Our annual October art challenge is underway over at drawesome. I've been combining some of the prompts where possible as it adds an extra twist. The pics are all made in Procreate - you can click on each one for the full-sized art. The individual posts are here.

"through a window" & "molten"

"friendship" & "pool"

"mushroom procession"

"ignite" (mushroom procession at night)

"fluffy" and "under the bed"

Scheduling Tools

Another resource post! This one is for tools that help you schedule meetings/events, particularly with large groups, across time zones, and/or on Discord. This is not a comprehensive list, just tools I've personally tried, but I tried to give some details on the features of each so people can look for one that serves their purpose best. I've included both time finders, which help you find the best time for an event, and time/event displays, which help you announce the event time once you've chosen it (in a way that works across time zones).

Time Finders

Time finding tools help groups find the best time for a synchronous event (like a meeting, watch party, etc.). The user creates a poll with all the possible times, and then anyone interested can fill out the times they are available. Then you'll be able to see who is available at different times. Most online time finder tools have an option to account for time zones. Other potential features include users being able to go back and edit their availability later, comments, different length time slots, etc. Some time finders only let respondents mark themselves as available or unavailable, while others might also include a third option for times in which the respondent could be available if needed, or an "unsure" option.

Below are a list of time finders that I have tried. I've listed details of some features in each, but please note that some of the ease-of-use commentary may be subjective.

Rallly

Availability response options: Yes/No/If need be. (You can also leave time slots unanswered.)

Comment field: Yes, separate from the response itself (so users can leave multiple comments). Can be disabled.

Accounts: Not necessary, but available.

Results editing: Yes.

Time slot durations: Between 15min and 23h 45 min, in 15 min increments. You can have different duration time slots in the same poll.

Time zone integration: Yes, a toggled option.

Display format: Table, one column for each time slot. (This may involve lots of horizontal scrolling.)

Poll creation ease-of-use: Can be tedious for long periods of time, as you must manually add each time slot (rather than just specifying the entire possible time block), or at least each potential date. There is a button to apply the same set of time options to all dates.

Poll response ease-of-use: The horizontal scrolling can be a bit tedious.

Results viewing ease-of-use: Again with the horizontal scrolling. Each time-slot column displays the number of available respondents on top, and it uses an icon to differentiate between when everyone is available due to all users responding "Yes" vs. at least one "if need be".

Other notes: More features are available with a premium account, but most features are available for free and I have never tried premium (nor have I had any need to).

Sesh Time Finder

Sesh is a third-party calendar bot for Discord, which has time finder feature of their own. For full Discord integration, the Sesh bot needs to be added to the server in which the time finder poll is being shared, but the basic time-finder can be used independently of Discord or the Sesh bot. Most features are extremely similar to Rallly, but with the added benefit of Discord integration.

Availability response options: Yes/No/Maybe. (You can also leave time slots unanswered.)

Comment field: None.

Accounts: For creators, none necessary for the basic time finder, can log in with Discord for the full features/integration. For respondents, the creator can choose to make the time finder poll available to anyone with the link (so no account necessary), or they can limit it to members of a specific Discord server.

Results editing: Yes.

Time slot durations: Between 15min and 23h 45 min, in 15 min increments. You can have different duration time slots in the same poll.

Time zone integration: Yes, automatic.

Display format (poll responses): In the browser, it is a table, one column for each time slot. (This may involve lots of horizontal scrolling.) In Discord, it is a vertical list of all the time slots.

Poll creation ease-of-use: (Same as Rallly.)

Poll response ease-of-use: Tedious, both in browser and in Discord. In browser, the horizontal scrolling can be a bit tedious. In Discord, only 4 time slots are displayed at a time and the user must cycle through each set of 4 using forward/back buttons.

Results viewing ease-of-use: Again with the horizontal scrolling, or vertical scrolling if viewing in Discord. A major advantage of this is that Sesh is a calendar bot, so once a time slot is decided upon, a Sesh event (and Discord event, if you've enabled the mirroring setting in Sesh) can be created simply by clicking on that time slot column.

Other notes: Creators can choose to send the time finder poll to Discord, so users can select their availability without even clicking a link. Compared to Rallly, I find the response experience is just a bit clunkier, and viewing the results is not quite as nice a display, but ultimately the difference is very slight. The Discord integration can be a major benefit when event planning, and maybe the event itself, is taking place in Discord.

Doodle

I haven't used Doodle in quite some time, so I don't have as much up-to-date information on it. I remember it being a nice product on the paid plan my workplace used, but the free version being more limited and annoying.

Availability response options: Yes/no/if need be.

Accounts: Required. Paid plan required for more features.

Results editing: Yes.

Time slot durations: Custom — you can choose any whole number of minutes. You can set different durations in the same poll.

Time zone integration: Yes.

