silentauror's Blog, page 189

simplyclockwork:sherlockspeare:I’ve borrowed them...

simplyclockwork:

sherlockspeare:

I’ve borrowed them before.

Sherlock’s damn face

Euugh???

I am OFFENDED

Anyways, nevermind

Fuck dammit 

Ben is so so so so so so so good at acting. Just in case you’d forgotten. Like SO good.

syringavulgaris:Mary Oliver, Worm MoonI love this. That said,...

syringavulgaris:

Mary Oliver, Worm Moon

I love this. That said, Mary Oliver definitely wasn’t from the Canadian prairies…

waitedforgarridebs:John to Mary: “Is it too early for a divorce?”Sherlock:

waitedforgarridebs:

John to Mary: “Is it too early for a divorce?”

Sherlock: 

Photo

aiyon0206:I spent 5 hours on drawing the line……can somebody...

aiyon0206:

I spent  5 hours on drawing the line……can somebody tell me how to draw faster…..

This is soooo cute! Sherlock’s little note and John’s blush, omg

djpeckneck:keeperofstarrywisdom:meatswitch:earthgears:ENLì...

djpeckneck:

keeperofstarrywisdom:

meatswitch:

earthgears:

ENLìL Wind turbine

seeing this makes it look like such an obvious thing that should be installed all over the place.

“The turbine is designed vertically with long blades. It covers less area on the ground and is easy to handle. It can easily be assembled and disassembled which makes it durable. Solar panels are fixed at the top of the turbine to generate extra electricity. The device is capable of producing approximately 1 kilowatt per hour of electricity. A single ENLIL turbine can easily provide the average daily electricity needs of two households.

Apart from that, the turbine also contains inbuilt sensors like carbon footprint sensors, to detect earthquakes and IOT platform. The safety and comfort of the city are also ensured.

The turbine can be installed in parks, near seashores, rooftops, households but the roads are the ideal locations for the device. The big vehicles like buses can provide a lot of wind energy. The speeding vehicles on the highway can provide enough wind for these turbines to work all day and night without stopping. The energy generated can be transported to places or it can be used for maintenance of roadways.“ 

-Dhruvika Singh, BuzzOnEarth.com

Scientists remind world that clean energy technology ready to go whenever

This is why the people with all the money shouldn’t be making the decisions for the rest of us. Oil & coal men have been dominating this discussion and destroying the planet in the name of protecting their interests for far too long now

shiplocks-of-love replied to your post “Man, today was a shitshow. It started with getting nearly...

shiplocks-of-love
replied to your post “Man, today was a shitshow.  It started with getting nearly run over…”

Goodness, that was an eventful day. So, basically you don’t have days off, if you need to work even partial days on Sundays and Mondays. That sucks - hard for you to recover properly! Sometimes the world seems to conspire to bring us spectacularly crappy days. Sending you a hug!

Yup. Exactly. No days off. It sucks. Basically how it works is: I have a full-time job, but the hourly wage is total crap, only just above minimum wage, and the cost of living in my city is high. So I also teach voice lessons two evenings per week, because it pays more than 3x what the other job pays per hour, but it’s also more intense (because teaching one-on-one just is), but it’s also in the domain that I have a masters in (classical singing), so that’s nice, in a way? It’s definitely nice to have a job that pays me at the value I feel I merit, if that makes sense. But I’m still constantly, constantly struggling to make ends meet (hence my timid reminder to folk the other day that I have a Patreon page, though it didn’t score me a single new donor, haha (*despair*)), yet working practically around the clock. Mondays are my “day off”, ish, but not the evening. On Tuesdays I work all day at the museum, then teach a bunch in the evening. I just lost two students (an adult who decided she can’t afford it anymore, and a 12-year-old that I was all too happy to lose bc she decided she wanted to take dance lessons instead, so it’s fine, but also less $$). Wednesday evenings are about to get busy with a volunteer thing that may lead to decent choral conducting work in the future, but not as yet (this is part of me attempting to re-establish myself in my home city after years away). Thursday nights I have church choir, which I do for fun and which is genuinely relaxing. Friday evenings are sacred and I generally keep them free to hang out with my bff. We do food and movies. It’s our thing. His husband can’t eat or doesn’t like most of the food my bestie likes (he has IBS and also a SUPER vanilla palate), and also doesn’t enjoy sitting through movies, so it’s perfect, as it’s been our main hangout activity for 20 years now. Saturday evenings are also usually free, hence the main spate of cleaning I did tonight. And then Sundays are free once I’m done church, but I often end up having family stuff. Happily I don’t tomorrow, so the bff and I are going for dinner (Indian! Whoo!) and then rewatching the first three episodes of Patrick Melrose. :) And then on Monday I’m going to actually sleep more than 5 hours. It will be *amazing*. 

rumtastique replied to your post “Man, today was a shitshow. It started with getting nearly run...

rumtastique
replied to your post “Man, today was a shitshow.  It started with getting nearly run over…”

please share your coleslaw wisdom…..

