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Went to the Autumn London Pen Show! Got the Lamy 2000 EF nib ground down to a needlepoint by Thomas Ang! Did not properly notice until settling in to play with it properly that it's got this amazing slightly stubbish character to it! And he also tweaked my Platinum UEF nib to be slightly less Horrendously Dry (which had somehow not occurred to me as a solution), and... having now settled down for a bit more writing for the evening, I think I might actually really like having two UEF/needlepoint nibs to use different colours of ink in.

The idea was to reduce the number of pens in regular use by dint of retiring the Platinum, not increase it. Oh no.

Some other things! The Rudi Rother Pelikan is even prettier in person; I still do not get the appeal of Leonardos (though to be fair I think my sense of their general appeal is massively skewed by That One Very Active Person who thinks they're The Most Beautiful Pens In All The World); the Visconti Van Gogh series do not impress me any more in person than they do in photographs; next time I can justify buying another TN insert The Inked Paw are delightful and we had an excellent chat and Trying Each Other's Pens while I was in Thomas Ang's queue (and they slightly discombobulated me by asking me if I had an Instagram when I flipped through my notebook to show what I use the UEF for...)

... yeah no I am just absolutely delighted by this ridiculous pen, EXCELLENT outing + date activity, Ben's Cookies also successfully acquired, Very Happy.

linky

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Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Sukeban Deka 1 OST

evilwriter37

I have been trying to write more for Kinktober. I eventually want to have a story for every prompt. It'll happen, but maybe just not this month. Life has been utter Hell recently.

My sweet dog Hazel passed away on the first of this month. I was taking her out, she got off her lead, and ran into the road. I already had a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder on the right at this point, and due to adrenaline I didn't feel any pain whatsoever, so I got even more injured getting her out of the road. I had help, but it's still a 40 pound dog and an injured shoulder. God, I miss her so much.

So, yeah, I'm really badly injured at this point. I made the tear in my rotator cuff worse, and probably have torn ligaments/tendons in my clavicle, sternum, and neck. I don't see the orthopedic again till October 22nd, which feels super far away, especially for how much pain I'm in. There's also definitely nerve damage, because I keep getting tingling and numbness in my fingers on that side. I'm in tons and tons of pain, but I was only prescribed an actual pain med yesterday. Tylenol doesn't work and I'm allergic to ibuprofen and other anti inflammatory meds in that family, so I have been going through this with no relief. Still have no relief because insurance said I don't actually need this medication, but it's the weekend, so my doctor can't start fighting it till Monday.

I can't play video games on my pc because of the movement and weight of my right arm, and this is driving me pretty nuts. I'm a pc gamer through and through. I grabbed the Switch we have to try to play that but haven't even really touched it. It's just really not the same. I also can't do any art whatsoever, which is also driving me nuts. I've tried just really throwing myself into writing, because I can do that either on my phone, or my laptop with my arm cushioned and supported. I want to be reading but am struggling with that. Doing a diamond painting kit with my left hand, so it's slow going, but I'm having a good time with it. Teaching myself how to be a leftie is super difficult, but I'm going to be laid up like this for months, even if I don't need surgery.

There's other stuff, like going down on my prednisone dose, but that's a very long explanation. I'm having withdrawal symptoms from that, of course, just because I've been on it for so very long. My doctor is aware, but I have to continue the taper to get off of it.

Life is Hell, but writing is bringing me some joy.

evilwriter37

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$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

mdlbear

If you've been following this blog for the last year you will have run across references to our little publishing business, HyperSpace Express (often abbreviated HSX). And you may have noticed that my housemate N has been writing a book. IT'S FINISHED!

Go take a look at The World as It Ought to Be -- Stories from a protopian future, by Naomi Rivkis.

It's protopian rather than utopian -- sixteen linked short stories about ordinary people building a world that doesn't suck.

Protopia (n.) A world that is not perfect, but is getting better; one that is on the long arc toward justice, carried by human hands.

( Come visit for a while in The World As It Ought to Be: )

Buy it now from Smashwords (which has a free sample you can read online). It's also available at Kobo, Apple, and Barnes&Noble. Kindle and dead tree editions are coming in a few weeks.

Current Mood: helpful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag

rydra_wong

Watch on YouTube

("CARTOON PONY ON AMPHETAMINES.")

(And I just heard they cast Sheila Atim as Akasha, because half the casting is just raiding the National Theatre and it's glorious.)

