still here

Jul. 7th, 2026 07:59 am
daryl_wor: tie dye and spiky bat (Default)
[personal profile] daryl_wor
 and hoping for help that hasn't been forthcoming

Summerween Read-a-Thon

Jul. 3rd, 2026 09:36 pm
spiralicious: Kuroshitsuji Characters in School Garb (Kuro Geek)
[personal profile] spiralicious
This is going up later than intended. I found out about this via Book Riot's blog post/article about various summer reading challenges happening this year.

BookTuber gabbyreads hosts this particular read-a-thon every summer. I'm not sure for how many years. She has information up on YouTube and Instagram.

The five reading prompts this year are:

1. Read a book in the dark or at night

2. Read a thriller or horror book

3. Read an author you've never read before

4. Read a book with pink on the cover

5. And read a book with fewer than 250 pages

If you are posting your Summerween challenge on Instagram, the Instagram posting specific prompts are:

1. Post your TBR

2. Post books with pink spines

3. Post a reel of your reading routine

4. Post a pic of your current read

5. Post a pic of any books with summer vibes

6. Post a pic of a book in nature

7. And post a pic of your final read (or a stack of all the books you read)

Challenge runs July 3rd - 9th

Do with this information what you will and have fun.

Wish I could find some...

Jul. 3rd, 2026 10:13 am
daryl_wor: tie dye and spiky bat (Default)
[personal profile] daryl_wor
 Boysenberries...   

Movie/TV/Book updates

Jul. 1st, 2026 07:17 pm
halfshellvenus: (Default)
[personal profile] halfshellvenus
HalfshellHusband and I watched Voicemails For Isabella on Netflix this weekend, and really enjoyed it. It was funny and sweet, and the leads weren't impossibly young (yes, that's a thing for us).

On Britbox, I've been whipping through Hope Street as fast as possible, since it's leaving soon. Possibly today. :O It's about policing in a small, Irish village. I'm sorry one of the S1 actors didn't return for S2, but I like the cast overall. HSH and I have also been watching Jack Ryan on Amazon. So far, S2 and S3 just haven't been as interesting as S1, and it's hard to stay focused when everything is SO DARK (even with the overhead lights out) that you can't always tell what's going on. Ugh, Amazon. Give it a rest already!

I finished TJ Klune's The House In The Cerulean Sea yesterday. It was magical (literally), and I liked it very much. Theodore! Chauncey! I didn't find the romance aspect as believable as I would have liked, which is a problem I've run into with Klune before. He makes the main character sound so unattractive (here, he's a schlub) that it's hard to imagine anyone falling for him. Everyone else was charming, though, and there's a lot of humor and heartfelt feeling in it.

Now I've moved onto A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher. There is, as usual for most of her adult fantasies, an overweight woman in her 40s/50s as one of the main characters. I wouldn't mind that so much except that it comes off as relentless self-insertion, and I wish she would resist the urge. But storywise? So far, so good! I'm running out of her books, so I hope she's writing some new ones. :D

Currently/Last June 2026

Jul. 1st, 2026 01:07 pm
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
[personal profile] spiralicious
Currently/Last lists are the last and/or current answer to the categories for a given time period, in this case a month.

In the text box, I've a blank html coded version of the list, including categories I didn't use this month.

