#huzzah for recycling

[lil-gremlin-gal]

NaClYoHo Days 17, 18, & 19

The 17th was a busy day for me. I had energy and wanted to make sure I used it while I could, so I:

gave the new cast iron pan another oven seasoning session

cleaned the microwave for the first time in forever

found some cans of paint from the previous owner of the apartment and started a paint cupboard so that our tremclad spray paint could live with its cousins

finally took clothing consignments to Plato's Closet, and

took dead appliances from the kitchen crazy cabinet and an exploded can of spray insulation to the recycling depot

Of course expending any amount of energy will result in what I call 'reckoning days', where my symptoms all surge and leave me feeling tired, crappy, and struggling to function at my usual level. After going out 2 days in a row and doing a lot of salty pirate tasks last week, the weekend took me down a peg.

My big accomplishment on the 18th was being able to unload and reload the dishwasher. It's not a lot, but I wasn't able to do that just a few weeks ago, so I am really, really grateful that I was able to make clean dishes on a reckoning day.

The 19th was similar: dishes, changed the sheets on the bed, and managed to fold towels. I managed to stay awake all day and perked up a little in the evening enough to finish making rainbow tassels for my NaClYoHo craft project. :)

On the list today is to handwash dishes, deep clean some old birdcages and a piece of furniture I need to sell, fold some laundry, and get as much rest as I can. I finally got my doctor's approval to get my COVID and flu vaccines, so that will happen this Wednesday and I need to rest up in advance.

[here1snyan]

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲, 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗸𝗶𝗻.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰?

Consider this a follow-up to the comic! One of the scrapped ideas for the final panel was Garroth and Zane fighting in the Irene Dimention, but I figured it was too *intense* for a final panel, but I recycled the idea for this instead! Huzzah!

[fandom-hoarder]

It's not about what Misha said, really. It's not about a celebrity commenting on something they have no reason to comment on -- any citizen or person living under U.S. law has a right to air out their opinion, just for starters. And much as I prefer to keep appearance attacks out of politics, Trump IS orange, and it IS a choice -- you can see the line on his face/neck. Actually if he can't get his foundation shade in prison he might have to be pasty for awhile, but lbr that mofo ain't going to prison.

So it's not about Misha having an opinion. It IS a little bit that that joke has already been done by Stephen Colbert and the other talk show comedians YEARS ago, but recycled quips are not what makes it cringe. No, it's about the way this too is Misha pandering. It's about how he always has to say something about a trending topic so his followers know he still fits their purity parameters. Not only is he political, but he has Correct Opinions which align with theirs! Huzzah!! Give him love and attention and hashtags while you're talking about political news he isn't even involved in.

Cheap. Embarrassing, even. He wants to be politically relevant so badly, but all he can do is drag the chain of his minions around in a constant circle like a dog staked in the yard.

[bacchicly]

Recycling and Garbage out. Coffee made for the morning. No cats escaped. Huzzah.

[themaresnest-dumblr]

Final ‘Stranger Things’ Binge Watch Post - Season Four Done

What was the best part of season four of Stranger Things ?

Siouxsie and the Banshees’ ‘Spellbound’ at the end credits.

And if you ever wanted a metaphor of what an unwieldy over the top mess this last season was for the show, this was it ... 1986, the year Siouxsie and the Banshees’ ‘’Cities In Dust’ became their first significant US chart success ... and they didn’t even think of playing that instead as the cast watched the smouldering ruins of their home town belch plumes of volcanicesque smoke into the sky.

The 1986 spring break from hell season of Stranger Things not merely recycled the same old villains but the same plots.

With Will Byers trying to look so much like Daniel Radcliffe in the final Harry Potter movies so much it hurt, how ironically apt that in true Harry Potter fashion where everything is ultimately Voldemort, everything in Stranger Things is ultimately Big Vulva Into Evil Spooky World Of Bad Stuff opened by Evil Scientists in Government Conspiracy. Again.

Eleven - never the sharpest blade in the box, goes back to the Evil Scientists to regain her powers to beat The Big Bad. Big surprise, they double cross her and try to make her their forever lab rat again. Fancy that. Guys with no qualms about experiments on kids that put them into cardiacarrest, electrocuting them if they don’t behave, etc. can’t be trusted to keep their word. Whodathunkedit?

