Week in review: Week to 18 April
Apr. 20th, 2026 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pedanther. One of the great things about AO3's subscription feature is that you can be promptly notified when an author adds a new chapter to a fic you really liked that last got a new chapter nearly twelve years ago. ( Read more... )
. Quite some time ago, I took my car in for a check-up and was notified, among other things, that at least one of the tyres needed to be replaced. I said I would get right on that, and then proceeded not to, because I'd never dealt with a tyre shop before and I'm very bad at inserting myself into unfamiliar situations even when the situation should just involve saying "Hello, I would like to pay you to do the thing that you advertise that you do." ( You can probably guess where this is going... )
. We had a weekend gaming session in which we played a couple of games of Raptor and then a couple of games of Ticket to Ride: Legacy. We've unlocked the entire map now, and should be finished with the whole campaign in one more session.
. At the usual weekly gaming session, we played Feed the Kraken. ( Read more... )
. I went to the doctor for a check-up, ( Read more... )
. Another set of out-of-town relatives visited, which was nice.
. It occurs to me, as I adjust the height of the monitor, that I don't think I got around to mentioning it when I bought one of those spring-loaded monitor arms that allow you to move the screen to any height and angle and it will stay there. I originally decided to get it to simplify repositioning the monitor when I had friends over and we wanted to watch a show from the sofa (I don't have a TV, and watch all my shows via DVD or online streaming), but it's also so good for the basic task of setting the screen to a comfortable height that it's become one of those bits of technology that, now I have it, I wonder how I ever managed without.
. Quite some time ago, I took my car in for a check-up and was notified, among other things, that at least one of the tyres needed to be replaced. I said I would get right on that, and then proceeded not to, because I'd never dealt with a tyre shop before and I'm very bad at inserting myself into unfamiliar situations even when the situation should just involve saying "Hello, I would like to pay you to do the thing that you advertise that you do." ( You can probably guess where this is going... )
. We had a weekend gaming session in which we played a couple of games of Raptor and then a couple of games of Ticket to Ride: Legacy. We've unlocked the entire map now, and should be finished with the whole campaign in one more session.
. At the usual weekly gaming session, we played Feed the Kraken. ( Read more... )
. I went to the doctor for a check-up, ( Read more... )
. Another set of out-of-town relatives visited, which was nice.
. It occurs to me, as I adjust the height of the monitor, that I don't think I got around to mentioning it when I bought one of those spring-loaded monitor arms that allow you to move the screen to any height and angle and it will stay there. I originally decided to get it to simplify repositioning the monitor when I had friends over and we wanted to watch a show from the sofa (I don't have a TV, and watch all my shows via DVD or online streaming), but it's also so good for the basic task of setting the screen to a comfortable height that it's become one of those bits of technology that, now I have it, I wonder how I ever managed without.
Book Chain, Week 16
Apr. 19th, 2026 12:21 pmpedanther#14: A book with a higher average rating than the previous book
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. A "narrative non-fiction" account of the final voyage of the trans-Atlantic passenger liner Lusitania, which was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915 with massive loss of life.
( Read more... )
#15: A book whose cover is the next colour in the rainbow (or a complementary colour if the previous book's cover isn't a rainbow colour)
Neuromancer by William Gibson. The iconic cyberpunk novel; a washed-up cyberspace cowboy is recruited to an eccentric group of criminals who have been gathered to perform a mysterious heist.
( Read more... )
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. A "narrative non-fiction" account of the final voyage of the trans-Atlantic passenger liner Lusitania, which was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915 with massive loss of life.
( Read more... )
#15: A book whose cover is the next colour in the rainbow (or a complementary colour if the previous book's cover isn't a rainbow colour)
Neuromancer by William Gibson. The iconic cyberpunk novel; a washed-up cyberspace cowboy is recruited to an eccentric group of criminals who have been gathered to perform a mysterious heist.
( Read more... )
Fic: Learning the Steps
Apr. 18th, 2026 09:12 pmbeatrice_otterTitle: Learning the Steps
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor
Pairing: Csethiro/Maia
Written for:dontstophernow in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fffx 2025
Rating: Teen
Length: 10k
Summary: As the wedding day approaches, Csethiro and Maia get to know each other better
At AO3. On Squidgeworld. On Dreamwidth. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.
AN: The Tale of the Loathly Lady is a real story which crops up in Arthuriana and other places. It's the Wife of Bath's tale in the Canterbury Tales, and it was told on its own as Gawain and Lady Ragnell.
***
The original proposal—Csethiro did not know who had made it, whether her father or the Emperor or some nameless secretary—was for the wedding to take place on Nan'desazh, the spring lambing festival. This was the most auspicious date for a wedding in the whole year; unfortunately, it was also a mere three months after the contracts had been signed, and there was simply no way to arrange things in time. Csethiro was not often grateful to her stepmother, but she was in this; the Marquise Ceredaran had flatly refused to contemplate so early a date.
