Rec-Cember Day #5
Dec. 6th, 2025 12:47 amToday's Rec:
Sailing With Phoenix
Over the summer, a dude started sailing solo from Oregon to Hawai'i on a sailboat with his cat. He came across my TikTok FYP randomly, about a week into his trip. He has a whole Youtube channel documenting his decision to go, leaving his job, buying the boat, prepping the boat, and then the actual journey. He's since decided to get a new boat and sail non-stop around the world, and is documenting that journey. My autistic self was immediately charmed by him. And I learned a lot about boats and sailing (I love when people get intensely into a special interest and share it with people.) He has short form content on his TikTok but I really like the longer form videos and how he builds the narrative over time on Youtube.
Fandom Fifty: #41
Dec. 5th, 2025 11:05 pmFurious 7 - So my late partner and I had fallen in love with this crew in the first movie. She LOVED Brian. And... well. Paul Walker died before completing this one. And then they released it on her anniversary with me. So Yeah. Saw it twice in theater.
Jurassic World - This looked interesting, was okay, but wife and I both had Issues with it. And then, of course, Pratt lived up to his name, and I let the franchise go away. Still kinda want to see the one with the original trio.
Carol - I don't do arthouse style films, I protest mightily. AND YET. I decided to see what the fuss was about, and FELL IN LOVE. Cate and Rooney sold the story. (and having read up about the author, wow it's toned down from the inspirations / she was a helluva bitch it looked like)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - such characters! such potential! Shame they never made more after it to explore Finn and Rey and Poe in a way that highlighted EVERYTHING THAT MADE THEM INTERESTING! (It did however set me on the SW track of writing, so I can't complain too much)
(no subject)
Dec. 5th, 2025 09:10 pmFanfic End-of-the-Year Asks [I mean, COMMENTS here, really, but. you know.]
- favorite fic you wrote this year
- least favorite fic you wrote this year
- favorite line/scene you wrote this year
- total number of words you wrote this year
- most popular fic this year
- least popular fic this year
- longest completed fic you wrote this year
- shortest completed fic you wrote this year
- longest wip of the year
- shortest wip of the year
- fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year
- favorite character to write about this year
- favorite writing song/artist/album of this year
- a fic you didn’t expect to write
- something you learned this year
- fic(s) you completed this year
- fics you’ll continue next year
- current number of wips
- any new fics to start next year
- number of comments you haven’t read
- most memorable comment/review
- events you participated in this year
- fics you wanted to write but didn’t
- favorite fic you read this year
- a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read
- number of favorites/bookmarks you made this year
- favorite fanfic author of the year
- longest fic you read this year
- shortest fic you read this year
- favorite fandom to read fic from this year
I ~only~ posted 43 works this year (not counting whatever else gets posted for end of year exchanges, etc), which is at once a lot and not as many as in recent years.
So yeah, have at!
(perhaps I'll post a Real Entry at some point, but for now: hey, I'm around, have a meme.)
LadiesBingo: Sacrifice / Letting Go
Dec. 5th, 2025 06:05 pmChapters: 1/1
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer [TV]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Willow Rosenberg & Buffy Summers
Characters: Willow Rosenberg, Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers [Buffy & Angel Universe]
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Post-Canon
Summary:
Willow left a letter...
Her Turn
This one, it's not for you. You get that, right? This time, it's about me. It has to be me. You can't… you can't keep reaching. I know you love me. I know you would want to step up, to take my place. You've always been the one making the sacrifice. That's who you are, the One. You changed the game to begin with, and then when that wasn't enough, you changed the whole playing field.
Okay, maybe I had something to do with changing the gameboard up. But I was only able to do it because of you, because you had so much faith in me. I need you to have that faith in me now. I need you to be the stronger one, the one who has to live, to keep facing the evil.
Hopefully it won't be as bad, not once I do this.
All my love.
Dawn wasn't used to seeing her sister frail, not even after all the losses they had faced. She'd guessed, though, that this one might be the breaking point, and hurried to get to Buffy's side. She saw the paper crumpled in a fist, but ignored it, just turning her sister to hold her.
At first, Buffy was stiff. The grief broke to Dawn's coaxing, a howl of pain and denial. Dawn just held on, petting her hair, tears streaming on her own face.
"Maybe… maybe it didn't end her?" Dawn suggested once the crying gave way to the heavy silence.
Buffy pushed the crumpled paper to her sister, letting Dawn read Willow's own words. It made Dawn swallow hard, as the pain and finality gripped her all over again.
She couldn't give into it, though. Buffy needed her. Buffy had lost Willow, and Dawn needed to step up even more.
2026 Theme Suggestions
Dec. 5th, 2025 03:06 pmHey all, it's December and that means it's time to share your suggestions for next year's themes!
You can comment on this post with up to 10 suggestions. Comments will be screened, but I'll unscreen mine so you can get a feel for how it goes.
Suggested themes should be new to the comm and broad enough to sustain a month of recommendations, and I'm going to be more particular than I have in the past, as I'd like to focus on general themes that make it easier for everyone to participate. To give you an idea of what this means, I'm aiming for themes that have at least 5,000 completed works on AO3. I've also preloaded the list with some common genres that, surprisingly enough, we haven't done yet, like fantasy.
I'll drop by your comments and let you know which of your suggestions meet these guidelines. As part of this process I may offer slight alterations or rework themes to make them more inclusive.
If you can, check out our spreadsheet of past themes before commenting to make sure your suggestions aren't already on there.
