bitesizedreading | Member Posts

nanila

When did you last…

Scrounge for change (couch, ashtray, etc.) to make a purchase?

I honestly can't remember. So many places are cashless now that I often don't carry any. It must have been pre-Covid.
Visit a dentist?

Five months ago. My next clean is in March.
Make a needed change to your life?

The most significant recent change was changing to a gym I actually want to use, at the start of the year. I really needed that. I feel so much healthier.
Decide on a complete menu well in advance of the evening meal?

Most nights, tonight included. We have to plan because of the kids. Most days we eat breakfast and supper at home as a family because we have the luxury of schedules that allow us to do so.
Spend part of the day (other than daily hygiene) totally/mostly naked?

No idea. I hardly ever do this. It's flippin’ cold here most of the time. For those who say the UK temperatures are mild, okay, maybe to you, but I spent most of my life in the tropics before I moved here and I wasn't wandering around naked there either.

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/21/intriguing-recital-album-from-laura-choi-stuart/

shamanicshaymin

I finished gathering all my

threesentenceficathon fills and compiled them here! Despite my burnout, this has been my most productive ficathon yet... 36 total fills! I even maxed out the 75 tag limit, whoops. XD Notable fandoms include LISA and Deltarune, and me crying about Moon: Remix RPG Adventure. Nanquest popped up a fair bit at the final stretch too. It's also my 100th upload to AO3! Figured that'd be worth celebrating. :D

Three chapters into the Wuthering Heights audiobook. Wish me luck!

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: Sufjan Stevens - Futile Devices

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/20/the-spectres-bride/

yuuago

So, today was my last day in Victoria.

I took the bus down to the Oak Bay area. I visited an art gallery, poked around some little shops, and (unsuccessfully) tried some geocaching. I've never been in that area before, so it was a little bit different. "Enrichment", I suppose one could say. Or at least getting myself more used to the bus system.

Then I headed back downtown, poked around some other little art galleries, and then decided to call it a day.

Heading back home tomorrow. Kind of wish I'd booked a bit more time off so I could spend it at home, but that's how it goes. ;V It was nice to get out of Fort Mac and do some stuff, at least. (And also I managed to finish a fic draft! So that's something.)

davidgillon

Beast Business, Ilona Andrews

The Amazon description says this a novella, but it's actually a shortish novella, a related short story, a short vignette, together with several short stories that were previously on their website. Everything's from their Hidden Legacy world, and if it fits into the existing pattern will be the primer for a trilogy focusing on the third Baylor daughter, Arabella, finding a partner. OTOH, Arabella really only makes a guest appearance in the novella and it instead revolves around a couple of secondary characters from the preceding two trilogies.

Diana Harrison, Prime of House Harrison, needs illusionist prime Augustus Montgomery, Prime of House Montgomery, and owner of massive PI company MII, for an urgent recovery operation. House Harrison's thing is animal magic, and someone has stolen a unique tiger cub from them. They have 24 hours to recover it because it needs its mother's milk, which means Diana needs Augustus personally, and she's coming along whether he likes it or not. But they both have their secrets, including the true nature of their magics, and they're going to have to cooperate closer than Augustus prefers. Shenanigans ensue.

The Masquerades of Spring, Ben Aaronovitch

It's the Roaring Twenties and Augustus Berrycloth-Young is enjoying the high life in New York, ably aided by his American valet Beauregard, and his friend Lucy, who can be trusted to know where all the best Jazz in Harlem can be found. Into Gussie's pleasant idyll comes a reminder that he is a keeper of the sacred flame of the Society of the Wise, in the form of the Folly's top magical troubleshooter, Thomas Nightingale. Nightingale is on a mission, pursuing the origin of an enchanted, possibly cursed, trumpet, and he's absolutely sure Gussie is the man to help him track it down.

