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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 10

A tricky one. This was written for Yuletide, but is not, technically, a Christmas fic. But a large and important section of it does happen over the Christmas holidays, so I have decided it’s close enough, especially since it means I made it to 12 without having to dig out old Gundam fic from the back of a closet. Also, I’m pretty proud of it. This is the only time I have written Dead Poets Society, and probably the only time I will, because I threw absolutely everything I had to say about it into this one story. (It was also the most popular thing I had on AO3 by a long shot, until I started writing in MDZS/Untamed fandom which is a lot more active.) There were actually two things I wanted to write – one about Todd and Neil, and one about Todd in the aftermath of what happens – and then some part of my brain was like JUST DO BOTH AT ONCE and the structure ended up working out pretty well.

(CW for suicidal thoughts in this one, outside the canonical)

Apo Koinou (Dead Poets Society, Neil/Todd)
Rated T

‘They've all retired for the night, or at least scattered. Jeffrey's gone to phone his girlfriend in Boston, his parents have gone to their room to read. Todd sits alone on the living room floor in his pyjamas and bathrobe, knees pulled up to his chest, watching the twinkling coloured lights on the Christmas tree. He lets his eyes unfocus slowly, and the lights become blurry, dancing flickers of colour, shifting at the edges of his vision.’

Song: River, Joni Mitchell

Fic rec: Renovation by EdosianOrchids901 (Good Omens, G)

This is a tiny wee drabble, but so sweet: Aziraphale presents Crowley with a Christmas tree. Crowley pretends (tries?) to hate it.

Back to Day 9 | On to Day 11

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ask me no question i'll tell you no lie

re: Fantasy Inventions

I'M SO GODDAMN COLD. But we've made it past the shortest day, so at least I have a few extra minutes of daylight to look forward to every week. Christmas in two days. I need to get some cards together and also ask my boss if I can leave early Wednesday, because Mom is really on my ass about it. Slept so much last night, but I'm still yawning constantly? Unclear whether it's because of too much sleep, too much cold, or some miserable combination of both.

Enjoying my stupid expensive yoga mat so far. Still have a ton of laundry to do. Need to journal more. Got seven inches of hair chopped off on a whim! Trying to convince someone to take me to the movies tomorrow because it's cheap hot dog night. Failing! Really just want to go home and watch some wrestling; I want to get back into NJPW with the Road to Tokyo Dome shows ahead of WK20, and I'm sure I won't have time over Christmas and then Worlds End weekend.

Those four days off of work are gonna be nice.

Movies Watched in December: The Housemaid, The Mastermind, They Live, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Song Sung Blue; Silent Night, Deadly Night; Starman, In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars, Prince of Darkness, The History of Sound, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from L.A., Zootopia 2, Escape from New York, Christine

22. What Fantasy Invention Would You Want to Exist in Reality?

brb inventing the torment nexus

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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 9

It is now Will Stanton’s birthday, which means I had to save a Dark is Rising offering for it. Gonna be up front here – I love this story. I loved the experience of writing it (which started on a delayed train home, staring out the window), and my own connection to it. It is a long, rambling love-letter to my adopted home and perennial OTP.

There was actually meant to be at least one sequel, but I’ve still not finished it, so now I have the entire future of this version of these characters in my head. (Will ends up getting a job in Aberystwyth, so he can live with Bran – part of the difficulty there is the awkwardness about what RL people to include and how to get around that, but oh well. The next part was less complicated; it was Bran visiting Will in Oxford for Valentine’s day. There was rugby.) Anyway, enjoy.

In the Bleak Midwinter (TDIR, Bran/Will)
Rated M

‘He set aside the pile of undergraduate essays he'd been marking, leaning against the window to stare out of it for a while, watching Wales unfold welcoming before him. At least, he mused, that was how it felt – like the prodigal son returning to his father's fold. It was different from going home, where he could feel the fields of Buckinghamshire folding around him whenever he went back to see his parents, but it was similar, too. I know you, the land seemed to say. I remember you. You belong here.’

Song: In the Bleak Midwinter, a Carols from King's version for our choir boy (though Let It Snow might work too, of course!)

