vamous | Reading

It's Sunday! I have a game at noon, and then I'll settle down for Snowpocalypse 2, Electric Boogaloo.

Saturday was good. I slept late, had a good game where my players rollplayed a lot, which is always awesome. I'm currently torturing the paladin, played by Jess with a ton of backstory. This group is very much a "just fuck me up," set of players when it comes to trauma, which is a lot of fun for me. I've got many more reveals to come that I'm looking forward to in this arc. One was twisty enough that I actually asked

poisontaster if it was okay to do to her character, though. (She also was like "Do it!"

Yoda did not do well with the pet sitter. He barked non stop, though he would take treats from her. We're going to try twice more to see if he'll get used to her, and if not, he's going to the doggy boarding, where he'll be off his turf. I don't like that idea, but if we have to, we'll give it a go.

We also discovered that the Crab was bad. It smelled horrible, and we did not eat it. I put in a claim with Instacart/Costco, but now they're asking for a picture. Jess already put them in the dumpster so that's not happening, so we'll see how they reply. In the meantime, I'm going to put in another order for some from Sitka Seafood, since we've gotten twice from them, and they were awesome. So maybe some next weekend.

With crab off the table for dinner, we ordered from Wonder by Jose Andres. It was a mixed bag. The entree's were good, but the sides were not to our liking.

I've been craving sushi, but I saw Jose Andres, and got excited. I was unsatisfied, and still want sushi. I may order some for game, since I don't think we're getting out afterwards. Last I looked the snow is supposed to start around 2, and game won't be done til 3.

Weather.com says 2-4", but they just issued a winter storm warning that says 4-10" with totals locally up to 14". As usual, I'll believe it when the snow is on the ground. It's been a while since we had big snows, so I can't even bitch...much.

With the snow, I'm definitely cooking tonight. I'm going to look at the freezer and see what I want to make. I'm leaning towards the ribs with a dry rub.

My mouth continues to be slightly puffy. It's usually worse in the morning, I guess because when I lay down the bloodflow can pool in the head? I don't know. I just know it's better than it was yesterday, so I'm happy.

Now that we've started dealing with the practicalities, with Yoda, I'm getting more excited about Alaska. It's really happening and that is super cool. We're down to 74 days. In another two weeks, it'll be two months away! I'm both excited and nervous, but mostly excited.

But first, that's 53 work days to get through. Work will probably continue to be busy, and at some point, presumably, they'll move me into the new position. This week, we have our quarterly staff meeting. It's two hours long and it's on camera, so fun fun. That's on Tuesday so that's a bit of OT. Then I work next Saturday, so the check will look good in two weeks. Actually, I'll have two Saturdays, so that'll be a doubly nice check.

Okay, time for me to go forth and consider what I want to do today before game. Everyone have a stupendous Sunday!

beanside

Yet another subject line from Hazbin Hotel. This is the grand villain's origin story in song form. It's Saturday, and I got to sleep in for a change! Til nearly 7am! Now I'm sitting here feeling a little naughty and daring for getting up so late. The downside is that someone will surely be stirring soon, so my peace will be short lived. It's good if it's Jess, they're soothing. My sister is not.

Oh, Jess is up! I summoned them with my thoughts. I'm a goddamned Jedi.

My mouth is still a little swollen, but has gone down quite a bit. There's barely any swelling in my lip, and just a bit of a swollen area in my gum. I think in another day or so, it'll be gone.

Went to my company holiday outing last night. It was fun, but so goddamn loud. We went to Miss Toya's Creole House which was pretty good? Not like OMG awesome, but not bad. I started out with fried deviled eggs with crabmeat which were very tasty. I ate three, and probably could have called that my meal. But no, I had two crabcakes with cheesy grits and spinach coming. Most of that is currently residing in my refrigerator. The grits were excellent, the spinach was good, the crabcakes were a little overspiced. I love me some Old Bay, but damn. But overall, it was just a smallish room and nearly 30 people, and no sound deadening material. My boss, A, and I were both going "I am way too old for this." Still, it was nice to see people. I, being fat and a lefty claimed my seat immediately, and just as fas the two top bosses claimed seats on either side of me. I talked to them off an on all night, which was nice, since I get along well with both of them. But definitely had a "My milkshake brings all the managers to the yard" vibe.

Today, I will finish prepping for our 12pm game and then we shall see. Our local farm store has a jam tasting today at 11, so I'm wondering if I could sneak over there, buy some jam and then come back. I may try it.

Then, at 4, the dogsitter comes over to meet Yoda. Fingers crossed for a smooth introduction. If all goes well, I'm going to have her start coming a couple of times a week to walk him, so he'll continue to consider her a friend.

On Thursday, I discovered an exciting thing. Sometimes, Costco has Dungeness crabs! I got two big packs and we're going to have a crab feast this evening. I'm looking forward to it! They might not be as good as the stuff we had overnighted from Alaska, but I'm sure they'll be tasty. I can't wait.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to have a game, dependent on how the DM and players are feeling. That's not til 12, so I have plans to sleep in again and take it easy. The game will finish around 3, so maybe I'll actually cook something. I'll have to look and see what we have (so many things).

The tricky part is that I'm still sore, so it can't be something I have to bite. I'm thinking about the baby back ribs, since they should cook down to fall off the bone if I do it right. Otherwise, I'll just be cutting microscopic pieces to make it easy for myself. Or maybe by tomorrow, it'll be even better and I can make steak. We'll see.

But for today, it is prep time and then we shall have game! I have many traumatizing things planned for them. Fingers crossed that everyone is up to playing. Everyone have an amazing Saturday!

rionaleonhart

It can be a real challenge to characterise the fictional members of the Cornley Drama Society, given that they spend so much of Goes Wrong canon playing other characters. Therefore, I thought I'd see if I could put together a character profile of Robert Grove.

'Are you going to write characterisation guides for the entire drama society?' No. I'll be honest: I just wanted an excuse to talk at length about Robert Grove, because he's perfect.

( Robert Grove: a character summary. )

Robert's best quality as a friend: he will give generously of his time and effort to fix your problem, or at least to fix what he has decided is your problem. This... may not actually be helpful, but it will at least be well-intentioned.

