hlh_shortcuts | Member Posts

And that's a wrap on another year of

hlh_shortcuts! This is my favorite exchange and the only one on my docket that's a "must do" every year.

This year, I wrote Metaphorically Speaking" for

brightknightie.

Metaphorically Speaking - 3854 words - Richie & Angie - While enroute to start a new life, a roadside breakdown changes Richie’s plans.

As stories go, this is one of my odder ones ...( Read more... )

For my gift, I received: The Road Forward by havocthecat.

The Road Forward - 1193 words - Richie & Connor - On the cusp of the new millennium, Richie has been sent to New York for some training with Connor. But do you think these two are going to ignore a party this big? They're going to train. Really. Tomorrow.

This is a such a delightfully upbeat story, though it manages to weave in just enough melancholy that the optimism isn't immediately obvious. Richie and Connor celebrate the new millennium together (as they should, since obviously the both survived to see it), and it's such a delight to see them meaningfully interact in a way that isn't about the Game. Since I was working with Richie and Angie in my own story, it was also wonderful to see another perspective on where they had ended up and why.

bearshorty

Book Meme 2025

I read 40 books this year, which is less than in the last few years. As I was reflecting on the books I read this year, I think part of it is that the books were just ok. There weren't really books that I loved a lot. I liked many of them - there are a lot of good and interesting books that I read, didn't like some, was disappointed in a few. Overall it was ok year but my reading is slowing down over the last few years.

( Book List 2025 )

( Book Meme )

Current Location: home

senmut

AO3 Link | In the Demon's Claws (2219 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Drizzt Do'Urden & Vierna Do'Urden
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Typical Violence, Resurrection
Summary:

Things in the Hall went slightly different, but still Drizzt chooses the road, and learns of one more quest.

In the Demon's Claws

Drizzt Do'Urden gazed out over the lands, thinking about everything endured. If Regis had not escaped sooner — no, it didn't bear thinking about. What he knew had let them disarm the trap, though not without personal cost for Drizzt himself. He had caused his father's death, brought about the deaths of his House from afar, and now… personally slain his sister, both by dam and sire.

His only consolation had been seeing her less a zealot, more sane in her eyes even, as the light faded, letting him cast true blame upon Lloth once more. It had been Catti-brie who supposed the entire raid had been concocted as but one thread of a web, given how near it had been to losing Wulfgar to the yochlol, how strange that they had chosen to come for Drizzt inside the dwarven stronghold rather than upon the road some night when he would be alone.

Bruenor had thundered, and Wulfgar had pledged support, with Regis managing advice based on his studying Artemis Entreri while the human consorted with drow. Aid had come from the region, and it would be a long time before Menzoberranzan could stir from its cesspool of hate and anger.

Catti and Wulfgar needed to work upon their relationship. Regis still had much recovery to make from his ordeal. Bruenor had a much expanded clan to lead to prominence.

Drizzt?

He looked back to the road for salvation from that which ate at his soul. A passing remark from one of the Harpells had reminded him of unfinished business concerning a crystal… and a demon that had been defeated once.

There had never been any chance of an ending that led anywhere but to the Demonweb Pits, Vierna had known. Either she would arrive in favor, and become one of Lloth's own servitors in some form —

— or she would arrive in full disfavor to be tortured.

She had learned three things as she endured the torture, and then the bartering deal with the balor.

Her father was not in the Demonweb Pits. This had been clear while she was still tortured under the servants of Lolth. He would have been an instrument in those tortures, as she had, again, fallen into that strange emotion surrounding Zaknafein, on seeing how true to himself her brother had remained.

There was the fact that Lloth had never been worth her devotion. This point — she'd had sight of it in the fall of her House — had clarified when the religious madness fell from her eyes even as her brother was lowering her body to the floor. If she had only managed to learn it earlier, and used her power to protect the two males she'd felt strong emotions over!