Ooo! Gladly! So, I’ve never liked two things that most other people in North America seem to like - okay, so it’s way more than two things, but these are the two that came to mind: potato salad, and coleslaw. With potato salad, I never understood it: I like all of the things that typically go in there - potatoes, mayo, hard-boiled eggs, whatever variation (unless it’s raisins or something truly startling like that). But something about it all together is just awful. Or so I thought, until the day when I was in a mad hurry to buy something to eat on the ICE (high speed train in Germany) and spotted a container of Kartoffel Salat mit Speck and thought, what the hell. Speck = bacon, and bacon improves everything, right? So I ate it and it was DELICIOUS. It turns out that my time in Germany irrevocably changed my taste palate in two specific ways: 1) I now like carbonated water, which I had previously loathed, and 2) I have a much deeper appreciation for vinegar. 

Long story short, the secret to all of my main salads is to cut the sugar and increase the vinegar. A lot of salads start with a base of mayo, vinegar, and sugar. I generally don’t eat a lot of sugar these days, but I quickly realized that in salads, at least, I not only don’t miss the sugar - I prefer them without it! So my coleslaw base, just as with my broccoli bacon salad base, is literally just mayo and white vinegar. I don’t measure it. Tonight’s iteration went something like: blop about 4 tbsp of mayo into a mixing bowl, add a generous splash of white vinegar, stir it until it’s mostly not lumpy anymore (it really doesn’t matter), then add pre-shredded coleslaw mix. I would estimate it was about 4 cups of shredded cabbage. I add sea salt and pepper, and then my secret ingredients: toasted sunflower seeds and (pre-shelled) pistachios. It’s SO GOOD. It’s like crack, seriously! The extra salt and crunch from the seeds and nuts is an amazing contrast with the crisp crunch of the cabbage, and the sour/creamy tang of the mayo/vinegar base is just… *chef’s kiss* Try it!!! And if you do, let me know what you thought! 

Since I’m in a rambly mood and I mentioned it above, I’ll just go ahead and share my broccoli bacon salad recipe, too. Base: same as above. Blanch some broccoli florets (aka, put them in boiling water until they have that wet look, then take it out and chill it in cold water until it’s genuinely not-hot anymore). Cook some bacon, then crumble it (/cut it up). Toss the broccoli in the mayo/vinegar mix, then add in the bacon, a handful of shredded cheddar, toasted sunflower seeds, and some chopped green onion. So good! I can eat, like, an entire head of broccoli in a salad like this and make it the entire meal! 

Man, today was a shitshow. It started with getting nearly run over THREE times by drivers turning...

Man, today was a shitshow. 

It started with getting nearly run over THREE times by drivers turning left on my way to world. Then the rest of the day was filled with irritating coworkers not doing their jobs and preventing me from being able to deliver fully on doing mine, general incompetence, irritating visitors (I work in a museum), poopy weather, and I’m probably PMS-y. Instead of coming over weepy or just vaguely irritated, today was pretty much full-on this all day: 

This got rambly, but read on, if you like… 

I literally can’t even count how many times I’ve said the word “fuck” today, both out loud and just in my head or to myself. It’s in the thousands. There was a point when I was in an enclosed elevator alcove and jumping up and down and screaming silently in pure frustration. At other times, the rage would subside into general apathy (idly checking my phone (which I’m not even supposed to have with me on the floor)) and wholly ignoring the visitors altogether, etc), but eventually the bloody day finally ended. I usually fast every other day, including most Saturdays, but today I decided that the (mentally) healthier choice would be to end my fast early in favour of buying a grocery store rotisserie chicken and a bottle of shiraz and promised myself that I would take it good and easy this evening. I still resent having to work on Saturdays, though I’ve had to since July. Like, this isn’t new, but I still hate it. My “weekend” is Sunday/Monday, though I work on Sunday mornings and Monday evenings, so… yeah. That’s my life these days. 

I also had a full-on John Watson-level rage at the self-service check-out machine, which refused to scan half my items, and many more fucks were said to the hapless attendant-man who came to do battle on my behalf, which also made me angry. Lol. I hate it when men help me… but he also had the admin password, so there’s that.

Anyway, I finally bore my chicken and wine home, made a batch of my own coleslaw (side note: I’ve always hated coleslaw, until I just reinvented the recipe myself and now I love it. But only mine. Lol!) So I finished rewatching Batman Begins, which I had forgotten I’d started watching like 5 weeks ago. Somehow I ended up getting manic-productive once I ate dinner. I’ve been so bloody busy that I actually had to go and buy more underwear the other night after choir because the laundry room in my awful building shuts down at 9pm and I’ve had stuff every evening for the last two weeks. So tonight I finally managed to do laundry (which is on the 2nd floor, and I live on the 17th, which means going down there once to put it in, once to transfer it, and then once to collect it), and then I just sort of… kept going, lol. I did the dishes, cleaned the stove, somehow ended up cleaning the kitchen walls, cabinets, the inside of the cupboard under the sink where the garbage goes, took out the trash (easy; it’s on the same floor), went all the way downstairs and out to the super sketchy parking garage where the recycling bins are to take out my overflowing recycling, then decided to clean the bathroom, vacuum the entire apartment, dust all the tables, finally dispose of my dead geranium, and… yeah, it was a bit manic. And that was on two glasses of shiraz, too! Maybe a bit not good, but what can you do…. I also recharged my laundry card, sent an angry email to the scammers who sold me the wrong product and refuse to reimburse me or send the right one, sent some other emails, and finally sat down and answered some fic comments. 

