Sophie Devereaux (Leverage), Nathan Ford
Additional Tags: Partnership, Polyamory Negotiations, Threesome, Non-Equilateral Triangle, Aromantic Character, Bisexual Character, Polyamory, Food, Queerplatonic Relationships, there is also very briefly a monkey, and equally briefly a plot
Summary:

"We should talk about Eliot," Alec says, at the same time Parker says, "We should have sex in a hammock."



A very distinctive OT3! I really love the way Parker is clearly neuroatypical, but perfectly adult and able to negotiate relationships and needs. And is also the boss of everyone.



Life of Crime (35399 words) by neveralarch
Chapters: 8/8
Fandom: Marvel 616, Hawkeye (Comics)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, Clint Barton/Carol Danvers, Clint Barton & Kate Bishop, Kate Bishop/America Chavez, Barney Barton & Clint Barton
Characters: Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes, Carol Danvers, Kate Bishop, Barney Barton, Maya Lopez, Steve Rogers, Tracksuit Mafia, Lester | Bullseye
Additional Tags: Deaf Clint Barton, Edgeplay, Consensual Kink, Polyamory, Supervillain AU, also lots of other characters and implied pairings but these tags were starting to get out of hand
Summary:

As a supervillain supercriminal contract worker with a morality deficit, Clint Barton leads a glamorous life. You know, stolen cars, dangerous women, a really confusing relationship with a meddling do-gooder, the works. It's pretty awesome. Except for, uh, medical bills, the mob, and being on the run all the time. That part isn't all that awesome.

(A supervillain AU where Clint shoots arrows at people and gets beat up a lot. So, not really that much of an AU.)



This is my favourite thing for ages! It made me check out Matt Fraction's run on Hawkeye, which was so much fun. Lookit me, reading comics and keeping up to date for the first time in years! Anyway, this is awesome, and it has Carol, and America Chavez (so I'm also checking out Young Avengers for the first time in ages) and it's basically lured me back into comics and that's a thing I never thought would happen again.



Clint Barton’s Home for Wayward Mind Wiped Assassins (5772 words) by roguewrld
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Clint Barton
Additional Tags: ficlet Friday, clint doesn't know #coulson lives, tony wants to get the band back together, but he's not in the fic
Summary:

“Where ever you were, whatever you did and whoever you did it for, it’s over. You need to pretend to be a person now, okay?”



So, Neveralarch's fic led me to Hawkeye comics, and the comics led me to this fic, and it's a really clever fusion of movieverse and comicsverse Clint, as he looks after post!Winter Soldier Bucky, and it's a WIP but I love it.


Hawkeye! Totally unexpected outcome! Once again, fanfic is a gateway to new canon.


Ugh I'm going to bed now.
st_aurafina: Rainbow DNA (Default)
URGENT ETA: Please don't describe the things you see when you google the thing I said not to google!

Last year I had a lot of concentration issues, and I really didn't keep track of what I read, what I started and never finished, what I put in the to-read pile. This year, I will do better! I know I read a lot of books last year, before I fell into the Mercedes Lackey epic re-read, but I didn't really think about it. So.


What have you just finished reading?
London Falling, by Paul Cornell

Someone on my flist - [personal profile] glinda, I think? - posted about this, and I remembered that I had tried it, and given up. She said that the start tripped her up at first, with a lot of police procedural talk. Which was the reason I put it down - I felt trapped in an episode of The Bill. So I picked it up again and pushed on and I really enjoyed it - the magic system was interesting, I loved the history and mythology of magical London and football culture, and the way the characters adapted to police work with magic was super cool. I'm looking forward to more from this series. (I presume it's a series? It's set up that way.)

Also, canon gay characters, canon POC characters. Yay.


Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovitch

Because I liked London Falling, and because I like the trope of 'London is old and full of magic', I gave this a go, too. Yeah, I liked it? Well enough? I adored the spirits of the rivers - I want all the fanart of them at their various gatherings. I liked Nightingale, I loved the Folly and Toby and Molly and Leslie. Took me a while to click with Peter, though; he's kind of an arsehole at the start. But we worked it out. I'll definitely read more. Because there is more. Needs moar queer tho. Lots more queer.


Divergent, by Veronica Roth
[Redacted rant about invisible queer people] We know all that. I should know better than to have picked that book up in the first place. I need to stop grabbing the ones that have all the buzz and the upcoming movie, and look for the ones that don't have all that attention.


What are you currently reading?
I've started Moon Over Soho, second in the Rivers of London series.


What do you think you'll read next?

I'm going to go plumb [tumblr.com profile] diversityinya. It's a good tumblr. [ETA: Going to read Inheritance, the sequel to Adaptation, by Malinda Lo.]



Other random thoughts I am thinking right now:

- I like cooking and baking, but I am crap at cakes. They're either weird and rubbery or dry and horrible. What is the secret of cakes? Why can I bake something complicated like bread, but not a cake?

Ditto for hummus. (Entirely prompted by someone's delicious homemade hummus on my flist, drool.) Why is tahini so gross? It grosses up my hummus, and I don't understand what I can substitute for it.



- It turns out my Harvest Box code is reusable, so if you're in Australia and you want to try out a service like Graze in the US, here: 86231FJMCVJ (You get two half-priced boxes, and I get a $4 discount.

It's working out pretty well for me; there's only been a couple that I really, really hated - the one with dried rockmelon (ugh, like bitter leather wrapped around my teeth) and the one with the spoopy berries that set off my things-with-holes phobia.

The website is here: HarvestBox, you get four snacks in one box, and as you rate them, they tweak what you get. So no more spoopy berries ever again, thank goodness because they were nasty. (They were dried white mulberries, don't google it if you have trypophobia and DO NOT GOOGLE TRYPOPHOBIA IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE IT. DO NOT. NO. GET A FRIEND TO DO IT. Ugh, even the word has too many holes for my comfort.)



- I wrote some fics for [community profile] fandom_stocking. Not as many as I would have liked, but since the mod has unfortunately been sucked into the polar vortex, I'm taking the opportunity to peck away at more. Stay safe, people in the icy north!



- I had a good therapy time on Tuesday, which involved a discussion of Klingon birthday rituals, and the visualisation of pain sticks becoming matchsticks. (In preparation for my family's heinous birthday season in April/May.)



- Every now and then I remember that Derek Jacobi is the narrator on In the Night Garden (of the genre of trippy British children's puppet shows) and will exhort you to catch the ninky-nonk. I think this is either really good or really terrifying, or maybe both. Sample at 2:25, under the cut.

Catch the ninky-nonk! )

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