Bork Bork Bork

Well. These last couple of weeks have certainly been.

--The holes in the ceiling and wall are finally fixed.

--The ceiling fan is not reinstalled because the contractor said our ceiling wiring is so dangerous that he worried it would start a fire and he is going to have the electrician who worked on his own house call us to schedule a visit to do an estimate. Note that the ceiling fan was installed last year.

--The place is filthy with plaster dust but the contractor is sending his cleaning team on Monday.

--This means we finally are able to / really have to put everything back where it belongs so that it can be cleaned in a sensible fashion and also not be piled in corners everywhere.

--We are throwing away stuff that is perfectly good and could probably be donated but we just don't have the time for it and it's making me insane but we just don't have the time for it.

--My wife is having a hip replacement in two weeks.

--I am totally fine and not having a nervous breakdown at all.

Things:

--jadelennox made me watch Swiss Army Man which is a fine example of 'Dan Radcliffe does whatever he wants with his post-child-actor Fuck You Money' and wow, it certainly is a mindfuck of a film. A vision was had and executed. It's the kind of movie one could become obsessed with, if one were a certain kind of person. I'm glad I've seen it. I don't want to see it again. I'm not going to be able to fart without thinking about it for at least six months.

--Have been cat-sitting for a friend of A's and I would like to inform you that Melinda is a beautiful, elegant lady, even if she sometimes likes to hide under the sofa.

--A few weeks ago I was in a museum and there was a label that began with "Time is abstract and intangible." Naturally, I immediately wanted to argue with it. Do you think time is intangible?

It seems to be generally accepted that time is a dimension, so can we analogize it to something we know and experience in a more familiar way? Is length intangible? I feel like I could make an argument for 'both abstract and concrete' but I don't think I could make an argument for intangible.

Thoughts?

Things:

--Watched Good Omens 3 and cried, not because it was particularly good (it was... fine) but mostly because I was ready to cry. Everything has been quite bad, mental-health-wise, and it was such a relief to feel something other than angry-or-numb. I mean I've sort of slid back into angry/numb again, now that a few days have gone by, but at least I had several hours of something that was a fresh emotion. Woo.

--I'm writing a poem.

--My games on Steam appear to be broken and I don't know why and I don't have the energy to dick around with troubleshooting. Perhaps they will fix themselves. That happens with updates sometimes, right?

--[long depressing paragraph about childhood redacted]

--I should make a thing. That generally causes me to feel better.

Things:

--Two joggers went past me the other day and all I caught was the phrase 'the touch grass doctrine.' I love the idea of it being a doctrine, like a religious precept.

--Yesterday in the subway station two girls were brainstorming how to convince a friend of the merits of polyamory - which, fine, you do you, but their proposed arguments were a) when you get tired of your boyfriend you can go hang out with your girlfriend and b) hanging out with your girlfriend will make your boyfriend want to hang out with you both because you're both hot, so he will stop being annoying. This seems to me to be... not the best angle to take. Then again, if you're college age, maybe this is convincing reasoning?

--I actually like everyone from this series of Taskmaster. This seems impossible. Usually there's at least one of them that I want to punch. Very weird sensation. No one to root against.

--Relatedly, I was walking through the park the other day and saw a robin with its dinner and mentally went "I found a worm!" in a deeply self-satisfied manner.

--Wrote another little ficlet:

North (478 words) by marginaliana
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sorted (Website) RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ben Ebbrell/Mike Huttlestone, Ben Ebbrell & Mike Huttlestone
Characters: Mike Huttlestone, Ben Ebbrell
Additional Tags: take it as gen or preslash as you like, pretentious metaphors
Summary: Compasses captivate Mike.

I keep failing to post here when I've written stuff so there are several fics between the last one and this, but anyway here's some feelings-ful porn. Readable without fannish context although there is a layer of context within the feelings.

God, I'm going to need some icons for this fandom, aren't I?

leaving his mark (3668 words) by marginaliana
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sorted (Website) RPF
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James Currie/Ben Ebbrell
Characters: James Currie, Ben Ebbrell
Additional Tags: Porn with Feelings, heavy on the porn, Getting Together, Washed Up live weekend
Summary:

After the end of the Washed Up live weekend, James is drunk and happy and more than a little obsessed with Ben's thighs. Fortunately, Ben has zero objections.

Various:

--My mother tripped on her way to a concert (again) and fractured the bridge of her nose (again) and got up and went to the show anyway and enjoyed it while holding a plastic bag full of ice from the bar to her face (AGAIN). On the one hand I want to rage about her choice to just fucking carry on to the show, except on the other hand that's absolutely what I would do because I'm just as stubborn as she is, but back on the first hand she is seventy two years old and I am in the prime of my youth not. So I will just allow myself to be a little bit of a hypocrite about it, thanks.

--Melodifestivalen final is on Saturday. The lineup is mostly not terrible! I have no idea what the ultimate Eurovision pick will be, however, because I have given up on predicting the ~~mystery~~ that is the collective mind of Sweden (affectionate).

