My Favourite Breakfast

12 Aug 2025 06:55 pm
mific: (Tea mug)
[personal profile] mific
I drew this in Procreate for the current [community profile] drawesome challenge. The prompt was What makes you happy.

Breakfast is my favourite meal (the promise of a new day), and this has become my favourite breakfast over the past while - it definitely makes me happy.

A toasted bagel drizzled with garlic olive oil, smeared with Promite (a gentler variant of Vegemite made in Aussie), then generously covered with smoked garlic hummus (Turkish Kitchen brand, for any Kiwis here). I've only drawn half of the bagel, so assume I've eaten the other half and am humming happily. Dilmah's English Breakfast tea with milk in my favourite yellow Chinese mug (see icon), and Greek yoghurt flavoured with Barker's Apricot (like apricot jam but with no added sugar or sweetener) plus a little maple syrup. Yum.

Black and white drawing of a bagel with topping, a black lacquer bowl of yoghurt, and a Chinese mug of tea.


Pimping and phone calls

11 Aug 2025 02:04 pm
melagan: Coffee cup with Atlantis in the rising steam (Default)
[personal profile] melagan
First: pimping!

Graphic in the style of a wedding invitation with flowing script: You are cordially invited to a... Marriage of Convenience (at) fancake.dreamwidth.org, August 2025. The color palette is white with dusty rose and muted pinks, and there are flowers—what looks like dogwood and lenten rose—in the upper right and lower left corner.

Second:

I saw an actual honest-to-god working pay phone. It has been years since I've seen one.

phone




Where did I see it? I had a tire issue and had to take my car to the local garage. The phone was on the wall in the small customer service area. I kinda wanted to fondle it, it's been so long since I've seen a working one of these.
mific: (Shep-screwed up face)
[personal profile] mific
I was almost scammed yesterday. Got a phone call ostensibly from my bank and he (UK accent, slightly unusual but not impossible) launched right away into reassurance that he wasn't going to ask for my PIN or account details. Said he was from my bank's fraud dept and my credit card had been used for a transaction for over $1800.00 in Singapore, so as they knew I lived in Auckland, he was checking I wasn't on vacation there. I said no I wasn't.

He assured me they would block the payment, but said that unfortunately as someone had my card details, the bank would have to cancel my card and mail me a replacement. I moaned a bit about the hassle. Then he said he needed me to check my texts as there should be one related to the scam transaction. There was. Then he said could I read out the 6 digit authorisation number so he could cancel it. But the authorisation number had only 4 digits, so I got suspicious, told him I'd call my bank, and disconnected. Would I have fallen for it if he'd got the number of digits right? I hope not, but am unsure.

Sure enough it was a scam, and my bank's fraud dept hadn't contacted me. There was a small sum the scammer had tried to charge to my card, and my bank said if I'd given him the authorisation number he'd in fact have charged a huge amount to my card. The bad news is that the bank still have to cancel my card, and the REALLY ANNOYING news is that they're based in both Aussie and NZ and their new procedure is to mail my new card from fucking Australia, not locally. I know from past experience that mail from Aussie can take bloody weeks, so that's a huge bummer. (They say max. 2 weeks but I don't believe it). I have several payments automatically set up on my card and they're going to start bouncing.

Anyway, I'll just be over here gnashing my teeth, but be aware of this scam - they're very slick and believable. Don't ever give anyone purporting to be from your bank a texted (etc.) transaction authorisation number, no matter how small the amount is. In fact, don't do anything at all if "your bank" calls you. Hang up and call your bank to check.

esteefee: bw rodney with red canada patch sending a red heart john's way (canadianheart)
[personal profile] esteefee
from the Narf 'Verse for SGA Saturday week #505-509: "wait" and/or "survive"

Title: A Suspicious Lump
Pairing: John/Rodney
Genre: series, established relationship
Words: 1,658
Rating: PG
Summary: Rodney is worried; John is Schrödinger's worried.

