in my life

Nature continues to progress! New developments from the past two-ish weeks include ( shortly )

OTHERWISE:
-Winter Olympics were amazing, why do we only get them once every few years, how are snow and ice sports so beautiful and fascinating and aesthetically pleasing.

-I would like to read fic but honestly I have just fallen down the rabbit hole of m/m sports romance novels, starting with everything Rachel Reid has to offer, then KD Casey, now Ari Baran, and who knows what's next, with a slight detour into warm and cozy Kind by Hannah Leigh. I feel like at SOME POINT I should stop. If you ask me to tell apart all the different couples I've read about in the past 2 weeks I would be hard pressed to explain all the different characters and plots. And yet.

-Enjoying the new season of The Pitt and a few other show's I'm following, but nothing makes me as happy (and heartbroken, but mostly happy) entertainment-wise as watching a new episode of Shrinking every week. Just, how is that show so good.

-Nature! It's one of the warmest winters I can recall, less rain and warmer weather and a shorter green period, but there are still winter flowers, and I do my best to hike and picnic on the weekends as much as I can. This past weekend I went up to the Golan with a friend, just 2 days of walking around the peace and quiet of the green green north, which was incredibly lovely. The weather makes it constantly feel like Passover is just around the corner, which is disorienting and kind of nice and kind of not.

On Saturday I went to an incredible production of Cabaret. It's one of my favorite musicals to see in live theater, and this production really was incredibly, 360-stage Kit Kat Club and all, and I might have written more if I weren't falling asleep but I very much am, alas.

...........see I made that previous post and now now I finally feel like I can make a post about normal! life! stuff! and fandom!!! this is exciting.

I will just say that I am, as one would expect, WELL on the Heated Rivalry train. After finishing the show and the main youtube-reaction-podcasts/videos, I needed more so I went ahead and read the books the show was based on, and then immediately read the other books in the series, and my MAIN loves are Ilya and Shane, my close second favorites are EVERY SINGLE OTHER SHIP IN THAT SERIES, I am so far gone my god. I'm now debating whether I need a break from hockey novels (to be clear, a break means moving on to fics), or whether I should continue to Rachel Reid's standalone hockey novels, despite the fact that her books make me, well, very distracted when I should be working, which is not ideal. I think maybe it would be smarter to hold off for the weekend.

For now, I have written zero words of HR fics but have many ideas, so if anyone has any idea of how to get writing without a yuletide deadline forcing me to, please let me know! Also: if there are any HR fic exchanges I am happy to hear about them. I'm not in any HR-dedicated discords and do not think I will stumble upon such an exchange independently.

Other than that, more fandom yays:
-The Pitt season 2 \o/
-Stranger Things final season! That one is less of a \o/ lol, but I still enjoyed watching it, criticisms and all. I love those kids.
-A Thousand Blows is back for the second half of its season! I haven't watched it yet but I loved the first half and can't wait for more.
-New Josh Charles show aka Best Medicine! Okay, it's not great yet, but I'm giving it a chance.
-Avengers Doomsday trailers! I have them but I love them ugh Marvel are truly assholes for doing this to me.
-Over on AO3, spqr has been posting Masters of the Air fics which have been so great they have sucked me right into that fandom.
-(Interspersed, of course, by HR fics, naturally)

And on the local theater front: I went to the new production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle yesterday, at Habima theater. Other than being one of my favorite plays, and absolutely timeless in message, it was such a gorgeous production. Beautiful set design, including a constantly shifting backdrop of sand art that was sculpted live by the actors on stage; beautiful compositions and singing; great acting, and a great translation. It was maybe a little more immersive than Brecht would have liked, but sorry dude, if you don't want me getting emotionally invested in your characters you should have stopped writing emotionally investing stories!)

I couldn't find a trailer for the production, but if you have any interest in what it looked like, there are snippets of the stage and cast here.

For yuletide this year I received a lovely gift -

A present for the blind - for KJ Charles's Society of Gentlemen series, David/Cyprian, 1500 words, a sweet little story about Richard trying new things and understanding Dom a little better.

And I wrote a Nobody Wants This ficlet!

Feels Like Something New - Nobody Wants This (TV), Morgan/Sasha, 2400 words, steps towards getting together.
Sasha’s post-separation life comes with new apartments, curtain dilemmas, and Morgan’s unfiltered advice.

I am so out of the habit of writing anything - posts or fic - and am so grateful for yuletide as the one annual tradition that forces me to write at least something, and milks out a bit of creativity. And it's still nice, being surprised by fandoms that are rare and new and usually have a little bit less stress than trying to fit in your characterizations to a fandom with established fanon or characterizations.

Er, I might as well take this opportunity to post a roundup of all fics written since my LAST roundup, which are basically just the last 4 yuletides:

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Round and Round (yes the amazing 2023 Hallmark time loop Hanukkah movie) - 5+1 fic, bunch of ships throughout the 20th century, 6300 words, written for Yuletide 2024.
Five Hanukkah time loops that helped shape generations of Rachel's family, plus one that just might yet.