Meanwhile the Meddling Kids play the March On The Black Gates Of Mordor Diversion Gambit. Second Captain Obvious Plot Twist, the Big Bad’s knows what they’re up to and outflanks them. Duh duh duuuuh.

One mind numbingly elongated Perils Of Penelope Pitstop scene masquerading as complex villainous motivation explanation later, and the entire cast has died of old age waiting for their Impending Doom.

Well they should have.

Instead they kick his ass. Again. Huzzah - tea and muffins all round, chaps!

Inbetweem, there’s a bounty of ‘and let’s see who the fake phantom behind the mask really is, Scooby.’ moments interspaced with a thin veneer of the culture war against Dungeons & Dragons (largely the result of D&D creator’s Gary Gygax law court feud with Christian conspiracy theorists - Gygax’s viral attack against “those people who are looking desperately for any other cause than their own failures as a parent.” remains frightfully relevant ...).

An entertaining enough romp for the easily pleased or those who’d just like to f**k particular cast members, tortuous plot hole ridden drivel to the rest of us

... evil Dr Brenner returning inexplicably from the dead yet again

...Hooper breaking his own ankle to slip off his chains, then it miraculously reheals the next episode

... Max, Steve, Robin, Nancy and Eleven all manage to survive being choked for ten solid minutes without getting so much as purple faces, which means either they’re the toughest breathplay pervs on the planet ...

... or Stranger Things cares only for dramatic moment after dramatic moment for their own sake, and couldn’t give a toss about stretching credulity past multiple breaking points.

Which may explain why they stretch matters throughout the series out to quite ludicrous lengths. The Hooded Claw was quicker in his attempts to displace Penelope Pitstop than The Master from Buffy The Vampire Slayer clone Vecna was with Max in the big finale - a mere near two and a half hours of three quarters of a hour’s worth of actual story.

Thereby lies the irony - Stranger Things copies all the tired villain tropes that Buffy mercilessly lampooned and trashed with iconoclaustic glee (at least in the first three series, until it also took itself too seriously), and not merely doubles down on them, but gives you the 12 inch remix, club mix, dub mix, etc.

And ceaseless plugging of that Kate Bush song ... the most inappropriately placed apocalyptic finale battle song ever. They may as well have had ‘Nellie The Elephant’ by the Toy Dolls or something by Barnie The Big Purple Walking Abortion.

Let’s not even start on the whole too silly even for Twin Peaks and Once Upon A Time ‘rescuing Jim from a Soviet evil science lab’ sideplot.

Oh, alright then,***Sigh! ***

Eleven’s fat stepdad is now thin on account of several months in a Gulag Health Resort, having somehow survived the explosion at the end of the last series which atomised everything else in sight, only to be captured by inconveniently instantly appearing Commie bastards, who all somehow manage to get away from the bombcrater where once a mall stood 20 feet above them, without the masses of American emergency services, rubberneckers or media noticing, and return safely to Glorious Soviet Union. At the height of the Cold War. Yes, really.

At this point, the entirity of the Upside Down World - lovingly stolen from Skyrim’s Apocrypha and repainted scary crimson - has become the most realistic part of the show. In some ways, that Kate Bush song was apt - like Kate Bush, Stranger Things’ writers have disappeared up their own arses.

This isn’t up there with Game Of Thrones or any of the other ‘epic TV’ shows it has pretensions towards. It’s not a matter of even having lost its way big time up the maw of its own over-complexities. It’s about being plain old common or garden daft and expectlng the audience to swallow it ‘just because’.

As for the cast, Robin undergoes a ludicrous character change and abruptly turns into an annoy yappy dog with the IQ of suet, any reason for Finn Wolfhard has now entirely disappeared (he still can’t act and puberty’s saw him fall from the ugly tree hitting every branch on the way down), and Lucas’ little sister - the Scrappy Doo of the show - still continues to live. Oh, and there’s the token W.A.S.P. bitch, the token crazy Ruskie, and the token latino stoner to piss you off. Eddie the Heavy Metal stereotype gets pass marks.

