I just started a playlist with my standard-option portable bluetooth speaker connected for audio, had the bass drop in Jah War at all of 13 seconds in hit and went "oh no that is A TRAVESTY AND AN ABOMINATION"* and immediately plugged in my subwoofer instead. X,D X,D X,D X,D (You really don't wanna listen to classic dubstep with poor bass reproduction, hahaha.)

*) as in literally out loud, in the most appalled tone of voice X,D

I signed up for pinchhitbingo again this year, and I'm only now getting round to posting my table, lmao. I actually did get a bingo last year, so yay for achievement. Crossing my fingers for another for this table.

( Read more... )

Peach cream cheese cobbler

Ingredients
2 cans (20 oz each) peaches chunks or tidbits, drained (reserve ½ cup juice)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 box yellow or white cake mix
¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
Pinch of salt

Serves: 8–10

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 35–40 minutes

How to Make:
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese with sugar, vanilla, and the reserved peach juice until smooth. Spread the drained peach chunks evenly across the bottom of the prepared dish.

Dollop the cream cheese mixture over the peaches and spread it out as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the dry cake mix over the top, followed by a dusting of cinnamon if you are using it. Pour the melted butter evenly over the entire surface, ensuring there are no large dry patches of cake mix.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is golden brown and the peach filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven and let it stand for at least 15 minutes to allow the cobbler to set. Serve warm, perhaps with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

🧊 Storage Tip:
Store any leftover cobbler in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. To reheat, place a portion in the oven at 300°F for 10 minutes to maintain the texture of the cake topping.

Chicken Tacos

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 packet taco seasoning (or 2 tbsp homemade)
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies (like Rotel), drained
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn (thawed)
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese (divided)
12 small corn or flour tortillas (cut into quarters)
1 small onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
Optional toppings: chopped cilantro, sliced olives, green onions, jalapeños
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Sauté diced onion in olive oil over medium heat for 3–4 minutes until soft. Remove from heat.
In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken, taco seasoning, sautéed onion, tomatoes with green chilies, black beans, corn, sour cream, and 1 cup of cheese. Mix until well combined.
Layer tortillas across the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
Add half of the chicken mixture, spreading evenly. Repeat with another layer of tortillas and the remaining chicken mixture.
Top with remaining 1 cup of cheese and cover with foil.
Bake for 25–30 minutes, then uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes until bubbly and golden on top.
Let rest for 5–10 minutes before serving. Garnish with your favorite taco toppings.
Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 40 mins | Total Time: 55 mins
Servings: 6–8 | Calories: ~460 per serving

Not quite 365 days questions March

5. How many local birds can you name?

I know little about birds, but these are the ones I see daily.

Road Runner
Cardinal male and female
Sparrows
Black birds
I think the bigger ones are Ravens
Chicken Hawks
Hummingbirds- about 5 different types.
Quail-my favorite along with Roadrunner
Some kind of blue birds
Eagle
Wrens
Robins I think
Pigeons (flying rats)

That's all I can think of right now.

Topics for talk

Ways I Help Others.

I do all sorts of things to help others.

1. I make dinner once a month for my friends and once a month for family members.
2. Donate to my charities.
3. Babysit my great-granddaughter every Saturday. She's almost 2. She is so cute. Hubby and I spend the entire three hours outside. She loves to be outside.
4. Help take care of my 89-year-old friend twice a week. She lives with her daughter, who still works. I love spending time with her.
5. Spend time with my grandkids for no special reason. Give them my love so they can create wonderful memories. Thats something we can all do.

90 questions for discussion.
1. If your body could speak to you, what would it say?


It would say, the exercise is great, but you need to lose some more weight. Twenty pounds was just the beginning. I keep making desserts. And we eat them.

I do chair aerobics, but need to do them more then 30 minutes at night. I'll lose more, it'll take time.

Most of you -- or perhaps all of you -- will understand why I am currently fixated on the last three lines of the Sonya Taaffe poem "The House Snakes: For Nyani Martin":

...our earth will always shake,

our restless scales unfurling to enfold

your arms of wine-dark honey as you come home.


The full poem appears in issue 44 of "Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy".

It's Christmas, folks!

Miami Vice is now streaming on Tubi -- on demand. It's been on Pluto all the while, but only live with the daily marathon, here you can pick and choose which episodes to watch and when.

So, if you've ever thought about checking it out and watching some episodes, now is your chance. Run, because from past experience, these things don't last long. I expect some people's suspicions are right though, and they are doing this because of the reboot movie coming out next year. It'll backfire on them, of course, because once you see the OG, you're not likely to go for a pale imitation. 😉

Watch Miami Vice Streaming Online | Tubi Free TV

Tubi is the best! First Donald Strachey, then Broadchurch, and now MV. I have the whole series on DVD myself, but I'm still thrilled that it's readily available for others to watch.