And, somehow, this balor intended to use her against her brother. Errtu could not keep himself from alternately salivating over his plans against Drizzt Do'Urden or raging in a froth of madness over what the impertinent drow had done to him.

She would just have to help her brother beat the demon at his own game. Vierna was looking forward to his death at Drizzt's hands.

Drizzt's concerns about the demon had proven too correct. He finished cleaning Icingdeath, his mind turning over the words spit at him by the fiend before its death. The gloating, brash taunts of what Errtu meant to do with him — after Errtu finished rending the soul of one that Drizzt cared for — had been too in line with what he knew of the balors. They were incapable of getting over a defeat that had been meted out to them.

Only? Errtu had an advantage over him. The only person's soul that could possibly be at risk to the demon was his own father. Drizzt would no more leave the soul in peril than he ever would have risked the man in life, had he but been a little wiser.

He didn't dare not follow up on this, no matter the source. Since Drizzt had left Mithral Hall, burdened by the suffering, deaths, and his own actions, he'd been seeking a purpose. He would recover the damnable crystal, and trek to a land known to hold the knowledge of the ages. Surely he could learn what was needed to save his father and destroy both threats if he but tried hard enough.

With resolve etched in every line of his body and soul, Drizzt plunged into the frozen north once more, intent on his goals.

The Crystal Shard couldn't be tricked by Drizzt. Nor could it offer him what he wanted, not in a way that ever tempted the drow. The psychic effect of merely carrying it in a quiescent state was enough to make Drizzt constantly question his own mind as he traveled. Guen, on her visits to the Material Plane, also kept a watchful eye on him.

It was a necessary evil, bait for the demon that was seeking vengeance. After the not-so-minor trouble of getting back to it, finding it, Drizzt was just as relieved to find his next destination after a stop in Longsaddle. He'd kept the artifact's presence carefully hidden, indulged Harpell curiosity as some were in residence now that he had not met before.

"If you're dead set against leaning into the alliances you've made in Silverymoon," Bella began, the brighter eye rolling with what she thought of that and the dull one fixed on him, "you need to head for Tethyr, a small kingdom down there with a cathedral being built.

"The priest of Deneir, Chosen they say, will point you to the knowledge you need to deal with this demon you need to be rid of."

"It seems I should see if Captain Deudermont will aid me in my journeys, then," Drizzt said, not keen on going so far south once again, but he was no priest nor wizard, to be able to banish the demon for good… and with luck, this cleric might well know how to rid the realms of the Crystal Shard.

With the right tools, Drizzt Do'Urden would be willing to wager against the evil ones, and try to reclaim his father's soul from the Abyss.

"You could become a cleric of sufficient rank in the decades you have left. Or a wizard of strength," Cadderly mused at Drizzt, even as the wizened Chosen walked beside Drizzt in the garden, aware that Pikel and Ivan both were still keeping an eye on the solitary drow.

"They say time stretches in the Abyss, and I feel that taking the time to do so would further torment the one I seek to rescue. Likewise, I will make no bargain with a Power to become a warlock."

Cadderly looked at Drizzt then, leaning on his staff as they paused. "And yet you refuse your goddess Her offer?"

Drizzt flushed, looking down, and Cadderly knew the ranger had not expected that to be known. When he looked up, it was with an expression of sadness. "She has been good to me, and I will serve Her so long as She walks the path I view as right.

"But I do not trust myself with a spark of who She is."

"Which is of course why She would most want it to be you, for that very distrust, but. You have closed that door — for now — and having a pressing need to save one you care for. The vile artifact's destruction is what you seek, but not before you are able to barter with and defeat the balor.

"A complicated task you have set yourself, but I will set people to the research of it."

"Thank you; it is all I can ask."

Vierna felt something change in her captor. He was eager, close to success of some kind? She felt weaker than she had even in the moments after Lloth forsook the House. How could she aid her brother like this?

When the demon back-handed her for daring to spit in his direction, she lolled in her bonds, feigning unconsciousness and made the choice to reach out to a different power. Never again would she submit to the divine… but bargain with one? That she could — and would! — manage.

