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Snagged from [personal profile] dizzojay ages ago.


Day 5: Talk About Books This Year

I started the year in 4 book clubs. Now, I'm only in one. Funnily enough, the Pub Grub Book Club was the last one I joined, the one I heavily debated joining, and it's the only one I'm still in. It's run by the library, but is held at a local Lord of the Rings themed bar. We only read graphic novels and we vote on them from a list each month. In November, we had 2 books to discuss because we had a tie vote and just elected to read them both instead of picking between them. It technically has 12 members, but 5 of us show up consistently. It's a good number. They are also the reason I read Fourth Wing. Everyone else in group had already read it and strongly encouraged me to do so, with plans to discuss it after the next book club meeting. Unfortunately, the next book club meeting was cancelled do you the group leader having a family emergency.

The Freshly Written Book Club was a monthly book club at the library where we read books that had made best sellers lists and discussed if they lived up to the hype. It fizzled out on its own during the summer for several reasons. One being that it had been going for several years already and while it's normal for people to come and go as commitments change, no one was coming in to replace the members that were leaving. We had several books that were complete duds in a row, which made even more people lose interest. Also, this year, we had to change how we acquired books for book club and it caused massive delays in actually getting the books, to the point that we were never getting the books on time anymore and for the last meeting we actually met, we hadn't gotten the books in time enough to actually read them before the meeting.

The Haunted Book Club was an online book club being hosted by a YouTuber called Alt Knots. She is best known for being a spooky crochet/yarn/fiber arts influencer. The books were always interesting picks, but trying to keep up with book selection and the live discussion streams got to be too much for me. In order to stay on top of things, you had to be constantly monitoring her YouTube channel, her Instagram, her website, and her newsletter. I just didn't have the energy to be that invested and I have no idea if the book club is still going, but I do still follow her on YouTube and Instagram.

Roll for Reading Book Club died before it really got a chance to get started. We were supposed to meet every other month. Basically, there was a master sheet of fantasy books, each numbered, and we rolled a d20 to determine what book we were reading. We each read a different book and discussed it with the others at the next meeting. It was intentionally kept small, but this back fired because after someone moved and another member never showed up ever, we were down to 2 members and the library could no longer justify running it, as 1 of the members was library staff running it as part of his work schedule when he could have been put on other projects. We managed to have 2 book discussion meetings, and selected a 3rd book for each of us, we never got to discuss.

I'm also doing [personal profile] kingstoken's reading bingo, but I haven't updated my card since June, so I'm not sure how I am doing with it.

Our library did a Summer reading challenge this year. It was based on the number of books you read and you got enamel pins as prizes. (There was a random assortment to choose from.) You got one for signing up, you got one for hitting the halfway point, and one for finishing. You also got a bonus one for signing up on the first day. Your official tracker card also served as a raffle ticket for a gift basket when you turned it in. I had completely forgotten about that part and ended up winning! It was huge. It came in a Pizza Planet (from Toy Story) tote bag. Attached on the outside were 3 Pokémon enamel pins and a knock off brand tamigatchi. Inside was a zen magnet poetry kit, 2 different escape room games, 3 books, & 1 - 1000 piece puzzle of cats on a bookshelf.

Surprisingly, there was no Halloween reading challenge at the library this year. There usually is one.

Right now, the library is doing what they are calling the Golden Ticket Challenge. Your tracker this time looks like a little road map with gold scratch off spots. For every 30 minutes of reading, you scratch off a spot and have a chance at winning a prize (it says small or medium prize on the sheet and I know you pick them off a cart, but neither my mother or myself have claimed any of our earned prizes yet, so I don't know what they are). The end of the trail is 9 hours of reading, which then you can turn in your tracker for a large prize for finishing. You can claim your prizes as you go or all at once when you are done. On top of this, there are 30 golden tickets hidden in books and audio books throughout the library. If you check out a book with one in it, you get a special prize.

One of my main reading goals this year was to complete any ongoing series I've been reading. The only one I've come close to finishing is Lumberjanes, which I did focus on a bit more heavily, as it's the series' 10th anniversary. All I need is the last collected volume and I will have finished the graphic novel series. I've had it on hold for awhile, but it's still just marked as pending.

My Good Reads goal this year was 40 books. I haven't updated it in a few months, but I know I have surpassed it.

