the madding crowd

Quilting weekend away - went to a quilting retreat. Found myself sitting at the 'introverts table'. Friendly, but not chatty people. *sigh*

Otherwise, I got to hang out with a couple of women I haven't really been able to since COVID days - the group mostly split because the mothers weren't able to get away as much once their kids hit primary and mum's taxi became a full thing for weekends as well.

Retreat was set at a Catholic convent retreat centre. The food was surprisingly good for somewhere that was clearly set up for camps (complete with bunk beds). I got lots of sewing done, which was excellent, because I've gotten almost none done otherwise lately.

Now I just have to get the rest of it done! That's always the trick, isn't it?

quilting pics

Finished quilt top for Scrapbox Elegy:

So named, because I am hoping it will be the end of my scrapbox. (*insert laughter from all the quilters*) Yeah, I know. But we live in hope!

I like to make quilts that people can look at and think "yeah, I could make that". I think this one does it pretty featly.

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I'm feeling...really different right now. It might just be a function of my age, or my stage of life, but I'm feeling a bit...detached and ruthless, if that makes sense?

Reading through some of the fics for AtlA, they feel young. So many feelings! So much emotion! So much passion! So dramatic!

As much as I enjoy the dramatic stories, there's a part of me that rolls her eyes and thinks, "man, I don't remember being this young". Which, I feel like I wasn't. But also, I'm nearly 50 and I don't remember that shit anymore. Not to mention, when it comes down to it, the original stories are about teenagers - admittedly very talented, skilled, competent teenagers (with major major family and war trauma) - as a redramatic, passionate, emotional, and young is the order of the fandom. And most people came to it before they were fifteen, not when they were fifty.

Anyway, right now, I have two multichapters (although one is one story out of three, and the plots of the other two are slightly epic; may not get anyway) and one one-chapter-could-stretch-to-two smut.

I am finding myself writing character backstory to the stories I'm writing, though...

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( do you ever think about death? )

Anyway, it was a really helpful weekend, and helpful in conceiving how I might be able to manage this if it came down to it.

Although, we're looking at the introduction of the bad strain of Bird Flu here on the East Coast. This is bad news.

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I haven't played hockey in weeks, and I won't be playing for another 12 days, so I guess now is the time to start conditioning myself, right?

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I need to send out the invite to my 50th Birthday Karaoke NIght.

Speaking of which, on the weekend, I was staying at a small town pub (they're called 'hotels' for a reason) and while the bed was very comfy, the place is not soundproofed, and they had karaoke night down below.

If I'd had any kind of a voice, I'd have gone down and sung some myself. Alas, I am still recovering from the lingering cold (another set of antibiotics were necessary, they finish today) and so I would have been...well, tbh, I'd have been about standard for the quality of the karaoke I was listening to downstairs.

