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Hi there!! Thanks so much for writing for me! I’m so excited to read your story, and I hope you have so much fun writing it. That’s genuinely my biggest priority; sharing the love of a given canon and of the act of creating. I’m kind of Pollyanna about it, to be honest. I mean, c’mon, look at whatever we matched on; don’t we have great taste?

I keep telling myself I’ll write a shorter letter, but I get so much enjoyment out of imagining possibilities and squeeing over the books (and webcomic, this year!) that I love. That means I’m going to have some prompts and some possibly disjointed thoughts about why I love these fandoms. None of it is there to be prescriptive! Feel free to go your own way!

My general feeling going into this Yuletide is that life is pretty tough right now and things are rather dark in the real world, and well, I would like some joy. While every canon is different and the tone that fits each one varies, my tastes are running towards shenanigans, adventures, and comfort, if sometimes flavored by darkness, spookiness (how I love spooky things), or hurt. I’m not looking for schmaltz, but I’m looking for going light on the darkness and hurt, if that’s good with you!

(Er. I want to acknowledge something: for all my reliable enthusiasm about this event and the process going in, over the last few years, I’ve struggled pretty hard with reading and commenting on my gifts in anything like a reasonable time frame. It seems to fit in with some other mental health struggles, but that’s not an excuse, and I feel genuinely terrible about it. So, mainly for my own accountability/breaking this cycle: feedback will be prompt this year.)

A note on DNWs (and Likes): I think these lists are helpful, and I very much appreciate you taking them into account! That said, I think they’re there as general guidelines, to be given and taken in good faith. There’s always going to be some possible interpretation of something (my Likes or DNWs, something in canon, something you’ve written) that one of us won’t have thought of that could maybe be borderline, and I don’t want you to stress it!

I hope that you have a marvelous Yuletide - whatever that means to you! Thank you again! <3

( DNWs, requests and prompts! )

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musesfool

I made a version of this garlic and bread soup (WAPO gift link), substituting oregano and rosemary for the paprikas because 1. that is my preferred flavor profile, and 2. I only had smoked paprika (I would swear I had sweet paprika also, but if so, I couldn't find it). I also used the whole eggs instead of just the whites, and I did it sequentially all in one pot instead of using both a skillet and a stockpot because 1. my stovetop is smaller than a regular stove, and 2. fewer things to wash afterwards. Anyway, I definitely recommend it if you like garlic and soup. The croutons are excellent and the soup is delicious and I have enough for 3 more meals now.

I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner yesterday, so I also have some sauce and meatballs leftover, which is another couple meals. I also baked some oatmeal cookies.

I was off today for Indigenous People's Day, and I took tomorrow as PTO, so I've enjoyed being cozy during all this rain.

Yesterday, as I sat in my west-facing living room, I was like, is this nor'easter even happening? It seemed like it was just raining on and off. And then I went into my east-facing bedroom and oh yeah, there was the wind, howling and whipping around. Anyway, I think it's mostly over now? Though I guess it might rain for the rest of the night.

I haven't really had any side effects from the double vax on Friday except my arm was stupidly sore and itchy, and my left-side lymph nodes are a little swollen, which always happens (I got both shots in my left arm). *hands*

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Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: Mariners vs Blue Jays on tv

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pauraque

We made it! All three prequels!

Holy shit this movie is so much better than the other two. It's not perfect, but you can understand what's going on! The characters say sentences and they make sense with the other sentences! Scenes exist for some kind of sensible purpose and don't go on way longer than they should! Concepts and characters are introduced before they're needed so the audience can follow along and not constantly be like "where are we? who's that guy?? what's happening???" I declare it a cinematic triumph. Really though, I had a good time watching this.

( cut for length )

Anyway, here's a video where Palpatine is played by Kermit the Frog.

Embedded video: Fan edit reimagines scenes from the movie with Palpatine replaced by a Kermit the Frog puppet.

Watch on YouTube

We are doing the sequels next.

sdk has seen them before, but I have not.

delphi

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thawrecka

Successful day in the city. Saw a movie [Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle], bought a new phone grip, and picked up the next volumes of both the manga series I'm reading, which is the third volumes of both Kaiju no 8 and Colette Decides to Die.