(no subject)

6 Aug 2025 07:59 am
logans_girl2001: (Default)
[personal profile] logans_girl2001
Seriously, guys. If these symptoms are still this bad at the end of the month, I'm gonna have to stop taking the Mounjaro.

Today the nausea is really bad. And my nose is running like a sieve! And I started feeling like I was getting a UTI so I started taking AZO. I hope I caught it early enough because I've had a UTI a couple of times in my life and it was awful. And I discovered I hate the taste of cranberry juice.

My doctor had told me that my glucose might go up (I heard it as will) when I first start taking Mounjaro and it has. I'm hoping it stabilizes at under 100 soon.

My email has gone back to taking forever to send the email with the pictures of my glucose and blood pressure. My glucose was 124 and my blood pressure was 140 over 74. I'm blaming my high blood pressure on me feeling like I'm gonna puke.

(no subject)

5 Aug 2025 07:57 am
logans_girl2001: (Default)
[personal profile] logans_girl2001
I am so over these side effects from Mounjaro!

So, I got to bed around 10 last night because I sucked into a story time on TikTok. Then just after midnight my body decided it didn't want to be in the bed any more (I was hurting all over). When I got up, I started feeling like I might puke but as badly as yesterday. But I do still feel like I might puke.

At this point, I'm not sure the side effects are worth the reward of this drug. I will continue to take it but if these symptoms don't go away soon, I'm gonna have to stop taking it.

I forgot to weigh myself yesterday before making my post so I'm adding it today.

Also, I've had to start deleting pictures. I doubt any of you go back to read my old posts, but if you do, that's why the pictures are no longer there.

elayna: (Sheppard I'd do anything)
[personal profile] elayna
There will be spoilers for the new Superman movie. Trying to keep them overview-ish, but be warned.

I liked it! It was very enjoyable, lots of action, Superman seemed in actual peril on occasion, good casting, etc. Adorable dog. The really overt messaging of the good immigrant trying to help people versus an evil billionaire trying to destroy out of his own fear and entitlement was *chef's kiss*.

But I didn't adore it, and I've been thinking about this, as it takes me a while to work through my analysis/feelings. I was cautiously optimistic when I read James Gunn would direct. I really like Guardians 1 and 2, but not Guardians 3 or Suicide Squad. I thought he might do interesting things with Superman.

And indeed he does, but primarily with the universe, which is unique in that metahumans have been on Earth and known longer for 300 years. Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mr Terrific are all main characters. There's no origin story, the movie begins with Superman already known to the public for several years and in the midst of a fight, Clark established at the Daily Planet, etc. That's all announced at the beginning.

I really loved the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and the first few seasons of Smallville, and mainly for the development and exploration of the relationships between Lois and Clark/Superman, or between Clark and Lex.

All the relationships are all established in the new movie, and not really much touched on. There's a big crisis and everyone is running around responding to it. Clark and Lois' big scene is them having a grumpy fight. Perry White and Jimmy Olson are there, Perry being boss-like and Jimmy excitable, like they do. There are two other people at the Daily Planet, I'm guessing one is Cat Grant and I don't know the other guy except he had some comic relief bits at an exciting moment so I assume I should know him.

I know Green Lantern only from the Ryan Reynolds movie, though this guy is mostly grumpy. Hawkgirl was in one of the superhero TV series, though very different IIRC. I don't know Mr. Terrific at all, except he has obviously computer related powers and is a helpful guy.

I couldn't help thinking it would be a great movie if one wanted to write in this universe, because there's so much that could be developed. All the back stories! All the first meetings! All the 'what happens after the movie' impacts!

But in terms of relationships within the movie.... I think about it, and I can't think of a single "You've got me? Who's got you?" line. Like... no moment that really shone for me, that I loved these characters interacting with each other, not like I loved them in Lois and Clark:TNAofS, or Smallville. It's all very fast and very exciting and there's so much that has gone on before the movie started and the audience just has to roll with it. You know these characters or you don't but here's all the people about to be killed! OMG!

The dog. I'd like to see more with the dog, who is adorable.

I will watch more. It was exciting! Just...I would have liked more emphasis on the relationships and really getting to know the characters. I didn't read the review in the local paper, but I saw the word 'cluttered' and yeah, I agree.

