Network

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

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Check-In Post - Sept 19th 2025

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: Share your favourite crafting tip, if you have one.

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

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Bingo 03.25 - Weekly Reminder Post 2

It's Friday, and still about two days to go until the end of week 2. Posting for week two officially ends Sunday, September 21 17.00 UTC. There is a grace period until the week is finally called 'closed'.

We have four participants so far, and two completed bingo lines. In the team challenge, we already have four participants; Team Alpha has finished the first bingo line.

Check out the Google Sheet Scores here, but remember that the final points will get counted on Sunday. If you find a mistake, don't hesitate to contact me.

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just one thing

Just One Thing (19 September 2025)

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

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The Day in Spikedluv (Thursday, Sept 18)

This was a no-shopping day!! But I did get in a walk around the park while I was downtown. I also visited my aunt, hand-washed dishes, went for a walk with Pip and the dogs, put a chuck roast in the crock pot, and took mom to a dr. appt.

I finished the Duncan Kincaid book, read some fanfic, and watched some HGTV programs.

Temps started out at 45.1(F) and reached 78.4. I was not brave enough to wear shorts first thing in the morning, but I did change into them mid-morning! It was still only 64 degrees at that time, but much better than 45! I was glad later on that I had.

Mom Update:

Mom was doing pretty well in the morning, but she was exhausted by the time we got home from her doctor appointment. ( more back here )

Current Mood: busy

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followfriday

Follow Friday 9-19-25

Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

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Marauders Bowie Fest: Sign-up Open Till September 20

Fest Name: Marauders Bowie Fest
Links: Tumblr | Rules & Sign-up
Type of Challenge: Non-anonymous theme fest
Description: A Marauders era character fic and art fest inspired by David Bowie's songs. The use of AI is not allowed. Each work must feature at least one Marauders era character. Sign-up is open till September 20.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions: None?
Timeline:
Sign-up: August 23 - September 20
Works due: January 1, 2026
Reveals begin: January 12
Reveals end: January 18

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Rosekiller Big Bang 2026: Prompting Open Till September 22

Fest Name: Rosekiller Big Bang 2026
Links: Tumblr | AO3 | Rules | FAQ | Schedule | Prompting
Type of Challenge: Anonymous big bang
Description: A Barty Crouch Jr./Evan Rosier fest. Writers will create a fic, and artists will claim one of the fics and create artwork based on the fic they have claimed. Prompting is open till September 22.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 10k
Art: Minimum of two pieces of artwork (a banner and an additional original piece)
Timeline:
Prompting: September 15 - September 22
Prompts available for viewing: September 23
Sign-up opens: September 26
Writers sign-up closes: October 20
Fic description due + beta sign-up closes: November 15
Writer/beta pairings: November 22
Writer 50% checkpoint: December 21
Writer 70% checkpoint: January 10
Artists sign-up closes: January 11
Fic concept sets to artists: January 12
Writer first draft due: January 31
Artist claiming: February 1
Writer/artist pairings: February 8
Writer final draft due: March 1
Artist final pieces due: April 19
Posting starts: May 1

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TMRHP Gift Exchange 2025: Sign-up Open Till September 30

Fest Name: TMRHP Gift Exchange 2025
Links: Tumblr | Rules | Sign-up
Type of Challenge: Gift exchange
Description: A top!Tom/bottom!Harry gift exchange for fic and art. AI-generated content is not allowed. Sign-up is open till September 30.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 1000 words
Art: Minimum black-and-white line-art
Timeline:
Sign-up: September 16 - September 30
Assignments handed out: October 7
Check-in: Mid-November
Self-post to AO3 collection: December 7 - December 14
Works revealed: December 24

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The Order Fest: Claiming Open Till December 23

Fest Name: The Order Fest
Links: Tumblr | Rules | Schedule | Claiming
Type of Challenge: Non-anonymous prompt fest
Description: A fic and art fest focusing on members of the Order of Phoenix. Claiming is open till December 23.
Ratings Restrictions: All ratings allowed
Length Restrictions:
Fic: Minimum 1000 words; no maximum
Art: None
Timeline:
Prompting Opens: 29th of August
Prompting Closes: 12th of September
Claiming Opens: 16th of September
Claiming Closes: 23rd of December
Submissions Due: 6th of January
Posting Begins: 15th of January

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travel

Birds and Bits

I've posted the birdwatching report from my New Zealand trip on my Alpennia blog (https://alpennia.com/blog/new-zealand-birding). The non-bird parts to come.

Today's rhythm was thrown off by the need to check in at 11:30 on my potential jury duty service. Which also meant that when I went online to set up an optometry appointment, I didn't think I could commit to the "earliest possible" slot next Tuesday, with the next options starting in late October. And then when I checked in and found I was excused from jury duty, that next Tuesday slot had been snapped up.

It became clear to me on the NZ trip that I really needed to update my vision prescriptions, though in part this was because I was doing a lot more close-distance reading than usual and it became clear that one of my eyes has drifted more than the other. Then coincidentally, yesterday I got a note from Kaiser saying that my current glasses prescription was about to expire (it's been two years) and I should make an appointment.

But anyway, since I didn't want to go off on the bike this morning because of the check-in, I wrote up my birding notes. And now I'm thinking that since my routine is already off, I could just go off script entirely for the rest of the day. (Yes, yes, I have a fixed routine in retirement. What can I say?) Maybe I'll do something wild and crazy like pick rose hips. I have three or four bushes that have a lot of hips--enough to do something interesting with, anyway--and it might be fun to try some comparisons.

