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Every day during the week as soon as I get home from work, and before I do anything else, I do a 20 minute writing sprint. I started doing it back when I was working from home and would do it as soon as I finished, and I've carried it on now that I'm back in the office.

I do it as soon as I finish work because I know that if I start something else I'll get distracted and end up not writing at all, and I want to write.

Yesterday was a reminder why doing it when I get home is important.

I got home from work a little later than usual because I was doing an interview that didn't finish until the time when I'm usually heading out the door. So I decided to post a chapter that had come back from my beta reader, watch my usual pre-dinner c-drama episode and then write if I had any time before dinner was ready.

By the time I'd done all that I tried to write and my brain was absolutely fried. I managed to bash out a few sentences but I couldn't concentrate at all.

So, writing while my mind is still relatively fresh and hasn't gone into wind down mode is definitely the key. As a contrast I did a 20 min sprint when I got home today and added 600+ words to my WIP

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

43. Mr Unlucky Has No Choice But To Kiss - This was a really cute drama. There was a random unexpectedly dramatic moment that got resolved fairly quickly but felt massively out of place. Overall though Emma and I both enjoyed this

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

42. KinnPorsche - Jacqui and I have been waiting about a year to watch this. Ever since the first trailer dropped. Finally it arrived and we watched it together. It was okay. I think it took me a while to adjust to the fact that it was not what I was expecting. The drama made it look like this cool and dark mafia drama whereas in fact it was more like a comedy/family drama/romance which just happened to be about a mafia family. It leaned a little too much into the comedy for the first few episodes and then settled down into a quite tropey family drama. I did enjoy it. It just wasn't what I expected.

I've finished a couple of things over the past couple of days

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

40. Plus & Minus - This was okay. I really loved it up to a point and then it went beyond the point where I felt it had naturally ended and dumped a load of additional angsty storylines that really didn't add anything to the plot. So I liked the first 8 or so episodes and then I lost interest after that. The side couple were also way more interesting than the main one
41. Original Sin - I've been group watching this with some Discord friends for the past couple of months. Overall I liked it, although the cases being investigated were a bit hit and miss. It definitely threw some curveballs towards the end which I felt elevated it from a basic cop show into something more interesting.

A couple of people on Tumblr reached out because the UK heatwave was on the news pretty much everywhere and they wanted to check I was okay.

Figured I should let everyone know that I'm still alive!

The heat was absolutely insane on Mon and Tue. It started to cool down a bit on Wed and is back to normal now.

I'm lucky that I had Monday off work so I was able to stay inside at home, and on Tue (the worst day where it was 40c in my city) I was at work most of the time in a nice air conditioned office. The drive home was pretty brutal but it only took 20 mins as the roads were pretty clear.

It's been hard to sleep because of the heat even keeping my blackout curtains closed and blasting a fan. I'm hoping now that it's cooled down a lot (it's only 17c today) that I'll sleep better tonight. The house is still retaining a lot of residual heat though, which is what British houses are designed to do. It was 25c in the house when I went to bed last night and it's dropped to 23.5c today. That's with various windows open so it's still a lot warmer in the house than it is outside.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

39. 3 Will Be Free - I absolutely loved this! I'd say it's tied with Not Me for my favourite Thai drama. This had everything I could want. A love triangle that's an actual triangle (ie they all love each other), a positive trans character with her own agenda and storyline, drama, romance. It was wonderful.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

38. Tientsin Mystic 2 - I wish I'd realised sooner how much I wasn't enjoying this because I would have dropped it. As it was I got to 10 episodes from the end and decided it was too late to quit and pushed through. Parts of it were okay, but the plot was largely incoherent and I felt like it lost the charm that the first season had.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

37. Old Fashion Cupcake - This was adorable. Just a lovely sweet romance. I enjoyed the fact that the leads were a bit older than most of the BL dramas I've watched. Nice to see a man in his 40s figuring out his sexuality and finding love.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

36. My Country: the New Age - People have been telling me to watch this for months, but also telling me that it's not exactly a happy drama, so I've been avoiding it. It IS incredibly well done. The sets, acting and story are all fantastic. But, given that it's based on actual historical events, it does not end happily for everyone concerned. Glad I watched it, would rate it 10/10, but I now need to go and cry for several days.

It's been a bit of a week, really. Boss was on holiday from Tuesday to Friday and I swear people wait for her to be off and I'm managing to the office to blow up nonsense.

