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Mendalla
41 minutes ago
Canada

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Quote by WriterGirl
I’m publishing a children’s story

I've been told many times that The Goddess Dances works as a kid's story even though I did not deliberately target it that way when I was writing. I suppose if I ever got close to that badge, I could move it. Right now it's in Fantasy which I have well and truly covered off (like probably half my stories or something). Kid's stories aren't my usual, though, so it might be interesting to tackle one consciously.

Molly is actually kind of lucky as forum admins go. A lot of us ARE the tech support. 🙄😉

Since Meagan didn't pose a new question, I'll answer my own: Hybrid probably, but given how long it will be before I am in the market again, maybe EVs will be up a standard I can live with.

Sunday afternoon: Ballgame on the telly or get out for some fresh air?

And if you're in the mood for something a tad (okay, a lot) heavier, here's Japanese metal sensation BabyMetal teaming up with American star poppy for the first release from an upcoming BabyMetal album of mostly collaborations. Su Metal's almost sweet, girlish voice makes a nice contrast with poppy's incredible harsh screams.

Icelandic jazz-pop star Laufey dropped the first single from her upcoming third studio album (she also has 2 live albums) at the end of last week. Very much in a similar vein to her last album but, hey, she landed a Grammy at the ripe old age of 25 for that one so why mess with success? Lovely video, too.

Good morning!! Hope your weekend is going well. After a wet Saturday, we have a cool but somewhat sunny Sunday happening here in the South of Ontario.

I've put on a pot of Sumatran coffee from Fire-Roasted. Teas are Yorkshire and Raspberry Royale. Lemonade pitcher is refreshed and refilled. Kettle is boiled if you're needing other teas or hot chocolate.

How's things out there?

I have the contestant badge for this comp. I already had the top ten from previous comps so hard to tell with this one.

The only badge issue I notice is that the contestant badge for New Year's Do-Over (which ran over the holidays in 2021-22) is broken. There's a space with the name in it and it links to the comp page but the image isn't loading.

That said, I hardly look at badges so I might have missed badges in the past and just not noticed.

Quote by JamesPBear

It started with overcast, cloudy, and cool.

Then we had a near white-out, leaving the formerly bare ground covered in snow – again – with high winds.

Then the snow turned to ice pellets.

Then freezing rain.

And overnight we had repeated thunderstorms.

Yeah, that was one helluva day weather-wise. My poor backyard turned into a pond at one point. I think the ice remaining from the freezing rain was keeping the rain from soaking in.

Quote by gillianleeza
Thank you to everyone for being so kind and letting me have a place to vent.

Vent away, Gil. You deserve the opportunity.

Hope all are well. I survived another week. I will try to get some writing in on the weekend but (ominous music) I have to do my taxes. Sigh. It's gotten easier in recent years, at least, with our tax agency allowing you to download the data from your slips rather than having to key it all in.

Quote by Meagananne1986

Tea, Earl Gray, Hot, with Sweetener and Hazelnut Creamer

Hazelnut creamer in tea?? That sounds like my kind of madness (Scribbles note to self).

Just finished a mug of Yorkshire Gold tea.

Quote by WriterGirl
I’m waiting for a mobile health screening at a church across the river. It’s a fab idea for people to get health checks in a more cost-friendly way. A flat fee of $159 get me heart, artery, circulation checks, scans. Results in 2 weeks. I’m gonna do the major disease checks next for $59. If I did these in a regular clinic, it would no doubt cost me $1000 after insurance did its small part.

That sounds cool. I mean, being Canadian a lot of the major diagnostic and routine stuff is covered by our medicare anyhow but results in 2 weeks would be a stretch these days. In the context of the US system, though, that sounds like a terrific idea. Good on you to take advantage.

Watched this Spotify roundtable yesterday. Three women vocalists from rock/metal bands discussing music, being a woman in a masculine world, and other topics. Good discussion even if you're not into the music (I am a fan of two of them and do listen to the other from time to time).

The women are:

Cristina Scabbia - vocalist in Italian goth metal band Lacuna Coil

Lzzy Hale - vocalist and guitarist in American rock band Halestorm

Courtney LaPlante - vocalist in Canadian metal band Spiritbox

Nothing just now but I am mostly drinking Yorkshire tea these days

Lotion. Always worry about inhaling the spray stuff.

Gas, hybrid, or EV for your next car?

Ape is in the house!!

Want coffee? There's some dark roast Nicaraguan in the pot.

Tea? Yorkshire Gold and Earl Grey Supreme are ready.

Kettle is on if there are other hot beverages you crave. Sodas and fresh unsweetened iced tea are in the fridge.

How are things?

Envy of None is sort of a supergroup. Three members, guitarist Alex Lifeson (Rush), bassist and backing vocalist Andy Curran (Coney Hatch), and keyboard and guitarist Alf Annibalini are music industry vets with probably over a century of experience among them. Lifeson alone has been around for over 50 years.

