cornerofmadness: (writing typos)
cornerofmadness ([personal profile] cornerofmadness) wrote2025-06-14 12:26 am
Entry tags:

Write Every Day Day 14

writing prompt is slightly nsfw )

Something about the prompt appealed to me maybe because life is hard right now in my neck of the woods but some of that can definitely become story

I could have sworn I wrote nothing but I knocked out 1300 words of my next Yahtzee story. This one feels like it’ll be nothing but a bridge.


Let me know what day you’re reporting in for. If I've missed you on the tally let me know. Feel free to jump in at any time.

Day thirteen -[personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] sanguinity,

other days )
settiai: (Kes -- settiai (TriaElf9))
Lynn | Settiai ([personal profile] settiai) wrote2025-06-14 12:20 am
Entry tags:
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day ([syndicated profile] merriamwebster_feed) wrote2025-06-14 01:00 am

vexillology

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 14, 2025 is:

vexillology • \vek-suh-LAH-luh-jee\  • noun

Vexillology is the study of flags.

// An expert in vexillology, Cynthia has an impressive collection of flags displayed in her home.

See the entry >

Examples:

"... flags should have simple elements, a limited number of colors, and no words. One of the tenets of vexillology is that the elements of the flag should be simple enough to be easily drawn by a child." — The Toledo (Ohio) Blade, 9 Jan. 2025

Did you know?

"The flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of history." Woodrow Wilson was speaking of the U.S. flag when he made that statement in an address in June of 1915, but those who engage in vexillology—that is, vexillologists—would likely find the comment applicable to any national banner. Vexillologists undertake scholarly investigations of flags, producing papers with titles such as "A Review of the Changing Proportions of Rectangular Flags since Medieval Times, and Some Suggestions for the Future." In the late 1950s, they coined vexillology as a name for their field of research, basing it on vexillum, the Latin term for a square flag or banner of the ancient Roman cavalry. The adjectives vexillologic and vexillological and the noun vexillologist followed soon thereafter.



clauderainsrm: (Default)
clauderainsrm ([personal profile] clauderainsrm) wrote in [community profile] therealljidol2025-06-14 12:06 am

Prompt - Week 1

 I have a master list of unused prompts. Some didn't end up being used in previous seasons. Some are new. All are now on a wheel of chaos. 

I will not know what the week's prompt is until a couple minutes before you do!! 

For anyone new here - or who hasn't been around for awhile, just a couple reminders: 

Use the prompt as a jumping off point for your own creativity. The only limits are those you place on yourself and your work! 

ONLY POST YOUR LINK to this thread. Any non-link comments posted here will be deleted. It makes it more difficult to keep track of entries for the week if everyone comments here. Comment to people on their entries or in one of the other spaces provided. This is solely for links. Not reactions. 

With all of that now being said - and I reminder that if someone HASN'T signed up, they still have another week to do so, therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1182845.html

T
he prompt for Week 1 is 

Quality 

You have until Saturday June 21st at 2pm ET to link your entries back to this thread. So much longer than usual, but it's the first week so I'm giving you a bit of a break. Enjoy it while you can! 
clauderainsrm: (Default)
clauderainsrm ([personal profile] clauderainsrm) wrote in [community profile] therealljidol2025-06-13 11:57 pm

Twist Reveal - Week 1

 During each week, I will spin the wheel and reveal the twist.  Sometimes it will be before the prompt is announced, sometimes before the voting. 

As I said before, I was feeling merciful as we got closer to starting, so I added another wheel. We're calling it the first wheel.  2/3 of the spots on it read "Twist" and the other 1/3 are "No Twist".  Obviously "No Twist" means that the second wheel will not be spun that week and you will get a break from the normal level of chaos.  You will get to breathe with only the normal amount of Idol chaos, more or less... 

That first wheel it did spin and it came up that there WOULD be a twist on Week 1. 

I was very happy that we were starting off this event right. 

So I spun the second wheel, the one with the master list of twists on it, hoping for something delightful.  After all, some of the list are quite twisted and some are quite twisted in other ways.  :)  This one turned out to be one of the latter. 

It's probably the first "first week" twist that there could be, because it might as well be a "No Twist": 

Anyone who was previously eliminated from the competition is automatically back in the game. 


Being that no one has been eliminated yet, it means nothing. But since twists are NOT removed from the wheel once selected, it does reveal what one of those spots is, and you now know that it is out there, and the possibility exists. 

