InterNutter

Queensland! Beautiful one day...

...buggered up the butt by a cyclone, the next!

Doesn't quite fit the Australian Tourism Board's idea of advertising, but neither did The Scared Weird Little Guys' Come to Australia (You Might Accidentally Get Killed).

But this is definite proof that Earth is a Deathworld and Australia ups the overall rating.

As you might guess, we all weathered the storm. A bit of a blackout, but at least we all had hot food before the lights went out.

I did finally get to listen to Chess after slightly less than 30 years of missing out. This was hot shit in the 80's and today... I just wonder why. I remember excruciating rehearsals and standing up in front of the entire school singing I Know Him So Well for every single damn time that there was anything official happening at that school.

Every time. For the entirety of my stay at High School. I think I was picked because (a) I studied music for a time,¹ (b) I'm an alto[encouraging all the other ranges to drown me out], and (c) I can at least keep a tune. But, God, I got firkin tired of I Know Him So Well.

Turns out that that song, and One Night in Bangkok are about the only decent songs there. The rest of them... well... they hurt my ears.

Now the rule I used to hold when purchasing music went, "If an album I don't know has at least two good songs on it, I'll buy it." Money was short in my youth and I was a fussy kid. But it was a rule I applied when listening to the samples on Steam Powered Giraffe's site before I knew them and it's a rule that has served me well. It also means that, out of slightly less than an hour's worth of music, there's a minimum of five minutes that will be good for my mood.

A double album set is just shy of two hours. There should be a minimum of four good songs on that shit. But no... there isn't. And that's just sad.

But I have loads more vinyl to play, media storage to invest in, and possibly even more singles to rescue.

And 1000 words to write in Rael, which is now wandering away from the source material of RTFM and headed thoroughly into unknown territory. I dunno what we're going to do for Unsuitable Food, today. Just about everywhere would be either shut or mopping up after the weather.

At least this cyclone didn't play "Not touching you" with our coastline like it did in the 2012² floods. It just ploughed straight into the mainland and turned into a big-arse tropical storm. Which is now headed out to sea to hang around and deliver rain to wherever for a while.

Small blessings, I guess.

Love and best wishes to everyone who's suffered during the storm. I wish I could actually do something, but... I'm broke and the roads are fucked. Sorry about that.

Not that it did much for me. I can't read sheet music, I can't play an instrument, and every time I sing, everyone around me tells me to stop. ↩
I think it was 2012, but time and I have an estranged relationship. ↩

Challenge #01548-D087: The Good Word

We all know "Abracadabra," or, "Hocus Pocus," and sometimes, "Just Like That! Just Like That!" Then of course there's, "Please," "Excuse Me," and, "Thank You," which might stop you getting hit by someone. -- Knitnan

There was one door in the Vault that had not been opened. The SPOEns had been at it for almost a year. And it wasn't often that Shayde took her Ambassadorial Yacht anywhere at all, because she didn't like to travel without Rael by her side. And

A bit of wet

The drawback to not paying any attention to the mainstream media is missing out on news bulletins like Cyclone Debbie. The typical summer weather is a bit late, this year, with cyclone season commencing in autumn proper, instead of late summer. Blame climate change.

I'm located south enough that cyclone season just gets us wet, most of the time, and flooded pretty often enough to be annoying. I'd stock up on frozen veg, but it's a bit difficult to get the cheap

Challenge #01547-D086: Custom Made Babies

"No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other." -- RecklessPrudence

"All I'm saying is that a certain amount of strengths are needed in the human genetic structure," argued Doctor Vardian. "My plan was to eliminate genetic disorders. Not... what has happened."

"Purity is more important than anything else," shouted the skinhead in the gallery. "We need to separate ourselves from the filth that has come to

I'm ba-ack

Just as mysteriously as it failed, the LAN server in our home woke from ~~the dead~~ its long slumber and returned to duty.

I celebrated by bingeing on Forensics Files and not arting.

I simply must make myself return to arting. Inertia does me no favours when I'm standing still. I can plausibly finish the second-level sketch of Hatchworth (he is so very hard to draw ;_;) whilst I'm waiting for a parcel to turn up.

Heck, I can even play that Chess

Challenge #01546-D085: Proof of Concept

The concept of sound didn't exist until roughly the 1870s, when the gramophone was invented. -- RecklessPrudence

[AN: Which is weird, because Aristotle linked hearing with the element of air. Source. And more than a few attempts were made to record sound. Source2 ]

"A listening engine?" Clara repeated.

