hkellick | Network

We finally got around to watching the first Stranger Things new episode drop! Somehow I had remained completely and utterly unspoiled for it, to the extent of having even forgotten that there was a new season until suddenly a post with "stranger things spoilers" arrived on my Tumblr dash and I immediately blocked the tag. So I knew literally nothing.

( Random spoilers in no particular order )

dine

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musings1931 posting in

holiday_wishes

I have lost all track of how many years I have participated in this community, but it's always fun. I've already granted a couple wishes and plan to look at more. That said, here is my list.

ideas for a gratitude journal
Easy recipes (bonus if they're for instant pot or slow cooker)
Christmas cards
hot beverages for these cold winter days (the only things I'm not into are matcha and/or lavender. Otherwise, I am open to trying most things.)
gift cards for Uber, Instacart, or amazon
baby girl clothes for my reborn (1-3 month for the size)
fidget toys
anything from my amazon wish list
And last but not least, I would love to learn guitar but don't have one. A beginner guitar would be awesome

If you need my information, please feel free to PM me. Thank you, and I hope everyone has a happy holiday season.

kaberett

Previously: uk.bookshop.org were selling a Tor ebook with DRM applied, which I only noticed after I had bought it, because all? Tor ebooks? are DRM-free? at the request of the publisher? Like, Hive applies DRM to them, but given that bookshop.org lets you filter for DRM-free, this... was surprising.

My initial support request for (1) an explanation and (2) any chance of a refund, realise this is totally on me though, ... got me an almost-immediate refund, which I was not expecting, and a very entry-level explanation of What DRM Is, which I sort of was. So I wrote back saying thank you very much, and also, Tor went famously DRM-free in about 2012, and they're definitely supplying this specific ebook to other retailers without DRM applied.

There was A Pause.

A day or two later I received a response from someone with "Senior" in their signature, thanking me for my patience and saying they were Investigating.

A few days after that I noticed that the ebook in question was now marked DRM-free: hurrah! ... but when I bought it, and clicked on the "yes please download my DRM-free ebook" button, nothing happened.

I did not write back in because I have been. preoccupied.

But a few days after that I tried again and this time the download did work! So hurrah for bookshop.org needing me to do much less assertive escalation than I'd been expecting, and also for noticing that something was still broken and Fixing It without me needing to get around to e-mailing in about it.

... the quick part of this note was going to be: I know there were Questions on my first post about Hey They're Doing Ebooks Now, about how you actually filter for DRM-free. As far as I can tell this isn't actually possible from the ebooks landing page, which seems A Pity, BUT when you search for something (which can absolutely be as vague as "science fiction"), the FORMAT dropdown lets you filter for DRM-free ebooks only. Obviously this is Not Ideal, in that one might actually like to browse All DRM-Free Ebooks, but it does exist as an option, where as far as I can tell it doesn't, at all, on e.g. Kobo. Hopefully this knowledge is helpful! And certainly The Above Saga has caused me to think sufficiently positively of them that I'm likely to default to them for my ebooks in future.

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: pleased

purplecat

View of the edge of Stonehenge with a fallen stone in the foreground.

nanila

If you had to participate in one Olympic event, what would it be and why?

Curling. It looks delightful. And there's no way I'm running long distances, contorting myself into weird shapes, flinging heavy things, or hurling myself off high platforms.
What is the one song you always sing along to?

Just one? There are loads. I have no shame. The ones I belt out loudest are Evanescence “Bring Me To Life”, Joan Jett's “I Love Rock n Roll”, and Guns n Roses “Paradise City”.
Do you wear a seatbelt in the car?

I'm sorry, what?! Apart from this being the law, I don't want to die or suffer horrific disfigurement from being in an accident, the chances of which wearing a seat belt has been exhaustively demonstrated to reduce.

So yes, I do wear a seat belt in the car. Always.
Car, SUV or truck and why?

I favour a car. Preferably something small and fast. I like being able to accelerate quickly, and the less time I have to spend getting from A to B, the better. Much as I enjoy going fast, I also find long drives really damn boring.
Are you a good/bad driver? Explain.

I think I'm okay. I had to pass the UK driving test, which is legendarily difficult, and it definitely made me a better driver. I'm careful about keeping my distance and I always make sure I'm well rested when I get behind the wheel.

cosmolinguist

I ended up stepping in to read out the questions and answers for a Christmas quiz at work today, a colleague made it but then lost her voice so needed someone else to do the talking. She got two someone elses, R and me. We traded off asking the questions, and one of R's was the name of the Wallace & Gromit movie that came out on Christmas Day in 2024.

