OTHER PUBLIC PORTIONS OF THE ROYAL PALACE

The High Court

The rest of the Koretian palace is more easily accessed than the royal residence, rewarding visitors with many hours' worth of sights. I can only touch here upon a few of the more popular places to visit.

A visit to Koretia's High Court is the goal of most visitors. Here Koretia's ruler holds important court cases. In the moment of judgment, he transforms into his godly form. Thus the High Court doubles as a place of worship for most Koretians.

A tip: Although the Jackal considerately wears a mask to hide the most terrifying features of his transformation (which the mask itself barely hints at), it is still wise not to look directly upon the Jackal at his moment of judgment. A few sidelong glances are reasonable enough; the Jackal does not – as one rumor insists – strike down anyone who sees him in divine form. But looking for too long at the Jackal in judgment can have unfortunate effects on viewers. For this reason, a healing woman remains in attendance to assist any visitors who may pass out.

In olden times, court cases were heard privately by Koretia's Kings. The current court, like all of the palace except for the royal residence, was built by Emor during its occupation of Koretia from 961 to 976. During that period, the palace served as the home for the dominion governor, and the court was used by him for trials. A memorial to the Koretians who are thought to have been innocent when they were executed or tortured to death upon the governor's orders has been placed near the entrance of the court. The memorial was paid for by the Chara, at the time that he freed Koretia. It is believed that the Chara had his late father were unaware during that time period of the crimes being committed by the governor in the name of the Chara.

[Translator's note: The Chara's discovery of his governor's offenses is described in Blood Vow and Law of Vengeance.]

Honduran white bats, sticker by the Atomic Pixies.

This was a long week (despite being a short work week for me) and a rough one. The shooting at Evergreen High School ("minor" as it was, considering, and how awful is that?) impacted me more than I expected, having interacted with the two named students. I didn't know them well, by any stretch, but it still hit me hard. The endless discourse around Charlie Kirk's death has also been completely exhausting. The stuff from early in the week - more back and forth getting the AC fixed, a walk in a neighboring city to see an uncommon bird - seems like it was way longer ago now. We had a model show to end the week, which was tiring but a nice break. Having a long weekend was a good thing.

Goals for the week:

• I did finish reading The Dead Take the A Train
• I started reading Tidal Creatures
• I did not finish (or even work on) the WIP intro
• We did finish the model show prep, even if it was last-minute
• We went to the model show on Saturday
• I stopped by mom's earlier in the week to collect caterpillars, and Saturday to drop Bella off
• I went to the bank
• I ordered birthday gifts for Taylor, though they aren't supposed to arrive until day-of :/
• We got a bit of outdoor time
• I did write up my September writing goals
• We paid rent, finally getting an accurate amount
• I still haven't put my laundry away
• I did go buy fruit flies
• I didn't work on my reading page

Tracked habits:

• Work - 4/7 - I took Saturday off
• Household Maintenance - 7/7
• Physical Activity - 2/7
• Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 1/7 - over 500 words
• Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
• Meta Work - 3/7
• Personal Writing - 5/7
• Other Creative Things - 2/7
• Reading - 7/7 - I finished The Dead Take the A Train, and started Tidal Creatures, I also caught up on Dracula Daily/Re: Dracula, Alex and I read more of Duma Key, and I started reading a short story called Swelter
• Attention to Media - 6/7 - Sunday we watched the Ravens game (which was good for the first three and a half quarters), then watched two episodes of The Paper; Monday we watched two eps of The Paper, and then an ep of Great British Bake Off, then a documentary I don't remember; Tuesday I caught up on Re: Dracula, we watched a couple eps of Dateline, then finished the last couple eps of The Paper; Wednesday I listened to Re: Dracula and we had news coverage in the background; Thursday had some documentaries in the background; Friday watched Great British Bake Off, and then The Most Hated Man on the Internet
• Video Games - 0/7
• Social Interaction - 4/7

(I've got way too much to catch up on.)

First, thanks so much for making me a gift! I'll love whatever you want to make, but here are a few general guidelines about things I prefer and those I'd rather not receive.

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Okay so Horayos was very long per day and very dry. But Nezikin was great, really wonderful and relevant. I had a really great time, such a wonderful contrast to Nashim. Definitely a lot to discuss in the siyum.

Notes on Horayos (only the 3rd perek had anything I wanted to note) behind cut:

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New (to me) TV:

Only Murders in the Building 1x01 - 1x03

Re-watched TV:
a few episodes of each of the following:

Leverage
Leverage: Redemption
Community

*no movies again this week*

♥ fandomgiftbasket is open for fills until Oct 12, and has a spreadsheet of all requests for ease of browsing and filling.

♥ My basket is here!

♥ I've been doing some writing! \o/ I've been writing some little fills for Fandom Gift Basket, and I'm also already making good progress on my ficinabox assignment. (I just got my swaps! I'm even more excited by what I'm creating!) It's so nice and affirming to be feeling some good writing energy after experiencing burnout for so much of the year.