So, I guess that's a good thing for you... 


Week 1's prompt will be posted soon.  

ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
ysabetwordsmith ([personal profile] ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-06-13 09:54 pm

Today's Adventures

Today we went to the Marshall Farmer's Market. It's an evening market from 6-8 PM, followed by a band concert, which is way better than a morning one.

Read more... )
senmut: Scar from AvP with shoulder blaster up (Predator: Scar)
Asp ([personal profile] senmut) wrote2025-06-13 11:03 pm
Entry tags:

Fandom50: #16

1990, [redacted a lot of depressing anecdata]. Let's just roll the credits, hmm? Nine movies because I was choosy... and honestly don't have much to say about movies of this year.

~ Tremors - AWW YEAH a hella good creature feature. To be honest? This was like catching old 50s B movies on TBS, because those creature features were my kind of camp horror comedy.
~ The Hunt for Red October - I can't remember much of this film, but there were some pretty people in it.
~ Ghost - +sighs+ Patrick and Whoopi, I loved. I am still on a fence about Demi's acting, but she's pretty.
~ Quigley Down Under - the movie that reinforced lessons I had begun studying due to "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil. It's also the movie that put Alan Rickman on my radar properly. I love his villainy here.
~ The Rescuers Down Under - Hmm, two Aussie based movies for me this year? MARAHUTE! Not quite mixing the adventure and scary like the first, but a DAMN GOOD FILM.
~ Predator 2 - So I enjoy the first. So much. BUT THIS?! This movie started solidifying actual lore for me (BLESS DARK HORSE COMICS) and the yautja in this one is BADASS.
~ Mermaids - A really sweet film, and the cast? +faints+ Hoskins, Cher, Ryder, Ricci? Excellent. A little angst and harm to children warning.
~ Hamlet - So I rather hate putting this on the list. And I know it is seriously panned. But honestly? Seeing this in the theater, watching EVERY ACTOR CHEW THE SCENERY? Made me delighted at an above the top performance. Just wish the fucker in the lead role wasn't... himself.
~ Kindergarten Cop - Sweet. Funny. Dramatic at parts. "It's naht a too-mah" Was surprised when I went back to find that his partner that was supposed to do the teaching and got sick was Iza from Clan of the Cave Bear.

Fave? Toss up between Predator 2 and Kindergarten Cop.
cornerofmadness: (Default)
cornerofmadness ([personal profile] cornerofmadness) wrote2025-06-13 08:41 pm

Fannish Friday

Today I went to the expensive greenhouse today and got chocolate mint and trailing rosemary which I have never seen before. Still edible like the standard rosemary this one cascades and can be used as ground cover. I like that idea.

The surgeon here refused to see me because I'm from out of state and at this point by the time we got the ball rolling I'd have to go b ack. If the pcp I wanted to take over here would have called me back....but I did find out my phone was called two days ago but never rang thru. Gah. Whatever. I have an appointment when a new to me surgeon back in OH. His name is sever...not the best name or THE best name for a surgeon depending on how you look at it.

OPI nail polish did a zodiac theme. Gemini was boring white so I bought Scorpio instead beautiful blue

My friends sent my parents 60th anniversary cards. They were so happy with that.

Here's a chapter from a long delayed upcoming Hazbin Hotel sequel written for [community profile] allbingo's drag prompt and [personal profile] spikesgirl58's 6 word challenge. the 6 words were Wacky, Patch, Moldy, Voiceless, Easy & Ragged

story scene under here )


Fannish 50 recs


Ellipsism The Owl House

new friends in strange place
陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng TóngxiùThe Avengers (Marvel Movies)

Bad Judgement Torchwood

Out Of The Shadows Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Sweetness Follows ゴールデンカムイ | Golden Kamuy (Manga)/Suikoden III

Solar Smash II The Murderbot Diaries

substitute Star Trek: Voyager

Learning to Bear Overwhelming Grief 9-1-1/Teen Wolf

One Good Hoax Deserves Another Murder She Wrote/V

Marked The Murderbot Diaries

It Doesn't Matter Anymore Hazbin Hotel

Temporary Host Torchwood


Wish I had the power to make you stay Oxventure (Web Series)

Bottled Poetry Stargate Atlantis

petals in a storm 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Eating Weird Things At the Fair 9-1-1

Musical Poetry Hazbin Hotel

Beach Blanket Bimbos Stargate Atlantis/Real Genius

SHOW ME YOUR FEET! –Bryrin #1FanCritic Hazbin Hotel

Love And Trust Torchwood
silver_chipmunk: (Default)
silver_chipmunk ([personal profile] silver_chipmunk) wrote2025-06-13 10:31 pm

Mostly stayed in

Got up at 10 with Theo knocking on my door. Came downstairs and had breakfast and coffee.