I may have thoughts about Kimetsu no Yaiba at a later date because... I watched the entire series in a week, which is unhinged behaviour! Infinity Castle has all the same strengths and most of the weaknesses of the rest of the series though, so...

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delphi

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umadoshi

scruloose and I have our covid/flu shots booked for next weekend! There were earlier slots available, but not in walking distance. It'll take us right to the little corner market, and next weekend is its final day for the season. Convenient!

We finished season 1 of Silo a couple nights ago. (I've been intermittently earwormed with its OP theme music, which is fortunately a good piece, but I still would rather not have it [or anything else] stuck in my head.) That was a very solid season finale. Now to decide if we want to immediately go to season 2 or watch something else first/alongside. (Can anyone tell me, without spoilers, a] how much of the book[s] season 1 covers, and/or b] if the show is finished or if a third season is expected/hoped for?)

I went along for the drive when

scruloose ran a few errands this morning: a purchase return, two stops for local produce (blueberries, cranberries, broccoli, and a giant sweet potato; no luck getting baking apples), and picking up an order of Thanksgiving baked goods from Sully & Porter (née the Old Apothecary). We are now in possession of six adorably tiny tarts (half pumpkin, half lemon meringue) and six hefty cookies that I hope will freeze reasonably well so that they can be eked out.

Tomorrow evening will probably be when we throw together a Thanksgiving dinner of ham*, cranberry sauce, and some mix of roasted veggies. I consulted How to Cook Everything on the matter of the ham, and it gives an oven temperature and an estimated cook time and basically says "heat until hot, then eat", and it doesn't get much simpler than that.

*The most token little ham! I'm not actually sure how much I'll like it, as ham was never my thing growing up, so we didn't want a huge one to swamp us with leftovers. We'll see! I know it's possible for me to enjoy ham, as we've been to a couple of group meals where I did. (I can think of one here and one in Toronto, so the hams in question were cooked by two very different friends.)

Current Mood: okay

delphi

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Current Mood: busy

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Current Mood: busy

musesfool

I had to wait about 45 minutes after my scheduled appointment because CVS's internet was down intermittently or something (and several customers got a little shirty about it) but I finally got this year's covid and flu shots.

In sports news, my friends from Philly, I still love you, but I enjoyed last night's Eagles and Phillies losses tremendously (lbr, I also enjoyed the Yankees getting eliminated but that's not quite the same). I especially enjoyed the Dart and Skattebo show for the NY (football) Giants! Gosh, I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to enjoy a football game my team played in! And then the post-game show with Dart showing his Star Wars fan bona fides (all with prequels questions too, which was funny) and Skattebo ripping his shirt off with Ryan Fitzpatrick! Not only did they win, they were fun! Though Dart needs to learn how to protect himself better on those runs. Yikes. Not that I expect them to win many more games this year, but boy it was enjoyable that they did last night.

In other fannish news, it sounds like book 8 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series is supposed to come out in June 2026, which I guess is ok. Still no word on Alecto the Ninth though.

And now I kind of want a DCC/TLT crossover...they are incompatible canons but oh boy it would be fun.

*

umadoshi

It's a Friday off and I got some manga work done, so here's a bit of book-logging:

Her Halloween Treat (Tiffany Reisz) is a straightforward, enjoyable romance that has almost nothing at all to do with Hallowe'en. It takes place when the female lead is home for her brother's wedding, and his partner has always wanted a Hallowe'en wedding, so they're having a themed costume Hallowe'en wedding. It's also the female lead's birthday, but they checked with her and she's fine with it, so there's no drama there. Nothing of what I've just written is at all spoilery for the main plot or emotional arcs or anything.

The Drowning House (Cherie Priest) is almost not a ghost story at all--the supernatural elements are something else--but ghosts flicker around its edges. I enjoyed it, although there's a piece of the story that I feel the epilogue was intended to shine a light on and...it didn't do that. (Alternatively, that wasn't the author's intention, but if so, I feel like it should have at least nodded to that specific thing? Or something?)