At which point I quietly muttered "two years ago already, gosh" and R said "Erik, that was last year."

Oh! Yeah! It was! It's only 2025 now!

"It has been a long year," he said kindly, and as he's basically acted as project manager for the reports I've written he knows as well as anyone how long my year has been at work!

pegkerr

We gathered at my sister Betsy's this year, and we had a lovely evening together. Because everyone in my family is a marvelous cook, the food, of course, was delicious. It's a matter of great joy to all of us that my mom is still with us to celebrate the holidays.

I hope you all had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we did.

Image description: Top: a buffet set with Thanksgiving foods. Below that: a family gathered around a Thanksgiving table. Lower center: a mother and daughter smile at the camera. Bottom: a caramel cheese cake, surrounded by decorative squashes.

Thanksgiving

48 Thanksgiving

Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.

Current Mood: thankful

dolorosa_12

This week's prompt is my sneaky way of getting a two-for-one deal when it comes to Friday open threads plus December talking meme, and was suggested by

morbane: talk about a book that changed the way you read books.

( My answer )

Do any of you have books that changed the way you read, for any reason?

spikedluv

I had a pedicure this morning. I went with a red-red polish. For the design she painted white stripes, so it looked like a candy cane. After that, I hit Walmart to do my regular weekly shopping. On the way downtown I remembered that I needed a blood draw for my doctor appt on Monday. (I didn’t forget about the appointment, I knew it was coming up in December, but December seemed to leap upon me suddenly!) Then I remembered that I needed to stop by the pharmacy, as well!

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I finished up chili for supper and made cornbread. (The chili was not my best, disappointing.)

I stopped at the library to pick up a book. Our library didn’t have the new In Death book yet, so Librarian #2 (not the head librarian), who has already read the book, took it out from a different library where she also works, for me. I need to get that book read quickly and take even better care than usual since it’s not even signed out under my name. There was a surprise book that I had actually requested waiting for me, too.

I hung my wreath! Wreaths used to come with a little wire thingy that you could loop over the hanger, but no more. I had to wait to get a piece of wire from the garage to use.

I lit my scented candle, turned on the few Christmas ornaments that light up, and put the shuffle on my old iPod that barely works these days so I could listen to Christmas music and did a good number of Christmas cards! Very pleased with myself.

I started the new In Death book I got today and Zoo Tampa was my background tv in the evening.

Temps started out at 30.2(F) and reached 30.9. When I got home around noon, it was 29-something and just kept hovering in that vicinity, 28, 29, 30 . . . It was also very windy. Very. We weren’t supposed to get any snow, but suddenly I’m getting warnings for snow squalls from TWC app. We got enough snow that I had to go back out and shovel after supper clean-up, while Pip was out blowing open the trails again. (Between the snow and the wind, the trails had gotten pretty clogged in certain places.) It had already fallen to 15 degrees by that point, so it was chilly out, and still windy.

Mom Update:

Mom was doing the same, sadly. She’s still eating, thankfully, but not all of it is sitting well. She tucked herself away in her ‘den’ where she is hidden from seeing what the weather is like because she didn’t like seeing more snow coming down, and watched a Hallmark movie that she enjoyed, then her usual Love Boat and Mama’s Family. *g* One of her friends from work called her, which was nice.

dine

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bedes posting in

holiday_wishes

Hi, hello! My name is Azure, and I'm a queer and disabled young adult, and certifiable fandom geek. I'm look forward to fulfilling some wishes (I have a few bookmarked and fulfilled a few already!). In the meantime, here is my list!

˚˖𓍢ִ໋ ୧ ✉️ ‧₊˚ .⛸️ ❄︎ ⋅

1. Help me move! I'm currently saving up to move out of my parents' home! They forbid me from going on HRT, so I'm trying to move ASAP. Plus, I live in a red state with lots of anti-trans legislation.

My Paypal.me is here, and my Ko-fi is here!

2. Comments on my fics! I am AzureMist on AO3, and some fandoms I've written for include Dungeon Meshi, MILGRAM, Splatoon, and Pokémon, among other things! If you're familiar with any of the fandoms I've written for, from 2021 onward, I'd really, really appreciate it if you could spare some kind words!

3. Rec me your favorite indie games! I loooove indie games!!! Especially queer indie games. If you know any hidden gems fitting that description, please, tell me about them! Break out your niche itch.io faves!!! Some of my favorite games along these lines include In Stars and Time, Bad End Theater, Celeste, Fields of Mistria, Great God Grove, Smile For Me, Our Life: Beginnings & Always, and Dead Plate! (No games with incest, please.)