However, Maiah Wynne the singer-songwriter fronting the band is only 28 with maybe a decade of experience. She's a solid singer and songwriter though, holding her own with the three veterans, every one of them old enough to be her father or even grandfather. Oddly, the band doesn't have a fixed drummer, using various drummers from the Canadian music scene as session players.

Cute note: not only is Lifeson in the band with Wynne, but he plays on some of her solo work, too.

My best to those joining the April 5 protests. We have our own concerns with Mr. Trump up here but seeing Americans expressing their rage, concern, unhappiness, whatever gives us a boost, too. I heard there's finally some senators on the GOP side of the aisle showing some cojones down there, too, which is also good news.

Good evening, I continue to be pulled in too many directions. Probably need to just dump social sites but not sure which ones. Plus time spent working, doing house stuff, and maybe writing now and then. I am trying to get a story moving ahead for here but it seems to be a bit of a slog. And a story for another site kind of got in the way for a bit, too. It was a draft that I thought I had abandoned but then it came back and demanded to be written. So, yeah.

Magdalena Bay came to my attention because of this cover of David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes". They are an electronic alt-pop duo with some prog influences with three albums and myriad singles out in their 9 years to date. The group consists of Mica Tenenbaum on vocals and keytar and her partner Matthew Lewin on assorted instruments. The add a tour/session drummer and a second instrumentalist for live performances.

Quote by gillianleeza
Social Security never answers its phone lines, nor does the DOD—all I need is for them to accept my POA so I can change his address for his pension.

Yeesh, and I thought Service Canada (who are the frontline for most programs in Canada now) was bad when my wife was dealing with her government pension. What a pain. And the DOGE crap probably isn't helping, either. Vibes.

We switched our voice line to a new provider over a month ago and I am having buyer's remorse. Major outage covering our entire region of the province has taken down our incoming calls. We can call out, at least. And we don't get many incoming calls of importance. I don't given out our home number much anymore. I mostly give out my cell since then people can reach me whether I am home or in the office.

Wet around here this weekend, as predicted. Guess it'll help with getting the plants going. Spring birds have arrived so there's a lot of aerial activity outside my window, though the winter birds could be pretty active at times, too.

I'll put on a pot of Saint Drogo coffee and some Yorkshire Gold tea in case anyone needs something hot. Sodas seem to be in good shape for cold beverages. Given the temps down Gil's way, I guess I'll mix up a pitcher of iced tea, too.

Symphonic metal is distinguished from other metal styles in its use of orchestral and choral backing tracks (or actual orchestras and choirs in some cases) along with more typical metal instrumentation like guitars and drums. Epica is one of the pre-eminent bands in the genre and is working up to the release of a new album. This take on T.I.M.E., the most recent single from that album, does something interesting, though. They take out the band. Epica vocalists Simone Simons and Mark Jansen (Simone's the pretty one 😊) perform the song backed by just Hellscore, a rock/metal choir founded and led by Noa Gruman, who also sings in the band Scardust.

Good evening. I keep having good intentions about being around more and then keep wandering off. I'll get there. My later winter-early spring mood swings seem to be dying down.

Not a lot happening. Doing some writing. Doing some other stuff. Working. Life goes on.

Gil, glad the therapist is helping. Hope you can get things on a better trajectory soon. Hugs.

A prog fan on another site pointed me at this rather cute, silly video by guitarist Charlie Griffiths of the UK prog metal band Haken. Cute silly video but some hellagood guitar work from Charlie. There's a whole album of this from 2022 (this track is the title song) and he recently released a followup with Tiktaalika now serving as the band name.

And from the new album Gods of Pangaea, "The Lost Continent"

The weekend rages on. So I popped by and put some Nicaraguan Dark Roast on. There's Earl Grey and Sunday Tea (Vanilla) in the teapots. Kettle is ready, too, for other hot beverages.

Hope you're all having a good weekend. Sunny here but chilly (forecast high of 3C).

Hot Orange Pekoe tea with a squirt of fresh lime juice (one of my go-to teas)

The problem with a cornfield as a setting for horror now is the existence of Children of the Corn, both King's short story and the mostly suckish movies allegedly based on it. Any horror using that backdrop is going to call that to mind, at least in boomer and Gen X horror fans like me.

I am trying again to write the story I came up with while in Iceland in 2023. Volcanoes, spirits, sorcery and other such fun in a faux Nordic secondary world. It's also the long intended, but never written, sequel to The Spirits of Tan Maldrin and picks up the story largely from the viewpoint of the character Nalia as she struggles with PTSD after nearly dying at the hands of a skeletal monster in that story.

The Spirits of Tan Maldrin

A priestess’ mission to an abandoned palace uncovers powerful spirits and dark sorcery

Fantasy