I've had to find last minute cover for sickness, there's a serious HR issue ongoing that I've had to get involved with as well as trying to do my own work and my boss's work too. And, on top of that, people coming into work sick meant I ended up sick too. It was one of those stupid things where I wasn't sick enough to be off myself. I had a slight sore throat, aches, and I was really, really fatigued. Definitely wasn't covid as I was testing every day to make sure.

I just spent a couple of days going to bed super early and sleep seemed to be mostly what helped. I slept from 8:30-6 on Wednesday night and 10-7 on Thursday night. That seemed to mostly sort it.

I cancelled my Friday visit with my nephew just in case and then ended up having to take my housemate to A&E because she had really bad chest pains that she was worried was her heart. They ran a bunch of tests and said her heart was fine and gave her some medication for heartburn which is what they think it was (she said she's had heartburn before but nothing like that - she honestly thought she was having a heart attack). So, thankfully, it all turned out okay in the end but it definitely wasn't the restful evening at home I'd hoped for.

Oh, and early in the week our shower broke. Nothing quite like stepping into the shower only to find it's freezing cold as a way to wake yourself up. Luckily the landord has now replaced it with a nice shiny new one but for a few days we had to use one of those shower hoses that goes over the ends of the taps which wasn't fun.

Then, just to finish things off, I had a nice lie on Saturday morning and as soon as I got up I had a nosebleed. I've had minor ones before due to my allergy and sinus issues but this was a full on blood running out of my nose type of deal. It lasted about 5 mins and once I finally got it to stop I got back into bed to read for a bit. Then, when I got back up it started bleeding again. Again only lasted about 5 mins. Pretty sure it's because I had my fan on next to the bed and it dried out my nose. So that wasn't fun.

Luckily the rest of Saturday and all of today has been nice and relaxed. I'm getting towards the end of editing my stupidly long DMBJ rarepair fic so I'm looking forward to posting that even though I'm pretty sure only about 5 people are going to want to read it.

Okay, some happy news after talking at length about my shitty week.

Took part in a fic exchange a few weeks ago and the authors were finally revealed. Both my recipients seemed to enjoy their stories and I had a lot of fun writing them

Title: Every Day in my Heart
Fandom: DMBJ
Pairing: Wang Pangzi/Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling
Rating: General Audiences
Summary:
“We should date.”

He has to catch Pangzi’s wrist quickly when his hand slips and he almost slices into his palm with the knife he’s using to prepare dinner. He can feel Pangzi’s pulse fluttering under his fingers, slightly faster than usual.

“Xiaoge? What?” Pangzi sounds confused, but there’s a slight crack to his voice as well. Along with his slightly rapid pulse Zhang Qiling wonders if he’s getting sick.

Title: Pest Control
Fandom: DMBJ
Pairing: Wang Pangzi/Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling
Rating: General Audiences
Summary:
“Xiaoge? How does it look?”

Another moment passes and Xiaoge puts his sword back in its sheath. “Safe.”

“Safe?!” Wu Xie yells from Pangzi’s side. “Xiaoge, are you blind? Look at the lettuces!”

The world seems to be getting progessively more awful with each passing day. I'm sorry if I'm not talking about it much here or on any of my other social media channels but I'm honestly finding everything too overwhelming. All I can do is distract myself with dramas and writing.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

35. Be Loved In House: I Do - I really enjoyed this. I think it's my favourite of all the Taiwanese BL dramas I've watched. There is minimal angst beyond idiot boys failing to communicate and it was just gentle and soft. I liked it a lot.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

34. Tientsin Mystic - This was fun! The cast were great and they had great chemistry with each other. I liked that it had a lot of supernatural elements which you don't get much in more recent c-dramas. This didn't really have an ending but there is a second season which I will watch at some point

I'm very much over how hot it is at the moment. I'm not sleeping very well and I have a headache because the air pressure sucks combined with my allergies. Meh. We're apparently due some thunderstorms tomorrow which will hopefully make it feel a bit better

It's been almost a week since I met my friend for dinner and I'm still fine and so is she so I think I dodged the covid bullet. YAY.

My boss is off for 4 days next week which means I will have to be the boss. Always a stressful time, but she's off because she managed to score Wimbledon tickets so I can't begrudge her :D

In happier news my sister got engaged last week. The wedding is set for May 2024 and I have already been asked to be a bridesmaid. It's her second wedding so it's going to be more fun and less traditional. From what I understand the theme will be Disney.

