Daily Happiness

Jan. 16th, 2026 05:26 pm
torachan: karkat from homestuck looking bored (karkat bored)
[personal profile] torachan
1. I had a very nice relaxing WFH day. (The only annoying part was the very loud construction on one end of the street and the tar smell which was coming from either that site or the construction at the other end of the street lol.)

2. We walked down to the Italian deli this morning to get sandwiches for lunch. Also a nice part of working from home! We knew it would be pretty hot today, so rather than walk there at lunch time, we went right after Carla woke up, when it wasn't too hot and there was still some shade for most of the walk.

3. I changed the bandage on my tattoo this morning and cleaned it up. It's looking really good! After changing it, there is still some fluid coming out, but doesn't seem to be any blood. They said to use the clear "second skin" bandage for up to a week, so I actually ordered some more off Amazon (she gave me enough for one change) in case I need to change it sooner. With the amount of fluid under it right now, I might.

4. Upon closer inspection it looks like Tuxie is missing some fur on his forehead, so I think he might have been in a fight while he was gone, but he seems fine otherwise. Better than that time he got a chunk of his ear ripped out.

Weekly Reading

Jan. 16th, 2026 03:38 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
Recently Finished

Peril at the Exposition
Second in the Captain Jim and Lady Diana mystery series. I was disappointed to see that this one doesn't take place in India, so I hadn't jumped right on it after finishing the first, but my backlog of audiobooks was going down, so I decided to give it a go. It was fine. I'll probably read more in the series at the same pace, but it's also not really what I'm wanting in a mystery (and that was the same with the first one).

Deeds and Words
Another second book in a mystery series, though it seems like this is also the final book. It was also just all right.

Riot Baby
Set in a slightly more dystopic alternate reality, this tells the story of a girl with psychic powers and her brother, who was born after the LA riots, thus being nicknamed Riot Baby, in alternating POVs. I liked this, but it felt like the two POVs weren't really well integrated.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
In the late 1800s England, a man gets a mysterious watch that saves him from a bomb exploding, and then is tasked with finding out if the watchmaker, a Japanese man who can remember the future, is the one who set the bomb. I didn't much like this at all. The first half or more was extremely boring, and then once the action seemed to finally get going, the characters got worse and worse, especially the lone female character, who seems to exist only as a plot device to make everything horrible for the men.

Little Monsters vol. 1-2
Two volume comic series about child vampires living in an empty city after an apocalypse. I liked it all right. The ending was good.

Sakura, Saku vol. 8

Daily Happiness

Jan. 15th, 2026 07:44 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Tuxie was gone for three days but back this morning like nothing happened. He does this occasionally so I don't get worried, per se, but I am always glad to see him back and know he's safe. I wish he could tell us about his adventures when he's gone!

2. I have a tattoo!



I'll post another picture once it's healed. The yellow especially is very dark in the picture because it was the last color she did and it had a lot of blood welling up still. But it's exactly what I wanted and I'm very happy with it.

Overall the session took nearly three hours but the first was just discussing the design and prep, and the actual needling was about an hour and forty-five minutes. It's large, and since it's a wrap around, it's kind of fiddly, but since it's just color fill and not a lot of intricate line work or anything, it went pretty quickly overall.

It did hurt a fair bit, especially since there were some boney areas, but mostly I was just very tense from having to hold still. I felt like how I feel at the dentist, which always leaves me with a tension headache. I took some advil when I got home for the headache, but my leg itself didn't really hurt once she was done.

3. My usual Friday meetings were cancelled and the stuff I need to do tomorrow doesn't require accessing our system (which I hate doing from home because we're not able to use a VPN anymore and have to remote into a PC at the office, which is a pain), so I'm going to relax and work from home tomorrow.