One last note: I was surprised what happened with the Hammer, I really expected that to be set up for a redemption arc in the next movie. Anyone else share my surprise?

(no subject)

4 Aug 2025 07:08 am
logans_girl2001: (Default)
[personal profile] logans_girl2001
Plans for the weekend:
Laundry and (start) reading Dark Water Book Four: The Quarterlands
What got done:
All of that! Except for the clothes I don't toss in the dryer because they're still not dry

I had fully expected to read the whole book over the weekend but I was out when the link arrived in my inbox and then I had to charge my kindle. And the chapters showing Alex's past are very difficult to read so I have to take a break after reading his part of the story.

I was right that we would learn who the killer is in the first part of the book. And it is someone who was never anywhere near my list of suspects. And the reason? Totally insane and guaranteed to piss Alex off, although the killer claimed they did it to help him.

Now to see George Tyler lose everything he holds dear and suffer the consequences for his actions.

The first three books are available now, with the fourth coming out 9/9. Go here if you want to read them. I highly recommend them if you like MM romance with a huge helping of dystopia and murder mystery.

I was planning on getting back to walking this morning but I took my first dose of Mounjaro Saturday and the side effects have hit me hard. I was feeling fine for most of Saturday and Sunday but after I'd been in bed for nearly an hour, I felt like I was going to puke. So I got up and went to sit on the couch where I promptly feel back asleep. I'm still not fully awake and I've been up for roughly forty minutes.

We'll try again next week. Fingers crossed these side effects don't happen again because they SUUUUUUUCK!

I had a very interesting dream this morning.

I worked in an office building doing something with finance. Despite my desk being where anyone could walk by and see what I was doing, I read lists on a BuzzFeed type website instead of doing any actual work.

At one point I got up to go to the bathroom. The whole place had this cheap looking carpet which I found strange considering the office felt expensive and I was dressed business formal (although I was walking around barefoot?). And when I say the whole place, I'm including the bathroom.

So when you walk into the women's room there was the usual sink/mirror area and then on the other side of a divider wall were four stalls. There were signs on the doors because they had full doors. Two were toilets and the other two were either showers or changing rooms. I didn't pay that much attention because I was headed for a larger area at the back. The 'handicapped' stall. Although it was more like an office with a toilet in it.

The door had the standard push button lock on the handle but then also had this bar thing you could wrap around the handle to prevent the door from being opened by someone who had a key.

Then there was a sink area as soon as you walk in and next to that was the toilet (in a little alcove for some privacy although not much since there was no door). Across from that was a curtain that hid a glass door that lead to a balcony area. A bit further down and the area opened up to an office area complete with desk and bookshelves. There was a metal fire door that lead to a staircase (there was no handle on the other side of the door so if you went out, you could not go back in unless you went down to the ground floor and back up to whichever floor this room was on). And there were more curtains hiding a wall of windows that overlooked the balcony and some frosted windows on the opposite wall that allowed in some natural light.

melagan: Coffee cup with Atlantis in the rising steam (Default)
[personal profile] melagan
smaller plot bunny banner


Well, we did it. How did it go for everyone? I worked on a few stories, but didn't make very much progress on my big WIP. That's the way it goes sometimes.





If you participated in the Plot Bunny Dust-off Challenge, here is your chance to brag. (right click and Save image as)

Congrats everyone!

It's DONE!

1 Aug 2025 07:04 pm
esteefee: john and rodney in hive ship looking up scared (hive_mcshep)
[personal profile] esteefee
Note to self: NO MORE HISTORICAL AUs. EVER!

but it's done! coming in at 25,430wds and just 3.5 hours past the deadline, it's my July Rough Trade project for the Transcendence challenge:

