indybaggins | Reading

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YouTube algorithm threw this at me tonight and on this occasion the YouTube algorithm was bang on. This is, in fact, relevant to my interest. No, I've never heard of them until today. No, I did not know any of their names (I do now so A+ marketing). But what I do know is that this is the kind of soft queer pining vibe I'm absolutely into. And it's a bop.

Watch on YouTube

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Today we made a smoothie with:

1 cup orange juice
1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup ice

The result is bright pink and on the thin side. It tastes mostly of orange. It's okay, but not as good as the tropical version from earlier.

Current Mood: busy

Challenge #2 from the Sunshine Revival

Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

I had to remember how to do cuts for this.

( I go on for three paragraphs about why I love fandom )

Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like. I may do this later if I feel moved to do so. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's poems for this challenge. Such joy.

Current Mood: hungry
Current Location: still on vacation and waiting for dinner
Current Music: THE MOWGLI'S - San Francisco

125,000-year-old ‘fat factory’ run by Neanderthals discovered in Germany

Stone Age humans living by a lake in what’s now Germany systematically processed animal carcasses for fatty nutrients — essentially running what scientists describe as a “fat factory” to boil bones on a vast scale, according to new research.

Note that another thing you can make with animal fat is pemmican: a stable, high-energy trail food made with fat, powdered meat, and a carbohydrate such as berries. Since it's not something you'd make in a hot climate like Africa (where humans evolved) but rather in a cold climate (such as northern Europe), I'm suddenly wondering if it is in fact a Neanderthal or Denisovan recipe.

Current Mood: busy

Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus some brown birds that might be female blackbirds.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I refilled the thistle feeder.

I picked up the concrete paver that we used for fireworks last night, along with scraps of paper and cardboard left behind.

Volunteer sunflowers are blooming under the fly-through feeder.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and some of the savanna seedlings. A sunflower in the telephone pole garden is close to blooming. :D

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I pulled some weeds from the septic garden.

Fireflies are out. Cicadas are singing.

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

Current Mood: busy

sunshine_revival's next challenge is:

Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.
Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like.

This is a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately. As an aro-ace person growing up in a time before we really had labels for those things (and, frankly, even now when some people still just don't get it), I've had a lot of experiences of being told that the way I loved people was wrong or not good enough. I'm... well, I was about to say I'm lucky to have people in my life now who don't see my love as lesser because it isn't romantic and never will be, and that is true, but also I have worked damn hard to accept myself as I am and to put energy into relationships with people who get me. So it's part luck, part skill. :P

I recently got a formal diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum. (I promise this relates.) This was something I had suspected for a long time, but having it confirmed has led me to take stock of a lot of past experiences and shine a different light on them. I've always had intense "special interests," but early on in life I learned to downplay them because of other people's disapproval. I think I am a much more... passionate person than others might suspect? I've only been able to let it show a little in fannish spaces where it's more accepted to fall in love with a fandom, or become infatuated with a character, or be swept off your feet by a storyline. Those aren't metaphors, it's really what it feels like, and I feel that way about a lot of things!

When I was a kid one of my special interests was ancient Egypt. I remember flipping through history books and feeling a physical level of joy and contentment as I pored over photos of pyramids and papyri, because I just loved loved loved what I was seeing so much. When the prompt asks about what gets my heart pumping, I think of things like that. But I learned to hide that part of myself because people didn't get it. I want to work on changing this. I know that kind of love is still there and I can still tap into it, and I want a future for myself where I'm proud that it's a part of me. That feels far away right now, but there was also a time when being proud of being aro-ace also felt very far away, so I think there's cause for hope.

This poem was written for the Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love. It also fills the "buffalo" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo Fest.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love

Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like
See "Poem: Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers."

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Not my best work. I've done several Alice in Wonderland-themed collages which are much better than this. But my brain is not my friend at the moment, and I have filled up the last of my three inserts I was using for collage so I will be using my Agatha Christie notebook and my art notebook going forward. Both are smaller but I think that might be a good thing.

The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

I posted about this on tumblr, but I've said in the past that I don't really care about romantic storylines. Except I've come to realize, that's not true at all. There have been a lot of pairings I've loved, both in canon and in fanfiction. (Sometimes more in one than the other.)

Since this is meant to be a positive entry, I'll focus on what I love in my romantic pairings. I love seeing two people working together - perhaps in the sense that they're coworkers or have intersecting jobs, perhaps in the sense that they have a common mission, be it something major or minor. I love when the story is less about whether or not they'll be together, and more about what happens once they are. I love seeing them connect with one another's friends and family. I love seeing them help each other be their best selves. I love when conflict isn't about whether or not they "truly" love each other, but how new information or a miscommunication has - temporarily - rocked the boat. I love physicality. The way they hug and kiss, the way they move together, in a natural tandem.

Don't get me wrong - I'm here for some UST and other things you often see. I love a little drama. :P I just prefer all of that as the starting point, and I lose interest if it drags out for too long. I love even more when none of that happens, and the couple just... comes into being.

Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Friending Meme * Challenge #1

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Sunshine Revival Challenge #2 )

Check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What should the role of a government be, what boundaries and limitations should it have?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

✓

kingstoken's 2025 Book Bingo: Non-Human POV

(I checked this square off my bingo card last time, but this new release arrived with perfect timing, so I'm doubling up.)

