#desert bus for hope 2024

[wooshofficial]

The Desert Bus announcement is up! I can’t tell you the set list, obviously, but I CAN tell you what we’ve been up to:

Giving effigies to our favorite places

Asking the question that looms over us

Breaking ourselves down

Staring at where the sun used to be

Guiding people home

This is gonna be great show. We’ve been working on it since January, and it has taken a lot of blood, sweat, tears and effort to get it done, so your support would be greatly appreciated- bring your friends! Bring your families! Bring your pets, but watch out!

See you there :)

[cyclesprefectpress]

[image description: photos of a Breath of the Wild-themed hanafuda card deck, art rendered with hand-drawn inks and colors printed letterpress from linoleum blocks. hanafuda are a Japanese style of playing cards where the faces only use imagery, with no pips, ranks, or point values printed. there are 12 suits of 4 cards each, 48 total. in the classic deck design, suits are unified by particular flowers or plants; in this version the unifying elements for each suit are plants, creatures, or items from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. suits of horses, Guardians, koroks, dragons, ex. there are also photos of the small linocuts used to print each color, one cut for every color on each card. cards are about 1 3/8 inch by 2 1/8 inch. end description.]

🎊🎊 tadaaaaa 🎊🎊 here tis, my craftalong project for Desert Bus for Hope 2024! the event starts Nov. 8th this year, and this card deck is up for silent auction starting 6pm PST on Saturday the 9th.

hanafuda!! very very fun to get familiar with this card deck and its games. i think about doing other formats of card deck all the time and always just have to wait for a subject matter that compels me to intersect with a structure that interests me. nintendo started out producing card decks, and maybe they have made LoZ hanafuda in the past—i didn't find one but i'm truly bad at web research—anyway there isn't one available now, only a 52-card deck with alternate Zelda art.

i limited the scope to BotW for lots of reasons, big one being keeping the suits tightly defined to specific things and places, & utilizing one singular map type/environment interface. even adding TotK seemed like a nightmare for keeping suit assignments tidy. each place is a specific location in-game (with some adjustments for better composition, like, Akkala tower is there behind Foothill Stable, but i made the angles of the view cleaner), and wherever applicable, items rendered with surrounding context are done as a specific location where that item appears in-game (the sword in the rock is a real place, where you can pick up a rusty sword and see the Great Plateau Tower beyond). i'll admit to some extra heavy lifting on Satori Mountain but i only actually cheated once: Silent Princess flowers don't grow at the Springs around the statues of Hylia. but that's it!! everything else is real.

the Brights are the Master Sword, Hyrule Castle, the Blood Moon, Hylia, and the Dragons; tanzaku are shrines and towers; instead of Boar-Deer-Butterfly it's Rudania-Naboris-Medoh; instead of sakura-viewing and moon-viewing parties there are…………oh no and oh NO parties?? (guardian stalker + hyrule castle, stalker + blood moon.) in these photos, the suits are laid out in order, January to December. I made a little guide to go in the box based on the one for Nintendo's Mario Hanafuda, which also includes instructions for playing Koi-Koi.

8 colors, 88 blocks, +1 very simple reduction cut for the Sheikah eye on the back side. the classic deck is completely blank on the back, but if i hadn't done the eye i think the deck would've been missing some kind of unifying umbrella. and if you're asking yourself, hey, even with overage it’s only 5 copies of each card, why not hand color the cards? i also asked this. i tried some things and unfortunately did not like the texture at all. Only 88 little lino cuts would do for my brain worms. each card is two layers of 120# cover cross-laminated together. the drawings went down first on each copy; the back sides were printed on separate sheets before lamination. laminated, pressed, colors printed post-lamination, then each card die cut out of the 3x3 inch sheet. i very much like the color palate that came out of it; since the pen drawings went down before colors i printed the grey first to find the bottom end of the value range, bookended it with the yellow, and filled in the middle. my favorite color of the bunch turns out to be the soft brown, or maybe the "gold" with no metallic in it.