Children Will Listen - Ever After (1998 movie), Danielle/Prince Henry, 1800 words, written for Yuletide 2023.
Happy now, and happy hence, and happy ever after; Henry and Danielle find themselves disagreeing on how to parent.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43675770>Someone to Watch Over - KinnPorsche RPF, Bible/Build, 5400 words, written for Yuletide 2022.
Bible copes with playing a character like Vegas by taking care of people on set. Build needs to get used to being taken care of.

Do I have ideas for Heated Rivalry fic? OF COURSE I DO. will I manage to scrape up some writing to discipline to write them? Maybe after someday finishing the KinnPorsche/Discworld fic I started writing before the war? Time will tell.

Just a couple more hours to goooo

I went to the Hostages Square close to midnight. The air was thrumming with excitement. It's 6AM and there are so many many people there now and I really want to go but also, somehow, have work that I'm going to have to somehow find a way to concentrate on unless I can get out of it.

But anyway that doesn't matter, all that matters is that everything goes smoothly and that no one fucks this up, come on 🤞🤞🤞

HI! Thank you, new friend who has good taste and likes at least one fandom I like, and hopefully the same characters in similar ways! I hope this is the kind of letter you click on and think, "Ooh, I can do that!" and not "Ahhh what have I signed up for /o\". It's yuletide, so... I'm very familiar with both. It'll be fine :)

(Is this most of this letter copy pasted from previous years? INCLUDING THIS VERY INTRO? Yes. Originality is overrated.)

The fandoms I request for yuletide are usually just fandoms that I really, really enjoyed, and I just want more of them. I would have loved to finish these canons and go to AO3 and just read 10-20 more fics in these universes! But alas they are not always there.

In all fandoms I requested, I am fine with any rating/sexual content (or lack of) that works for you.

In no particular order, let's go:

(  1. Three Men and a Baby (1987), 2. Lilywhite Boys - K.J. Charles, 3. The Doomsday Books - K. J. Charles )

Generic DNWs: noncon, daddy kink, incest, anything you wouldn't traditionally gift to anyone unprompted. Dubcon of the 'they both actually want it' variety is fine (eg love spell, sex pollen, etc), pandemics/quarantines is fine, generally if it's a topic/trope that took place in the canon it's also fine.

*

I will finish with the usual end notes:

In the end, everything I wrote are just suggestions, and I am a very flexible reader who likes a WHOLE LOT OF STUFF so really, I'm just glad to be getting something in any of these fandoms, and I hope you enjoy the process of writing and participating. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to approach me via anonymous comment/the mods. Thank you and have a wonderful yuletide ♥♥♥

This is just to say that I am flying out to London tomorrow and from there to Edinburgh next Monday! I feel some trepidation for various reasons but I am so very very very much looking forward to this vacation.

Given the current situation, I'm currently sending good vibes into the universe and hoping that neither flight - but especially the departure - will be canceled. Fingers crossed, that is all, let's do this.

This is just to say, hello, I'm in Tel Aviv away from the thick of things, immediate family is safe. I want to write something about what's been going on but I really don't know what to say. I'm not really sure what the price will be for getting through it as a country, and I'm not looking forward to finding out.

I've been managing to pull myself out of the news cycle for like an hour or two of escapism a day, and am weirdly glad for the few WIPs I follow for having updated in a very timely fashion.

Sending everyone affected in any way hugs. It's a rough time.

Okay I'm probably just going to be annoying with these types of post over the next three weeks SORRY but - got lottery tix for Moulin Rouge tomorrow (Sat) at 2pm, would anyone be interested in going? Debating whether or not to buy them :)

Hello! Gazillion time no see. I am typing from my phone (gah) so will be brief:

1. Over a month ago I thought I might be in the US in July and saw an ad for a Rhys Darby comedy show in Brooklyn on July 6th and thought fuck it, let's buy tickets and this will incentivize me to actually do something towards a US trip.

I will NOT be in the US tomorrow, but I do still have the two tickets that are no longer refundable, and I do not have the energy for dealing with any sort of reselling. Which is to say: If anyone wants two free tickets to tomorrow's Rhys Darby 10PM show at the Bell House in Brooklyn, ping me and I'll email them to you! You can also give them to a friend. Just... help me help someone enjoy these tickets /o\

ETA:CLAIMED \o/ Thank you :)

2. I *will*, in the end, be going to the US, with probably the most expensive tickets I've bought in my life my god the state of world travel these days, between July 22 and Aug 11.

Am currently in the process of trying to plan the trip. Will also be with a friend some of the time. If you're in the area or think you might be in the area around those dates, would be awesome to say hi.