4. Digital giftcards! Specifically Nintendo eShop, Steam, Pokémon Center and DoorDash gift cards! I have a long gaming-related wishlist, so if you could help make even a dent in that, it would be very appreciated. The Pokémon Center is the official Pokémon merch store, and Pokémon is my one true fandom, so it makes sense why I would love some items from there (especially Pokémon plushies, as I collect them)! And lastly, DoorDash cards will be used for yummy holiday treats like cookies~!

5. Pledge to support the Starbucks strike! I know, I know, believe me, I know! This is the best time of year for Starbucks! But Starbucks workers are currently undergoing a national ULP strike to end the company's union busting, and demand better wages, amongst other things. I worked for Starbucks for a brief time this year, so it'd mean a lot if you could pledge to not cross the picket line.

6. Paid time on Tumblr! I'm azuremist! Tumblr is my main online platform of choice, so I'd get a ton of usage out of it.

7. Art of my OCs! I'm basically always looking for art of my fursona and persona! Since they're both fat like I am, it can be hard to find artists willing to draw them, so it'd be super appreciated. Linked is a page with each character's information and gallery!

8. Steam games! Steam gift cards too much of a hassle? I understand. (What kinda digital store doesn't let you send an e-gift card by email? In 2025??) Then maybe consider gifting me a game more directly with Humble Bundle! Specific games on my wishlist include Great God Grove, Volcano Princess, and Ikenfell! (Maybe even get me a surprise game, based off of my likes listed in #3? Yes, this is me inviting you to try to indoctrinate me into your video game fandoms!)

9. Support for my art accounts! A share, a kind comment, or maybe even a follow for any of my art accounts would warm my heart!! It's brutal out here for us artists online in this day and age... I am primarily active on Tumblr and Bluesky!

10. Spare my beloved's site some kind words! This one's a secret, okay? Don't mention that I sent you! But my long-suffering husband has a simple website! It contains things like some of his art, and a work-in-progress guide to shiny hunting. Pup often gets discouraged with pups site, and hasn't updated it in a while because of it. So, please consider looking around, then signing the guestbook at the bottom of the homepage with some kind words!

˚˖𓍢ִ໋ ୧ ✉️ ‧₊˚ .⛸️ ❄︎ ⋅

Thank you and happy holidays to you all! My email is azures.mist@protonmail.com, and my Steam account is azuremists!

Current Mood: thankful

rocky41_7 posting in

booknook

Title: The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp
Author: Leonie Swann (trans: Amy Bojang)
Genre: Fiction, mystery, murder mystery, crime thriller

Book # (checks notes) 13! From the "Women in Translation" rec list has been The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp by Leonie Swann, translated from German by Amy Bojang. This book concerns a house full of elderly retirees who end up investigating a series of murders in their sleepy English town.

This book was truly a delight from start to finish. I loved Swann's quirky senior cast; they were both entertaining and raised valid and very human questions about what aging with dignity means. It did a fabulous job scratching my itch for an exciting novel with no twenty-somethings to be seen. Now Agnes, the protagonist, and her friends are quite old, which impacts their lives in significant ways. However, I felt Swann did a good job of showing the limitations of an aging body--unless she's really in a hurry, Agnes will usually opt to take the stair lift down from the second floor, for instance--without sacrificing the depth and complexity of her characters, or relegating such things merely to the youth of their pasts.

The premise of this book caught my attention immediately, but after a lifetime of books with riveting premises that dismally fail to deliver, I was still wary. I'm happy to report that The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp fully delivers on its promise! Swann makes ample and engaging use of her premise.

The story itself is not especially surprising; if you're looking for a real brain-bender of a mystery or a book of shocking plot twists, this is not it. But I enjoyed it, and I thought Swann walked an enjoyable line between laying down enough clues that I could see the writing on the wall at some point, without giving the game away too quickly. There are no last-minute ass-pulls of heretofore unmentioned characters suddenly confessing to the crime here! The main red herring that gets tossed in the reader is likely to see for what it is very quickly, but for plot-relevant reasons I won't mention here, it's very believable that Agnes does not see that.

Agnes herself was a wonderful protagonist; I really enjoyed getting to go along on this adventure with her. She had a hard enough time wrangling her household of easily-distracted seniors even before the murders started! But the whole cast was endearing, if also all obnoxious in their own way after decades of settling on their own way of getting through life.

