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Five things make a post [Jun. 8th, 2026|09:28 pm]

aurumcalendula
Archery went pretty well despite having to end early because of potential thunderstorms.

I had fun virtually attending VidUKon, despite my internet connection being a bit uncooperative (I'm planning to catch up on some of the vidshows I missed because of timezone stuff later this week). I particularly enjoyed the What Hands Were Made For femslash vidshow (also, I was delighted to be described as 'like the patron saint of the vidshow' since I tend to make a bunch of femslash fanvids with a focus on hands).

Now that Cage of Shadows has finished airing for subscribers, I'm in the early stages of brainstorming vidsongs for it.

I'm now caught up on making subtitles for the vids I've finished this year so far! (I'm planning to eventually make more for my pre-2021 fanvids)

I haven't managed to get a photo of either, but I saw hummingbirds this weekend and a fawn this afternoon.
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Series Rec: Cage of Shadows (2026) [Jun. 7th, 2026|01:29 pm]

aurumcalendula
[Tags|, ]

poster for the cdrama Cage of Shadows

(23 × ~15 minute episodes)
Nan Yanzhi infiltrates the mysterious Lingya Tower to find an antidote, navigating its deadly challenges with assistance from her mentor Zhuang Wujiu and allies she makes along the way.

( Read more... )
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Doin' that thing you do [Jun. 4th, 2026|04:34 pm]

gwyn
[Tags|, ]
[Current Music |That Thing You Do!- The Oneders]

It's been three weeks now that I've had new kitty and things seem to be going very well. I did have embarrassingly bad stuff with the ferry on the way over, less said about that the better, but I did make it down to Gig Harbor and the instant I met her, I was in love. She had been sitting in the foster person's window well, and as soon as the door opened, she came running to meet me, and loves to head-butt and rub her face on yours. She's such a lovebug that it's bananas: she just wants to be next to you or on you or rubbing against you at all times.

So it was no question that she was coming home with me. The person who runs the group and the foster coordinator had said something funny to me--"I'll go get her from the prison and we should be back in plenty of time"-- and I thought maybe that was their inside joke about a shelter with cages or something. But as I was driving down, I went past a sign that said "Women's Correctional Facility Purdy" and multiple signs saying "Do not pick up hitchhikers." I still didn't quite put two and two together but at the foster's house, she mentioned the prison again, and at my confusion, she finally said "Oh, did she not tell you about the prison program?" Apparently this rescue group has connections with one of those prison programs where they train dogs (most commonly) or work with cats to make them adoptable (in this case, they work with feral kittens and feral adults who show interest in being with humans, as well as other cats that are going to be adopted).

The first time I saw one of these programs was on Pitbulls and Parolees, and I thought it was so cool--the inmates learn really valuable skills that can translate to the post-prison world, and they get to take care of another being that depends on them. Most of these programs have waiting lists, because everyone wants to be part of them. The inmate who cared for Hazel (what I have named her) gave me a great list of things she likes, her behaviors, etc. I've always thought these programs are so cool and I've been joking that Hazel was in prison before she came here, but it's the first time I've had direct experience.

She settled in really fast. She's just really even tempered, and she loooves to chase her tail, anywhere, any time. (She even chased her tail inside a paper bag that I was putting clothing to donate to the food bank's clothes line and fortunately didn't destroy the clothes, but did destroy the paper bag.) She desperately wants to go outside, so I have to figure out some kind of catio situation--she escaped the other day and immediately beelined under the deck, so this needs to be addressed. But she was a perfect angel on the drive home, not even making a peep on the road or on the ferry, which is loud and stinky.

She has the tiniest, sweetest meow, and dainty little feet like Olive's, but they are deadly when she puts them on like my femoral artery and it reminds me a lot of my dear miss Ollie. At night, she wants to be so right up on my head that she does this Alien face-hugger thing and it's this horrible battle of wills because I cannot breathe but she just tries over and over and I have to keep pushing her away. I do love her, but she has definite opinions. She is a bit of a chonk, but I think I can get her weight down a little. And she had all but her bottom canine teeth removed because of dental disease, but she can still bite, as my nose can attest. Her finickiness with food is slightly annoying, though.

( Pics of Hazel )

Yikes, can someone tell me how the hell to make those pictures normal size??

In other news, I had chemo last week and Dr. Li came in with "big news": the fuckers who bought the Polyclinic, where I have been going my whole adult life and which had a great reputation around the area for like 80 years, are shutting down his department. So no more hematology oncology. So he has two months to find placements for all his hundreds of patients, and there are limited spots where those of us in active treatment can really find this type of care. It's not that you can't go to a general oncologist, but they don't know the ins and outs of this very weird rare cancer, and blood cancers have their own special needs. I really don't want to go to Fred Hutch, despite it being a premier cancer center, for various reasons, so he's going to try to send me to the system I had radiation at and still see a doctor as well as a physical therapist at, but I don't know how long they're going to maintain their identity, since they "merged" with a large Catholic hospital system a few years back (I have very strong feelings about women's health at Catholic hospitals and am really angry that multiple Catholic systems are now running most of the hospitals here). I have no idea what to expect, if I'll get another horrible oncologist like the one I had at the beginning, or what. I'm filled with anxiety.