Eventually everyone was upstairs except me so I took the opportunity to shower and dress.

Hung out in the living room after that. Dani sent Theo over to the library, and eventually he came back with his friend Uriah, who stayed the rest of the day.

After awhile Dani, Winnie, and Uriah went out and walked to a small store and got ice cream. Came back, and continued just hanging out.

Around 6:30 Dani and I went to Walmart and got some stuff, mainly a dog house for Moose. We also got some food, including a pizza for Dani and I for dinner.

Came back and Dani and John put the dog house together while I Teamed the FWiB. Then Dani put the pizza on and when it was done I got off, and ate.

Tomorrow Dani is going to take me to see the FWiB!!!

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Ice cream.

3. Quiet day.

4. Seeing the FWiB.

5. Got my prescription refill approved and [personal profile] mashfanficchick is going to pick it up for me.

6. Friends.
tinkaton: jill warrick | final fantasy xvi (♥︎ shiva)
are we not all things? ([personal profile] tinkaton) wrote2025-06-13 10:14 pm

092 ☆

Sorry for the radio silence! I have just not been in a writing mood, I guess. But I'm back to talk about video games! A singular video game. I beat Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a couple days ago.

If you've seen other people's reviews, mine will come as no surprise. This was a great game and I highly recommend it. Clair Obscur is a single-player, story-based RPG with turn-based combat about a city of people living in a fractured world where a mysterious entity called the Paintress counts down a new number each year, and every year anyone of that age is erased, an event called the Gommage. When the game starts, the oldest people in the city of Lumiere are 33. Every year an expedition (mostly of people with one year left to live) goes out to try and stop the Paintress and the Gommage for good. You play as the members of Expedition 33 as they set out on this year's expedition.

This fascinating premise is what prompted me to pick up the game, along with all the positive reviews I'd seen. I was very glad to discover they weren't lying--this game slaps! The combat is fun and engaging, the soundtrack is gorgeous, probably one of my fave video game OSTs, and the story kept me hooked from the very beginning to the very end. It's a story about grief, and about family, and about art. It's also a game where you can beat the shit out of freaky mimes and dress up your characters in outfits with baguettes and berets. I would definitely recommend checking out this game.

For those who have played it, VERY SPOILERY thoughts continue below the cut: Read more... )
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justmarriedmod ([personal profile] justmarriedmod) wrote in [community profile] justmarriedexchange2025-06-13 09:57 pm
Entry tags:

Sign-ups Note: Please link letters in optional details box

Due to a missed tickybox, this year's signup form does not have a dedicated box for linking exchange letters. If you have an exchange letter, please paste the letter link in the Optional Details box instead, clearly marked Letter.

Thanks to the participant who pointed this out!
settiai: (Washington D.C. -- miggy)
Lynn | Settiai ([personal profile] settiai) wrote2025-06-13 10:04 pm

Freedom, sweet freedom.

Okay, the work week is finally over. I took a nap after work, because I slept like crap last night, and I'm feeling much more like a human being again even though I'm still tired. My brain's definitely not in a great place, but overall today was much better than earlier this week. So that's a big step in the right direction at least.

It's, uh, been a week. Such a week. 🙃

My plan is to not leave the hotel at all tomorrow or Sunday, and if I'm lucky I might be able to avoid all human interaction if I'm careful. I'm hoping to get up relatively early tomorrow to get a load of clothes washed and some cleaning done in the suite, and then I'm going to spend the rest of the day playing video games which I haven't done in ages despite my multiple attempts to do so.
mildred_of_midgard: (Eowyn)
mildred_of_midgard ([personal profile] mildred_of_midgard) wrote2025-06-13 09:26 pm
Entry tags:

Damn, I needed that

I successfully walked about 14-15 miles, my first long walk since October. It's amazing how your cardio fluctuates on almost a daily basis in reaction to exercising or not exercising, but your legs can remember things you did last year.

