frenzy | Network

An attempt at returning to posting cause I failed the last days doing the things I wanted.

First off the Animal Crossing update is live and I managed to find my game to go on it. It’s been so long I’ve honestly forgotten some of the stuff (I need to look up gyroid fragments cause I’ve honestly forgot what they were) but it has been good going back on it. I’m glad there’s new Splatoon and Zelda items and I’ve been slowly ordering the latter, I now have majora’s mask on which was always my go to think to wear. And I’m so glad for the storage increase so I can clear stuff up. I might redo some parts of my island (it’s currently a mass of flowers) but I’m not sure what I’ll do yet.

As for the new stuff I like the hotel and the tourists wandering around the island is a cute idea. I’m just worried that it won’t be enough to keep long interest (I think there’s only 8 rooms in the hotel to design plus a vip). Maybe there’s other secret features and a long list of items to get from there but…

Thursday night had a Resident Evil showcase which felt too short and kinda pointless. Two of the big things, a Resident Evil concert and amiibo weee met with ‘more info on those soon’. They didn’t even confirm what the amiibo would be (I’m assuming Leon and Grace but..). I am tempted to get game on switch 2 cause if that though once there’s confirmation.

Friday announced the new Lego set finally, the final battle with ganon from ocarina if time. It’s a smart move and looks nice (especially Ganondorf) but I wish there was some of the castle.

In an attempt to distract myself I built the Lego set I got from the sale before new year, which came Tuesday, it was the animal crossing dodo airlines set. It’s like most of the AC sets, annoyingly simple, but the plane is really nice. I just wish it had both of the dodos instead of just the pilot.

Yesterday was a town trip to the cinema. The stuff I’d hoped to do in town was mostly a failure, Tesco didn’t have stuff I was going to get, the Christmas Lego in game I saw in game Tuesday was already gone, smiths still didn’t have stranger things stickers. (Have they really underestimated demand or is distribution terrible?)

On the plus side Smyths did get the Dustin Funko in so I was able to get him (my face when I saw he’d come back in stock the other day I was so glad) and I did get my click and collect from Primark (a tee and jacket) so that was a plus.

(And on the ither plus side there was a cute lil squirrel at the bank by the station)

At the cinema there was a poster for Cold Storage whcih made me squee a bit. I’m so seeing that on release day. Plus the cinema is getting Iron Lung! I hope they add extra times (same for Return To Silent Hill this week) but hopefully I can see it.

Trailers were a few I’d not seen before.
Hoppers: a new trailer showing more of what it’s about, so I’m a bit more curious
Goat: felt too short to form an opinion
Stitch Head: looks really cute, made me laugh
Kangaroo: made me squee cause kangaroo
Looney Tunes The Day The Earth Blew Up: !!! Looney Tunes on the big screen and out the same day I’m gonna be seeing cold storage?? Please have showings that don’t clash.

Thoughts on films (The Boy And The Heron and Labyrinth under the cut)

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After the cinema I went one stop extra on the train to go to the outlet cause I had a birthday code that needed using at the Lindt store (I had till today to use it which was annoying) the. I just came home and flopped.

I did manage to watch the first ep of Seven Dials before tiredness and headache set in. It was really good though it is strange seeing an Agatha Christie adaption after I’ve read the book (with the others I read last year most were Poirot’s that I’d seen the eps of) so it was strange to hear names and go ‘ah! Them!’ There has been a few changes so I am curious what else it’ll do. But so far it seems reallly good.

Also yeaterday the gingerbread Lego AT-AT came, which had been meant to be a Christmas present. I probably would’ve left it a few days but mums friend is coming tomorrow and as it was a joint thing with her and mum I figured I should do it today. It looks nice and it is different. I feel because of how fast it sold out (and stayed that way) that there’ll do another gingerbread Lego thing this year but what I dunno.

This week there’s mums annoying friend coming tomorrow then Friday is Return To Silent Hill (but only if they add a better time I don’t wanna miss the traitors finale) and then I wanna finally watch Seeds Of Doom in the weekend. But we’ll see.

Current Mood: flirty
Current Music: the Great Pottery Throwdown

We made a simple oven pan of roasted root vegetables, chicken, and lemon, which we've eaten many times, but it came out extra delicious, partly just from a larger, juicier lemon.

