aesmael: (sudden sailor)
2019-01-01
The thing about Julia Wolfe's "Lad" is it may be the first time I've really enjoyed a piece written for bagpipe. I'm not someone to cringe and theatrically dismay at the sound of bagpipes, but they hadn't really clicked with me either as something which sounds amazing or beautiful.

2019-01-04
It was probably 2017 that I started playing my "current" game of Angband. I've hardly played it at all - not at all for the past year I think - because I decided I wanted to stream it and show how that version worked before switching to the more adventurously experimental versions then and currently in development. Unfortunately I also switched back to Windows sometime then and, in Windows, OBS seems unable to capture all of Angband's sub-windows without capturing the entire screen, which means having to take great care not to accidentally leak any unwanted personal information of myself or anyone I communicate with that could potentially be displayed. It proves to be a big enough obstacle that I effectively have ceased playing altogether.

Therefore I have concluded that particular commitment must be done away with. I shall finish that game to death or victory, and any game I do stream will most likely be played at the public server at http://angband.live/

What happens this week? Bought a new PS3 controller as the old one seems to have quit working. The new one refuses to connect however, so we don't seem to be better off.

2019-01-10
Today I baked a lime meringue pie, taking a recipe for lemon and making a simple substitution. Not yet has it been tasted, although it ought to be delicious.

Today I learned someone must have hit my car while it was parked, most likely last night while I was purchasing ingredients for the pie I baked today. The rear left corner was scratched up and streaked with blue paint, possibly dented. Disheartening as my last car was wrecked by someone driving into me and striking the same location. I feel superstitiously afraid this one's days are likewise numbered.

Today I mapped out the basic location-concepts for the quest path for Star Wars: The Lost Heart. I want to develop those into enough detail that I know what their mysteries are and who are their major players, factions and tendencies so that I'll be able to bring them to life if and when we get there, but not to go so much detail that I already have the whole story written to force people into. Similarly with the state of the galaxy at time zero and what other major figures or points of interest have a good chance of coming up - or being available to pull out of a hat if I suddenly need them. Essentially two sets of landmarks, one for The Galaxy Now and one for The Quest As Intended. Then I can feel relatively confident at letting players loose without having to make quite everything up on the spot.

Or so I imagine.

Inventing is actually hard for me, I think. Or inventing the satisfying right thing of story. This is my supposition for why I write so slowly, for I feel I can at times quite readily toss off some broad idea which feels quite exciting, but to follow through with invention in details is quite laborious. I like to think that practice will make this easier, or perhaps to create an outline from which to work so that when it comes to the writing I am only filling in the details of how it happened, having previously resolved the tricky questions of what and why.

Now, writing as in journaling. That is mostly difficult in terms of remembering to do so. And remembering what has happened in order to write it down. And especially in doing my journaling later at night when, yes, the day has mostly happened to be written about in retrospect but also when I am feeling quite sleepy and actually transferring the text from journal-local to journal-webbed feels an obstacle not worth the effort of surmounting.

So, will these words be retrospectively published in the morning? Tune in to find out.
aesmael: (tricicat)
Dear diary,

I don't know what to write about today, so perhaps I shouldn't. But I can say these things: Today I read two comic books in their entirety, and as much as those are very light and swift reading, it's taken me multiple days to read the last few I've read, in moments snatched on lunch breaks and while waiting for things to happen, so it feels simultaneously relieving and disappointing to open up a book for the first time and have it evaporate so swiftly. I typed up a few pages of notes from a notebook that I'd written several years previously and never quite managed the intention and will to transfer to a digital form. And despite canned pumpkin apparently not existing in this country (still not shocked - I'd never encountered it in the wild before a recipe asked for it) I managed to find out how to process a raw pumpkin into similar form at home and transformed it into - if I do say so myself - a pretty tasty pumpkin and coconut cream soup. Some of the thyme got burned and I would have benefited by collecting that first batch of little bits into a bowl to dump into the pot together, but that's only a question of improvement. What I made was good already.
aesmael: (pangoself)
Urgent to do: find out why my new shoes are wearing so painfully on my right heel, make that stop happening.

Weird feeling today listening to an episode of SETI Radio's "Are We Alone?" on the drive home and they were talking about the 'new' movie Jumper. Thinking wow, I'm really getting into the present times now (no. Bush is on the outs as US president, Rudd is on the ins as Aus PM).

