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One the Kraken's baby goalies got their first NHL start last night and I need to talk about it
* He won, with a .963% save average. He had a bit of a softball opponent, but that's a good thing for a first game. He made some insane glove saves, stopped play by throwing himself at the puck. He's still cooking, but that was a splashy debut.
* He made a lot of solid passes to our Ds, very active goalie.
* Kokko passed to Kakko. Our announcers had to mention both Kaapo Kakko and Nikke Kokko in the same sentence repeatedly, and man I've wanted that all season.
* Other team pulled their goalie, so Kokko went for it, he took a shot on goal in his debut. He didn't get it, but it was a solid try. Then...
* In his post game interview was like "I tried to score before Joey, that was it" Joey is our main goalie, who famously regularly practices shooting in full goalie gear because he wants a goalie goal. He has the most NHL points of any goalie, and has taken multiple shots in the same game. And the kid make a stab at beating him to the punch.
He got the start, the win, first star, fish yeet and the helmet. And then teased the face of the franchise. He had an insane night.
The other thing that is nuts is why *neither* of our goalies for yesterday's game had a single NHL start before last night. They are both call ups. The Kraken roster 3 goalies, which is unusual. We got criticized for it a lot at the start of the year, but people quickly shut up. Between it being an Olympic year, everything about the state of the goalie market and one of our goalies getting a serious injury and being out most of the season, it was clearly shown to be a good move. Other teams have had some drama and ongoing problems with their netminders.
But it gets worse. We've got an usual amount of contracted goalies overall, not just on our NHL team. Last night our AHL team had to dress one of their goalie coaches for the game. We've gone from an overflow of goalies to nabbing people from the support staff. It's not any one thing. Murray has an undisclosed family situation. LaFountaine is sick. Gru took an on-ice injury and got pulled mid-game and is still out. Joey took an on-ice injury and played through the pain to a win, but is now recovering from that.
Goalie is a very specialized position. Ds and Fs are in much larger pools, and you can always run one less D or make a D play F. 4 out across the franchise is insane. We aren't the only franchise with goalie problems right now, but in our case it's just... shit happens. And the good news is that the chaos lead to a goalie having an amazing debut. The assumption that Nikke will replace Gru in a few years, he's being developed to help anchor an NHL team. So, that debut and running an all-rookie line was a look at where things are headed. | |
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As often happens, after all the dramatic warnings cyclone Vaianu was only a period of heavy rain and moderate winds where I live. Just another Sunday. More flooding elsewhere, but not too bad. Oh well, at least I got my camping gear out ready for any future power cuts. off to bed with me now, night all!
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Minor update to yesterday's post.
One of those scary buzzy alerts on my phone just now, for the cyclone later today and tomorrow. No change from yesterday, just grumbling that I hate how those alerts startle me and raise my anxiety. Which is the point, I know! The eerie calm has broken - a light wind now and I just looked up and saw sun on the garden, but a sky becoming dark and lowering beyond. Peak cyclone time is the small hours of Sunday morning. Guess I'd better go outside and see what needs tidying away, then find the camping gas box in the garage. I'm very lucky that's all I need to do.
