yeloson | Reading

I spent the past two days going more-or-less all out for Go Fest, and honestly I had a blast. I did a bunch of raids, got two shiny Zamazenta (one with the special background) and five shiny Zacian (no special backgrounds on any of these, alas), and am honestly pretty pleased with my shiny hoard overall. In addition to those, I got one of my longtime shiny wants: A shiny Pachirisu!

It's also been as hot and humid as a frog's armpit the past week or so, which made all that walking around... interesting. I did my best to stay hydrated and cool off as needed, and chugged more Gatorade than I initially anticipated, but I've come out the other side more-or-less fine. I did end up with more chafing than I expected, most of it in the usual places (only some of which I thought to apply preventative measures to, alas), and at least one surprise new place (my right underarm, just a little past my armpit region). I expect I'll need to keep those in mind for next year, alas. On the plus side, none of the chafing spots have blisters, which I am tentatively crediting my anti-sweat medication for.

Anyway, all that out of the way, I would like to announce that I've come up with the perfect nicknames for shiny versions of this weekend's legendaries:

Zamagenta and Zacyan.

Current Mood: pleased

rydra_wong

Disco Elysium is currently 90% off in the Steam summer sale, making it a mere £3.49.

Play Disco Elysium, everybody. Yes, even if you don't play video games.

(It was the first video game I ever played -- apart from having once(?) played Pac Mac as a child, many many decades ago -- and it was a perfect choice.)

If you understand the principle of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, have a vague sense that "stats" and "levelling up" are things, and can grasp "click to go to a place/interact with an object," you are sufficiently equipped.

rydra_wong

https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/06/25/trans-westminster-lobby-ehrc/

The organizers are estimating circa 900 people showed up, putting it on a par with the biggest LGBTQ+ lobbies ever (against Section 28).

Outstanding work from the Trans+ Solidarity Alliance, who also organized the legal briefing for MPs in May:

https://www.attitude.co.uk/news/trans-legal-experts-warn-supreme-court-ruling-could-be-breaching-human-rights-in-parliamentary-briefing-483801/

You can support them and get the "Maybe I'm trans?" badges or just support them without badges:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/maybe-im-trans
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/solidarity-projects-campaigns-fund

summercomfort

Lo! The child is dropped off to summer camp (9am-3pm), and Spouse is at work (in-person!!), which means that I am BY MYSELF for the first time in a long time! (I love spouse and child, but also, being with humans and keeping track of humans, much beloved as they are, still saps my introvert energy lol)

I think one of the things that has happened over the past few years is that my ability to deal with other people has decreased (or maybe, it takes more energy to do basic masking? I definitely understand why dad has decided to retreat to China, never to return). It's funny, since I keep trying to come up with gadget- or space-based solutions to this, only to hit the wall of "actually I'm too much of a sensitive hothouse flower for this solution." For example, I'm like "oh! noise-canceling headphones!" but I actually hate things touching my head or being in my ears, so lol that's not gonna work. Or I'm like "I'll create a 'me' corner in the bedroom with a comfy armchair and my stuff", except that it turns out that what I really need is a long stretch of time by myself??? Where I can decide what the next task is???

Another thing, is that I think my number of WIPS and to-do projects have accumulated, to a point where it's gumming up my creative generation energies. So one of the goals of this summer is to finish some out-standing projects!

This week:
- Finish stands
-> oopsie I did one wrong. I think, to fix it, I should:
---- cut out the other 3 "V"s
---- replace the wrong one with a new one (therefore no screw holes!)
---- stain and polyurethane the other 2 "Vs" plus the new one that's attached to the fixed stand
---- I need to do all of this after the current bit of polyurethane dries

Stand 1: ready for wheels and carpeting
Stand 2: needs 3 more flips+coats (as in, 1 side needs 1 more layer and 1 side needs 2 more layers). Stand 3: needs to completely swap a piece in, and then 3 more flips+coats

So maybe the order of affairs should be:
- pause coats rn, then after 3pm I can cut the other 3 "V"s and get the piece swapped in
- resume polyurethane coats tomorrow, should have stands 2 and 3 finished by then

This Afternoon:
- Maybe do some more tie-dye with Miss R?
- do typing and Chinese with Miss R

Tonight:
- prep cyanotyping
- cyanotyping

Projects:
- Serpentine Anthology
- Fix website stuff (update soupycomics, deal with maybe virus problems? figure out proper comic hosting? update SCS website?)
- New court case comic (Ozawa? or something else?)
- July 4th comic? (not certain if want do)
- Finish some fic wips
- collect Tisquantum in 1 book? (eh)

Things to watch:
- West Side Story
- Superman?
- Condor Heroes?

soc_puppet

Welp, I just got my Listening assignment back. You know, the one that I kinda phoned in?