My current thoughts are:
-work from NYC
-take a week off on the first week of August. Hike somewhere?? Drive or train&drive to a nice hiking place from NYC, if that exists? Go to Boulder CO to visit a friend and hike? Figure out how where to get/rent camping equipment since I don't actually want to lug it from IL? Maybe do some other trip or weekend to Philly/DC & Virginia (with hikes??)

Basically dumping my brainstormy jumbled thoughts here, all TBD, inputs welcome. All is of course relying on no flights being canceled and covid and the world permitting, of course.

And now: Try to sleep early so I'm not entirely exhausted for Thor tomorrow.

(PS not kidding about those Rhys Darby tickets! Yes I know it's 10PM and we're no longer the youthquakers we once were but I'm really hoping someone wants them anyway)

Hello! One million years later, insert obligatory moaning about how I never update anymore and how much I miss it and how much fandom has changed et cetera, I have been STRUGGLING with writing this damn Our Flag Means Death fic because writing! Is hard! And I truly worship all of you who manage to do it, so often, so consistently, so well, you are all gods.

Because I'm trying to write a Passover fic (/o\) and I am already waaaay past my self-imposed deadline of the seder (//o\\), I have come here to complain about writing and also self-motivate by linking to recently-posted fics, "recently" meaning "within the past 2 years" apparently because that's just how out of touch I've been.

A bit of atmosphere: it is a beautiful spring day. I've taken a day off from work. I have a bouquet of tulips and another bouquet of other flowers which I bought for the holiday, and they are blooming and gorgeous. The window is open, and as happens in this season, many flies have come to visit and are circling in the air, currently counting around 20, and I have no earthly idea how I will get them out. They are extremely annoying but I do feel better for sharing, so sorry for that.

Okay. Fics what I have posted! All written for exchanges because apparently that's the only thing that gets me to write.

In Sickness (3667 words, gen, Yuletide 2020)
Fandom: Society of Gentlemen - K. J. Charles
Relationships: Dom/Silas, Richard/Cyprian
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Illness, Injury (mild), but seriously a LOT of fluff
Summary: Silas learns it's okay to be taken care of . (Or: five times Silas or David find themselves sick or injured.)

Silver White Winters (2373 words, gen, Old Guard Fic Exchange 2021)
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Relationships: Joe/Nicky, team friendship
Additional Tags: Domestic Fluff, pure fluff, Vacation, The Team Deserves a Break, Skiing, Pre-Poly, Gen or Pre-Slash
Summary: Joe, Nicky, Nile and Andy spend the winter in Europe, which means one thing: ski trip.

Seems like we've been here before (4238 words, PG-13)
Fandom: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Relationships: Joe/Nicky
Additional Tags: Road Trips, Time Travel, Pining, Huddling For Warmth, Identity Porn, (just a little), Holy Land Shenanigans
Summary: Where Nicky finds himself back in the 12th century, and tries his best not to fuck up the timeline.

vehigadta (and you shall tell) (3244 words, gen, Yuletide 2021)
Fandom: The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Characters: S. Morgenstern
Additional Tags: Meta, Non-Linear Narrative, POV First Person, Framing Story, Epistolary Elements, Jewish Character, framing story takes place in the time of covid
Summary: Assorted items from the writings and correspondences of S. Morgenstern, and how I came to find them.
(I feel like I should write a DVD commentary for this one, otherwise if I come back to it 20 years in the future I will have no idea what part of it is fact and what part of it is fiction)

Bethlehem (1300 words, gen, 3 stories for Purimgifts 2021)
Fandom: תנ"ך | Tanakh
Characters: David's sisters, David
Summary: Three scenes from the life of David's sister.

And for completecism:

Who Tells Your Story (2200 words, gen, Purimgifts 2019)
Fandom: תנ"ך | Tanakh, Generation Kill
Characters: Brad Colbert, Ray Person, Evan Wright, Yael, Barak
Additional Tags: Crossover, AU - Fusion
Summary: Meet the foot-soldiers of Bet Company - proud, hardened professionals who deal in that most specialized of Canaanite exports: conflict. The true story of iron chariots, milk, and a platoon at war on the Tavor.

Best to Take the Moment Present (2484 words, explicit, Yuletide 2017)
Fandom: Home Again (2017)
Relationships: Alice/George/Harry
Additional Tags: Fluff, Post-Movie, fumbling towards OT3, mostly a lot of flirting, Threesome - F/M/M
Summary:In the end, to no one’s bigger surprise than her own, it’s Austen who rolls his eyes behind the Saturday morning Times and says, “For god’s sake, Alice, just sleep with the kid, even I can’t take it anymore.”

On Location (1278 words, gen, Yuletide 2016)
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Relationships: Anthony Mackie/Sebastian Stan
Characters: Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland (Actor), Paul Rudd
Summary: Everyone has a Chris Evans problem at some point. It's practically a rite of passage.

...okay. Feeling mildly more accomplished to face the day. On we go.