The Dastardly Dungeon of Deliciously Devious Drinks

Thanks, EFB and RW!

BTW, congrats on the contract! Always exciting to get one of those in the mail.

Morning, Cantina!

Congrats on the contract, GreenDragon.

Woke up this morning and promptly did something to strain a muscle in my neck. Opposite side from the one I strained a couple months ago. Which, I had only just started to feel better. Now I'm struggling to turn my head again. I'll do a heavy aspirin regimen and see if that solves anything.

In the meantime, I have words to tackle so working on finishing up a few scenes that I've started but not yet finished and working on stringing things together.

At least the weather has been fairly pleasant the past couple of days. Hot in the afternoon, but cool in the morning and not nearly as smotheringly humid as the summer was.

Aggy, not fond of humid

Religion0 said:

How am I supposed to do schoolwork and learn about vit D when there are fandoms to fawn over?

Also, on a vaguely related note, is it just me or is tumblr stupid weird and complicated?

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This is why, quite frankly, I stay away from fandoms. I have nothing against fandom as a rule, but they're a time sink. I'd rather focus on creating something worthy of its own fandom than be part of someone else's.

Perhaps look at schoolwork this way, the more generalised knowledge you have, the more things you have to write about! Specific knowledge can be garnered and tossed aside as needed, but schools are some of the best places* to learn things!

*not including wikis, tv-tropes, and authors' blogs.

E.F.B. said:

I think I'm up to at least 10 p0rn blocks by now if not more. ._. Speaking of, there's another one I'm going to go block now...

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Out of context quotes! Honestly though, this is the reason I left tumblr, it's over saturated with things that make me uncomfortable. (Also I didn't know about Tumblr Savior, but still)

greendragon said:

Thanks to all who helped beta/critique. Especially our own Dammy!

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YAY! What happitastic news! You are most welcome, it was a pleasure once I got my head around it.

greendragon said:

Coming up with taglines is an unfavorite part for me

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I wish I could help, but I'm terrible at taglines! Although, I've always found the ones that don't give everything away to be better, less is more in this case. Try to keep it simple, but also foreboding.

E.F.B. said:

OR if you find that you like a blog, but they sometimes blog stuff you don't like, you can download a browser add-on like "Tumblr Savior" which will let you block out posts that include the keywords you enter into it.

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nth thumbs up for Tumblr Savior. I use Tumblr mostly just to follow the blogs of a few authors and didn't want to sift through the Tumblr dashboard's "helpful" recommendations just to find their posts.

E.F.B. said:

It can seem complicated until you get used to it. Now that I'm used to it, it's pretty quick and easy to use and also a bit of a time suck. Of course I mainly only reblog things and/or comment on other people's stuff rather than create new contend.

As for the weird and stupid, yeah it can be that too. You really have to curate the blogs you follow so you only follow those you're really interested in, OR if you find that you like a blog, but they sometimes blog stuff you don't like, you can download a browser add-on like "Tumblr Savior" which will let you block out posts that include the keywords you enter into it. Like, there's this one Tolkien blog I follow that I really like her artsy reblogs, but sometimes she reblogs some rather, shall we say, NSFW stuff, but she always tags those posts as NSFW, so I've set my browser to block posts with the tag NSFW because I'm not comfortable seeing that stuff, but I can still see the artsy stuff. Once you've curated things so that you only get the stuff you like, Tumblr can be pretty cool and fun.

Also, if you find that you get random follows from p0rn blogs and you're not interested in that and don't look for stuff like that and are wondering why they're following you, it's nothing *you* did. It seems they do that to everyone who's on Tumblr long enough and Tumblr has no rules against them being there. I personally block them because I want to make it clear I don't want them following me, not that it seems to make much difference. But I iz stubborn that way. I think I'm up to at least 10 p0rn blocks by now if not more. ._. Speaking of, there's another one I'm going to go block now...

(and then get back to writing)

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No, I mean, it won't work for me and it has a stupid and weird UI system. I found someone who uses their blog to write a comic but I can read it in the right order easily, because it's only laid out in a newest to oldest, and especially the app doesn't allow for a lot of flexibility. An internal tumblr link opens in the browser? Etsy has figured that out! And there's no archive. Bah! Finding blogs is just a boredom that will probably pay off.