The spring equinox had been suggested instead; it was almost as propitious as Nan'desazh, and would give them an extra month to plan. Besides, there was a certain symmetry in it; Edrehasivar had been crowned just before the fall equinox, and his birthday was the winter solstice, and so to marry him on the spring equinox seemed to Csethiro (and many others at court) to be a harbinger of good fortune.
It was still ruinously short. The preparations for Csoru's wedding had taken a full year.
( Read more... )
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor
Pairing: Csethiro/Maia
Written for:
dontstophernow in fffx 2025Rating: Teen
Length: 10k
Summary: As the wedding day approaches, Csethiro and Maia get to know each other better
At AO3. On Squidgeworld. On Dreamwidth. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.
AN: The Tale of the Loathly Lady is a real story which crops up in Arthuriana and other places. It's the Wife of Bath's tale in the Canterbury Tales, and it was told on its own as Gawain and Lady Ragnell.
***
The original proposal—Csethiro did not know who had made it, whether her father or the Emperor or some nameless secretary—was for the wedding to take place on Nan'desazh, the spring lambing festival. This was the most auspicious date for a wedding in the whole year; unfortunately, it was also a mere three months after the contracts had been signed, and there was simply no way to arrange things in time. Csethiro was not often grateful to her stepmother, but she was in this; the Marquise Ceredaran had flatly refused to contemplate so early a date.
The spring equinox had been suggested instead; it was almost as propitious as Nan'desazh, and would give them an extra month to plan. Besides, there was a certain symmetry in it; Edrehasivar had been crowned just before the fall equinox, and his birthday was the winter solstice, and so to marry him on the spring equinox seemed to Csethiro (and many others at court) to be a harbinger of good fortune.
It was still ruinously short. The preparations for Csoru's wedding had taken a full year.
( Read more... )
Fic recs from FFFX, AU5k, and Fic In A Box
Apr. 17th, 2026 01:36 pmbeatrice_otterI have had recs from several recent exchanges, but haven't actually posted them. So! Here we go.
Five Figure Fanwork Exchange is the most recent! I received two fics, both of them lovely:
a star or two beside (5070 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Maia Drazhar, Chenelo Drazharan, Shaleän Sevraseched, Shaleän Sevraseched's Wife, Ursu Perenched, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Chenelo Lives, Alternate Universe - Maia Has a Good Childhood, POV Multiple, sailing ships, References to Illness
Summary:
Before, After, Always, Already (9151 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kira Nerys/Keiko O'Brien/Miles O'Brien
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Post-Canon Bajor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Summary:
Other faves from FFFX include:
( Five Figure Fanwork Recs )
( AU5k Rec )
( Fic In A Box Recs )
Five Figure Fanwork Exchange is the most recent! I received two fics, both of them lovely:
a star or two beside (5070 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Maia Drazhar, Chenelo Drazharan, Shaleän Sevraseched, Shaleän Sevraseched's Wife, Ursu Perenched, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Chenelo Lives, Alternate Universe - Maia Has a Good Childhood, POV Multiple, sailing ships, References to Illness
Summary:
It is something out of a wonder-tale when a stranger arrives at Isvaroë and whisks Maia and his mother away.
Before, After, Always, Already (9151 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kira Nerys/Keiko O'Brien/Miles O'Brien
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Post-Canon Bajor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Summary:
Keiko was over Miles's shoulder in the video message. "Hi, Nerys!" she said. She looked the same, too, although her hair was up, and she was in uniform. "We're moving to Bajor!"
Other faves from FFFX include:
( Five Figure Fanwork Recs )
( AU5k Rec )
( Fic In A Box Recs )
Week in review: Week to 11 April
Apr. 13th, 2026 10:44 pmpedanther. It's been a social whirlwind by my usual standards. On the long weekend, all the family members who live in the vicinity had lunch together and watched The Princess Bride. Later in the week, another family member came to visit and we all got together again for a breakfast in the park, where we admired the varieties of waterfowl, which included several kinds of duck (including a striking one with a black head and a brown front that I think from subsequent research was probably a chestnut-breasted shelduck) and some large white ones with red faces that might have been some kind of goose. I also went to a concert (the kind that exists largely as an excuse for a social event, and on that basis I'm inclined to be charitable about the quality of the music), and toward the end of the week one of my friends from the board game club had a dinner party.
. As usual there was also the weekly board game club meet, where we played Betrayal at House on the Hill, Guillotine, Forbidden Desert, and Uno: All Wild. In Betrayal, we successfully fought a giant snake. In Forbidden Desert, we wound up being buried by sand a couple of turns before we would have made good our escape. It was the first time I've played Uno: All Wild, which despite the name is significantly duller than the usual version of the game.
. Later in the week, I went for an early morning walk and saw a lot of birds that I wouldn't normally see about the place later in the day.