I'd say this was meant to be a Jeeves and Wooster homage, Nightingale even introduces Gussie as 'Bertram Wilberforce' at one point, but Beauregard really doesn't get much to do. Instead it's Nightingale, Gussie, Lucy and the mysterious Cocoa against an escalating array of music agents, bent cops, and political operators, all complicated by Gussie trying not to let Nightingale know that he and Lucy - Lucien Biggs - are a couple. But never let it be said that a Berrycloth-Young failed to rise to the occasion!

IOW it's a very atypical Rivers of London novella, but Gussie makes for a thoroughly entertaining narrator.

The Vampire and the Case of the Wayward Werewolf
The Vampire and the Case of the Secretive Siren
The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee, Heather G Harris and Jilleen Dolbeare

Think Due South meets Northern Exposure, with the out-of-place protagonist role played by a London partygirl, rather than a Mountie or a doctor.

A fortnight ago Elizabeth Barrington - Bunny to her friends - was a partygirl about town, then she woke up dead and decided a century of servitude to the king of the vampires just wasn't going to happen. Now she's the newest recruit to the police force of the small Alaskan magical town of Portlock, bringing the total strength of the force up to three - Bunny, Gunnar the Nomo (chief of police), and Sidnee, a friendly siren. Bunny was theoretically hired as an admin assistant, but Sidnee mostly mans the office, and one man, even a man-mountain and alleged demi-god like Gunnar, can't manage 24 hour coverage on his own, so pretty soon Bunny, and Fluffy the rather too intelligent Alsatian, are neck deep in a complicated murder case, variously aided and hindered by the town's political movers and shakers, including smooth vampire Connor Mackenzie, rough-and-ready polar bear shifter Stan Ahmaogak, and human hunter Thomas Patkotak.

Book 2 has Bunny being formally sworn in as Officer Bunny, but she's barely had time to get used to that when an encounter with a new drug almost takes out Gunnar, turning Officer Bunny into acting-Nomo Bunny, and leaving her with a drug crisis to take care of, with the competing help of Connor and Stan. Gunnar's back for book 3, but Sidnee's definitely out of sorts, there's an arsonist about town, and there's an escalating series of thefts which threatens to bring down Portlock's protective shield, and there's definitely something dangerous out there in the wilds, waiting for its chance to feed.

3 down, 9 to go.

Current Mood: Sleepy

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/19/more-season-announcements-5/

yuuago

On Wednesday, I went to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Not my first time going up there, but it's the first time bothering to take the bus - I've been very tired lately and I just couldn't be arsed to walk it. ;V

One of the feature exhibits, which happened to be my favourite, was on Asian inkwork (mostly Chinese and Japanese). Very cool, some really beautiful stuff there. Super glad I went. Some of them had poetry incorporated into the inkwork, and there were translations to go along with them - I appreciated that.

They also had a small exhibition of prints by Albrecht Dürer. Fascinating stuff. So detailed! There were magnifying glasses available to take closer looks. Necessary, as some of them were quite small.

Anyway. In the evening there was the thing that I came to Victoria for... the Pacific Opera Victoria performance of Tosca!

I've never seen an in-person opera performance of this level; my previous experiences were all small-scale productions by small companies. So, this was a real treat.

The performance was amazing! The singing, the costuming, the everything. I was already familiar with the story as I've seen a recorded version, but in-person was so much better. I had a great seat, too. (And actually remembered my glasses this time, hooray). 100/10, no notes.

One thing I loved that I didn't remember from the recorded version was that there are some moments that have great comedic timing. Like yeah, sure, it's a tragedy, but in the earlier parts there's the stuff like Mario going in for a smooch and Tosca being like "Not in front of the Madonna", haha.

And now I'm like... turning over the general premise of this opera in my head, trying to shove certain favourite characters into it. You know, "The enemy pressures the protagonist to sleep with him in exchange for the love interest's freedom while the love interest is tortured in a nearby room" dealio. It's a little challenging to make anything a 1:1 fit, but man is it fun.