Will and Mike’s characters have become the leadless pencils of the show - utterly pointless and no conceivable means of sharpening them, whom the writers ought to have had the decency to kill off. Their underdeveloped characters are long passed the point they’ve any road left to run when even Lucas’ little sister now has more flesh to hers.

Thank plumbob for good old Dustin, Eleven, Tungsten Jaw Nancy and Mullet Steve - and a surprisingly strong (and critically underrated) series for Lucas, who doesn’t become the predicable Born Again Jock selling out his ‘uncool’ friends but sees right though his new buds almost from the start and Does The Right Thing to steer them away from the Meddling Kids at almost the cost of his life.

The only other real change between series is the overemphasis on Max - and it’s woefully obvious to see why.

Sadie Sink rolled a good D20 in her Puberty casting after all, and in the three years between seasons 3 and 4 came out hot just as the show’s originally ‘aesthetically pleasing’ draws of Noah Schnapp and Finn Wolfhard came out not. Which is the problem with any show with teens, never knowing which of the little buggers is gonna Matthew ‘Neville Longbottom’ Lewis on you without warning and turn into a Studmuffin.

Having lost their appeal to that target audience, the producers are changing tack and thus emphasis for some more conventional Tinseltown objectification. Remember folks, that spin off merchandise won’t sell itself, you know.

Having finished binge watching Stranger Things in its entirety these last few weeks, have to say it’s less a case of living up to its hype as believing its own hype. While the first two series were good, the last two are a real slog - and the fourth downright ridiculous at times. Can’t honestly say the prospect of that fifth, final series remotely enthralls.

[awkwarddystopianwarlord]

Loving Local Luxuries

I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned how much I enjoy winter markets. But I don’t know if I’ve talked about how much I just love local markets in general. I went to an indigenous artist market with my friends last Saturday and it was just swell! We purchased some stickers, pins, and small art prints. However, the absolute cherry on top were these four masterpieces that we looked at over and over again trying to contemplate which ones to get. They’re these beautiful works of art that me and one friend bought in pairs because we just couldn’t separate them. The silliest thing about this purchase we kept gushing over is that we’re saving them for our future shared house. The house that we have no idea when we’ll even be able to live in, but when we do, our walls are going to look glorious. 

I get so hyped over these things. Whether it’s the artist alley at Fan Expo or a seasonal market, or the multitude of tents at Pride that display goods of all kinds. I feel so warm and fuzzy inside when I support local or small businesses and it’s something I find hard to do in normal everyday life. I feel like I can’t justify paying the higher price for my wants and needs when I could get it all cheaper at large chain stores. And it sucks, it feels icky, but I’m also poor. That said, when there’s a specific event, I can mental gymnastics my way into justifying buying from local folk then. Because this isn’t an everyday thing. I’m not doing this all the time. I have to wait for one of these things to happen and that typically means that I wait months in between. 

It’s so fun to window shop and look at stuff and sometimes buy that stuff. I love to decorate my house with purchases from people who don’t seem like they exploit their staff. I wish I could do this more often, but I’m glad to do it when I can. Back when I lived on the Coast, I went to a farmer’s market with my mum every week for awhile. We also used to go to garage sales every weekend too. And it’s always fascinated me how people can be so crafty and what people decide to sacrifice from their inventory. I need to pick up so many artsy hobbies sometime because I envy these folks so much. I so admire those who can make a wee living from things they make with their own hands. I wish we as a race would calm down with the big business and corporations and shit. How lovely it would be if we could support our economy and way of life on a more personal level. I want to know that my clothes were made by people who are paid living wages and treated well. I want to know that the food I eat comes from the farm six streets down. I want us to focus on quality and artistry over monopolizing the world and building rubbish. 

I keep telling myself that one day I’ll be able to afford to live and have some coin to spare. And I keep in mind all these places that I’ll get my goods from and all these people I want to support. I like to picture my nonexistent cabin decked out in the art I bought from various markets. My closets filled with sustainably made clothing. My kitchen stocked with local produce. I’ve deluded myself that if I can get to that point of stability, then I can single handedly save the world from its fast coming demise. I know in reality I’m just taking a bunch of baby steps rather than the lengthy strides I imagine, but each little step is at least a step to begin with. If getting laundry strips and raising plants and buying from quality businesses and recycling brings me happiness and does a bit of good, then huzzah.

