+ snowflake_challenge is a month long happening starting Jan 1st. Blog, tidy up your journal, meet new people. Always a good time, especially if you're looking to get back into the swing of things.

+ goals_on_dw is a great place to find various challenges to carry with you into the New Year (colls' Fannish 50 is a really fun one!)

+ There's a Heated Rivalry community now: gamechangerhr.

+ Guesss who managed one. whole. icon post. it's a meee.

01-04 stranger things
05-08 good trouble
09-15 wheel of time
16-16 babylon 5
17-25 comics
26-28 pluribus
29-41 interview with the vampire




H E R E.

( Year In Fandom meme )

I said to myself earlier today 'last year's goal setting wasn't fabulous, let's not do that this year. ... I haven't quite managed to make myself believe that zero goals is the right number. Unlike last year where I allowed multiple goals for many topics, and separated them out, I'm going to allow myself 10 minutes (and yes, I've set a timer) to put 10-12 believable goals

1. Read >25 non-uni books. This one is going to be tricky to track because I put all the books I read into Storygraph; I'm going to have to manually count. (book: published physically as a single; short stories don't count)
2. Do my milestone 2 - this is a university requirement at about the 18 month mark; because of the way my school does things my choices are October (early) or February 2027 (late). Thus, I am aiming for the October one with the understanding that it is a large ask.
3. Eldest's quilt - at this point I would be happy with the quilt top being done
4. Continue playing with at least one of the community orchestras
5. Go to at least one of the Sunday morning sessions I have been invited to.
6. Spend time with friends and family. Reach out to friends I haven't seen in a while. Spend time with K&D, given they are going to be in the state and this will be the first opportunity I've had to actually explore what it means to be siblings.

... my time is not up, but I'm finding I don't want to put more. There is a reading, there is a uni, there is a music. There is a craft, and it is very specific, but I'm going to have to stop with the being obsessive. Do I think I'll stay on track with this? No. But also, I'm not going to attempt to track it through the year; it is a snapshot of what I thought I wanted.

I made some word count goals for coming into the new year, and I think I'll manage it!

Some of us are already in the new year while some us are still heading towards it and once again I’m curious:

1. What are your most anticipated cdramas/cmovies/cnovels for 2026?

2. What is on your personal watchlist/reading list – something you’re really keen on – for 2026?

3. If you do rewatch/reread things, anything you’re particularly looking forward to enjoying again in 2026?

Posted by Anna Rascouët-Paz

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bernie-sanders-unpaid-taxes/

The rumor stemmed from a website with a history of making up stories for shares and comments.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bernie-sanders-unpaid-taxes/

 Stayed up way too late! Got to bed at 03:00… partly because Mira had seen my post with the link for the JMBards event announcement and the fact that (soon to be) King Gilbert will be attending, and asked if I would like suggestions for edits? Yes, yes I would!


It finished on time for our zoom yoga/pilates session with friends, after which I was so tired I went straight to bed.

I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so got up and fooled around on the internet. (You might have noticed an early comment from me. *g*) The original plan was to go downtown, even though it actually felt weird to do so after three days staying home, and hit Price Chopper and Walmart. That plan changed when Pip called to tell me that the main road I’d be traveling was closed in at least three places (due to the heavy winds all night blowing snow onto the road). Easy decision to stay home. I’ll just have to do my shopping tomorrow, so *fingers crossed* I’m still feeling pretty good.

Pip called me again around 6:30am (it was early, but it felt later since I’d already been up for over 3 hours) to tell me that one of his employees was headed to urgent care with the same thing Pip had. He admitted that at one point he’d felt bad enough that he probably should have gone to urgent care, but he doesn’t like to admit to things like that in the moment. I hope I don’t start feeling like I want to head to urgent care. o_O But if this guy gets diagnosed, at least I’ll know what’s going on. Also, we’re guessing that Pip probably caught it at the garage Christmas party. Arrgh at people going out when they know they’re sick!