My main way of tracking books this year was with the Beanstack app. I do dearly love it, but it hard logged me out in September and after the first couple of attempts to log back in didn't work, I got too busy to deal with it and it kind of got back burnered. I will get back in & get it updated, but my stats are going to be way out of wack.

I used my history on my library account to help make this list, as my physical tracking of my reading after June is a bit spotty, so there are possibly some non-library books missing, but the complete list should actually be pretty complete.


Complete List
Read more... )

Complete blank meme in box
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
Sorry this is a bit late. Things have been chaotic. I'm also sorry the coding is a bit inconsistent. Please keep in mind I'm writing this all on a phone.

Snagged from [personal profile] dizzojay ages ago.

Day 4: Talk About Television This Year

I watch a lot of TV. I need background sounds to function and TV seems to work the best.

This year, I had several extended housesitting gigs that changed up available shows to me, allowing me to revisit some old favorites and explore some new things. Our TV antenna also stopped picking up a signal from June to September. We never did find out why. It did mean we started checking out even more DVDs from the library than usual.

Currently, we are doing rewatches of Poirot, Murdoch Mysteries, Midsomer Murders, and Bob's Burgers. We had intended to watch them all in order from beginning to end, but since we've seen them all already, we are just getting what is available at the library in as close to chronological order as we can. Luckily, I've made a tracker to keep track of what seasons we've watched to make it a little easier.

Earlier in the year, we binged the complete Downton Abbey series, including the movies.

I realized I should clarify that the we is my mother and myself.

During one of my housesitting gigs, I got the opportunity to watch the complete 1943 Batman serials and the complete 1949 Batman and Robin serials. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but had never gotten a chance.

This summer, I finally decided to watch the final season of Walker, mostly just to see how they ended it. I never did make up my mind if I liked it or not. Nor could I figure out how it survived as a show for so long.

I have sort of stopped watching the 1950s Adventures of Superman & 1960s Batman TV shows. I still love them, they are just on at really inconvenient times for me right now.

Animation Domination is still must watch television in our house. Mom and I have been watching The Simpsons together every week since it started (baring periods we didn't have TV or I was living elsewhere or it wasn't on). Mom doesn't really care for the rest of the current lineup, which this year has been Grimsburg, Krapopolis, Bob's Burgers, The Great North, The Simpsons, and Universal Basic Guys, depending on the time of year. Grimsburg and Universal Basic Guys are new shows. Grimsburg's first season aired from January to May and, while it grew on me, I wouldn't go out of my way for it. Universal Basic Guys premiered this fall and I don't really care for it, but I couldn't really tell you why. I look forward to the rest of the shows though.

Another housesitting find was Moosemeat & Marmalade. It "brings two very different chefs [Art Napoleon, seasoned hunter & bushcook of Canada, and Dan Hayes, classically trained French chef of the UK] together to explore culture, culinary traditions and really good food." I found it on FNX, First Nations Experience. A television channel devoted to exclusively indigenous content and it's amazing.

I also came across The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe on Cartoon Network while housesitting and couldn't get enough of it.

Svengoolie (horror movie host) celebrated his 45 anniversary this year. The show also brought on 3 new sidekicks. For October they also brought back Svengoolie's Halloween Boo-Nanza on METV. For the month of October, it focuses on Halloween episodes of its regular classic TV programming, Svengoolie gets a double feature Saturday nights. Svengoolie also go a new spin off show this year called House of Svengoolie. It's essentially the same show, just hosted by the new sidekicks instead of Svengoolie himself. They did a very lovely tribute to Jim Henson and to puppets. (Two separate tributes) After Svengoolie, there are late night show binge specials featuring a different show each week, like one week it will be Kolchak the Night Stalker all night, the next, it will Twilight Zone all night, etc. And the week of Halloween, Toon in With Me becomes Hallo-Palooza, the morning cartoons have a different Halloween related theme each day and the hosts do a week long bit of their own. This year it was a scavenger hunt at haunted places and trivia.

This fall, the first season of Murder in a Small Town & the second season of Accused (US version) premiered on a channel I get. I thoroughly enjoyed watching those each week.

At two different housesitting gigs I got to watch Toonami for the first time in years. The highlights for me were getting to watch the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba (Swordsmith Village Arc) s4 premier and the Rick and Morty the Anime Japanese Language Premier.