Let's get the sequence canonised for the day before yesterday's fight scene:

1) Harpy flies out of the statue climbed and attempts to use her Captivating Song on our heroes. Bolbins, the group's halfling rogue covers the ears of Jeanne, the group's (human) paladin of freedom to help her resist. They both fail, but Jeanne only barely thanks to the intervention, while Bolbins fails badly enough to give the harpy two free invocations on her song. The harpy demands her sister back.

2) Bolbins offers the harpy's sister in exchange for the captive the harpies took. The harpy proposes she kill and eat everyone and get her sister back that way. This is treated as a social conflict and the harpy doesn't roll as well as Bolbins, who has a negotiation stunt. The harpy marks off her 1-point stress box. Jeanne spends her turn attempting to throw off the effects of the harpy's song and succeeds, no longer under that influence. Unfortunately after this Jeanne's player needs to lay down and sits out the rest of the session.

3) The players respond to this declaration of hostile intent by attacking. Amena, the elven wizard, tries to use telekinesis to batter the harpy against the statue, but fails and in resisting this the wind of the harpy's wings buffets Amena to the ground.

4) Miyaro, the kitsune kensai, hurls her haunted sword Foxbane at the harpy. The harpy is unable to dodge quickly enough and the blade lodges in the harpy's back. The harpy marks off her 3-point stress box.

5) The harpy invokes her song against Bolbins, attempting to compel him to step off the ledge toward her and plummet to his death. Knowing there's a residual levitation spell on him from earlier, he voluntarily fails his save and with Amena's guidance they successfully make it appear as though he has been killed.

6) The harpy swoops in to grab her kill. Miyaro leaps up and grabs Foxbane, dragging the blade through the harpy's body (marking off the harpy's final 2-point stress box and is therefore Taken Out). After some deliberation on the part of Miyaro's player, she decides the harpy will be killed by this rather than driven off or knocked unconscious.

TO DO for Saturday: decide if the mother harpy will fight for / over her daughters or flee; decide how the captive harpy will feel about the destruction of her family (does she feel they abused her? is she so evil she is glad for the elimination of rivals? will she be heartbroken?).

Meanwhile have collected the pie dish back from the library, finding it empty and washed clean. The library is getting much quieter toward the end of the year, which is useful for me trying to catch up on the missing items lists of past months but can be awkward when between tasks.

Feel like there should be more to this day but whatever, just writing something feels like enough victory for now.
aesmael: (tricicat)
My current objective with dreamwidth is to try writing most days about what I'm doing, what's happened, what I'm working on and whatever musings may be prompted by this. I write these using RedNoteBook, which is a tool I've been using intermittently for many years now. It's a good tool for diarying but not so great for preparing several posts on a variety of topics.

Today we started with a walk in the neighbourhood, be-hatted, with sunglasses and doused in sunscreen. It's a tough balance between trying to stay active and not die of skin cancer in this season. Then, an episode of Adam Ruins Everything with my pet (sleep! at first worried it would only be about mattress sales techniques which wasn't so interesting, but then it went on to confirm most of beliefs about sleep generally which was at least gratifying).

A couple of the players in my Fatefinder game had school deadlines so we're planning to play tomorrow (after assignments and exams are taken care of) and instead today I devoted several hours to the baking of that lemon meringue pie for next week at work. With any luck it will survive until I can distribute it to my co-workers.

Tonight, made sure to add those cultural elements referred to yesterday into my notes for the game so hopefully I won't forget them. And they probably won't even come up, like a bunch of the details I added for last session proved surplus to requirements. Better to have them than not and go wanting, tho. In this case I ended up flipping the direction which I'm feeling makes for a more interesting story and marginally trickier decisions.

Working a bit more on The Lost Heart. Managed to turn a creative block into The Artist of the Intersected Flesh, who I'm now quite pleased with, thanks to a bit of pet consultation. >^.^< Now I just need to decide who or why would become a dragon, and which -- like Pathfinder, Starfinder has an inordinately large variety of dragons and for a circumstance like this I feel it may be out of theme to have more than one.