I have the stuffy AND runny nose today. How is it fair that you are stuffed up so you can't breathe, and also your nose is running?!! So far nothing worse. *fingers crossed*

I did three loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned the bathroom sink and toilet bowl, went for a couple walks with the dogs, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, returned a book to the library (when I was already out, I didn’t make a special trip!), placed a Chewy order, and shaved. I put a pork roast in the crock pot and made pulled pork for supper.

Since I stayed home I was able to type in one of my fic; I added 1,800 words to my Murder, She Wrote/Hudson & Rex crossover! AND got it posted, which is a nice bonus. I went with the Earl Grey tea today because I wanted something familiar and comforting. I sat down on the bed to write and ended up taking an hour nap with Midnight on my lap. I also watched-watched more Secrets of the Zoo.

Temps started out at 16.9(F) (interesting because the high is forecasted to be 18!) and reached 24.1. The wind was seriously ridiculous! In some places the walking trail was blown clear, and in others the snow was at least six inches deep. And walking into the wind felt like it was trying to push me backwards. Also, the roads weren’t great when I went out to pick up Ti. We live off of Route 20, which is a four-lane ‘highway’ here. The snow usually covers one lane when the wind is blowing, maybe edging a bit into a second lane, but today it covered all four! And visibility wasn’t great because of the blowing snow. I wonder when the wind is going to stop?!!


Mom Update:

I talked to mom and she sounded pretty good. I sound like a broken record, but it feels weird not to see her at least a few times a week.

Posted by Jordan Liles

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/erika-kirk-south-park-episode/

The alleged promotional teaser depicted the widowed Turning Point USA CEO standing with the show's characters and the words, "Let's grieve together."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/erika-kirk-south-park-episode/

We made it to the end of December! All the way through 2025! \o/ If you made it this far -- even if you haven't finished everything you hoped for -- then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We have reached the beginning of winter. If you're doing seasonal goals, share what you're working on for this winter.

This year I'm trying something new, continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them. The main drawback is that this update becomes more of a chore each month. I have some new ideas to lighten the load for next year.

These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 4
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 10
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 17
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 24
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In May 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In August 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In September 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In October 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In November 30

( Read more... )

I am working on a real entry, I think, but in the mean time! What's your GOTY?

I did spend an hour editing the Kaijuu No. 8 fic this morning, so the K-9 fever is truly no longer up to a vibration-inducing 11 XD Just a more manageable 8 or 9 depending on the hour of the day. And I really enjoyed rereading the last couple of chapters of the kn8 fic to remember where I was at. THESE GUYS :D This is for an OT3 that doesn't have any fic for it yet. I hope there'll be a couple of readers out there curious enough to check it out anyway, and see if they too can appreciate and share the vision :D

With the end of the year in sight, I've been thinking about how writing went this year. I am, of course, not meeting my getyourwordsout pledge again (150K words), haha. It'll land around 114k. Wordcount-wise, it's been clear for a while that this would be my lowest year EVER since recordings began (aka 2020 ;)). For a couple of months there, it even looked like I might not even reach 100k, just because I was still editing so much and writing so short well into November. Then I picked up the kn8 fic to revise, and had to add and expand on a lot of missing scenes/do more showing (anchoring ;D) which helped a lot with finally reaching that milestone, phew. Little did I know K-9 would happen to me shortly after and make December the month with my second highest word count this year, haha.