Damoclian said:

This is why, quite frankly, I stay away from fandoms. I have nothing against fandom as a rule, but they're a time sink. I'd rather focus on creating something worthy of its own fandom than be part of someone else's.

Perhaps look at schoolwork this way, the more generalised knowledge you have, the more things you have to write about! Specific knowledge can be garnered and tossed aside as needed, but schools are some of the best places* to learn things!

*not including wikis, tv-tropes, and authors' blogs.

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But but! I have so many excess feels that need treating, and the fandom is excellent at that!

I'm at a level where everything I read is specific. Case in point, synthesis and regulation of vitamin D.

Damoclian said:

Honestly though, this is the reason I left tumblr, it's over saturated with things that make me uncomfortable. (Also I didn't know about Tumblr Savior, but still)

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Yeah, I was *this* close to leaving when, in a last ditch effort to see if there was anything I could do to filter the uncomfortable stuff out, I stumbled across a post about Tumblr Savior, among other browser filter options. It's made things a lot more enjoyable, and my poor innocent eyeballs no longer have to get burned and blinded at completely random intervals.

Religion0 said:

No, I mean, it won't work for me and it has a stupid and weird UI system. I found someone who uses their blog to write a comic but I can read it in the right order easily, because it's only laid out in a newest to oldest, and especially the app doesn't allow for a lot of flexibility. An internal tumblr link opens in the browser? Etsy has figured that out! And there's no archive. Bah! Finding blogs is just a boredom that will probably pay off.

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Aaaah. Okay, I misunderstood. Yes the newest to oldest layout can be quite annoying. I haven't found a way around that other than scrolling for a very long time. If you're lucky, some bloggers tag their posts in an organized fashion so sometimes you can just type the right thing into the blog's search and find the older installments of the comic, but that doesn't always happen. I have nearly phone-->walled the app a few times. They could really do something to make it better.

CobraMisfit said:

Hang on. By my math, that means she realized at the 6 month mark. Isn't that a tad far along to be surprised by a fetal infestation?

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That's what I thought at first but then she gave me more details. TMax is right.

TAMaxwell said:

Remember, dude, there are whole TV shows dedicated to women not knowing at all that they're pregnant. It happens. Some women carry to the back and don't show, some have no morning sickness or cravings or anything out of the ordinary, some continue bleeding monthly or already had irregular periods. You can find tons of stories about women thinking they're having really terrible stomach cramps and find out "surprise, you're in labor!" or even have the baby in a bathroom. Read and article a few months ago about a woman hiking Europe, living in hostels and the like, went into the bathroom with cramps and came out with a baby. It's not terribly common, but it's not impossible either.

CONGRATS GD!!

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Yeah, I was one of those lucky women with my second. Still had my cycles up until 5 months. Didn't feel any different until I did.

greendragon said:

"Which is more important, duty or happiness?"
"How much does duty override the pursuit of happiness?"
"Nuala must grow up quickly, or lose all she ever dreamed of."
"How do you choose between love and family?"

Any advice? Preferences? Suggestions?

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What about: "When caught between love and family, what do you choose?"

Morning all. Woke up late again. Still have the echoes of an incredible headache. Not a migraine, just sinus headache again. Time to double up on allergy meds I think (claratin and flonaise which you can do for a short period of time.) Not many words yesterday but I'll try to get this short finished today or tomorrow so it has a few days rest before I edit the hell out of it.

So here's something for you foodies. Last night at critique group, one of the guys shows up with a bowl full of homemade cookies. Heck yeah. But he stops us before we all make the dive for them.

"They're habañero sugar cookies."

I had a full bottle of water, so I decided to try a bite of one despite my low tolerance for spice. It was surprisingly good. The cookie dough cut the heat while you chewed, but there was a very brief afterburn just when you thought you were safe. I didn't grab a full cookie, but I didn't regret trying it. Would you dare a spicy cookie?

greendragon said:

HAPPY NEWS! The Enchanted Swans is now ON CONTRACT!!!

My publisher was kind enough to share the comments the editor had on my book after she evaluated it.