Robert's worst quality as a friend: he will sleep with your mother, insult your acting and throw you under the bus to play the Dane, and he won't even understand why you're annoyed with him afterwards.

In short, Robert is an egotistic and outspoken man with a passion for theatre, an intense sincerity, a vast capacity for self-absorption, a need to be important, a desire for company and an absolute lack of self-awareness. He's relentlessly loud and dramatic. He will refuse to apologise if he doesn't think he's in the wrong, and he will never think he's in the wrong. He's a nightmare. I love him.

beanside

Day one on Clindamycin. Not that different from Augmentin. My lip is swollen and my mouth is sore, and I desperately want these medications to work. I'm tired AF of this. I know it's only been a couple of doses of the new med, and I'm not despairing yet, but good lord, this is stubborn.

I had my Mid year review yesterday, which went fine. I had to tell my manager all the shit the higher bosses have me doing so that it would be accurate, and we bitched about the various shit that Hopkins is doing (new phone system, which may or may not do what we want. New HR platform that isn't working at all the way it's supposed to. And an upcoming total system overhaul next year.)

I could stand to bring my call quality up some, but I'm not good at hitting lines. I tend to be more focused on the patient and what they're telling me than saying their name 3 times, or saying exactly what I see on the screen as far as insurance. It's Blue Cross Blue Sheild FEP Standard PPO, but I'm probably going to say "Blue Cross Federal Standard," and that's a ding. I get caught on little things like that, because I'm talking to the patient like a human and not a robot.

One of my old bosses called my phone style "folksy," which let me tell you, I hated. Still do. I like to think of it more as warm and conversational and maybe a bit of stand up in there. I try to put the patient at ease and offer comfort or maybe a chuckle. "And are you claustrophobic?" "No." "Oooh, you're better than me!" If I can make the patient laugh, that's my goal. They're calling for what can be some seriously scary shit. It's my job to make them feel like I care about that, and by extension, so does Johns Hopkins. That we're there for their body, but also to care for them as people. I've done a lot of research to know what each test entails, so I can soothe fears and give them hope that they can get through an MRI, even though they're claustrophobic. But I probably am not going to chant their name like I'm calling for Beetlejuice.

Tonight, we have our big work party. I haven't decided what I want to eat yet. I'm kind of torn between Jambalaya and Shrimp and grits, both of which are pretty easy to eat. I just have to get through the day and I can go out with work friends and have quality time. I'll probably still be a little puffy, but I'm going to do it anyway, barring severe pain.

We're down to 76 days til Alaska. But I'm also excited about so many other things. The most recent is the news that the West End production of Much Ado About Nothing is coming over to Broadway this fall. It's got Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell as Benedict and Beatrice, and I cannot wait for tickets to go on sale. We've already got a party of four, we'll see how many end up going as I may ask a few more people if they're interested. We won't be able to rent the party bus, but it'll be good anyway. I'm on the list to be notified when we have updated information, since right now the word is "Fall," and I'm going to need them to firm that up a bit. We've got CONfab this fall, so we'll have to push it a little out from that. It's listed for a 10 week run, so I'm assuming like Sept-early November. That way they're maximizing the people who will want to stay over night and can't afford NYC in Christmas prices.

I'll probably aim for early-mid September if that's the case. CONFab is at the end of October, so that gives us a little time between. Of course, early in October will be New York Comic Con, which one of our people goes to, so I'll be watching for that as well.

This makes four plays in less than a year. Who am I turning into? We saw Phantom in Baltimore, now we're doing three in NYC: Lost Boys the Musical, The Rocky Horror Show, and now Much Ado About Nothing.

I guess I'm evolving? I don't even like NYC! It's too crowded. Though I'm excited to spend money in Mamdani's city. I want him to be able to afford to enact all the good socialist plans he has.

Okay, time to go forth and consider the day. Everyone have a most excellent Friday!

rionaleonhart

I keep thinking 'okay, I must be out of Goes Wrong ideas now' and then writing more! After seeing The Play That Goes Wrong, I'm really curious about how awkward things were between Annie and the rest of the drama society afterwards.

Title: Cast and Crew
Fandom: The Play That Goes Wrong
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1,800
Summary: In The Murder at Haversham Manor, Annie finds her calling; she wants to be an actress. After the events of the play, though, her relationship with the drama society might be a little strained.

( Cast and Crew )

beanside

It's Thursday, which means that it's my 2 year work anniversary with Hopkins! It doesn't feel like that long, but then I look back and see what has happened in the last two years and wow, it's been a packed couple of years.

I started in 2024, when Dad was still alive. I worked for the first 7 months while cringing every time I heard him yell "I gotta pee!" and hoped it didn't come down the line. It didn't thankfully. Then there was the month of Dad being sick and dying. Then, after two quiet months, we moved to the apartment at the beginning of 2024. After that, Jess' dad died, Jess got top surgery. It was pretty busy. Today, I hit two years at the start of a busy year. The only thing I really dislike is the time off structure. I hate having my sick and my PTO in the same bank. It stresses me out. I do miss the 5 weeks of vacation that IKEA offered. It was much easier to plan vacations. But aside from that, not a damn thing that I miss.

Patients can be tough some times. You don't have any appt soon, and it is their health. And sometimes they're upset, but they don't come in with the level of entitlement of an IKEA customer. I have never been called a "fucking bitch," which as I said last night, was basically any day ending in Y at IKEA.

So yeah, a good, albeit stressful, two years.

Today, I have my mid-year review, which will be thrilling. It'll be fine, but I still dislike it. It's always so boring. They can normally dig out one or two actionable things, but that's about it.

Depending on how the day goes, I may try cooking dinner--nothing fancy, just put something in a pan and bake it level of cooking. We have a very pretty rack of baby back ribs, so I might try them. Or, there's chcken. We'll see.

Tomorrow, I have work, and then we have our holiday party. I think I'm going to wear the black and gold dress for it. If I wear it with fun tights and cute shoes it should be fine for an evening out.