Title: Lighter Than A Feather
Fandom: SGA, The Sentinel
Pairing: McShep
Rating: R
Tags: Magical AU, Paranormal, Action Adventure, Mystery, Historical AU, Crossover, Fusion
Character: Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Teer, Richard Woolsey, Elizabeth Weir, Ladon Radim, Dahlia Radim, and a whole bunch of surprise guests!
Warnings for Character Bashing (Ladon Radim, Elizabeth Weir)
Summary: Rodney McKay thought he was the best founder in Lanta; heck, all of Merka. But then he encountered the artisans at T&J's Linens, who make a pillow so incredible, so almost magical, people say it's like laying your head on an airy cloud. If only Rodney could discover their secret! It fully justifies him following John Sheppard around…

Warning: this is a rough trade product, which means it's hot off my kbd, no edits, no beta. This is what my writing looks like without refinement. If you want to wait until it's been spanked into shape, then please do! It will be posted to AO3 in about a month.
elayna: (Doctor Who Books!)
[personal profile] elayna
For several years now, I've been writing in Google Docs. I really like that I can easily switch from writing at my computer to on my phone.

There was a post on Tumblr recently about Google Docs being both scraped for their AI and also Google deleting files. I did a search to confirm, and it did seem that there might be an issue. Though I'm not sure how sporadic the deleting is, and I suppose any scraping might already have happened.

Anyway, when I'd started using Google Docs, I put all my many, too many wips on it. I did decide to take down all but my most active files, so keep up maybe only 2-3. If they haven't been scraped yet, they don't need to be.

The Tumblr post did have a recommendation to instead use... libre office? Have people used that? Do you find it easy to use? Or is there a different program you recommend?

I'm looking for something that is (1) accessible from both my phone and my computer, and (2) easy to use, preferably similar to Google Docs or Microsoft Word.

Any thoughts, input, info greatly appreciated!
elayna: (Sheppard Bzuh?)
[personal profile] elayna
Long time passing... I started online on the Master_Apprentice email list. All meta related to Star Wars or the operation of the list and archive.

Then I joined LiveJournal and saw more general meta about fandom culture, fannish analysis of popular culture, etc. Though I found it often frustrating, as someone who was a friend of mine (and so I wished to know what interested them) would forward a meta from someone else, who would start that meta with 'this is in response to this meta from this person, which was in response to this meta from this other person, and these two other people have excellent analyses on these aspects which you should read, all of which should be read first' and dude. I do not want to spread two hours reading the thoughts of strangers in order to read the one that I actually know my friend found interesting.

(Also, to be perhaps a little snobbish, there have often been times when reading other people's meta analyses, that I think... you should have had a high school English teacher who made you write an essay every week, you could use more practice in presenting thoughts in a logical and persuasive order. Meow!)

So I've always been hit and miss about reading meta, but also it's always been interesting to see what's being discussed, what interests people, especially about big social issues. My little cattiness aside, I do think fannish discussions have been very useful for my own personal/political growth. It's made me look more at issues that I have always accepted.

And lately I just don't see much. Hardly any on DreamWidth. Some on Tumblr, though often it seems to be someone being indignant about a youngster's opinion on How Things Ought To Be. Is there a lot on Tumblr, it just doesn't happen to be posts that my friends reblog? I can't believe it's moved to Discord, that forum doesn't even allow for longer posts, does it? Is it all on AO3? I guess I could have just searched the meta tag on AO3 and last updated to get a feel for what's there, lol. But then I wouldn't have another Fannish Fifty post done, so yay!

(no subject)

29 Jul 2025 07:51 am
logans_girl2001: (Default)
[personal profile] logans_girl2001
I had trouble sleeping last night. It wasn't even midnight when I got out of bed and then I couldn't fall back asleep for a couple of hours. It was after 3am before I felt sleepy enough to turn off the light and close my eyes. And the next thing I knew it was nearly 7am. I have no memory of my alarm going off at 5. I have had this happen with the alarm to remind me to clock back in from lunch.

I was dreaming about a family (not my actual family but they were my family in the dream) and people kept calling the kids CODA (child of deaf adult) despite the fact that the parents could very obviously hear just fine. Yes, I am aware there are differing levels of deafness but these parents did not seem to have any difficulty in hearing anyone and there were no obvious hearing aids or implants.

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