--I have been writing a deeply lemon-chicken fic for my new fandom but I'm fairly sure all the members of this fandom are too young to understand what it would mean if I tagged it lemon chicken. But I can glory in the tag in my mind. (Also I might not even finish it because there's no fun in writing an actual plot when I can just write my blorbo being hard done by.)

Various:

--Mental health quite bad recently, but am persevering.

--An allegedly Australian phrase I learned today: "I'm so hungry I could eat the arse of a low-flying pigeon."

--Am writing about 6 fics simultanously, which is very pleasing to my self-identity as 'person who writes things,' but one of them involves a lot of subject matter that is perhaps not great for the mental health as per above. If I finish it then I will be done with it? It's so close to done.

--Have had a song stuck in my head for days due to this frankly magnificent Festivid:

ASSHOLE (197 words) by cupidsbow
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Looney Tunes | Merrie Melodies, Multi-Fandom
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck (Looney Tunes), Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck (Looney Tunes)
Characters: Daffy Duck (Looney Tunes), Bugs Bunny (Looney Tunes), Tasmanian Devil (Looney Tunes), Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig (Looney Tunes), Marvin the Martian (Looney Tunes), Yosemite Sam (Looney Tunes)
Additional Tags: Talking Animals, Animation, Comedy, Slapstick, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Fanvids
Series: Part 62 of cupidsbow's fanvids
Summary:

I'd like to sing a song about the American Dream.

It's not that all my fandoms involve funny British dudes, but there does seem to be a trend.

At least this one is a cooking channel? Sorted Food.

worth it (2321 words) by marginaliana
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sorted (Website) RPF
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ben Ebbrell/Barry Taylor
Characters: Barry Taylor, Ben Ebbrell
Additional Tags: First Time, Blowjobs, Safe oral sex, no families au
Summary:

"Ebbs. Listen." But what could he say that wouldn't sound crass or a joke or both? He'd thought about it for days and decided in the end to wing it, only now he was here winging it and he still had no better idea. Maybe this was going to crash and burn no matter how he introduced the idea. Maybe he was going to ruin a friendship and none of this would be worth it. But something in him knew he had to try.

Project 'Family Christmas Literally Anywhere That Isn't Texas' was pretty successful. My mother was thrilled that I made the arrangements and all she had to do was turn up - which was not something she had expressed a desire for in advance so I had been stressing about it but then once we were there she told me several times how much she appreciated it. Feelings wise it was pretty par in terms of how interacting with my mother is complicated, but then eased by the fact that we had places to go and things to do rather than just sitting around in her house.

The highlight was probably learning about how Benjamin Franklin wrote a story where the personification of his gout told him to drink less and get more exercise. We also went on a Christmas lights trolley tour with a live musician who made us all come up with things we wanted for the 12 days of Christmas ("ten burlesque dancers" was a good one, and "six thousand dollars"). Extremely silly and I loved it.

The part of the trip that was most me was the bit where, while waiting to go to the airport to go home, we spent several hours without screens just rambling about things and that included a long discussion of 'If you were designing your perfect restaurant, what would it look like?' Which is the kind of thing I think about all the time (my wife has to listen to ramblings of this sort on the regular which thankfully she thinks is charming) but my mother thinks about never. I think that may have given her an insight into my brain that she hasn't had in a long time.

Recent, in film:

--Sunset Boulevard - what a beautifully shot movie in which everyone is complicit in a woman's mental breakdown. Hooray for Hollywood.

--Blade Runner - I took A to this because she hadn't seen it and was fascinated to hear her thoughts. It was only my second watch but apparently I had a lot more to say about it than after the first one. Notably, A was fascinated by all the worldbuilding that was left unexplained, and had absolutely zero of the 'oh, that's where that quote is from' moments that I expected.

In terms of the eternal question (Is Deckard a replicant?), A remains undecided. My friend D believes that both a) to even ask the question is missing the point and b) of course he's a replicant because that makes for a better story. Whereas I believe the exact opposite, that it's vital for viewers to ask the question but impossible not only to establish the answer but indeed for there even to be an answer.

I refuse to get obsessed with this movie because I have a plentiful supply of things I could get obsessed with already and also I'm pretty sure that the 'Blade Runner microfixation' fandom is full of assholes. But if any of y'all want to tell me your opinions on the eternal question, I am interested.

--The Warriors (1979) - damn, being in a gang does not look like any fun, except for the lesbian one, and even they looked kind of glum. Hard pass.

--Jurassic Park - I forgot how little Ian Malcolm actually does in this movie. He provides quips and allegedly knowledge for the first third, gets injured, and then sits around shirtless and pointless for the rest of it. I am told that many people had their sexual awakening to Jeff Goldblum in this movie. I hope you all have not stuck with 'shirtless and pointless' all your life.

Dinosaurs are cool, though.