Man. I whine about how long post takes to come, and next thing I know, I check the tracking again and it's out for delivery today. I'm so used to packages coming at around midday that whenever they come closer to 5/6PM (now) it's always a little weird.

This just in: refreshing the tracking page for a package over and over will not, in fact, make it come any faster. Even if you really really want it to.
It was estimated between today and tomorrow at first, then it went up to tomorrow-Monday, then it was back down to today-tomorrow and I got hopeful, but... nope. Not coming today. Just decided to toy with me a little.

So, I just whipped up a little something for the creative part of the challenge. It's not much, but feel free to swipe if you want. I've been wanting to do something along this line for a while now... There are also a couple of other themes that I was wishing I had icons for, but now I can't remember what they were.

Off on holiday from tomorrow, back Monday, probably will be a bit sporadic on here in terms of comments and not posting, so will catch up properly when I get back!

Challenge #1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.

For me I think it's going to be easier to set myself some goals for the second half of the year, rather than focusing on July, bearing in mind that my July involves two trips during which I'll be less online. So, I'll start with finally finishing that Dark series that I started at the tail end of 2023 and then got stuck on because I keep being drawn back to the conclusion that I wanted to avoid (brief spoiler-lite context: once I had more of an understanding of the timelines of this show, I understood that giving this character his happy ending just wasn't possible). I also would quite like to do something with a School Spirits plot bunny that could turn into a series (bit complicated to explain if you didn't watch season 2). And I also keep saying I'll go back to Lost's "Sun went back to 1977" series which I haven't touched since 2010 (Smokey McSmokeFace, that one's on you. Well, technically the writers, for going in the direction that I was not okay with.)

I'm getting the to-watch list down a bit, but still going to keep that one (I find that easier when I'm properly able to focus, meaning NOT in the middle of a heatwave which for some reason seemed to hit me harder the last two days even more so than 2022 did and left me not feeling like doing anything much. In that state, I can handle old favourites I'm familiar with, but not so good with something fairly new to me.

Ever since Isabella and Isla presented me with a Make Your Own Luna Lovegood crochet kit for Christmas (and that was 2022, so it's been a while) and I didn't like to admit that I'm clueless about it, I've thought I should get round to starting. Maybe this will be the year I get round to it.


I may not do both prompts all the way through, but here's a creative response:

Title: But I Still Need Love 'Cause I'm Just A Man
Fandom: School Spirits
Characters: Wally
Pairing: Wally/Maddie
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers all the way through Season 2
Summary: Wally knows he couldn't expect Maddie to stay with him; he envisions how she could have ended up resenting him if she'd chosen to remain a ghost to be with him, but also can't regret that he's spoken up about what he wants for once.

( Read more... )

***

Title: like what you (don't) see
Author:kat_lair
Fandom: K.A.R.D.
Pairing: Matthew Kim | BM/Kim Taehyung | J.Seph, Kim Taehyung | J.Seph/Original Male Character(s)
Tags: Ficlet, Canon Compliant, Jealousy, Denial of Feelings
Rating: G 
Word count: 720

Summary: “He’s looking at you,” Matthew murmurs under the guise of bending down to hand over a bottle of water.

Author notes: I was looking for a prompt to write something for the first challenge of sunshine_revival and then K.A.R.D. dropped Touch. And listen, they know what their target audience (the thirsty bis and pans) want and keep them well fed. I've been low key wanting more fic for this pairing and the MV gave me this brief frame at 2.09 where the (very hot) dancer looks like he's checking Taehyung out and... Well. Longer fic has been written on a flimsier premise. Unbetaed so if you spot a typo you absolutely should tell me about it.

like what you (don't) see on AO3

( like what you (don't) see )

***

 Name: narrownights
Story: The Lovers
Colour: Orange (Tiger's Eye: 08. Eerie Empty Spaces)
Supplies and styles: Embroidery
Wordcount: 601
Warnings: PG13? Mentions of death

"Have you heard the news?"

( Read more... )

Sunshine Revival Challenge #1 - Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month.
Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.

I'm working my way through 25 things in 2025, and have completed the first 14, as well as chosen 2 for April to September.  Which means it's time to choose the next 5, leaving 3 for the final quarter, plus Thing #1 which is simply to complete and write about the other 24 Things.

They are:

Quarter 3 - July to September

18 - Take part in the Big Butterfly Count
This runs from 18 July to 10 August and further details can be found here.  Part of my plan to support wildlife.

19 - Sort out my current papers/documents
They're all filed in an expanding file, so I can find everything, but it's time to move the oldest papers elsewhere, so they can be stored but I don't need them to hand.  Another of the 'I really should do this sometime' tasks, which should now get done.

Half 2 - July to December

20 - Take part in the weekly Garden Bird Watch
I started this as part of 30 Days of Wildlife, and the intention is to keep going for six months, after which I will automatically continue or realise it's simply not working.

21 - Revise some German
I only have very basic German, which every so often I go back over.  As we shall be on holiday in Germany next April, it wouldn't hurt to go over it again.  We're on a tour, so it mostly won't be needed, but there's always buying cakes etc!

22 - Autumn Holiday
We haven't decided where we're going this year, but we'll be going somewhere, probably in early October, which is when we usually go, so I'm including this as one of my things I'm doing this year.

My full list can be found here

Turns out I fucking love Death Stranding.
Part of the reason I've gone back-and-forth on buying it for a while was simply not knowing if I'd like it, since it's a lot of walking. I thought I'd get bored. But I guess I enjoy that sort of gameplay loop, walk from point A to point B to point C to point B again to point C to point B to point...
I think it appeals to me in the same way some other open-world games do. Games like RDR2, BOTW, Infinity Nikki, are all pretty different games in every way, but one thing I like about them all is that they scratch that 'long journeying' itch. It's something I really enjoy, being given vague directions in an open world and shoved out to journey and find them.
Though, if there's one complaint I do hold about Death Stranding, it's that the music player only works in the private rooms. I think it'd be nice to be able to play it while travelling too.

In other news...

My computer mouse is acting up (closing windows and minimizing and various things I don't want it to do). The weird thing is, my work mouse is doing the same thing, so I fear it might be my hand. 🤣
There's a Whataburger opening down the street from me. I'll have to see if it lives up to the hype. Do you know what does live up to the hype? Raising Cane's. They have the best chicken I've ever tasted. I've had it a few times now, because each time I think it can't possibly be as good as I remembered. It is.

And this upbeat vid popped up in my YT feed tonight. It's from the Covid days, and I posted it back then too, but it's perfect for these days, too.

We don't know, it's unclear where we'll be this time next year.

Going to give this a try. I do fairly well with Snowflake, so crossing fingers.




Challenge #1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.
Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


( Goals... )