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Support for Workplace Banana Bread comes from Viewers Like You and from my roommate, who keeps disavowing her bananas as soon as they get one (1) freckle. The King Arthur banana bread recipe is, unsurprisingly, a smash hit. | |
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I haven't posted garden pics for a while due to autumn untidyness - so far as Auckland has an autumn, which is not very. Still green, just cooler and wetter. Also, I've been busy enjoying and making fanworks and have neglected the garden as it slides inexorably into disrepair. But everything's still green, and I do enjoy looking out at it so I thought you might like some views from my windows and doors. Overcast today so not ideal photography conditions, but as Cyclone Vaianu is bearing down on us in 36 hrs I figured I'd get pics now in case it's chaos by Monday. First time my landlord's property manager has ever emailed tenants with a cyclone warning and info about how to batten down! If I was still in my leaky house in the bush I'd be very worried but this flat's in a safe place - solid construction, high ground but not exposed, no big unsafe trees nearby - so fingers crossed. I'll roust out my camping gas stove and lamp in case of power cuts, and we'll see. Hope you're all safe from extreme weather events! ( pics here... ) | |
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Posted a student job for the summer and am now taking bets on what percentage of applications will successfully read and follow the line "With your application, please include a list of times you are available to work on-site during listed business hours." | |
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Some reviews of recent media before I hopefully disappear into a metaphorical cave for a week to study before my next exam; I say hopefully because I already made dumb decisions like staying up late to read fic the last two nights. Ah well. I do need breaks at some points, and I plan to get regular fresh air too. I watched Project Hail Mary in a theater with friends on Tuesday: two of us had read the book and the other three knew nothing at all about it, which made it extra fun to hear their reactions afterwards. I read the book a few months ago, and unlike the book the movie did live up to all the good things I'd heard about it. That was great. I really like how they adapted it (yes they cut some fun stuff/good additional info but overall I thought they did a great job), I liked the designs and the visuals, it was at times very exciting and dramatic and emotional and funny, and I had a fantastic time. I've already seen some great fanart on Tumblr and look forward to more of it, fingers crossed. Only four people of my TTRPG group had time two weeks ago so for a few hours we tried out Sunderfolk ( Steam link), a multiplayer turn-based tactical RPG where you play as animals. I had a lot of fun! I played an arcanist raven with teleportation powers, I loved that. I could do damage as well but my most effective moves were teleporting my allies (a rogue (weasel), a pyromancer (salamander), and a vanguard (kangaroo rat)) into better positions. The story so far is rather simple, you defend the settlement against the ogres, do side-quests and help gather resources for the rebuild; I'm not sure how much I'm meant to think about the implications (like that the animals came from above and with their bright lights took away living spaces from the ogres that are now starving) but I look forward to seeing where it goes. We're only halfway through act 1 chapter 2, but we already have a date set for next time. This time we had three of us on the couch and one joining online, next time all four will be able to attend in person, even better. About a week later, same scenario, only four people from my TTRPG group had time – different people this time so we started a new campaign. This time I played the bat bard, and they're absolutely adorable. Gameplay-wise unfortunately I enjoyed the bard much less; we only got to level 3 so maybe it gets better later? The other player who played for the second time also enjoyed his second choice (antelope ranger) much less than his first (pyromancer). There are currently no active plans to continue, but we might if we happen to have that group again. Dragonoak by Sam Farren #1 + #2, The Complete History of Castelir and The Sky Beneath The Sun: Rowan, exiled from her village since they discovered she is a necromancer, runs away with a dragon knight and becomes entangled in conflicts spanning multiple kingdoms and races. My (now ex-)gf recommended this trilogy to me, so I wanted to like it; and maybe that puts it into the category of "would have liked it more if not for my high hopes/expectations," idk. There were parts I liked, prominent among them the amount of queer characters; unfortunately it was neither the pacing nor most of the characters. ( Spoilers )The Dementia Cascade by L. Lynn Gray ( ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) tassosss) #1 + #2, The Dementia: A Space Adventure and Surviving Peace: Four generation ships fly in formation, still several generations from their target planet; when there are suddenly massive technical issues, solving them requires cooperation, which is made difficult by social and political conflicts. Like many books with multiple PoVs book 1 had some I enjoyed a lot, some I was neutral about, and some I liked less (I'm currently quickly frustrated by characters with ideological blinkers.) I liked book 2 even better: fortunately for me it focuses on my favorite characters from book 1, and also the most difficult political situation. Namely, Jacks and Antony on Peace, that had a violent uprising deposing a corrupt authoritarian leader in book 1 and the consequences of that in book 2. ( Spoilers ) | |