Then Saturday, we shall have game, and that will be fun. Then, the dreaded introduction of Yoda to the Pet Sitter. I am manifesting that it's going to go well. If I'm nervous holding the leash, he will be too, so I'm going to go in as calm as humanly possible. We're also going to give him some anti-anxiety meds. And maybe some for me.

Sunday, we have a mid-day game, and that'll be fun. It's my Strixhaven game, as DMed by

poisontaster

I wasn't sure how I'd like a college based TTRPG, seeing as my schooling was shitty and tumultuous, but it's been fun. I like my character, Bryony, a little goth bard who can use her blood to fuel her spells thanks to her absent mother's magical lineage. Her father is a little embarrassed by her magical abilities, but has used them to his benefit while trying to mold her into the perfect political prop of a daughter. Now she's at school, with her father's PA trying to helicopter parent her, and she's just found this tribe of weirdos to hang out with, and done crime (sneaking out after curfew) with them. She's got a job, and an equally goth girlfriend and is having the time of her life.

The weekend is full, but it's of fun things, which makes it good. At some point, early on Saturday, I do need to go get my car emission testing done, since that's due on the 25th. Maybe I'll stop at the Waffle House and bring home breakfast for everyone. We'll see how awake I am.

I was thinking of showering today, but I may wait til tomorrow when I'm going out. That sounds like a good plan. Okay, time to go forth and get myself together for work. Everyone have a wonderful Thursday!

beanside

And we're back into more outch. I think the Augmentin may be outclassed by this infection. I have an appointment with the PA at 7am, so hopefully, I'll get something else to take tonight and it helps faster. That would be ideal.

I'm not looking forward to today, because I am having a fair amount of discomfort this morning, and I'd really prefer not to talk nonstop. (But that's what I'm going to do.)

We're 89 days from the trip. It feels a little unreal at the moment. I'm looking at the numbers and watching them shrink and I'm not feeling the increasing urgency. It's still an abstract until the day arrives, I suppose. It'll probably feel real when we start packing, but that's still a ways off. I probably won't pack my checked luggage until about 5 days before, when the weather forecast firms up. We have a lot of opportunity for...varied weather. Anywhere from the 60's-30's. So once we know better for that, we'll pack how we need to.

The brother in law is so fucking excited about the trip. He's really excited about seeing Seattle, and I'm really excited about Vancouver and the ship. I'm looking forward to looking down as we cross the Rocky Mountains. We have some mountains in Maryland, including the Allegheny and Appalachian Mountains, but those are comparatively small. (They did not feel small when we were driving up them to get to Pittsburgh.) I want to see the Pacific Ocean. I've never seem that side of the country. I want to see Vancouver. It looks gorgeous. We were going to go there long ago, using some friends expiring miles. But it turned out that the miles had to be booked by a certain date, but that date could be 1 year out. So we gave them back and let them take their first real honeymoon.

But this time, I get to see the seawall, and walk through Granville Market. See the steam-powered clock. And so much more.

Question, would it be weird to go to the movies the night before we get on the cruise? The new Mortal Kombat movie comes out and I love me some Karl Urban. There's some not far from the port, an easy uber ride away. I know it'll likely be a crappy movie, but I love me some crappy movies. I love an opening weekend crowd, and I'd hate to come back and see if 3 weeks later after I've been spoiled (Ha! As though there's a plot to spoil!) We'll see how we feel, I guess. Shame it's not a Cinemark theater. I have 5 points with them because I haven't been motivated to see anything. Mm, things to ponder...

This weekend, we meet with the potential dog sitter. Hopefully Yoda does well. I'm expecting a ton of barking, but hopefully he settles down.

I know my sister has to go to NY in a couple of weeks (maybe). It got postponed from next week due to corporate incompetence, so maybe Jess and I could go stay at a hotel for a couple of days over the weekend and have the sitter come in. That way Yoda would get some experience in.

Still no word on the new job. All the jobs are in pending, so supposedly the application is being reviewed. I just wish one would move. Especially the radiology one. Though, the one that progressed yesterday is also tempting. It's a Medical Concierge patient support line, senior support. That payband goes up to $36.44. Which is enough to top out at $75,000. I know in the grand scheme of things, that's not a ton of money. But it's mre than I've ever made. So if they make an offer, I'll have to weigh it.

Other than that, I've just been working and sleeping. Today I need to go to the dispensary and presumably whatever antibiotic the doctor calls in. I've burned through a fair number of pain gummies and relaxing peppermints while in pain.

If I can convince the doctor to give me a different antibiotic, hopefully it works quickly. I really want to go to this dinner on Friday at Ms. Toya's Creole House. It's our holiday party. Even if it's still slightly swollen, I could probably go. They don't see me every day, they don't know that I'm normally not slighty puffy.

I haven't really had a huge appetite while the infection is going on. I had half an omlette and a half a pancake for breakfast, nothing for lunch, and then pasta for dinner. I had two meatballs and a little bit of the pasta, but the meatballs were pretty good. I also had some pasta e fagioli soup, with plenty of beans.

Today I'll have the other half of the omlette, and see from there. Maybe I'll eat the soup for lunch. We'll see.

Nothing planned at work today. Tomorrow is my mid fiscal year review. Next week is a Staff Meeting, always exciting. We're getting a new phone system at work next month, so that should be stressful. I'm sure it'll be fine, and basically the same as the one we have, but I know that's tying up the managers in meetings, which is probably delaying the job.

I really want my friend to get the job. She'd be good, though she'll have to learn the medical stuff. And, of course I want my $1000 bonus in 6 months, though I'll give her half.

(Edited to add:) With Jess working on a novel, we decided that it might be good for them to start going to conventions to network. So we're going to try Romantasy in the Valley, which has the benefit of being close to our home. The book falls loosely into Romantasy, so we'll give it a go.

And now, I suppose I'll contemplate the possibilty of waking up the rest of the way, and getting myself ready for work. Everyone have an amazing Wednesday!

rionaleonhart

In the stage version of Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, Chris canonically refuses to keep the Cornley Playhouse heated, and everyone complains about how cold it is. It seemed like a great excuse to write self-indulgent fanfiction!