I've also been enjoying The Penguin, but I haven't finished it yet.

For Batman Day, I tried to binge as much of Batman the Animated Series as I could, and I think I only made it to episode 19. I haven't watched it since it was new, so that was fun.

One place I housesat had a large selection of free channels that came with their TV that just played a single show continuously in random episode order. My favorites for background noise were the My Little Pony channel that aired both the original series and Friendship is Magic, the Murder She Wrote channel (I loved that show as a kid), and the Midsomer Murders channel, which was having some sort of contest because of the upcoming 25th season/series. I also had a lot of fun with Retro Crush, which was subbed anime.

See post about movies in 2024/day 3 for note about complete list.

Complete List
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Complete blank meme in box
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Snagged from [personal profile] dizzojay ages ago.

Day 3: Talk About Movies This Year

While I watched a lot of movies this year, I did watch fewer movies than usual.

I really got into animated short films on YouTube, which I unfortunately did not take notes on the titles of, but one about an old knight that gets rejected by a young king because of his age, but then saves his horse from a dragon, sticks in my mind. Most of the ones I watched are 2 or 3 years old. There are also a lot of fun, weird little horror shorts on Instagram as well. (Non AI generated)

While I didn't get to go to any of the film festivals this year or special film screenings, after one book club meeting, I did get to watch one of the 5 minute horror movies made by a local director and actors. Do I remember what the movie was about or it's title? No, not really, but book club huddled around a laptop at the bar where we meet getting an unexpected, special viewing was still a cool moment.

I thought I was going to completely miss out on Shark Week this year, but was able to watch everything later.

Another pleasant surprise was going to the movies with my cousin. She was in town for her son's 18th birthday and we all went to see Alien: Romulus.

I tried doing the June Ghibli Movie Challenge, but couldn't keep up. I do plan on trying again though.

Mom and I were trying to watch all 3 Hobbit movies this year, since the library system has them, but we've been having trouble getting a hold of the third one.

This year I was able to participate in the Halfway to Halloween Stitch and Scream! Basically, you knit or crochet while watching a horror movie each of the 13 days until the halfway to Halloween day. I worked on a different project than the group one (which is allowed) and I had to swap some of the movies on the list due to availability (also allowed), and I had to actually delay the last movie because I got incredibly sick at the end, but still a big accomplishment. I have an unfinished post about I'm still hoping to finish.

I rewatched Stargate (1994) for the anniversary.

We have been trying to figure out how to make it possible for Mom to watch the Barbie movie since it came out. She's been a Barbie collector since Barbies have existed. By chance, the library got it on DVD and we made a night of it.

For years, I've been trying to watch the movie Maurice. At a housesitting gig I was finally able to do so... and was disappointed.

Complete List below is more like, "complete as it can be." My tracking kinda waxed and waned with the crazy of the year, which is one of the reasons the monthly media lists didn't happen. It made me sad that I had such trouble with it this year, but at least I can do this.

Complete List
Read more... )

Complete blank meme in box
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
Snagged from [personal profile] dizzojay ages ago.

Day 2: Your Holiday Wishlist

This seems like a good time do my "Dear Yule Goat" letter.

Dear Yule Goat,
This year has been... Unpleasant. Please help me end it on a cheerier note.

1. Everyone to find comfort and joy somewhere in the coming year.

2. For people to share the love/thank your favorite mods and creators. Whether it's a kudos on AO3 or thanking a mod of your favorite comm for all the hard work they do or leaving a like on a video or whatever, it will leave their day a bit brighter.

3. The strength to weather what's coming.

4. The will to clean and some storage solutions.

5. Happy holiday time with my mom.

6. The right words to tell my loved ones how I feel about them.

7. Whimsy. I plan on sprinkling that stuff everywhere. I'm going to need extra.

8. I'm not sure what I need for this, but this has not been the best year for me creativity wise and I'd like to fix that going forward.

9. Again, I'm not sure what I need for this either, but whatever it is I need to help me keep on top of life admin.

10. A new mattress, as well as sheets, blanket, comforter, pillows, and sleep accessories. (My bedframe is fine.)

[community profile] holiday_wishes Wishlist

[community profile] fandomtrees Wishlist

I also have a wishlist linked in my links post.



Full blank meme in box
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
Snagged from [personal profile] dizzojay ages ago.

