roguecrafter

I found out today someone I've seen around in fannish circles - not knew, or ever spoke to, but seen around semi-regularly for idk at least 15 years - died earlier this year. :( And so, I am sad. It's not really grief, I didn't really know them, but still. They were part of the community and now they're gone and it sucks. :(

There are many reasons why getting older is hard, and this is very much one of them. Particularly for someone like me, who's mostly had older friends, but just in general, too. The longer you're around the more people you know die, that's just... how it works. Alas. :(

Anyway I don't really have a point or anything. I'm just sad.

Current Mood: sad
Current Location: Birthplace

I did NOT have much in the way of brain at all today. Basically just read, and played some Minecraft in the evening. Which is fine, it's Sunday, if there's ever a day to veg out without worrying about it it'd be Sunday.

Still, I DID manage to get myself to have a shower, since I need to go get meds tomorrow, so I still have SOME brain left! :D Not displeased with this, no.

And now Sushi's making a nuisance of himself, which does tend to mean it's 'go the fuck to sleep o'clock' - not that that stops him, it's just a semi-reliable reminder - so I'mma do that, yes.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Birthplace

Read book 92. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach, 1970, a fable, as the characters are literally seagulls, about how the Flock are inspired by joining an obsessive flying-and-starving cult that it would be insulting all round to describe as Buddhism-lite-for-libertarian-Christians. It gave me the feeling of a late 60s hippy cult trying to manifest, and very much Of Its Time as it was written 1967 ish (at last, a realistic use for the phrase "of its time"). Not my thing / out of five, but I can understand why some people find it interesting or useful in the same way people can find inspiration in bland self-help platitudes or undemanding mass-market spirituality, because the inspiration is contributed by the reader (or their Genius / Juno / whatever).

However, remember that the unexamined life is definitely worth living: look at dogs! Be honest, reincarnation as a domestic dog or a wild seagull? Dogs, innit.

Poll #33642

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

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If binary choice reincarnation was compulsory?

View Answers

Wild seagull (Larus unspecifica)
2 (22.2%)

Domestic dog (Canis familiaris)
4 (44.4%)

Nope, not even for a humorous poll
3 (33.3%)

Abominations unto Nuggan?

View Answers

Seagulls!
1 (10.0%)

Lumping gull species together as "seagulls".
9 (90.0%)

Seagull-proofed bins. /typing with talons
1 (10.0%)

All sneaky chip thieves, actually.
4 (40.0%)

(Not dogs because even Nuggan would never!)
3 (30.0%)

Pretty chill day today! Went for a walk with Mama, which was fun! For whatever reason (and it really shouldn't've been overexertion) I had to pass out when I got home though, so that was annoying. Tried to not, read a bit and and did some sewing and stuff first, but nope. Had to. Body what are you up to I ate breakfast and lunch and drank water and took my meds and did an exercise! My blister's even gone down without popping! Bleh.

Other than that, not a lot. Played minecraft this evening, as usual, hahaha. That's about it.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Birthplace

ANOTHER gorgeous day, I am both surprised and extremely happy! :D Still got my blister from yesterday, so no weeding, but I sat in the sun and did some crochet and knitting, which was great. :D I got the second jigglypuff foot done, and worked on my sock - I thought I had enough brain to do a second jigglypuff piece but no, I somehow had like 15 stitches when I was supposed to have 9 on like. Round 4. Soooo I pulled that out and stuck to the sock, which is at the very easy 'just keep knitting until it's long enough' stage.

Also did some more of the tiny stitches on the switch case - almost done! I think! If nothing else done with the hardest part (where the fabric turns around making the bottom, pita to get at), so that's nice.

Other than that, something something Minecraft something something bed time now yes. That.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Birthplace

I'm not sure where the last hour went, um. Like, I finished playing minecraft a little later than expect but it wasn't THIS late. Time. Why.

Anyway, my parents had friends over today, which was... I mean I'm glad for them? But omfg so. Noisy. So noisy! Even through the walls etc!

