Reading

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The Origin of Species by Harusari and AshK

Lee Youngjin has never been like other Omegas. Rather than being physically superior to humans like the rest of his species, Youngjin is a gifted hacker. But when his talent leads him to an ill-fated heist mission, Youngjin finds himself trapped in the clutches of a powerful Alpha businessman named Seo Seunghyun. Now, he must do anything he can to guarantee safety for himself and his colleagues - even if it means sleeping with the enemy. But as the business deal between Youngjin and Seunghyun quickly becomes more personal, will they be able to see eye to eye? Or will their differences be too much to overcome?

My Rate: 8 (www.tappytoon.com/en/book/the-origin-of-species-m)

There are many things I like about this manhwa, but probably the same I can say about what I don't like. It's quite dark, and there is on screen violence, and the main lead Seo Seunghyun, is not only moving on the edge of legality, he is often trespassing that edge. Moreover, I don't understand the starting point of Lee Youngjin and Seo Seunghyun's relationship: how can be a sextape of Seo Seunghyun being of any detriment for him? what does Lee Youngjin want to achieve with it? but soon after, with Lee Youngjin's request of sleep together after sex, and Seo Seunghyun stating that he will treat Youngjin as a lover, they made me fall for them. Season 3 is all about cuteness and happy feeling, therefore making amends for all the violence in the first two seasons.

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Something's Not Right (2025)

Something's Not Right is adapted from the manhwa Who Can Define Popularity, the same webtoon from which they adapted Blueming, another drama that I quite liked. Do Ba U and Ji Hun are the sidecouple in the webtoon, but here, in this drama, they are center stage. I quite liked their sweet story, I also like that, up until the end, it was not clear if the happy ending was with Ji Hun or Jung Ha Min. Tell you the truth, I was rooting for Jung Ha Min. The story is set in college, but the characters are behaving more like high school students, they have a sort of innocence in them that is endearing. Something's Not Right is very cute, if I have to find a fault, is that, sometime, the flashback are a little bit confusing, it helped a lot that in most of them Do Ba U and Ji Hun are wearing their school uniform. Said that, I cannot really find any other fault in this sweet, sweet love story. HEA. You can see it on Viki. Heat Level: 3/6.

Heat Level:
1/6: glances, caress, hugs, no kisses
2/6: kisses, closed mouth or camera angles
3/6: full kisses, clothes on
4/6: full kisses, some clothes off, hands above the waist, pants stay on
5/6: most clothes off, they have sex, but it’s masked, no sexy sounds
6/6: full nudity mostly hidden by camera angles, they have sex, sexy sounds

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Rewrite-A-Fic Fill: 2025

Title A Thrill of Hope

Creator: Small Hobbit

Fandom: Spooks (MI5)

Relationship(s): Pamela Dunwoody (Adam Carter's mother-in-law) & Adam Carter/Lucas North & Wes Carter

Rating: G

Word count: 1,794

Warnings (if any): Non applicable

Link: A Thrill of Hope on AO3

This takes two ficlets in Lucas' POV and rewrites them from Pamela's POV

Entry tags:

update

Update (wow, this is pretty glum, sorry)

Okay, in the spirit of "I read all your posts eagerly so I should be reciprocal" I'm dragging an entry out of myself with bloodied nails. I've been feeling pretty low energy mood-wise as I've been reducing my physical activity to try and let my shoulder heal. The downsides to inactivity include a circularity of no longer wanting to be active, leading to less ability to be active, so I've been pretty much stuck on flicking through my tumblr dash and reblogging cats. Cheap, low-stakes dopamine. :-\

Winter and it's cold fronts from the Antarctic are finally here. I don't like being cold, but at least today there's blue skies and light winds. I made myself go for a walk before having my lunch and I think that's the trick. Otherwise I sit there and play sudoku on my phone for the best part of an hour. It was so good for me, to the point where I've deleted several dolorous sentences from this post (yes, it was much worse than this).

Cheerful things! I finished my latest jigsaw. I admit to being addicted. ( A sunny afternoon in Amsterdam )

Dude is making me re-watch all three Sonic the Hedgehog movies on Blu-ray (because he does his best to cheer me up) and they are a lot of fun. Agent Stone is THE best henchman in the history of henching! We're also watching Andor and I keep saying, "This is about to go horribly wrong, isn't it?" I am holding off on Murderbot until all the episodes are out and I can binge them over a seven day free trial! I feel MB would approve of this strategy.

