Collected Thoughts

I did not go downtown today because I planned to visit my aunt and that’s in the opposite direction and I just didn’t feel like it, you know? So I dropped Grant off at the garage like usual, then came back home and threw in a load of laundry and had some hot cocoa while I perused my f-list.

Then I headed to the McD’s in the other direction and did some writing!!! I got 500 words written on my Murder, She Wrote/Hudson & Rex crossover to bring the first draft to an end. I had typed in some of the story, then handwrote more, so I have that bit to type in now.

From McD’s I hit the post office to mail the cards I had gotten done (and pick up more stamps), visited my aunt, and hit Price Chopper (not originally part of the plan, but I had time, so . . .). I stopped at mom’s for a visit on the way home before picking up the dogs.

Additionally I hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I had planned Italian sausage for supper, but Pip gave me a hard time about cooking it inside, so he decided on grilled cheese. *shrugs*

I read more in the new In Death. Dr. Pol was my background tv in the evening.

Temps started out at -6.9(F) (yes, that is a minus sign, as in below zero BRRR) and reached 20.1. (It was around 15 when Pip asked me if I planned on grilling the Italian sausage. I was like, are you frelling nuts?!!)


Mom Update:

Mom was feeling like crap today. Just very weak and sick to her stomach (after just drinking some water). She had to keep taking a break while attempting to make egg salad; she got the eggs boiled, then had to rest. While I was there she peeled them, but asked me to finish it up. I also filled pill organizers and washed her dishes.

Title: Sirens
Characters/Pairing: Philip Swift/Syrena
Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Music: Sirens by Fleurie
Length: 3:08
Streaming/download at: DW | Tumblr

Hey all, it's December and that means it's time to share your suggestions for next year's themes!

You can comment on this post with up to 10 suggestions. Comments will be screened, but I'll unscreen mine so you can get a feel for how it goes.

Suggested themes should be new to the comm and broad enough to sustain a month of recommendations, and I'm going to be more particular than I have in the past, as I'd like to focus on general themes that make it easier for everyone to participate. To give you an idea of what this means, I'm aiming for themes that have at least 5,000 completed works on AO3. I've also preloaded the list with some common genres that, surprisingly enough, we haven't done yet, like fantasy.

I'll drop by your comments and let you know which of your suggestions meet these guidelines. As part of this process I may offer slight alterations or rework themes to make them more inclusive.

If you can, check out our spreadsheet of past themes before commenting to make sure your suggestions aren't already on there.

If you need some inspiration:

• Last year's suggestion post
• List of Fic Kinks, Tropes, and Clichés at Fanlore
• Cliché Bingo's Big List of Clichés (Wayback Link)
• Hurt/Comfort Bingo Prompts
• Kink Bingo's Kink Wiki (NSFW)
• Trope List & Definitions at Trope Bingo
• TV Tropes

I'll add the suggestions to this post once they've been confirmed, but I still, somehow, don't have all the past themes memorized, so if I make a mistake or if I accept a suggestion that is hurtful or badly worded, let me know.

Theme suggestions will be voted on later this month and the most popular will advance to the monthly theme polls in 2026.

( Confirmed Theme Suggestions )

If you have any questions or need help, come find me!

⌈ Secret Post #6909 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #986.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Fandom: Chen Qing Ling;
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian; the Cloud Recesses bunnies
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2:26
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, anvilicious rabbit symbolism, canon-typical blood, canon-typical phallic sword symbolism, corporal punishment, fluff (figurative and literal), innuendo, societal homophobia (in-story and real-world), sparring with subtext, Xiao Zhan’s A+ rabbit handling, (not you, Wang Yibo, you’re fine.)
Creator Tags: vid, Bunnies, Pining, i'm sorry lan wangji, no really a lot of pining
Creator Links: (AO3) soupytwist, (Dreamwidth) soupytwist, (Tumblr) soupytwist (locked); (YouTube) twistedsoup

Theme: Amnesty, Angst With A Happy Ending, Animals, Humor, Non-Fic Recs: Fanvid, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters, Pining

Summary: If you look inside the heart of the mighty Hanguang-jun, you might find... bunnies.

Author’s Notes:( Continue. )

Reccer's Notes: A rec in celebration of the 4 December 2025 Full Supermoon. Stephin Merritt’s wryly anguished anthem of gay pining gains not only an unironic tenderness but the hope of a happy resolution when juxtaposed with CQL’s literal rabbits (and their pervasive symbolism as tokens, symbols, and allegory of Wangxian’s relationship, as well as allusions to a Rabbit God who’d bless a gay union.)

Nor does soupytwist’s pitch-perfect syncing of visuals to lyrics hurt one bit.

Fanwork Links:
AO3 (locked): [FANVID] Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits; Part 2 of Gusu Love Songs.
Vimeo: Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits
YouTube:Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits

Largely the same as before:

Currently trying to support a friend in a Very Bad Situation and it's desperately anxiety-inducing and my brain is trying to eat itself, which also makes me less useful as support, which is bad.

So if anyone would like to ask or discuss anything about Prophet or Dark Souls or IWTV or climbing or, you know, any of the somewhat cheering topics I sometimes ramble about, PLEASE DO. "More of a comment than a question" questions also very welcome.

I cannot guarantee replies in a timely or consistent manner (because of the Situation and also the bad state of my brain) but it would be deeply appreciated nonetheless.