transcript of chat to friend on Saturday night

[21:35]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:35 Tielan: I'm sitting in a small town hotel/pub, listening to the karaoke in the pub below.
[21:37]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:37 Tielan: great moogly googly, people cannot sing in tune
[21:37]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:37 Tielan: which I know, is not the point of karaoke
[21:38]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:38 Tielan: but I'm in bed, laughing like an absolute drain
[21:38]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:38 Tielan: right now, they're massacreing "Always" by Bon Jovi
[21:38]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:38 Tielan: several songs earlier, it was "Man, I Feel Like A Woman"
[21:38]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:38 Tielan: Initially, I thought it was a Very Bad Cover Band
[21:39]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:39 B: karaoke is always best when you are too close to the speaker to hear the singer properly
[21:39]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:39 B: or you're with friends and they're the ones butchering the song
[21:39]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:39 Tielan: then at least you get the hilarity
[21:39]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:39 Tielan: I mean, half the battle up here is trying to work out what the song is
[21:40]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:40 B: rate the karaoke on how easy it is to tell what song they're murdering
[21:40]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:40 B: 10/10 you butchered it but we know what it was
[21:41]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:41 Tielan: I don't think I know this song.
[21:41]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:41 Tielan: either that, or it's so butchered I don't recognise it
[21:41]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:41 Tielan: oh, another song from a previously in-tune singer was "My Life" (Billy Joel)
[21:41]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:41 Tielan: that was earlier
[21:43]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:43 Tielan: I am slightly tempted to go down and see if I can get in the line, but my voice is still recovering thx to this bloody cold
[21:49]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:49 Tielan: "A Guy Like Me" (Lifehouse?)
[21:49]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:49 Tielan: I think this guy has sung before
[21:50]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:50 Tielan: he's...not quite hitting the notes.
[21:50]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:50 Tielan: Sorry, but since I can't sleep, I might as well comment on the karaoke downstairs.
[21:54]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:54 Tielan: I don't know this song, but it sounds like whoever is singing it is doing a decent job of it
[21:56]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:56 B: if they didn't want to be a part of your liveblog, they shouldn't have been so entertaining
[21:58]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:58 Tielan: oh no.
[21:58]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:58 Tielan: someone is trying The Climb
[21:58]Saturday, 4 July 2026 21:58 Tielan: "there's always gonna be another mountain..."
[22:01]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:01 Tielan: I wonder what time this goes until.
[22:03]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:03 Tielan: Okay, this one has a good voice and is in tune
[22:03]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:03 Tielan: don't know the song thought
[22:06]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:06 Tielan: ooh, someone has brought in cabaret. Bad Manners?
[22:11]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:11 Tielan: "Take Me Back To You" - I think it's the same guy who was trying for "A Guy Like Me". He has the yen for the 80s power-ballads
[22:11]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:11 Tielan: might be the same guy who did "Always"
[22:14]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:14 Tielan: I've Done All The Dumb Things
[22:15]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:15 Tielan: Singer has the feel and the voice and just managed an "AAOOW!" yelp in the middle of the song
[22:17]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:17 Tielan: Don't Stop Believing
[22:18]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:18 Tielan: can't mistake those chords; voice is okay, but no timing
[22:23]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:23 Tielan: Never Tear Us Apart
[22:23]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:23 B: should someone tear them apart from the mic?
[22:23]Saturday, 4 July 2026 22:23 Tielan: I mean, mostly, I just want to sleep
[22:03] Tielan: Okay, this one has a good voice and is in tune
[22:03] Tielan: don't know the song thought
[22:06] Tielan: ooh, someone has brought in cabaret. Bad Manners?
[22:11] Tielan: "Take Me Back To You" - I think it's the same guy who was trying for "A Guy Like Me". He has the yen for the 80s power-ballads
[22:11] Tielan: might be the same guy who did "Always"
[22:14] Tielan: I've Done All The Dumb Things
