#i am having zero regrets

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (24-30 Dec 2023)

*delighted* this show went straight to full musical episode in only the second season. amazing.

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Hither, Page (Page & Summers #1) (Cat Sebastian, author; Joel Leslie, narrator) - reread; christmas-set post WW2 cozy mystery (vibes are basically 'agatha christie but queer')

🥰 The Missing Page (Page & Summers #2) (Cat Sebastian, author; Joel Leslie, narrator) - reread; the further adventures of Leo & James

😍 We Could Be So Good (Cat Sebastian, author; Joel Leslie, narrator) - reread; this was one of my fave books of the year tbh; loved the setting and the characters and the vibe

😍 Bells Are Ringing (A We Could Be So Good Holiday epilogue) (Cat Sebastian) - so grateful that Cat S gifts us a holiday epilogue every year!

🥰 The Things We Hide (ThePirateStorm) - 109K, stucky no powers omegaverse/accidental mpreg with fantastic amounts of pining and a great cast of fully realized supporting characters; I fucked up my sleep schedule to finish reading this and had zero regrets.

🥰 I'd Swing With You for the Fences (nontoxic) - 86K, Schitt's Creek AU with MLB player Patrick and David (who's still mostly canon David) - very warm and sweet and absolutely DELIGHTFUL

🥰 Third Eye (Felicia Day, author; full voice cast) - comedy fantasy audio drama about Laurel, who 15 yrs ago was the Chosen One and who…failed. Now her life is sad but she gets a 2nd chance when a terrible teen (who may also be the Chosen One) cannonballs into her life. Had a lot of fun listening to this, great voice cast featuring FD, Sean Astin, Wil Wheaton, London Hughes

💖💖 +186K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

[PODFIC] A Nativity of Oranges (Tanouska) - MCU: stucky, 9K - great podfic, reread, great Stucky holiday fic

How The Elf-King Stole Khuzmus (DeHeerKonijn, PointlesslyPoetic) - LOTR: 1.3K - a The Hobbit/Dr. Seuss mashup, very clever, great art

[Podfic of] Spaceships & Laserswords (blackglass, klb, luvtheheaven (VioletEmerald), reena_jenkins, Shmaylor, silverandblue, wordsaremyfaith) - Star Wars: finnpoe, 4K - great podfic of a short but hilarious & very sweet fic - modern AU where weirdo hermit Luke joins the (college-age) 'kids' D&D game & volunteers his sister to DM

[Podfic] Mission Impossible (quietnight) - MCU: shrunkyclunks, 20K - hilarious shrunkyclunks fic, great podfic version of it

flow through (rainbow_nerds) - Stranger Things: steddie, 6K - a gift for me! I requested @rainbow-nerdss continue in the universe created by sharp temporary walls and it was everything I could have wanted!!!! 💜

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2023

The Legendary Rick Perry and the Art of Dimension 20

D20: Fantasy High: Sophomore Year - s4, e21-22

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - s1, e7-10; s2, e1-10

Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road (2023 special #4)

Midsomer Murders - s24, e1-2

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

⭐ Hit Parade - Second-Chance Hits Edition

Vibe Check - 2023, Don’t Let The Door Hit You…

Ologies with Alie Ward - Alieology (YOUR HOST): an Ask-Me-Anything Goofy Hang

It's Been a Minute - Why grief sometimes looks like a hyphy party

One Year - The Making of One Year: 1990

⭐ Code Switch - The Fallout of a Callout

Hit Parade - The Posthumous Hits Edition, Live from Seattle

Pop Culture Happy Hour - 2024 Pop Culture Predictions

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Fun Christmas Oldies

my Dolly Parton Christmas playlist

Swingin' Christmas

Presenting Lindsey Stirling

Power Ballads Forever

[system-of-a-feather]

BTW if you think calming corners, sensory rooms, and other forms of dedicated spaces to handling overload, anxiety, or intense emotions in your house is something only for kids - or even worse - only neurodivergent kids, you are largely denying yourself a very helpful resource based on social norms.

