ugh, I am not feeling great today so I'm having a day off of cycling and weight lifting. It's spitting outside, so I would have normally not cycled anyway. I would have driven to the gym and done the weight lifting, but I have a headache and I feel sick and my limbs and back hurt, so maybe I could just not.
I have lost another half stone, to a total of 3.5 stone, ie 49lb (approx 25kg) and I am continuing with the diet (though I'm eating more and slowing down atm.) It seems more and more likely that by the end of June I will be too small for my nice blue belly dance dress. So, I have been busy combing the charity shops for skirts and making bedlah to wear instead.
The black one is the right size for me now, and I can pair it with a black trumpet skirt and be dramatic. This is the one I was making for the heavy metal solo that we still haven't decided music for.
This silver and African wax print set is uncomfortably small for me atm (and also not finished) but the possibility is that it will be the right size (and finished) in June. I would pair this with a layered white skirt that I also found at a thrift store.
This would require me to buy or make a white power-mesh thingy to cover my stomach, because I am not going out there with my stomach out (I possess a black one already.)
I am however very encouraged by the fact that Soheir Zaki (RIP) seems to have had many different colours of bodystocking which she paired to her outfits, so I have a good role model for refusing to let it all hang out :)
And if the black set becomes too big for me before then, I can just sell it. There are a lot of plus sized dancers out there who never get catered to by anyone, who would probably like a new set.
Doing belly dance costuming on a budget by making it yourself is the way to go if you don't want to drop £200 or more at a time for a professionally made set, and while I'm changing shape it would be stupid to buy anything really nice. The downside is that everything looks very hand-made. The upside is budget, but also that I am learning all sorts of new sewing techniques as I go.
yourlibrarian is hosting a point gift event this year again as part of Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, and enough donors have pledged to gift up to 68 people! See this post on 3weeks4dreamwidth for all the details.
"Paid features are the only way to support Dreamwidth financially, but people who want these services can't always get them for financial or logistical reasons. Thanks to donor pledges, we can now provide points to as many as 68 people, but in order for this to work, people need to step forward! Follow the link above to find out more. Donors and giftees both participate anonymously through screened comments."
and
"Remember, paid features is the only way to support Dreamwidth financially. Having giftees means we give Dreamwidth financial resources for all they do."
Movie I watched: Something on Hallmark? I don't remember. In theaters, it was Superman. Series I finished: Heated Rivalry Book I finished: Game Changers - Rachel Reid Book I bought: I don't remember? I get my books from the library Book I received as a gift: A dessert recipe book from a family friend Food I ate: Ice cream Meal I cooked: Enchiladas Drink I had: Water Song I listened to: 12 to 12 by Sombr Album I listened to: I don't listen to whole albums much. Maybe it was The Life of a Showgirl Playlist I listened to: Heated Rivalry on Spotify Concert I went to: Can't remember, it's been too long Game I played: Does Wordle count? Person I talked to: My mom Person I texted: My friend
Sometimes I think of myself as largely ignorant of computers, unable to identify a problem I've been having lately with enough precision to fully troubleshoot it or even find out what's going wrong sometimes. And then there's days like today where I meet someone who doesn't know what an operating system is. Key to this: she's at least a decade older than I am and does a lot of work on her own computer. I had to explain what an operating system is so I could explain a joke I made about Linux, and then I had to explain Linux.
It's for the best that I didn't go for the obvious Kinsey scale joke when she told her trainer she was straight. "At least a Kinsey two," is what I'd have said if I'd thought she'd have gotten it.
In other news, I only used a little of the bottle of prosecco I bought for the springtime asparagus-ramp risotto, and the pressure of the remaining bubbles had the stopper knock off in the fridge. I suppose the best solution is simply to drink it.
Current Mood:relaxed
Current Music:Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) - Arcade Fire
This week, a little crow with a moon and some orchids. From GlitterPunk's corvid designs.
This was a pretty good week. It was sort of a rough start to the week, with Alex not feeling well one day, and surprise having to replace my debit card the next. Still, I did get a lot of what I'd hoped to done, including several responsible things and quite a bit of reading. The short work week for the festival was nice too, and the festival itself was a lot of fun!