I’ve been sick for the past week and a half, and I finally realized yesterday that I’ve also been experiencing a UTI which is probably why I’ve had a bit of a fever and felt so shitty in general. I didn’t have time to get to a doctor, so I self-medicated that one with cranberry extract (bought on the same trip as the new underwear, lol) and lots of water, some probiotics, and hoping for the best. It’s already much better, but that’s been another reason to take it a bit easy. I normally work out almost every day, but have only been to the gym (which is in my shitty building and one of the only reasons why I re-signed my current lease) twice this week. I mean, I also clock over 10 km of walking every day I’m at the museum, but still. Anyway, I’m fully rambling at this point, and that’s fine. It is what it is and all. 

I just also wanted to say that I’m currently in the stage of pre-plotting my next fic. Pre-plotting, as I dub it, is essentially me making some important strategic decisions about how I want the fic to go in general - major plot points, overall arc, POV, etc. Once I’ve decided that, then I can start plotting, which is also a strictly mental process (no writing), and then once that’s basically good to go, I start writing. That said, I’ve also already written what’s essentially the prologue scene, the first 2,200 words. I wrote it before I wrote The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, then decided that, coming hard on the heels of Rebuilding Rome, it was too dark and I wanted to write something a bit lighter for a change of pace, which was this past story. So now I’m back to the dark one, and it will be a bit of a dark one. I don’t want to give too much away, but it starts with Mycroft grimly rewatching the footage of John beating Sherlock in the morgue at Culverton Smith’s hospital for about the 60th time. The story won’t be exclusively in his POV - it may actually have up to three POV characters, including him. How long it will be, whether or not it gets divided into chapters, etc, is all still being worked out in the aforementioned pre-plotting stage. So that’s where that’s at. :) 

Anyway, feel free to comment via the reply function, but if you wouldn’t mind not reblogging this, that would be great. <3

Info about me :)

totallysilvergirl:

silentauroriamthereal:

Hey hey! 

I seem to have gathered a few more followers of late, so I just thought it might be time to post a slice of info, as I do on a wildly irregular basis. 

First off, I have 86 fics in this fandom now. That’s a lot. Specifically, it’s 2,276,627 words of posted fic, not counting whatever WIP I’m currently working on. You can find all 2.7+ million words of my fic over here at my ao3 page. 

If you’re wondering where to start, I have a long, rambly thing called SilentAuror Fics: A Guide (freshly updated!), wherein I describe all of my stories with some extra notes about my thoughts going into it, or the overall concept, etc etc. Could be a helpful starting point if the sheer volume is overwhelming, as I’ve been told that it frequently is. :P (I’m also happy to provide recs based on what you generally like, so ask away, if you want!) 

I always squirm about this bit, but I have friends who will poke me with sticks if I don’t, so: because I mention it so infrequently and don’t post links to it with my fic posts, etc, people have actually complained (which is amazing!) that they didn’t know I have a Patreon page. I do. It’s set up for monthly donations. If you’re not down for that but suddenly feel moved to make a singular donation, PayPal is always fantastic, too! I use my fandom email for that: silentauror@yahoo.com. I’ve lost several patrons in the past few months and I’m perpetually struggling to make ends meet, so… just if you want/are able, of course! I never like putting myself out there this way, but at least people know it’s an option. :P 

You can also ask me anything personal. I don’t take anonymous asks due to an unfortunate history of death threats from Mary Morstan stans, but you can ask me anything under an actual name! If it’s too personal, I’ll say so, but I won’t be offended. I have lots of jobs. I work at a museum, teach voice lessos, sing classically (though not as a full-time pursuit anymore), write freelance, and coach weight loss (via fasting/keto). I’ve also sous-cheffed, taught horseback riding and canoeing, I lift weights, conduct choirs, and once taught ESL to French speakers for five years. @totallysilvergirl likes to gently mock my ridiculously scattered CV and jokes that I also hold a gold medal in Olympic fencing. Lies, all lies! (But I love her for spreading that rumour, haha!) 

I could go on and on about @silentauroriamthereal but must hasten to revise the phrase “gently mock.” My running joke is more an awed hyperbole than mockery of any kind! If SA wanted an Olympic medal in fencing it would soon be sitting on their desk, that’s the kind of polyvalence and discipline and drive they have, and that’s all I have to say about that

You darling. :))) Your confidence in my abilities is tremendously reassuring! One thing I would actually like to learn how to do is kite surf. I wish I lived anywhere near an ocean, but alas… *sigh*

*smooshes you firmly*