Having a space dedicated to being safe and with easy access to things to help lower overstimulation and calm intense internal experiences is something that everyone can benefit from having

Not just kids

Not just neurodivergent kids

Not just neurodivergent adults

Not just mentally ill adults

Everyone - even the hypothetical person with no mental illness or physical disability

There is nothing "immature" about having spaces organized to make your difficult times easier to handle and I think everyone should consider dedicating maybe even just a shelf or corner in their place to having an abundance of self care resources

Self care is not a limited resource and not something that you have to be "bad enough to have"

If you think its a good thing for parents to provide their kids with rooms / spaces dedicated to different ways they can self regulate, then you should agree that if you are also dealing with any levels of difficulty self regulating, that it should be a good idea and good thing to provide yourslef with rooms / spaces dedicated to ways to help you self regulate

Children and adults both have emotions and life experiences that are hard to regulate / handle and both need ways to relax and calm down

Self care, sensory rooms, and coping / calming corners are resources that can help both children and adults with those difficult moments

[queerofthedagger]

i love the smash or pass poll so much. every time i'm like 'oh smash obviously. who wouldn't smash that??' only for there being a very high percentage who in fact would not smash that. like. ah. okay. right. the slutty bisexual experience is Not Universal, i forgot for a moment

[comas-are-for-sleeping]

its so mindboggling that people can go “how can you say free palestine if you’re queer” as if the opinions a person has changes the validity of their life??? yall sound real similar to the people saying trans people are a danger to society

[suffarustuffaru]

rating some rezero ships by um. how good they could cover up murder together

(feel free to read my tags for some explanations T^T)

[daybreakrising]

the former captain of the special security and surveillance patrol, reborn from the primordial sea

aka. meet redhead v.autrin & his current longer hairstyle and primordial eyes

[scuopsie]

MONSTA X Revival Week 2: first era 

[FATAL LOVE: A Series of Steamy Romance Novels]

[alsojnpie]

that image of kanon cringing is literally burned into my brain. pure art. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REBLOGGED IT AND OTHER PIECES FROM THAT DEACTIVATED ARTIST SO I COULD FIND IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fatcowboys]

slightly impulsive tattoo booked for saturday :3

[mikelogan]

mike logan: poor little meow meow

[shadowtriovibes]

my surgeon: you have to wait two full weeks after surgery to have any kind of sex, alright?

me: best i can do is nine days 😌

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (17-23 Dec 2023)

shout out to matt rogers for this delightful new entry to the xmas song canon

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Bookshops & Bonedust (Legends & Lattes #0) (Travis Baldree, author & narrator) - prequel novel of Viv's much younger days - just as fun and cozy as Legends & Lattes

🥰 Hashtag Soulmates (everwitch) - 44K, RWRB AU - deliberately tropetastic sort-of meta fic where Henry's a fanfic writer & Alex is one of his biggest fans and they work together but don't know it. Hard to explain but fun to read. Good stuff on the nature of fanfic; also hilarious bits where it walks right up to the crackfic line but doesn't go over. I really enjoyed reading something the author so clearly had a blast writing.

😊 In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life (Amy Schneider, author & narrator) - entertaining read

😍 Tommy Cabot Was Here (The Cabots #1) (Cat Sebastian) - reread, novella; just really in a mood to reread in this universe! Hadn't read this since I read Daniel's book, so it was fun to see him guest star as a 12 yr old

😍 Peter Cabot Gets Lost (The Cabots #2) (Cat Sebastian) - reread; I love all the Cabots but this one is my #1 fave by a smidge. The grumpy/sunshine is *chef's kiss*!

😍 Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots (The Cabots #3) (Cat Sebastian) - reread; Alex & Daniel are actually dating but too oblivious (and busy pining in silence) to realize it. I love these dumbasses.

😍 Luke and Billy Finally Get a Clue (The Cabots #3.5) (Cat Sebastian) - reread, set in the Cabots 'verse but with no Cabots in sight. Just two baseball boys pulling their heads out of their asses and figuring out what they mean to one another.