[ego-sum-arbor]

Huzzah! I figured out what to do with Firstname Corbeau, so now she’s out of the oc recycling bin.

[jinxneedssleep]

hey you

hey you should

you should talk about your ocs

tell me things

My main oc was something I recycled from my childhood and have rewritten a bunch of times.

The main premise is still the same: her name is Flora and she is a bird hybrid (Phoenix based specially)

-While definitely being the more adventurous type, she doesn’t like being alone and finds solace in companionship, especially after her hometown was raided by an unknown group of assailants.

Her appearance consist of red hair a similar shade to her wings, and other earthy tones.

She wasn’t made with empires smp in mind, but if I had to guess, I would say that she would vibe with Sanctuary and Animalia the most. Sanctuary because of the lost refugee thing, and Animalia due to her animal heritage.

She actually relates a lot to Mayor Lizzie. After fleeing her hometown, Flora and her childhood friends learned to conceal their features for the sake of survival, much like Lizzie has to do now among the other empires. After masquerading as humans, Flora and her friends took odd jobs; the most prominent being at an orphanage, granting them a place to stay. (The amount of angst I can make with this is tempting)

Ironically, Flora can’t remember her friends faces. She remembers their names, silhouettes, memories together, but ..somethings missing. She doesn’t even know where they are. It’s hard to look for someone when you don’t know exactly what you’re supposed to be looking for. This is something that happens concerning the new people she meets: however, it’s never that bad. It’s something she has to remind herself to work on.

Also, I never realized how unintentionally lesbian-coded I made her when I was younger. I have since grown older and queerer,so huzzah! The bird is gay now! Diversity win! /lh

[rpepperpotshipssciencebros]

NaClYoHo Day 9 - plus Day 8 update

Well, I did indeed get the dishes washed & the counter wiped yesterday, huzzah huzzah. But today is a new day, and of course there are again dishes to be washed. Le sigh. Will do them in about a half hour.

Yesterday's laundry did NOT get finished, because the dryer has decided that "extremely damp" is the best it can do, even after three cycles. So I've still got two loads waiting to be dried. At least they are out in the cold garage; less chance of them getting yucky and having to be rewashed.

Today's progress:

Extension cords from Halloween have been boxed up and taken to the storage unit.

Halloween lights have also been boxed up, but there's space for more items so that is unfortunately still in the living room for now.

Large bar light & big ol' roll of stretch wrap are back in the storage unit

Bathroom countertop cleared off & wiped down

The shampoo bottles that were all over the edge of the tub have been gathered & put in the holder where they belong

Two armfuls of prop-making debris have gone into the trash, and a large cardboard box that was too damaged to continue using is in the recycle bin. Trash can is down at the curb now for tomorrow's pick-up

Might go through the pile of boxes, tools, and PVC that's in front of the small aquarium, but don't count on it. Have been feeling anxious all day and just don't want to deal with anything. Thank goodness there's both stew and pasta in the fridge, which means I don't have to cook dinner.

[unicyclehippo]

‘Okay Khan - time for a test. No you can stay sitting, we’re a bit fun like that,’ Harkness said with what he thought was probably rakish but made him look the slightest bit drunk. He might have been, actually; they were at the bar and he was on his second drink, though he had been here before she arrived and could have had more. Was this what Doctor Greene meant when she said she spent more time analysing a situation than being in it? ‘This!’ He held up a blue coaster in his hand triumphantly, like it wasn’t made of cheap recycled paper and like it wasn’t already ringed with the sweat from someone’s beer. ‘This is the Testing Coaster.’

‘Huzzah to the Testing Coaster,’ everyone intoned, raising their drinks to it. Even Lorne, who didn’t make jokes.

What? Yaz mouthed to Bill, who just grinned and shrugged.

‘We pass the Testing Coaster-‘

‘Huzzah!’

‘Alright you lot, knock it off,’ Harkness grumbled. ‘We pass the Testing Coaster -‘

‘Huzzah!’ None of them knocked it off. Even Yaz raised her glass this time.