[22:15] Tielan: Singer has the feel and the voice and just managed an "AAOOW!" yelp in the middle of the song
[22:17] Tielan: Don't Stop Believing
[22:18] Tielan: can't mistake those chords; voice is okay, but no timing
[22:23] Tielan: Never Tear Us Apart
[22:23] B: should someone tear them apart from the mic?
[22:23] Tielan: I mean, mostly, I just want to sleep
[22:23] Tielan: I'd be a little less annoyed if they were singing in tune
[22:24] Tielan: Alas, it is Saturday night in Small Town NSW
[22:24] Tielan: if this town has more than 50,000 inhabitants, I will be Very Surprised
[22:24] Tielan: and no, livestock is not counted
[22:24] B: that seems big for small town NSW
[22:26] Tielan: Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
[22:26] Tielan: the main street is a pub, a post office, a general store, a milk bar, a coffee shop, a laundromat, a realtor, and maybe a couple of craft-ish/antique shops
[22:27] B: yeah i'd bet on 15,000 max, town that small
[22:27] Tielan: I have no measure for a small town 😄
[22:28] B: town i spent some time in when i was a kid, had two primary schools and a high school. a hospital. just checked wikipedia - population 5,000
[22:29] B: maybe 12,000 if you count the local region around it
[22:30] Tielan: ...this song is so badly massacred I know what it is, but I can't make it out
[22:30] B: haunted by the song
[22:30] Tielan: he's not in time
[22:30] Tielan: he's not in tune
[22:31] Tielan: everything that's in this world is sure to fade?
[22:31] Tielan: 90s grunge?
[22:31] Tielan: too far away?
[22:31] Tielan: great moogly googly
[22:32] Tielan: NICKLEBACK
[22:32] Tielan: ded of laff
[22:32] Tielan: even Nickleback doesn't deserve this
[22:33] Tielan: damn this cold, if I had my voice, I would absolutely be down there belting out something like Pink's Trustfall
[22:33] Tielan: Take It Easy
[22:34] Tielan: I think there are max 3 people down there singing, and they're taking turns
[22:42] Tielan: Handle Me With Care
[22:43] B: are they handling the song with care?
[22:45] Tielan: no, but he's belting it out with a decent approximation of enthusiasm
[22:46] Tielan: I will accept enthusiasm in lieu of tunefulness
[22:46] B: enthusiasm does cover a lot of sins
[22:46] Tielan: exactly
[22:46] Tielan: a duet that sounds like it came from the 80s
[22:46] Tielan: has that balladic feeling
[22:49] Tielan: oh dear, it's the guy who can't carry a tune in a bucket
[22:49] Tielan: again
[22:49] Tielan: okay, I do him a disservice
[22:49] Tielan: he can carry a tune in a bucket, but the tune he is carrying isn't in the key of the song he's trying to sing
[22:50] B: he can carry a tune in a bucket but keeps picking up the wrong bucket
[22:50] Tielan: a far better simile
[22:50] Tielan: metaphor?
[22:50] Tielan: it's too late for me to remember which is which
[22:50] B: the second i think
[22:50] Tielan: also: I think he's singing about cowboys
[22:50] B: simile needs the word like in it i think
[22:50] B: from memory
[22:51] Tielan: ...I'm not sure if the cowboys are also a metaphor or not
[22:51] Tielan: no, that sounds right
[22:51] B: i was not great at english in high school
[22:51] Tielan: hey, look, it's nearly 11pm. I was kind of hoping to be asleep by 9, and I'm hoping this ends on the hour
[22:52] Tielan: yeah, he's definitely got the wrong bucket
[22:52] B: i don't know you'll be that lucky
[22:52] Tielan: yeah, I'm afraid of that
[22:53] Tielan: On the up side, at least there isn't a major sporting event on; I think there was the last time I stayed in this hotel
[22:53] Tielan: so not only was it noisy until midnight, but afterwards there were also a lot of drunk people yelling in the street
[22:53] B: ooof
[22:54] Tielan: we are back to enthusiastic guy
[22:54] Tielan: I Got A Love That Keeps Me Waiting
[22:57] Tielan: oh, someone is singing I Want That Man (Deborah Harry)
[22:57] B: we are getting an education in the music tastes of small town NSW
[23:00] Tielan: She can sing pretty well though.
[23:04] Tielan: 90s grunge boy is back: Glycerine
[23:09] Tielan: something country?
[23:13] Tielan: sounds like Springsteen
[23:13] Tielan: oh wait, no, Jimmy Barnes
[23:16] Tielan: yeah we are ALL OUT OF BUCKETS NOW
[23:16] B: the singing has kicked the bucket
[23:18] Tielan: okay, this is not a usual karaoke choice: The Way
[23:18] Tielan: "but where were they going without ever knowing the way?"
[23:29] Tielan: We Are The Children (?) dare I hope this is the last song?
[23:29] B: crosses fingers for you
[23:31] Tielan: oh well, they're belting it out now
[23:31] Tielan: I think all of them are doing it
[23:31] Tielan: ::giggles::
[23:31] Tielan: ooh key change
[23:31] Tielan: belter guy is doing the interspersions.
[23:31] Tielan: "we are the children" we are the children!
[23:32] Tielan: "We are the world!" we are the world!
[23:39] Tielan: okay, we are DONESKIES
[23:39] B: sleep well!
[23:39] Tielan: ...unless someone is about to start singing Don't You Want Me Baby because that's the background music that's just started up...
[23:39] B: oh no
[23:39] Tielan: no, wait, it's just pub background music
[23:39] Tielan: phew
[23:39] Tielan: BEDTIME
[23:40] Tielan: apologies to anyone who wakes to a bajillion pings on this channel
[23:40] Tielan: xo

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Anyway, no hockey training tonight, but we're doing dinner at the local club which sponsors us.