~Vhaeraun son of Araushnee and Corellon, god of drow,~ she prayed, all of her singular focus on inviting the Named One to take notice of her. Even now, out of favor and having renounced her former goddess, the names burned in her mind, invoking pain.

Pain that she further used to fuel her call to the one that could make her plans work — she would not fail! Her brother, the boy she had taught and raised, needed her, and this time, she was embracing that.

Little did she know that her very need to aid a male sibling was the right spark to bring the god's attention to her.

"As long as your darkness holds," Danica coached, "the thing will be destroyed."

Drizzt looked past her to the rather unassuming man with them, very little giving away his draconic nature.

"And Icingdeath will guard me from the flames," he reminded himself.

"Yes, a superb frostbrand," Vaeros said, having inspected the magic on the blade to be certain.

"The breach of magic has made it possible for the balor to come to a simple summoning," Drizzt recited. "I will offer the artifact, and then we will be 'attacked', at which point the crystal will burn while I hold darkness — and evade the enraged demon while protecting my father."

"Presuming that the captive is brought, and that it is your father," Danica agreed. "Should be simple for the drow that decimated Menzoberranzan's might."

Drizzt stared at her, then saw the twitch of her lips, and gave into the laughter at that outrageous elaboration of his part in the war of Mithral Hall.

"We will do this, Ranger, on our shared love of the Wilds," Vaeros said, once the laughter had worn off, with the effect of living Drizzt lighter in spirit.

"So we shall."

It was not Zaknafein.

That small fact half-broke Drizzt's willpower at first. He wanted to angrily decry that he didn't care about Vierna.

His heart knew that for a lie.

She looked mangled in the grasp of the demon, and trickles of blood had formed where the clawed hand pierced flesh.

She was conscious, and her eyes locked on his.

Distantly, he could remember the plan even as the sealed case with Crenshinibon hung from an outstretched hand, the demon gloating within the summoning circle.

His mind toured over early, harsh lessons. He recalled the gentle touches that had been rare and treasured. He remembered that someone had to have told Zaknafein of his speed and skill with both hands. He recalled the look of sanity in her eyes, at the end of her life, blood spilling from a wound he'd made in her.

Something in her eyes told him she trusted him, and that she was ready for whatever came next.

"Let her go, and you can have what you want."

"You think I am unaware of the treachery lurking in your soul, drow?" Errtu demanded, hand closing more —

— and Vierna uttered a quick phrase in formal drow, one that called upon Vhaeraun, god of the male drow. The next moment, she was small, transformed into a bat that eluded the demon's grasp, fluttering valiantly into the hood of the cloak Drizzt wore.

He prayed that was enough to protect her, as he gave himself over to the Hunter, Icingdeath more than eager to drink the blood of this balor once more. Errtu had no chance to evade, or even dispel the darkness, as Drizzt furiously fought for his life, the crystal's end, and for the daughter of his father.

Vierna awakened at the feeling of healing being pushed into her, the kind that traced fire in her veins, counter to her very nature but helping abate the last tortures' marks upon her.

She found herself looking into the purple eyes that had entranced her since his birth.

"We're in a small cave. I didn't want to impose on my allies," he told her softly. "You turned back to drow after the fight ended."

"I did not ask for it to be a permanent change," Vierna said, but she reached for his hand on her shoulder. "You can heal?"

"If my patron agrees, yes," he said, taking her hand and shifting so he could sit more comfortably and hold it. "Vhaeraun?"

"I promised Him I would become a potent cleric for Him, if He let me aid my troublesome little brother against the balor."

Her smile on those words provoked one from him.

"I thought it was my — our father."

"And yet, you still pushed through with the plan you had made." She squeezed his hand. "We will have peace, Drizzt. I swear it on my continued life."

He contemplated her words a long moment, then laid down on the bedroll, sliding an arm under her neck, tucking close to give her the warmth he had.

"Good. There's been enough strife for us both, I think."