"To aid the deaf, I initially thought. Something to translate the noises we make into a visual medium, and thereby aid understanding. Of course, its spelling would be atrocious, but the message should get

The system is down

Our LAN server died of inexplicable causes. Some essential part of it just up and died without any warning. So now, I am doing all my work on my laptop, with my phone as a wifi hotspot.

You can easily guess that I'm not going to be around on the internet for much longer after I'm done with my work.

At least I have a good excuse to go back to the arting again. Once I've caught up on the stuff we've

Challenge #01545-D084: Hoarded Labyrinth

Unpacking a Packrat's Hoard. -- Anon Guest

It was a lovely old house, that was certain. It was such a shame that it was filled, floor to ceiling, with packrattus. Great-Aunt Shirl had been one of those people who kept the wrapping paper off of her presents and the stubs from her movie tickets. Everything she had, was kept in the box it came in. And the shopping bag it arrived home in. About the only thing she threw out was the

Welp...

I'm doing great at slacking off. For specific definitions of "slacking off". I've learned that there is such a thing as FLAC format, which is the high-definition digital whatsit that all true audiophiles should be saving their media in. I've learned that there are places that will sell you good storage solutions for your beloved vinyl. Including new dust covers in case your old ones got ruined by a certain audiophile store that doesn't give a shit about their cheaper vinyl.

There's

Challenge #01544-D083: Il Pleut

They can make it rain, some perform Arcane rituals, some pray. But of course there is the old tried and true methods. -- Knitnan

There's a reason why the Affiliate College of Rainmakers is on a boat. And why the uniform contains rain coats and wellingtons. You don't collect so many Rainmakers in one place without taking precautions. It's only by the third year of attempting control that many students actually achieve it.

Though it is hard to tell without field trips.

Great start

I have plans. I have a time limit. And I'm spending some of that time watching David Bennett eat a sandwich(and make beautiful music) live on YouTube.

I just keep on winning.

On the plus side, Beloved and I did get to do some -ah- intense shopping. I got to see the place where my love got all the expensive sound gear and got a fuckton of equally expensive records.

I don't know if I like them as a vinyl shopping

Challenge #01543-D082: No More Tea!

"What are They doing here?" he pointed to a pile of colourful objects.

"Oh, the Tea Cosies, we find them very handy in the Experimental Maths Lab."

Kudos for referencing The Goodies, "I'm a Tea pot! I'm a Tea pot" meltdowns. -- Anon Guest

"People actually go mad and think they're tea pots?" said Kerl. "That happens?"

"Not... quite," allowed Mars, who was the head of the department. "Have you any understanding of five-dimensional math?"

"I don't think five people alive have

Slug time

There's another party to attend, tomorrow. And I did my usual thing of messing up my sleep cycle by conking out early. And then waking up early.

And then I spent an inordinate amount of time watching YouTube and playing Minecraft. Which I enjoy immensely. I haven't even taken any measurements beyond my weight, yet.

I won't be posting that nonse today. Not unless Beloved interrupts with a need to make me take them.

Which is not likely to be happening.

I'm

Challenge #01542-D081: A Painful Setback

Like most toilets in Educational facilities this one was littered in graffiti, some of it actually, (a) anatomically correct and, (b) spelled right. Someone had scrawled 'Plumbing does not define Genius or Worth!' -- Anon Guest

Those were inspirational words, but when one was battling digestive upset, plumbing certainly interfered with one's ability to learn. Taerl read arguments from other scholars, including one who repeatedly asked for proof of assorted statements. Someone else, irritated with the non-rebuttal, had scrawled, DO YOUR

Catching up

I've cleaned all my vinyl singles and it's looking like there was never a lot of dust in them to begin with. Doing the LP's is going to take longer, because I have to be more careful with them. I've given myself the goal of two per day, there.

I have read through the finished chapters of Rael so I don't have to plough through them en masse when the book is finally done.

I'm just not arting this week. Sorry.

I

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Indie writer seeks audience with an audience. Paying customers welcome. [pronouns: ze/hir] Daily free stories happen because it is an excellent counter to Writers' Block.

Queensland! Beautiful one day...

Challenge #01548-D087: The Good Word

A bit of wet

Challenge #01547-D086: Custom Made Babies

I'm ba-ack

Challenge #01546-D085: Proof of Concept

The system is down

Challenge #01545-D084: Hoarded Labyrinth

Welp...

Challenge #01544-D083: Il Pleut

Great start

Challenge #01543-D082: No More Tea!

Slug time

Challenge #01542-D081: A Painful Setback

Catching up