I recently finished reading The epic crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee, and it was a lot of fun. Monkey was something I watched and loved as a teenager (the original Japanese series) so I was primed to love this. Thanks

isis for the rec, and everyone else for your book posts. Even if I don't comment I'm always taking notes. ♥

Currently, I'm reading The ruby's curse : a River song, Melody Malone mystery by Alex Kingston. So far it's as fun as a Doctor Who episode. I have The iron will of Genie Lo ready to go when I'm done with that.

I've been playing Ori and the Blind Forest (definitive edition) and it's so pretty. I bought myself a controller to make playing easier, but my hand-eye coordination is still not great and I got frustrated yesterday when I got to an energy gate and didn't have enough energy to open it. I didn't feel like back-tracking so I played through Florence for easy comfort gaming.

At work it's the start of exams, so things are about to get busy. I have to remember to stand up more often and not lift anything.

In conclusion, here is a picture of Ashah, who has decided that my Oodie is just wrong and refuses to sit on it. ( Read more... )

Hope you're all travelling well! ♥

Current Mood: busy

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Today's Adventures

Today we went up to Champaign-Urbana.

( Read more... )

Negotiating a New Treaty

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cool. It rained last night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 5/28/25 -- I planted 10 greenish-yellow 'Alicia' and 10 red 'Doubna' gladioli in the septic garden.

I saw a skunk on the patio.

EDIT 5/28/25 -- I planted a red portulaca and a purple torenia iin pots.

I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/28/25 -- I watered the newly planted things.

I've seen a catbird.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

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book log: reading wednesday

Reading Wednesday

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type: meme

RIP (Read In Progress) Wednesday

What are you reading?

Weds is the time, is the place, is the motion,
Weds is the day we are reading....

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Fic: Maybe We Can Hope Tomorrow (Murder, She Wrote (tv)/Teen Wolf (tv))

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Fic: Murder, She Wrote/Teen Wolf: Maybe We Can Hope Tomorrow (Jessica & Allison; PG13)

This is the original idea I had for my prompt, but there was just enough time between me coming up with and me writing it that the story went from completely dark to just kind of dark and really sad, kind of? I hope you enjoy it? *g*

Title: Maybe We Can Hope Tomorrow
Author: Spikedluv
Fandom: Murder, She Wrote (tv)/Teen Wolf (tv)
Rating: PG13/Gen
Pairing/Characters: Jessica Fletcher & Allison Argent (cameo by Seth Hazlitt; appearance by Mort Metzger; original characters mentioned)
Length: 2,580 words
Spoilers: Takes place post-season four Murder, She Wrote and during season three of Teen Wolf.
Summary: Jessica Fletcher is confronted with a rogue werewolf and a rogue hunter.
Author’s Notes: Werewolf!Jessica. Show-level violence. Written for the

intoabar prompt Jessica Fletcher goes into a bar and meets... Allison Argent!
Warnings: Character death before the story begins; implied character death post-story.
Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.
Posted: May 28, 2025

Read Fic @ AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65979859

Entry tags:

art & photos,
music

🎵

solarpsychedelic · illuminations of then

An EP I composed and recorded as a musical exploration..

Last year, instead of spending my holiday gift money on several small things, I decided to spend it on one speciality item and that item ended up being my MIDI keyboard.

I took piano lessons when I was young and I can’t say that I always enjoyed them. After learning the fundamentals and experiencing the excitement of making noise, I felt like I got stuck in exercises, and the fun and passion went out.

My teacher was a serious musician committed to classical music and she frowned on jazzy improvisation and self-expression. I felt frustrated and bored, like I wasn’t making progression, and dropped out.

Later on, as an adult, I had a better understanding of my teacher’s views and why practice and exercises were important. Being any kind of a musician is a rough road to travel. Being a classical musician is the hardest, because they spend years investing time, money, talent, and endless practice into an art form that fewer people appreciate.

(My statement is not to put down other genres of music, but to acknowledge classical as an under-appreciated art form.)

I felt regret about missing out on the fun side of music, so I got a basic Casio keyboard. I warmed up with exercises, then gave myself the permission to noodle around and have fun. It was healing and finally I felt like I had progressed. Then life got busy and I had other creative outlets, namely writing and photography.