She closed her eyes, shifting a little to be comfortable, and decided that he was still strange to her.

But she had become something different and wanted to embrace the strangeness with him.

teratornis

hlh_shortcuts has concluded for the year, and everyone's stories are live and no longer anonymous. This is my third time participating, and it was, as has been the case for me the past couple of years, a ton of fun. It's always exciting to see what people request, and what people come up with to write.( Read more... )

Had an excellent time with this event this year. As always, looking forward to the next one. ❤️

Current Music: Albion - Syr

annavere

I've been hearing about the AO3 art scam comments, and I always figured if I got one it would be for my Teen Wolf saga, because that's a big fandom it would make sense to target.

I did not think it would be for my TINY DEAD FANDOM story, right on the heels of finally fixing the html and posting chapter four.

Registered user with nothing on their page, joined the site today. Kudosed the fic, too.

Can someone with greater fandom knowledge advise me on what I'm supposed to do?

hafital

Happy

hlh_shortcuts reveal day! It was actually yesterday but I was out of the house and away from my phone the entire day.

This year, I wrote for

raine, which was a delight but also a challenge because Raine_Wynd has betaed for me for the last several years. :D

Follow The Gleam (21043 words) by hafital
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: Highlander: The Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ceirdwyn (Highlander) & Matthew McCormick
Characters: Ceirdwyn (Highlander), Matthew McCormick, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Weird Immortal Happenings, Canon-Typical Violence, Historical Inaccuracy, K'Immie of the week, Literary References & Allusions
Summary:

"You are Matthew of Salisbury, and you are an Immortal."

* * *

The story of how Matthew and Ceirdwyn met.

( Some story writing notes below the cut )

annavere

As seen from *checks list*

brightknightie,

teratornis,

argentum_ls, and

rhi.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 126.
3. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026

The nearest book on my nightstand was The Code of the Woosters, which seemed unlikely to deliver the Cassandra goods—but that being the assignment, I located the page in question, began counting down the highly detailed, robustly elegant Wodehouse sentences, each describing ridiculously specific situations and spirits, only to land on the instructed sixth full sentence (by this point halfway down the page), read it, and promptly started recounting.

There was no mistake. Here is the sentence:

"It was the same with me."

This genuinely made me laugh. I'll take the black comedy aspect of all of this. Not like it's telling me something I couldn't have guessed!

brightknightie

Picked up from

argentum_ls:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 126.
3. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.

"Of course there'll be a lot of people." -- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (1972)

teratornis

Seen done by both

rhi and

argentum_ls.

01. Grab the nearest book.
02. Turn to page 126
03. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.

I'll be honest I mostly did this because I knew my D&D books were the closest to me. So from D&D 3rd Edition's Complete Arcane: A Player's Guide to Arcane Magic for All Classes:

"However, if the subject gains at least as many negative levels as it has Hit Dice, it dies."

. . . Cheery.

(From the lvl 7 spell Sword of Darkness.)

Current Music: Leverage: The First David Job

argentum_ls

Borrowed from

rhi

01. Grab the nearest book.
02. Turn to page 126
03. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.

From Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent ...

"Yeah, but—"

annavere

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

I already wrote an unprompted love letter to fandom on the first, so technically I already did this challenge in its purest form this very week and I'm gonna coast.

malinaldarose

Snowflake Challenge #3

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: nostalgic

brightknightie

Over the weekend, I finished all of the spirit-orb-bearing shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (120 base game, 4 DLC).

When I had Link bring the final four orbs to a statue of the goddess Hylia, I knew it was the last time. I knew that you can't have both full stamina and full life, and that there are no more spirit orbs. Yet I didn't have a clue that Hylia, speaking to her chosen hero's spirit in his heart at a site of her worship, would finally, finally, finally address him by name. Not, "You who have conquered the shrines and claimed their spirit orbs" but "Link."