i would say this card deck was about as much work as last year's tarot deck but it wasn't all the same kind of work—i didn't have to trawl through a novel of text for excerpts and battle feelings of intellectual inadequacy to have confidence in my reading comprehension, for instance. i had to learn how to draw, like, 20 things i hadn't drawn before, and carve 88 little lino cuts, but it's just not the same kind of effort. long hours, but largely calmer. the tiny but thicc little cards are so nice to hold. i am quite happy with the style of the illustrations i found, trying to make them recognizable objects, so small, and two-color. all in all very satisfying!! (confession: i logged quite a bit of footage from my own BotW playthrough to get reference material but i still haven't actually finished Medoh myself. or fought Ganon. i keep putting it off to mess around and get armor upgrades instead. gotta get to that finally.)

wip

under the cut: the body of the little game guide that went in the box, with instructions for Koi-Koi and explainers on the yaku.

[supervisionrequired]

The GAIA Subroutines quilt that I posted a while back is being auctioned to benefit Child's Play as part of Desert Bus for Hope 2024! I'm super excited to be part of one of my favorite events of the year, and to help raise money For The Children™.

If you want to own this quilt, you can - if you make the winning bid, of course! The auction listing is here. To bid, go to desertbus.org and sign up for a donor account, then go back to the page on Saturday, November 9, between 6pm and 2am PST and enter your bid!

Go check out the rest of Desert Bus while you're there - there's lots of other prizes as well, both auctions and giveaways, for a variety of fandoms - and it's a ton of fun to watch even if you can't afford to donate.

[xt1me]

Desert Bus For Hope 2024

I should post this before this years Desert Bus ends.

[knittinginbinary]

Second day in the new studio! It's pretty nice and I was spent the entire time relistening to Wizard Seeking Wizard.

I have two mugs that need to harden a bit more before I can finish smoothing out their rough edges and a few other weird shapes that will turn into my third attempt at a dice tower. This one is tree themed and I'm making sure this time that dice will fit.

I forgot my glow-in-the-dark glaze again and bucket for recycling clay. I won't be able to test the glaze until my first firing anyway, but it's nice to be able to store things on my shelf at the studio.

In progress photos are always weird, but I'm just glad to be working regularly again, even if my dog misses me.

[strikefourth]

THE GARAGES SIGN OFF @ DESERT BUS FOR HOPE 2024

Wednesday, November 13th, 1/4/9pm PST/EST/GMT

pre-orders available now. see you at the show!

[goeswiththeflo]

Elusive Otter rides Desert Bus for Hope

The Desert Bus for Hope fundraiser 2024 has started!! We are raising money for Childs Play Charity (dedicated to improving the lives of children undergoing treatment in the hospital with toys and games. The charity supports a network of over 180 hospitals worldwide)

I'm so delighted to share that I was selected to be one of the crafters for the giveaways this year.

I was inspired by @elbenherzart 's amazing Magic: The Gathering card art for the "Elusive Otter" from the Wilds of Eldraine set (collector# 0225)

and adapted Sara Elizabeth Kellner's River Otter pattern to create this cutie:

The Elusive Otter is ready to run unblocked into your arms, or provide some support (and +1/+1 counters!) to your team. You can bring him home by joining in the giveaway on Sunday! It will happen sometime between Sunday Nov 10, 10:00PM to Monday November 11, 04:00AM HAWAII Standard Time (please adjust for you time zone)

Join in the comedy and laughter and fundraising at the Desert Bus twitch stream: https://www.twitch.tv/desertbus

Learn more about the fundraiser: https://desertbus.org/2024/info/about

See the prize listing: https://desertbus.org/2024/prize/CRWGPPLHNJQN

Please share and help this little friend find a good home!

[pennzance]

For anyone who needs some hope, please check out Desert Bus For Hope, starting up today over at

I'm not a part of this effort, but the team that puts this wonderful charity event on every year works their asses off and raises a whole bunch of money for Child's Play. It is legitimately one of the most heartwarming, wonderful things the internet produces and I implore you, especially in these soon to be even more trying times, to watch, maybe laugh, maybe even help out a little bit and put some good back into the world.

Thanks for your time.