( Recs beneath the cut )

 i thought to just jot down my writing process as a fun documentation of what i did, my thought processes, and the notable edits i've made along the way. for brevity's sake, i'll just refer to when the light in our hearts call out to each other as the yoriichi ot3 fic from now on (even though, as you may have noticed, there is no explicit ot3 content of sumiyoshi/yoriichi/suyako here, but pls give me this one).

late 2022 happened to me, and i had to take a break from writing because of Major Life Events, which turned into a massive writing burnout where i couldn't write any creative pieces for around 2 years. the idea for this fic was shelved in that same year of 2022 when my friend wrote an essay about demon slayer for her class centered around the theme legacy, and it sparked a thing in my head about the thirteenth form of sun breathing.

i was also massively inspired by those who touch the sun by beecalm, so please do check out their works!!! they have such a lovely catalogue of kny fics but those who touch the sun especially has something special in my soul and heart (just like a part of yoriichi's heart that is stolen by sumiyoshi AUGH PLEASE READ THIS FIC), with the sun breathing is transformed into the dance of the fire god and subsequently passed down generations of the kamado, written with elegant and beautiful poetry-like prose of yoriichi's pov/pining over sumiyoshi. i do want to say that while i am absolutely inspired by those who touch the sun esp in terms of yoriichi's legacy (and ending it with tanjiro), i tried to take a different angle to it with more focus on what happened in chapter 186 + using the kagura in its literal meaning to summon a god.

i only got around to writing this on april 27th 2024, where i was basically trying to push myself to write Something and not just wait for divine inspiration to strike me with creativity. found the idea written somewhere in my notebook, hence, yoriichi ot3 fic was born!


i had to admit that i don't really know how to shape and where to bring this fic. the same feeling came upon me when i was writing my mdzs song lan/xiao xingchen fic On the Heart as well, but i like to think that i am better equipped in plotting this time, instead of just writing the vibes out (although i did just Vibe It Out for more part of this fic than not).

i knew that i wanted to write about several things:

1) sun themes (no kidding);

2) the hinokami kagura as yoriichi's legacy through the kamado family;

3) the kagura itself as a form of invocation to amaterasu-o-mikami and the shinto spirituality surrounding it (hence the inclusion of omamori, yoriichi thinking of himself as a tatarigami [or calamity god], and the reference to takamagahara, etc);

4) yoriichi seeing his dead loved ones in the kamado family whom he'd saved (yoriichi's mom-sumiyoshi, uta-suyako);

5) the parallel of yoriichi's and sumiyoshi's eyes + tears; and most importantly,

6) love, between yoriichi and sumiyoshi, yoriichi and suyako, and yoriichi and sumiyoshi and suyako (delicious, triangle love).

actually, kidding! some of these sprang up later after i finished up some scenes, but once these ideas manifested they would not stop sticking in my head, haha. so i just needed to figure out a way to include all of them and arrange them in a neat manner so that this fic wouldn't sound like the ramblings of a maniac going "LEGACY.... SUMIYOSHI LOVES YORIICHI AND IT'S SEEN IN THE PASSING OF HINOKAMI KAGURA!!!!!!" even though i wanna just write that as a manifesto.

anyway, Planning.

this time, it's one of those disjointed fics where i wrote out of order and have to come back to the skeletal scenes so i can buff them up with more meat. but the core is this: yoriichi is expelled from demon slayer corps (circumstances happened) -> he thinks about the people he cannot save (loss of purpose) -> but he once saved sumiyoshi -> he found relief in sumiyoshi and suyako's existence, as he managed to save their lives (healing/catalyst) -> it gave him more reason to keep slaying demons (regaining purpose). and then, contrast that with sumiyoshi's regret over the things he did not do for yoriichi (inaction) -> sumiyoshi passing down the fire god kagura as a form of prayer for yoriichi (action).

to be honest, i was lost while writing this most of the time. i was in tears. shaking. why do i write, i ask, who gave me the free will to do this voluntarily. it's only now when i come back to it that i realized, wow, i actually managed to cobble some pretty coherent structure, even in sumiyoshi's pov. but skeletons can be cobbled together. how do i pad it up with the meat (writing)?

it's genuinely thanks to evebc they beta-read this fic and gave amazing suggestions about what scenes i could add in (like the details about kamado fam preparing a yukata for yoriichi and the scene about yoriichi sleeping over in the same room as the kamado fam). i really couldn't have written this fic without them holding my hand throughout the entire process.

writing it from yoriichi's pov makes me consider several things:

1) the special way he sees the world with his see-through vision,

2) his lack of self-worth,

3) his seeming detachment from humankind (either from his inability to process his emotions (not crying when his mom passed/freezing only holding uta and his unborn child's bodies when they died/from chapter 186, referring to his dialogue with sumiyoshi "I'm happy to see you all happy. When I see happy humans, I feel happy as well.") as though he is exempt from experiencing the happiness firsthand).