So which dragon will we have, and what is it about this person who drives em to become a great beast of power and accumulation?
aesmael: (haircut)
Much quieter day today. Ventured down to the shops and picked up ingredients to bake a lemon meringue pie - that will be Sunday's task, for the library Xmas afternoon tea next week. The plans I had originally laid for cooking this week grew too much for me to handle with the complication of pie, so with some quick thinking (relatively speaking) I roasted some vegetables and prepared corned beef instead of having to discover access points for previously unused ingredients and the possible improvisation they may have required.

Now winding down for the night I prepare to watch the latest episode of The Good Place with my pet, and life seems not so bad. Earlier, watched a fan-made Sailor Moon movie with a group of friends and suspect I enjoyed it more than the others did. Felt like there was a pleasing sincerity to it despite the bad acting and awful sound construction, and it was almost surely better made than most of the other bad movies we've been watching.

Practised some voice for tomorrow's game and getting a feel for potential creature actions, plus cultural elements in case something entirely outside scenario but within scope of my anticipations happens (for example- well, 'spoilers'). If they reach beyond that, well, I'll just have to stay on my toes.

For the Star Wars campaign, which so far is looking to be titled The Lost Heart, been looking thru Starfinder's Alien Archives for suitable creatures to represent warlords in season 3 and attempting to spin a little story about eir particular corruption and area of concern. Perhaps I better work on places and organisations too, but the latest one is leaning into supporting that direction already. And part of the creation of places and organisations depends on player character group creation anyway, so some but not all will have to wait until this one is ready to gallop off into the night.

So far we have the Lurker on the Reef of Stars, Prince of the Dead Sun, and the Reader of the Lost Archive
aesmael: (pangoself)

=== Monday ===

Maybe yesterday's post should have been split in two, to separate out the game talk from the workplace whining. In follow-up to that, it seems the person I was filling in for on Saturday is currently hospitalised. I won't write out my speculations as to why, but I hope she will soon be in good health.

Latest surly rescue-cat is being sick at the moment. Has apparently been vomiting quite a bit. Checking on occasionally for status but mostly when I'm around is just sleeping and keeping to self. Cat's been named Lilly by family (I tend to say Lillith) and hopefully will feel better soon. And not pass on whatever it is to the other cats, who at least are still avoiding em.

Trying to redirect my energy more into doing what I want (projects and fun activities) and journalling, and less into social media. It's difficult. There is a lot of inertial habit to overcome and the blank moments. Especially the gaps between, when there just isn't enough time for me to work on anything at all big.


=== Sunday ===

This is about the time of night where I start to berate myself for wasting the day and my life. I should remember that my goal for the day was to do something creative, and last night I defined playing + streaming Zork as counting for that purpose. And I managed to do that! - [the recording can be found here ""https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdVQGyphFz8""]. Plus I made a slightly fancy dinner. Anything more complicated than microwaving or sandwich feels like victory there. And I'm writing this, and I played some Go,

So, today has been a good day? Good company and good times with, and accomplished some things that are goals, even if small. Reminding myself of this helps to feel better.

aesmael: (writing things down)
Yesterday was a busy sort of day. In the morning I finally made and attended a dental appointment I had been putting off for most of the year (he wanted to remove my wisdom teeth, but first I was travelling and then I felt overwhelmed by the combination of school and work). Had check-up, revealing no further decay, which pleased me, and a fresh referral for getting my jaw x-rayed to find out what extractions may need to be performed.

Also visited the local shops and picked up ingredients. Some of which I used that evening to make a tasty modified Manhattan Crab Chowder (née Clam) and some of which I hope to use later this week (tomorrow, ideally) to make Strawberry Bread, and Bream with Horseradish and Apple Topping. I still need to secure the bream.

Later in the evening, at my sister's urging, I played Skyrim for a couple of hours. That was a bit exhausting. I created an orc character with the aim of pushing for heavy armour martial sorts of actions, but seem doomed to playing a sneaky sort of character as my natural inclinations draw me to scouting and investigating.
aesmael: (it would have been a scale model)

Had the place to myself for several days around the weekend. At first planned to get some pizza, just because I have been wanting some for a while. Decided to get in some cooking practice instead - not done enough of that for a long while due to various circumstances and have been missing it.

Just repeated a couple of things I'd enjoyed in the past, mostly from what was already available in the fridge. Had French Onion Soup for the first couple of days, very self-satisfied at managing to produce something so delicious.