( Read more... )

Also, something interesting is going to happen in 2026! Adding all my word counts from 2020 until today, the total comes to 975K. Obviously, everything could go spectacularly to shit, but based on the past few years, there's a very good chance I'm going to reach that 1 million words milestone next year. I'm a bit nervous because I started writing again in 2020 firmly with a quote in mind, something I'd heard around the lines of "everybody has 1 million bad words in them before they can get to the good ones; unfortunately the only way to get rid of them is to write them out" and that's been a source of comfort when my writing doesn't always meet the standard I hope for. What will I do if word #1,000,001 is actually pretty crap anyway, though?? Haha. My mind is already preparing "well it wasn't 1M words of novel-sized projects, so you have to keep at it anyway" etc etc, so I will probably be okay either way ;)

But still. Something to look forward to :)

Captured at the beginning of the year:

The current reading challenges are 50 Best horror (5/50), 75 best Sci-Fi (11/75), 50 best SF (6/50), Hugo best novellas (12/58), Aussie SFF (3/10), 50 Best fantasy (4/50), Agatha Christie Complete works (5/89), Hugo best novels (10/73), Canada reads 2023 (1/15), one dozen decades (49/120), plus some itty bitty ones.

In the last week, I've been working through and archived some. Plus, added at least two more - one from pedanther for detective fiction, and one I set up myself on SF novels by women. Where they are now:

1. The Haycraft List of Detective Story Cornerstones - joined today, 1/75 read. Looking forward to adding some of these to the planned reading list.
2. 200 Significant Science Fiction Books by Women, 1984–2001, by David G. Hartwell, created by me in the last week, 9/200 read - I own lots I haven't read (at least in the years I've been tracking reading, and many will be good to revisit).
3. The 50 Best Horror Books of All Time (Esquire, 2022) - NEW VERSION - 5/50 read; no change. Not sure how many of these I can get my hands on, so I might decide to archive it at the end of the year.
4. The 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time (Esquire, 2024) - 12/75; one more than last year. Quite a few are on my shelves, so should be possible to make progress. I also had the 50 book version, it makes no sense to have both, so archiving the shorter one. I thought about checking whether any fell off, and decided not to.
5. Esquire's 50 Best Fantasy Books of All Time (2022) - 4/50, no change. As with the horror, if I don't get through any of those this year then I should archive it.
6. Agatha Christie Complete Works - 5/89, no change. This is a lifetime achievement list (from whenever I started tracking) so even though I'm making no progress I don't intend to abandon it.
7. Hugo Best Novels - 10/74 - this is negative progress, because there is an additional book! I am, however going to use it as a jumping off point for reading more books I own in 2026.
8. One Dozen Decades: 120 Years in 120 Books - 61/120 - this is the big win, taking me from 49 prompts complete; not sure how many are short fiction, and choosing not to care. As with the Christie, this is a lifetime achievement goal, so leaving it to tick along slowly (also, some of the missing years are covered by hugo books I own...)
9. Hugo Award Winners for Best Novella - 13/58, one more.

Plus the ones that I've decided to archive in the time that I've been writing this:

1. 2025 Hugo Award Finalists - 13/24 read plus one of the bonus. I didn't look to see whether I actually intend to read any of the rest.
2. Hugo Awards 2024 Shortlist - 4/6 read, and I know I'm never going to read one of them.
3. CBC Canada Reads 2023 Longlist - 2/15, one more than last year. I haven't made an effort to hunt down any of these, and it will be an effort, because I tried looking in the local library for a couple and had no luck; as the 2026 overarching goal is 'read what I own' this can be abandoned.

It's December Days time again. This year, I have decided that I'm going to talk about skills and applications thereof, if for no other reason than because I am prone to both the fixed mindset and the downplaying of any skills that I might have obtained as not "real" skills because they do not fit some form of ideal.

( 30: Laughter )

I'm half-arsing this. I'm finishing the year sore, fatigued, and not nearly as grumpy as I could be (given that this was going to be a study day, and I've declared that nope, it is a annual leave day, and now I'm working through a set of tiny low priority tasks).

At the beginning of the year, I set some goals. With going back to study, I didn't make as many of them as I'd like, and I stopped tracking them mid year.