As this is based on the 2025 stage version of Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, be aware that some details may not match up with the original 2017 television version.

The title's not great, but the only other thing I could think of was Baby, It's Cold Inside, which would be considerably worse.

Title: Backup Heating
Fandom: The Goes Wrong Show (well, technically Christmas Carol Goes Wrong)
Rating: G
Pairing: slight everyone/everyone
Wordcount: 1,600
Summary: During rehearsals for A Christmas Carol, Chris won't allow anyone to use the heating. Clearly, the Cornley Drama Society is just going to have to huddle for warmth.

( Backup Heating )

beanside

Day 3, face improving at a glacial speed. Today, the swelling is receding more, it's now localized right above the abscessed tooth. It's a little painful after talking all day yesterday so today is going to be fun. I have taken my antibiotics and ibuprofen for the morning, so we'll see how that goes.

Yesterday was annoying, and slightly painful, but I managed. I only did 35 calls, but part of the time was spent filling in a couple of cardiacs for Thursday. Hopefully today will be more of that, so that I can take it a bit easier.

Entertainingly, another of my job applications has progressed forward, but not the one I'm waiting on. I had applied to two in early January, but Hopkins HR team is slow as shit. So, we'll see how many jobs I can get in a short amount of time. It would be hilarious if I got all of them.

Hopefully, the other job, the one I want, will progress soon. That would be helpful.

My friend has not heard back about the job with my dept yet. Hopefully that also progresses soon. I'd like her to get it, I know it would be easier for her, especially now that Ikea wants people in the office 3 days a week. (Which is total bullshit, there's no reason except for micromanaging that they want to do this.) I honestly don't know where they're going to put that many people. Even if they spread them out, there's going to be one day a week where the full crew will be there, and that's going to be tight.

Me, I love my kitchen nook. I sit in the sun and do my work, and it's good. I don't have to wear pants if I don't want to. My "uniform" is leggings, socks and a t-shirt. If they're lucky, I brushed my hair. If not, then oh well. If they ask me to turn on my camera, they get what they get.

I used to get prettied up for meetings, put on a bra, and a nicer shirt. But the resolution is such on Teams that any finer details got lost, so now, it's come as you are. The only caveat is if I'm presenting something, then I may put on a nicer shirt and a bra, because then I figure that people are looking more closely at me.

I'm really tired of getting carry out, but I don't know what I can make that would be soft enough. Maybe if I baked the slab of ribs low and slow for a while, it would get soft. That's a possibility. We'll see.

I'm really, really hoping my mouth goes down so I can go to this work dinner. It's our holiday party, held at a Creole/Soul Food place. If it's mostly down, I'll probably go. As long as my mouth doesn't look like a chimpanzee.

It has been brought to my attention that today is a whole lot of holidays (thanks

dine ). So, a blessed and easy fast this Ramadan, Happy Lunar New Year (yay Fire Horse!) and Happy Mardi Gras (Laissez les bons temps rouler."

I was going to get donuts for Fat Tuesday, but alas the store I was going to get them from closes at 5, and I don't think I can make it up by then as I get off at 4:30 and I'd need to gas along the way.

Maybe I'll order from Dunkin. They won't be as good, but they'll be donuts.

Okay, I shall now go forth and do some things. I've got a few more character sheets to make for the game this weekend. Though I'm not sure how much of what I have planned that we'll get into. The characters just came of a chaotic and painful mission. They deserve a little downtime and to restock on healing potions. Definitely to restock on healing potions.

They're getting ready to fight an Archfey. Jess sent me a stat block that I like, so I'm going to use that. They're particularly nasty. The fey calls himself the Lord of Blood, so you know he's a nice and reasonable guy.

Everyone have a perfectly delightful Tuesday!

rionaleonhart

The 2026 Three-Sentence Ficathon is now at an end! Still open to fills, but there are no new prompts being posted. Here's an eighth and (probably) final roundup of my fills; once again, all of these are for The Goes Wrong Show.

( Assorted ficlets for the Goes Wrong Show, 1,400 words total. )

And that's the end of this Three-Sentence Ficathon! It's my favourite fandom event of the year, and this year in particular I've had an incredible time with it. I ended up writing fifty-six fills, totalling just over ten thousand words; fifty-two of those fills were for The Goes Wrong Show, because I have a problem.

Thank you to everyone for your prompts and comments and fills! Thank you in particular to anyone who read my Goes Wrong Show fics without being familiar with the series; a couple of people even checked the show out because of my fills, which absolutely delighted me. My main goals were to have a good time and spread Goes Wrong propaganda, and I think I've succeeded in both.

beanside

Good news, my face hurts less today. Unfortunately I'm still swollen as shit. It definitely is an abscessed tooth. I've only taken two of the Augmentin, so I'm going to do that another day or two and see how it goes. I am seriously tempted to take one of my lancets and poke this swelling to see if I can get some of the ick out, but that's just me wanting to speed the healing.

I did nothing yesterday. Most of the day, my mouth was huring like a son of a bitch, so I laid in bed and took pain meds (and weed) and contemplated the ceiling. I wouldn't want to do it often, but it was kind of nice to slow down and take it easy. I had a poached egg for breakfast, and wonton soup for dinner. It was excellent and gentled on my poor little mouth.

I did go out briefly, pre weed, to go get the Augmentin, which will hopefully do the trick. And then I went right back to my bed and napped some more.

I'm not looking forward to work today, as it's going to be uncomfortable at best and painful at worst, but I'll get the job done.

I'm hoping it's cleared up by this Friday, because I have a work dinner, and if my upper lip still looks like a chimp, I'm not going. I also am supposed to have my mid-year review on Thursday.

I'm sure it'll be fine, I'm not really worried about it. I just hate them. I had to do my own write up on myself and I hate it. It's much easier for me to say what I'm doing wrong as opposed to what I'm doing right.