Anyway, the opera was lovely. I'm glad that I made the decision to come see it in person; very good decision. I could see myself doing so again; we'll have to see what comes up in the future.

brithistorian

I finished the third book in the trilogy just before going to sleep last night. It was a good read, but when all is said and done, I feel like there are a number of loose ends that, when tugged at, cause the whole thing to threaten to fall apart, if not to actually do so.

My main objection is the rest of the world. The events in the trilogy happen in the US, and we're told in mentions here and there that the rest of the world is different, likely doing better. But, except for a couple of very specific events — which are instigated by Americans — the rest of the world just stays out. The closest analogy I can think of is North Korea. Except that North Korea invests a lot in its military to keep the rest of the world out, whereas Kress's America seems to have no functioning military, or at least none that ever gets mentioned. It's like the rest of the world just goes "Oh, they're crazy. Let's stay out of there." Which doesn't seem likely, because people have time and time again demonstrated a complete inability to leave people alone.

And while the ending of the final volume is somewhat more satisfying than the ends of volumes 1 and 2, it also very much sets it up for Kress to potentially write a fourth book. And not a small opening. Imagine if Lord of the Rings had ended with a bookseller unpacking a crate of old books they'd just bought, finding a copy of How to Make Rings of Power: Complete and Unabridged by Sauron and trying to decide whether or not to put it on the shelf.

So more or less a mixed reaction. Some parts I though were good, some parts not so good. Thought-provoking, though not necessarily in the ways the author intended.

Also, I've got one comment on the physical book (and so nothing Kress could have done anything about): Maybe publicity works different in publishing, or maybe the publicity department at Tor in the mid-'90s had never heard of "underpromise then overdeliver," but I found the front cover text on this book kind of hilarious:

First Wells's The Time Machine,

then Clarke's Childhood's End, now...

BEGGARS RIDE

NANCY KRESS

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/19/preview-of-the-ggs-double-bill/

yuuago

My mom told me that it's around -30C at home. Plus windchill.

Meanwhile, Victoria's been a balmy +5 or so. I've been going around in my spring jacket and not even wearing a hat.

I kind of wish I didn't have to go home.

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/18/coc-announces-2026-27/

davidgillon

My sister and I went out with family friends last week* to catch a band at one of the local pubs, the slightly unusual element being that it was at the local biker bar (Satan's Slaves, County Durham Chapter). I did wonder if the band ('One-oh-One, I think) would be any good, but they opened with All The Small Things, then segued into London Calling, followed by No More Heroes, and I'd basically found my ideal playlist - I did think at one point 'All this needs to be perfect is Swords of a Thousand Men', and it cropped up shortly afterwards.

There's something slightly incongruous about having a bunch of bikers in denim and leathers warning you as you leave to "Be careful on these steps now, they're really slippy. Hope you had a good time, this rainy weather's horrible, isn't it?'

My sister was also out the day before at a Lourdes fundraiser at a church-hall over in Darlington - pie, peas, and 'Bongo-Bingo'. Proper Bongo-Bingo is apparently a raucous franchise version of bingo with lots of party games, silly prizes and dancing on tables, but this was the Catholic version, so they missed out the dancing on tables. The compere/bingo caller, sitting next to a life-sized cut-out of Pope Leo, was moonlighting from his day-job as Head of RE at the local Catholic comprehensive, and pointed out any complaints should go to the Dean (senior priest, sitting on my sister's table).

Sample bingo call: 'Thirty-Three - Nailed to a Tree' (OMG, you can't say that!)

"We have bingo dabbers for sale if you need them - a pound to Catholics, four pounds to Protestants"!

"Hands up if you're a teacher?", followed by disappointed look + <*Teacherly voice /*> "It's your own time you're wasting".

Trying to jolly everyone up "This is about as lively as the Lourdes fund-raiser at St Johns!"**

First prize dished out was a Virgin Mary fancy dress costume, other prizes included the life-sized cut-out of Pope Leo.