Fic rec:forever can never be long enough for me by isshun (modern wangxian)
Rated T

A Dongzhi fic for solstice. WWX takes LWJ along to his family celebrations, where LWJ and JYL bond over making him food. It's a bit soppy and very sweet, which is just what the longest night of the year needs.

Back to Day 8 | On to Day 10

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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 8

One more Trek fic for the road? (There’s one more still to come, but I’ve tried to put a little more space between them now!) This one takes place after Into Darkness, which was a pretty awful movie with one single redeeming feature: it basically only makes sense if Kirk and Spock are desperately in love.

Anyway, after the events of that film, Spock wants to check on Kirk’s recovery process and ends up getting a bit more explanation than he expected.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

‘Jim's face was as warm as his hands, and his pulse beat solidly beneath Spock's fingertips. He blinked slowly, and Spock's vision blurred as he was pulled into the depths of Jim Kirk's memory. He could tell that Jim, despite having no expertise in mind-melds, was trying desperately to keep the chaos of his mind in order, and push to the forefront the things that had to with the other Spock. But there was a sense as well, beneath the solidness of memory, that he was offering so much more.’

A song to go with it: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan)
About a million years ago, Barenaked Ladies were (one of?) the first band(s) I ever saw live in concert, mostly because they were opening for the Violent Femmes. Teenage!me queued up for a free show at a Seattle festival for hours and it was so worth it.

A fic rec: The Maine Thing (Is That You Send a Card) (wangxian modern au) by Comfect
Look, I binged a lot of Christmas fics last year, and this is one I remember enjoying. It's a Hallmark-inspired wangxian fic. but unlike actual Hallmark movies, the characterisation is top-notch. And wangxian, so the pining is of course delicious.

Back to Day 7 | On to Day 9

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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 7

So I got on a plane this morning and saw my parents and then took my mom to the hospital AGAIN because the dialysis catheter keeps jiggling itself loose or whatever, so it's been a long day. But you know what's not long? Today's fic!

Even shorter than some of the others, this treat is TINY! Also not technically Christmas, because the Dragon Age universe doesn’t have Christmas. They do have Satinalia, which also involves giving presents and some medieval-Christmas-ish traditions, so I have decided that’s close enough.

Dragon Age Calendar 2023: An Appreciative Audience. Varric tells stories. It’s too short to say more.

‘Varric coughs pointedly. “If none of you want to hear this….” A chorus of apologies, as if anyone could stop Varric telling a story once he’s started. There’s a bite in the crisp Satinalia air, beneath the bonfire-scent of autumn, and lazy sparks float from the crackling fire like tiny stars. There are toasts and gifts and ghost stories, and laughter echoing across the hazy hillside.’

A song:I did actually manage to find a Christmas song about a dragon, but it was incredibly cheesy, so you're getting Six White Boomers instead.

And a rec for the road! hurry down my chimney tonight by gusuvibes. (Untamed AU, wangxian)
Rated T

NHS convinces JC and WWX to work as Santa's Elves for the local mall's Christmas grotto. LWJ brings his adorable child A-Yuan to see Santa. You see where things are going.

Back to Day 6 | On to Day 8

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ask me no question i'll tell you no lie

re: Outsourcing

At the beginning of the week, I had zero plans for the new year, and now I have tickets to three fresh wrestling shows in April, including my third-ever pay-per-view! Life comes at you fast!! First row in the corner for Dynamite and Collision in Winnipeg, dead centre ringside for Dynamite and Collision in Edmonton, then third row behind Spanish commentary for Dynasty 2026 in Vancouver!!! I will begin planning things like travel and accommodations once January rolls around (when I start my new additional work duties, ugh), though I will probably request those two weeks off of work immediately. Something to make getting to 37 worth it!

This week has pretty much been an entire blur aside from that??? I really need to get my life back into some semblance of order now that my back is mostly feeling better. I can make it about two thirds of the way home before I start to feel a twinge, and a heat wrap with a movie settles it right back down, so I should be able to start being a person properly again. It's very cold, and very snowy, and very... heavy outside. Just that overwhelming pall of light grey diffusing through everything for the six or so hours of daylight we have, and then just the most oppressive pitch darkness the rest of the time. We're going to be deep in the -35 to -45 degree trenches for the rest of the year with little to no reprieve, so it's really time to turn my attention inward and just try to feel good. Which unfortunately means doing a lot of laundry, god adulthood is lame.