"It's well written and well-paced. I like her characters and her use of the Legend of Lyr. It isn't your usual story with the fae. Her voice comes through clearly and ultimately, I like the story and how she writes. I don't anticipate huge editorial issues."

WOOHOO!!!!!

Thanks to all who helped beta/critique. Especially our own Dammy!

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TAMaxwell said:

Remember, dude, there are whole TV shows dedicated to women not knowing at all that they're pregnant. It happens. Some women carry to the back and don't show, some have no morning sickness or cravings or anything out of the ordinary, some continue bleeding monthly or already had irregular periods. You can find tons of stories about women thinking they're having really terrible stomach cramps and find out "surprise, you're in labor!" or even have the baby in a bathroom. Read and article a few months ago about a woman hiking Europe, living in hostels and the like, went into the bathroom with cramps and came out with a baby. It's not terribly common, but it's not impossible either.

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This reminded me of something...

TAMaxwell said:

So here's something for you foodies. Last night at critique group, one of the guys shows up with a bowl full of homemade cookies. Heck yeah. But he stops us before we all make the dive for them.

"They're habañero sugar cookies."

I had a full bottle of water, so I decided to try a bite of one despite my low tolerance for spice. It was surprisingly good. The cookie dough cut the heat while you chewed, but there was a very brief afterburn just when you thought you were safe. I didn't grab a full cookie, but I didn't regret trying it. Would you dare a spicy cookie?

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There's a German cookie I dearly love as part of my childhood; Pfeffernüsse, which means "pepper nuts."

It's a bit like a ginger snap with pepper and a dusting of powdered sugar.

http://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/pfeffernusse/

TAMaxwell said:

So here's something for you foodies. Last night at critique group, one of the guys shows up with a bowl full of homemade cookies. Heck yeah. But he stops us before we all make the dive for them.

"They're habañero sugar cookies."

I had a full bottle of water, so I decided to try a bite of one despite my low tolerance for spice. It was surprisingly good. The cookie dough cut the heat while you chewed, but there was a very brief afterburn just when you thought you were safe. I didn't grab a full cookie, but I didn't regret trying it. Would you dare a spicy cookie?

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I'd try it, although I'd do like you did and try one bite first. Sounds great!

TAMaxwell said:

So here's something for you foodies. Last night at critique group, one of the guys shows up with a bowl full of homemade cookies. Heck yeah. But he stops us before we all make the dive for them.

"They're habañero sugar cookies."

I had a full bottle of water, so I decided to try a bite of one despite my low tolerance for spice. It was surprisingly good. The cookie dough cut the heat while you chewed, but there was a very brief afterburn just when you thought you were safe. I didn't grab a full cookie, but I didn't regret trying it. Would you dare a spicy cookie?

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Chocolate and chile is a thing I like and chile with fruit is also a thing so yes, I probably would. Sugar moderates the heat and the spice turns up the other flavors a bit. Also, I can do chili heat in moderation (I cap out at medium).

Now I want chocolate-chile cookies.

themindstream said:

Chocolate and chile is a thing I like and chile with fruit is also a thing so yes, I probably would. Sugar moderates the heat and the spice turns up the other flavors a bit. Also, I can do chili heat in moderation (I cap out at medium).

Now I want chocolate-chile cookies.

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I was thinking of chocolate and chiles too. Well, chocolate-dipped peppers. It definitely would have paired well with some chocolate drizzled on top or chips mixed in. And the chopped habañeros were real pretty in the cookie.

Brain: "Oooh, and with some candied orange peel..."

*Glares at brain* Not helping!

Brain: "Sowweh ;.;"


Entire chocolate-dipped peppers would probably be overkill for me, plus I'd think they'd taste too vegetable-y. Unless maybe you candied them first. And not green peppers because then even cooking them in sugar wouldn't get rid of green pepper taste (s'why I don't like jallepenos).

themindstream said:

Brain: "Oooh, and with some candied orange peel..."

*Glares at brain* Not helping!

Brain: "Sowweh ;.;"


Entire chocolate-dipped peppers would probably be overkill for me, plus I'd think they'd taste too vegetable-y. Unless maybe you candied them first. And not green peppers because then even cooking them in sugar wouldn't get rid of green pepper taste (s'why I don't like jallepenos).