* I wrote this the next day, but accidentally lost the complete post just short of posting and didn't have the energy to re-write it, but it restored itself when I accidentally went into message creation just now.

** The next Catholic comprehensive over, the one I went to.

Current Mood: Entertained
Current Music: All the Small Things

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/18/faure-requiem-at-metropolitan-united/

yuuago

So, today was kind of cold and drizzly again, but not too bad.

There were some things that I wanted to do, but they didn't open until late in the morning, so I spent the earlier portion writing fic. Or trying to. My vibe is really off, as the kids might say these days. IDK what it is. But at least I had some good coffee while doing it, and left when the place started to get busy.

Went to do some geocaching after that. Didn't succeed in finding anything, but to be fair there were only micros in the area I was looking at. Plus, like, downtown Victoria always has lots of people around even when it's a cold and drizzly morning, and poking around like geocaching involves makes one look hella sketchy. So I wasn't really trying very hard.

I went to the Gage Gallery to take in the most recent exhibit, new as of today. It's a collection of acrylics by Mark Osberg; both landscape and architectural stuff, of locations in both Vancouver Island and Portugal. Really beautiful work. Definitely glad that I checked it out. The formal opening is Thursday evening (time unspecified, probably after the gallery's regular hours) and even though I've already looked at the works I'm kind of thinking about going again. I love a good gallery reception.

Not for the first time I found myself wondering about the process of like, buying a painting and having it shipped home. This is something I've considered a few times over the years when I see something in various galleries, stuff that's for sale and that I like and would theoretically want in my apartment. There is a large space in my living room that looks kind of plain... but I have no idea what it would cost to mail that kind of thing. Maybe I should actually ask about it one of these days.

After that, I headed over to Chinatown. I'd finished one of the books I'd brought for the airplane, so I left it in the Little Library over in Dragon Alley. Then I headed over to Fan Tan Alley to visit the Chinatown museum. This museum is relatively new; glancing at the dates, it looks like it was open the last time I was here, but it wasn't on my radar. So I'm glad I took the opportunity to visit, especially with it being around Lunar New Year and all. I was aware of the general historical overview, but there were a few things that were new to me. The museum is small but definitely worth a visit if you happen to already be in Victoria (and also it's free).

Rest of the afternoon was spent working on fic (or trying to). And also napping. I've been very tired lately - like, super exhausted. I think I needed it. And also I haven't been feeling particularly well, which I am thinking may have something to do with not eating enough vegetables recently, and so I made sure that my supper today involved Lots Of Vegetables. Hooray.

Going to the opera tomorrow! Really looking forward to it!

adafrog

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

duskpeterson

The Emorian Palace

Entrance to the palace

Do not be offended if you are denied entrance to the Emorian palace. The fact that you have come far enough to be denied that entrance shows that the Emorians' trust in you is high indeed.

The strong manner in which Emor protects its ruler, the Chara, is not evidence that the Chara is weak and frightened. Rather, it is a simple fact that being Chara is the most dangerous job in the Three Lands. Fully four-fifths of the Charas have died before their time, many from assassination. Few Charas live beyond the age of thirty.

(I should explain to any mainlanders who are puzzled at this point that noble peninsulareans have been known to live as long as one hundred years. Even commoner peninsularans often live till they are fifty. If you meet a thirty-year-old, he is not an elder; by peninsularean standards, thirty years old is barely out of one's youth)

Under these circumstances, it is only natural that the Emorians should seek to protect their Chara, giving him the opportunity to live at least long enough to father an heir. By Emorian law, the Chara may not leave his palace, except in wartime. The number of visitors who are allowed past the outer wall of the palace grounds is small. The number of visitors who are allowed past the inner wall of the palace grounds is even smaller. The number of visitors who are allowed inside the palace is very small indeed. And the number of visitors who are allowed inside the East Wing of the palace, where the Chara lives, can be counted without losing your breath.

In practice, this means that the only people who see the Chara are his council, officials from the palace and army, boys who are training to be palace officials, royal messengers, the palace guards, and honored guests, such as ambassadors.