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Fic

I'm attempting to make this post on my phone, because I want to share the fic right now, but posting from phone isn't quite so easy it turns out. But very importantly I just finished posting my college AU fic (it's still set in drama canon universe though), and I'm really rather happy about it!

A World of Its Own (38986 words) by tinypinkmouse
Chapters: 11/11
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei (Guardian), Wu Xiaojun
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, things diverge before canon starts, there are universities for dixingren, and everyone knows about dixing, Getting Together, Blow Jobs, Slice of Life, Worldbuilding, Drunkenness
Summary:

It's a stupid idea, but applying to a Dixingren university means Zhao Yunlan can say goodbye to any plans Zhao Xinci had for his future. And that has to be worth it, right? He really doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps.

The Friday Five for 19 September 2025: Soulmates

These questions were originally suggested by

polypolyglot.

1. Do you believe you can have more than one soulmate in life?

2. Are you with that soulmate now?

3. If not, how long did your relationship with your soulmate last?

4. Do you still think about your soulmate, if you are not together?

5. If you're not together, do you think your soulmate still thinks about you?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

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Check-In Post - Sept 18th 2025

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real life,
waaa!

ode to first world problems

I need a new chair cos the old one collapsed
I need a new computer because wins 10 support is ending
I need to write six more days of stuff for GYWO this month.

I was off last week, did I do any of these things? nope.

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just one thing

Just One Thing (18 September 2025)

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: Bamberg

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Alien: Earth 1.07

In which it's very useful to know the numbers of pi by heart. Or eye.

( What have you done? )

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The Day in Spikedluv (Wednesday, Sept 17)

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. I hit Price Chopper and the Pharmacy while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park.

I did two loads of laundry (both washed, dried AND folded!), hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and shaved. I grilled Italian sausage for Pip’s supper.

I read more in Duncan Kincaid.

Temps started out at 46.0(F) and reached 74.3. I did not wear shorts this morning because the temps were only supposed to be about 70, but tomorrow it will be high 70s, so I anticipate shorts again!

Mom Update:

Mom was tired today, but she still went out to sit on the porch. ( more back here )

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dreamwidth: community thursdays

Community Thursday

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Commented on booknook.

Signal boosts:

fan_writers continues to see a lot of active discussions around meta about writing, if that is of interest to you! :)

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post type: weekly: read-in-progress

Read-in-Progress Wednesday

This is your weekly read-in-progress post for you to talk about what you're currently reading and reactions and feelings (if any)!

For spoilers:

<details><summary>insert summary</summary>Your spoilers goes here</details>

<b>Highlight for spoilers!*</b><span style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #FFFFFF">Your spoilers goes here.</span>*

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: my apartment

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Saturday, September 13: High Country Live Model Horse Show

I took last Saturday and Sunday off to attend a model horse show with Alex. There haven't been many shows this year; he attended BreyerMidwest in the spring, but I wasn't able to take that weekend off, and the host who usually holds the majority of the semi-local shows has been taking a year off from it to do other things.

This one was held by a regular shower in the local community, and it was nice to have a show to attend!

It definitely made for a long day: we got up around 5:00 to get the car loaded, and then take Bella over to my mom's house for the day. We managed to get on the road by 6:30 or so (just slightly later than hoped, but did include getting coffee). After a couple hours' drive through mostly rural areas, we made it, just a bit after the 8:00 setup start.

The show itself was fun, but long, and a liiiiittle frustratingly disorganized. (The host kept changing things in the weeks leading up to the show, and continued changing things day-of.) Still, running a show includes SO many moving parts, and so much to keep track of, it's just a whole lot to do, so I appreciate anyone willing to do it!

Alex did pretty well - 21 NAN cards (the cards awarded to the top two places in each class of a NAN-qualifying show; serves as a "ticket" for that model to be entered into a relatively prestigious annual show) and 28 "Western Conference" cards (which appear to be an attempted regional "competitor" to NAN, which I have never heard of, despite it apparently having been a thing for 10 years... these "tickets" are awarded up to third place.)

Alex's biggest win was:

This is a custom that he did a few years ago. :) It was first in the custom Morgan class, and then went on to win the sectional champion for custom light breeds! (Got a ribbon and the 3-D printed dog. The show holder is very into German Shepherds, ha.)

This custom does extremely well for him, and deservedly so! The finishwork (done in pastels rather than paint) is extremely well done. (It's that much more exciting that it does so well, since he was the artist.) He never seems to believe that it does deserve it, though!

By the end, we were just extremely tired. The biggest divisions took a long time to get through, and we didn't end up finishing the last of it until 9:00... and then had to deal with the drive back.

I felt really bad making my mom stay up that late to wait for us to come get Bella. We made decent time on the way back (via a different route), and managed to get there just after 10:30 to pick her up, so not really much later than mom and Taylor would have been staying up anyway.

Mom said that Bella was very good. (She still hasn't really met Jaspurr; he came downstairs once, and as soon as Bella hopped off the loveseat to approach him, he bolted back upstairs and didn't come back down.)

Their excitement for the day was mom taking Bella on a neighborhood walk and finding...

A huge snake shed! Broom for scale, lol.

There is a huge bull snake somewhere in the neighborhood! :D