Except that THANK FUCK my friend is now out of the Very Bad Situation (and please let him remain so, please please please).

My brain is just trying to eat itself because it's prone to doing that and it's been a very very hard year (and I'm having yet another IC flare-up, joy).

I had a pedicure this morning. I went with a red-red polish. For the design she painted white stripes, so it looked like a candy cane. After that, I hit Walmart to do my regular weekly shopping. On the way downtown I remembered that I needed a blood draw for my doctor appt on Monday. (I didn’t forget about the appointment, I knew it was coming up in December, but December seemed to leap upon me suddenly!) Then I remembered that I needed to stop by the pharmacy, as well!

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I finished up chili for supper and made cornbread. (The chili was not my best, disappointing.)

I stopped at the library to pick up a book. Our library didn’t have the new In Death book yet, so Librarian #2 (not the head librarian), who has already read the book, took it out from a different library where she also works, for me. I need to get that book read quickly and take even better care than usual since it’s not even signed out under my name. There was a surprise book that I had actually requested waiting for me, too.

I hung my wreath! Wreaths used to come with a little wire thingy that you could loop over the hanger, but no more. I had to wait to get a piece of wire from the garage to use.



I lit my scented candle, turned on the few Christmas ornaments that light up, and put the shuffle on my old iPod that barely works these days so I could listen to Christmas music and did a good number of Christmas cards! Very pleased with myself.

I started the new In Death book I got today and Zoo Tampa was my background tv in the evening.

Temps started out at 30.2(F) and reached 30.9. When I got home around noon, it was 29-something and just kept hovering in that vicinity, 28, 29, 30 . . . It was also very windy. Very. We weren’t supposed to get any snow, but suddenly I’m getting warnings for snow squalls from TWC app. We got enough snow that I had to go back out and shovel after supper clean-up, while Pip was out blowing open the trails again. (Between the snow and the wind, the trails had gotten pretty clogged in certain places.) It had already fallen to 15 degrees by that point, so it was chilly out, and still windy.



Mom Update:

Mom was doing the same, sadly. She’s still eating, thankfully, but not all of it is sitting well. She tucked herself away in her ‘den’ where she is hidden from seeing what the weather is like because she didn’t like seeing more snow coming down, and watched a Hallmark movie that she enjoyed, then her usual Love Boat and Mama’s Family. *g* One of her friends from work called her, which was nice.

⌈ Secret Post #6908 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 05 secrets from Secret Submission Post #986.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

TV Talk:

9-1-1: On hiatus until Jan 8.


Matlock: No new ep this week; new eps return Dec 4.


Tracker: Good ep. ( spoilers )



TV News:

Scarpetta: I just read that they’re making a tv series out of the Kay Scarpetta books! I didn’t keep up with the series, but I enjoyed I (for the most part). I’m looking forward to seeing this and hoping it’s worth watching! Nicole Kidman Suits Up as ‘Scarpetta’ in First Look at Amazon’s Crime Thriller Series (variety.com)

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. I hit Walmart while I was downtown and made a quick stop at Dollar General on the way home. This was not my usual Walmart trip; I needed to pick up a new vacuum cleaner and some cute outfits to send to Alaska!niece for Hazel. (I already bought Hazel a Green Bay Packer’s t-shirt, because that’s her mom’s favorite team. *g*)

I immediately put the vacuum cleaner together and used it in the living room. My old vacuum has not been able to do that rug in ages. Even raising it as high as it goes, it feels like it’s sucking the rug in and I need two hands to move it. This vacuum moved over that rug like a dream! I may actually start to enjoy vacuuming now! (Haha, no, not really!)

I visited mom, then stopped at Sunnycrest (to pick up the wreath I’d ordered) and Stewart’s (for milk) on the way to pick up the dogs at the garage.

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I used the leftover chicken and broth to make chicken and gravy over rice for supper.

I napped and watched an HGTV program. I also ‘started’ my Christmas cards! (Since I got to it late in the day, and Pip came home early, I managed to get two written out, but it’s a start!!)

Temps started out at 22.1(F) (when I got up, but dropped to 15.8 before I left the house) and reached 36.7.


Mom Update:

Mom was not feeling well when I visited her. ( more back here )

⌈ Secret Post #6907 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 11 secrets from Secret Submission Post #986.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

to buy some chocolate for the holidays.. think maybe we were both looking for something we didn't find, but we got samples and a nice ride through rich people's neighborhoods.
Watching Aftyn Behn "almost win" reminds me too much of my own life, really, except nobody is gonna tell her she's "So Brave" probably.But, you know, I'm a longshot, too.(one that, as of this writing, has not come into very much.(Also, the real, well, I hesitate to call it fun, but, okay, something beneath that, pleasure, maybe, of a long-shot campaign is doing what you can while not taking it seriously, cause, like, "What the hell?" Saying what you want(within reason) not sweating the polling...that kind of stuff.
Having her come so close with everyone watching is kind of the worst of all possible worlds.I'm an activist, not a fricking Cubs fan..."Wait Till Next Year" doesn't get it done for me anymore...after about fourteen years, I'm thinking of leaving the phone team behind, but my own life isn't compelling either, or I never would have flung myself in so hard in the first place. But I haven't had a good round of calls in forever.
Still looking for that dare-to-be-great situation, I guess.

fancake is a thematic recommendation community where all members are welcome to post recs, and fanworks of all shapes and sizes are accepted. Check out the community guidelines for the full set of rules.

This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!