Goals for the week:
I did read quite a lot of Return of the King
We went to Ritual Noize Fest on Saturday
I rescheduled my dermatology appointment
Alex rescheduled Bella's vet appointment
I scheduled my blood work redo
I mostly finished writing my April reviews
I did post about my May writing goals/the lack thereof
I took and shared pictures of my pin boards
I cleaned my cube bookshelf
I finished reading Game Changer
I reorganized my tote bag
I did not put together a hiking first-aid kit
I renewed my OTW membership for the year (right under the drive deadline)
I talked to my mom about Mother's Day plans, even if it turned out to be a "wait and see"
I did not work on my reading page
We did not pay rent
I did my getyourwordsout check-in: 9829 words for April, bring ytd to 44657
I attended a CSA meeting at work on Wednesday
I got a new debit card after mine vanished (Alex thinks it fell out of his pocket)
Tracked habits:
Work - 4/7 - I took Saturday off
Household Maintenance - 4/7
Physical Activity - 6/7 - one additional day of only a little
Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 0/7
Non-fiction Writing - 3/7 - one day of over 1000 words, two days of over 500 words, three additional days of under 500 words
Meta Work - 2/7
Personal Writing - 5/7
Other Creative Things - 2/7
Reading - 7/7 - mostly I read Return of the King, though I finished Game Changer and started Heated Rivalry; Alex and I finished The Luminous Dead
Attention to Media - 6/7 - Sunday we watched some paranormal videos; Monday and Tuesday had storm chasing in the background; Wednesday had a random assortment in the background; Thursday had background game videos; Friday a mix of paranormal and game videos.
Video Games - 0/7
Social Interaction - 6/7
Total words written: 3289 on reviews and plans
This is also the last week in this notebook!
This was a nice notebook! I started using it in August of 2024, through all of 2025, and now it's full in May of 2026.
My next notebook is a dot-grid one, which also has a quite small grid, so I'll possibly be playing with my page layouts a little bit... But we'll see! It'll probably stay similar, just smaller, so I may have room to add... something?
Update from the Monday to-do list: No Phone Night was glorious. I hadn't realized how much work anxiety was bleeding into my evenings until I made a point of not letting the emails find me. I will absolutely be doing that again.
My brain is trying really hard to point me at Currents, so I guess I'm sort of doing Mermay, drawerfic-style? I'll post it if I ever finish enough of it, but it's long and rambly with way, way too much detail about sharks. (And I do mean way too much detail about sharks. I have institutional access to a bunch of academic journals, which means I can include scientifically accurate details about sharks. "Klavier/Daryan mermaid AU" is already a concept with a teeny-tiny audience and with enough research, I can bring that audience down to exactly two people!) It's nice to have something I actively want to write again, even if it's not the fic I was hoping to work on this week.
(Forsaken Road and broken beaten damned are still in progress! Just temporarily backburnered, for a couple reasons; I'll get back to them eventually.)
A couple more answers to Goes Wrong Show questions I've received on Tumblr!
Anonymous:In the CCGW intermission, we get a glimpse of Robert’s CV—apparently, in Romeo and Juliet he played both Romeo and Juliet at the same time, while Chris was listed as the director (later usurped). Do you have any thoughts or ideas about the story behind that?
Robert playing both Romeo and Juliet in the same production is one of my favourite details from Robert's CV; it's such a Robert thing to do. I love him. He should play every part in every play.
I'm actually working on a fic about the dual-Roberts Romeo and Juliet right now [I received this question while I was writing Adaptability], but the concept there is 'there are literally two Roberts', which seems unlikely to be the canonical way it played out! It might instead have been something like this:
- Chris casts himself as Romeo. - Robert uses every tool at his disposal - complaining, attempting to ensure none of the society's actresses will be available on the night, arguing that casting two men as the lovers will show the progressiveness of the drama society - to get himself cast as Juliet. - Perfect; Robert is now Juliet! He's in a lead role! He's satisfied. - ... - Is he satisfied? - Now that he sits down and counts, Romeo does have slightly more lines than Juliet. There's a difference of seventy-five lines! That's almost fourteen percent of Juliet's lines! Surely Robert should be playing Romeo? - Robert attempts to persuade Chris to switch roles. Chris, incredulous, refuses. - Robert continues to complain. Chris threatens to take Juliet away from him. - Fine. Robert will have to take matters into his own hands. If he drugs Chris before the performance, just a little innocuous drugging, he can step into the role of Romeo, where he belongs. - One small downside: nobody else has rehearsed the role of Juliet, so Robert is going to have to play her as well. - Actually, that's not a downside at all. This is going to be the greatest performance of Romeo and Juliet ever seen.