Maybe also this week I'll hear more about the job. Right now, I know it'll involve working with the Cardiac slots like I already do, and possibly onboarding, but that doesn't make up a 40hr week. So we'll see. I wonder if it'll also be continuing to work on the STAT list. I enjoy the competitive thrill of getting sick patients in against all odds. When I get to call them and say "Hey, we did some shuffling, and we can work you in on ____." Usually, they're very grateful. I've actually had one cry about how awesome we were and that it's proof that Hopkins cares. (For the record, the people behind Hopkins definitely care. The company probably cares that it's a slot that won't go wasted.)

And how much money are they going to pay me to do this? Inquiring minds want to know! I figure that I've been doing the cardiacs now for at least 7 months. During that time, I've filled an average of 2 MRIs and 4 CTAs a week. I know the MRI is good for at least a couple of thousand from insurance. The CTAs slightly less, we'll say about a thousand. So I've saved them over $150k from being lost due to last minute cancellations. They can afford to give me $30/hr.

I appreciate that several of the sites have recognized me on the Applause site. It's just a certificate, but it makes me happy, and is something to show with how well we work together as a team, us and the sites, which there are occassional gripes about. (TBF, most of those are gripes from us, but still.)

Today will probably be busy as hell, so that should be fun. I'm just going to take it easy and go as slow as I need to in the hopes that as the day goes on, the swelling starts coming down, c'mon Augmentin.

Tomorrow, I defintelly need to consider cooking, I can't keep ordering in. We'll see how I feel as to what I do tonight. Definitely something soft and easy to eat. I may just have my leftover crab benedict. Or I might have that for breakfast with some wontons. They sent two bowls of wontons which is awesome, since they were very tasty and easy to eat.

Okay, on that note, time to hop off and have some delicious coffee. Everyone have an astoundingly good Monday!

beanside

So, you know the one doctor said she thought I had a sinus infection and gave me strong antibiotics, which I've been kind of putting off taking because it's a new family of antibitics for me and I'm anxious. Well, yesterday, I don't know if it waas sinus, or my tooth, but holy shit it was hurting. And then my lip started swelling. I started the antibiotics and am waiting for them to kick all the way in. There's less pain today, but I'm still swollen, it's annoying. I was hoping that it would perk up after 1 dose, but I think it's going to take a few before the swelling goes down. I played a game yesterday, but had to cut it off a little bit early, because I was in pain. I'm supposed to have two games today, but I'm not sure about that.

Jess is worried about me, but I'm sure the drugs will kick in soon and I'll perk back up.

Tomorrow, I'm going to have to work, so I may be taking it easy today, in the hopes that I'll be better then.

Last night, I wasn't sure I was even going to be writing today. The world was ouch, and it sucked. Today, I'm still sore, but no where near as bad as it was. Actually, the part that is sorest is the lip, which is now chapped and achy.

I think I got up early, and I might need to go back to bed.

We'll see.

Everyone have a lovely Sunday!

beanside

Good morning and welcome to Saturday and Valentine's Day, if you celebrate. I am a little hurty this morning. I think I'm going to have to take the antibiotics, becasue I'm having massive pressure along side of my nose. It's makign my teeth hurt. So, anitibiotics. I've got my epipen, so if I have a reaction, I'm covered. It's really unpleasant though. I was trying to avoid antibiotics, but my body is an asshole. Hopefully they'll kick in soon, because this is really fucking unpleasant.

My not really fandom has broken containment! Both of the pro wrestling companies have been in the news lately-One for toadying up to the current administration, and one for having the fans go off on a Fuck ICE chant before the main event. I keep seeing people going "When we've lost wrestling..." but that's just AEW. For the most part, WWE fans are more conservative, and the product is more conservative. They've sold their soul to the Saudi's and are holding PPVs there and the CEO of WWE has very close ties to the admin, as his mother in law is Secretary of Education. I'm very disappointed in them.

AEW is also owned by a billionaire, but is the offbeat, younger, cooler league. They have a trans women's wrestler. And she's a baddie, but not because she's trans. The company backed her when she filled out a form as a woman, and Oklahoma threw a fit. There was a great angle where one of the women stars had it out for a wrestler who is legit gay. And it culminated in her propositioning him, while the crowd joyously chanted "He's gay." And he is SO over, and they allowed this angle where he got to portray a gay guy in a positive way. The TNA fans are great, and pretty open to going where the story goes, be it one of thoe things, or Toni Storm's lesbian era. (Look it up, it's glorious.)

It's not perfect. They rely way too much on blood and more hardcore matches, which are not my jam. But they feel safer.

Yesterday, Cardiac slots were opening up like Moses had parted the red sea around them. It was wild. Four CTAs and two MRIs. And a doctor who was like "Pt is eager to get this CTA done and will go to other locations." Then I call and no they weren't. Pt willing to go to two locations, and the doctor didn't mention that he currently is wearing a holter monitor, and can't be scanned for two more weeks. Which means that STAT spot on Monday is useless. Argh.

I asked my boss about one of the lines in the job posting. It mentioned onboarding. And yeah, apparently I will be going into the office once in a while to greet new hires and make sure that Tech Support gets them set up properly. I am perfectly okay with that. It's once every few months, so I can do that.

I have no idea of timeline on this position. My resume has moved from Pending review to in review, so hopefully it'll move soon. We'll see. The other one remains in "interview scheduled."

Ah well, Monday is another day.

Today, I have work, but I'm on Admin, which means that I'll be saving faxed and emailed orders into patient's charts to be scheduled. Normally, it's pretty quiet on Saturday for incoming stuff. It can be a bit boring, but we'll see. I also have a cardiac CT to fill on Thursday for White Marsh. They're my toughest site. They're only about 3 weeks out to schedule one, so it's not like I can say "Lets move you up a couple of months," like I can for some sites. Hopefully no others have opened up, or I'll be working on those, too.

Yoda has his grooming today, so he should be all clean and fresh by just after lunchtime. That'll be good, since he's getting shaggy.

Tomorrow, we have two games and our Valentine's lunch. Jess had a headache so we decided to risk the weather then. Still planning on Italian, which should be tasty. We got dinner from B-more Pies & Sweets. They were very tasty. I have a spinach goat cheese quiche or a crab quiche to choose from for breakfast.