Oh! ♥ I have wondered about that. The fansites I'd consulted in the past listed only the usual response, not this very last response, with its tiny but profound difference. What a rich point for interpretation! It's something about having completely recovered his power, his spirit, that makes her use his name at last. It might be that Hylia actually didn't fully recognize or acknowledge this Link until he repossessed all of the hero's spirit. But I think I'd prefer to believe that she knew him and was waiting until he knew himself, as of course he begins the game fully amnesiac. (Or of course, in reality, it's the most mundane explanation of all, and the dialogue writer/translator for this last bit, or for the DLC if that's what made the difference, was different, and the editor didn't catch the discrepancy. That would seem to be how we get the variation between "Goddess Hylia" and "the goddess Hylia" from the monks, for example.)

Neat!

ruric

Trying to be more consistent this year!

HOME: I've started the Great Bedroom clear up. It's going to take a while!

HEALTH: my sleep patterns have been a bit erratic this last week and a bit. I'm waking around 3am and finding it difficult to get back to sleep.

LIFE ADMIN: nope.

DIGITAL DECLUTTER: email is down to 11,000, phone images desperately need sorting.

GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: nope - too cold!

COOKING/EATING: I've eaten most of the Christmas food. Today I'm making a big veg curry with leftover veg and a big batch of bolognese sauce which will feed me most of the coming week. Then there's half a pannetone, a small Christmas pudding and a bowl of fruit to go.

READING/LISTENING: read Lessons in Love, book 1 of the Cambridge Fellows Mysteries by Charlie Cochrane. Edwardian murder mysteries. She's describes her books as "mysteries with a dash of slash". I wanted a gentle, short, fun read to get me back into the habit and these are it.

WATCHING: Still not caught up on Stranger Things and haven't started Heated Rivalry. I sort of watched the most recent Ghostbuster's film, Ghostbuster's Frozen Empire and found it very formulaic.

CREATING/LEARNING: crochet club recommences on 9th. I've got one round to do to finish my current blanket. Then I need to block the original granny square and Halloween blankets and stich them together. Then I can start on the utterly mad boho blanket.

CATS: all good.

VOLUNTEERING: first meeting of 2026 is tonight.

SOCIALISING: Zoom catch up with friends online but no in person socialising.

WORK: none since 19 December and I really, really needed the break!

lannamichaels

Six sentences for sunday!

This is the male!Hermione Granger/Neville Longbottom one, during sixth year.

"Maybe I don't need to pass all my NEWTs," Leontes says in the middle of exam week, their alcove of the common room all too studious around him. "Taking them is good enough, isn't it?"

Neville and Seamus hit him with every forcible mind-clarifying spell they can think of, while Dean grabs one of the Creeveys and urgently demands his camera.

"Maybe it's too much to think I can--"

Dean gets an amazing shot of Neville throwing himself at Leontes while Seamus tries a binding spell that he swears gets rid of most mind-altering curses.

"I don't think he's been confunded," Seamus says.

senmut

Fanfic Projects

Dreams of Her Own - https://archiveofourown.org/works/71432751

Sequel prompts from

ukiacatdragon - Eilistraee, the shroud of Lolth, Corellon, Arvandor's overwhleming goodness, plotting to nullify Lolth's plots via Sharr, the raid being brought up, Tall Ones finding Ellifain early, closure for drow and elf child, quest

0 words

Something for Rex/Fives/Echo:

save Fives from his fate, save Echo, Rex throwing himself into helping them adapt.
~ Potential angst - "I'm the last one of my batch standing. You just got one back. Don't throw that away because you can't help but see what's lost instead of helping find a future."
~ Other idea is Ahsoka doesn't make it out of the Citadel but Echo does. Evolution of the trio with guilt over losing one of their Jedi. (Side note of Tarkin died there, Ahsoka isn't dead)

450 words

Padme and the Force Baby

Anakin's visions send HER to the temple where she declares there is no father, must be the force, cue shenanigans.