Then for whatever reason, I started thinking about music again last year and got the MIDI keyboard and started to learn how to use Ableton and GarageBand.

It’s been wonderful to get back into music. As much as I like writing and photography, there is something transcendent about music.

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activity

Activity #94 - Technique Waterfall

I don't feel up to Ask the Maker yet, so first we'll have a short activity until mid-June (and then Ask the Maker).

Now we'll make sets of icons following water down a waterfall! Under the cut, there is a list of techniques in the shape of a waterfall.

( technique waterfall! )

Rules:

* You have to start at the top (on any square that has no other directly above it, not necessarily the top left) and then go straight down or diagonally down. Make one icon for each square you come across (of course using that technique). It's your choice where you start, and whether you go straight down or diagonal on each step. You can go both left-down or right-down. Just never go horizontally or up.

* Each set of icons has to be of consecutive squares you come across on the way from top to bottom. You don't have to go all the way down - you can start at the top and only make two icons, that's okay. Minimum set size is two icons.

* If you want to make more than one set, you can. You can choose a new starting point (has to be one of the top squares) for each set.

Please ask me if you have any questions. Let me know if there's a problem with the graphic, I can also provide the techniques as plain text.

* You can make as many icons as you like (if you need a goal, five is a good number :))
* There is no minimum, 1 icon is enough to enter this activity
* Please submit your icons (and URLs!) to this post, all in one comment (if possible)
* Everyone can participate, you don't have to be a member of this community

* I will collect all the icons from the comments and make a result post
* Everyone can leave comments on the inspiration and activity result posts
* There is no voting

Deadline: Saturday, June 14 2025, your end-of-day

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

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BtVS Double Drabble: Heart To Heart

Title: Heart To Heart
Fandom: BtVS
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Joyce, Buffy.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 451: Up To You at

drabble_zone.
Spoilers/Setting: Early Season 3.
Summary: Joyce is trying hard to understand.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS, or the characters.
A/N: Double drabble.

( Heart To Heart... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

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FAKE Triple Drabble: Traffic Jammed

Title: Traffic Jammed
Fandom: FAKE
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Dee.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: It may not technically be their job, but as police officers, Dee and Ryo can’t just ignore the situation.
Written Using: The dw100 prompt ‘Signal’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Triple drabble.

( Traffic Jammed... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

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Double Drabble: Injured Again

Title: Injured Again
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Owen.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 867: Right at

torchwood100.
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Poor Ianto is in the wars.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Double drabble.

( Injured Again... )

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akicidw

AKICIDW: What does editing cost?

I got an email yesterday from one of my professors who I've been using as a reference. She said she had a student who was in the process of applying to grad school and was looking to hire an editor to help him improve one of his papers for inclusion with his applications. She remembered that I had experience in editing and wanted to know if I'd be okay with her passing on my contact information to him. I was up front with her about my editing experience (I've done lots of copyediting, style editing, and fact-checking, but no real heavy-duty developmental editing other than on my own writing), and said if she still felt comfortable recommending me to him I was interested. After reading this, she said was comfortable recommending me and would be passing my information on to him.

Now we finally get to the question part of this post: I've never hired an editor. I've never worked as a free-lance editor of this sort. But I know a lot of you have editing experience and/or ties to universities, so I'm hoping you can give me some guidance here: How much do editors usually charge for something like this? Should I be charging by the hour or by word count or what? At this point I have absolutely nothing to go on other than my instinctive valuation of money, which I already know is seriously fucked up from years of being broke.

Current Music: Hey! Say! JUMP - encore

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challenge: write every day

Write Every Day - May 2025 - Day 28

The month is almost over! How was the writing today?

We're still missing a host for next month! Leave a comment here and/or on the hosts masterlist here if you want to take over!

Welcome post.