Poll creation ease-of-use: Relatively easy (similar to Rallly and Sesh), but the ads in the free version clog up the interface.

Other notes: Video conferencing integration (Zoom and Google Meet integration available in the free plan, Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx only in the pro plan.)

WhenIsGood

Availability response options: Yes/no.

Comment field: Yes, part of the response.

Accounts: Not necessary, but available.

Results editing: Through a return link shown after the first time submitting, or emailed to the respondent if they choose.

Time slot durations: 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour, 1 day

Time zone integration: Yes, a checkbox option.

Display format: Calendar grid.

Poll creation ease-of-use: Very easy.

Poll response ease-of-use: Easy (the easiest on this list). Built-in zoom slider. Works fine on mobile and touch screens.

Other notes: WhenIsGood has some neat extra features like customizing the event URL, setting default highlighted time slots, etc.

When2Meet

Availability response options: Yes/No

Comment field: None.

Accounts: Not available.

Results editing: Optional password.

Time slot durations: 15 minutes

Time zone integration: Yes for specific dates survey. No for days of the week survey.

Display format: Calendar grid.

Poll creation ease-of-use: Easy.

Poll response ease-of-use: Not particularly intuitive. It is especially difficult to accurately select times on mobile or touch screen devices.

Results viewing ease-of-use: Not great. Alright if you are okay viewing results by color shade. Shows the portion of participants available by the darkness of the color, and then you can hover over a time slot to see who specifically is available.

Time Displays

Event Announcers

Some time zone reference sites have event announcer tools, where you can create a shareable link that shows each viewer a countdown and the event time in their own timezone. Time And Date, 24 Time Zones

Time Zone Converters

You can use converters like these to convert to UTC, if you don't want to do the offset math (or want to avoid any daylight savings related errors). Time And Date, 24 Time Zones

Discord Specific

Discord Universal Timestamps

Universal timestamps are markdown text that Discord will display in each user's timezone. You can use a converter to generate the text. Converters: EpochConvert, Sesh, Discord Time Stamp

Built-In Discord Server Events

If planning an event in a server that you have "Create Events" permissions in, you can create a server event and the time will automatically show up in each user's time zone.

Sesh Bot

Sesh is a third-party calendar bot for Discord.

Friend Time bot

The Friend Time bot can automatically convert between times sent by other users into your own time zone. I am personally not a fan of this option, as it requires every interested party to have set up the bot, and because you reveal your own time zone by necessity when you use it. (There is a private mode which keeps your specific time zone from displaying to other users, but unless you always send times with time zone information attached, e.g. "19:00 UTC", then any other user will be able to know the current time difference between your time zones.) Essentially, it is a way to avoid doing time zone math, but not a way to keep one's own time zone private (and even makes it more public).

This week, a bat-cat sticker from Sunset Road. Official start to Spooky Month!

This was a good week. Alex and I took a last-minute weekend (my weekend) trip, which was nice. (Eventually I'll get there in posting, but we went to the Sand Creek Massacre site. So... a bit somber rather than purely "fun" per se, but it was good to go.) Turned out I had a lot of stuff on my goal list for the week, and I did actually end up doing most of it. I wish I'd managed more writing, though felt like I did all right on reading. Looking back, it does feel like it was quite busy.

Goals for the week:

• I finished reading Diavola
• I posted my September book reviews
• I posted my October writing goals
• I did my September getyourwordsout check-in: 6498 words in September, bringing ytd to 85961
• I only sort of worked on my reading page
• We did get some outside time
• I did not work on the Worldhopping Fairytale Monstrosity
• We didn't get rent turned in
• I did pay car insurance through the end of the policy
• I did my October tracking grids
• I did not make my phone call
• I did buy us event tickets for something we want to do for Halloween
• I did start reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
• I did not clean my bedside table
• I did stop by my mom's house
• I did not put my laundry away
• We did get crickets
• I did get new branches and clean the katydid habitats
• I started an "October Devotional"

For the last few years, owing to my love for fall, but how often it feels like the season flies by without me getting to enjoy it, I've tried to do a "Fall Devotional" of sorts. Just trying to do something each day that feels to me like I'm appreciating the season. It's kind of mindfulness, and kind of a Dale Cooper "Every day, once a day, give yourself a present." This year, I hardly even noticed the start of fall, but I will try to do something for the season every day in October, at least!