Day 1: A Photo of You Taken This Year

Unfortunately, I, one, don't really have a way of sharing photos, and two, after going through my phone, I apparently took no photos of myself this year and can think of no reason anyone else might have.

Originally, I was going to combine days one and two because of this issue, but I'm not ready to do day two yet and I wanted to get the ball rolling.

Complete blank meme in text box below.

Holiday Happenings

Mon, Dec. 5th, 2022 10:11 am
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
These are things going on this season that still have open sign ups (as far as I know), but hurry on some because a couple have fast approaching deadlines.

[community profile] fandomtrees
A wishlist sharing challenge similar to fandom stocking or fandom gift box
Sign ups end Dec 7
Gifting from Nov 19 - Jan 4

[community profile] fffc
Annual Advent challenge (December challenge s159 Winter Calendar), daily writing prompts. If you miss a day, amnesty is from Dec 28 - 31.

[community profile] holiday_wishes
Another wishlist sharing comm. Please read their rules carefully.
Open for wishlists until Dec 31

Sapphic Stocking Stuffers at [personal profile] elasticella
"A multimedia, multifandom merrymaking"
Open until Jan 2

[community profile] seasonofkink holiday challenge has opened.
Choose 3 (or more) kinks and create a fanwork that contains all chosen kinks. Multimedia, fics have 1000 word minimum.
Runs until Feb 14

[personal profile] dizzojay has resurrected the December meme at her journal.

[community profile] eventcentral is having a Cocktail Hour Challenge.
You sign up and get a cocktail as a prompt. Posting is on AO3. I could not find a deadline for sign ups, but posting ends Dec 30.

Non-Holiday Happenings

[community profile] allbingo had two events:
[personal profile] kiramaru7 's Wonders of Nature Bingo
[personal profile] siberian_skys annual Amnesty Fest

[community profile] sga_saturday
Amnesty of any prompts, but with a twist this year - you can use the additional prompt of "bitter" with any other prompt.
Runs Dec 3 - the first Saturday in Jan.


Link below in the comments anything else you would like people to know about
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
Snagged from [livejournal.com profile] dizzojay

December 21 → your favorite websites this year

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Snagged from [livejournal.com profile] dizzojay

December 03 → talk about movies this year

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December 04 → talk about television this year

Read more... )

December 05 → talk about books this year

Read more... )
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
Snagged from [livejournal.com profile] dizzojay

December 02 → your holiday wish list

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spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
DECEMBER MEME
stolen from [livejournal.com profile] dizzojay

A wee bit late, but it seemed like a nice way to recap the old year while being body slammed into the new.

December 03 → talk about movies this year
December 04 → talk about television this year
December 05 → talk about books this year
December 06 → talk about food this year
December 07 → talk about music this year
December 08 → talk about games this year
December 09 → talk about art this year
December 10 → a photo of you taken over ten years ago
December 11 → talk about volunteering/charity this year. 
December 12 → talk about this year in medical news
December 13 → talk about hobbies this year
December 14 → something that made you proud this year
December 15 → something that made you laugh this year
December 16 → something that made you sad this year
December 17 → something that made you happy this year
December 18 → your favorite photo this year 
December 19 → what you learned this year
December 20 → a picture of you taken over 20 years ago
December 21 → your favorite websites this year
December 22 → new items you’ve added to collections this year
December 23 → travel you did this year
December 24 → Something which caught your interest this year
December 25 → a photo of you and your family
December 26 → talk about politics or current events this year
December 27 → 3 goals for next year
December 28 → your plans for New Years Eve
December 29 → talk about things you are excited for next year
December 30 → a list of what you got for your winter holiday
December 31 → best moment of the month


December 3rd - Movies this year (Remember this is about 2018 and I wrote it in 2018)
There were a lot of movies I planned on seeing at the theater, but it was just not meant to be. I did take Aiden to go see Christopher Robin. I wish it had been under better circumstances, but it was fun.

I did watch a lot of movies via streaming services. The only one that really stands out to me now was The Frontier. It was a surprise find. A noir about a the aftermath of heist set in the seventies at a roadside hotel/diner named The Frontier. They did an amazing job at making it feel like the movie really was filmed in the seventies, from filming on 16mm, using actual vintage clothing, using music that would have been in movie soundtracks at the time instead of just music from the time period, to using seventies era special effects for the shooting scenes. Jim Beaver played a bad, bad man. It was awesome.

