GEAR UP! IT'S NFE TIME!
Jun. 12th, 2025 08:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Well, actually, we're getting close.
Here's this year's schedule:
Tag nominations open: June 22nd
Signups open: June 29th
Signups close: July 11th
Assignments sent out: by July 16th
Fics due: any time before August 23rd
Collection opens: August 30th
Authors revealed: September 7th
Tag nominations will open June 22nd, so start planning what you want! As in previous years, some tags will already be in the tagset, but if you want to request or offer specific characters or pairings, this is your chance.
(Also I know I am a broken record on this, and no one wants to actually look at the tag set, but you really should! So you can get the characters and pairings you want!)
Here's this year's schedule:
Tag nominations open: June 22nd
Signups open: June 29th
Signups close: July 11th
Assignments sent out: by July 16th
Fics due: any time before August 23rd
Collection opens: August 30th
Authors revealed: September 7th
Tag nominations will open June 22nd, so start planning what you want! As in previous years, some tags will already be in the tagset, but if you want to request or offer specific characters or pairings, this is your chance.
(Also I know I am a broken record on this, and no one wants to actually look at the tag set, but you really should! So you can get the characters and pairings you want!)
Rani Icons
Jun. 12th, 2025 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Some icons of The Rani which have been languishing on my hard drive since there was only one of her. I guess I need to make some more...
Snaggin is free. Credit is appreciated. Comments are loved.





Snaggin is free. Credit is appreciated. Comments are loved.
Brr!
Jun. 11th, 2025 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
It's definitely winter here now -- there was a heavy frost this morning and Suzy had to crack the ice on the poultry water dishes.

We are hoping to get our second shed finished by the weekend -- there are only a couple of roof panels left to install. Unfortunately the contractor who fell ill a couple of months ago has been told he won't be fit to work for a year, so the apprentice who has been helping us out will have to find another employer. I hope he does, he's a nice lad.
We have more-or-less finalised the plans for the new extension and are proceeding to the next stage, which is a detailed ground survey to make sure we aren't going to build on a sinkhole. I'm not sure how long that will take but we have plenty of time -- I don't anticipate building to start before October.
The state government has suffered a no-confidence motion and we are off to the polls again in July. Unfortunately both major parties are supporting the new stadium in Hobart which is currently estimated to cost $2 billion (so probably $2.5B or more before it's finished), so other services will suffer. And we still don't have a suitable berth in Devonport for the new trans-Tasman ferries that were supposed to be in service last year -- apparently it may be finished by October 2026, but I won't hold my breath. I feel sorry for the company, since they have two new ships they are paying off but can't use, and they can't sell the old ships because they are the only ones that can get into the current Devonport berth. Victoria managed to get their new berth and terminal completed in Geelong in early 2023, so it is entirely a Tasmanian government issue. Given that this will be the fourth state election in seven years, I don't expect any improvement in efficiency.

We are hoping to get our second shed finished by the weekend -- there are only a couple of roof panels left to install. Unfortunately the contractor who fell ill a couple of months ago has been told he won't be fit to work for a year, so the apprentice who has been helping us out will have to find another employer. I hope he does, he's a nice lad.
We have more-or-less finalised the plans for the new extension and are proceeding to the next stage, which is a detailed ground survey to make sure we aren't going to build on a sinkhole. I'm not sure how long that will take but we have plenty of time -- I don't anticipate building to start before October.
The state government has suffered a no-confidence motion and we are off to the polls again in July. Unfortunately both major parties are supporting the new stadium in Hobart which is currently estimated to cost $2 billion (so probably $2.5B or more before it's finished), so other services will suffer. And we still don't have a suitable berth in Devonport for the new trans-Tasman ferries that were supposed to be in service last year -- apparently it may be finished by October 2026, but I won't hold my breath. I feel sorry for the company, since they have two new ships they are paying off but can't use, and they can't sell the old ships because they are the only ones that can get into the current Devonport berth. Victoria managed to get their new berth and terminal completed in Geelong in early 2023, so it is entirely a Tasmanian government issue. Given that this will be the fourth state election in seven years, I don't expect any improvement in efficiency.
Costume Bracket: Round 4, Post 1
Jun. 10th, 2025 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Two Doctor Who companion outfits for your delectation and delight! Outfits selected by a mixture of ones I, personally, like; lists on the internet; and a certain random element.
( Outfits below the Cut )
Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!
Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!
Costume Bracket Masterlist
Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.
( Outfits below the Cut )
Vote for your favourite of these costumes. Use whatever criteria you please - most practical, most outrageously spacey, most of its decade!
Voting will remain open for at least a week, possibly longer!
Costume Bracket Masterlist
Images are a mixture of my own screencaps, screencaps from Lost in Time Graphics, PCJ's Whoniverse Gallery, and random Google searches.
Stories of violent death: novels and opera
Jun. 8th, 2025 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
1) The Shortest Way to Hades, Sarah Caudwell. Light, bright, a lot of fun, and a clever mystery. Also a pleasant change to have a detective story that doesn't involve sexual violence. I found myself thinking partway through that the most 80s thing about this 80s book is not the absence of email or mobile phones and that documents are typed, the boozy lunches, the fact that every single character with the possible exception of Hilary* is undoubtedly a Tory, but a relatively junior barrister not only owning a car but driving it through central London in the afternoon as apparently the quickest way to get anywhere.
2) Silent Parade, Keigo Higashino. Not lacking sexual violence (though no detailed description), but very good, and the thing that was annoying me as I was thinking "but why aren't they all doing X" turned out to be a twist, so that was fine. I'd not read any Higashino before and this was clever, readable, and I'll read more. I just wish that UK translations of Japanese novels would indicate at the beginning which way round they are putting the family name and given name. Either is fine, but since it seems to vary which is chosen in different books, I would like it to be made clear so I know.
3) Simon Boccanegra, Verdi. Opera North semi-staged production at the Royal Festival Hall, which means comfy seats, excellent sightlines, and much cheaper prices than otherwise in London. Rather tortuous trains, which the presence of
antisoppist made more endurable. The performances, vocal and orchestral, were fantastic and it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, but it's not going to join the list of my favourite operas because while the music is great, the drama isn't so strong. Too much of the plot happens off-stage with characters then reporting to others, ultimately I wasn't moved by the piece as a whole in the way I want to be by the operas that really work for me.
*Possible Liberal Party?
2) Silent Parade, Keigo Higashino. Not lacking sexual violence (though no detailed description), but very good, and the thing that was annoying me as I was thinking "but why aren't they all doing X" turned out to be a twist, so that was fine. I'd not read any Higashino before and this was clever, readable, and I'll read more. I just wish that UK translations of Japanese novels would indicate at the beginning which way round they are putting the family name and given name. Either is fine, but since it seems to vary which is chosen in different books, I would like it to be made clear so I know.
3) Simon Boccanegra, Verdi. Opera North semi-staged production at the Royal Festival Hall, which means comfy seats, excellent sightlines, and much cheaper prices than otherwise in London. Rather tortuous trains, which the presence of
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
*Possible Liberal Party?
May 2024
Jun. 2nd, 2025 09:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
- Little egret (on Ditton Meadows)
- No current death watch beetle found. Evidence of past dwb and historic woodworm, but the noises we heard must've been "some other boring beelte".