0 words

HLH shortcuts sequel - https://archiveofourown.org/works/74116516

Joe and Rachel meet in Seacouver

0 words

Exchange Assignment

REDACTED

0 words

10trueloves - ~~2/10~~ 3/10 written /

genprompt_bingo 0/25 written

Original projects

No progress on the original projects

Myth of Man - https://sylph-and-asp.dreamwidth.org/tag/universe:+myth+of+man

"it's dangerous they've advanced so much" / "The reasons were grave" / "We are merely protecting our many peoples"

Unwanteds - https://sylph-and-asp.dreamwidth.org/tag/universe:+unwanteds

~ Decide if the two bits I managed to write so far for the sequel work, continue if so
~ prequel dammit, for the crystal and the Bright Flames origin story

Finished from list

Vierna Resurrection:
Wulfgar not die, it's Vierna in Errtu's grasp, Passage to Dawn plot
almost 1700 words READY FOR POSTING

Poetry Fiction entry: Set against Legacy of the Silver Marches - https://squidgeworld.org/series/1870
Drizzt and Alustriel, under their disguises, before they reach Silverymoon.
350 words - READY FOR POSTING

lessonsinescapology

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

brightknightie

snowflake_challenge: Pets of fandom: "Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!"

I unfortunately must take the show-your-ID antihistamines when visiting furry pets. Few characters are similarly afflicted! So some thoughts on just a select few of their pets...

I won't count horses or similar as pets for this purpose, categorizing them as full partners, so that omits Uni (D&DC) and Epona (TLoZ), along with all pokémon, dragons, etc.

In The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Zelda has a cat, white like her horse, and all kudos to the unknown-by-me fan who first cleverly fanon/headcanon-named the unnamed cat "Purra" (after the character Purah in the Wilds games by way of the cat Purry in The Minish Cap). When this Zelda wears a certain enchanted outfit, she can speak with cats throughout Hyrule, and discovers their busy cat lives and receives cat side-quests, my favorite of which is "A Treat for my Person," accessible only after completing two other side quests, in which a cat, originally from Gerudo Desert, needs Zelda's help to give her human, a Seesyde Village fisherperson, a specific Gerudo-flavor smoothie as thanks. (Trivia: In the obscure Tri Force Heroes, Link can similarly wear a costume to talk to cats. And of course he talks to all the animals when he's a wolf in Twilight Princess.)

In Battlestar Galactica (1978), Boxy, Serina and Apollo's son, gets Muffit, an experimental robotic daggit (dog), to succeed the real daggit he lost in the Annihilation of the Colonies. This is explained as training for the robot to be a guard for soldiers on planets, and of all the children in the rag-tag fleet of survivors Boxy alone gets this privilege because of Apollo's connections, but of course the real-world reason Muffy exists is merchandising. That said, Muffy, like the CORA Viper-fighter interface, sits conspicuously, problematically, and wholly unacknowledged at a thematic core of the show. The humans fear all forms of artificial intelligence because of how it led to the Cylons. Yet they keep making things like Muffit and CORA, and a recurring character is a robotics scientist. This nagging inconsistency is likely due to the Cylons mostly representing fears of Soviet communism and nuclear war at the time, not actually social/technology fears. Nevertheless, it's a point in the story that fanfic can explore. (I admit I have a small, WIP draft poking into that; I haven't touched it since before LLMs exploded onto the scene, though.)

In Forever Knight, of course Natalie's cat Sidney is seen on screen once and mentioned on screen a second time, and that's it for the full three seasons of show. As

annavere mentioned, animals are generally rarer on screen than in real life, because they're difficult and expensive to work with in acting. But Sidney figures prominently in the fandom's understanding of Natalie, firmly treated as a recurring character in his own right in fanfic. Nick's lack of pets, on the other hand, is given a tragic and fully believable in-universe explanation in the "Blind Faith" flashbacks, as -- and I'm phrasing this carefully to not spoil Annavere, who is watching FK for the first time -- Lacroix sadistically intervenes.