Harkness pressed on. ‘Whoever has it gets to ask the one, the only, the newbie with a heart of Sheffield Steel, a question! Work related,’ he added quickly, obviously seeing her eyes widen. ‘To see how much you’ve learned over your first couple of weeks.’

Yaz blinked. Had it already been a fortnight? It felt like no time at all had passed since she had walked through those doors, and heard Tyler talk about the fact that actually, magic was real and she was going to be doing something much stranger with her time than she had first thought. She smiled.

‘What do I get when I get them all right, Captain?’

He smiled back. ‘You get the honour of calling me Jack.’

‘I’m not sure I want that particular honour,’ she shot back before remembering who he was—her superior—and who they were surrounded by—literally everyone from work—but before she could stammer through more than two words of her apology, he threw his head back and laughed.

‘Yowch! Sharp as a tack, Khan!’

‘You deserved that one, Jack.’ Tyler sidled up to his side, slung an arm around his waist in a casual move immediately returned. ‘If you get them all right, you’re off probation. And you get a shiny nameplate for your desk.’

‘And you get to choose your partner from the pool,’ Harkness added.

‘Bill,’ Yaz said immediately. Her probationary partner blinked. ‘If that’s alright with you, I mean.’

Bill laughed, though it came out less jolly and more…touched, Yaz supposed. ‘Better get ‘em all right then, Sheffield. I’m a hot commodity.’

‘You’re alright,’ she shrugged.

‘Don’t bother! We all know you’re a softie now. Already fond of your partner,’ Bill teased, and there was a echo of quiet laughter around Yaz. None of it unkind. Everywhere she looked, she saw only friendly eyes, if curious, and smiles.

[eponymous-rose]

Good stuff from today!

1. Amazing orientation session for this leadership thing I’m helping to run. All the participants and the planning committee were on the call, so we just got to know each other and talked expectations for the next three months of the program. This is the program’s third year (I was in the inaugural class and have been on the planning committee ever since), so I think we’re finally coming into our own in terms of really attracting just an astonishing group of 20 people. And I’m not just saying that because one of my best friends in the world got selected... but that certainly helps. ;) Much to my surprise, I took the initiative completely unasked-for and summarized some of the points that were made, then sent it to the group. Is... is this what enthusiasm for a management project feels like? It’s been a while, man.

2. I’ve started exercising again, beyond just my physical therapy! Just some basic bodyweight strength-building stuff, but it feels good to be trying to gain some muscle for the first time since the surgery.

3. Finally got around to calling the city to track down my mysteriously missing recycle bin. They had no idea what happened, but the very pleasant person on the phone immediately ordered a new one, which should arrive within the week. Huzzah!

4. We’re finally wrapping up a long hiring process tomorrow (interviews alone ate up about 20 hours of the past three weeks for me, and I’m not even on the search committee!), and the search committee and graduate students submitted their reports to the faculty. Was super pleased that everyone’s top choices aligned generally with mine---the two candidates I was less enthusiastic about got all but dismissed, and my secret favorite (favorite because she’d be great fun to collaborate with for my specific research interests, secret because she’s less of a good match with the rest of the department) was highly spoken of in both reports.

5. Got an e-mail out of the blue from the graduate student I’m trying to recruit. Between social distancing and just miserable weather, he had a pretty lackluster visit here, and I know he was tempted by another position with a more senior faculty member on the other side of the country, so I was a little nervous about losing him. He was going to take a very prestigious and competitive internship this summer in California to get used to the west coast, but this e-mail was to let me know he’d declined it... to take a different prestigious and competitive internship in my city so he could get a head start on his research project with me! Dang! This kid! I’m absolutely blown away by the enthusiasm and excitement I’ve experienced through these grad students, and I’m also very grateful that they’re willing to take a chance on a newbie professor like me. <3

[ranty-ramblestein]

(captions~) Huzzah, the title keywords are fixed!  I changed his title, but I forgot to capture it, *shrug*

Oh, and a few people came over to get DIYs I didn’t want, which is when I remembered this hack where you put diys (or other items that can’t be placed) on table and request cleanup, so they go in the recycle bin. *tags post as #acnh tips *

Otherwise, Croissant also got a sweet letter from Apple, and I never saw any Fleas spawn to fulfill that NM+ Quest, lol.  Back to ballooning, because a DIY Card hasn’t dropped yet today!