I'm kind of ready for warmer weather. Today is supposed to be near 52 degrees, which I'm excited for. Walking the dog won't be a chore. Tomorrow, it's down to 44, but it still beats 7. I might even be able to wear my fleece today instead of the heavy coat. (Mind you, I love my heavy coat.)

Okay, time to get some CONfab posting done. We have a new newsletter, if you wanted to get news and updates on the Convention and the accompanying discord server. Subscribe right here! We do Watchalongs all the time. Everyone have an amazing Saturday!

rionaleonhart

After seeing Christmas Carol Goes Wrong at the Apollo Theatre on 14 January, I wrote a post outlining some differences between the official published script and the actual performance I saw. I crossposted it to Tumblr, and a couple of people thanked me for sharing details you wouldn't get from reading the script, so I thought I should see if I could dig up anything else!

Now that I've read through the script in full, here are some more differences I've picked up on between the script and the staged version. Some of these are outright changes from the script; some of them are just performance details (e.g. interesting moments of body language) that aren't included in the stage directions. As this was originally written for a Tumblr audience, there's a bit of overlap with things I've already mentioned on Dreamwidth (specifically in the post I made straight after seeing the play).

( More differences between the script and the actual staged version of Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. )

Getting into a theatre fandom is so strange! It feels like there's simultaneously not enough canon and an infinite quantity of canon, because it's impossible to see every performance. I'm glad The Goes Wrong Show means that at least some parts of Goes Wrong canon exist in a concrete, tangible, rewatchable way.

beanside

It's Friday the 13th! Since I don't have any Jason memorabilia, I will wear my Freddy Krueger underwear. (I got these on clearance at Torrid, and damned if they're not the best underwear I've ever had. In honor of Friday the 13th, I will repost the picture of Jess and me with Jason and Freddy, even though I look like the biggest dork.

Yesterday was a mostly quiet day. I did a lot of work on the cardiacs, and managed to get a few more filled. Of course, then I ran into a problem. In April, the Columbia failed to block out it's Cardiac MRI appts. So, of course, people have been scheduling there. And they're scheduling diagnoses that Columbia is simply not ready to handle. They've been doing this for three weeks at this point. Right now, we're spoon feeding them the easy cases. Even by April, I think we're going to be taking it easy on them. So when I saw "pericardial effusion" on the schedule, I mentioned it to the bosses, after first verifying that this was an error. Apparently, the system is supposed to block certain diagnosis codes from scheduling there, but it's just not. As it is, I'm figuring that there's about 10 people to move.

I obsessively checked my application, but it's still in "Your resume is being reviewed," so who knows how long that'll take.

After work, I had a massive headache. I forgot if I took meds, though I suspect that I hadn't. But to be safe, I didn't take anything more until 7pm. So, we had Thai food for dinner, because I wasn't cooking.

Then, my sister done pissed me off. She got home late, and was telling us about her day. We listened and made sympathetic noises, asked questions. Then she said "how was your day?" So I started telling her about my afternoon, with the mis-scheduled cardiacs. And as I'm talking, within like two sentences, she starts looking at her phone. And it's obvious she's not listening to a damn thing I say. I expect that when I finish, she'll look at me and say "huh?" But then I take a breath, faltering a bit at the lack of feedback, and she jumps into the silence going "Awwwww, there's a post from..." I saw red. She was listening for my voice to stop so she could continue to be a narcissist, and take over the conversation. I was only about 2/3 through the story.

With the headache, I knew if I said something, it would be over dramatic and I would probably cry. I tend to cry when I'm that angry. So I went to bed. And I bitched about it to

poisontaster and

nilchance for a while. And I settled down a bit.

I'm still angry today and am debating saying something. She doesn't necessarily have the best response to boundaries or criticism, so I may not. She picked up my mother's "Well, I guess I'm a horrible person," response, which serves to recenter it on her.

We'll see. I may not because I don't know if the further frustration is worth it.

On the plus side, I got a new cancer patient in for her tests within 4 days, including an MRI in the Bethesda office, which is nothing short of a miracle. It's the best feeling, working on the STAT list, and being able to call patients who are scheduled way out, and give them appointments super quickly because you saw a slot open and grabbed it for them.

It made up for a lot.

I'm just going to focus on Friday and dealing with what is still not my circus (yet), but I know the monkeys. And it's getting closer to being my circus, since I'm about to be promoted to ringmaster.

I hope that happens soon. I'm ready to get started. I work tomorrow, and then I have a game if I can get my shit together to set up a room. It's just Monster of the Week, so that's an easy one. I need to read through my possible modules, as I don't have the brain cells to make up a mystery.

Or alternately, I could rerun one of the old ones that I did that only had a few players. It'll go differently than the first time, of course. I could change up some things. Too Many Draculas was super fun, so that's possible. It wouldn't matter if the same people signed up, because ever time is a new game. I may do that, since it was a good module, and I do have a ton of goth disasters.

I'm also debating on going to dinner tonight. They keep changing the forecast for Sunday between snow and rain, and that's a little concerning. I don't mind driving in rain, but I'd prefer not to drive in snow. On the other hand, I don't really love driving in the dark either, so we'll see.

Jess wants Italian food, so we'll probably go to Rosario's Italian Kitchen. They have the best food, and a wide varitey of it. It came down to that, tapas or French. I don't really care which I have, so Rosario's is good. I know I'll enjoy it, though I'll need to see what I want.

Okay, I shall now be a grown up and make the MotW room, and get myself in gear. Everyone have an outstanding Friday!

rionaleonhart

Another Goes Wrong fic that grew out of a fill for the Three-Sentence Ficathon! I haven't posted the fill in question to this journal, but it was for the prompt 'goodnight kiss'.

'Riona, why would you name a fic Sleep Well if you already have a fic called Sleep Tight in a different fandom?' - look, leave me alone, titles are hard.

Title: Sleep Well
Fandom: The Goes Wrong Show
Rating: PG
Pairing: Robert/Chris, slight everyone/everyone
Wordcount: 1,600
Summary: On account of a booking mishap, the Cornley Drama Society are forced to share a single hotel room. The consequences are confusing.