4. I love getting pics of the cats looking up like this. It makes their cute faces even cuter!

S.W.A.T.: Fan Fiction: Couldn't Wait

Jan. 15th, 2026 08:04 am
darkjediqueen: (Default)
[personal profile] darkjediqueen posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: Couldn't Wait
Rating: R
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: S.W.A.T.
Relationships: Donovan Rocker/Molly Hicks
Tags: Established Relationship, Child Birth
Summary: Molly couldn't wait to be a mother with Donny.
Word Count: 2,746


smallhobbit: (Lucas 1)
[personal profile] smallhobbit posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: Four Socks
Fandom: Spooks (MI5) [Werewolf AU]
Rating: G
Length: 378 words
Summary: It often happens that when a dog has a leg wound a sock is worn to prevent the animal chewing at the wound. Of course, with a werewolf this proves more complicated.

Daily Happiness

Jan. 14th, 2026 09:49 pm
torachan: a cartoon bear eating a large sausage (magical talking bear prostitute)
[personal profile] torachan
1. We have been wanting to do a weekday trip to Universal Studios, but like Knott's, they have really limited hours during the off season and right now they close at 6pm on weekdays, which means dinner is not really doable due to traffic, so I'd suggested going for lunch today since I didn't have anything time sensitive at work until three, but the forecast was sunny and 80 degrees, so we decided to pass lol.

Instead we decided to get lunch from a place in Gardena we'd heard about recently from youtube (which Carla actually tried out herself last month and liked) and then she'd do some shopping while I went in to work. So we did that and had a delicious lunch of teriyaki chicken and beef with a Chinese chicken salad on the side, but when she semi-jokingly brought up going to Disneyland for dinner since we were already halfway there, I checked and there was availability, so we ended up doing that as well after work and had a very nice dinner down there, too. (And since the sun was down by the time we got there, the temps had gone way down.)

2. I'm getting my tattoo tomorrow! The appointment is for 2pm, so I'm going in to work in the morning and then heading over there straight from work.

3. Yet another cat getting cozy in Carla's new suitcase lol.

2026 Disneyland Trip #3 (1/14/26)

Jan. 14th, 2026 09:35 pm
torachan: aradia from homestuck (aradia)
[personal profile] torachan
We weren't planning a mid-week trip but Carla came down to Gardena with me today so we could go to lunch and she could do some shopping while I was at work, and she semi-jokingly suggested going to Disneyland for dinner afterwards, and when I checked there was full availability for both parks, so since we were already halfway there I figured why not?

Read more... )
badly_knitted: (Eyebrow Raise)
[personal profile] badly_knitted posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks

Title: Return Of The Living Socks
Fandom: Torchwood
Author: [personal profile] badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Sock.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 842
Summary: Out on a Rift retrieval in Bute Park, Ianto encounters an alien creature he had hoped never to see again.
Spoilers: Nada.
Warnings: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 503: Sock.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood or any of the characters.






Return Of The Living Socks... )

Daily Happiness

Jan. 13th, 2026 04:49 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
1. They posted the foodie guide for lunar new year at DCA and there are so many tasty looking things this year!

2. I have a web meeting at 5pm tonight but had enough time to come home between my previous meeting and this one, so I can take it from home and not be getting home at like seven.

3. Spotted Gemma and Jasper sitting together on the sofa.

Daily Happiness

Jan. 12th, 2026 08:06 pm
torachan: palmon smiling (palmon)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Well, the bathroom sink did not stay unplugged for long, and after trying Drano again a couple days ago, it pretty much stopped draining altogether, so we ended up having to get a plumber out after all. But we got someone to come today (it wasn't an emergency as we could just use the kitchen sink, so didn't want to call over the weekend) and he was able to fix it very quickly and it wasn't expensive. And Carla asked him if he could take a look at the knob that switches between the shower/tub faucet, which has not been working for like a couple years, and he fixed that without charging extra, so now we can switch to the tub faucet if we want to.

2. Although the rain is gone, it's so windy that we're still getting a ton of berries coming down from the tree out front, so I took the car in for a wash again and once again there was no line, so when the guy offered to let me go through twice, I took him up on it. The car looks much better!