💖💖 +102K of shorter fic 💖💖

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Game Changer - s5, e6

Make Some Noise - s2, e15

Dirty Laundry - s3, e8

D20: Fantasy High: Sophmore Year - e16-20

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - s1, e1-6

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

It's Been a Minute - The IBAMmys: The It's Been A Minute 2023 Culture Awards Show

Today, Explained - EU vs. AI

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Songs To Help You Study

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - A Return to Recipe Graves

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Old City Hall Station

⭐ Switched on Pop - "Did I mention that it's Christmas in this club?" (w Matt Rogers)

The Sporkful - New Year’s Food Resolutions 2024

Today, Explained - How Barnes & Noble survived

Big Gay Fiction Podcast - "Time to Shine" with Rachel Reid

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang - “They Couldn’t Be Nicer Boys” (w/ Seth Meyers)

NPR's Book of the Day - 'Black AF History' examines American history from the perspective of Black people

Code Switch - Here are our favorite Code Switch episodes from 2023

Ed Zitron's 15 Minutes In Hell - Episode 20: Jamelle Bouie

Ologies with Alie Ward - Lemurology (LEMURS) with Lydia Greene

99% Invisible #564 - Mini-Stories: Volume 17

Today, Explained - The stretched-too-thin blue line

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Sniffing out What’s Special with Saskia Wilson Brown

One Year - 1990: The Angry Death of Kimberly Bergalis

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang - "You Can't Trust These Gay Guys"

⭐ Films To Be Buried With - Leslie Jones

Dear Prudence - My Mother-In-Law Doesn’t Wash Her Hands After Using The Bathroom. Help!

Cautionary Tales - When Stalin Killed the Weekend (with The Happiness Lab)

Our Opinions Are Correct - How Doctor Who Stood the Test of Time

Our Opinions Are Correct - BONUS: If You Could Turn Into Any Form of Transportation, What Would You Pick?

It's Been a Minute - Why does flying suck so much?

Off Menu - Ep 217: Ross Noble (Christmas Special)

⭐ Song Exploder - Foo Fighters "The Teacher"

⭐ Overinvested - Ep. 290: The Cutting Edge

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

my christmas playlist

Celtic Christmas

The Beach Boys' Christmas Album [The Beach Boys] {1964}

Merry Axemas & Merry Axemas 2

Orchestral Christmas Pops

Latin Jazz Christmas

Punk Rock Christmas

Lindsey Stirling Christmas

Orchestral Holiday Pops

It's a Holiday Soul Party [Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings] {2015}

my Christmas Divas playlist

Have You Heard of Christmas? [Matt Rogers] {2023}

Simply Christmas [Leslie Odom Jr.] {2016}

The Christmas Album [Leslie Odom Jr.] {2020}

Christmas With You [Laufey & Norah Jones] {2023}

Christmas Island [Jimmy Buffett] {1996}

'Tis The SeaSon [Jimmy Buffett] {2016}

Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family [Nick Lowe] {2013}

The Muppet Christmas Carol (Special Anniversary Edition) {2005}

Punk Rock Christmas

Classical Christmas

Rock & Roll Christmas

[apollo-zero-one]

Man I can't believe I had the chance to go to a performing arts school up through middle school and I fuckin quit after 6 months just because I got bullied. BRO YOUR HOMEWORK WAS POETRY!! YOU HAD TO PRACTICE DANCING TO COTTON EYE JOE AS YOUR BIG UNIT TEST. GYM CLASS HAD A CIRCUS UNIT!! YOU HAD A WHOLE DAILY CLASS ON IMPROV!!! YOU FOOL!! YOU ABSOLUTE IMBICILE!! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN A YOUTUBER!!! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THOSE TWEENAGERS GETTING LOADED BY MAKING SHITTY YOUTUBE SHORTS IN 2008-14!! But noooOoooOOOoo little miss Noellie (who WANTED TO GO!! who worked SO HARD and sent in an application essay and did an INTERVIEW to get in!!) couldn't handle disruptive classmates or little scuffles and petty grudges and general Attitude of the other students and cried to mommy to put her back in public school. I am EATING MY HAIR over what Could Have Been. I COULD BE SOMEONE'S ANNOYING YOUTUBER!! I could be a DISGRACED DISNEY CHANNEL STAR!! I could be an America's Got Talent winner! A mild to moderately successful comedian! I could be making short films!! But no no no precious thin skinned baby me heard a few new cus words and watched a teacher get heckled and begged to give up The Dream in favor of?? Quiet math tests?? I am such a fucking quitter I quit everything the second it gets too hard I always take the out as soon as it's offered what's my fucking damage.....