Still, got a sock darned, and also went outside and did some weeding! Had to stop in my battle against the onion grass because I got a blister - but it hasn't popped! I'm proud of myself I usually fuck that up! And I did get a whole bucket of weeds in the bin, and even though onion grass is so. small. For the amount of effort it takes to get out, a good proportion of it was onion grass!

In less fun news FUCKING IVY IS BACK HISSSSSSSS >E >E >E I will be vigilant and try and get any new leaves - I got out as much as I could see today, and there wasn't too much, but still. Ivy! :| Fucking shitty weed of doom, I hates it.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Birthplace

Won't be around for the next few days as I will quite literally have my head in the sand. /duneroamin'

With Jonathan Livingston Seagull (4 votes) on my phone and Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop (5 votes) in my rucksack. Imagine, the library could've provided BERYL BAINBRIDGE's much maligned English Journey (after J. BOYNTON Priestley's earlier English Journey). Or I could've cheated and borrowed Mr Lucton's Freedom by Francis BRETT Young which I saw on a returns trolley.

Two books diverged at a sandy shore
And, sorry I couldn't leaf through more
And be one reader, branching out
I took each text as far as I might
Re-turning leaves in autumn light.

Ugh why do I keep staying up way too late. Why does time vary in its speed so much. Etc, etc.

Anyway went with Mama to drop some stuff off at the opp shop this morning. Found myself a bulbasaur!!! :D And also a stuffed animal for A for her art projects! :3 :3 :3

Also finished darning that one sock, plus put some patches on both it and its pair. It is really shitty fabric! But learning, so.

I am very very tired now I'm no longer in the reading fugue state, but I have a warm purry girl on my lap so I don't wanna get up. If I stay here though I may pass out and like. Fall over. Which will displease her at least as much as getting up... :/ Alas, physics.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Birthplace

- Book blurbs: the trend for covering the outside of a book with meaningless blurbs (often from off-putting authors) while hiding any description of the actual contents, such as whether it's even fiction or non-fiction, on an internal dust jacket flap is annoying to me, especially when browsing in one of those posh bookshops with rubber bands around the books to prevent them being opened by anyone except the purchaser. And if I use my phone to look up whether Tom Cox's latest hardback is another novel or more essays then the sales assistant probably assumes I'm checking if it's cheaper online (which, yes, it would be). /grit in my book oyster

- Reading: 92 books to 17 Sept 2025.
- To Read shelves 8 September 2025: 78 (down from 90 on 1 Jan but up from 68 at lowest ebb this year so far).

85. Endemic, Exploring the Wildlife Unique to Britain, by James Harding-Morris, non-fiction natural history, 5/5.
Engaging citizen science via travel memoir, but probably only of interest to UK readers for obvious reasons. I would happily have read a similar book twice the length, even though some of the individual chapter subjects don't especially interest me (the Elms are haunting me though). I can see why the author is employed as a science communicator.

89. Lady Susan, by Jane Austen, 1794, epistolary novel, 4/5.
This is not a moral tale, lol. Fun though, and I note that ALL the women get more or less what they wanted: Lady Susan ensures her place in society at the expense of a gullible man, the Vernons and De Courcys keep their precious respectability, Frederica remains unmarried, and Mrs Johnson remains secure although she gets her comeuppance to some extent for being a Bad Friend - the one sin Austen never forgives in a woman. The 2016 film, confusingly titled Love and Friendship, was also fun with many glorious costumes.

90. The Hotel Avocado, by Bob Mortimer, 2024, comedic crime novel, 5/5
Entertaining sequel to The Satsuma Complex. Very Bob Mortimer. Better read with the first novel freshly in mind. I sensed the set-up for a third novel featuring the corrupt councillor and Brighton underworld.
Warning for descriptions of physical violence, including to children by other children.