3. We had a meeting at work today to get approval for some expenses on the project we're working on and I was expecting it to be difficult but it was super easy!

4. Ollie has also been enjoying Carla's new suitcase.

Monday Media Musings: 01/12/26

Jan. 12th, 2026 11:09 am
owlmoose: (cats - lexi innocent)
[personal profile] owlmoose

Joyride : A buddy road movie focused on Chinese-American women taking a personal journey across China, testing the boundaries of their relationships and coming back stronger. We were looking for a lightweight way to pass an evening, and I'd say this fit the bill, although a little raunchy for my taste (explicit drug use, over-the-top sex). Top-notch cast, particularly Sabrina Wu as the awkward and too-relatable Deadeye.

The Knives Out films: This was a rewatch -- I've seen Knives Out and Glass Onion several times, and I insisted we watch Wake Up Dead Man the day it was released on Netflix -- and I'm happy to say that the series holds up, both as individual movies and overall. I think Knives Out is still my favorite, although a Chris Evans fangirl would say that, but I appreciate them all for their different strengths. Before the rewatch, I would have put Wake Up Dead Man a clear notch below the other two, but now I'm not so sure -- Father Jud is easily the best protagonist in the series, and I appreciate the depiction of a priest who represents the best aspects of Christianity drawn in contrast to some of its very worst. I also found the mystery quite satisfying, maybe even the best of the lot. The major downside was the supporting cast, which was fine (I will never argue with yet another showstopper from Glenn Close), but they didn't quite have the chemistry or interest of the ensembles in the other two films.

Daily Happiness

Jan. 11th, 2026 05:37 pm
torachan: (rainbow avatar)
[personal profile] torachan
1. We went to the Indian market today and got lunch there as well, as they also have a small restaurant (cafeteria style). Everything was so tasty!

2. I contacted someone about making an appointment for a tattoo! I figured now that I know what I want, I want to get it done sooner rather than later, so it's fully healed by the time we take our trip in April.

3. Carla got a new suitcase backpack. It's about the size of a backpack, but opens like a suitcase. I think all the cats tried it out yesterday, except maybe Molly.

bluedreaming: (pseudonym - tinyfingers)
[personal profile] bluedreaming posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Fandom: 子非鱼 (Zi Fei Yu) - 林盎司
Rating: T
Length: 100 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: The title is from Flight (extract 1) by Yu Jian, translated by Simon Patton, and A Single Woman’s Bedroom by Yi Lei, translated by Tracy K. Smith and Changtai Bi.
Summary: Lin Fei belongs to Ji Leyu.

Read more... )

Daily Happiness

Jan. 10th, 2026 08:15 pm
torachan: karkat from homestuck headdesking (karkat headdesk)
[personal profile] torachan
1. As usual, the dry, windy weather is bringing warmer temps, but thankfully it's not getting super hot. High 70s, which is not the weather I want in January, but seems like it'll just be a few days. And it's still very chilly at night.

2. We had a nice morning at Disneyland. They've got a bunch of new menu items that started earlier this week and everything we tried was delicious. And we brought home a chocolate caramel apple to have for dessert, which we haven't done in a while.

3. Tuxie's new favorite spot is under the grill.

Challenge 503: Sock

Jan. 11th, 2026 03:24 pm
china_shop: Zhao Yunlan stretched out on a stool. (Guardian - ZYL sprawled on a stool)
[personal profile] china_shop posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Our new challenge is:

SOCK



As always, you can interpret the prompt literally or figuratively, in whatever way works for you.

Each work created for this challenge should be posted as a new entry to the comm. Posting starts now and continues up until the challenge ends at 4pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, 20th January. No sign-up required.

Mods will tag your work with fandom and challenge. When you've posted entries to three consecutive challenges, you will earn a name tag, and we'll go back and tag all your previous entries with your name.