So far that has been:

• 01 - I started reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
• 02 - I made myself a pumpkin chai in the morning; we went and got Indian food for dinner
• 03 - We started watching Monster: the Ed Gein Story on Netflix
• 04 - We got a pumpkin pie

For tracked habits:

• Work - 5/7
• Household Maintenance - 6/7
• Physical Activity - 4/7
• Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 2/7 - one day of over 1000, one day of over 500
• Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
• Meta Work - 5/7
• Personal Writing - 6/7
• Other Creative Things - 2/7
• Reading - 7/7 - I finished reading Diavola, and Alex and I finished reading Duma Key. I started reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, and Alex and I resumed reading Dead Silence. I also started reading Bloodhunt Academy by my friend adore, plus I've continued with Dracula Daily/Re: Dracula
• Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday we finished watching Clickbait; Monday we watched the Broncos game, an I listened to some Re: Dracula; Tuesday I also listened to Re: Dracula; Wednesday had a true crime documentary (Stalking Samantha) in the background; Thursday had some youtube on in the background and listened to Re: Dracula; Friday we watched an episode of Great British Bake Off, and then the first three eps of Monster; Saturday we watched a paranormal video, and had some other stuff in the background, though I fell asleep.
• Video Games - 0/7
• Social Interaction - 3/7

Total words written: 4720 on my book reviews from September and my writing goals for October

I've been having so much fun with Silksong, an incredible game. There's so much to explore!
I finally got to the first ending (could have done it earlier but now felt like a good time) and that seems like a good point to post, uh, 9.5k of notes about my playthrough.

( Act 2: Citadel of Song. Part 1 )

We head back to the royal residence, this time from inside, because this is where many noble visitors end their tour: in the portion of the royal residence where the Jackal and his High Lord receive honored guests.

Foreign visitors are shocked by how starkly plain this chamber is. They ought not to be. It is in keeping with the ways of the Jackal. Believe me or no, this room is luxurious in comparison to the Jackal's private quarters.

One of the few reminders in the palace of the Emorian occupation is the Emorian-style reclining couch in the corner. I apologize for the wine-stain. I have a tendency to spill things when I am angry.

[Translator's note: That little incident took place during the time of the Emorian occupation. You can read about it in Blood Vow.]

Two current spooky season fandom events!

Hotties Haunting the Narrative: a festive femslash ficathon, hosted by elasticella
Leave prompts and create fills for femslash pairings, featuring literal and/or figurative ghosts!

At ficortreat, you can offer treats (fic, doodles, recs, cat photos, or anything you like!) to visitors (or a selection of visitors, such as your followers). You can also wander around the neighbourhood to see what others are offering. You can participate however you feel comfortable.

Part two of three of the pictures from the lantern festival!

They had a series of the animals from the Eastern Zodiac, which were lovely!


The rat.


The ox.

The other ten animals:

The tiger.


The rabbit.


The dragon. (My sign!)


The snake.


The horse.


The goat.


The monkey.


The rooster.


The dog.


The pig.

At some point there'll be one more post of the lanterns!

ficortreat | Browse the Fic or Treat neighbourhood

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Hi, and thanks for dropping in! Leave a comment on this post with your request (or you can say "surprise me!"). No guarantees, but I will try my best to give something to anyone who visits. <3

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My mother has been in Ireland for 3 days (the first two of which were for touristing in Dublin and resting) and has managed to find two distant cousins to talk to about family history.

Mom, Dad, and Godmother are on a trip together. They went with a fancy tour company and a driver. Mom and Godmother wanted to go to certain places for genealogy reasons. They met up with the driver today to go to the first town, church, and cemetery. Mom and driver got to talking. Driver knew someone who knew an old-timer (92) they went to talk with who knew where the chapel (ruins) that branch of the family was baptized at was located. I've got pictures of the chapel in the family group chat.

Driver's friend meets them at the cemetery and got family names and got Mom and co in touch with Cousin 1. They meet up and talk. Cousin 1 gives mom number for Cousin 2 since she's the family historian. They're meeting up tomorrow.

The house the family lived in during the early 1800s is now a charity shop. I've got pictures of the building.

Further updates as they come in.

New (to me) TV:

Only Murders in the Building 5x06
High Potential 2x03
English Teacher 2x02 & 2x03
Abbott Elementary 5x01

Movies:

Honey Don't (2025)

Part two of the monthlyish pet pics! This time devoted to the coldblooded vertebrates.

This time we have:

Berry Mad!


In her most fashionable hat!

(You can see right in front of her that she has started to dig the water out of her pond to make mud for herself. Previously, she would push her dirt into the pond to make mud, but apparently this year, she has decided she likes this way better.)

Four more pictures of Berry Mad:

Sittin' in her plant.


Not the clearest, but 'tis the time of year where she starts to burrow.


Toad? What toad? I don't see a toad.


Buried in her self-made mud. But then I dumped crickets in, and she immediately sat up, haha.

Guava Splash!


So small it makes me want to cry.

Three more pictures of Guava Splash:

(This picture is from Alex. Showing off the other side of the tiniest frog.)


So small.


This picture is from just yesterday. Tiny frog is looking a little chubby!
(Which is actually a relief... I was worried about getting something so small to eat enough to stay healthy.)

And mom and Taylor's garter snake, who has been named Ripley!