Verdicts:

Knee held up! Knee held up! There was one spot where I was going downhill pretty steeply, and it started to protest, but I managed to shift my weight to take the strain in my hamstrings and glutes--like you're supposed to--and my knee went, "Finally!!"

My feet did an okay job. I forgot my massage ball at home in another bag, but I discovered if I just find a hard and solid surface with a ninety degree angle, like a curb or a bench, not sharp enough to cut the skin, obviously, but sharp enough to really dig into the muscle, I can rub the arch and heel of my foot back and forth over it, and I'll get pain relief for at least a mile, sometimes more.

Was still in a substantial amount of foot pain, especially after 8 miles, as I cannot be bothered to stop walking, take off both my shoes, massage each foot in turn, tie my shoelaces again, walk a few steps, discover that I have tied them too tightly or loosely, take them off again, and retie them, every mile. Would rather push through pain. But the important thing is I managed some pain relief when I needed it! Also psychologically, that just helps, knowing you can if you need to.

Glutes still super tight and painful starting at 10 miles. I learned last year how to fix this, but since the answer was "Fuck up your previously rock solid knees for months," I didn't dare. My currently incredibly fragile knees might never recover. So I just decided the pain was tolerable, as I did before I discovered the joys and painful side effects of glute stretching, and kept walking.

All in all, I think I could have done 20 miles easily. Pushing through pain, but after 10 miles that's normal for me, so it counts.

The number one problem I had was with my back. Mid to lower, mostly. Which is not a spot that has historically bothered me, but I think the decluttering has not been good for it. I think I must have lain down 3 times and sat down at least 3 times on this 14 mile walk, just to get back pain relief.

Walking conditions were the Platonic ideal: 16-23 C, partly sunny and partly cloudy, breezy, no rain despite the 80% chance of showers forecast when I set out, Friday so I had the forests to myself! <3 It was very peaceful and lovely.

Oh, yeah, the point of the walk: I went to a farther away forest than my usual next-door forest (though I also passed through that one), one that has a steep hill with steps carved in it. I've never managed to run all the way up it in my life (I've done half of it a couple times), and I didn't today, but I treated it as training: I walked up and down it 3 times. I got super out of breath on each uphill, and my legs started to burn, so it was a fantastic workout! This was the downhill that set off my knee the first time, but then I figured out a stride on the second hill rep, which allowed me to cut 15 seconds off my time, and the third time I cut another 15 seconds off, bringing me from 2:30 down to 2 minutes. My uphill time remained 2:05 on all three reps.

I'm relieved that despite the lack of training and all the injuries, my hiking fitness remains approximately as good as ever (modulo the back). I was starting to worry about all my hiking plans for the September road trip!

I'm going to try to do a 20 mile walk next week, remember to bring my massage ball, and see if I can push closer to 30 like I was doing last year.

Oh, yeah, no blisters and no chafing, because I have awesome shoes (love you, New Balance) and also have learned some things in my years of suffering! Petroleum jelly ftw.

Oh, and when I say "Damn, I needed that," 80% of my time lately has been spent on tedious and annoying work tasks, tedious and annoying Peter Keith tasks (and quite frankly I am sick of this bio right now), tedious and annoying decluttering.

I am so burned out on writing up my historical research findings that when it's like "You could post to [community profile] rheinsberg!" or "You could tell salon about this cool thing you found," or "You could make a blog post about raccoons like you kept promising for a while," my brain is like, "No! You can't make me! I'm doing all this writing up of my findings already, and then I'm supposed to do more writing up of findings??? How igneous of you!" So here we are. Hopefully my brain cooperates better soon.*

In the meantime, I finally gave into its pleadings to do something that isn't a tedious and annoying task for one of my major projects, and it is pleased and wants to do this again. It's actually pretty happy to push through the pain of tight muscles if doing so means not having to write up another finding, write more unit tests, or work on finding a new home for any more junk.

Pain is good! Pain is fun! Pain is at least interesting. :P

* Those of you in salon may notice that it made an exception for the one super dramatic finding, but that I keep hinting at other findings, and then I can't make myself.
full_metal_ox: A National Geographic cover mock-up, with three marigolds in an analogous orange-yellow color harmony. (Nature)
full_metal_ox ([personal profile] full_metal_ox) wrote in [community profile] common_nature2025-06-13 09:23 pm

A future fossil, and a moment of strange beauty in embotherance.