[hussyknee]

Deeply pissed off by accusatory and condescending ask. You're free to correct me but not lecture me. I'm a person with triggers too. Entirely too exhausted to even figure out what you're saying with two essay length asks that equate mental illness stigma with genocidal colonization and also acting like my mutual doesn't have schizophrenia themselves. Please unfollow if you can't explain things without sending me condescending missives about how you're disappointed in me and I should know better and I post "deeply harmful" tags. I am too busy scraping the bottom of the barrel to live up to whatever standards of moral social justice behaviour you think I should follow. I am also utterly traumatized by my 17 years in the psychiatric complex, I am also in a mental health crisis and struggling with bipolar. Neither I nor my OCD appreciate it.

Edit: okay nevermind, after seeing what this person reblogged in response to my mutual's post I have blocked them. Holy shit the vitriol and name-calling. Absolutely no.

[firepassed]

every day i think about the fact that keyleth stayed with percy's body after ripley killed him and cleaned up his wounds and i simply scream on the inside.

[theimaginatrix27]

Oops, I did it again

Sooo the reason I was looking up DS9 characters on the Star Trek wiki is that. I may have. Created another Six/Wild Swans AU.

For reference, since I'm tagging the relevant fandom and I've not mentioned some of these on here, I have currently got the following AUs of this fairy-tale/set of tales:

The Twelve Crowns Quartet (original setting, books 2-4 of currently planned series)

Wild Swans of Domino (Yu-Gi-Oh-based retelling, not linking because early chapters are under renovation)

Silence (original short story, set in modern era, a thing in my files that I'm tinkering with off and on)

The Spinner's Tale (tumblr-based retelling, as-yet unwritten)

Swans of Winterfell/Swans and Lions (ASOIAF retelling, currently on the backburner until I can think of a solid plot for it again that I'm confident enough to work on. Last one had many holes poked in it by well-meaning long-time fan).

Super Secret project for friend.

And now, one for the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, with Garashir as the central ship because oh my stars these two are fucking made for each other, help, AO3 fic writers have me swooning over them and I want them to be happy damn it they needs fluffy happiness after everything!

I was reading DS9 fics over the weekend for reasons, and came across a lovely little fairy-tale-flavoured Garashir fic called Innate Conditions, which I loved on sight.

And I'd already been having thinky thoughts about fantasy/fairy-tale AU with the above favourite fairy tale as the framework, and so now I'm writing it, and I'm 2700 or so words into it, and I don't know when I'll deem it ready for posting but I do want to try and make this one short. Please Prophets help me make it short, it doesn't need to be more than 15-20k, don't let it get out-of-hand, don't give me too many worldbuilding details please...

No spoilers for the ending (which I do know obvs), but how I'm making it work is Julian's parents do a dirty deal to entrap Julian after he's run off to be an adventurer for years and his party has become like a family to him, and curse all Julian's companions into birds (several different types, there are only two swans and they're the only married couple). Parents claim the only way Julian can free his friends/found family is to submit to their wishes. Julian then receives a dream visitation informing him there is, in fact, another way. But it involves nettle shirts and silence.

I can be timey-wimey in a fantasy AU, so Garak doesn't show up until Julian needs somewhere to hide out under a false name stay while completing his task, and the tailor in this random town I haven't named just happens to live in convenient proximity to the ultra-painful nettle variant he needs.

Again, no spoilers for ending.

Still not quite sure the bird selections I've made for certain cast members are the ones I'm gonna stick with but I googled the national bird of Ireland and it's too small for my needs/wants. Don't wanna think too hard about changes though, because that way lies stalling and I don't want a story this short to stall.