On Saturday, baked a test run of [http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/dairy-free-gingerbread-men-and-women-people/||gingerbread], plus a pot of pumpkin soup for dinner. I was a bit surprised how quick the gingerbread was to make once I'd got the ingredients together. Both, very delicious and satisfying.

On Sunday everyone was back. Disappointing that, was relatively enjoying having the place to myself. Although as always I take such opportunities as an implicit judgement on my fitness to live by myself. So I kept e.g. the kitchen sink cleaner than it normally is with more people living here.

Still think I might do okay at keeping my own place if it were actually my own place, scaled to myself, and not tending to the upkeep of someone else's life and designs. Pets that I could manage myself, a garden I have built up and shaped myself. For now my life does not hold the prospect of that solitary existence; I will either be here, or move in with chosen family in the future.

Sunday evening I went out for an informal Xmas dinner with the weekend and casual staff at the library, since we weren't invited to the proper one with the permanent staff. Non-Australians may be surprised to learn we went to an Outback Steakhouse - was actually quite tasty, would gladly eat there again.

I feel like I did a good job at playing at being an adult and having a social outing. Can't recall doing that voluntarily before except with people I'm dating, or out of familial obligation. Was mostly fun times.

Since the gingerbread was a test run for proper seasonal baking I made good use of it by pcking in a box and bringing in to work to win co-worker favour. Been quite well-received.

Don't like looking after these dogs. Being barked awake in the early morning is not appreciated.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Today I finally got round to baking the strawberry cheesecake slice I've been planning to make for the past few weeks. Was orignally going to make it Xmas Ever for the family but despite my inquiries about kitchen availability beforehand, plans got reshuffled and various things kept coming up until today. So there it is and now it is made, sitting in the fridge as yet untouched.

Am looking forward to eating some of that. I made it last year as well, but felt like with everything going on it got overlooked that time around (for one thing, it didn't get touched until the morning I left for my own little vacation). Worried the crust may be a bit uneven, but it smells good.

Meanwhile, since reading this article on the meal at the beginning of The Hobbit, with accompanying recipe links, I am wanting to try a week of cooking to culminate in a dinner party of sorts. Am sure it would be more exhausting than triumphant, but it isn't likely to happen either, so I don't need to worry about that.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Made food today. It did take a long time, with many relative travails. Slightly incorrect ingredients (the wrong fish), accidentally used all the prawns instead of half, when other half was intended to be used by others for cooking. Lots of mess made, and the sause refused to thicken.

And yet... it turned out to be a rather tasty dinner. Hoki instead of whiting, shrimp paste and sauce, couple of vegetable sides. Enjoyable to eat despite many, many misgivings. But I'm not making it again.  There would be photos if I hadn't lost my camera, and that's a shame.

Despite how long it takes me and the mess needing cleaning, it does feel good to be making food again.

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Disappointed in myself at the toy library this morning. Most of the toys I cleaned ended up going in the storeroom as incomplete, and I wonder if I should have been bolder about renumbering parts to fit them. Felt like I could have done a better job with more time, but an extra half hour or so would have made little difference. Actually, I think most of those toys would have needed more work than I could have provided in the time before I had to be at the charity shop. So I suppose I am feeling bad about factors largely but not entirely beyond my control.

I would really like to be able to do more.

Worked the register again most of the day at the charity shop. Very nervous prior to having any customers, but forgot about that once got going. Went mostly well, I suppose. On Monday I had an appointment with my case manager and could have requested she find somewhere else for me, but didn't since the charity shop has picked up for me of late. This probably coincides with not seeing the other volunteers in a week or two. Fewer other people on staff means more for me to do which means I spend less time being bored.

I bought a gift from the charity shop for my sister, who is moving interstate in the next few months. Another copy of the household cookbook I have been working from, in rather better condition. She seemed quite appreciative, which was a pleasant surprise. I had been worried she would not want it. Also bought a few cookbooks for myself, as I had been wanting to start a collection of my own and these were significantly cheaper than the new ones I'd had my eyes on. I assume I will buy those eventually, when I am in a better financial position, but this alleviates the tension between considering a cookbook of mine as progress in life and more urgent financial needs. The books were Worldwide Cookbook, The Australian Heritage Cookbook, and Australia's Favourite Recipes.