92. Current reading quote: pg28 [Corrour railway station] "was featured in the film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, the remote station to which Renton, Spud, Sick Boy, and Tommy travel in a bid to remove themselves from the pharmaceutical temptations of Scotland's Central Belt." (I'd just borrowed this train-based travel book from the library yesterday when Born Slippy drove past so fate clearly decreed I would simultaneously indulge two types of trainspotting.)

Did some more work on the switch case - this bit is half done now! Yay! - and then I knew I didn't have enough brain to do a jigglypuff piece, so I picked up my mending.

Unfortunately the thing on top of the pile needs darning, not patching - these are all socks, and it's the size of the hole as much as anything - and I just. Started on that.

Lemme tell you, that did NOT help my lack of brain problem! Didn't get too far into that before I simply could not concentrate at ALL, hahahaha. Still, this particular hole is next to three previous darns (none of which are looking like they're gonna collapse!), and I can see how much I've improved! Like, even the rough and read stuff WORKS, because the problem with these socks is that the fabric does not have enough structural integrity to keep up with the amount I'm using them, and sewing thread is a LOT tougher.

But my stitches are getting smaller and neater! The stuff I did today would probably have blended in entirely, if I'd done it in a matching colour. (Instead the socks are yellow and the thread I'm up to in my 'get rid of the crappy old sewing kit threads' project is black. But like. Socks. Toes on a sock, even! I do not give a shit, and also it makes it somewhat easier to see what I'm doing.)

So, definitely pleased with my progress! :3 Proof that choosing to darn terribly made socks as practice is WORKING, yessss.

Other than that, not a whole lot. Pmuch just played Minecraft this evening, which was fun. But now to bed!

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Birthplace

I began an A-Z (ish) reading challenge involving going into a library fiction section and choosing an available book from the next letter. I decided to prioritise the shortest books I haven't read in each section out of laziness and got off to a good start with Jane Austen juvenilia (Lesley Castle, and "Catharine, or The Bower"), but today's B offering was Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, lol, which I've managed to avoid reading until now. I browsed further for a book outside my usual reading zone and picked Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum because most of the other translations were either terminally literary or murdery or both. I mean, I enjoy occasional excessively literary fiction but more at the experimental end than the navel-gazing middle. Anyway, I can't decide which to read so it's up to you (you're going to engineer a dead-heat so I have to read both, aren't you?).

ALSO, when I emerged from the stacks, squinting into the pleasantly warm yellow air, a new-ish hatchback, with the windows rolled down, cruised past banging out Born Slippy which, ok, it was big hit at the time and I understand nostalgia but rly? Although it's definitely hatchback muzak: "Mega, mega, mega going back to Romford / How am I at having fun?"

Poll #33624 Life is a series of multiple choice questions

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

View Respondents

B says hi!

View Answers

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
4 (33.3%)

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
6 (50.0%)

Dr Bellfrier has forgotten how to read!
4 (33.3%)

How am I at having fun?

View Answers

Born Slippy!
5 (50.0%)

No.
5 (50.0%)

As fucking usual when I try and call, I was on hold for a fucking hour. Anyway, as it turns out, I'm not being asked to do anything yet because I've still got two more weeks ~waiting period~ before my claim actually DOES anything. Which is annoying. But not as annoying as the fact that it doesn't TELL ME THAT ANYWHERE ON THE WEBSITE, which is just. W h y. Yez want people to look stuff up online rather than call! Why you not put relevant information on the site so people don't need to call. Why. This isn't actually a complicated thing I wanted to know, this time!!!

Bleh.

Anyway, other than that today was pretty excellent. Weather was GORGEOUS - I didn't need a jumper or anything until well after dark - and I got some of the hand sewing done AND made a foot for the jigglypuff. Which I am indeed still working on. Slowly.

But now it's time for sleep yes. Sleeeeep.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Birthplace

So this afternoon Mama and I went down to a local event, which was both smaller and more draining than I anticipated, uuuugh. (There was live music. I did not know there would be live music. Mama only told me there'd be talks periodically, not that we stayed long enough to listen to one.) Wasn't much to do unfortunately, so we didn't stay long and went for a walk instead... but I still needed to pass the fuck out when we got home. Sigh. Brains!!!