Movies Watched in December: The Mastermind, They Live, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Song Sung Blue; Silent Night, Deadly Night; Starman, In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars, Prince of Darkness, The History of Sound, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from L.A., Zootopia 2, Escape from New York, Christine

The Housemaid this weekend, probably? And then the new Avatar with my brother. I don't particularly want to actually see it unless it's at a theatre with the fun moving seats to make it into more of a ride, but I figure if I just make sure to get really, really high beforehand, that should be just as good.

21. What Would You Outsource if You Could?

Uh... the money-making part, obviously. Is this a trick question?

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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 6

We are halfway through! And we’re going back to Oxford. This is maybe cheating a little – the story itself was written for Yuletide, and is dated the 6th of December, but there isn’t anything especially Christmassy in it.

In 2075, OUP publishes a festschrift (this is, for non-academic types, a book of essays honouring a particular distinguished scholar) celebrating the world of James Dunworthy. It is edited by Colin, now a fellow of Balliol himself, who writes the introduction to the volume and the various things in it. It’s one of my favourite Yuletide experiences – something about the connections of people through history, and the value of good teaching, really hit people (including me, unexpectedly, while writing it). So here is:

Paradox (Oxford Time Travel, gen)
Rated G

‘It is traditional to begin this sort of project with a biography of the person to whom it is being presented, and following that, to list the contributed articles and how the author and outcome of each was started on its path by the eminent scholar being celebrated within the pages. In this case, it seems both unnecessary and redundant, as the essays themselves have become more retrospective than tribute.’

Song: Stop the Cavalry (there IS in fact a Christmas song for time travellers!), version by the Cory Band and the Gwalia Singers

Fic rec: Once and Future by phoenixflight (The Dark is Rising, Will/Bran)
Rated T

Christmas is still a good Dark is RIsing time, and this little treat is full of great lines (Bran's reaction to Will getting a bit melancholy about eventually losing him is brilliant) and, like all the best TDIR fics, evokes a strong sense of place and atmosphere.

Back to Day 5 | On to Day 7

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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 5

Back to Kirk and Spock again! Told you they’re almost half the list. Advent 2012. The Enterprise crew carry out their mission to investigate weird shit wherever they find it. Guided by a Christmas star (kind of) they stumble on an unexpected birth (kind of). One of my favourite things about writing Trek fic is how weird and unexplainable you can make things (this will come up again later).

Nativus (Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Spock)
Rated G

‘By the time they reach the surface, it is no longer the barren wasteland the initial scans had indicated. They stand surrounded by vegetation, lush and thick and a shade of green so bright it's almost gold; by the sound of trickling streams and the growing thrum of insect life. The tricorders vibrate with each new discovery as lifesigns appear around them with increasing rapidity, and above them coloured clouds rush through the sky like a gymnastic rainbow.…’

Song: Silent Night (There are of course many versions; this is the absolutely haunting one by Sinead O'Connor.)

Fic rec: Feast of the Unwise Men by Drayton (Oxford Time Travel)
Rated G

Technically this is an Epiphany fic, but since I'm doing pre-Christmas days and not post-Christmas days, here we are. It's about those few days after Dunworthy and Colin retrieve Kivrin from the Black Death, and the fallout - while knowledge of the canon will definitely help here, it's also a fic for anyone who has had to deal with university administrations.

Back to Day 4 | On to Day 6

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ask me no question i'll tell you no lie

re: Kondo

One week out from Christmas, and I'm getting the blues about it all. I keep trying to write about why and deleting it all because I can't get it quite right, but basically a lot of years of miserable Christmases has led to us just not really bothering this time around, which is probably for the best because it greatly reduces the likelihood of my having to spend Christmas Eve running between different rooms to try to get everyone to stop crying again, but I'm sure my mom is quietly disappointed about it regardless. Probably doesn't help that this is our first Christmas without a pet, like, ever? We've got to at least get a tree next time.