( Days 1-7 )

( Days 8-14 )

( Days 15-21 )

Day 22:

goddess47,

badly_knitted,

sylvanwitch,

larryhammer,

luzula,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

brithistorian,

yasaman,

kissed,

ysilme,

trobadora,

nafs,

chanter1944

Day 23:

china_shop,

goddess47,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

badly_knitted,

larryhammer,

luzula,

cornerofmadness,

brithistorian,

sanguinity,

yasaman,

kissed,

chanter1944

Day 24:

china_shop,

falkner,

goddess47,

badly_knitted,

trobadora,

sylvanwitch,

cornerofmadness,

sanguinity,

nafs,

brithistorian,

kissed,

yasaman,

chanter1944

Day 25:

falkner,

goddess47,

badly_knitted,

luzula,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

china_shop,

kissed,

cornerofmadness,

sanguinity,

brithistorian,

yasaman,

chanter1944

Day 26:

china_shop,

goddess47,

sylvanwitch,

kissed,

badly_knitted,

trobadora,

nafs,

cornerofmadness,

brithistorian,

yasaman,

chanter1944

Day 27:

falkner,

sylvanwitch,

kissed,

goddess47,

trobadora,

cornerofmadness,

birhistorian,

yasaman,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

chanter1944

Day 28:

falkner,

sylvanwitch,

badly_knitted,

china_shop,

trobadora,

goddess47,

bafs,

chanter1944,

cornerofmadness,

birthistorian,

yasaman

Remember that you are free to check in at any time for past days as well, just comment on the most recent post with what days you are checking in for!

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mod: discussion post

Not long 'til posting

Posting starts in June! I hope all is going well and for the undecided sign ups don't close until the 10th June.

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WWW Wednesday

1. What are you currently reading?

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine: I started! I read the prologue. That's. literally all I've managed.
Moriarty the Patriot vol. 6 by Ryosuke Takeuchi: okay the handling of Irene Adler is growing on me... I guess... (I'm enjoying this vol. more than basically all the others, so I def won't be giving up the series yet...)
*天官赐福 manhua vol. 3 by 墨香铜臭: I DID manage to start a second Chinese manhua still within May! I probably won't finish it this month but still, 3 vols in 2 months would still be more than one vol a month. I'll take it.

2. What have you recently finished reading?

so much manga. I haven't been able to brain much else. anyway...

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish vol. 4 by Xue Shan Fei Hu: finished the book, and thus the series! It was fine. Vol. 4 continued to be less kid-oriented that vol 3, but overall if I'd known how kid-focused the whole series would be I doubt I would ever have read it.
My Beautiful Man vol. 3 by Yuu Nagira
Yona of the Dawn vol. 12 by Mizuho Kusanagi
Rooming with My Two Lovers by Anji Seina: poly BL. unremarkable as yaoi, but it was nice to get some poly.
Spy x Family vol. 10 by Tatsuya Endo: it was nice to get some of Loid's backstory. I was hoping we would, based on the cover.
Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! vol. 12 by Yuu Toyota
Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba vol. 17 by Koyoharu Gotouge
Moriarty the Patriot vol. 5 by Ryosuke Takeuchi
Chainsaw Man vol. 10 by Tatsuki Fujimoto: I'm done reading this one. There's only one more vol in this arc, but all the characters I liked but one are dead, and next arc is apparently about all new characters, and I can't imagine why I'd give a single shit when I emotionally invested in the backstory and goals and aims of all the first arc characters only for them all to die without accomplishing any of those things. That's just not interesting to me.
Platinum Blood by Mor Ichigaya: unmemorable priest x vampire yaoi. It was fine.
Ogi's Summer Break vol. 1 by Koikawa: very odd and often uncomfortable book (modern BL, gender non-conforming lead, blind ml). Reserving full judgement until I've read the second half.
Touch Within the Abyss by Moyori Mori: another BL with a blind ml, idk how that happened twice in a row. Assassin x blind shut-in. This was surprisingly good.
Be My Love, My Lord by Adumi Nagano: modern yaoi in a world where people with animal features are enslaved; owner x enslaved dog guy. IMO did a decent job on the awkwardness of the premise and the consent issues.
Cheri, My Destiny! by Okoge Mochino: modern BL. Never really figured out the chemistry between the main characters. Meh.
My Dear Agent vol. 1 by Ebino Bisque: cute modern BL about two body guards. Didn't quite come together, and the ML was obnoxiously pushy, never really figured out why the MC grew to like him. It's only two vols tho so I'm reserving full judgement for the second (which I have like 4 week wait for, sigh.)

3. What will you read next?

I only have like 6 manga borrowed on Libby and none are due imminently, so nothing urgent there... since I think I might finally be getting a little invested in Moriarty the Patriot, probably that? Those volumes are from the physical local library so I'd like to read um and return um sooner rather than later. And Solo Leveling vol. 1 by Chugong, now that I got my hands on it (after I read vol. 2 to 8 lol).