Making: Summerween activities list & Creepmas in July activities list
Watching: Father Brown
Reading: Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer & My Best Friend's Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner
Listening: "Payphone" by Maroon 5
Eating: open-faced Swiss & mushrooms burgers with cucumbers & potato chips on the side
Drinking: Coke
Loving: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Hating: My increasing anxiety
Wanting: effective help sleeping
Planning: what to do next to my room
Wishing: for better time management skills
Puzzle Books: Once again, ignored my puzzle books this month, but did online puzzles. Last day of June was Huedoku & Lite Brite Daily, Trivia Bingo, & Word Chain.
Wearing: Pajamas
Needing: "enrichment activities" ideas for the library's summer reading challenge
Enjoying: Korean coffee flavored milk drink
Wondering: how I can get everything taken care of
Playing: Subeta (Masquerade has started)
Trying: to tackle things one dumpster fire at a time
Cooking: sautéed mushrooms
Calling: [personal profile] vexed_wench
Texting: the niblet
Crafting: knitting the cable blanket, making butterfly themed cards with Lynne, & a replacement bracelet for Jellybean
Going: a pride event in a neighboring state & an Asian market on the way home
Feeling: anxious
Hoping (For): breathing room
Celebrating: getting a pedicure
Thanking: [personal profile] vexed_wench
Considering: what on earth I'm going to do for my birthday
Finishing: nothing, everything is very much ongoing
Starting: co-hosting Winterfest in July [community profile] allbingo

Notes:
My room deep clean/reno is still ongoing. It's had a few setbacks, but I think I can still get things done on time.

The library's summer reading challenge started. It's only 10 books this year and we have to come up with our own "enrichment activities" for each book and describe and rate them on the reading log.

I've been doing my best not to take on new things that weren't already planned for, but my plate is still too full. I'll figure it out, but I'm just overwhelmed right now.

Happy Canada Day

Jul. 1st, 2026 07:56 am
daryl_wor: tie dye and spiky bat (Default)
[personal profile] daryl_wor
 at least we had all those clearly canadian drinks already


Summerween Cometh

Jun. 30th, 2026 01:58 pm
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
[personal profile] spiralicious
And people are losing their minds a little.

For some reason this year, my social media feeds are filled with headlines like, "Summerween taken over by overconsumption problem and losing spirit of the holiday." As someone who is dismayed by the fact that there is a very fast cycle of monetizing to the teeth everything that becomes vaguely popular and by the fact that most "Halloween All Year" online spaces are dominated by shopping hauls, code oranges, and sponsorship videos, I do feel the overconsumption problem should be discussed. It's the "spirit of the holiday" statement I keep seeing that's bothering me. Summerween is a made up holiday for fun, like Christmas in July. Some people need to take several breaths and touch some grass.

Also, if buying a skeleton flamingo pool floatie or a wolfman in a Hawaiian shirt tchotchke makes you happy, I'm not going to stop you (or judge).

So what is Summerween exactly?

It's two things. It's a fandom holiday from the Gravity Falls fandom, like Supernatural Day or October 3rd (Fullmetal Alchemist). I have yet to watch Gravity Falls, (I know, it's on my short list), so I can't offer further guidance there. It is also a fun excuse to do Halloween things in summer, like Christmas in July is for Christmas.

When exactly is it celebrated? (Answer is northern hemisphere oriented)

This kind of varies from person to person. For some, it's July 5th only. (I suspect due to Gravity Falls.) Some see July 5th as just the kick off day with it continuing either until the beginning of fall or Halloween itself. Other people start at the beginning of June or the summer solstice. I'm not sure there is a wrong way of doing this. If you want to celebrate Summerween in December in the northern hemisphere, I won't stop you.

All that being said, I've made a list of Summerween activities that don't necessarily revolve around shopping, if you don't want it to, for those you want inspiration:

Carve a jack-o-lantern out of a watermelon (or any melon. I've seen people use pineapples)

Have a party, BBQ, or picnic with a Summerween theme and/or Halloween themed food. Examples: spiderweb nachos, jack-o-lantern cheeseburgers, etc.

Make spooky versions of summer cocktails & mocktails

Read scary/horror/Halloween spirited books. If you are needing inspiration or mire structure, I know of at least one online Summerween reading challenge (which I am hoping to make a separate post about). Many people put out Summer themed horror reading lists. (Ash.reads.horror does sub category lists like carnivals, summer camp, beaches, etc.) There also used to be a Summerween book club online that I can't currently find the link to, but I'm sure there are others.