(Ripley, because she looks "ripple-y" when she moves, but also because Alien is great.)


She's so cute. She likes her little plant.

Just one more of Ripley:

I love her and her cute little face.

Thank you kindly to my "interplanetary" friend james who in September sent me a postcard that says Visit Beautiful Southern Enceladus: More Than 100 Breathtaking Geysers! The Home of "Cold Faithful"!

(For those of you who might think this is a place in California because it sounds like "Escondido" and "Encino" and other similar California location names..uhm...no...Enceladus is a moon of the planet Saturn.)

Back on September 18th, Alex and I decided to go do a fun splurgey thing. We went to the Four Mile Historic Park's "Bright Nights" lantern festival display. :)

Four Mile Historic Park is a historic farm in Denver (which was once a stagecoach stop, which is where the Four Mile name comes from, I believe.) They're typically closed on my days off, so we never end up going, but they had a booth at Pride, and we picked up a flyer for the upcoming lantern festival.

It was lovely!


The entrance. (Though I took this picture on the way out; it was still slightly light in the sky when we got there.)


Should have gone back over once it was fully dark, but I do love the peacocks. (The sign about this particular display talks about them representing love. They are, of course, both male, haha. And have a giant rainbow heart. Love my pride peacocks.)


I really loved this fae creature on their throne. <3

Twelve more pictures:

I was, of course, very taken with the jackalopes.


Fun fantasy deer... seaweed? creature.


Some charming little mushrooms.


It's probably zero real surprise, but the rainbow butterfly lights "room" was probably one of my favorite spots.


A kitsune!


Armadillo!


There were a bunch of interactive displays. This one has a crank at the front, and turning it moves the machinery to move the segments of the dragon's body up and down.


The dragon's face.


Some were like this, intended to be photo frames. Very pretty!


Birds and lotus flowers.


I really liked the bluebirds and bluejays in the tree.


And one final jackalope!

I'm splitting the pictures from the lantern festival into a few different posts, since otherwise it'll be very, very long.

* The Conjuring House will be auctioned off on Halloween and some of the interested parties are big paranormal youtubers and also Matt Rife. Jason Hawes is trying to crowdfund a bid and some hope if he gets it, he'll take better care of it than others.

(Bella's silly face from a few days ago.)

Today, Alex took Bella to another FastCAT! (I so wish that they were ever held on days that I have off, but they almost never are.)



She did well! Apparently on the first run she slowed down midway because she was distracted by the mid-field judge, ha.

I still hope for her to someday break 10 seconds, but the 10-12 second timeframe seems to be about her "normal."

She has another next Friday, so we'll see how that one goes, too.

Somehow September went by even faster than August. This year is running out on me, fast! 

 

Goal Updates

I completed a goal! I listened to a podcast, "Once Upon A Time at Bennington College." Not the podcast I thought I was going to listen to, but it was short and a fun listen. 
I did another geocache and picked up my big fic again. I'm not sure I'll complete all of my goals but I'm going to try to make progress towards all of them.


September Stats

• 4 books read (and I finished MurderBot at the start of this month! Loved it!)
• I finished 9 movies (including working through all of the Studio Ghibli films that my library has on offer), and 1 podcast
• For writing, I'm starting to lock back in to my big goal fic for the year. Got a looong way to go on it, I'm hoping I can get more momentum soon
  • I spent a total of 2 hours 41 minutes drafting 2,496 words (~15.5 wpm)
• I've started working on the handmade Christmas gifts I'm doing this year
  • I spent 2h 53m on my 2025 crochet temperature blanket
  • I spent 1 hour on Tunisian crochet slippers 
  • I spent 29 minutes tatting ornaments
• Baked 4 things, including some fantastic scones

1. Got dental work done yesterday. Work itself went well. I love my dentist. But I woke up with a clicky jaw yesterday and no amount of careful handling was going to make dental work a pleasant experience. Alternated ice and heat, still got up today with a sore and swollen face.

2. I forgot to post when Kevin got sentenced. It was right before I got home from my trip and between travel and covid it slipped my mind. For the federal charges it's 14.5 years, credit for the year served, and 15 years probation after. State charges may or may not occur later. Internet crimes are weird.

3. My parents and godmother are in Ireland for the next few weeks. I warned my parents about how citizens are getting their phones searched coming back and they were pretty dismissive about my concerns. They're fairly apolitical online so it should be fine. The only real problem would be text threads and there is plenty in the history being critical of other politicians. (I was raised to believe that politicians are all con men who are out to line their own pockets while doing the bare minimum for their constituents to remain in office. I have seen little in adulthood to change this belief. The nature of the con has changed. It used to be they pretended to be willing to compromise.)

4. I have so little energy right now. I don't think any Halloween projects are happening. I really should reach out to various doctors about the increased long covid issues after my second bout of covid, but that takes energy.