The thing about IWTV (now being renamed The Vampire Lestat for S3, presumably at the demand of Lestat's lawyers) is that a) it would make Anne Rice roll in her fucking grave, and b) it somehow manages to be deeply truthful to elements of the spirit of the books in a way that a more "faithful" adaptation that didn't engage in such a vigorous Interrogation Of The Text couldn't do. It's fascinating, and it also hits in a particular way for those of us who read the first books as impressionable teens, and then, you know, grew up:

https://www.tumblr.com/silverbirching/752456802186182656/yessssss-and-he-watched-it-on-my

Anyway, the first two seasons are on Netflix and on BBC iPlayer in the UK, so if you're tempted, now is a very good time to catch up.

rydra_wong

I am now enjoying being able to distress all my Souls-playing friends through my unironic enjoyment of Blighttown.

(It's a tough but genuinely awesome level which has a bad reputation because on release the intricacy of the environment and number of moving parts would destroy the framerate and people would have to try to get through it at 10fps. But this is no longer the case since the remaster! And everyone who's upset about spending lots of time plummeting to their death needs to get on my level because I've been doing that all through the game anyway; it's just usually funnier in Blighttown.)

ETA: I have run the second bell and thus officially left the early game and entered the mid-game.

sineala

I know it's weird to delurk with a random pen review but, whatever, hi. I have a bunch of half-finished posts from like six months to a year ago that were going to be about the book I read or the game I played but then I got like twenty migraines in a row and the plot details became less memorable. I am still getting like twenty migraines in a month but a pen review has no plot. I have no idea if I will keep posting anything at all (possible topics: more pens, fandom, more dead languages) but I'm here now and I have enough caffeine that I can't feel my current migraine.

Also, this isn't a fountain pen -- it's a ballpoint pen -- so the people reading this who aren't fountain pen nerds might actually want one. It's the Fisher Space Pen! I really like it!

The Young Wizards fans among you might be interested, although I actually didn't buy the one I probably should have bought. More details below.

( Fisher Space Pen )

Current Mood: dorky

redbird

adrian_turtle made a leek and squash risotto for supper, and it was very good. It contains short-grain rice, broth, leeks, butternut squash, arugula, and I think garlic powder. It was topped with candied pecans, some pieces of squash, and leek-flavored oil. Most of the squash was cooked with the rice, to dissolve and make the risotto rich and creamy. The combination of ingredients gave the dish plenty of umami; I didn't miss the cheese that's typically added to risotto.

Jotting this down now before I forget, I may get Adrian to provide more details or a recipe link later.

kaberett

Another nine strands today. :)

a saffron crocus in flower, petals somewhat chewed

(Photo actually from Wednesday 8th, of the first one!)

chestnut_pod

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Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: Bramble - Karine Polwart & Spell Singers

lexin

It’s been several days since I came down with this whatever-it-is but l’m still not quite recovered. Grump.

Current Location: Bangor
Crossposts: https://lexin.insanejournal.com/329412.html

me_ya_ri

So.

I realized about a month ago that my Mac Mini was not updating. Did a double-check and realized that it was purchased late in 2014.

mmm. Yeah. 11 years. Not really a surprise that it wasn't updating anymore. Surprising part was that it was still functioning, actually, but yeah, it was. Slow as molasses but it (mostly) worked.

But updates were necessary to get the latest version of Vellem with pretty options for forced edges and all the cool new things so yeah, time to replace the Mac Mini with a new (screaming fast by comparison) Mac Mini. This was accomplished. Still need to get the dock I bought separately to work properly (wrong cable? Power not plugged in right? Something else??? do not know yet), but it's a very nice little computer and I'm happy with it.

So I started loading programs onto it and then went for Kobo. Because I like Kobo. I buy most of my ebooks through Kickstarter anymore, but Kobo is my backup favorite and the desktop program is my preferred reading experience, completely aside from the ability to download and backup my books.

There was no desktop app.

At all.

Anywhere. ANYWHERE.

I did about 4 rounds by myself, had the spouse do a couple rounds, got on the chatbot and did 3 more rounds, all of which gave me the web reader, not the desktop app.

I finally battled through the chatbot to an actual human being and got the links to the download files of the Windows and MacOS desktop app.

Which worked! I have my desktop Kobo back, all my books are there, works great.

However.

You need to know that the customer service person was unable to confirm (or deny) that the desktop app was being phased out. They said, quite literally, that they had not been notified one way or the other.

Which!

If you're a Kobo reader and you use the desktop app for backing your books up, you need to turn in a general feedback complaint about this issue.

I got my spouse switched over from Amazon to Kobo on the power of the desktop app and the ability to DeDRM books for backup off-line. If that's going away, it's a big deal.