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Ooh, candied orange peel sugar cookie with chocolate drizzle would be uh-mazing.

I found some amazing dark chocolate with chilis not long ago. It was pretty good. Haven't seen them again since.

I would try that cookie! Also, I remember having Pfeffernüsse when I was a child. I had a family that held onto their Germanic ancestry pretty strongly, despite being a dozen generations removed. Our Firestone (Feuerstein) ancestors came over in 1752.

greendragon said:

I found the whole thing both morbidly fascinating and disturbing, knowing it was based on true events - and knowing that even this grittiness was nothing compared to what reality would have been. I've studied Irish history (both ancient and modern) quite a bit and had known the story behind the film. Nevertheless, it deeply affected me.

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Me, too. I can tell how good a movie is by how long it stays with me after, and "Hunger" is still with me four days later.

TAMaxwell said:

I don't drink coffee or anything for energy.)

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I know those words are all English, but I don't understand what you just said.

griffins said:

I saw the first season of Penny Dreadful and didn't like it.
However, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is on Netflix and I found it fantastic. Bonus points if a bit of re-imagined English magical culture and fae lore piques your interest. Also, period pieces!

The first season of The Fall made me not hate Jamie Dornan. Previously, I only knew him as Christian Grey and the Huntsman from Once Upon a Time, so yeah, I kind of thought he sucked. But The Fall changed all that for me. What a taut and delightfully creepy series.

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I just added The Fall to our Netflix queue, not that Mr. Dragon and I need more shows to watch. And Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is already on there.

TAMaxwell said:

Remember, dude, there are whole TV shows dedicated to women not knowing at all that they're pregnant. It happens. Some women carry to the back and don't show, some have no morning sickness or cravings or anything out of the ordinary, some continue bleeding monthly or already had irregular periods. You can find tons of stories about women thinking they're having really terrible stomach cramps and find out "surprise, you're in labor!" or even have the baby in a bathroom. Read and article a few months ago about a woman hiking Europe, living in hostels and the like, went into the bathroom with cramps and came out with a baby. It's not terribly common, but it's not impossible either.

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Not I. I was a terrible pregnant woman, both times. With both kids I had non-stop morning sickness to the point where I needed Zofran just to keep from losing weight. With the second baby I knew I was pregnant almost right away because I started to get nauseous all day long.

greendragon said:

I'm now trying to hammer out a good, short tagline for The Enchanted Swans to submit with my cover art/blurb request. It's the retelling of the Children of Lir, first person POV, a girl and her three brothers are cursed as swans for 900 years by their jealous/insane step-mother in ancient Ireland.

"Which is more important, duty or happiness?"
"How much does duty override the pursuit of happiness?"
"Nuala must grow up quickly, or lose all she ever dreamed of."
"How do you choose between love and family?"

Any advice? Preferences? Suggestions?

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I like the third one, because I'm *generally* not a fan of question loglines, but I think some previous posters came up with good mixtures of what you wrote. How about something a little more specific, like, "Nuala must protect her family at any cost, or lose the ones she loves." ?

Aggy B. said:

Woke up this morning and promptly did something to strain a muscle in my neck. Opposite side from the one I strained a couple months ago. Which, I had only just started to feel better. Now I'm struggling to turn my head again. I'll do a heavy aspirin regimen and see if that solves anything.

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Aspirin? Not ibuprofen? Ibuprofen helps with the swelling and inflammation.



Good afternoon, all.

I wrote another 160 words on my Garden State short story; I like how it's coming along now. As soon as I click out of here I plan to do more, now that the words are flowing.


In non-writing news, I've started to feel really run-down, and Mr. Dragon says it might be from starting a new workout routine recently as well as not really getting a break on the weekends anymore now that our regular schedules are back in session. Last week I ran errands all day on Friday then went out Friday night; Saturday I went to the gym then to synagogue then to a Revolutionary reenactment; Sunday we all woke up early to take Mr. Dragon to his half-marathon and I was on my feet *that* whole time. So not a lot of breaks for me. But, I need to push through this because I always seem to crash and burn when I start a new workout routine. It's annoying, I feel so fragile even though I'm trying to take better care of myself.

Anyway.