Just got pulled in for a meeting with my managers because I've been doing my job too well and they're giving me more to do starting next month, damn it! More techs to work with, a whole other department (in a whole different building) to manage internal work orders for and coordinate with, whyyyyy? I spent a decade keeping my head down just to avoid this sort of thing!

Successfully walked home from work yesterday for the first time since throwing out my back. I was pretty sore by the time I made it, but not cripplingly so, and then mom ordered Boston Pizza so I was able to rejuvenate myself with overpriced pasta and the one-night-only return of AEW Dark (oh my god, I've missed Taz so much).

Experimented with magnetic nail polish again last night. Was still unable to do anything cohesive with it, but it looks prettier than it did last time!

My goal of not spending money that I don't have willy-nilly anymore is not going great so far (I blame the sleep deprivation), but hopefully this expensive yoga mat will aid in my recovery efforts??? I have, however, shut down two very pricey subscription services that I've been on for years to make up for it, so NOW it's time to get serious about saving. Two days to the AEW pre-sales!

Movies Watched in December: Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Song Sung Blue; Silent Night, Deadly Night; Starman, In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars, Prince of Darkness, The History of Sound, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from L.A., Zootopia 2, Escape from New York, Christine

In honour of Saya Kamitani becoming the first woman to ever snag the top spot in the Tokyo Sports awards, Stardom uploaded a killer playlist of all the big singles matches from her current run, so if you want to see a bunch of dramatic women beating the ever-loving shit out of each for several hours, fill your fucking boots (the third of the three Tam Nakano bouts is particularly poignant in the immediate wake of John Cena's hilariously lackluster retirement match).

20. Are You a Hoarder or a Minimalist?

All my shit is what separates me from the animals!

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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 4

On to Day 4!

It wouldn’t be Christmas season without The Dark is Rising! What surprised me the most is how few I’ve apparently written that are actually Christmas-centric, when it’s such an important part of the series! (It might also be that I just don’t have them anymore, or didn’t post them to AO3, because I’ve been writing for this fandom a long time.)

This one was, as the author notes indicate, scribbled out quickly during Christmas Eve church, and fixed for posting afterward. I did go back more recently and do some edits. I didn’t live in Wales yet in 2002, so got a few little things wrong – mostly younger!Ash didn’t quite get the church/chapel divide, and had them all heading into Tywyn to the local Anglican church even though Owen is explicitly noted as going to chapel. The further problem is that by the time this takes place, the chapel in Tywyn was already turned into flats, though I think the one in Abergynolwyn (closer to Clwyd farm anyway) was still going. I realise these details are really not that important to most readers, and especially have no real bearing on the direction of a very short fic about accidentally coming out to your parents, but well, I live here.

It is very short – barely over 1k words – so I don’t want the intro to end up longer than the fic.

While Shepherds Watched (TDIR, Will/Bran)
Rated G

‘It was the first Christmas Eve of his lifetime that he had not spent with his family, noisy and bustling in the bright din of a two-storey farmhouse full of children and spouses and nieces and nephews and neighbours dropping by just to say hello, the smell of cinnamon and apples and pudding, the warmth of the fire interrupted by bursts of cold air when the door opened, the sound of six or seven Christmas carols all jangling together at once.’

Song: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night
(I wanted the Welsh version but couldn't find a good one, so we went with Carols from Kings for choirboy Will.)

Fic rec: We Wish You a Logical Christmas by little_ogre (MDZS Star Trek AU, wangxian)
Rated M

What caught my attention first about this fic is that it's the JIang, not the Lan, who are Vulcans. Half-Vulcan WWX brings LWJ home during Christmas shore leave, and pon farr happens. It's excellent.

Back to Day 3 | Onward to Day 5

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record scratch

[502] music-making still performs the normal functions

Three days until pre-sales for the AEW shows in Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Vancouver in April! Finally, I have something long-distance to look forward to again! Time to tighten my belt, post-holiday splurges, so that I can actually afford to go (or at least pretend that I can afford to go). Trip planning will begin tentatively next week (after I hopefully have tickets), and then begin in earnest come the start of 2026. DYNASTY!!