This feels like a warning shot over the bow of Kobo enshittifying their ecosystem so I'm crossing my fingers and taking steps. Including telling people online.

ETA: The downloaders! Because I should totally share that, shouldn't I?

Windows:

https://cdn.kobo.com/downloads/desktop/kobodesktop/kobosetup.exe

Mac OSX:

https://cdn.kobo.com/downloads/desktop/kobodesktop/kobosetup.dmg

Go forth and get your Kobo Desktop for as long as you can, everyone!

Current Mood: annoyed

soc_puppet

Three Pokémon fics for the PokéPod Project, which just went live earlier today! Which means I can finally share them publicly here, as well! 😃

Fandom: Pokémon
Summary: Julian hasn't been working for Hoenn's Safari Zone for long when he first meets a particularly enigmatic Xatu.
Mirrors: This fic on AO3 The podfic version on AO3
Wordcount: 574
Ships: None
Notes: For

pokepodproject
Fic: ( An Eye on the Sky )

Fandom: Pokémon
Summary: Midori had expected that starting a new Pokémon day care would be difficult; they hadn't expected this particular problem, though...
Mirrors: This fic on AO3, The podfic version on AO3
Wordcount: 996
Ships: None
Notes: For

pokepodproject Gen II: Sneasel
Fic: ( An Unlikely Ally )

Fandom: Pokémon
Summary: While stuck in a creative slump, Smeargle helps a Pokémon in need.
Mirrors: This fic on AO3 (no podfic version for this fic yet, but I live in hope!)
Wordcount: About 450
Ships: None
Notes: For

pokepodproject's Rare Candy collection
Fic: ( Collaboration of the Arts )

Current Mood: happy

longmagpieroads

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mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

Getting more walking in. One kilometer or so is pretty sad, but it's what I can do these days.
My folding cane. (I was going to say "canes", but the others seem to have been lent out to other family members.)
N finally getting her book published. Get The World As It Ought to Be at Smashwords. (More info and more links tomorrow when I'm less brain-fried.)
Not having a fixed mininum target number of gratitude entries. See above.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: at StudiOjo

kaberett

You know the way I just said -- I just said -- that I had worked out how to make wagamama's current menu yield something I was actively enthusiastic about eating?

WELL GUESS WHAT. THIRD TIME UNLUCKY.

I had really not expected the pad thai to vanish in a menu overhaul, okay, what on EARTH.

(So we came home and ate butternut squash & quince stew instead, and maybe by the next time it is Ritual Wagamama O'Clock I'll have resigned myself to eating something that isn't The Thing I Just Worked Out.)

davidgillon

The new hate crime figures are out, apparently disability hate crime is slightly down. Am I being cynical in assuming that's probably because some of the haters are too busy committing hate crimes against muslims and/or jews and/or anyone who doesn't look like them?

Trans hate crime is also slightly down, but I'd presume that would be people feeling even less safe to report it, rather than an actual reduction.

The figures exclude the Met, the biggest force in the country because they're busy adopting a new crime reporting tool - so give us their figures as a separate entry, don't just exclude them entirely. *headdesk*

Somewhat embarrassingly for the police/Home Office, the Office for Statistics Regulation is still insisting they include a caveat to say their data is actually pretty crap.

What comes through when considering that the figures cover the period of the Stockport-related race riots is that the figures, even if recorded as intended, are utterly incapable of recording mass events like riots. If 300 people are chanting racist slogans and throwing bricks, but the police only arrest 3 of them, then only 3 crimes would be reported. It's definitely working as intended, but is working as intended what they actually intended?

Current Mood: *sigh*

linky

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Current Mood: tired

fayanora

Watch on YouTube

Absolutely beautiful scifi animated short. "The Day Humanity Found Us." A powerful warning against letting AI do everything for us. A warning against hiding from the universe.

Current Mood: enthralled

Access Fandom

improving disability access in fandom

[stationery] ... oh NO I love it

Fannish Fifty #45: A Couple More "Give me a character" Tumblr Meme Answers

(no subject)

Kinktober Day 11

Signal Boost: The World as It Ought To Be

I am cackling with glee

For anyone wondering how my Dark Souls progress is going

Fisher Space Pen

leek and squash risotto (non-dairy)

proof of saffron

Todukkot is Sukkot

Days

Warning: Kobo may be phasing out the Desktop program

Fics: An Eye on the Sky, An Unlikely Ally, and Artistic Collaboration

A Eulogy for Lucia

Thankful Thursday

[food] ... cursed

New UK hate crime figures, sigh

Community Thursday

The Day Humanity Found Us

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