And the servants. Everyone forgets the servants. If you want to see the Chara, I suggest entering into training for high service.

[Translator's note: The perils of living as a Chara can be seen in Empty Dagger Hand.]

chickenfeet

https://operacanada.ca/voicebox-opera-in-concertla-somnambulaa-pair-of-excellent-young-singers/

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/17/payadora-in-the-rba/

shamanicshaymin

Discord sure proudly shot itself in the foot, didn't it? Alas, I don't have a copy of Death Stranding to fool their systems with, and I sure as hell am not forking over my ID to the government. So far, I signed up for Stoat, but I don't know which service is going to be the Next Big Thing yet. Remember when people signed up for Pillowfort and that ended up dead in the water? Yeeeeeeah. I hope this next migration will be more creative friendly, I have zero places to be motivated for building graphics and fanmixes. Sure, there's always Dreamwidth, but it's pretty quiet here, which sadly, nothing much I can do about. :(

Since I've been burnt out during the winter season, Three Sentence Ficathon has been a major help. I ended up having a lot of Moon RPG feelings so quite a number of fills are based on that game. ;; Then I took a break to do EAD Birthday Bash 2026, which was a lot of fun since I got to do silly paper plate art with markers. Everybody should read my Mouthwashing My Immortal masterpiece, buwahahahaha. It has to be the most fun I've had writing fic in a long time. XD With Birthday Bash over, I can catch up on 3SF and post all my fills. Sometimes even writing a single sentence is like pulling teeth, so if I actually manage to finish a prompt, it means a lot.

Animal Crossing 3.0 finally lets you store flowers and trees, which has been a major contributing factor to my burnout and inability to finish my island. And there's now slumber islands, so I can play with all the ideas I have bouncing around in my head without having to reset and do *everything* all over again. I can even build with friends! I just... have to find them, whoops. Gods I'm so lonely. ;; I learned how to find treasure islands so I'm basically catching up on everything and cataloging as many items as possible for building on dream islands. My museum is finally finished after forever. :P

Everyone has been shredding the latest Wuthering Heights movie, and dang, it looks as awful as it sounds. It's shitty enough that it makes me want to give the book another chance (and partly because some of Heathcliff's lines remind me of Buzzo being haunted by Lisa), but oof. The original book still employs one of my most Hated Tropes of All Time (The Misunderstanding, aka Person A conveniently hears just enough to believe the Person B hates them, and leaves right before Person B clarifies what they actually mean. I fucking despise it in Shrek, and I despise it everywhere else) And I don't know... a hated trope is like a turd in a otherwise fine bowl of cereal, you know? Once you know it's there, the turd overwhelms everything. D:

I'm still burnt out on everything, which really sucks. But at this point, I kind of have to push, you know?

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Ghost - Cirice

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Bite-Sized Reading

March 2022

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Page Summary

nanila - The Friday Five on a Saturday
chickenfeet - Ives, Hahn and Bolcom
shamanicshaymin - But you are the life I needed all along
chickenfeet - Gothic horror from Dvořák
yuuago - Victoria adventures 07
davidgillon - Recent Reading
chickenfeet - TSO and Opera Atelier season announcements
yuuago - Victoria adventures 06
brithistorian - Book reaction: Beggars Ride (Nancy Kress)
chickenfeet - Preview of the GGS Opera double bill in the RBA
yuuago - Well then
chickenfeet - COC announces 2026/27 season
davidgillon - Gigging With Satan's Slaves/Catholic Teacher Humour
chickenfeet - Fauré Requiem at Metropolitan United
yuuago - Victoria adventures 05
adafrog - Tuesday after the Monday holiday
duskpeterson - FIC: Entrance to the Emporian palace (Tempestuous Tours)
chickenfeet - OIC's La Somnabula featured excellent singing
chickenfeet - Payadora Tango Ensemble in the RBA
shamanicshaymin - (no subject)

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