All kinds of fanworks in all fandoms are welcome. Please have a look at our guidelines before you play. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact a mod. And if you have any suggestions for future challenges, you can leave them in the comments of this post.

You can view stats for [community profile] fan_flashworks entries and search and filter them via the Community Report and Creator Report. See our FAQ post for more details.

Also, keep an eye out for the next [community profile] ffw_social post, which will go up in the next couple of days. If you haven't joined the [community profile] ffw_social comm, it's never too late to come and check it out. (Posts are locked, which means you have to join to see them.)

Admin: Challenge closed

Jan. 11th, 2026 03:17 pm
china_shop: Water ripples made golden by the light. (golden ripples)
[personal profile] china_shop posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
The Sand challenge is now closed. Here are the entries:

Stranger Things: Fanfic: Sand by [personal profile] wearing_tearing
Original: icons: sand by [personal profile] lilly_c
Marvel Cinematic Universe: Fanfic: In a Grain of Sand by [personal profile] alexcat
due South: Fanfiction: Sandy Boots by [personal profile] lucy_roman
Sherlock Holmes (ACD): Fanfic: Beneath the Sand by [personal profile] smallhobbit
Terraria: Quatrain: A Prize to be Won by [personal profile] infinitum_noctem
FAKE: Fanfic: Wishful Thinking by [personal profile] badly_knitted
no fandom: icons: Sand by [personal profile] highlander_ii
Multifandom (TV): Icons: Life’s a Beach (9 icons) by [personal profile] veronyxk84
S.W.A.T.: Fan Fiction: Looking Forward To Most by [personal profile] darkjediqueen
US Politics: poetry: the sand in the gears by [personal profile] teaotter
Torchwood: Fanfic: Newsworthy by [personal profile] m_findlow
Heated Rivalry: Fanfic: Sweaty, Salty, Sandy by [personal profile] seeyouontheice
子非鱼 (Zi Fei Yu): Fanfic: the same soul (make the ocean wider) by [personal profile] bluedreaming

Also, congratulations to those who earned badges and name tags this round:

[personal profile] teaotter earned The Unstoppable (SILVER) (36 challenge streak).

\o/ \o/ \o/

Thank you to everyone who participated! You're now free to post your entries to your journal or wherever else you'd like. If you're archiving on AO3, you can add your work to our fan_flashworks collection there.

The Community Report and Creator Report will be updated shortly with the entries from this round. See our FAQ for more details.

Next challenge coming right up.

2026 Disneyland Trip #2 (1/10/26)

Jan. 10th, 2026 04:19 pm
torachan: arale from dr slump dressed in a penguin suit and smiling (arale penguin)
[personal profile] torachan
We got down to the park right when they opened, so the crowds were very low. Unfortunately they recently reduced the number of restaurants that open when the park does, so we had time to kill before breakfast (even though we were both very hungry).

Read more... )
bluedreaming: (pseudonym - tinyfingers)
[personal profile] bluedreaming posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Fandom: 子非鱼 (Zi Fei Yu) - 林盎司
Rating: T
Length: 100 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: The title is from THE SHAPE OF THE OCEAN by Jiang Hao, translated by Ming Di and Afaa Weaver.
Summary: Ji Leyu belongs to Lin Fei.

Read more... )
seeyouontheice: shane and ilya in hockey gear (Default)
[personal profile] seeyouontheice posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: Sweaty, Salty, Sandy
Fandom: Heated Rivalry (TV)
Length: 234 words
Author notes: post-beach and post-hotel room in Florida
Summary: Shane doesn't like mess. Ilya doesn't want to kill the mood just yet.

Sweaty, Salty, Sandy )

Torchwood: Fanfic: Newsworthy

Jan. 10th, 2026 08:29 pm
m_findlow: (Date)
[personal profile] m_findlow posting in [community profile] fan_flashworks
Title: Newsworthy
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 663 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 502 - Sand
Summary: Ianto is beginning to regret having a slow morning with time to read the paper.

Read more... )
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