I got 100%.

This is important information for me on how hard I need to work on future assignments.

Up next is our informative speech. I'm contemplating topics (to be discussed in class tomorrow evening), and am leaning towards either Apopo or Esperanto. We'll see how my classmates feel about rats.

In Philosophy news, the remaining class periods are going to be dedicated to gearing up for the final exam, and then actually taking the final exam. The teacher has assured us that any classwork in the remaining days will be bonus points, and also that he's dropping the lowest score of the three exams in class, so if we're happy with our grades, we don't have to continue to show up. We're certainly welcome to do so! But not obligated.

I got 100% in both Philosophy exams, and have been participating like heck in class discussions and such. I feel very confident in my grade. As such, I'm planning to skip six thirty minute drives and stay home instead.

Current Mood: working

thistleingrey

Hmm, last month I linked to things I'm not making, and in March and April I noted putting things on hold.

Lille Kolding has become the first knitting project for which I haven't minded a preponderance of variations upon 1x1 ribbing. The current section is part ribbing and part brioche; the latter is sort of ribbing with tuck stitches. Most likely, the project benefits from being knitted only amidst waiting (not daily).

The blanket project sat quietly in a bag from Dec 2024 till May 2025 while its boredom factor receded. It's become my main knitting at home. At 200+ g (close to half a pound), it's too bulky to be carried around on its 60" = 152 cm circular needle, and it's easier on my hands alongside notetaking for classes than most other yarn-centric options would be. I'd like to finish it while the weather is warm, so that it actually dries after its initial wash.

Shortly before the blanket project went on hold, I began and paused a different multi-hue project. It seems that my brain can keep only one colorful project in working memory at a time---and the blanket will be completed; the other project's yarn will be repurposed. It's a positive outcome, regardless: I began the now-repurposed thing because I'd thought that I couldn't knit blankets. It was to be scarf-sized.

soc_puppet

Currently amusing myself with the notion of a System Failure AU, in which Shen Yuan still gets transmigrated into SQQ as usual, and has access to and can argue with the System, but someone else also has access to his System logs, and they're the one that gets to call the shots.

So it'd be a closer experience to a video game or visual novel for the other person, just that SY!SQQ has a bit more agency when it comes to getting the System to do what he wants than a player character might have.

Amusing options for which character gets control:

Ning Yingying; she gets a wakeup call about her own social fuckups, especially regarding Luo Binghe, but also gets an insight into what happened to SJ!SQQ, what he was doing to and planning for LBH, etc

Shang Qinghua; he hates dealing with his own System, and now he has a second one to contend with?! And it's somehow nicer than his own?! WTF is this bullshit! (Early Airplane reveal for extra shenanigans)

Liu Qingge; just for the sheer WTF factor involved. He would have no idea what was going on, and figuring it out, as well as everything else involved, would be... very interesting, IMO.

Yue Qingyuan; there would have to be some way of rigging it so he'd get Shen Jiu back if he managed to "help" Shen Yuan "fix" PIDW, or he'd probably find a way to be self-destructive about it and/or kill SY!SQQ or something

Luo Binghe; honestly, probably the least interesting option of the ones I listed so far. He would be better with just System chat log access, not decision making access, IMO. Still, he is an option!

Ming Fan, probably; I've already got NYY on the list, so why not? He can start learning about the consequences of bullying LBH and maybe start thinking about what it means to be a righteous cultivator

Gongyi Xiao; I mean, if I put Ming Fan on there, I may as well. He has no idea what's going on for most of this, except for a passing familiarity with the Xiu Ya sword, and is now going to get an inside look at how dysfunctional all the cultivation sects are, HHP included

Of these, I think that NYY and/or YQY are the two I'm most likely to actually write (GYX is tempting, but I've got the start of a fix-it AU thing already kinda planned for Sot69), but even then I can't imagine doing more than an outline at the moment. Still, very amusing to think about!