Join in the fun with Dracula Daily. It started May 3rd, but you can join anytime and there are archives to read the sections you missed in at least two official places. [community profile] vampiremedia is also doing a weekly recap & discussion.

Sit around a campfire and tell scary stories. Though, if you are in the US, given the heightened fire risk this year nearly everywhere, maybe a fake or battery powered campfire alternative.

Have a costume fashion show or even just get a jump on making your Halloween costume. Have a complicated makeup look you never have time to practice? Summerween makes a convenient excuse.

Have an old school sleepover. The whole bit with games and mischief and snacks. (Yes, you are allowed to have silly fun as an adult.)

Have a craft party. Interpretation of craft up to you.

If you are both a Halloween Ghoul and a Christmas in July Ghoul, try Creepmas in July. Plug: [personal profile] vexed_wench and I are co-hosting our annual Winterfest in July at [community profile] allbingo again this year and we've added a creepmas in July prompt list.

Have movie nights alone or with friends, possibly with themed snacks. For extra fun, you could slowly amp up the scary content, starting with TV specials and cute Halloween movies in July, building up to gory slashers in October.

Make or find playlists. I know for a fact there are Halloween surfer rock playlists on Spotify.

For my fandom creation peeps, find some summer prompts and Halloween them up or vice-versa for your fics, art, edits, etc. There used to be a summer horror exchange on DW, but it's long dead. There maybe other challenges out there I don't know about though.

Make prompt lists or find them. In years past, there has been Summerween drawing challenges on Instagram, one was you were given Summerween prompts and you drew ghosts doing the activities and there was another which was the same thing, but with pumpkins. I am sure there are others.

100 days until Halloween starts in July (the 22nd, I think) and there are lots of challenges out there like Halloween Happy's annual prompt list and Alt Knots' big countdown crochet project.

Have Halloween decorations you always want to make, but don't have time? Want to be the house that gives fun candy alternatives like crocheted spiders? Want to start building a Halloween village, but never seem to be able to pull it together in October? Summerween is your new excuse to start all these things.

Make memes or journal/blog games & activities. Make "make an OC" games. Basically anything that was thought up for 3 Weeks for Dreamwidth, but Summerween flavored.

Look for local tourist things around you; ghost tours, short road trips to haunted places, oddity fairs, carnivals (which are inherently spooky), bat watching hikes, etc.

Make up a local crypid

Summerween nail art

There is definitely more, but my brain says that is enough brainstorming today.

I hope that gave everyone some fun ideas. Summerween safely everyone!

Giraffes in TEXAS?

Jun. 28th, 2026 10:24 am
daryl_wor: tie dye and spiky bat (Default)
[personal profile] daryl_wor
 Ice for a sore throat?

FARMS in Berkelley?

Giraffes in Texas...

I dig it.

?

Jun. 28th, 2026 09:24 am
daryl_wor: tie dye and spiky bat (Default)
[personal profile] daryl_wor
 Have I finally hit rock-bottom...?

Vincent's World

Jun. 27th, 2026 11:07 am
halfshellvenus: (Default)
[personal profile] halfshellvenus
I finished a new model last weekend— a 3-D Van Gogh-themed wooden bookend kit. This was a gift from our daughter a year-and-a-half ago, and I'd delayed it in favor of LEGO-like sets and because I hadn't put anything wooden together before. :O

It's a book-nook type of puzzle, where the pieces come in pre-printed wooden sheets and most of them interlock. There were only a few parts that required gluing. Very impressive, though it doesn't open back up again after assembly like some of them. Once it's built, it stays shut. But it has a back mirror to help show the full set, and a motion-detector light-up mechanism to illuminate the whole interior when someone stops to look at it, which is neat.