Bojang does a flawless job with the translation; she really captures various English voices both in the dialogue and in Agnes' narration. The writing flows naturally without ever coming off stilted or awkward.

I really had fun with this one, and I'm delighted to here there's apparently a sequel--Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime--which I will definitely be checking out.

shanaqui posting in

holiday_wishes

Hi, I'm Nicky/Eirian/

shanaqui, participating here for the umpteenth year.

I wasn't sure if I'd make a post this year, but this morning our eldest and much beloved rabbit died, and you know what... I could use any excuse for a pick-me-up and to think about something else. 2025 has been filled with personal loss (I also lost my grandmother this year), and I need some cosiness and love.

PHYSICAL STUFF:

1. A book from my Amazon wishlist. The most recent additions are the things I want most; I've also indicated priority on some stuff. Books are my biggest comfort, so it's a biggie for me. Books can be sent direct to me via the wishlist.

2. If you prefer getting books from non-Amazon places, that is very valid. Book vouchers for Kobo UK, Bookshop.org UK, Waterstones UK or National Book Tokens work well as an alternative way to treat me to a book. My email address is thebrightspark [at] gmail [dot] com.

FANDOM STUFF:

3. Recs or new fics for the Liushen pairing from The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System. I love Liu Qingge and Shen Yuan together, but I don't like it when it splits up an established relationship between Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan (I love them too, Binghe deserves happiness), so we're mostly talking AUs/canon divergences. Right now I'm most interested in happy stuff. Explicit is OK. Bingliushen is also okay.

4. Liushen art/art recs. Pretty much the same here as above!

5. Recs or new fics for the Huaqing pairing from Heaven Official's Blessing/TGCF. I have really come to adore Hua Cheng and Mu Qing as a couple, picturing allll that devotion soaking into Mu Qing's insecurities, and the two of them being total assholes to everyone together. Again, I don't like it to split up Hualian (I love Hualian!), so it'd be AU/canon divergence. Xianle quartet all together is also fine if that gels better.

6. Huaqing art/art recs. Same again. I haven't actually seen any Huaqing art and I'd love to. Donghua or manhua appearances are both fine.

7. Recs for MDZS Wangxian fic. I've only just read the books, let's get me reading. I'm probably looking most for slice of life stuff over really plotty stuff. I'm done having my heart lacerated, I just want them to be happy! AU/canon divergence is fine.

OTHER STUFF:

8. Recs for non-fiction books. I read a wide array of subjects, most recently including: nineteenth century fashion, the Bayeux Tapestry, the history of children's literature, tuberculosis, pyramids, the Cheapside jewelry hoard, the Soviet space program, folk music, medieval manuscripts, healthcare in the UK in WW2, valkyries, ancient Mesopotamia... Having read about something before doesn't preclude me from reading something else on the topic, and conversely not having read something probably doesn't mean I'm not interested.

9. Recs for danmei/baihe you love. I've read MXTX's work and The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish (and have a few others lined up like The Husky and His White Cat Shizun and Guardian). I would prefer to read editions published in English rather than fan translations, but I can always keep an eye out for something you love getting a translation...

10. Recs for manga/manhwa/graphic novels/etc. I've recently enjoyed A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation, A Boy Named Rose, The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter, A Side Character's Love Story, Home Sick Pilots, Solo Leveling, Tied to You, Love Everlasting... yeah, a bit of a weird mix. So I'd love to hear about the ones others enjoy that might tickle my interest.

Thanks, and a warm and safe December to all. ♥

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: Lorien Testard / Alice Duport-Percier - Until Next Life (Solo Voice)

sholio

For reasons not worth exploring at this juncture (i.e. a friend asked which book to start with), I reread Jhereg earlier this week and then promptly tore through Yendi, Dragon, Taltos, quite a bit of Tsalmoth, and am now reading Issola. (Look, they're short books, okay.)

( Spoilers and speculation about Where It's All Going )

redbird

I went to the dentist yesterday to get my teeth cleaned, and on my way out made a follow-up appointment. When I got home, I realized that they'd given me an earlier appointment than I thought, or wanted, so I had to call them today.

I also got halfway through filing a claim for insurance reimbursement last night, before realizing that I didn't have the right paperwork. In the process, I found out how to file a claim for the glasses I had made a couple of months ago, which I'd thought would be complicated.