Because he's a great doc, though, he was careful to go through the calendar and my treatment schedule to make sure my prescription for pomalyst, the thalidomide analog that basically keeps me alive, will get phoned in before shuttering the office so my treatment isn't interrupted (though I have no idea how this whole thing will work and how soon I would be able to see my new doctor). So as of July 31, he's in early retirement (as is his great receptionist), and I will have to get used to a new normal somewhere else that I know nothing about.

Man, I'm so glad i have a cat with all this happening. I would hate to not have something to snuggle (her fur is SO SOFT). I still miss Blues like mad, and I still cry a lot about him, but it helps so much to be able to kiss a kitty head.
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It's (almost) con time! Discord invites & conbook should be in your inbox [Jun. 4th, 2026|10:17 am]

vidukon_cardiff
[condnsdmlk]
If you're registered for this year's con, you should now have an email with your conbook and Discord invite!

If you can't see it, please check your spam and the inboxes of any alternate email accounts you might have used to register. If you still don't see it, drop us an email and we'll sort you out!


Joining us in Birmingham? Please take a moment to refresh yourself on our Covid-19 policy, and test before you travel if you're able to.


Lastly, virtual registration will close 12:00 PM BST tomorrow (Friday). So you still have time to register if you'd like to attend.

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Stuff I've watched recently [Jun. 1st, 2026|11:45 pm]

aurumcalendula
[Tags|, ]

I'm really enjoying Cage of Shadows! I suspect I will be vidding it at some point (I'm delighted that the episode subtitles aren't hardcoded on the international website).

I've found three of the apparently four songs (going by the credits) on the soundtrack on YouTube:

( Read more... )

I'm so curious about the lyrics - while the English subtitles on iQIYI seem to be human translated (yay!), the credit songs aren't included.

I also started watching a bit of Love Beyond Dreams, which is more exciting than the poster indicated (although I do find the color contact lenses Lene seems to be wearing a bit distracting).
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Some birds [Jun. 1st, 2026|09:58 pm]

aurumcalendula
During last weekend's errands, I ended up seeing some birds I don't normally see:

( photos under cut )
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One week till VidUKon 2026! Test your setup [May. 30th, 2026|10:25 am]

vidukon_cardiff
[condnsdmlk]

Just one week to go until this year's con \o/ Keep an eye out next week Thursday for an email containing your conbook and Discord invite. Familiarise yourself with our code of conduct ahead of the con. You can also check out our AI policy HERE.


If you've not registered yet, you still have until June 4 to do so. You can sign up HERE. 


If you've already signed up, now is a good time to log into the platform to make sure you're all set for the con. Once logged in, you can check out the con schedule HERE. 


Test your setup

We highly recommend you test your setup ahead of the con to make sure there are no conflicts between our platform and your browser. While playback was smooth for most during testing, there were a few browser/OS combinations that caused issues. 


While there's no Festivids vidshow at this year's con, findmeinthealps VJed one anyway, and you can use it to test your setup. Find the show here: Best of Festivids 2025/26.


During testing, a few folks experienced distorted audio during two of the vids: Weapon of Choice (Clue) at 8:27 and Now You Know (Knives Out) at 27:03. If you want to test playback in your browser, you can either watch the entire vidshow (it's great!) or skip to about 30 seconds before either vid to see if the transition is smooth with no audio issues.


Unfortunately, it's not possible to give a clear "recommended browsers and OS" list because video streaming browser compatibility is very complex and we're a small team with limited time to invest into optimising this so that it's consistently reliable. 


If you are having playback issues in your browser of choice, we suggest switching to one that works for you. Here are a few suggestions based on known issues:


  • If there was a specific browser you used successfully last year, stick to it but do test anyway.
  • Folks who had trouble in Safari last year can try again as we know what caused those issues and are doing our best to avoid them this year.
  • Same with Firefox: some recent test users had no trouble in Firefox, so last year's Firefox warning may not apply anymore.
  • Our recent test vidshow showed that on some systems, Chrome will distort the audio of certain vids. This distortion should usually be fixed with a refresh. 
  • Another option is to try Vivaldi, which worked reliably as an alternative, at least on Mac and Windows.

One final note, if you find that audio and video are not syncing during the course of a show, refreshing the page will do the trick.


Thursday night programming

Just a reminder that while the con officially kicks off Friday afternoon BST, we do have a wonderful appetizer Thursday night BST in the form of the all-virtual Vidder's Choice show. 


Quiz

If you've not signed up for Friday's quiz, you can still do so on your Dashboard. Folks who sign up will be sorted into teams prior to the con – a good icebreaker to start off the weekend. 


Those who don't wish to join a team but still want to test their quiz skills can follow along on their own (no need to sign up). The questions and answers will be posted to Discord and all attendees will have access to the stream on the VidUKon platform.


In-person Covid policy

If you're attending in person, make sure to check out our Covid policy ahead of time. You can find it HERE

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[May. 28th, 2026|09:02 am]

aurumcalendula
[Tags|, ]

The Heiress by Molly Greeley:

( Read more... )

The mini drama Cage of Shadows just starting airing (and is up on iQIYI's international website) and I'm looking forward to checking it out this evening!
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