Other than that nothing super huge or anything! Minecraft and reading, mostly, as befitting a Sunday.

But I DID check my wallet name email, and there was a message saying my unemployment claim had been processed, so I checked on it just now and it's been approved! Yay! There's just... exactly zero information on what I have to do. Or in fact when I'll be paid. Or, you know, anything. >E

So tomorrow morning's gonna be me on the phone to them AGAIN, most likely, uuuuugh. So. Annoying.

Current Mood: grumpy
Current Location: Birthplace

Unsurprisingly, didn't do a huge amount today!

Went for a walk with Mama, which was nice, and ran into Auntie M which was fun! We didn't recognise her at first, we haven't previously encountered Auntie M In Footie Clothes. She was wearing a cap! So weird! I mean, her going to the football isn't news, just. Woah!

Did a bit of the handsewing for finishing off the switch case, too. It only ended up being like 20cm but I worked on it for idk at least an hour. Ugh, so time consuming, so many tiny tiny stitches. This thing is gonna be solid as hell! |D

And then this evening my heater fucking started smoking!!! :/ WHY. I've only had it what, a year or so? And yet. SMOKE. Ugh. (And now I'm EXTRA cold because I opened the window so the smoke smell could dissipate. Uuuuugh.) So, gonna have to get a new heater soonish! :/ It's warmer than it was, but it's still not warm, and who even knows if we're gonna get a cold snap at some point! So annoying!!!

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Location: Birthplace

So Mama and I sat together and crafted all afternoon, pmuch. It was really nice! Just that low-key keeping each other accountable thing. Really helpful!

I'm almost done sewing the switch case together! I've just gotta go over a few bits of the lining, to make sure it won't fray, and then add press studs and some decorative buttons. :3

A LOT of tiny little stitches, and it's not really the right shape to put it in the machine, so it's taking a WHILE, hahaha. Still, I might not be great at hand sewing, but I'm much better than I was, so it's not too bad! :D

Also, in excellent news, old work FINALLY got the paperwork they needed to fill in back to me. FINALLY. Took them two business weeks and I had to send a follow up email, for a goddamn two page form that's mostly just extremely basic identification information, but I have it! Have sent it in, too, so hopefully I'll hear back from the government SOON. Probably not next week though given. This entire fucking process. =_=

Other than that... nothing huge really. Minecraft, and then I got stuck in a fic which is why I'm. Still awake. >>;;; Oh well, at least it's the weekend, I don't have as many self-given tasks to do tomorrow!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Birthplace

1. What is your favourite fruit?

Oranges. /not...
My favourite fruit is J, in the rhyming slang sense, obv, although that's more an answer to "who is your favourite fruit?" Anyway, she's a complete and utter costard! The costard of my eye. A pearmainent feature of my life. She tickles my ribs, and is my other half... in a way. She is absolutely pipping and my top of the pips. I would never take her on the costard with the hilt of my sword, or throw her into the malmsey butt in the next room (which we have not got), not even for remuneration.
Or my favourite fruit is damsons, if you want the straight-forward answer, because the fruit tastes almost as good as the scent of damson flowers in spring.

2. What is the last book you read?

I have not yet read my last book (I hope!). The latest was Lady Susan, by Jane Austen (yes, I have also seen and enjoyed the film).

3. Do you like any of your school photos?

I don't possess any of the few school photos ever taken of me. No, I didn't "like" any of them although the photo of my entire primary school class dressed up ridiculously in homemade red, white, and blue accessories for Liz R II's silver jubbly was at least lolarious. :D

4. Do you ever blowdry your armpits to get the deodorant to dry quicker?

No, is that rly a thing? With most commercially produced western European liquid deodorants the best way to make them both work and dry faster is to gently rub your arms backwards and forwards as if you were running (not chaffing yourself, obv). This works the same way as rubbing your hands in an air dryer, which is faster than merely blowing, or working in liquid hand moisturiser &c.