( Sleep Well )

beanside

It's Thursday! Or maybe Friday Eve? I am a little sleepy this morning. It was another night of up and down. I must have had too much water too late or something, because I was up and down a lot. Now I'm a little tired this morning. It's okay, that's what coffee is for. I woke up at 4:30 am with a small cat driving me to drink. I was actually sleeping, so I kind of shooed her off, and went back to sleep only to wake up half an hour later with my alarm.

Today shall be quieter, I'll do a little more work on the cardiac MRIs for the Columbia office. I'm running out of patients that I can put in there, but I'll scan to see how many new appointments have been scheduled and see if any of them would like to go to a different office a bit sooner. I'm booking towards the end of March, so I don't know how many there are after my February sweep, but I'll take a look.

Tonight, we shall have bulgogi. I will grate up the pear, add the onions and garlic, and get that sauce ready. Tomorrow shall be turkey, and then Saturday, we shall order out in honor of Valentine's day. My sister ha a concert on Saturday, so I'll just be Jess and I and the animals for dinner. I'll have to think of something romantic. Our real Valentine's meal will be on Sunday, when we're going for Italian food.

Work yesterday was pretty good. They finally posted the Radiology job, so I put in for that. We'll see how quickly that moves. The pay band was up to $33.88/hr, which is a little higher than the other one I applied for. I would love it if I could get max, as that would get me to $70k which would be super cool. But I'd be happy with $30/hr, honestly. Mostly, I just want to meet with the bosses to see what the job would entail. Some of what I'm already doing, I know, but there was some mentions of creating and presenting training materials and onboarding new team members. So I'm curious what that means. I wouldn't mind going into the office once in a while to meet the new staff if that's what it involves. Or maybe it would be online onboarding. It almost sounds like I'm going to be encroaching on our trainer's job a little bit, but who knows?

Hopefully, they move it through quickly and I have an offer letter soon. I would like that. And then, once I get the offer letter and sign, we shall break out the champagne. I need to get some of that, or we'll be toasting over one of the whiskey samples from our advent calendar, that we only touch now and then.

After work, I had a massive headache and lay down for a bit. It helped enough that when dinner came, I was ravenous. I actually managed to eat a whole sushi burrito! I felt somewhat overly full afterwards, but it tasted so good.

We still have a fair amount of snow on the ground, especially on the other side of the street, where the apartment blocks a good bit of the sun. We usually walk on our side, which gets morning and afternoon sun. Yesterday, Yoda walked up the entire block, only to then go out and poop on the remaining snow, so I had to scramble out there to pick it up. The glamor of dog ownership.

He goes for his grooming at 10am on Saturday, so I may try to do a game at 1:30pm after we have picked him up. That way he'll look all handsome for the dog walker next week.

Okay, time for me to get myself together. Everyone have an awesome Thursday!

beanside

Watch on YouTube

An older one, but a surprisingly good song. I am not a Coldplay fan, so why I like the Chainsmokers, I have no idea. It definitely makes me think I should listen to some of Coldplay again and see how I feel now that they're not being shoved down my throat on the airwaves. But this song, I like. It's on a goodly chunk of my playlists, most notably, my interview playlist, which I listen to when I need a pick me up, or when I have an interview. It's not quite as inspiring as This is the Moment, even if in the play it's the moment of absolute hubris. But there's something very good about the lyrics if you can ignore the context. I listened to it on Friday while I drove to the interview for the job I don't want.

They have not yet gotten back to me, and the job posting is in limbo while our HR person is traveling. Argh. I am not patient, dammit. On the other hand, a friend from IKEA who I referred had her interview on Monday, so hopefully she hears back relatively quickly. I think she'd be a good worker, and she hates IKEA so much.

The boss either slipped during the interview, or said exactly what she meant when she said "You'll have an offer by the end of the week." The friend thinks that she meant "you'll know by the end of the week, but I'm not so sure. I mean, I've turned my job into something completely different by being smart and proactive that is infinitely more useful than just taking calls, and the other friend who's been there a year is beloved and doing great, so it's pretty good odds, I think. Plus the bosses love me. But we'll see!

Yesterday was good. I got a lot done, a lot of new Cardiacs filled for Columbia. We're getting to the end of how many I can scheduled solo, I think. I've looked through most of April and the appts are in March, so It could be tough from here on out. Aside from that, I took calls, filled more Cardiacs, and generally did my thing.

Right now, I'm watching the queue to see how the phones are doing while I'm doing the admin stuff. And if I see more than 8 or 9 in there, I'll hop in.

I do know our trainer asked for documentation of some of my tricks, so apparently that'ls being added to the curriculum, which is cool. Adding created training materials to my resume. That always sounds good. My resume is long, but one more line won't hurt.

Today shall me more of the same, I think. Filling in Columbia, taking a few calls, and just generally being a little happy Sunbeam. Work doesn't get any of my shit, of course. They pay me to be kind and functional, Not that I have anything to be angsty about. I'm pretty happy right now. Which is kind of weird to say. The world is a dumpster fire, but all I can do is what I can do, and try to keep my mental health on an even keel. So far, so good.

Today is payday, which is lovely. I have a few bills to pay, and then the rest shall go into savings to prepare for Alaska. I'd like to have decent money in all three accounts, since I know the hotels and boat will all put holds on the cards, so I'd like to have two for those and one for fun.

Tonight, I will make Turkey or beef bulgogi. Depends on if I get off my ass this morning to make the Bulgogi marinade. It's some chopping and grating, so it's a little time consuming. I also need to make sure one of the Korean pears is ripe to grate.

Tomorrow, I will have the other. We got a small upright freezer (like 3 feet high, front loading), so I ordred a bit of meat to put in it. I'm also going to go through our freezer this weekend. We have so much shit that is probably freezer burned that needs to go. Once done, between the two, we'll have plenty of tasty and accessible food. Right now, it's terrifying pulling out something, because everything is jenga'd in there so tightly.

I've got baby back ribs, pork chops, chicken and Polish Sausage coming tomorrow. There's a local butcher who delivers, so I've been using them. The meat is far superior to the grocery store. I did get some from the Asian Market as well, since they have bulgogi and stirfry meat.