[chicago-geniza]

aughgh, once again Accountability To-Do Listing here. so far you have: refilled yr pill cases, huzzah; sent the 3 admin emails you needed to; done the copyediting assignment due by the end of the day. YA GOTTA:

- do the dishes

- if not take out the trash & recycling then put everything in bags & get all the bags in one place so you can do it tomorrow morning

- SKELETON DISSERTATION PROPOSAL FROM ALL THE NOTES APP NOTES & TWITTER THREADS

- shower jfc

- take yr supplements

- readings for K’s class

- start making definitive packing lists bc you are not gonna be able to keep like 80% of this shit 

- text C re: helping you move on the 21st, also put a message up in CCJ & text S to let them know the date changed but you can bring food & furniture over on the 18th 

- email A re: paris anarchists translation 

- rail at the goddamn universe that nothing in this goddamn country is possible without a goddamn car because of goddamn postwar infrastructure & dwight d goddamn eisenhower & henry goddamn ford & the dual-wielding monopoly of the goddamn automotive & oil industries & you are not permitted by the goddamn law of the goddamn land to operate a motor vehicle because of your goddamn short-circuiting brain 

[bomberqueen17]

getting there

Awoke this morning at 4:30, got out of bed at 5, and spent about an hour puttering around in the basement assembling myself supplies to bring with me for a hand-sewing project. Mostly, it’s two bits of fabric remnants that I wanted to make into larger remnants, so I cut them in half along the short edge and plan to join them up along the long edge. I want to use the by-hand bojagi piecing technique to make them be usable from either side with this method. I have no final plan for what to do with them, it’s just that I wasn’t using them in their long narrow configuration either, and so if they’re squares I’ll be more likely to use them as handkerchiefs or tablecloths or something, IDK. I also cut out some chunks of fabric with an eye toward making a tarot card deck container thing, but I haven’t got a pattern, I just figured out the dimensions it had to be and cut enough outer fabric, lining, and then a scrap of flannel for padding if I make it quilted, and I’ll try to find a pattern this morning and figure out what shape I should make it be. 

The Kindle case is nearly finished, and I figure I’ll do that this morning too.

Both of us have suitcases packed, and then I’ve hauled out carry-ons for both of us. Dude was like “but I don’t need a carry-on, I’ll have a personal item?” and I was like “I’m making you carry the food and some of the things I don’t want to carry because my bag will be too full otherwise” and he was like “oh. right.” 

So. 

Behind the cut, I’m going to describe the Kindle cover I’m making. I have some photos, but it’s not like, a tutorial-- I didn’t actually take process photos really, and I don’t have any measurements. But anyway. This is my Extremely ADHD Sometimes This Works: Extreme Hoarder Edition method of object construction, for your edification and amusement.

So I wanted this to both hold the Kindle so I don’t keep hitting the off button while I’m reading from it, and to protect it-- my old one died in Kyrgyzstan when a stressed cabbie shoved my backpack into the corner of an accordion in the trunk of his cab at three in the morning, so I’m acutely aware that the screens are susceptible to that sort of damage. 

I found several tutorials, and had somewhat intended to make this one [https://www.charlottenewland.com/2013/01/kindle-cover-tutorial.html]. But here’s the thing: I am not going to buy fabric, buy plastic canvas, and buy endless rounds of fusible interfacing, when I have a basement chock-full of Mysterious Hoarded Shit.

So I started with a scrap of canvas-- actually I think it’s twill? bull denim perhaps?-- of unknown provenance-- virgin yardage, it’s not picked out of an old garment, but I genuinely don’t recall what it was offcut from. It happened to be the correct width, so I just cut several lengths of it. No, I did not measure, I just put my Kindle down on it and said “that looks right” with no regard for seam allowances or anything. Then I used that piece of canvas to measure everything else. Did this work perfectly? Mm no. Did I get something usable? Sure! Probably. I’m most of the way done and it seems like it worked, so. Score one for Can’t Understand Numbers So Just Looks At Stuff. 