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* I love being a fan of the Seattle Not Technically Eliminated From The Play Offs Kraken. We win a game, we are back in playoff talk. We lose a game, we are back in McKenna talk. The Pacific division is just kinda like that. Look, squids, I am fine with missing the play offs but just do your best to impress McMann so he stays. We want to keep the zippy theater kid whose contemporary dance training includes ballet. We will be sad if the lose the guy who kinda dresses like a garden gnome to deal with Seattle rain. Also he is good at the putting the puck into the net thing that leads to happy squids. * The Kraken's president of hockey operations has stepped down. Late season firings and 'mutual decisions' are all the rage right now. Not sure which decisions were Francis and which were Botterill, but hopefully this is a good thing. There seems to be very broadspread agreement that this is good, the only question is how good? * I love being a fan of the Seattle Not Technically Eliminated From The Play Offs Torrent. I really hope by the time the pride game rolls around the vibes are better. * No definite word on the PWHL expansion, but word is that Detroit is very likely. Detroit not having a team would be tragic so I hope they get one. * One of the things I love about hockey? See the small guy in the middle? Please note which skates are him to fully appreciate how smol he is, it's easy to misread one of Oleksiak's skates as his:  The small guy is 6'2". Also, that is McMann. Squids, keeping him is your goal. | |
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I got Shudder to watch the Mortuary Assistant movie. I talk a lot about how indie video games are huge and how a lot are getting adapted, so I wanted to check it out.
I found parts more legitimately scary than I usually do in movies, but overall? I just felt odd, unbalanced and illogical to me. I don't want to judge it too harshly without being more familiar with the canon... but looking into Mort Ass fandom I see... wow, they are horny about the old guy. Really horny. Heh, wow, that one explicit artist I bought stuff from at Yaoicon in the mid 00's is still keeping on with that same style, good for her. Her tastes have not changed.
In between the explicit art, they also seem to not like the film.
So, for a short time I have access to a lot of horror films! Not sure what to watch. I don't like most mid horror stuff. I LOVE some horror, but most of what's out there has no appeal for me.
They have The Good Boy, which is a fascinating horror concept but I am worried it will also mess with me. I am not as sensitive to stuff happening to pets as most, but oooof...
They have Ghostwatch, which I will probably re-watch because I can. That was free on the you tubes for ages, like over a decade I'm pretty sure.
Hrmm... I should probably make like a post about horror I like to make it easier to recc horror to me... if that would help. Some of my fave films are Deliverance and Spree, which a lot of people would find odd | |
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 Wider shot:  Got another fill:  (I was able to clock where this one was and this is why I went out to Division today.) ( more ) | |
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Whoops, took over a week to get to posting these, haha. Last 'weekend' we did go on a lovely walk around Pelican Pond. The water level was a bit distressingly low, but there were pelicans! It was also perfect timing for all the blooming trees. We also saw an eagle again, though it was too high up to get a picture of.  The lake through the flowers.  There are apple trees all around the pond. They're lovely and they smell amazing.
Nine more pictures:
Kind of a pleasantly soft look against the sky.
Ladybug!
Some quite vibrant flowers from the far side of the pond.
Distant on the island, over on the left you can see the pelicans. Also plenty of other water birds.
This little falcon had a lot to say! I'm guessing it's a prairie falcon, since it's not too likely for us to have a peregrine, and it's too large to be a kestrel... but definitely more falcon- than hawk-shaped.
Bella stops to smell the flowers.
Vinca along the path.
Plus two additional pictures not from the same location:
Lovely pink flowers!
And from later in the week, on one of my workday walks. Lilacs!
It was an absolutely beautiful day to go for a walk, and I'm especially glad we got to enjoy the trees while blooming, since those are already winding down. | |
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"good morning, I'm calling about your ILL request for the Talmud. This is a 134 volume set. You may have THREE."
"...ah. we'll get back to you" | |
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Going with some spring vibes with birds and flowering trees.