I was surprised at the horror movie selection I was able to find this fall and greatly enjoyed mainlining that. Though, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised considering that is when everything trots out the horror movies, but it felt like a much bigger selection this year.

The movie selection on Svengoolie this year has been exceptional as well.

The worst movie I saw this year hands down was the live action Fullmetal Alchemist movie. That was just a horrible hot mess. The visual effects and costumes were good, but not only did they largely screw up characters to the point they no longer resembled themselves, the storyline seemed to be created by taking the source material, putting it in a blender, and then reconstituted by someone on an acid trip.
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
DECEMBER MEME
stolen from [livejournal.com profile] dizzojay

A wee bit late, but it seemed like a nice way to recap the old year while being body slammed into the new.

December 02 → your holiday wish list
December 03 → talk about movies this year
December 04 → talk about television this year
December 05 → talk about books this year
December 06 → talk about food this year
December 07 → talk about music this year
December 08 → talk about games this year
December 09 → talk about art this year
December 10 → a photo of you taken over ten years ago
December 11 → talk about volunteering/charity this year. 
December 12 → talk about this year in medical news
December 13 → talk about hobbies this year
December 14 → something that made you proud this year
December 15 → something that made you laugh this year
December 16 → something that made you sad this year
December 17 → something that made you happy this year
December 18 → your favorite photo this year 
December 19 → what you learned this year
December 20 → a picture of you taken over 20 years ago
December 21 → your favorite websites this year
December 22 → new items you’ve added to collections this year
December 23 → travel you did this year
December 24 → Something which caught your interest this year
December 25 → a photo of you and your family
December 26 → talk about politics or current events this year
December 27 → 3 goals for next year
December 28 → your plans for New Years Eve
December 29 → talk about things you are excited for next year
December 30 → a list of what you got for your winter holiday
December 31 → best moment of the month


December 2nd - Holiday Wish List
Holiday wish lists tend to make me tense up and claim I don't know what I want. There is a long history there I don't want to go into. However, this is what I wanted out of my holiday season 2018: enough internet access to poke at my friends (didn't happen), get cards mailed out (I still have a few left to send), get all gifts mailed off (I still have two waiting to go), go see the lights in the park (it was amazing), make cabbage rolls, drink ridiculous amounts of hot cocoa, make fudge, and get the tree up for Mom.
spiralicious: Cereal Killer Mask (Default)
DECEMBER MEME
stolen from [livejournal.com profile] dizzojay

A wee bit late, but it seemed like a nice way to recap the old year while being body slammed into the new.

December 01 - A photo of you taken this year
December 02 → your holiday wish list
December 03 → talk about movies this year
December 04 → talk about television this year
December 05 → talk about books this year
December 06 → talk about food this year
December 07 → talk about music this year
December 08 → talk about games this year
December 09 → talk about art this year
December 10 → a photo of you taken over ten years ago
December 11 → talk about volunteering/charity this year. 
December 12 → talk about this year in medical news
December 13 → talk about hobbies this year
December 14 → something that made you proud this year
December 15 → something that made you laugh this year
December 16 → something that made you sad this year
December 17 → something that made you happy this year
December 18 → your favorite photo this year 
December 19 → what you learned this year
December 20 → a picture of you taken over 20 years ago
December 21 → your favorite websites this year
December 22 → new items you’ve added to collections this year
December 23 → travel you did this year
December 24 → Something which caught your interest this year
December 25 → a photo of you and your family
December 26 → talk about politics or current events this year
December 27 → 3 goals for next year
December 28 → your plans for New Years Eve
December 29 → talk about things you are excited for next year
December 30 → a list of what you got for your winter holiday
December 31 → best moment of the month



December 1st - A photo of you taken this year:
I don't really have many pics taken of me this year. I mean, I know there are pics from Linda's holiday party, Shyla's graduation, and the art center holiday party, but I don't have copies of any of those. I have a lot of pictures of my hair because I was documenting my trying to get my curls back and I dyed my hair a few times. I think I found thirteen of me and half of those are me screwing around trying to take a ridiculous holiday picture that I never got a chance to post. So, here is the “best” of those. Be glad I forgot to break out my assortment of Santa mustaches in holiday colors and glitters ;)

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