If you need some inspiration:
- Last year's suggestion post
- List of Fic Kinks, Tropes, and Clichés at Fanlore
- Cliché Bingo's Big List of Clichés (Wayback Link)
- Hurt/Comfort Bingo Prompts
- Kink Bingo's Kink Wiki (NSFW)
- Trope List & Definitions at Trope Bingo
- TV Tropes
I'll add the suggestions to this post once they've been confirmed, but I still, somehow, don't have all the past themes memorized, so if I make a mistake or if I accept a suggestion that is hurtful or badly worded, let me know.
Theme suggestions will be voted on later this month and the most popular will advance to the monthly theme polls in 2026.
( Confirmed Theme Suggestions )
If you have any questions or need help, come find me!
[ SECRET POST #6909 ]
Dec. 5th, 2025 05:38 pm⌈ Secret Post #6909 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.

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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #986.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
(no subject)
Dec. 5th, 2025 05:31 pmOn this Bandcamp Friday, I have purchased the entirety of Dessa's discography; made a loaf of bread for potluck Shabbat services tonight; gone to the makerspace to continue sanding the drawer divider pieces I made with the laser cutter earlier this week; picked up my CSA box; nearly froze to death waiting for the bus home.
Mar-i-a The-re-sia, M.T.
Dec. 5th, 2025 11:15 pmToo tired to catch up on chores just yet, but I can start catching up on reviews, at least.
Three weeks ago, friends and I went to see Maria Theresia the musical at Ronacher. I rarely go see musicals in Vienna; the last one was the Falco musical in the same place around 1-2 years ago, both of them premiered there. I enjoyed "Rock Me Amadeus" more than expected, so I was very curious about a new one about empress Maria Theresia. A key figure of Austrian history; I only remembered bits and pieces of what I learned about her at school and during museum visits etc, but I briefly looked at her Wikipedia page beforehand just in case.
I had a good time! The beginning was the weakest part imo, but then it picked up the pace and focus. Of course they took plenty of liberties with historical facts but that was inevitable. I liked the music (not especially memorable but I am also not great at remembering music in general tbf) and staging, and especially some of the things they did with the lights. I found Falco too loud in places, but not this one, possibly because we sat further back.
( Spoilers )
Afterwards I was in the mood to read a book about the Habsburgs, and the only one currently available as an ebook from the library was one about "scandalous love affairs of the Habsburgs," by Hanne Egghardt. Fortunately a quick stop to any romanticizing of the Habsburgs through sheer, hm, mundanity. It features several scandalous affairs throughout the centuries, from the wife of the emperor falling in love with and almost certainly having an affair with her sister-in-law, to Napoleon's widow having kids with a general sent to look after her, to several archdukes falling in love with "commoners" - with varying degrees of happy endings that all showcase why such relationships were viewed with much skepticism.
It was often mentioned that these nobles had allowances of specific sums of money that all sounded like a lot, but I have no context how much so-and-so thousand guilders were worth back then so I couldn't say whether they were extremely rich or just moderately wealthy for their station.
10 things about the gay hockey show
Dec. 5th, 2025 09:37 pmHowever, episodes have been consumed, this show is already doing numbers in fannish circles for obvious reasons, my guess is that that trend will continue, and so I need to get stuff off my chest I guess. Think of this not as a public statement but more as a private space where I process stuff, just for the sake of framing the below.
( thoughts in no particular order )
Write every day: Day 5
Dec. 5th, 2025 09:49 pmTally:
( Read more... )
Day 4:
Day 5:
Bonus farm news: We have excess pumpkin. Things made so far: soup, grilled in the oven, fried patties, sweet pie, savory pie, grilled in the oven with different spices, gnocchi, and wine.
Vids that will never be: A Clone Wars ship I don't ship but I would watch this vid
Dec. 5th, 2025 04:10 pmI feel like this needs a good bunch of Bad Batch, which I have not seen, in much the same way that I have only seen Wicked on stage once, and haven't seen the movies.
I also can't listen to the song without tearing up because I've sung it at too many funerals.
Clearly I am highly qualified to care about this vid. I must've gotten someone else's inspiration particle.
It's not Rule 34 if it's not porn - Skippy's List, Clone Wars edition
Dec. 5th, 2025 03:12 pmThe one that stuck with me hardest:
87. If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it.
This came to mind because I thought of a great tag that will baffle the good wranglers at the AO3, but which I will apply to the story forthwith, despite its having made me giggle for longer than 15 seconds.
Then I started wondering.
These are the fanworks on AO3 tagged with Skippy's List. Happily, various people have written Clone Wars versions so I don't have to.
It's DecRecs Time!
Dec. 5th, 2025 11:47 amBut that's not what I want to talk about! It's December, and every year for the last several years I've been doing a project called DecRecs in December where I rec on thing everyday for the month and encourage other people to rec stuff too. Recs get posted on Mastodon and this year for the first time BlueSky then every once in a while I round them up and post several days worth here.
So here are the 1st five days of recs!
Day 1
It's the first day of December and that means its time for #decRecs !
This year I want to focus on reccing things I discovered this year, not things I've recced a ton of times before, though I'm sure I'll include some old favorites.
I'm starting out with "This is it" a mulifandom Go /Baduk / Weiqi vid. This so much fun! I've been rewatching this everytime I scroll past it in my ao3 bookmarks and its a delight every time!
I love the variety of source material and the perfect timing!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/51767752
2:57 min, only music, subtitles available
Day 2
Today for #DecRecs I want to talk about barley tea! I used to get this all the time at my favorite Korean restaurant but I recently realized that I can make it at home! It's so good, cozy, a bit of nutty flavor, very warming in the cold!
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Friday Check In
Dec. 5th, 2025 08:39 pmIf you link your rec posts/fandoms in the comments, I can add the fandom tags :)