What do you think of pets in these canons...?

malinaldarose

It is 20° this morning. It's not supposed to get too much warmer -- only to 26°, though it's supposed to gradually warm up all week and possibly even hit the low 50s on Saturday. January Thaw time.

Yesterday, there were flakes in the air occasionally, but they were kind of lackadaisical about it and there was no accumulation. Toward evening, there was even almost sunshine, which was nice.

The day did not go the way I had hoped. I went out for groceries early and was home by 7:30. You can tell it's getting on toward inventory time, because the shelves at WickedMart were bare in a lot of places. The Christmas stuff is all gone, of course, and there isn't enough Valentine's Day stuff to fill in the gaps. I did pick up a new hair dryer, though there wasn't much choice about it. Here's what I want in a hair dryer: small (because my arms aren't long enough for a full-size one), preferably three temperature settings and two speed settings. The one that sparked at me the other morning was a Revlon travel dryer. They apparently no longer make it...because of course they don't. The one that I did purchase was not what I wanted, so when I went out again to pick up my prescription, I took it back to WickedMart and chose a different one...which seems like it's going to be too big; the barrel is at least an inch, possibly two inches, longer than the previous one. So then I started searching online, which is why I figured out that they don't make what I really wanted anymore. Remington does have a model that seems to be what I want, but that, also, appears to not be being made any longer as it is out of stock on Remington's own site, though it was available on Amazon.

BFT says she uses a profesional Conair dryer. I'm not willing to pay that much for a hair dryer.

I have not yet returned the second dryer that I bought at WickedMart, so perhaps I will try it out first, since it does at least fulfill the three heat/two speed requirement, even if it's too big.

In any case, after the internet failed me, I ended up going out again. I checked Ollie's, Marshall's, and CVS to see what they carried. CVS at least had a Conair that I had been considering, so I was able to open the box and look at it and determine that it wasn't suitable. That sucker was heavy for a hair dryer. I considered BJ's, but decided not to stop because by that time, the Saturday crowds were out in force. (Also, Marshall's was practically empty, given how much stock they had crowded into that tiny store for Christmas.)

I was a bit out of sorts when I got home, but I have discovered (rediscovered?) the simple joy of Campbell's tomato soup. For years, I have bought Progresso's tomato-basil soup for tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich dinners, but I am thinking that after all this time, I do prefer the Campbell's. It's warm and comforting and there's probably some nostalgia involved, since we always had it in the house when I was a kid. I add some rice and eat it with Ritz crackers when I'm not in the mood for making a grilled cheese sandwich. Yum! (And that way, a single can gives me three lunches. I prefer to add my own rice rather than buy the tomato-rice version.)

There was a completely cat-free nap (kind of disappointing, but they were both upstairs on the bed when I laid down on the couch).

I called MyAuntie around late afternoon and we talked for three hours. I'd say that's a record for us, but it's really not. We generally talk anywhere from two and a half to three hours. We certainly never talk for less than two hours. And usually when I go out there, I'll sit down at the dining room table for lunch, and we'll still be sitting there yacking come dinner time.

I floated the idea of going out there in May and September this year in addition to my regular July visit and she was enthusiastic about it. Since I get the maximum amount of vacation time due to my longevity at the agency, I still have two weeks of vacation left going into this year, and by the end of next month, I'll already have another week. I would still like to spend two weeks at a time out there, but can't leave the cats on their own (even with twice-daily visits from my sister or BFT) for that amount of time.

Today, I really have no plans. My vacation-week do list is glaring balefully at me, but it's too late now. Maybe I'll just spend the day reading. After two Snowflake Challenge challenges, I am already realizing the impossibility of keeping up with reading others' challenge responses, especially after I go back to work tomorrow. Ah, well. It is ever thus.

Current Mood: okay

ruric

For the last few years I've been setting some annual goals - though to be honest they're more aspirations because there's enough goal settingelsewhere in my life.

Anyway here are my ASPIRATIONS for 2026

( HEALTH )

( HAPPINESS )

( WEALTH )