♥ There's a new Knives Out movie coming out this fall! Delighted to see more Benoit Blanc solving mysteries. The cast looks fun, too! Here's the trailer.

♥ I'm enamoured with this Sherlock Holmes book nook lego set! Lego Sherlock and Watson are so cute! There's a murder board! And I just love how Baker Street folds up into a book nook with the classic Holmes silhouette on the side. Incredibly charming!!

When I saw a Macdonald Hall pinch hit for raremaleslashex, I couldn't resist snapping it up! Here's what I wrote, now that authors have been revealed.

want the world to know (AO3 | DW)
Macdonald Hall series - Gordon Korman
Bruno/Boots, Cathy, Diane, Miss Scrimmage | rated T | 2700 words | no archive warnings apply
Tags: Hijinks & Shenanigans, hiding in a closet, Forced Proximity, First Kiss

Three-quarters of the way up the drainpipe on the east side of Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies, Melvin "Boots" O'Neal felt something give under his foot. He scrambled frantically for the window ledge, and clung to it in desperation as the section of drainpipe that had, until very recently, been his foothold, broke off from the wall and went crashing into the shrubbery below.

Quick ethics question.

I'm looking into getting some wax seals for ttrpg reasons.

It's very evident that everyone is getting the same set of seals from somewhere. The majority of shops are carrying the exact same seals.

Do I pay etsy boutique prices or is this a circumstance buying off aliexpress or amazon or temu is cool? Some folks on etsy are asking for $40 for just the brass part without the handle and the exact same stamp with the exact same pictures are going for $8 on other listings.

(I am aware of an ongoing amazon boycott. I order things off amazon once every few months and they are usually things I can't find in person.)

edit: I guess the question is: At what point of a thing being stolen can I absolve myself of trying to find the original creator and buy what's best for my pocketbook?

Dear self,
Please remember to look up how long you have to wait after having Covid to get a vaccine. (If dear readers happen to know this info, please let me know.) Then contact the pharmacy to find out if I need a 'script or not.
Love, me.

A month ago I started taking a city rental bike for part of my way home once, sometimes twice a week, just the part that has a very nice cycle path along the river. It's barely twenty minutes, but it's something, which is better than nothing, especially since I'm not currently doing any other regular sports.
It's tricky to find something: I have to be careful because of my wrists and because of my knees (uugh), it has to be something I can motivate myself for, and currently I don't have much time either. Maybe eventually I'll join L for bouldering more often, idk.

Hades II full release is in two weeks! I was/am so excited for the game to come out but the timing is really unfortunate >.< Not only am I pretty sure I'll still be in the middle of Silksong, but it's also two weeks before an important exam so a really bad time. Ideally I'll wait until after my exam but it's going to be very difficult to avoid spoilers... Fingers crossed.

A fancy moth this week, also by Abi Stevens art. It was a set of three fancy moth stickers.

Another picture to show the little holo stars in the sticker, too.

This was a pretty mid week. Spending time with Taylor and my mom early in the week was nice. Work was fine. Worried about my dad and his health scare. The apartment stuff around rent and our broken AC was frustrating, and spending a few days fighting off illness was also unpleasant. (Luckily it seems that all of the above has now worked out.) I didn't get a lot of my stuff on my goals list done, but at least did more than nothing, though I have some things to catch up on, still. Ended the week feeling anxious, and unsure exactly why.

Goals for the week:

• I did visit Taylor and my mom for Labor day
• I posted my August book reviews
• I did not post my September writing goals (though I have by now)
• I did not put my laundry away
• I didn't put together a WIP template
• I did read quite a bit of The Dead Take the A Train
• We didn't pay rent, as we were still sorting out what the amount was
• We did not finish the model show prep
• I did not work on my reading page
• I did my August check in for getyourwordsout (3386 words for August, bringing the ytd total to 79463)
• I did my September tracking grids
• We did go get crickets

Tracked habits:

• Work - 5/7
• Household Maintenance - 2/7
• Physical Activity - 1/7
• Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 2/7 - one over 1000 words, one over 500 words
• Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
• Meta Work - 5/7
• Personal Writing - 4/7
• Other Creative Things - 1/7
• Reading - 7/7 - mostly reading The Dead Take the A Train, but Taylor and I also finished Witch King, and Alex and I read some Duma Key. Also some of Dracula Daily/Re: Dracula.
• Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday and Monday listened to music after Taylor went to bed; Tuesday had some Netflix documentaries on in the background (some of the "Trainwreck" series); Wednesday a couple more "Trainwreck" documentaries, then Talk to Me in the background, which I remember liking, but paid almost zero attention to this time; Thursday watched the first two episodes of The Paper, then had some paranormal videos in the background; Friday watched two more eps of The Paper, and had exploration videos in the background, then I caught up on Re: Dracula and listened to music; Saturday had paranormal and exploration videos in the background, listened to Re: Dracula.
• Video Games - 2/7 - Taylor and I played through more Final Fantasy XIV, getting through a couple job quests and a good part of part 2 of Endwalker
• Social Interaction - 6/7

Total words written: 4011 on reviews and planning

I've been doing lots of low key self-care this last week. Stress - or perhaps the absence of it, my shoulders coming down from around my ears - has been taking a toll on my body lately, so I've been putting in the effort of doing the little things to take care of myself. I got a haircut, I went for a massage, when one of my knitting ladies offered me apples and plums I said yes and made jam. (And parsnip and apple soup, and an awful lot of apple sauce, some to freeze, some to make muffins and pies with, some to eat on porridge.) I took advantage of these last few mild but breezy days to air out the house, change the sheets and dry them outside for probably the last time this season.