This was a pretty good week. Work was fine. The effort to take walks during my workday has been good, and I'm happy with it. It seems like it makes me feel better through the day, and I'm hoping it helps with a little endurance, even though the walks are fairly short. I didn't get any fiction writing done, but I did do pretty steady work on my book reviews. I'd hoped to read a bit more, but what I did was okay. Didn't have a chance to play games much, so I'm hoping to get back to that a bit more next week. I really did a pretty decent amount off my list.
Goals for the week:
- I did finish reading The Fellowship of the Ring (and forgot to check it off ;_;)
- I did pay toward my hospital bill
- I did pay my imaging bill, for the CT scan that was apparently only partially included in the hospital's billing
- I finished my March book reviews
- I did not work on my WIP outline
- I did not read These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
- I did clean up my table and drawer, finally
- I did not work on my reading page
- I did water my plants
- We did not pay rent - have to wait until Monday
- I did set up the rest of the tracking grids for this notebook
- I did post my April writing goals
- I did my
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png) getyourwordsout check in (9547 words, ytd: 34828)
- We did go get crickets
- We gave Bella a bath, which she of course loved (she did not)
Tracked habits:
- Work - 5/7
- Household Maintenance - 2/7
- Physical Activity - 7/7 - the walks at work have been steady and nice
- Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 0/7
- Non-fiction Writing - 6/7 - 2 days of over 1000 words, 4 days of over 500 words, 1 additional day of less than 500
- Meta Work - 5/7
- Personal Writing - 3/7
- Other Creative Things - 1/7
- Reading - 7/7 - I finished reading The Fellowship of the Ring, finished Our Bloody Pearl, my ebook side read, and started Game Changer; Alex and I read some of The Luminous Dead
- Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday watched some game videos in background; Monday had explore and game videos in the background; Tuesday - Friday was also background game videos; Saturday was paranormal and game videos. Basically all just stuff on in the background.
- Video Games - 2/7 - Played some more Hades
- Social Interaction - 6/7
Total words written: 5609 mostly on reviews, some on writing plans
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After much low-key drama (original ortho referral to UCSF got hooked in with my nutritionist, who also happens to be in ortho but not for this) I got another referral and will be seeing ortho on this side of the Bay. I start with the P.A. and there's probably going to be more imaging, most likely an MRI which means I need to take my nose stud out. JFC, that's going to be a thing but whatever. In any case, back stuff is moving along. Went out for a walk this morning without my walking poles for the first time and things are feeling a lot better. Only did an easy 30 minutes so as not to aggravate anything but overall, it felt good. I know the surrounding neighborhoods pretty well so I can easily eke out a route that doesn't have a lot of people around while I am having big feelings about my body. Saturdays I am part of a group working through "The Artist's Way." Participants have ebbed and flowed through according to our various schedules but the time working on it has been valuable. There's definitely some class issues embedded in it which are much more evident to me now as opposed to when the book came out in the 90s, especially when we're talking about time, being able to make space within your current situation. However, it's been useful to do this and meeting new folks is always fun.
Have a quilt or two I want to start. Mostly just have to cut things and prep and get on it. Also have to start a wedding quilt for the godson. After I do one the first one that's scratching my brain, I'll start on the one for the wedding. The wedding is in October but I know me and how I work/not work with time. I already have the fabric so it's just a matter of getting started.
Our sportsgay transformation continues. Baseball is incoming. We went to the second exhibition game between the Oakland Ballers and the San Jose Giants in San Jose. Got to see our baseball friends and enjoy a mostly dry game. Shirley and I came prepared for rain and there was a bit of a drizzle but nothing too bad. Our team got waxed but we all still had a good time anyway. The Ballers were able to get the original Battle of the Bay trophy from NBC Sports and the original artist refashioned it to reflect that it is now the San Jose Giants vs. the Ballers instead of the SF Giants and the (formerly) Oakland As. The Ballers' season opener is May 19 so not too long now.