I'm off to word until it's time to pick up the dragonlets from school.

greendragon said:

HAPPY NEWS! The Enchanted Swans is now ON CONTRACT!!!

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Congrats, greendragon!

E.F.B. said:

Aaaah. Okay, I misunderstood. Yes the newest to oldest layout can be quite annoying. I haven't found a way around that other than scrolling for a very long time. If you're lucky, some bloggers tag their posts in an organized fashion so sometimes you can just type the right thing into the blog's search and find the older installments of the comic, but that doesn't always happen. I have nearly phone-->walled the app a few times. They could really do something to make it better.

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Yeah, tumblr is much better on PC. I haven't used the android app in a long while. I was wondering why EFB's blog is only in mobile format! But if you want to browse archives, just type "BLOGNAME.tumblr.com/archive/" into an internet browser. This works for every tumblr blog.
For example, my tumblr is: https://fuzzymittens.tumblr.com/
To see the archive: https://fuzzymittens.tumblr.com/archive/
Once there, you can search through by month/year.

To filter out adult content, (I don't have any, I mean in general searches) click on the little lock icon on the top right after a search. I was looking for Zootopia sloth gifs and got an eye-full of furry fan art. Yeah. Ugh.
Speaking of which, Zootopia is now on Netflix! Go watch it! Now!

*sings* It's raining, it's pouring, my kitchen is covered in painter's tape.

griffins said:

Yeah, tumblr is much better on PC. I haven't used the android app in a long while. I was wondering why EFB's blog is only in mobile format!

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*blinks* It is? But...but...I created it from my PC long before I had the app. *is confused*

TAMaxwell said:

"They're habañero sugar cookies."

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Yes.

themindstream said:

Now I want chocolate-chile cookies.

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Yes.

TAMaxwell said:

Ooh, candied orange peel sugar cookie with chocolate drizzle would be uh-mazing.

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Yes.

grandma2isaac said:

I found some amazing dark chocolate with chilis not long ago. It was pretty good. Haven't seen them again since.

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Yes.

Oh, wait, there wasn't a cookie in that last one. Never mind, I was just on a roll.


Also, butterscotch m&m's are now a thing, and they make an excellent cookie when paired with some macadamia nuts.

slcboston said:

Also, butterscotch m&m's are now a thing, and they make an excellent cookie when paired with some macadamia nuts.

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NOTED.

E.F.B. said:

*blinks* It is? But...but...I created it from my PC long before I had the app. *is confused*

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I dunno, I'm only getting the blog in mobile format on the side of my dashboard. What does the blog look like from your end?

Good afternoon Cantina. I'm now on leave until the 4th, though tomorrow will be spent hopefully waiting for a plumber. I'm away at Fantasycon (Scarborough) this weekend (going up Friday, back Monday) then the next weekend Warsaw (Thursday-Monday).

Not much writing has happened and as review copies are beginning to pile up it may not do, though hopefully I can do some in Yorkshire and Poland.

Aggy B. said:

On Saturday I watched both series of The Fall. (Which is grim and dark and feminist. Plus Gillian Anderson, and Jamie Dornan as an actual psychopath instead of psychopath who's supposed to be a love interest. And bonus points because Archie Panjabi.) The whole thing in one day

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Series 3 starts next Thursday in the UK. I thought things were being dragged out too much in the second series but we'll see if it can sustain a final six episodes.

You watched eleven and a half hours' worth in a day? I'm impressed.

RedDragoness said:

Do check out the movie, if you like gritty. It's directed by Steve McQueen, he of "Twelve Years a Slave" fame, so you know it doesn't pull any punches (...literally, in this case). The IRA and the Troubles in Ireland are not a particular corner of history I know tons about; I mostly watched the movie because I had read it has a 23-minute long uncut single shot scene in it and I'm a movie nerd; I consider good movies to be cinematic art. I timed that scene: it was actually 17 minutes, which is still incredible.

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Longest take shot on 35mm, I believe. Two-perforation, that is, so doubling the length of a film reel. Though nowadays shooting a whole feature film in one shot has been done a few times.

I'm divided about Steve McQueen. Two of his three features haven't stood up well to a second viewing, which leads me to think that behind his undoubted technical ability there's something rather hollow there. Hunger is the film of his I've only seen once so far.