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Apr. 16th, 2026 03:45 pm
turps: (mwlight)
[personal profile] turps
I had a bit of an adventure today and went to a different branch of my gym, the big branch in Sunderland city centre. That meant many more machines to use and now, of course, every muscle in my body is starting to ache as I had to try out everything that was new to me. What I'd actually made the trip for was the bigger branches have hydro massage beds you can use as part of your membership, and I've wanted to try one for a while. So, today I did and oh man, it was good. It especially felt good on my lower back and legs. Then I went and destroyed that feeling on the machines.

Next time, work out first, then massage.

I'll still mostly go to my local branch as that's within easy walking distance, but this other one I'll try to get there with James once a week as it was good for him, too. Also, has much better music as they were playing Linkin Park at one point.

Yesterday we were also in Sunderland as James needed to collect his new glasses, and while we were in town we picked up our cards for the newly opened The Community Shop. It's on the same basis as Company shop, selling surplus food for cheap, just for this version only people on means tested benefits can join. I could be a member due to getting the carers' allowance so signed online a while ago, and went to get the actual card yesterday.

We ended up waiting in a queue for over an hour, and then the person who took my photo took the worst picture ever. She was so stressed with so many people waiting she hurried the process so only half my head is in shot and the lighting is horribly harsh, so I look like some gargoyle with half a face. But, she made no suggestion to retake so guess I'm stuck with it.

I doubt I'll use this shop as much as Company due to a lack of parking, but it's always good to have options. Especially so as members can also use the attached heavily discounted café and really, being able to get a main meal for £1.50 is a good thing.

Now, part of a post that I started on Monday.

It was a sweaty one at class today, not helped by the heating being on despite it being a lovely, sunny spring day. It was the biggest group we've had for a while, which is why it's a shame that the classes for the next two Wednesdays have been cancelled due to meetings, just as people have started to come back. But, Mondays are still on which is good.

So, got tidied up before going there, did class, came home, and I've made another batch of vegetable soup, so that's cooking in the slow cooker now.

We went to the cinema to see You, Me and Tuscany on Saturday. I do like a romcom and this was a good one. A predictable plot but set in a beautiful place with lots of sunshine, so you could just sit back, not think and enjoy what was on-screen. And James stayed awake for the whole thing.

After leaving there we drove to Corey's flat to drop his and Sharna's Easter sweets off. So, it was nice to spend some time with him.
ravenna_c_tan: (slytherclaw)
[personal profile] ravenna_c_tan

Coming up at the end of this month, I’ll be teaching an online class that should be lots of fun: BDSM for Romance Writers. As the official description reads: “BDSM is more than just a collection of toys or a list of kinks, it’s a whole world of intense relationship dynamics. In this workshop, RT award winning author Cecilia Tan will cover key elements of BDSM and kink that can spice up a novel, as well as myths and stereotypes to avoid. We’ll leave plenty of time for Q&A, as well.”

The class is being hosted by Passionate Ink, which used to be the erotica and erotic romance chapter of the RWA, but which broke off into an independent organization a few years back.

(Aside: It’s almost amusing to think that when Sylvia Day founded the chapter, it was partly because many people in the RWA at that time didn’t feel that explicit erotic “open door” romances were worthy of support. Not too long after that, Sylvia’s own super spicy romances (i.e. Bared to You) topped the bestseller lists, paving the way for 50 Shades of Grey, and permanently turning the acceptable heat level way up on the entire romance genre.)

The class is free for members of Passionate Ink, $45 for non-members, so if you have been thinking of joining the organization, and are interested in the class… guess how much it costs to join for one year? The same $45. 🙂

I’d love it if those taking the class filled out a brief survey first, which has a slot for folks to put their questions in advance: https://forms.gle/qJhg7mwrEcetEgNt5

The class is appropriate for experienced and inexperienced writers alike, at all levels of career. Whether you’ve published dozens of novels or zero, whether you write for fun or for publication, if you’re looking to expand your palette to paint with the BDSM colors, that’s what this class is for.

The folks at Passionate Ink made a lovely graphic:

Promo graphic for BDSM for Romance Writers showing a sexy bearded man in a collar and some fine print

Mirrored from Cecilia Tan.