Mom bailed on the MMM last night because it was snowing (lame excuse), but I hopped on a bus and went all by myself and had a great time anyway with an insane melodramatic mess of a movie (complimentary???). I definitely overdid things with my back a bit, though, and should probably go back to taking it easy for the rest of the week to keep recovering. Things hurt! It's cold out! An outing was extremely necessary for my mental health!

( Album #502/1001: Soft Machine - Third )

Movies Watched in December: Song Sung Blue; Silent Night, Deadly Night; Starman, In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars, Prince of Darkness, The History of Sound, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from L.A., Zootopia 2, Escape from New York, Christine

Six more hours until I can go home and make delicious noodles and put on a movie and also a heat wrap. BACK TO BASICS.

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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 3

So the many times I wrote for the K/S Advent Calendar mean there are more Star Trek fics on this list than anything else. This was 2010’s offering, in which Spock convinces Jim to go home to Iowa and see his family for Christmas. We do spend a bit of time grappling with nu!Trek Jim’s troubled childhood, but it’s still ultimately a happy story about growing up, and coming home.

Delusions of our Childhood Days (Star Trek, Kirk/Spock)

‘He glanced over at Spock. “Sick of hearing this shit yet? Ready to tell me it’s illogical?”

“Jim,” Spock answered patiently, “I agreed to accompany you on this outing. I am aware I influenced you in choosing to pursue it in the first place for the sole purpose of confronting the emotional upheaval of your past. Since then I have partaken of an intoxicating substance and am sitting with you, in subzero temperatures, on the roof. No part of this scenario is the least bit logical.”

Jim reached for Spock’s hand, holding it between his own, still gazing off toward the trees. “But you’re here.”’

A song to go with it: Thunder Road (not a Christmas song, but relevant to the story)

And a fic rec:The Cold Days of Winter (Eight Days of Luke, David/Luke) by Daegaer
Rated G

So it's probably important to know the canon for this one (and the more about Norse mythology the better) but if you do it's exquisite. There are moments - David's hesitation to light a match, not because he's afraid Luke will appear but because he's afraid he won't, and he'll have to let go of the idea that it was ever more than his imagination. Luke's fierce protectiveness is lovely, but there's a very definite shudder of dark things to come at the end. A good fic for a cold night!

Back to Day 2 | On to Day 4

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record scratch

[501] rock 'n' roll springtime: take one

Gotta be a legendarily terrible weekend in the news, huh? What with the multiple mass shootings and the tragic Hollywood parricides and whatnot? Definitely a Monday to just kinda tune the world out and focus on work and/or my rich inner life.

Back is doing much better! Spent some of the weekend with spiking pain from my neck to my thighs, but I think those were just normal sore muscles and knots from coping with the initial injury. I'm mostly just very stiff now. May even try walking home from work during this brief break in the -40 degree weather, but we'll see how I'm holding up towards the end of the day.

Monday Mystery Movie tonight! I think it's probably gonna be the Hugh Jackman Neil Diamond impersonator one? Weird!

( Album #501/1001: Paul McCartney - McCartney )

Movies Watched in December: Silent Night, Deadly Night; Starman, In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars, Prince of Darkness, The History of Sound, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from L.A., Zootopia 2, Escape from New York, Christine

ANYWAY THEY JUST ANNOUNCED AEW DYNASTY WILL BE IN VANCOUVER IN APRIL, SO I HAVE PLANS TO MAKE AND CELEBRATORY WOK BOX TO ORDER, BYEEEEEEE~

(There's too much fucking perspective now.)

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12 Days (til) Christmas Day 2

I've been awake for just over 23 hours so going to dive right in here.

This 2015 Yuletide fic features THREE SEPARATE Christmases, so it’s like a free gift with purchase! Or something. Connie Willis’ Oxford Time Travel Series always makes me think of Christmas, partly because the first one I read was Doomsday Book (which happens over Christmas in several time periods) and second because I wrote Yuletide fics for it three years in a row.

If you don’t know it, you should check it out – it’s not always an easy read, and there are some weird little linguistic catches that can grate (the English people in these books talk like an American imagines English people in the 1920s might have spoken). I found Blackout/All Clear a frustrating slog until suddenly I didn’t, because somehow the experience of going through all that repeatedly with the characters made sense.