And in writing news I am nearly 10k into a DMBJ fic I am writing which, from the looks of it, is going to be the first fic with this pairing when I post it. The discord fam are a bad influence!

Not much else going on, really. Don't have any plans until I go away for my birthday in September so it's just going to be writing fic and watching dramas for the next few months.

Yesterday I met up with a friend and we went out for dinner. Felt eerily like the Before Times and I managed well not freaking out too much now that all social distancing measures have been removed. I'm still half expecting to come down with covid in the next few days which will just be my luck after barely doing any social activities for the last two and a half years.

I couldn't say no, though. A friend was visiting from the US and who knows when I'll get the chance to see her again.

We had a really nice meal, and we ate early so the restaurant wasn't too busy. But when I dropped her off at the station afterwards of course it was very busy with people coming to visit for the weekend and not a mask to be seen anywhere.

So, we'll see what happens I guess.

One thing I like about friends visiting from other countries is they get you to have a newfound appreciation for where you live. I've lived in York for 22 years, and I fell in love with it way before I moved here. Heather showing me all her photos reminded me how pretty and steeped in history York is and I snapped a few photos of my own while I was walking back to where I'd parked the car

( Pics )

After much nudging and encouragement from

teyla I decided to virtually attend VidUKon at the weekend.

I am not a vidder, and I don't even really watch a lot of vids, but I've always been vaguely curious about the process so Teyla sold the con to me by saying there would be a vidding workshop.

I had a lot of fun! I would definitely do it again. Maybe even in person if the country is ever less plague-ridden (I had no doubt the con itself would have been safe - they had a lot of measures in place, but I'd have had to make a very long train journey to get there and no).

The workshop was great, and I was lucky enough to be in a group with mostly people I already knew. It was nice to see the basics on how you set up a vidding project, and the sorts of things you need to think about when picking your clips.

I'm still not sure vidding will ever be for me. It took us a good couple of hours to put a 20 second vid together. I'm sure it would be quicker if you were working with a song and video material that you already knew but still. I'm on the fence.

I've joined the

vexercises comm and I might have a go at some point. I don't have a lot of time between work, writing and watching dramas but maybe one day.

I did make me realise how much I miss hanging out with fandom people in person though. Stupid pandemic.

What I did get out of it is finding some new things I want to watch, which I sort of expected might happen. There's nothing like a good vid to sell a fandom to you. Here's a few of my faves that convinced me to watch the source material at some point

Watch on YouTube

Watch on Vimeo

Watch on YouTube

There were also many, many vids for My Country the New Age which has been on my list for ages and which I really need to watch even though everyone has warned me it's incredibly sad and angsty.

Oh, and here's the results of the vidding workshop. Everyone got a different part of the same song and 2 movies and had to vid to the part of the song they'd been given. Each group also had different movies to work with. Finally the whole thing was put together to make a Frankenvid. It was a lot of fun. We were given Parasite (which I'd seen) and Last Night in Soho (which I hadn't seen)

Watch on YouTube

Look! An actual update that isn't about what TV I've watched!

I took my curtains back and swapped them for the right size. Got them hung and all is good

( Before and After )

In other news I've been trying to decide what I want to do for my birthday this year (it's not until September but I like to have A Plan). I thought about going to the cabin I stayed in for my birthday in 2020 but I kind of had my heart set on going to somewhere near the sea again. Unfortunately the place I stayed in for Emma's birthday last year (the place I was supposed to stay at in Christmas 2020 but which got cancelled due to lockdown) is now only accepting week long bookings and I only want to go for a few days.

I poked around and found a few potential places but I really fell in love with one in particular. The only downside is there's no wifi on the property, and you all know how Very Online I like to be. I pondered and considered and looked at a bunch of other places but I kept coming back to this one and finally I decided to just book it. If the phone signal is good enough I can use my phone as a hotspot and if not I'll just download a bunch of dramas and fics before I go. I think gdocs has an offline mode for any writing I want to do and if not I can just download my fic and put it into Word.

So, I'm excited. Last year's birthday was okay but it was a lot of people and socialising. I prefer quiet time where I can just do what I want and not speak to anyone expect via social media. I'm such an introvert.

Anyway, here's some pics of where I'll be staying. The sea view is what really sold it to me.