This got me thinking. I love lemon bars and two near-identical recipes from my childhood for lemon tea cookies and lemon muffins. But I've never been really impressed with a lemon cake, and I wonder if it's just that it could be lemonier? The intensity of lemon meringue pie is nice, but I don't fully love the texture combination.

Maybe a lemon meringue cake? Or some other dessert that combines lemon curd or custard with something cake- or cookie-like?

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Current Mood: busy

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Last week, I cut my finger pretty deeply while making food, and missed two days of work trying to give it time to heal (I bathe dogs for a living; I did not want to be sticking an open wound into dirty dog water). The third day, a dog broke my glasses and I had to leave early (I was able to mend them).

Yesterday, I woke up very sick, probably with the same punishing cold Will has. My job is pretty lenient about calling out, but gosh do I hate doing it this often. ;o; It always makes me nervous. My boss is super understanding but I don't want to take advantage of that. Oh well. ;3;

I'm painfully behind on Snowflake Challenge, to absolutely no one's surprise; I did the first one and stopped. XD; There are some that I want to go back and do, but I doubt I'll actually catch up. But that's okay! I want to do the animals/pet one. Speaking of which, I bought Dale's 4x2x2 (120 gallon) terrarium! It looks like it'll be a pretty easy build, and I have several things to add to it (although there are definitely more things I want to add, like some of the climbing vine, some fun rocks/slate, things like that. I'm hoping to get it built today, if I'm feeling better in the afternoon.

I read the first book of the Uriel Ventris series, Nightbringer, and it was delightful; Ventris is an adorable, pious, little murder machine, and I'm pretty sure literally every man he met wanted to top him. I immediately bought the second volume on thriftbooks (a lot of "older" Black Library books are out of print, so I have to search for them as well as be willing to part with more than a little bit of moola). We already own the third book (Will bought it a little while ago) so that should keep me busy for a while. I'm a very slow reader. XD;

This morning I went out, coffee in hand, to sit on the back step. It was very cold but peaceful. I heard the first birdsong of the day. <3 I'd read about how people with ADHD need to sit in the moment sometimes, no screens, no texts, nothing like that, and just allow themselves to be. It was very nice and I think I should start more days like this.

This post is very disjointed bc it was written between a couple of days. I hope it all makes sense. ♥

I decided to go with the original from Severance for Celebrating diversity in acting winners at the 2026 Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards for MLK Day weekend.

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: House in the woods at the edge of town
Current Music: Potentialbliss Twitch stream

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Current Mood: impressed

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The snow didn’t last long in its natural state — it was quickly transformed into a snowman and a couple of snow forts. None of them survived the enthusiastic demolition crew led by our little one, who toppled everything with great joy 🤣

This year, I wanted to read a musician's memoir. When this book came up at the book swap, it landed with someone who did not seem that interested in it so I stole it from them.

At the time, I did not realize that this memoir was about the lead singer of the band "Against Me!"

Because Tom Gabel was only a couple of years younger than me, the musical cultural landmarks of this book felt affirming. It starts with Tom, as a child, thinking about Madonna. The juxtaposition of "Material Girl" with the politics of punk was interesting.

Tom began making music with his friends as a teenager and dropped out of high school. There was a lot of booze and many drugs involved.

Then, he wanted to get better as a musician and bigger as a band, and some of his band mates were on a different journey.

After the band made a deal for $25,000 with a very small label, the crust punks began accusing him of selling out. They would show up at his shows and flip him off for playing any new material and slashed his tires.

Despite the exhaustion of constant touring, they kept at it, and did well. You can definitely hear the production difference between "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" and "I Was a Teenage Anarchist" when the band was working with people who were professionals at mixing music.

Watch on YouTube

Then, after having his first child, the gender dysphoria that Tom had been dealing with turned into an urgent need to transition. It was tough because he was living in that part of Florida that might as well be Alabama. There was a scene about a field of crosses representing aborted babies, and I took a picture of something similar to that in my hometown the last time I visited. Tom made the album "White Crosses" with the title referring to both the crosses and amphetamines.

Transition was really difficult in that type of environment, and his wife who was really into the punk aesthetic just really hated living in the backwaters of Florida.

Transition publicly and privately blew up life, the band, and the marriage; but ultimately, it leads to choosing the name Laura and coming out publicly, with more humility and with a band more aligned with her politics, and a musical audience that is more diverse than it has ever been. During the grueling tours, the band had opened for many types of bands, and those audiences added to the fans of the band.