Specifically [ROT13], gur rcvybthr vf n tyvzcfr onpx ng gur '50f jura gur gjvaf ner cynaavat gb xvyy jung'f-uvf-snpr, naq vg qbrfa'g fnl nalguvat nobhg jul Zef. Phycrccre (arneyl) frag ure fvfgre gb ure qrngu, be vs fur npghnyyl zrnag gb qb gung, naq qbrfa'g tvir nal uvag gung gung'f tbvat gb unccra, vagragvbanyyl be bgurejvfr. Vg'f whfg na vagrenpgvba orgjrra n cnve bs fvfgref jub qba'g ernyyl trg nybat nf gurl cercner gb qb gur guvat gurl'ir qrpvqrq arrqf qbvat.

It's one thing that I'm not really a horror reader but read the occasional horror novel anyway, and quite another that I'm deeply squeamish about eyes (and just about everything to do with eyes) and yet after someone recced it, I bought The Eyes Are the Best Part (Monika Kim) a while ago when it popped up on sale...and then proceeded to actually read it this week. This book is very clear from the cover alone that it involves cannibalistic eyeball consumption in loving detail. It is not the book's fault that I am 1000% not the intended audience and yet read the whole thing in one sitting anyway when really I should've just read the rec (whenever that was) and not bought the ebook, sale or no sale, never mind read it. (But I don't begrudge the actual sale, however much an on-sale ebook purchase actually helps an author.)

Now I'm taking a bit of a break from trying to read ~seasonally~ and am a few chapters into KJ Charles' All of Us Murderers.

I've also finally finished Daniel Sherrell's Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World, which is...fine? I forget if I've actually mentioned that this book is a letter to a future child Sherrell may or may not ever have (a question he's wrestling with the ethics of), talking about the climate catastrophe and his work as a climate activist and how he tries to fortify himself and find meaning in the face of it all and what he hopes to learn/pass on to any child he may one day have.

Current Mood: hungry

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umadoshi

I'm not in deadline danger, but I'm also still not where I'd like to be with my current rewrite; I've also been sleeping badly and Dayjob has needed somewhat more brain energy than usual (for a non-crunch time) this week. So I'm taking tomorrow off to go with the Thanksgiving long weekend, and we'll see what can be done. Wish me luck!

Flu and covid vaccinations are rolling out provincially (just announced this morning), and hopefully we can get ours scheduled for fairly soon. (Which isn't actually urgent, given how little exposure risk we have, but I'd still like to get it done.)

Part of my brain seems to really think there can never be too many mugs or too many blankets. I'm not sure how it came to this conclusion, when storage space (perhaps especially kitchen cupboard space) is finite and while both mugs and blankets can be used in rotation, it can get excessive fast. I wonder if this is the same part of my mind that believes I can actually follow everyone who strikes me as interesting on any social media platform.

Last year during post-holiday sales I bought a Hallowe'en blanket that then spent nearly a year waiting for the season to come around again, and now I have it out as a lap blanket in my office. It is extremely warm and ridiculously soft and cozy on one side, which is great, except this week started out with, frex, a high of 29°C or so on Monday. At this point the temperature's much more reasonable for fall (high of 9°C today), even if it's warming right back up to highs of 16°-ish over the next few days. Not exactly classic October temps, but hopefully we'll be free of full-on summer heat after this.

Other parts of the province got some actual significant rain last night, which is a relief. Only 2mm or so in my area, but I'm glad a good amount wound up in the regions that desperately need it this time.

Tori has a new album coming out next year (with accompanying tour), with info on the front page of her site. (My feelings are the now-usual ones: I don't expect to fall in love with the new music, but I'll gladly buy it to support her and be ready to be wrong about the assumption; either way I'm so glad that she's still making music, even if it's been a long time since any of it punched me in the heart.)

Current Mood: drained

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pauraque

This psychological horror game opens with a man named Max making an incredible discovery and rushing home to tell his wife, but finding that his car's brakes have been sabotaged, causing him to run off the road and crash. He awakens in a dilapidated sanitarium with complete amnesia, surrounded by neglected psychiatric patients and having no idea who he is or how he got there. Exploring the place, he discovers portals to surreal realms—a creepy town populated by disfigured children, a traveling circus threatened by an escaped monster... But every time Max awakens back in the sanitarium, calm and reassuring Dr. Morgan is there to tell him that these are just delusions and he needs help. But Max's experiences trigger memories that suggest Morgan is not trustworthy. The goal of the game is to figure out what is real and who Max and Morgan really are.

in dialogue, max angrily insists to morgan that his visions are real

in dialogue, max angrily insists to morgan that his visions are real

This is a new game to me, suggested by

cielsosinfel. I was certainly aware of it when it came out (it got great reviews and won awards) but back then I didn't really play horror games and I thought it would be too scary. But then I was 16, and now I am a brave individual of advanced years with many pixel-scares under my belt, so let's dive in.