( Pics )

So, at the weekend I found out that blackout curtains wear out. I was lying in bed on Saturday morning and I noticed light was filtering through. Asked the oracle that is twitter and several people said that eventually the sun wears away the lining on the back. I've had them for 10 years so it's not really a big deal. I ordered some new ones and today they arrived.

They're too small :(

I don't know how I messed up the measurements but they're about half an inch short on the width and several inches short on the length. They've definitely sent me the size that I ordered so it's my mistake.

If I'd been sensible I'd have checked the old curtains, because when I looked today they have the size printed on the label.

So, rather than messing around posting them back and getting them to send me some new ones I'm just going to drive to the shop probably during my lunch break on Friday and swap them. The shop is closer to my house than work and I work from home on Fridays so it'll easier to go from here than go from the office.

It's all just a bit annoying, and it's my own stupid fault.

I will post something other than what I'm watching sometime soon. Maybe. I should post some Scotland pics. But, for now:

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

33. Tinted With You - Of all the short BL dramas I've watched over the past few days I think I liked this one the most. It's just a really nice bit of historical fix-it where a prince who was originally murdered by his brother finds a nice boyfriend from the future and they make art together. There's some lovely OT3 vibes with the prince's bodyguard too. It's just a nice story and the whole thing is only just over an hour long.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

32. Blueming - I really enjoyed this one! On the surface it's the typical college BL romance, but it's beautifully shot and the soundtrack is lovely. It's a little more mature than most of the college dramas. It felt more like watching an arthouse short film, which was probably a deliberate choice given that it's about film students.

1. Hawkeye - Started this last year but finished it last week because I was watching it with Jacqui so we left the last episode until we were both back from the holidays. It was fun. A nice mesh of the Fraction comics and the MCU version of Clint. Kate was awesome.
2. The Witcher Season 2 - Despite the fact I could barely remember anything that happened in season 1 I still very much enjoyed this. Jaskier continues to be a delight. Henry Cavill's arms, also delightful.
3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed - I loved this! Full of Korean mythology and folklore, an excellent female lead, and a side character I got very attached to. I didn't think I was overly emotionally invested and then I bawled through the finale. So good.
4. Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix-Up) - This was adorable. It was very silly, and a lot of the drama could have been avoided if the characters had just talked to each other, but I haven't watched a bl drama in ages and overall it was very sweet.
5. You Make Me Dance - Short but very sweet. I really enjoyed it.
6. Wandavision - I have kind of fallen out with Marvel over recent years so aside from Hawkeye I haven't felt any real urge to watch any of the live action shows. My housemate suggested we watch this, though, and even thought she'd already seen it she watched it with it. It was good! I enjoyed it. I do love Paul Bettany and it was nice to see his actual face for a few episodes rather than the prosthetics.
7. Street Dance of China Season 4 - This actually finished last year and we've been waited ages for the final episode to be subbed but apparently they just aren't doing that. They partially subbed 2/3 of the finale (just the captains' comments) and didn't bother with the final 1/3 at all. So, we muddled through and tried our best to figure out what was happening. It's fun, I do enjoy watching all the dancing and you do end up getting attached to some of the contestants.
8. Falcon and the Winter Solider - I absolutely loved this! It's my favourite of all the live action MCU shows that we've watched so far. It had a bunch of great characters, great characters, interesting plots. Loved it. They managed to cram a lot into 6 episodes and it was excellent!
9. My Roommate is a Detective - I enjoyed this. It took me a little while to warm up to the characters and the ending wasn't quite what I wanted but overall a good and fun show
10. Color Rush - This was a really interesting idea (some people can only see in black and white until they meet their 'probe' which is a person that lets them see colour). They really needed a lot more time than 8 15 minute episode. They skimmed over a lot of the world building and left a few plothole. I did enjoy it, I just wanted a lot more of it.
( The Rest )

Forgot to post about the one I finished yesterday, and I've just finished another one (Korean BL dramas are so short!) so here's two.

30. Theory of Love - I pretty much only watched this because the two leads from Not Me star in it, but it was worth it. I'm glad I watched this one second though because I think it would have ruined Not Me for me if I'd watched it first. It was fine, lots of idiot boys in love. I really liked that one of the side romances didn't go the way I expected it to
31. Cherry Blossoms After Winter - I really enjoyed this one too. As much as I like to suspend my disbelief when it comes to queer dramas it was actually nice to see the parent figure worrying about homophobic backlash against the couple (there isn't any but it's nice to see it addressed). Overall it was very cute

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