It needs padding, I decided, and so I found an old sock with a hole in the heel. Nothing special, an old white sweat sock, which any sane person would have long ago discarded, but I am a hoarder so I had not. I lay it on the scrap of canvas, discovered I could cut off the holey part, and rejoiced. (It’s not that the hole would be a problem, but it would give a weird texture to have either a hole or a mend in the padding layer.) Then I discovered the foot part had enough length to it that I could do another layer, so both the front and back of the case can be padded. Huzzah!

I wanted something to stiffen the case. Interfacing isn’t enough, it’s got to hold its shape enough against the tension of the elastic holding the Kindle in place. So I found a plastic container in the recycling that had a large enough mostly-flat space in the lid, and cut that out. I refined that by holding the Kindle to it, and cutting carefully with my heavy shears so that the corners were rounded and it was exactly the size of the Kindle. 

I also dug out a scrap of some old microfiber sheets left over from my Christmas wrapping project, and got enough out of it for both a front and a back.

I quilted the sheet and sock in a layer, for the back of the case, and then sewed a quilt sandwich-- put the sock on top, then the sheet, then the right side of the canvas, sewed around three corners, flipped it inside-out, then I had a bag. Clipped corners, refined it a little, then slid the cut out of the plastic lid into it. Perfect. Set it aside.

Then I did the top layer, realized I’d made it slightly too narrow. That’s fine, I’ll make the hinge section bigger. Cut a piece of a different plastic lid, which wouldn’t have worked if I’d made the top piece as big as the bottom piece, but since I fucked up, the narrower bit of plastic fit. Didn’t bother quilting the sock to the sheet, just sewed the three edges and clipped the corners, flipped it, put the plastic in it.

Now I’ve got two padded fabric boards, slightly different sizes. So I took a third piece of canvas, the same size as the front and the back, and lay that down to be the hinge. Had a narrow strip of sock left, and a narrow strip of the gray sheet. Stitched those down slightly offset from the middle of the canvas hinge piece, just turning the edges under with my thumbnail so that it was a relatively straight section-- stitched right down the middle first to hold it all steady, then up the two sides to make it a flat quilted section in the middle of the canvas hinge.

Belatedly, I realized I wanted to stiffen the hinge, so I unpicked a tiny piece of the seams on either side of the center, cut two thick cable ties to the right length, and poked them in, so the hinge won’t be floppy. 

Now for handwork, no more machine. This won’t work by machine, because the plastic’s in there now so the needle can’t go all the way through. The nice lady’s tutorial would be better because it’s got all the correct order of assembly, but the bonus of using handsewing as therapy is that you can literally do it in any order because you can always painstakingly scrape your needle through just a few threads and sew a seam completely wrong and have it still work just fine.

I closed up the top of the front and back pieces-- there wasn’t enough seam allowance to do it on the machine, and i wanted it good and tight anyway, so I just folded both sides in and did a decorative overcast stitch (a blanket stitch) over the edge. I may go around all of the edges and do a decorative overcast as a final finish, just to hammer home that this fucker’s hand-sewn. I like that kind of shit. If I were doing this again maybe I’d put more padding in, because the plastic’s got some ridges in it and it makes for a weird texture, but I didn’t have enough seam allowance and figure it doesn’t matter. Still, bear that in mind if you can’t find a perfectly flat sheet of plastic either.

I cut a broken hair tie into four pieces-- well, get it right. I cut a hunk from it that looked right, sewed it to the larger panel which I decided is the back, and then cut another hunk and sewed it down, and then I had a piece left that looked like I could probably just cut it in half and use both halves, so I did that. Turns out I was right. Here, now I’ve got a photo to show.

[image description: looking down at an object that’s gray on the front and cream on the back, where black elastic loops have been applied at the four corners-- you can really only see the top left corner, which is facing the camera. In the back is a very cluttered workspace full of spools of thread and scissors and needles and such. At this angle you can only catch a tiny glimpse of the blue pearl cotton I used for the decorative overcast stitch at the top edge.]

Just kinda poked buttonhole/craft thread through there with a needle until it looked pretty solid.

Holds the Kindle fine: 

[image description: a Kindle Paperwhite held by elastic loops at the four corners to a gray surface. Slightly confusing image because so much clutter in back; a loop of a broken hairtie extends above the top of it, and that’s the second broken hairtie I collected for the project and didn’t need. You know, how the elastic comes disconnected and then the fabric still holds but like, stretches out? That’s what I mean, “broken hairtie”. I could pave a highway with how many I have but using one up is a nice feeling. I completely stole that idea from the linked tutorial, so.]