[tiellaekitsune]

It's that time of year again!

Starting at 3PM PST (2300 GMT), Desert Bus for Hope rides again, raising money for Childs Play Charity.

It's a week of fun, positive vibes, being happy and generally having a good time. Come along to where it's streamed!

Things to remember for the year:

The run will carry on while you sleep, so make sure you do those selfcare things!

The VST puts up clips of the funny moments onto the youtube - enjoyment far after the end of the run!

Don't forget to eat and drink!

Sign up for/update your donor account on the website! Without a donor account you are not eligible for giveaways or auctions!

Be good to yourselves and each other!

And finally, enjoy it and have a good year!

[trialbystory]

I will write for *you* (if you donate a small amount to Child's Play)!

This is something I've been thinking about for...seven months now? This Friday marks the start of Desert Bus For Hope 2024. I like Desert Bus, and I'd like to encourage other folks to get involved. So if you'd like me to put my slightly-above-mediocre writing abilities to work on a scenario of your choice, here's what I'm asking you to do: 1. Go to DesertBus.org and register a Donor Account by clicking the Sign Up link in the upper-right corner (If you are privacy conscious, I can confirm that for the last 12 years they've had my info they've done nothing with it unless I win something).

2. At some point before the end of this year's run (which is likely to be sometime on Firday, November 15th), while logged in to your Donor Account from step 1, click the big green donate button (on desktop) or the Donate link at the top of the side menu (on mobile) and make a donation of $5(USD) or more. (This money goes directly to Child's Play, Desert Bus never actually touches it, they just track who donates through their link. Though that wasn't the case the first year, as they explained in 2017)

3. After the donation goes through, pull up your donation history by mousing over/tapping your username in the upper-right, then selecting Donations from the dropdown menu.

That page will show your donation history, so take a screenshot and send it to me either here on tumblr or (if it's really what you prefer) Twitter where you'll find me as TrialByStory. And if you're a Mastodon type you can instead 'Privately Mention' me on the Fediverse as trialByStory@Kind.Social. Also tell me what kind of thing you'd like me to write.

3.5. There may some back and forth as I clarify and/or gather my thoughts.

4. I will write the thing and give you a heads up when it's posted! Some final notes, these stories are likely to be on the short side. Somewhere between outright flashfiction and the average chapter length for SoC, unless something really yanks me in.

Also, I'm going to be limiting this to one story per person *for now*. That may change sometime during the run.

Finally (and this is not a requirement), I encourage you to poke around the Desert Bus website and hang out in chat once the run officially starts. I'll be there A LOT, mostly lurking but sometimes I chime in with stuff. And take a look through the prize lists to see if anything catches your eye. If you donate for a giveaway, that can count for this whole thing to make me write for you, so why not double dip if something catches your eye? That goes for winning an auction too, but be forewarned that both Live and Silent auctions at Desert Bus tend to go for multiple thousands of dollars, so please bid responsibly.

[pb-dot]

Hello Tumblr. I'm on a bit of a mental health hiatus from this place right now, at least until I can trust myself to not post something that'd get me on a Secret Service watchlist of some sort. I'm breaking radio silence to shout out one of my favorite charities. It's time for Desert Bus 2024!

For the uninitiated, Desert Bus For Hope is a charity digithon running for 120+ hours of playing the most boring game in the world. As they drive across a digital desert between Tuscon and Las Vegas, the wonderful nerds at Loading Ready Run (and friends) do improv, build lego, chat about everything and nothing, and come up with the most brilliantly deranged Bits. Shoutout to Coffee Pong!

[iviarelleblr]

I've spent the last week watching a number go up and cheering and helping to document shenanigans and edit clips. Desert Bus for Hope 2024 raised over $1.25 MILLION US dollars for the Child's Play Charity, and I was a small part of that incredible team. I'm still gonna be processing that for a few days, I think.

When I finally got to sleep last night, I crashed like a cat. I slept in almost an hour past my usual wake time, until two minutes before my lamp timer turned on. I can now feel every bit of bad posture and poor grip from the last week. Note to self: next year do more letting go of the mouse between clip edits. Owie.