Content advisory: the following images portray animal decomposition and a messy (though not scatological) plumbing mishap, respectively.

This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.

This roughly crow-sized bird, species and cause of death unknown, lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.

Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )

Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.

Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )
sakuramod: (Default)
sakuramod ([personal profile] sakuramod) wrote in [community profile] sakuraexchange2025-06-13 08:02 pm
adafrog: (Default)
adafrog ([personal profile] adafrog) wrote in [community profile] fandom_checkin2025-06-13 06:15 pm
Entry tags:

Daily Check In.

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Friday to midnight on Saturday (8pm Eastern Time).


Poll #33249 Daily poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 18

How are you doing?

I am okay
11 (64.7%)

I am not okay, but don't need help right now
6 (35.3%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans are you living with?

I am living single
4 (22.2%)

One other person
8 (44.4%)

More than one other person
6 (33.3%)



Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2025-06-13 06:06 pm

[ SECRET POST #6734 ]


⌈ Secret Post #6734 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.
[Warehouse 13]


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #963..
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
dorchadas: (FFIX Vivi No More)
dorchadas ([personal profile] dorchadas) wrote2025-06-13 04:17 pm

The bell curve of interest

After nearly 200 hours, I'm finally at the point in Vintage Story where I'm in a position to to the (vintage) story. I have some teleportation stones (from the Ruststones mod) charged up so I can make the dozens-of-miles-long trek north to the Resonance Archive to figure out what's going on with it. I'm glad I discovered there's an overland route, so I don't have to make a canal to the northern ocean. In a couple weeks, I should have a review and I can move on to Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.

But that's not why I'm writing this post. The real reason is that I'm hitting the same wall I usually hit in these long games. It happened when I played my heavily modded games of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas (each of which took about 200 hours), it happened in Stardew Valley, it happened in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and it's when I start off very excited, and I make big plans, and I stretch out the gameplay as long as I can, and then there comes a time when my motivation just...peters out, and I start rushing headlong toward the end so I can finish. There's no specific point where the switch is thrown, and I can predict when it will happen. In Vintage Story, I had a bunch of plans for what I was going to do when spring finally came again, all the crops I would plant and the upgrades I did to my greenhouse to prepare for it, and now it's looking like it'll be pointless because I'll beat the game before it's warm enough to put any seeds in the ground.

Some of this is just that I'm doing too much of the same thing and want a change. For example, it didn't happen in Baldur's Gate II. Maybe because I played it in bits in between the other things I'm doing. On the other hand, even though there's a whole route and revamped content in Night in the Woods that I haven't done yet, I haven't gone back to it yet after eight years. And this is in contrast with literature--there I often don't want a book to end, and I know some of that is because I write reviews of all the books I read so finishing a book means I have homework, but I also write reviews of all the games I play so there's no difference there. And of course, books obviously don't take 200 hours to read unless you're reading the Talmud or something, and Daf Yomi means you stretch that out like I stretched out my Baldur's Gate II playthrough. So what is it?

Okay, between this paragraph and the previous one I stared out the window for a while and you know, I actually thought of a possible explanation--action. Video games are an active medium, they require you to do things to complete them. Even the most text-heavy visual novel requires you to make a plot-relevant choice occasionally. Books (and TV shows etc) don't require any action, they just require absorption of information. So maybe what I'm actually getting sick of is the repetitive actions, and what's more, the constrained possible range of actions. In Vintage Story I can move blocks around, explore, craft, fight monsters, farm crops, and so on...but there are very few NPCs to talk to, no character sheet to level, no job classes to pick, etc. The mechanics have been basically the same for those entire 200 hours and what I really want is a set of new mechanics. Order of Ecclesia has platforming challenges, gimmick boss fights, and killing monsters for their glyphs. Vintage Story has...well, I've heard it does have a gimmick boss fight but it doesn't have any of the rest of those. It'll be a big change.

You know, I didn't actually expect to come up with a real answer when I sat down to write this, but it also explains why I tend to pick very different games. Just look at the list of games I played in 2024 and you'll notice I never played the same type of game twice in a row. The closest were River City Girls and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, but the former was a co-op beat-'em-up and the latter was almost a metroidvania, so they were still very different. What I'm looking for is mechanical variety.