Am looking forward to getting to try those out, and hopefully learning lots.

aesmael: (haircut)
Having been six months since my last photo post, we continue with something from just four days after the last one.

Since I had been cooking lately, my mother asked me to make something from a recipe. I no longer remember what it was called, but here are some photos of it in progress and finished.

cuts are for hiding pictures behind )

I think it came out tastily, but very sweet.
aesmael: (haircut)
The next recipe on the list was called scotch broth. Much more ingredient-heavy and decidedly not vegetarian. I liked how it turned out a lot and felt a definite improvement in my general soup-making awareness from the process. Would like to make that and french onion soup again sometime.

3 images, the last especially blurred )
aesmael: (haircut)
I enjoying making tasty food for people, so last year when I started qualifying for unemployment benefits I decided to use the extra money and the big household recipe book to get some systematic practice in.

What I decided to do was to start at the beginning of the book and as far as possible make each recipe in order. I figured by doing so I would improve my understanding of how cooking works in general and build up a base for myself of things I can prepare and eat for daily living.

I did skip the initial chapter on appetisers, so started at the second chapter, on soups. The first was french onion soup, which was surprisingly delicious considering I often avoid onions. I was a bit miffed that when my sister was persuaded to try some later she decided it needed more substance so dumped lumped lumps of vegetables into the pot like unwanted islands. Don't mind people adding their own seasonings after they've tasted it - currently I only spice and flavour as recipes direct, not 'to taste' since I am trying to learn still what my taste is - but if you are going to take the pot of food I've cooked and add your own ingredients and make it into something else... just don't.

Found: one pair photos, onion soup )
aesmael: (tricicat)
I have been finding I enjoy cooking... but not for only myself. Would much rather prepare something to share with friends and loved ones.

Been wondering, too, if I might reverse engineer some of the package food my family buys (they do plenty from pieces too, but that is already in pieces). Still far from a habit of mine, the preparation of food.
aesmael: (it would have been a scale model)
Beware of the cake )

    Also, which I forgot to mention in my previous entry, I have noticed a few promised postings of stories have been missed. Specifically Elegant Girl but probably others. Sometimes from forgetfulness and sometimes from not finishing when I expected to.
    Well, regardless of whether anyone noticed, I apologise for my laxness. To solve this problem, I intend not to post such announcements in the future. Stories will go up when I feel they are ready to. Although I will probably still express hopes about when they will be ready.
aesmael: (tricicat)
    Actually, for our last class tomorrow some of the other students thought it would be a good idea for us to have an informal party and have each of us bring some food from our background. Since I am not familiar with with any English or Scottish food that I would think appropriate or want to cook I decided to go with something invented in colonial Australia (even though I have no idea if any of my ancestors were living here at the time. So, today I will be baking lamingtons.
    They have the advantage of being easy too. Small rectangular prisms of sponge cake, coated in chocolate icing and coconut.

    Yesterday I disappointed myself with my writing. I did write 85 words of Discourteous Joe but allowed myself to be distracted and so did not write all of what I had in mind. It was however the first time I recall going back on something I was in the process of writing and altering earlier parts of the text. So that is (probably) good.
    Since I let myself get too tired to do everything I wanted to do with Discourteous Joe last night I finished with 113 words of my sekrit projekt, which I am tempted to name but won't because I feel like being stubborn about it. It is exciting again, which is good because I was experiencing a lull for about a week there and wondering if I should drop it. I still do not know if I will be able to maintain the necessary pace for it, but I certainly am going to try.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meterZokutou word meter
595 / 9,300
(6.0%)

    Still have not managed to meet my daily target once yet. Right now I am averaging about half of it. We shall see how that goes - my plan to focus on the monthly target as more important and treat the daily goals as averages to aim for but not fuss over seems to be working, as I am less anxious now about not writing enough words each day.
    So long as I manage in the end, that will be okay. And if I do not make it this month, I will set myself the same target next month, and again until I can. No more getting disheartened and dropping out for months at a time; so long as I am writing I am writing, target met or not.

    Word count is not always the best measure of progress anyway. Often I find the best way to improve a scene is to take out as many words as I can.

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aesmael

May 2022

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