Still, it was all worth it to be part of something so magical, so hopeful, so damned human. Find a group doing something you care about, ask what openings they have for help, find something you can get out and DO for your neighborhood, your community, your world. There really is no feeling like it, and nothing that can restore your faith in the power of us mere humans to get things done, than getting out and doing.

[danpuff-ao3]

With Snarry AUctober fest wrapping up, with plenty of wonderful new creations, I decided to throw together a rec list of my Top 5 favorites (like I did with my Thon recs) to get you started. I plan to go through past years of AUctober fest to do this, too.

Synthesis

by armassy. Harry/Severus. Rated: E. Words: 11,280. Muggle AU. College/university. Enemies to friends to lovers.

Severus is a brilliant but hard-to-work-with chemistry professor, who only teaches because he has to but would much rather spend all his time doing research. Harry is the grad student that either Albus or Minerva - the head of the chemistry department on paper, even though everyone knows Severus always gets what he wants - has assigned to essentially follow Severus around and tell him “no” when he’s being unreasonable. Harry is tasked with keeping Severus on budget and preventing all his students from quitting his class. Severus takes this as a personal affront.

After Spinner's End

by enoby_w. Harry/Severus. Rated: M. Words: 4,222. Paranormal. Pining. Angst. Happy ending.

When Harry left his aunt and uncle's he hadn't meant to end up in Cokeworth. But he'd fallen asleep on the bus; it was late, and now he needed somewhere to stay until morning. While the crooked, empty house on the corner looked like it would do just fine in a pinch, had Harry bothered to ask, the locals would have told him the house at Spinner's End might look empty, but it wasn't. Something lived there; whatever it was, it was best left alone.

Conditions to Bloom

by LoveCrumb. Harry/Severus. Rated: T. Words: 9,865. Mutual pining. Fluff and angst. Muggle AU.

Severus lets his gaze fall to the sagging aloe plant in front of him, and it hardly takes a cursory glance before he has his diagnosis. “Root rot,” he says. The man’s eyebrows shoot up on his forehead. “But how do you–I’ve hardly been watering it at all!” Supporting a drooping leaf with the tip of his pen, Severus eyes the unnatural lean of the stem and gives the customer a disbelieving raise of one eyebrow. Prompt 2024-11: Severus is a plant doctor who takes in people’s sick plants and nurses them back to health. Harry is a well-meaning plant dad whose poor plants are constantly on death’s door.

Mating for Life - Breeding Season in the Highlands of Scotland

by sillybeans. Harry/Severus. Rated: E. Words: 3,332. POV Dudley Dursley. A/B/O. Alpha Severus. Omega Harry. Crack.

“Among the ruins of an ancient castle in the Highlands of Scotland lives a human species like no other.“ Dudley watches a very educational documentary out of boredom.

Flutter

by SquibNation10. Harry/Severus. Rated: E. Words: 30,286. Muggle AU. Curses. Birds. Angst. Hopeful. Grief & trauma.

He said uselessly, "Sev, don't go." "I'm s-sorry-" Harry cupped Severus' face and gazed into his eyes. His eyes were dark brown, almost black, sad, raven, mine. "These stay the same," Severus said. "Remember that when you look at me. Remember, it's me.” Flutter does my heart, When you ask me to stay. I want to live in the moment But the past keeps me a prey. Prompt # 2024-76 Prompt: AU - Apartment Life Harry's been warned to steer clear of the 24th floor. Curiosity got the better of him and Harry checks it out. Its deserted except for apartment 2444. Harry notices signs of life—a faint light under the door, soft sounds of movement.

~ Bonus: Self Rec ~

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

fem!Harry/fem!Severus (Hyacinth/Sulpicia). Rated: E. Words: 11,875. Hanahaki disease. Curse-breaking. Language of flowers. Magical theory. Minor Hyacinth/Ginny.

There's an outbreak of Hanahaki, and Curse Breaker Hyacinth Potter is brought onto the case, to work closely with the Aurors and Unspeakable Sulpicia Snape. Snape doesn't have a romantic bone in her body, and Hyacinth is happily in love with Ginny Weasley. They have nothing to worry about...right?