There's a tideline in my flat, you can see where I've been on a tear, cleaning things. Taking everything off shelves, dusting them and putting them back. My little pumkin fairy lights are up, and I've put fresh batteries in the rest of my fairy lights. I've been writing a lot lately, so I prioritised cleaning and tidying my computer corner, so I have a refuge I can retreat to when the deep clean is getting on top of me. I've been doing lots of the small jobs that I keep forgetting, and a couple of bigger ones that I've been putting off have turned up to be easier than expected to accomplish. I've finished a couple of craft projects - strategically, they were getting on top of me - and started others, and it turns out the jumper I just finished has highlights in the perfect shade to match my new favourite skirt. (Neatly turning it from just a summer skirt into an autumn and spring affair, I can wear it now with thick leggings, boots and the jumper.) I started a new craft kit that's been lurking since some time during the second lockdown. It's a little amigurumi style crab. Round and round I go, my tension is tighter than it ought to be but that's okay, amigurumi need to be densely crocheted. I got a small payrise and treated myself to a new LEGO set as a reward.

Everything feels a lot, but I'm working through my to-do list, making progress and trying to be kind to myself. There's more to do but I'm getting there.

There's so much to be worried about. So much to be angry about. But I can only do what I can do and sometimes all that I can do is take of myself and those around me.

1. Petty complaint of the day: websites are eliminating desktop versions of their sites and forcing everyone to use the mobile version regardless of the device being used to view the website. My email service did it several months ago and I've complained about it every time they send me a feedback form. Tumblr has now done the same. If I wanted to use the mobile version of your website, I'd use it on a mobile device. I am using a desktop computer and would like to use the desktop version of your site. Forcing me to use the mobile version on a non-mobile device is awkward, clunky, and cumbersome. Please stop. Thank you.

2. If I could please have one day where I don't have vertigo. Just one. I have things I want to do that require getting into the car and going places. I would like to do them. (Not looking forward to Thursday's teeth cleaning.)

3. I pre-ordered a doll at the end of last year. It arrived to the artist in May. I paid for shipping to me in May. I still haven't received my doll. The artist is apologetic every time I reach out, but my doll still hasn't made it's way to the mail. I am hoping I still like the doll when I get her at this rate.

Started off spooky season by seeing Lost Boys on the big screen, on an original print of the film. Original, and very beat up.



It was cool to see it on the big screen. Visually, the movie is stunning. Not in an 'every frame a picture' sort of a way. The individual compositions are okay, but the visual storytelling is impressive.

I saw some people from book club and sat with them. They were out as a group for someone's birthday, so I accidentally crashed his birthday, but it was chill. Then, the bus home didn't seem to exist, so I took a Lyft home.

A couple weeks ago, we wanted to get out and do something, but also got a late start on the day. We headed to the local greenbelt, since it's reasonably close and we haven't been there in a while.


A very cute bumblebee.


My other favorite insect from the day: a really big moth hanging out on a tree. :)

Eleven more pictures, including more insects and spiders:

One of the road bridges over the greenbelt path has some pretty mosaics.


Another of the mosaics.

(There are two more mosaics on the other side of the bridge, but someone was sitting there, haha.)


Crossing the creek.


There were many big, impressive spider webs along the path! With big, impressive spiders in them! I didn't realize until after looking at the picture that this one had a snack. :)


Not a spider, but a daddy longlegs! This one was almost orangey in color, which was neat.


These beetles were just face-first, going to town in the flowers. It was very funny. I believe these are "bumble flower beetles."


Some huge carpenter ants!


Some lovely little sweet peas in the overgrown/abandoned garden area behind some of the apartments.


Hollyhocks have definitely been having A Year! I saw them all over Santa Fe, and in a ton of gardens this year, and even a bunch of landscaping. This one is also in the abandoned garden.


A very charming little duck swam over just as it started raining.


I'm really not a fan of the influx of Japanese beetles that we've started having each year. They're terribly destructive. However, this one was very interesting - almost pink on the front segment instead of the usual green color!

It was also a two snake day, which was delightful! I didn't get good pictures of either of them, but Alex spotted one pretty large garter snake, which I got to see as it headed into the underbrush. Then I was leaning down to look at a little spider that scuttled across the sidewalk... and wound up pointing directly at a tiny baby garter snake that had been just at the edge of the path. Very tiny and cute!

It was a lovely day out. We got caught in a tiny drizzle, but not bad. It was pretty humid (especially for here!) so we were all a bit sticky by the end.