There is one detail from Robert's CV that this concept doesn't account for: he lists the venue for his Romeo and Juliet production as 'France?', question mark and all. How does Robert end up putting on this play while uncertain of what country he's in? Unless he accidentally drugs himself slightly in the process of knocking Chris out, and then Chris regains consciousness before the play and, furious, chases Robert onto the Eurostar.
Anonymous:do you think robert would enjoy being a vampire?
Robert Grove would have a great time hamming it up as a vampire. He’d wear a cape. He’d hiss. He’d insist on the Cornley Drama Society putting on more vampire-centric plays, largely because he’s now the obvious choice to play vampiric characters.
There is not a chance Robert is nobly going to abstain from drinking human blood. He would attack strangers if he had to, but he’s a coward who wants to avoid serious physical conflict, so he’d try to persuade people to let him drink their blood voluntarily.
This works out fine at first; Sandra is happy to be a sexy vampiric victim! But then Sandra decides she’d prefer to be a sexy vampire, and Robert immediately agrees to turn her. After all, if they’re going to be putting on more vampire plays, it’ll be good to have someone who can play female vampires as well.
So now there are two vampires in the Cornley Drama Society, and Robert’s main source of blood is no longer an option.
Max and Annie agree to let Sandra feed from them: Max a little nervously, and Annie with surprising enthusiasm. Vanessa, very nervously, lets Robert feed from her; she’d really prefer not to have her blood drunk, but she’s worried about Robert not having enough sustenance and she doesn’t entirely know how to say no. Chris, having repeatedly insisted there’s not a chance that Robert will get any of his blood, eventually gives in because he’s worried about Vanessa and wants to ease the burden on her. (This leads to a very confusing sexual awakening for Chris, naturally.)
Also, hey, while I'm posting things from Tumblr, here's a video I took of the hopeful little meerkat I mentioned in this post! If you turn the sound on, you can hear the meerkat's tiny curious chirps and my charmed laughter.
One must imagine Sisyphus horny (13133 words) by Petra Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker Additional Tags: Time Travelling Obi-Wan Kenobi, Time Loop, Canon Divergence - Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Bad Decisions, What Would Quinlan Vos Do?, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Sex (Star Wars), Premature Ejaculation, Misdirection, Virgin Obi-Wan Kenobi Summary:
The twentieth time through what has got to be the worst, and longest, day anyone has ever experienced without dying irrevocably, Obi-Wan wakes up on the Negotiator, checks the chrono to be positive of the date and swears a bloody streak, then comms Anakin. He has tried this day doing what he thought best, what he thought Yoda would think best, then Shaak, then Mace, then every other Jedi he's ever respected.
He has been putting off trying what he believes Quinlan's approach would be, or at least what Quinlan would counsel Obi-Wan to do, but the time has come.
Current Mood:i got you, babe
Current Music:Starts out easy, something simple, something sleazy
I'm saving the art because I would be so, so sad if I were to lose it, but please go let the artist know if it amuses you anything like as much as it tickles me.
To-do list for Monday evening: - Turn off phone - Make popcorn - Fold laundry - Do dishes - Write 200 words on a fic of my choice - Pick either a book from the unread stack or a movie from the unwatched stack
Work is being extremely stressful in petty ways I can choose to ignore for a night, but actually doing that is...easier said than done. Thus, to-do lists. You won't get me that easily, work email!
Wishing everyone who enjoys Star Wars a very Lucastrian day!
I posted this:
But I cried the whole time (doesn't matter, had sex) (300 words) by Petra Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala & Sabé, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Quinlan Vos Characters: Padmé Amidala, Sabé (Star Wars), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Quinlan Vos, Anakin Skywalker Additional Tags: Drabble Sequence, First Time, Gossip, Loss of Virginity, Crying During Sex, But then I already tagged it Anakin Skywalker, Confessions, Masturbation, Consensual Infidelity Summary:
Padmé talks about Anakin with Sabé.