Anyway, if you do know it, then this fic follows Colin through the years between Doomsday Book and post-All Clear, but is much shorter than any of those and will not take so much dedication to read.

A Carol of Dreaming Spires (Oxford Time Travel, Colin Templar/Polly Churchill)

‘It was tradition, by now: Dunworthy in his armchair, Badri folded onto one end of the faded sofa and Kivrin curled against him. Colin stretched out on the floor in front of the blocked-off fireplace. The only new addition this year was Polly, perched on the floor with a tartan blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Colin snuck looks at her while pretending to read the book Kivrin had given him.’

A song to go with it: The Atheist Christmas Carol

And a fic rec: Yippee Ki Yay, Father Christmas (Everwood, Bright & Ephram) by Cyren2132

Have you seen Everwood? One of the best shows the CW decided not to keep; the premise is so cheesy but the characters were so, so good. (And Bright is Chris Pratt at his young, pre-being-a-super-Republican-for-some-reason best.) Anyway this is the one where Bright and Ephram get stranded in a roadside motel on Christmas Eve.

Back to Day 1 | On to Day 3

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Twelve Days of (until) Christmas, Day 1

The thing about being in fandom for a long time, or at least one of the things, is that I have written a lot of holiday fics over the years. And I thought it might be fun to do a sort of Advent Calendar and revisit them!

It's a good excuse to give some old fics some air time, and also to spread the love and post some recs for other holiday fics I have loved.

Day 1:

We kick things off with some light-hearted fun! This was written for the Kirk/Spock Advent Calendar in 2011. I’d written a couple more serious fics for the same event in previous years, so wanted to change it up a bit and go full-on ENTERPRISE SAVES CHRISTMAS SPECIAL for this one.

Operation Sugarplum (Star Trek Reboot, Kirk/Spock)
Rated Gen
‘The transporter room was full of them, most in dress uniforms from their cadet days, some in Operations red, and most with a fluffy red Santa hat perched jauntily on their heads. Spock was uncertain where all those had come from. One belonging to a young officer from Medical looked suspiciously as if it had spent a previous incarnation as a sock, but Spock did not consider himself an experienced judge of Santa Claus paraphernalia, so neglected to mention it.’

A song to go with it: Santa Claus is Comin to Town, of course!

And a rec: merry christmas ya filthy animal by belovedmuerto
(The Untamed, wangxian but it's Jin Zixuan POV, modern AU)
Rated Teen

Picked this one because I'm headed to L.A. tomorrow and because I wanted to get an MDZS fic in - none of mine are going to be, as I haven't written any AUs and there is an understandable lack of Christmas in Ancient Fantasy China. It's the final one of a series, but I read them out of order and it was fine - they're pretty standalone, as long as you grasp the uncomplicated premise that WWX ran off to California where LWJ lived. I love the whole series because I love L.A. and it's so full of place, and this is just one of those warm fuzzy things where people basically get along and have a cosy time together and it's all very sweet.

On to Day 2

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meme: test drive

[meme] Test Drive

In keeping with tradition, Test Drive comes early in December. ♥

Tag into this post with characters you're thinking of apping to the game (characters who are not currently in-game or currently reserved by someone else). It can be just a tag, a brief EP, whatever you want. You can be new to the game, or simply want to test out a fresh pup. Tag each other with these characters or those already in game, and have fun.

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ask me no question i'll tell you no lie

re: Broken Hearts

-42 degrees out, and while it's supposed to let up a bit over the weekend, they're saying the temperature's going to plummet right back down after that and stay deep in the trenches for the next couple of weeks, which is going to suuuuuuuuck. Also I've somehow got to convince my brother to go see the Santa slasher with me, since mom doesn't want to go to the movies at all this weekend and I am NOT physically capable of taking the bus just yet, particularly in this weather. I guess I can go see the new Avatar with him the week after in trade? God, those movies are lame.

A&W for lunch because I've lost control of my life. Fresh start on Monday! I wonder if my back will be amenable to some gentle yoga over the weekend? At least work is going well. I got a $500 bonus! I can't focus on anything for more than thirty seconds at a time because I didn't sleep at all last night, bye!