Was it really fun while it lasted?

Apr. 12th, 2026 10:14 am
romantical: (photo)
[personal profile] romantical
I am currently being terrible at getting started. I have many things to do today - buy more stuff to make earrings for the booster club. Do sales tax for booster club. Make sure husband has done our taxes. Go to Costco to get stuff for snack bags for bb!hockey road trip. Make said snack bags. Laundry. Pay bills.

Getting back into the routine after a week off is going to be tough, I tell you.

Speaking of bb!hockeys - we're up 2-0 in the 2nd round. They are doing so well and I'm so proud of them. Also it's hilarious watching them trying to grow playoff beards. One of the guys has a good one. I'm so proud that some are actually able to make facial hair.

Spring break hasn't been great. I did something to my neck and it's been killing me since Tuesday. It's finally started to loosen up, so I can turn my head to the side. That's pretty exciting. I'm sure it's partially because I wasn't as active during the week and I spent some time (not enough) reading.

Okay. Must human. (aren't you guys thrilled that I'm trying to post more. you forgot how boring my life is, didn't you?)

The case of the missing notifications

Apr. 11th, 2026 11:58 pm
denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance

I keep forgetting to post about this: we've been troubleshooting the "missing notifications" problem for the past few days. (Well, I say "we", really I mean Mark and Robby; I'm just the amanuensis.) It's been one of those annoying loops of "find a logical explanation for what could be causing the problem, fix that thing, observe that the problem gets better for some people but doesn't go away completely, go back to step one and start again", sigh.

Mark is hauling out the heavy debugging ordinance to try to find the root cause. Once he's done building all the extra logging tools he needs, he'll comment to this entry. After he does, if you find a comment that should have gone to your inbox and sent an email notification but didn't, leave him a link to the comment that should have sent the notification, as long as the comment itself was made after Mark says he's collecting them. (I'd wait and post this after he gets the debug code in but I need to go to sleep and he's not sure how long it will take!)

We're sorry about the hassle! Irregular/sporadic issues like this are really hard to troubleshoot because it's impossible to know if they're fixed or if they're just not happening while you're looking. With luck, this will give us enough information to figure out the root cause for real this time.

(no subject)

Apr. 10th, 2026 01:10 pm
turps: (no words)
[personal profile] turps
Bodhi and Kayleigh dropped in for a little while yesterday. While here Bodhi went and stood in front of the shelves in the living room and asked why I had all of that stuff, meaning my display of Funkos. So, I explained, like her, I liked superheroes, at which point she said, if I liked superheroes where was Spider-Man? Sorry various Hawkeyes, Ronin, Winter Soldier etc, you're just not superheroes enough it seems. But sigh, judged by a four-year-old and found lacking again.

The craft fair on Monday was a weird one. Despite being there from before nine to four, the time seemed to fly, and yet we only made one sale, so didn't even get the table price back. Mainly it was due to location, when we'd first been offered a spot it was mentioned there were tables outside and inside, and while that was true, there was actually only one table inside, the rest being in the pub garden, so it wasn't very often people actually saw the one in the foyer at the back. Which of course, was the one we'd been assigned. I mean, it was good to be warm with some decent music to listen to, but you need people for sales.

One bonus was the pub was just over the car park from a Morrisons, so I went there for two meal deals for dinner, because nearly £5 for one drink of Pepsi Max from the pub was only going to happen once.

The organiser did ask if James wanted a table at the next event, but thankfully, it's the same date as the monthly maker's market in our town we always attend, so we didn't have to make up an excuse to turn down the invite.

A couple of people have been reading and commenting on many of my bandom stories lately, and getting those comments has been delightful. I especially liked the one on Painted Ponies where they commented, and when i replied, replied to that comment with even more detailed feedback, saying they'd thought I'd have been long gone from the fandom. And nope, despite the lack of actual writing, still love that ridiculous band, still hanging onto to the edges of the fandom with a few other fandom bandom olds.

Funnily enough, the last comment was on Caged where the band is saved by Spider-Man, adding to the Spidey mentions this week.

I was in Lush the other day buying a bunny bath bomb for Bodes, and they had these sparkly ET bath bombs )

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