Obi-Wan talks about Anakin with Quinlan.
Anakin practices basic stress relief in his bunk.
...
And if the stars align and my betas have time, I will have another story soon, this one on the classic theme of Obi-Wan Time Travelling, but with a Groundhog Day twist and loss of virginity.
Current Mood:festive
Current Music:Maybe you'd like it better back in your cell, your Highness, your Worshipfulness
Happy Star Wars Day! I had high hopes this year of finally getting around to playing Knights of the Old Republic (2003) which is considered one of the best Star Wars games ever made. But sometime in mid-April I had to concede that I did not have time to do that, so instead I decided to replay Rebel Assault, a rail shooter from 1993 that I played a lot as a kid. It is, uh... not considered one of the best Star Wars games ever made. You might be in the wrong galaxy, then In Star Wars: Rebel Assault, you play as a humble moisture farmer from Tattooine who becomes a pilot fighting for the Rebellion and eventually blows up the Death Star. But you're not Luke Skywalker because of... reasons. I guess it's like a self-insert AU where YOU get to vanquish the Empire instead of Luke? But there's no character customization except that you can choose whether your character, "Rookie One", is male or female. I always picked female because even at age eleven I found the male voice acting unbearably hammy.
A great deal of what I have just said is based on my childhood memories of the game and not on my recent attempt to revisit it, which was largely stymied by not really being able to get it to work. I mean, it runs! But on modern hardware the controls are somehow both barely responsive and wildly oversensitive—you try to steer and it's like nothing, nothing, nothing, BAM into the wall—and none of my troubleshooting efforts made much of a difference. I see from reviews I am not the only one who has this problem. The game probably needs a patch, and quite possibly nobody who has the skills cares enough to put in the effort. Oh well.
I got the game in a bundle with the sequel, 1995's verbosely named Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire, so I figured I might as well try that one even though I never played it at the time. Surprise—this one actually works well enough to play it!! Gameplay achieved! ( More on Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire )
Both Rebel Assault games are available in a bundle on Steam and on GOG, currently on sale for $2.49 USD. And even at that price, be aware that unless you are some kind of retro software wizard, you're really only buying the sequel, because the first game is not in a playable state.
This weekend was another FastCAT event! Alex took Bella on Friday, but since I took this weekend off for the music festival, I got to come to another set of runs today!
Bella today! Alex said it looks like her school picture or something, haha.
Her times from Friday! She got her second-best time ever! :D
Her times from today. Not her best, but that's okay.
Bella didn't seem as hyped as Alex says she usually is for her runs today, but I was still glad to get to go to one!
I released her for the first run today, with Alex waiting to catch her at the finish line. ...unfortunately, she faceplanted at the start line, haha. I don't think she slipped, so much as her head was just a little more excited to go than her legs, so she just faceplanted, and plowed her way forward for the first several paces before she got her legs back under her. I was impressed that she still kept it under 11 seconds!
The second run Alex let her go and I caught her, but she just didn't have quite as much oomph as she sometimes does.
The grass on the course was quite lush and green (despite our lack of moisture), and I think that provided just a little extra drag. She did come back with grass stains all over her paws and ankles, ha. She also could have been a little sore from her runs on Friday, followed by a long day in her kennel yesterday while we were gone. Not so sore that she was gimpy, obviously, but maybe just enough to keep her from hitting the highest gear.) She still had fun, ha.
(The festival last night was a lot of fun, but it's going to take me a while to sort through the way too many pictures I took. Other than Bella's FastCAT runs today, I spent a lot of the day sleeping and a bit of it reading; I am wiped out and sore. Feeling old!)
I knew I'd have dishes waiting for me when I got back, and I left them anyway. I'm not going to bed until they're done, but that might not be for a while. Same with putting laundry away. It'll get done before bedtime, and it'll affect bedtime in ways I can't yet guess at.
The opera today might've moved me on more than a technical level if I'd gone in with a better mood. Adjusting to the pace of slow crowds when we're all going to the same place isn't a skill I've developed, and left me with enough low-grade irritation I didn't even want to read the program - but then found what little I'd read was still more than what the other people with me had done. I don't regret going, largely for having seen opera and for the dinner after. But I'll need to adjust for the future, if this happens again.
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