[supervisionrequired]

Latest quilt: GAIA & her subroutines, from Horizon Zero Dawn/Horizon Forbidden West. A combination of paper piecing (the subfunctions) and traditional piecing (the rest of the quilt), with a little embroidery (the label on the back) thrown in.

I made this one for the Desert Bus for Hope 2024 craftalong! So excited to be able to participate this year.

[xt1me]

I posted an animated gif for the 2024 Desert Bus For Hope yesterday and I posted one for 2023's last year but I just realised I never posted a yearless one.

I don't think I've seen a gif of the logo anywhere so if anyone wants one they can use this.

[behind-the-veil-of-sanity]

I’ve never kept a diary, but I guess if I had, the entry for today would run something like this… September 5, 2024. It is summer again. Did summer actually ever leave? 21C and not a cloud in sight (teeny fib, the late afternoon turned hazy, but still warm). Shorts and T-shirt. Short socks in sneakers :D No response from real estate agent on web query. Wrote direct email re next possible viewing. Yay, a fast response! Viewing planned for today. In two hours time… find bus route and get there on time. Arrived on time, no agent in sight. Wait. Wait. Ah, eff it, I take a stroll around the property to get my bearings and make use of MY TIME! Apple trees, red and blackcurrant bushes. Nice. Pick up Newtonian apple (allowed!). Take a bite. Soft… pick a few red and blacks (don’t tell!). WHERE IS THE EFFIN AGENT??????? call agent. Auto response: can’t talk right now. What? Text agent: where are you, I’m here!!!! Out of town? Misunderstanding? Oh. Well yeah you didn’t spell that word right did you, but I also did not read that word properly. Next week you say. Okay. Fuck. (sneaks off the property hoping no one saw me). Now what? Stroll down the high street. Check out the local shops and dining places. Quaint, my final verdict of this village. Check bus time table, last bus an hour away. Hungry. Take aim at the local pizza place. 45 minutes later I roll out of the pizza place, one calzone and a beer lining my stomach. Buy orange fizz for desert (why? There wasn’t any coke!). Take last bus back home. Same driver as before. He recognised me… Get off bus, walk for 30 mins to get home, plus stopping off at the local grocery store. Note to self: always bring two bags for groceries. One bag makes life just so much harder. Arrived home. Sweating like a roasting pig. Huffing. Puffing. Watch warns me my pulse is too high for a sedentary position. Fuck #2. Feel stuffed two hours after pizza. Too much mozzarella I reckon. Also, too little tomato sauce. TV time. Watch TV. Time passes. The sun sets. Nice. Takes photo and posts to tumblr. TV. TV. Bang. Darkness. Power gone. Look out the window and realise the whole neighbourhood is dark. Get candles. Light candles. Get phone. Wait for cell service to be restored. Check power company website. Planned work? Power restored in 6 hours! The text to mum contains too many expletives to mention, but how the fuck can EON (electricity company) be allowed to run planned maintenance without telling their customers. Getting annoyed. Write complaint email to EON using even more colourful language. Press send. Feel no remorse. Fuck. (#3) I was supposed to enlist in the next uni course today. Today. The last day. But the power is off… I can access the computer with all the docs. Fuck (#3 still echoing in my head). Get phone out. 30% battery left. Might just work… Log on to Uni. Select course. Enlist. Proceed. Sorry? What? The online system can’t determine how much I’m supposed to pay cuz I’ve moved… BUT I DONT NEED TO PAY TODAY!!!!!! Contact Uni using web form. Write long explanations but try to ignore the frustration from the power fucking company idiot still bouncing in my head. Press send. Get automated reply immediately. Okay, that seemed to have gone to the wrong department. Try again. Contact student support. Sigh. Repeat the same info, adding a few extras and further queries. Press send. Fuck it. Walk to fridge. Open door. Get beer. Drink beer. Sigh. Gawd, I just feel the urge to whinge, into the void where no one can hear me. Huh, I know — Tumblr.