Ew, It's Beautiful is the newest collection of cartoonist Joshua Barkman's webcomic False Knees. It contains around 120 short comics, the majority of which were new to me, separated into sections for winter, spring, summer, and fall based on their setting.

The stars of False Knees are usually birds, but there are some cats, insects, and at least a couple of beavers in the mix here. Barkman's art is legitimately beautiful, with a naturalist's specificity and a knack for combining human expressions with realistic animal features, and his writing captures the universal experience of being a small creature in an unfathomably big world. It's full of absurd humour, occasional moments of awe, and recurring bits about the creative process, self-image, and the way friends or family can be on entirely different wavelengths. The comic is where I got my current default icon from, and it almost never fails to bring me a little joy or give me something to appreciate.

( 3 Comics )

Tonight we did our home fireworks show. :D These are the things we bought from JT Fireworks Sales in Charleston...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: happy

In honor of the Fourth of July, here are a few tidbits to enjoy.

Today's Adventures 6/28/25 -- We bought fireworks for our home show, and we watched the show in Tolono.

Fireworks 7/4/25 -- Read about our home show tonight.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Today is mostly sunny and hot.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I checked the south lot and put topsoil in a few low spots, prior to our fireworks show tonight.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked up a trough pot that fell off the old picnic table, restored the curry plant and purple basil as best I could, then watered them and a few other things in the house yard.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I sowed 6 pots with mulberry seeds. Half are from a particularly pleasing mulberry sapling near the west end of the old fishpond, the other half from a mulberry that was left on the porch step as if a gift.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and a few seedlings in the savanna.

My partner Doug mowed the ritual meadow and prairie paths.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of herbs to make a skillet scramble for supper.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. There are plenty left; I ran out of heat tolerance long before I ran out of berries. :D

Cicadas are singing.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. Still more left, but I'll have to hunt those another day, because it is still hot and the sun is about to set.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- We did our home fireworks show. :D I'm sure it confused the bats and the fireflies.

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

Current Mood: busy

This short narrative puzzle game follows a man from his death, through a spiritual dream realm, and into acceptance and new life. It wasn't part of the Latin American Games Showcase, but I indirectly found it through there; the co-developers Hermanos Magia and Leap are both based in Peru.

black and white image of a lens-shaped world with stylized people and animals walking on top and bottom as rain falls from above

black and white image of a lens-shaped world with stylized people and animals walking on top and bottom as rain falls from above

I loved the hand-drawn art style and the symbolic imagery, interweaving the natural and human worlds. It's like an interactive experimental short film. The puzzles are mostly classic types (Simon, Pipe Dream, etc.) sometimes slightly obscured by the artistic presentation. You could say interpreting the imagery is a kind of bonus puzzle. The challenge is minimal, just enough to keep you engaged in the soul's journey. There are no instructions but they're not needed; whenever you don't know what to do, clicking around will reveal something in a moment, and what it reveals may surprise and delight you.

I found the game really lovely and heartfelt, though it is very short. They do say up front that it's a "30 minute experience," so no shade at all, I just enjoyed it so much I wished it had been a little longer!

Arrog is available on PC (currently on sale at $1.49 USD), Android (currently on sale at $0.60 USD), iOS and PlayStation ($2.99 USD), and on Switch ($3.99 USD).

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: determined

Today's theme is Historical Fiction.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

My sibling and I are on a quest to re-play through all the levels of Super Mario Bros. U on the switch and get all the coins so that we can access all of the courses in Superstar Road. It's a blast, but challenging. They're better than I am but I'm not terrible, so we're making good progress.

We watched Last Breath the other night which was good in the sense that it was interesting, but not good in the sense of like dialogue/character development. I definitely want to watch the 2019 documentary that it's based on that has the same name. The technology that they use for deep-sea diving is sooo interesting. And visually striking.

AO3 is down, huh? The status page was saying that they have it in maintenance mode to fix the bookmark creation error issue. I'm glad they're transparent and communicative about what's going on.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: pacman game in the background

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indybaggins

July 2025

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kat_lair - Julé! 06/31
ysabetwordsmith - Today's Smoothie
thatjustwontbreak - in love with love and the idea of something binding us together
ysabetwordsmith - Early Humans
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
pauraque - Sunshine Revival Challenge #2
ysabetwordsmith - Poem: "Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers"
ysabetwordsmith - Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love
stonepicnicking_okapi - Collage Journaling: Alice
author_by_night - Sunshine revival Challenge: Love
florianschild in sunshine_revival - Sunshine Revival Challenge #2
ysabetwordsmith - Philosophical Questions: Government
delphi - What I'm Reading: Ew, It's Beautiful: A False Knees Comic Collection by Joshua Barkman
ysabetwordsmith - Fireworks
ysabetwordsmith - Writing About Fireworks
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
pauraque - Arrog (2020)
walgesang - music: Gogol Bordello - Immigraniada (We Comin' Rougher)
ysabetwordsmith - Follow Friday 7-4-25: Historical Fiction
thatjustwontbreak - Brandy walks through a silent town

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