however, i really have grown rusty with my writing, so most of the fic is mostly "telling" instead of "showing". i just realized this when i went back to my old writings trying to figure out what had seemed so odd with the current narration. so i patched up some of yoriichi's pov, and added more physical descriptions related to how he feels emotions through his body rather than comprehending/intellectualizing them, because i thought that might be more natural to him to think of emotions in terms of what they did to the body.

lo, my realizations:


it feels good when you solve a problem in your draft! as you can see, i was not as calm writing this fic as i am currently writing this process down.

finally, i finished the draft on dec 5th 2024! i did a couple edits here and there, especially revamping some stuff on sumiyoshi's pov so that it'll flow better.

but yeah, that's the thought process behind when the light in our hearts call out to each other. thanks to anyone who read this post up 'til this point!!

Bandcamp Friday returns this Friday, March 6.

For 24 hours, every purchase you make on Bandcamp sends even more money directly to the artists and labels you support.

On select Fridays throughout the year, we waive our share of sales. This means fans can support artists more directly. It’s a great time to pick up that album you’ve had your eye on, explore something new, or revisit an old favorite.

For whatever hours those 24 hours are in your time zone!

My heart is broken by the terrible loss of minoanmiss. I met her in fandom in my early DCU days, something like 23 years ago, and once in person in 2009, and always treasured her friendship. Rest in peace and power, love. Hugs to all who grieve her passing.

books by Adrian Tchaikovsky
House of Open Wounds, Lives of Bitter Rain, Days of Shattered Faith, Pretenders to the Throne of God
I don't think I LIKED any of these, but the 'verse is interesting? I get the feeling that he cares far more about gaming out his worldbuilding than he does his actual characters, which is no way to write a novel/series.

yarning
Finished the orange and blue kickbunny. Missed yarn group yet again. Started the Easter carrots. Worked a little on the kickbunny for the kitten academy momcat. The long term commission for 2 kickbunnies turned into a priority commission, so I'm rapidly working on that instead of more carrots. Sold an under the door toy. And 2 more catnip-silvervine hearts that I have to make. Oof! I'm grateful for the sales, but wtf is going on with the deluge? I mean, SEVENTEEN things to make!! Most ASAP!

augh
dad had yet another bad fall Monday night, but, knock wood, I haven't yet been asked to go up and help out. These deadlines make that problematic.

healthcrap
General malaise. Epic brain fog. Continuing vertigo. The internet tells me that a repeatedly bitten tongue can develop white keratosis (like your fingernails) to protect it. I keep biting the wound, which is why I still have an ulcer just under my tongue, way back by my molars. /whine. Also, I didn't get my healthcare coverage renewed before it expired, so I'm having to wrangle that while feeling like crap. :(

#resist
+ voted in the TX primary yesterday. Learned I was gerrymandered into a new congressional district minutes before voting, so I had to choose a new rep.
+ Look out for local anti-war protests in your area.
+ March 5: Fighting and Winning Against Trump's Concentration Camps - Mass Call
+ March 28: #50501 No Kings Protest #3

I hope you're all doing as well as can be expected. <333

I've entered the "Fandom Trumps Hate" auction this year. How this works is offering to create fanworks to people who pledge charitable donations. I'm offering fic, and I'm open to pretty much any fandom that I'm familiar with (ask if you're not sure). My auction page is here with more information!

I started the year with only 11 books on my TBL list, plus 2 pre-orders, which has now grown to 13 books and 3 pre-orders, but I should clear most, if not all, by the end of the year.  

I've had 2 DNFs, and here are the first 5 I've heard:

Parsley Sidings a BBC radio series, full cast
Typical radio comedy from the early 1970s which still made me laugh.  I listened on and off for a few months, and enjoyed the nostalgia of my early teens.

A Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett, read by Samantha Bond
The second in the series where Queen Elizabeth II solves crimes around the palace.  I'm a republican (Small R!) but find the series entertaining and relaxing.  I have the next two in the series which I shall be listening to later in the year.

The Happiness List by Annie Lyons, read by Jaimi Barbakoff
I enjoy books by Annie Lyons, again easy listening and the people seem very real, even if the Happy Ever After is not entirely realistic - but then, why not have a happy ending for characters we care about?  The Happiness List is about three women who each have their own, very different problems, and are challenged to make a list of things which make them happy over a ten week course.  The items which they include in their individual lists are very relatable.

Dishonour and Obey by Graham Brack, read by Alex Wyndham
The next Master Mercurius title, where Mercurius joins a diplomatic mission to England to arrange the marriage of Princess Mary, the daughter of James, Duke of York, to Stadhouder William of Orange.  There's murder, espionage and general skulduggery.  I shall be adding the next book to my list soon.

Death and Boules by Ian Moore, read by Ian Moore
The latest Follet Valley mystery.  As bizarre as ever, this time involving, amongst other things, a pétanque tournament.  I hope there are more, I really enjoyed listening to this one.