Movies Watched in December: Starman, In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars, Prince of Darkness, The History of Sound, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from L.A., Zootopia 2, Escape from New York, Christine

19. What’s the Best Way to Heal a Broken Heart?

Break your back instead.

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record scratch

[500] it was more than the human mind could bear

Still at work. Still cold. Still in pain, but it's steadily pivoting to just a deep soreness in the muscles of my back, which is a big step up from the seizing agony whenever I move, so hopefully that means whatever the fuck I did is healing up nicely. Getting my eating back under control to start easing gently back into my goals. I had such high hopes for the month and they were all derailed so abruptly!!!

Finished reading The Lord of the Rings. Started watching Sailor Moon from the beginning for some reason? 10-year-old Leshia is thriving right now while the current version falls the fuck apart.

I really like the idea of the Letterboxd Video Store and hope it does well, even if twenty bucks will always be way more than I can justify for a single rental. I think five dollars is probably my ceiling, especially for something without a dedicated streaming app. Blockbuster prices, you know?

( Album #500/1001: The Velvet Undergroud - White Light/White Heat )

Movies Watched in December: In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars, Prince of Darkness, The History of Sound, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from L.A., Zootopia 2, Escape from New York, Christine

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reading wednesday

What I am reading Wednesday

What I Abandoned Reading
Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. This is the second book in the series. It had two problems: 1. It assumed you remember everything from the previous book, which I don't, so I was constantly confused about who everyone was and what was going on, and 2. The Apprentice and Villain spent all their time thinking about how much they fancied each other, but the other person couldn't fancy them back. I stopped to read something else and then couldn't bring myself to go back to it.

What I Just Finished Reading
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells. The last Murderbot for a while, while I wait to see if the the library gets the next book in. And finish some non-library books.

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by MJ Wassmer. This is about a couple on holiday at a resort when the sun explodes (and they're cut off from the outside world). I'm not generally into apocalyptic stuff, but there was something weird about the sun and them having an astronomer around, so I stuck with it. I did end up getting into it and it was interesting what people did to survive and the truth of what happened with the sun.

Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum. This is about the board members at a company who are all earning millions and all absolutely awful people with not a single redeeming quality. It was easy to read and I kept reading to see how it was all going to implode. And then the ending just made me not want to have bothered reading it in the first place.

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths. A palate cleanser of normality and nice people. This is her latest series, where the main character works in the department investigating cold cases using time travel. Although the story wasn't what I thought it was based on that description, but I still really enjoyed it and the murder mystery was interesting. I see the second book is out soon, so I'll definitely be reading that.

Endurance by Elaine Burnes. This was described as how Star Trek Voyager should have been. So it's about a ship that somehow ends up a long way away. And then I was very glad Voyager wasn't like this because the situation was awful and everything was terrible for much of the book. I had to stop and read other things twice during it. But it both got more uplifting and there was a clear mystery which remains unsolved, but there is a sequel.

What I'm Currently Reading
Nothing - I've literally just finished Endurance.

What I'm Reading Next
Seniors of the Chalet School by Lisa Townsend. This arrived this week and after some long and depressing books I need something short and happy.

Mirrored from my blog.

Entry tags:

record scratch

[499] riding through the city, trying to lose your mind

All is pain, and cold. So, so cold. I'm a little bit better at being upright with each day that passes since The Incident, but the horrible seizing death stabs when I move wrong have given way to a general ache in a whole bunch of muscles that I've never noticed before, probably from the strain of having to hold myself so stiffly for so long. And also still a fair bit of seizing when I move wrong. And winter has finally arrived in earnest so I'm just so damn cold at work and so damn hot in my bedroom at home and I've been stress eating like a motherfucker so I get to feel like garbage in a whole host of different ways all at once!! I'm even more tired than usual, too! I blame Christmas for all of it, personally. It's a shame that McDonald's commercial was AI garbage that got bullied off the internet, because I really appreciate the general sentiment (but also the bullying).

Winter is Coming tonight. Rooting for the Babes of Wrath as inaugural women's tag champs.

( Album #499/1001: Neu! - Neu! 75 )

Movies Watched in December: Ghosts of Mars, Prince of Darkness, The History of Sound, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from L.A., Zootopia 2, Escape from New York, Christine