( cut for length )

Sanitarium is on Steam for $12.99 USD and on GOG for $9.99. The Steam release is a port that runs natively on modern operating systems, while the version on GOG runs on the ScummVM emulator. I played the Steam version and the game did crash once, so I recommend saving often regardless.

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musesfool

I meant to post last night, but I fell asleep on the couch right after dinner and slept for almost 2.5 hours! So I didn't post, or organize my laundry, or take out the recycling, or watch the Rangers (lose) or any of the other things I intended to do last night. Losing that hour of sleep because I had to go into the office hit me hard, I guess, since I also didn't go to bed earlier as intended on Monday night. *hands*

I did frost the cupcakes after work on Monday - I made a 3x batch of the Smitten Kitchen American buttercream since it would use up the whole box of powdered sugar and make measuring less difficult, and only had a little left over once I piped all 72 cupcakes. They disappeared rapidly at work - a lot of people were in and they enjoyed them! As always, people ask if I bake professionally and I'm just like, "nope! Then it wouldn't be fun!"

I also got a couple of Teams messages asking for confirmation that I was the one who brought them so they could be trusted. Only one person opined that the SK ones were better than the Sally's ones, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to do a double batch of the Sally's, with the SK frosting, for Christmas. My co-workers also suggested that if I'm ever invited to give a spontaneous talk, it should be about the different types of frosting that you can make and the pros and cons of them. I may have given them a preview of such a talk. *g*

I also confirmed that there are no nut allergies on the team, so I am planning to do candied pecans as my gift this year. They are SO GOOD. I mean, I've never made them, but my brother-in-law makes them for the holidays and they are seriously addictive. I just ordered some mason jars to put them in, and I think that will be a nice gift. I just have to order the pecans from Costco.

Assistant J is corralling the party planning committee this year, but the COO has decreed who the caterer will be (we are combining the legal dept party with all the operations departments' parties this year at her suggestion), so that should curtail some of their insanity in terms of party planning. I hope. I told J that with the food selection taken care of, they could concentrate on decorations, games, and music, which they were all into last year.

Anyway, as always, people are happy to see me when I show up, but I already told my boss I won't be back in until the day of the party and she is okay with that. Whew.

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Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Elizabeth Taylor - Taylor Swift

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pauraque

After a couple of failed attempts at Dracula Daily, I have successfully read Dracula for the first time! \o/

The book opens with newly qualified solitictor Jonathan Harker journeying to Transylvania to meet with a client who is planning to move to England. Count Dracula seems like a nice guy at first, only it's weird that he doesn't eat. Or go out during the day. Or have a reflection in the mirror. Uh-oh. Barely escaping with his life, Harker returns to England, but soon the Count arrives too and begins to stalk and drink the blood of women there, including Harker's wife Mina. Harker joins a nascent group of vampire hunters led by Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, and their attempts to outwit and destroy their foe are related in epistolary style through diaries, letters, news reports, and so on.

What surprised me the most about this book is how... cozy it is?? A lot of it is about a gang of loveable characters who all adore each other, bring out the best in one another, and never have conflicts that they can't resolve by just talking about it. They are constantly taking each other passionately by the hand and swearing bonds of eternal trust and devotion, and being moved to tears by how brave and strong and pure of heart everybody is.

This is not a criticism! I actually found it really charming! It just wasn't what I expected. I imagine Stoker's reasoning was that the plot is so scary that the reader would need unimpugnably gallant heroes to rely on or it would all be too stressful. But since it is unlikely that this plot would scare anybody today, you just have this endearing team of well-adjusted, hypercompetent, stoutly ethical people banding together to oppose an external threat that can't possibly break their bonds or their spirit. It's like the crew of Star Trek TNG fight a vampire.

( cut for length and some spoilers )

Also, Dracula is described as having a huge, magnificent moustache. I await the film adaptation courageous enough to be faithful to the book in this.

Dracula is in the public domain, so you can read it on Project Gutenberg if you like.

[Edited to correct Jonathan's job title, thank you

raven!]