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 Look at her big fancy DCAT ribbon! :D Bella got to do two more FastCATs this weekend, semi-unplanned. So, she got her DCAT, which is the intermediate title for the event, back at her event in February. Back when she got her BCAT (the first-level title), she got a big fancy ribbon the same day. This time, they took down her information, but said she'd get her fancy ribbon at the next event. (At the time we assumed that they had to wait for the new runs to be officially tallied with the AKC.) Her next event was the one from last weekend... but at that event they said oops, it was supposed to have been mailed to us! We could pick it up in person, as long as it was at an event sponsored by the same organizers as the one she titled at. ( But this one was the same organizers...) But! The lady who had Bella's ribbon would be at a different event being held April 03-05, would Bella be at that one? Alex hadn't known about that one, so he entered her for Friday.  She almost broke ten seconds again. So close! (Ignore that she apparently got cheese crumbs on her ribbons, lol.) Also ignore the date on the ribbons - this did actually happen on the 3rd. But when Alex asked about her DCAT ribbon they said, oops, the lady who has them isn't here for the Friday event, only Saturday and Sunday. *grumble grumble* So just to make it worth the drive, Alex entered her again for today. I think this is the first time she's run twice in one weekend, Nope, she did enter a Thursday and a Sunday at a previous event. Dogs are allowed to enter as many days in a row as they want; just limited to two runs per day.  More pretty average times for Bella! Haha.  Look at how fancy her ribbon is! It's even personalized, which explains why she didn't get it same-day. Alex said that as soon as her fancy ribbon photoshoot was done, she wanted to run around for several more minutes, haha. Apparently even two events isn't enough to burn through all the energy! | |
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I've started a somewhat ambitious project, and am feeling very competent.
I have a box of letters written by my grandparents (to each other), along with various newspaper clippings, all from World War II. And my plan is to type it all up, put it in order, provide helpful comments, format it, index it, have it bound as a proper book, and present copies to all my grandparents' children.
And I know how to do all those things!
I'm making spreadsheet lists of documents, giving the letters unique ID numbers, correcting the punctuation while preserving the 80-year-old spelling, making notes on what will need to be indexed, and mentally planning how I'll present it all once it reaches an InDesign file…
I feel very good at my chosen profession today. | |
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Some mildy porny, romantic fun, in which Shane gets tattooed for Ilya. There's even an Easter mention! Words To Live By (Explicit, ~3600 words) I should of course be writing my Hollanov Big Bang fic, but no, this one happened. Happy hot cross buns to everyone. | |
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ONLINE E-BOOK (html, epub, mobi, pdf, and xhtml)
Free at my website.
The Motley Crew (The Thousand Nations). When a young man named Dolan flees from the north, he faces danger on all sides. The Northern Army wants him back. The Empire of Emor wants him dead. His native homeland of Koretia may not want him at all. And his only protection is a man with motives that are mysterious and possibly deadly.
New installment:
Side story | Dangerous Games. Dangerous games benefit dangerous men . . . unless those games are played with leaders of dangerous men.
REISSUE
Already available free at my website, this omnibus is now also available at AO3, SqWA, Ream, and online bookstores.
Blood Vow (The Three Lands). He has taken a blood vow to the Jackal God to bring freedom to his land by killing Koretia's greatest enemy. But what will he do when the enemy becomes his friend?
BLOG FICTION
Tempestuous Tours (Crossing Worlds: A Visitor's Guide to the Three Lands #2). A whirlwind tour of the sites in the Three Lands that are most steeped in history, culture, and the occasional pickpocket.
New installments:
REVIEWS OF MY FICTION
Speculative fiction writer Jennifer R. Povey posted reviews of all six of my Three Lands novels in the space of less than three weeks. Occasional spoilers.
UPCOMING FICTION
Some of you may have noticed that I updated my website early this time. That was because I was uncertain when I would regain the ability to upload web pages, after my transfer to a new webhost. Thankfully, the transfer went smoothly, with no downtime for my website.
Also, I'm posting this update a day early because I'll be watching Artemis II tomorrow afternoon. :)
My next release will be the final part of the novel The Motley Crew: "Apprehended Ambassador."
My fiction announcements are also available by e-mail and feeds.
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