It just makes me covet things like these Dinosaur Museum and Steampunk Workshop sets all the more, not to mention the ones that are more Lego-like instead of wood. I want all of the magic and Steampunk and absurd things! The problem is the expense, and then what to do with them afterwards. :O

I mean, I just finished photographing our kids' remaining Build-A-Bear toys and various outfits last weekend, and posted them up for sale at Facebook yesterday! I'm at war with myself trying to clear out the storage room a little while also gathering all the cool things in before they stop being made. /o\

not that it matters... but...

Jun. 26th, 2026 10:12 pm
daryl_wor: tie dye and spiky bat (Default)
[personal profile] daryl_wor
 In the unlikely event a wealthy admirer would like to lend aide... I would not be opposed.
 

More baby quail

Jun. 25th, 2026 04:48 pm
halfshellvenus: (Default)
[personal profile] halfshellvenus
I saw a couple of baby quail again the last couple of days, and they just seem impossibly small compared to the adults. They could fit inside a chicken egg! And yet, they have feathers.

The "pile-driving" sound was going on again at my first cycling rest stop today. When I go downstream, I pass under the Highway 99/Business 80 overpass and a Southern Pacific railroad trestle, and then I rest under the Highway 160 overpass just before the Western Pacific railroad trestle. In the almost 40 years I've been biking on that path, I think the Western Pacific tracks have been in use maybe a total of 5 times? And that includes after an arsonist burned the Southern Pacific trestle during the Pandemic, and rail traffic had to be re-routed for 6 months during the rebuild (that trestle is concrete now).

Anyway, I actually spotted a piece of construction equipment from the project-o'-mystery yesterday. It was a small backhoe, working near the base of one of the trestle supports. Maybe they're replacing some of those supports? The tracks do angle in a way that puts them in the vicinity of the hidden noise. Because otherwise, the only thing I can think of that would be behind those bushes is... more bushes. And those do not need construction equipment!

We finished watching S2 of The Pitt yesterday. Disappointed that there isn't more! That show is so addictive. Now it's just The Glitch, Ashes To Ashes, and Leverage:Redemption in rotation. Time to add a 4th show!

halfshellvenus: (Default)
[personal profile] halfshellvenus
First, one of the things I did during those 5 days off was take my bike into the shop to start the process of raising the handlebars about 1.5 inches. \o/ I notice the issue even more on my downstream rides, where I have two back-to-back legs that are 9.5 miles and my left hand has a limit of about 7.5 miles before the numbness becomes a serious problem. I'd like to be able to tune out more while riding instead of constantly moving my hand around to try to postpone the numbness. So, parts are on order now! It'll be expensive, though, because the brake and derailleur cables have to be redone (they'll be too short), and the disk brakes will need to be redone. I guess?

I keep coming back to the question of what was so bad about having handlebar stems that were easily adjustable, and shifters on the slanting cross bar instead of built into the handles. Not to mention my hatred of the through-axle mechanism that disk brakes require. I was perfectly happy with rim brakes!

I also tried a new-to-me cocktail while we were out for Father's Day dinner at the Thai restaurant. It was a cosmopolitan, which sounded good. But it had a bitter aftertaste, and the flavor of cranberry juice was indiscernible. \o? I would have tried a strawberry daiquiri if they'd offered it, but they only had "regular" daiquiris and margaritas. Hmph. Maybe I'll try a blue ocean next time? Though I fear that might be bitter as well. I am not a fan of bitter! And who knows what an old-fashioned would be like. Probably fairly sweet (a plus), but possibly too similar to a mai-tai? I really don't like those, even though everyone else seems to love them.

As you might have guessed, I'm not a big drinker. :O

The Reticular Activating System

Jun. 24th, 2026 11:18 am
daryl_wor: tie dye and spiky bat (Default)
[personal profile] daryl_wor
 I knew it existed but couldn't find anything in the 90s...

meh

Jun. 23rd, 2026 11:40 pm
daryl_wor: tie dye and spiky bat (Default)
[personal profile] daryl_wor
 I'm tired of seeing ads for crap I can't buy...

and DANG, the Kaiser had a crazier moustache than Hitler...


Just an added thought...

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