Next I blanket-stitched the top and bottom raw edges of the hinge panel, and then I blind hemstitched the two side edges, because I figured doing the finishing sewing separately from the structural sewing would probably make both turn out better. I started to do boning channels along the cable ties in the hinge, but abandoned that-- I’ll do that as a finishing touch once I’ve done the structural stuff. Just to keep things from shifting around and to give it a more finished feel. Not that this is ever going to look like anything but a handmade disaster, but that’s my aesthetic.

I lay out the top and bottom and hinge with the Kindle in it to figure out where everything needed to be, and pinned down the overlapping part of the canvas hinge panel, and then realized what I truly need is to join the edge of the gray panel in the middle of the hinge to the edge of the gray interior surface of the front panel. So I’ve done that, with an overcast stitch or whatever you call that. Ah, no, whip stitch, that’s what it is-- joining two finished edges. 

Going to do the same for the rear panel, and then IDK what stitch you call it but I’ll have to attach the canvas hinge edges to the canvas layer of the front and back without going through the plastic, so I’ll figure out how to do that attractively somehow. And then I’ll be done.

[image showing all three panels laid out partly overlapping-- front panel off the left edge, then the hinge showing the machine-stitched attachment of the gray panel to the cream panel, then the back panel showing the elastic loops and really shitty halfass quilting job where I mostly just wanted to make sure the sock wouldn’t shift around too much while I was sewing.]

Oh, and here’s a shot showing the plastic insert going into the front panel-- it’s literally the top of one of those shallow rectangular takeout containers like Mighty Taco puts its Nachos Supreme in, for real. You can see it’s not totally flat, and that might bug some but I am out of fucks to give. It’s flat enough that it won’t break the Kindle, and that’s what I want, the Kindle not to break.

[image description: my fingers holding a piece of clear plastic you can see has been cut by a microserrated edge, protruding from between a cream layer on top, and on the bottom a layer of terrycloth sock and a layer of gray microfiber with a raw edge.]

So I’ll probably finish that this morning, which would be nice, because then I can pack the Kindle in it and perhaps protect it against whatever this trip’s equivalent will be of a stressed cabbie with a concertina. 

I also need to borrow some library ebooks onto this thing but. Baby steps. We’re getting there.

[lakeblessed]

So, let’s talk about the DLC.

The good:

• New characters are interesting, even though their designs may come off as a mess initially; • The story adds extra layers to the plot without ruining the main storyline (at least for me); • Thankfully, the Ashen Wolves House was not a sudden ‘huzzah’ addition made of special snowflakes that were shoehorned in, they are not an official House and that I am fine with because the last thing I wanted was a rabbit-out-of-a-hat fourth house in Three Houses; • New classes are fun.

The bad:

• The story, while decent and not clashing with the original plot, is not particularly interesting; • The plot twist is laughably predictable; • It feels like there could have been more to it than we ended up getting; • The maps are kind of a headache, and recycling existing maps in some chapters wasn’t very nice either.

Overall, this DLC is a 50/50 experience. Could be worse, but it could also be better, even though it has some super fun and interesting features that I appreciate, but, perhaps, I expected a little more. Regardless, I don’t regret buying the Expansion Pass and playing it. Given all my concerns and skepticism, it’s a pleasant surprise.

[sustainablesabs]

Out with the old, in with the new 💁🏻‍♀️💁🏻‍♀️ replaced this couple-month-old dish scrubber head with a new one. Fortunately it’s #compostable, so no #microplastics will end up in the ocean from this! Huzzah! • • • #zerowaste #lowimpactmovement #wastefree #trashfree #plasticfree #nowaste #notrash #noplastic #reduce #reuse #recycle #repurpose #ecofriendly #sustainable #gogreen #yayforearth #reducewhatyouproduce #ourplanetourhome #zerowastecollective #vegan #whatveganseat #vegansofig #plantbased #plantstrong (at Brooklyn, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu6Bpafnl9E/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=30xgjr29up5q