The song "Because of the Shame" is about one of the important people in the book that was lost, and that song survived the transition.

Watch on YouTube

Anyway, I recommend this book to

threemeninaboat,

sabotabby, and

frandroid.

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Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

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I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

One rainy day Kanade, a high school student, finds a mouse-sized cat in his room. It's a fairy cat or "palm-sized cat!" They are elusive magical creatures which sometimes adopt humans, but mostly behave like ordinary cats. Only extra-tiny!

That's about it for the plot. What this manga is actually about is showing an incredibly adorable tiny cat being an incredibly adorable tiny cat. It's an incredibly adorable manga. Proof:

I woke up feeling so fucking tired, god damn. I want to just sleep for 1000 more years. What the fuck. I’m sick of this shit. It’s not normal for me. One day maybe I should just sleep as long as I want. I know I’ve said that before. I just can’t allow myself to do it. It would be a moral failing to sleep past 10 am! Haha. This isn’t just normal tiredness, though. Seriously. I need to figure myself out. I’m giving the supplements two weeks. I need to go to the doctor anyway, though. It’s been 11 years. If I drop dead tomorrow I'll have no one to blame but myself!

Someone tore up the trail with a 4-wheeler again. And I mean legit tore it up. Donuts, purposeful fuckery. Kids will be kids. Though I wouldn't be surprised if some other 40 year old did it. If so, hey, I guess I admire their ability to still be an energetic, rock-headed idiot at this age. I guess I'm getting old and crotchety, though, because it annoys me. Now the entire thing is a mud pit and walking through it with the dog is a pain in the ass. There's plenty of other places to tear up where people don't walk. Grumble.

Need second cup of coffee. Need to start work. Maybe I'll add to this entry later!

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Current Mood: calm

I dreamed about a pond. It was a swamp in a cave. The water was dark and muddy, there was trash, leaves, and other debris in and around the water. I was both drawn to the swamp and also repelled by it with great fear. I saw the beauty in it, and I wanted to get into the water. However I was also very afraid, there was an oppressive feeling of fear and danger, not knowing what lurked in the dark water. If only I could clean it up and remove the suffocating cave that surrounded it. This marshy pond was meant to be clean, beautiful, under the sky.

This felt like a metaphor for my own soul, or something.

Got a new work order today. Priming and drawing.

I have on NHK “Journies in Japan.” I really love public television. It’s very chill, pleasant, informative, encouraging, exploratory. Sometimes it touches on troubling topics but somehow does it in a way that isn’t oppressive. The goal always seems to be to uplift and inspire the watcher, to teach them about something niche and connect them with it even if it has nothing to do with them at all. Ancient methods of candle making, jewelry making, dance. Religious celebrations. Natural phenomena. Cooking.

I swapped the switches on my keyboard to quieter ones. Specifically, I swapped “wisteria” switches for “sea salt” silent switches. I didn’t swap every single key since the set only comes with 36. I swapped the commonly used ones (letters, enter, space bar, backspace, comma, period, semi colon, quotations, question mark). They were 16 dollars on sale. The number keys are still wisteria switches. I really do like the silent switches, though, quite nice. I’ll get the rest later. That is, when it starts to annoy me that some of the keys are still noisy.

I smoked weed in the evening. I practiced dance. My imagination has been doing it without me.

There was a special on MPT on about the movie/play Victor Victoria. So I looked it up and the movie isn’t available anywhere free but there’s a version of the full stage play on youtube so I started watching it.

Public

Everest (2015)

A less than cheery film now, albeit a pretty watchable one. This is a dramatised account of the 1996 Everest disaster, made with a decent amount of money ($55m) and a solid cast. Even so, the story does struggle to keep all its personnel distinct, not helped by the unavoidable covering of most of them in layers of mountaineering clothing. As such, one of the more memorable characters is Helen Wilton (Emily Watson), the base camp manager. Everest is very good at getting across a sense of the conditions, and some of the cinematography is breathtaking. (It was shot in the Alps, Nepal and... Pinewood.) The movie is pretty grim watching in the second half, though, so beware: as it's based on a real disaster, it's no spoiler to say only some of the expedition get to go home. A solid film rather than an exceptional one, but it does look very convincing. ★★★

Current Mood: awake

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Current Mood: satisfied

https://www.oglaf.com/mancy/

A busy work week like the one I described previously requires a quiet weekend, so that is exactly what happened. Gym, swimming, market shopping, and a loop around the river, market, and high street today with Matthias (we bought hot drinks from the coffee rig and browsed in the bookshop without buying anything), and otherwise no other excursions out of the house. I tried making these brown butter miso chocolate chip cookies as recommended by

rekishi, and they were very delicious indeed! I've just taken more pine and red berry branches from the disassembled Christmas wreath, and they'll go on the fire in the wood-burning stove tonight.

