"life's too short and time is flying, I'm looking for baggage that goes with mine" (mimi, rent)
Jun. 19th, 2025 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starandreaQuarterly update!
I've started learning Cantonese, and it's approximately one hundred times easier than Mandarin (because I already know Mandarin; other language learners say learning Mandarin after Cantonese is comparable). It feels more like continuing than starting over.
Last week I reached 100 works on my Chinese AO3 account (none in Cantonese yet), a bit more than 100k words total, which tells you about how long they are. My English account has 248 works, and that's more than 6 million words.
English DW: 8779 entries
Chinese DW: 358 entries
♥ good books
Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, by George Leonard
This book is about how important the time between climactic moments is, or for language learners (it's not about language learning, but it was recommended in one of my language learning groups): why "the intermediate plateau" is life and we should learn to love it.
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, by Oliver Burkeman
This book is about why we don't have to respond to every demand for our attention in order to be a good person, and that knowing how to set a burden down is as important as knowing how to carry it. This was a spontaneous pick, and I expect to reread.
♥ good show
Murderbot, on Apple TV+
The Murderbot Diaries book series by Martha Wells is just as good, arguably better as there's more of it, and available in Chinese translation. Also as an audiobook read by Kevin R. Free in English, who is a perfect SecUnit narrator, and by an enthusiastic AI in Chinese, which is very funny.
♥ great pet accessory
Cooling blanket!!! Daphne says it's her favorite new toy in at least a day, and I'm glad I got the biggest one so we can both use it at the same time.
♥ new in the gardens
6 lupins, 5 roses, 4 weigela, some ferns and hostas and irises from friends and neighbors and the compost pile, a plethora of plant sale finds including more colors of bee balm than I knew existed (I thought it was red or pink but apparently there's also purple and allegedly "rose" which is... what color is that? I will find out if it lives long and strong enough to blossom). Poppies and sage and forget-me-nots, some Solomon's seal and geraniums and even pansies for community reasons.
For future reference, overwintering spring bulbs in garage planters did not work well, but moving overwintered canna and dahlia rhizomes from boxes by the front door to half-full pots in the garage during the early spring did work, somewhat to my surprise. Some had roots by the time I put them in the ground and some did not, but none sprouted early (at least none continued sprouting after being moved to the garage), and so far an intimidating number of them are up and swinging.
♥ new in the dollhouses
I used a chibi metal bookmark to make a couples' portrait for the music room, and then I found some lotus coasters I bought in Vermont last year during the eclipse and set up one as a backdrop for the flute/stand. Dragon earrings as wall-hangings are not as cool as I expected, but scrapbook quotes about the moon and stars as wallpaper make up the difference.
What else do I usually post about? Let's see... dog, writing, dollhouse, garden, language.
I guess that's it! In the world of challenges I'm enjoying![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
chenqing_100 and fandom_empire, and looking forward to battleshipex. In the world of sports the dog has joined me and Marci for some paddling and I think this might be the year she learns to swim. (Not really, but she fell in for the 4.5th time and for the first time did not freak out, so that's progress.)
And now, the weather.
虫洞的彼岸有这么一个地方，一个只有恋人才知道的地方
勇敢的、充满希望的、迷失的、忠诚的、也许就是我和你
你是否愿意和这些傻傻的梦想家一起来
我们称之为家园的星球希望能很快见到你
就在庇护月卫
"There's a place beyond the wormhole, a place that only lovers know
The brave, the hopeful, the lost, the true, maybe me and you
Won't you come with these fools and dreamers
To the planet we call home
We hope we'll see you soon on Sanctuary Moon"
I've started learning Cantonese, and it's approximately one hundred times easier than Mandarin (because I already know Mandarin; other language learners say learning Mandarin after Cantonese is comparable). It feels more like continuing than starting over.
Last week I reached 100 works on my Chinese AO3 account (none in Cantonese yet), a bit more than 100k words total, which tells you about how long they are. My English account has 248 works, and that's more than 6 million words.
English DW: 8779 entries
Chinese DW: 358 entries
♥ good books
Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, by George Leonard
This book is about how important the time between climactic moments is, or for language learners (it's not about language learning, but it was recommended in one of my language learning groups): why "the intermediate plateau" is life and we should learn to love it.
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, by Oliver Burkeman
This book is about why we don't have to respond to every demand for our attention in order to be a good person, and that knowing how to set a burden down is as important as knowing how to carry it. This was a spontaneous pick, and I expect to reread.
♥ good show
Murderbot, on Apple TV+
The Murderbot Diaries book series by Martha Wells is just as good, arguably better as there's more of it, and available in Chinese translation. Also as an audiobook read by Kevin R. Free in English, who is a perfect SecUnit narrator, and by an enthusiastic AI in Chinese, which is very funny.
♥ great pet accessory
Cooling blanket!!! Daphne says it's her favorite new toy in at least a day, and I'm glad I got the biggest one so we can both use it at the same time.
♥ new in the gardens
6 lupins, 5 roses, 4 weigela, some ferns and hostas and irises from friends and neighbors and the compost pile, a plethora of plant sale finds including more colors of bee balm than I knew existed (I thought it was red or pink but apparently there's also purple and allegedly "rose" which is... what color is that? I will find out if it lives long and strong enough to blossom). Poppies and sage and forget-me-nots, some Solomon's seal and geraniums and even pansies for community reasons.
For future reference, overwintering spring bulbs in garage planters did not work well, but moving overwintered canna and dahlia rhizomes from boxes by the front door to half-full pots in the garage during the early spring did work, somewhat to my surprise. Some had roots by the time I put them in the ground and some did not, but none sprouted early (at least none continued sprouting after being moved to the garage), and so far an intimidating number of them are up and swinging.
♥ new in the dollhouses
I used a chibi metal bookmark to make a couples' portrait for the music room, and then I found some lotus coasters I bought in Vermont last year during the eclipse and set up one as a backdrop for the flute/stand. Dragon earrings as wall-hangings are not as cool as I expected, but scrapbook quotes about the moon and stars as wallpaper make up the difference.
What else do I usually post about? Let's see... dog, writing, dollhouse, garden, language.
I guess that's it! In the world of challenges I'm enjoying
chenqing_100 and fandom_empire, and looking forward to battleshipex. In the world of sports the dog has joined me and Marci for some paddling and I think this might be the year she learns to swim. (Not really, but she fell in for the 4.5th time and for the first time did not freak out, so that's progress.)And now, the weather.
虫洞的彼岸有这么一个地方，一个只有恋人才知道的地方
勇敢的、充满希望的、迷失的、忠诚的、也许就是我和你
你是否愿意和这些傻傻的梦想家一起来
我们称之为家园的星球希望能很快见到你
就在庇护月卫
"There's a place beyond the wormhole, a place that only lovers know
The brave, the hopeful, the lost, the true, maybe me and you
Won't you come with these fools and dreamers
To the planet we call home
We hope we'll see you soon on Sanctuary Moon"