5. What was the last film you watched?

Can't remember the last feature length fiction, but the last "film" I watched was a USian "rockhound" looking for Ordovician fossils in Kentucky. He makes a lot of excited noises and refers to his finds as "big boy" &c and my friend says that without the visuals he'd sound like a pr0n actor, lol. I also watched over 2 hours of Time Team's latest 3 episode documentary "Digging for Disney"; and the Tim Traveller's 13 minute race to the top of Monaco, between our Tim walking up stairs and Matt Gray walking on the level and using public lifts:
In Monaco, Elevators Are A Form Of Public Transport. So We Raced Them.

Met up with A for lunch! :D We ended up going to two galleries - A had some stuff to drop off for a friend at the first one (more stuffed animals hahahahhaha), and then we were close to the second so we poked our noses in there, too. Some super cool stuff!!! :D

Other than that... I got snacks! I kinda ate all the ones I had, so... yes. Snacks important. That's pretty much all I did today, though, kinda just passed the fuck out when I got home, as usual, and just a bit of minecraft this evening.

Oh, wait, no, I got another call from a recruiter! This one I think I did pretty okay with, so fingers crossed I'll at least get an interview! >: >: >: (Gonna have to brush up on React stuff, though, heh. Which I should probably do anyway, React is... very popular. Sigh.)

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Birthplace

$tyger: Isa, Lea, and Ven sketches from the Ultimania (Isa\Lea/Ven - battle of the pointy hair!)$

Nothing too interesting today, unsurprisingly. Did all the pet cleanup tasks I had planned, and also did a bunch of putting stuff back up on top of the bookshelves, now that I'm not gonna be able to put the shelves up there.

Room feels a LOT better now, not gonna lie. So much less visual clutter! Though like. The total number of items in a stupid place - ie, the floor, usually - hasn't gone down by much, it's just that the ones stored up there are generally BIG ones.

Didn't get any handicrafts done, though, bleh. Brain just crapped out on me, more than anything, very annoying. I DID however get a LOT of loose fur off Tortilla, which is nice! It's not quite spring shedding season yet, but it's definitely close and every bit helps!

Gonna meet A for lunch tomorrow, so I should uh. Go to bed. I'm tired, anyway, which I'm mostly blaming on my parents being home - I don't seem to be sleeping as well, which I think is due to ambient noise levels. I've woken up early a few times while they've been making coffee, etc. etc. And napping during the day is harder, because Mama. Oh well!

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Birthplace

Not that a huge amount happened, really. Finally blocked the switch case! Did some cleaning & tidying up. That's about all.

Today I went for a walk with Mama, and then I took my keyboard apart and cleaned the hell out of it. It. Um. It took a LOT longer than I expected - like, three hours or something - but I got SO much gunk out, omfg. It's not perfect, but it's so much better. :D

Haven't done any mending or knitting/crochet, which I really want to do, but it'll come! Soon! I hope. Tomorrow I've got to do the gross animal upkeep cleaning, which is fine, if annoying. Maybe after that.

I'm trying to not turn the desktop on until after tea, in an attempt to railroad my brain into getting some shit done rather than just read all day. Too early to tell how it'll go over time, but at least it's not been a dismal failure from the outset! :3

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Birthplace

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roguecrafter

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October 2013

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Page generated Sep. 23rd, 2025 11:00 am

Reading

And today, a sadness.

Jiiii

In which lolibobs took an early bath

Saturday!

Friday!

Something something Thursday I think

In which our heroine visits Llagerub on Sea

flomps

In which me / trainspotting otp

Today I did some sewing

In which life is a series of multiple choice questions

I swear to fuck that one hold song with the fucking static in it needs to DIE

Beauracracy!!!!

Saturday

Crafty Friday

In which oranges are not &c

Gallery Day, apparently

Wednesday? Yes.

Whoops I think I forgot to post yesterday

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October 2013

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