Two nice things happened on Dreamwidth yesterday:

fandomtrees reveals went live, and

threesentenceficathon is open for prompts and fills for 2026. I wrote one Six of Crows Kaz/Inej ficlet and made a couple of recipe recommendations for the former (and got given so many soup recipes in response to my own request — I can't wait to try them out), and in general had an enjoyable time. I haven't had a chance to plunge into the latter so far, but I always enjoy it when I do. The first post of prompts is here — I think it's a great, low-pressure way to rekindle the creative spark, and the atmosphere is always so friendly.

I've read three books, and one serialised short story this week. All but one of these (the third in a really silly romantasy series that I'm grimly carrying on with for completionist reasons; it involves human women falling in love with the personified gods of the North, South, East and West winds, and is really not good) were excellent.

The other two books were The Left-Handed Booksellers of London (Garth Nix), and The Stolen Heart (Andrey Kurkov, translated from the Russian by Boris Dralyuk). Booksellers is Nix's first foray into novel-length fiction for adults, and is set in alternative version of 1980s Britain in which the titular booksellers have a secret life acting as a sort of supernatural security service. Back when I was a book reviewer, I interviewed Nix in his Sydney office, which was packed to the rafters with all the books he used as inspiration — encyclopedias and folklore dictionaries, fiction of all genres, popular history, anthologies of folktales and mythology, etc — and I could see the varied, myriad works of this personal reference library put to good use in this novel, which is heaving with references and allusions from all sources. There's Arthuriana, British children's fantasy (such as Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones), Terry Pratchett, Romantic poetry, local folklore, weird bits of London history, Cold War-era spy novels, and so on. It's the sort of book that will appeal to people who enjoy playing spot-the-reference to all the ingredients of this genre salad, and Nix clearly had the time of his life writing it.

The Stolen Heart is the second in Kurkov's series of historical mystery novels in which his hapless protagonist Samson (who fell by accident into a job working for the Soviet police force in 1919 Kyiv) tries to solve another bizarre mystery while struggling to survive the chaos around him. As with the previous book in the series, The Stolen Heart is written with a careful balance of humour and empathy, conveying both the terror and the absurdity of living in a place and time of violent, destabilising transition. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm confident that I'll enjoy its conclusion.

Finally, I read 'The Road Less Taken', a serialised short story by Amal El-Mohtar. The link goes to the final chapter of the story, with links to the previous six chapters gathered at the top of the page, so if you are interested in reading it, ensure you start at the beginning. The story interweaves a relationship breakup with the recent jewellery theft from the Louvre and the folktale of Thomas the Rhymer in a manner so clever that you will feel by the end that these three things are, of course, connected in reality! It's an Amal El-Mohtar story, so all her trademarks — the power of music and of female friendships, and food and cooking as a way to show love and care — are of course front and centre.

The most recent

snowflake_challenge prompt is all about tropes: Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)

Snowflake Challenge: A pair of ice skates hanging on a wood paneled wall. Pine boughs with a few ornaments are stuffed into the skates.

( Fictional cities, and more )

In the time it's taken for me to write this post, the light has left the sky, although it's still silvery blue at 4.30pm, as opposed to total darkness. The Earth moves on its slow tilt back towards the Sun.

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January 2026

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Network

He read too many books and he lost his mind

Lemony desserts lemonier?

Heated Rivalry rec

Virtuous! Victorious! Venomous!

/flops

Another rejected video for Golden Globes post

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Mark the dates!

☃️

Tranny by Laura Jane Grace with Dan Ozzi

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Check-In Post - Jan 18th 2026

Fairy Cat, by Hisa Takano

complaining

Heated Rivalry rec

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Film post: Everest (2015)

Snowflake Challenge

Mancy

The eyes, and what the eyes see

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January 2026