Current Mood: amused

thistleingrey

I've recently begun reading Patrick Carey's New Perspectives: Microsoft Office 365 & Excel 2019 Comprehensive, 1st ed. (2020). It's solid, in lieu of the documentation that Microsoft no longer produces itself, if one needs such materials. There's a newer version; this is one of the two versions required by a summer class.

So far, it's kind of soothing: not soporific but reassuring for someone self-taught who hasn't used Excel much since its 2007 release, the last to have a jam-packed toolbar of doom. Like, so far, sometimes I remember keyboard shortcuts or exact command-names for things I can't find on the ribbon, which ... means I should learn the ribbon.

Why am I taking a class on using Excel?

1) The fun-fact answer: though I've figured out how to use Excel to clean and transform medium-sized chunks of data (structured text measured in megabytes, not a few dozen rows), I'm ignorant of a bunch of normal things that people use it for. Also, tables tend to make me glaze over, and I intend to narrow down the issue and patch it. At least they don't give me actual headaches, as the graphs in my recent econ assignments did.

2) The other answer: about two years ago, I began pondering what would benefit me for job-seeking, once my health had rebuilt itself further. Last year I decided with my physician that I could probably handle taking a class or two, and then something else pushed me into going faster. Like econ, Excel contributes to a category requirement.

Meanwhile, my two-year-ago plan for job-seeking options has been pretty comprehensively eaten by what people think AI can do---not necessarily what it can do well, but what they wish it could handle for them. By the time I wrap my course-taking next spring, I'll have learned some things about basic accounting---because I want to---and I'll understand better what I can offer, may tolerate, and would probably dislike in the current job landscape.

FAQ: no, I'm not pursuing a CPA license or a data-analyst certification. It wouldn't make financial sense at my age, and most people wouldn't believe in it. I've done enough things already that're hard to believe yet well documented! A thing one cannot really say to a recruiter or hiring manager: in 30ish years of past employment, I've achieved enough. Anyway, I intend the next stage to be less pressureful.

soc_puppet

Welp, I just totally phoned in a Speech class assignment.

On the other hand, I both more-or-less completed it and turned it in, so that's a win over my ability to deal with ADHD in high school. I'll take it.

For real, tho, the assignment was bonkers to do in just one week. On top of that, my lifestyle doesn't really lend itself well to the assignment itself, so uh. Well, ( just take a look )

Anyway, I ended up trying to improve my listening strategy for Intro to Philosophy. It, uh. Well, it helped me more-or-less finish the assignment! And a finished and turned in assignment is, once again, leagues better than a completely ignored assignment that never gets turned in. So I'm taking the win.

Edit: Tonight's class included an exercise for extra credit worth 10 points, which is 2/3 of the above assignment! That should balance things out for me.

Current Mood: blah

soc_puppet

Ack, how long has it been since I posted here last? Eight days? Yikes!

Okay, uh. I'm keeping up with school! Grades are so far good in both Intro to Philosophy and Speech, and I'm doing my best to keep them that way. Philosophy will end in two or three weeks, at which point I'll start Intro to Sociology, but Speech runs through the rest of summer.

Speech is a lot of material. I feel like there could be at least another hour or two's worth of class per week for it, but it's not up to me, so I'll just keep soldiering on. Got 100% on the written part of my first of three official speeches for the class, and I think I'll find out how I did on the actual speech-giving part of it in class tomorrow.

I'm pretty well nailing Philosophy; I got 100% on the first exam, and the second one is coming up. I'm feeling pretty optimistic, especially since the online version of the test is open book.

I'm about four chapters from the end of MDZS; I'm currently listening to the first part of the last chapter of the fourth book, with the fifth book queued up and ready to go. So that's about eight hours or so, not counting extras. Normally I'd be lining TGCF up to listen to next, but Audible just listed a shit ton of light novels as "free for members", and any time they've done that recently, it's been for a limited time only. So I'll probably lean into those first. Still, it's pretty exciting to be so close to finishing this series! It's been a lot of fun to listen to, though I can't say it's giving me as many fandom feelings as SVSSS.

I think that's it for now; I've got some laundry that just finished in the dryer I need to get to.

Current Mood: busy

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yeloson

November 2012

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Page generated Jun. 30th, 2025 09:35 am

Delivering Justice on Heaven's Behalf

Talking deep about geek shit

Reading

Pokémon Go Fest 2025

PSA

Looks like the mass lobby got NUMBERS \o/

(no subject)

School stuff

current stitching

SVSSS Plunny time

current reading, and

Homework done; nap time now

Catching up

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November 2012

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