• work - I set one goal - find work. I'm calling what I'm doing 'work', success
• craft - I set seven goals. I completed two of the 'finish this'. I attempted to start Middlest's quilt. There are no incomplete projects on the green couch because we cleared the couch. I am not looking at the red couch. Eldest's quilt is not done. I started a deal with UFOs project, but abandoned. Excellent progress, considering.
• reading - I set four goals. I bailed on the Hugo reading, and my but that was the right choice. I have met my books but not my pages goals; mostly because I started tracking online short fiction. I wanted to progress the various reading challenges on Storygraph; I'm intending to do a separate post on that. Good progress.
• house - I set 6 goals. The ramp and pergola required me to contact people; this did not happen. I made progress on the towel rail for the kids bathroom. The library is more useable, as is the craft room. Acceptable progress.
• music - I set 7 goals. I kept playing with Fledge. The rest fell by the wayside. I've certainly played some of the grade 5 descant pieces, but I've really struggled with the energy to play anything for more than five minutes. Bad match between goals and reality
• learning - I set three goals; I attempted nothing. Oops.
• family - I set no goals. Youngest moved home. Middlest moved out. Middlest got married. Middlest's partners bought a house that they will all be moving in with. I made an effort to spend time with all the local family. maharetr and I now have a very low key text based weekly catchup that provides us both with executive function; I have made attempts at having coffee with people Just Because (most recently, ariaflame, chaosmanor, maharetr). Despite no goals, I'm happy with the achievement.
• social - I set a half arsed goal about catching up with friends. I have been attempting to say yes to social things, although often falling in a heap. I have, however, caught up with a number of people I don't see often enough, not all of that at funerals.
• physical exercise and health - I set four goals. I achieved none. Park runs were doing fine right up to the point that something went wrong and then I couldn't deal. My sleep worsened, got better, worsened, and now I'm back to trying to pull it back before midnight again. Oh! I kind of did the walks in Perth - I didn't do one of the book, but we did find a wheelchair accessible one to do a couple of months back, which wa chaosmanor, maharetr, artisanat, and I.
• organisation - I have five goals, but the first one is ???, so I suspect a typo. All four real ones have been progressed but are all a long way from done. This is a disappointment, but I forgot I'd set them.
• decluttering - I set four goals. I achieved (mostly) one, successfully rehoming a significant portion of the yarn and fabric I wanted to.
• writing - I set 6 goals. I have mostly kept up the offline journal/morning pages; I wrote fewer blog posts here and none at anna_reads_science and not as many as I wanted at Tumblr. My two coding projects languished. I am disappointed, but unsurprised.
• garden - I set five goals and one stretch. The bird netting came off the grapes, but I can't claim that one. Some of the extra pot plants found homes. The rest required energy, motivation, and remembering, and these did not happen.

Overall - I achieved some things, and having a list was useful, at least while I remembered it was there. I started writing a new list mid-year, and never quite got off the ground. I struggle to work out how to track these things. I continue to not put energy into skills I value, not least because they take energy and focus, and it has been a difficult year for that.

(I was going to write about what I'm hoping for 2026, but that will be later, as Out Of Oomph)

This poem came out of the January 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Daughter of Earth" square in my 1-1-25 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Frankenstein's Family.

( Read more... )

I've just done a Svaha order, because we really like their stuff, it lasts well, and in general I've had good results (the skirt that turned out not to work on me looks fabulous on ariaflame, for example). Also, they have pockets.

If you are a texture sensitive person who wears dresses/skirts (they do some other things but I've never bought anything else, so can't speak to their quality), very much recommend. Watch out for where they list 'waist seam' or 'not waist seam' if that matters (it very much matters to me; the A-line dress with no waist seam that I have is one of the most comfortable dresses I own). Dresses go up to 5XL; I have no idea how that works for tall people.

As to the scam alert: there are scam sites that have ripped off significant amounts of the imagery. Svaha have info on it here. ariaflame spotted this, when I commented that I seemed to have two sites and I couldn't work out why.

(the only thing I was disappointed by was the fact that there is a pride flags dress in the style I want to wear, but it didn't have the intersex flag on there. I got something else instead)

Our Friending Meme is HERE.