. Rehearsals of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown are continuing. At our most recent rehearsal, we got as far as fitting together the various harmony parts on one of the songs, and it sounded really nice.
. The way I've chosen to shelve my library, with all the unread books together on one bookcase, means I have a visual indicator of how large the to-read collection is. Over the past couple of years I've been focusing on reading books I've already got rather than acquiring new books (and also trying to get better at looking at a book I've been holding onto for years and deciding I'm never going to actually read it), and as of this week I've cleared an entire shelf's worth. The shelf is now being used for part of my DVD collection. We will, for the moment, overlook the fact that many of the books that were on the shelf are still in the room, in a big pile on the floor composed of books I've decided to get rid of but not yet decided how.
. Due to time zones, I had to choose between going to Parkrun or staying put to watch the Artemis II splashdown. I decided to assume that everything would go uneventfully, and went to Parkrun.
. On the weekend, there was a busy bee at our old and increasingly ramshackle community theatre to deal with a number of maintenance issues. I got to wield a hedge trimmer and took a hand at helping to re-paint a ceiling. I did not entirely get the hang of removing excess paint off the brush before lifting it above my head, and wound up with a large white deposit dripping down my temple that made it look rather as if we had giant pigeons to deal with on top of everything else.
. As usual there was also the weekly board game club meet, where we played Betrayal at House on the Hill, Guillotine, Forbidden Desert, and Uno: All Wild. In Betrayal, we successfully fought a giant snake. In Forbidden Desert, we wound up being buried by sand a couple of turns before we would have made good our escape. It was the first time I've played Uno: All Wild, which despite the name is significantly duller than the usual version of the game.
. Later in the week, I went for an early morning walk and saw a lot of birds that I wouldn't normally see about the place later in the day.
. Rehearsals of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown are continuing. At our most recent rehearsal, we got as far as fitting together the various harmony parts on one of the songs, and it sounded really nice.
. The way I've chosen to shelve my library, with all the unread books together on one bookcase, means I have a visual indicator of how large the to-read collection is. Over the past couple of years I've been focusing on reading books I've already got rather than acquiring new books (and also trying to get better at looking at a book I've been holding onto for years and deciding I'm never going to actually read it), and as of this week I've cleared an entire shelf's worth. The shelf is now being used for part of my DVD collection. We will, for the moment, overlook the fact that many of the books that were on the shelf are still in the room, in a big pile on the floor composed of books I've decided to get rid of but not yet decided how.
. Due to time zones, I had to choose between going to Parkrun or staying put to watch the Artemis II splashdown. I decided to assume that everything would go uneventfully, and went to Parkrun.
. On the weekend, there was a busy bee at our old and increasingly ramshackle community theatre to deal with a number of maintenance issues. I got to wield a hedge trimmer and took a hand at helping to re-paint a ceiling. I did not entirely get the hang of removing excess paint off the brush before lifting it above my head, and wound up with a large white deposit dripping down my temple that made it look rather as if we had giant pigeons to deal with on top of everything else.
Tags:
Book Chain, Week 15
Apr. 13th, 2026 02:49 pmpedanther#13: A book with a page count within 100 pages of the previous book
Second attempt: Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon. An account of the future history of mankind over the coming millennia, written in the 1930s and famous for its ambition and imaginative scope -- although not, of course, for the predictive accuracy of the opening chapters, which fail to foresee the Third Reich, the Chinese Communist Revolution, and the splitting of the atom, among other things.
( Read more... )
Third attempt: Wolf's Lair by James McGee. An ex-soldier turned smuggler is hired to join an expedition seeking the final resting place of a German U-boat that disappeared at the end of the War carrying a cargo of gold bullion and a dangerous macguffin.
( Read more... )
#14: A book with a higher average rating than the previous book
I didn't have anything particular in mind, so I decided to hit the local library and see what I came away with. What I came away with was Dead Wake, Erik Larson's account of the final voyage of the RMS Lusitania. I had only the vaguest memory of what the Lusitania died of; it turns out that this is, in part, another German U-boat story.
Second attempt: Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon. An account of the future history of mankind over the coming millennia, written in the 1930s and famous for its ambition and imaginative scope -- although not, of course, for the predictive accuracy of the opening chapters, which fail to foresee the Third Reich, the Chinese Communist Revolution, and the splitting of the atom, among other things.
( Read more... )
Third attempt: Wolf's Lair by James McGee. An ex-soldier turned smuggler is hired to join an expedition seeking the final resting place of a German U-boat that disappeared at the end of the War carrying a cargo of gold bullion and a dangerous macguffin.
( Read more... )
#14: A book with a higher average rating than the previous book
I didn't have anything particular in mind, so I decided to hit the local library and see what I came away with. What I came away with was Dead Wake, Erik Larson's account of the final voyage of the RMS Lusitania. I had only the vaguest memory of what the Lusitania died of; it turns out that this is, in part, another German U-boat story.