Those forms require a National Provider Identification number, which can be found online. Praise wikipedia! Googling didn't find me the relevant website, but the Wikipedia article has a link to it. The website is searchable by anyone, if you have the provider's name and location, and "Arlington, MA" was sufficient, without the street address.

Having talked to the dentist's office, I now have a 3:00 appointment for my next cleaning, and have submitted the insurance claim.

cosmolinguist

Having determined that I'll need to buy my own lefse-making stuff, I finally remembered today to start my usual process of purchasing anything: asking V to do it for me, heh.

I sent them a list -- rolling pin, ricer, flat griddle, and what we call a lefse spatula the internet seems to call a lefse stick or lefse turner; I included a photo of one to make it clear -- and they did a great job; almost everything is on the way already. But it meant an afternoon looking at and thinking about the kinds of things I haven't in a while -- krumkake! which my grandma made when I was very little before declaring it too much work, which is fair enough but that means it took on near-mythical status in my mind; the other Minnesota Culture asserting itself stuff you find when you search for this because lefse has become a symbol of white Midwestern heritage. You can buy t-shirts that say "lefse ladym" modeled by someone holding a lefse spatula, but they don't sell the spatula, it's just a prop. There's shirts that say

Lefse&
Hotdish&
Pop&
Lutefisk

All these cultural markers lined up in a row. It's all both compelling and repulsive to me.

I've inherited a little money from the sale of Grandma's house -- despite all my attempts to refuse it, Mom insists that I buy something for myself with it. I'm going to make sure that she knows a bit of it is going on inferior versions of stuff that she never considered collecting for me because she refused to have anything to do with the house clearance, to make some point to her sisters that neither they nor I understand. An English friend perceptively pointed out "I'm guessing that sort of 'I'm having to buy a thing that you already had and (effectively) threw out' inflicts a very specific kind of midwestern sting." I could hardly have put it better myself. I'm not doing it to be passive-aggressive, though I imagine it'll be perceived that way.

Thinking about this all afternoon has led to feeling so immersed in things I miss so much. It's been kinda sad and tiring.

spikedluv

TV Talk:

9-1-1: On hiatus until Jan 8.

Matlock: No new ep this week; new eps return Dec 4.

Tracker: Good ep. ( spoilers )

TV News:

Scarpetta: I just read that they’re making a tv series out of the Kay Scarpetta books! I didn’t keep up with the series, but I enjoyed I (for the most part). I’m looking forward to seeing this and hoping it’s worth watching! Nicole Kidman Suits Up as ‘Scarpetta’ in First Look at Amazon’s Crime Thriller Series (variety.com)

spikedluv

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. I hit Walmart while I was downtown and made a quick stop at Dollar General on the way home. This was not my usual Walmart trip; I needed to pick up a new vacuum cleaner and some cute outfits to send to Alaska!niece for Hazel. (I already bought Hazel a Green Bay Packer’s t-shirt, because that’s her mom’s favorite team. *g*)

I immediately put the vacuum cleaner together and used it in the living room. My old vacuum has not been able to do that rug in ages. Even raising it as high as it goes, it feels like it’s sucking the rug in and I need two hands to move it. This vacuum moved over that rug like a dream! I may actually start to enjoy vacuuming now! (Haha, no, not really!)

I visited mom, then stopped at Sunnycrest (to pick up the wreath I’d ordered) and Stewart’s (for milk) on the way to pick up the dogs at the garage.

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I used the leftover chicken and broth to make chicken and gravy over rice for supper.

I napped and watched an HGTV program. I also ‘started’ my Christmas cards! (Since I got to it late in the day, and Pip came home early, I managed to get two written out, but it’s a start!!)

Temps started out at 22.1(F) (when I got up, but dropped to 15.8 before I left the house) and reached 36.7.

Mom Update:

Mom was not feeling well when I visited her. ( more back here )

The color of infinity inside an empty glass

The random insanity of your not-entirely-typical geek

Stranger Things 5x01-04

the mother of monsters is calling

Holiday Wish List

quick note re bookshop.org

VBG

Random Neolithic Stones on a Friday

The Friday Five on a Friday

What's my age again

2025 52 Card Project: Week 48: Thanksgiving

Friday open thread: books that changed the way you read

The Day in Spikedluv (Thursday, Dec 4)

I went home with the waitress the way I always do

Happy Holidays To You! (2025)

Book Review: The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp

Holiday wishes for some pick-me-ups

Rereading Dragaera

dentist, and insurance

Lefse is Beautiful

TV Talk: Tracker & TV News: Scarpetta

The Day in Spikedluv (Wednesday, Dec 3)

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