Okay, time to decide if I want to make bulgogi marinade, shower or both. Everyone have a wonderful Wednesday!

rionaleonhart

Here's the seventh roundup of my fills for this year's Three-Sentence Ficathon! Another instalment that's entirely about The Goes Wrong Show; I have far too much fun writing fanfiction about these idiots.

( Assorted ficlets for the Goes Wrong Show, mainly Chris and Robert, 840 words total. )

I've apparently written... fifty fills for this year's ficathon? Fifty? Is that right? That doesn't feel like it can be right. I hadn't realised it was so dangerous to go into Three-Sentence Ficathon season with a specific fandom firmly occupying my mind.

denise posting in

dw_news

Back in August of 2025, we announced a temporary block on account creation for users under the age of 18 from the state of Tennessee, due to the court in Netchoice's challenge to the law (which we're a part of!) refusing to prevent the law from being enforced while the lawsuit plays out. Today, I am sad to announce that we've had to add South Carolina to that list. When creating an account, you will now be asked if you're a resident of Tennessee or South Carolina. If you are, and your birthdate shows you're under 18, you won't be able to create an account.

We're very sorry to have to do this, and especially on such short notice. The reason for it: on Friday, South Carolina governor Henry McMaster signed the South Carolina Age-Appropriate Design Code Act into law, with an effective date of immediately. The law is so incredibly poorly written it took us several days to even figure out what the hell South Carolina wants us to do and whether or not we're covered by it. We're still not entirely 100% sure about the former, but in regards to the latter, we're pretty sure the fact we use Google Analytics on some site pages (for OS/platform/browser capability analysis) means we will be covered by the law. Thankfully, the law does not mandate a specific form of age verification, unlike many of the other state laws we're fighting, so we're likewise pretty sure that just stopping people under 18 from creating an account will be enough to comply without performing intrusive and privacy-invasive third-party age verification. We think. Maybe. (It's a really, really badly written law. I don't know whether they intended to write it in a way that means officers of the company can potentially be sentenced to jail time for violating it, but that's certainly one possible way to read it.)

Netchoice filed their lawsuit against SC over the law as I was working on making this change and writing this news post -- so recently it's not even showing up in RECAP yet for me to link y'all to! -- but here's the complaint as filed in the lawsuit, Netchoice v Wilson. Please note that I didn't even have to write the declaration yet (although I will be): we are cited in the complaint itself with a link to our August news post as evidence of why these laws burden small websites and create legal uncertainty that causes a chilling effect on speech. \o/

In fact, that's the victory: in December, the judge ruled in favor of Netchoice in Netchoice v Murrill, the lawsuit over Louisiana's age-verification law Act 456, finding (once again) that requiring age verification to access social media is unconstitutional. Judge deGravelles' ruling was not simply a preliminary injunction: this was a final, dispositive ruling stating clearly and unambiguously "Louisiana Revised Statutes §§51:1751–1754 violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution", as well as awarding Netchoice their costs and attorney's fees for bringing the lawsuit. We didn't provide a declaration in that one, because Act 456, may it rot in hell, had a total registered user threshold we don't meet. That didn't stop Netchoice's lawyers from pointing out that we were forced to block service to Mississippi and restrict registration in Tennessee (pointing, again, to that news post), and Judge deGravelles found our example so compelling that we are cited twice in his ruling, thus marking the first time we've helped to get one of these laws enjoined or overturned just by existing. I think that's a new career high point for me.

I need to find an afternoon to sit down and write an update for

dw_advocacy highlighting everything that's going on (and what stage the lawsuits are in), because folks who know there's Some Shenanigans afoot in their state keep asking us whether we're going to have to put any restrictions on their states. I'll repeat my promise to you all: we will fight every state attempt to impose mandatory age verification and deanonymization on our users as hard as we possibly can, and we will keep actions like this to the clear cases where there's no doubt that we have to take action in order to prevent liability.

In cases like SC, where the law takes immediate effect, or like TN and MS, where the district court declines to issue a temporary injunction or the district court issues a temporary injunction and the appellate court overturns it, we may need to take some steps to limit our potential liability: when that happens, we'll tell you what we're doing as fast as we possibly can. (Sometimes it takes a little while for us to figure out the exact implications of a newly passed law or run the risk assessment on a law that the courts declined to enjoin. Netchoice's lawyers are excellent, but they're Netchoice's lawyers, not ours: we have to figure out our obligations ourselves. I am so very thankful that even though we are poor in money, we are very rich in friends, and we have a wide range of people we can go to for help.)

In cases where Netchoice filed the lawsuit before the law's effective date, there's a pending motion for a preliminary injunction, the court hasn't ruled on the motion yet, and we're specifically named in the motion for preliminary injunction as a Netchoice member the law would apply to, we generally evaluate that the risk is low enough we can wait and see what the judge decides. (Right now, for instance, that's Netchoice v Jones, formerly Netchoice v Miyares, mentioned in our December news post: the judge has not yet ruled on the motion for preliminary injunction.) If the judge grants the injunction, we won't need to do anything, because the state will be prevented from enforcing the law. If the judge doesn't grant the injunction, we'll figure out what we need to do then, and we'll let you know as soon as we know.

I know it's frustrating for people to not know what's going to happen! Believe me, it's just as frustrating for us: you would not believe how much of my time is taken up by tracking all of this. I keep trying to find time to update

dw_advocacy so people know the status of all the various lawsuits (and what actions we've taken in response), but every time I think I might have a second, something else happens like this SC law and I have to scramble to figure out what we need to do. We will continue to update

dw_news whenever we do have to take an action that restricts any of our users, though, as soon as something happens that may make us have to take an action, and we will give you as much warning as we possibly can. It is absolutely ridiculous that we still have to have this fight, but we're going to keep fighting it for as long as we have to and as hard as we need to.

I look forward to the day we can lift the restrictions on Mississippi, Tennessee, and now South Carolina, and I apologize again to our users (and to the people who temporarily aren't able to become our users) from those states.