#coffee chat

[coffeeeinbed]

sometimes im disappointed that the posts i work hard on don't perform well but then i get an ego boost when i realize that im niche

[becomingkatie]

coffee chat

How is it 9:30?? The morning is flying by but I'm still sipping my now-cold coffee and I haven't posted here in a while so I figured I'd say hi.

It got really long so I'm putting in a cut. Topics are: sad girl being sad, salt rising bread, book club retreat, and dating my husband.

Last week I skipped both of the pilates classes I was planning to attend, and this week has been busy so I didn't have any scheduled. I've had increasing back pain and know I need to do something about it so I signed up for a membership but just leaving the house is hard. But exercising at home is also hard. I'm waitlisted for 3 classes next week and low enough on the list for two of them that I think I'll get in. Must go.

Have also been putting off writing. For November I decided instead of doing nanowrimo I'd do a "write every day" challenge to build consistency, because that's my biggest struggle. I wrote every day for the first week, then didn't for five whole days. I just get so in my head and create this big obstacle and end up avoiding it. I do it with work tasks, too, but with work there's other people who need things from me so after avoiding tasks and building them up in my head I have to actually do them. But when it's "just" writing ("just" the thing I care most about and want to make a career out of) I can avoid and avoid and avoid and break my own heart by never showing up for myself.

^ Hey clearly I've been feeling sad lately. I'm really in my head and down on myself. When I talk with a friend I only want to hear what's going on with them and when they're like "so what's going on in your life" i'm like noooope. It feels like there is nothing fun or interesting to talk about, it's all just "I wish I was doing more of X but I'm not" about every single thing (getting out of the house for activities, exercising, writing, seeing friends) and the worse I feel about myself the harder it is to do those things.

I had my annual exam and pap yesterday and had the usual cramping afterwards but decided since I had 2.5 days' worth of sick time left that goes away at the end of the year I'd take the day. I vacuumed and started randomly crying during. Played ukulele and cried. Crocheted and cried. Not sure what's wrong with me but I just do not have any emotional bandwidth right now.

Earlier this week I made chicken and green chile enchiladas. I thought they were meh but Ken really liked them, and I love when he enjoys something I cooked.

I tried to make salt rising bread last weekend. It's a pretty unique bread that I wanna say is Appalachian but I'm not actually sure. It's similar to sourdough in that you don't add yeast, it's leavened by naturally occurring bacteria. But the flavor and texture is wildly different than sourdough. Making it is tricky. It basically needs to be kept at 100deg F for ~36 hours from starting the starter to getting the loaves in the oven. Our oven, turned off but with the light on, only holds low- to mid-90s, so I'd turn it on for 5-10 seconds at a time every 2-3 hours. Timers set to wake up in the middle of the night and do that. I ended up with something bread-like but it was not right. The texture was close - very dense. But the flavor wasn't right. The worst part about making this bread is it STINKS while making. You make a liquid starter where you get the bacteria going, then make a more-solid sponge (pancake batter consistency ish), then add more flour and shortening to make the actual dough, and when the starter gets going it reeks of dirty socks and bad cheese and, in my opinion, unwashed genitalia. The stink only intensifies throughout the sponge stage, and the dough stinks when it goes in the oven but the bread smells good coming out, and tastes good. Well, my attempt didn't really taste good, but when we used to have it when I was a child it did. Ken couldn't smell it. Meanwhile, I was nauseated all weekend from the odor. We got a sous vide to create a water bath of the right temperature for the next attempt, and I might need to wear an N95 or something.

My book club is doing a lil retreat this weekend. Most people are going down today but a few of us are going down tomorrow. I'm leaving work at 3 to drive down, and we'll read and hang out and make s'mores and crochet/knit/embroider. I love my book club girlies but we don't really live that close to each other and rarely get together in person, so this should be a really nice weekend. We're doing a powerpoint "game" where everyone gives a powerpoint presentation about a topic of interest. Mine is on women's elite cross-country mountain biking (defining what that specific sub-category is and then introducing the main racers and all the reasons I like or dislike them). We're also doing a "three favorite things" activity where everyone brings three of their favorite things under ~$15 each, and then we go around and pick/trade to share our favorite things with each other.

Since I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon and Friday is usually our "date night" we're doing a sushi date tonight instead! We've gotten really lazy about our date nights and usually just order in and don't really do anything special or different on those nights, but we're both trying to up the effort and increase the quality of our time spent together (and increase the level of intimacy in the relationship) so we're planning to go to the restaurant tonight. When we go out to eat it often results in impromptu errands (Home Goods for a jar for my sourdough starter, or international grocery store to look for fun desserts, or Target to get whatever) and spending time together outside of the home, even if it's doing something relatively mundane like shopping for a glass jar, ends up being really enjoyable.

[tastypeachstudios]

Are you a Ko-fi founder member? Don’t forget we have our hangout morning date on the 29th this month! Haven’t joined my ko-fi yet? Check out all 4 tiers here: https://ko-fi.com/vipeach_club/tiers

[deafinitelypawsitively]

Today's "coffee chat" topic:

Hearing aid bling 😊

I believe I mentioned such pretty bling a while ago...

How I didn't have any pretty hearing aid colors or bling charms for it, as a child, a teen, a young adult. 🥺

I was picked on at school, for wearing a bi-cross hearing aid set and then just one behind the ear, and then one all in the ear, as I grew up, trying to hide the diffability. It wasn't even called a special or unique diffability back then. You were considered weird or oddball or stupid.

"Hearing aids are for ooolldd people!"

So I kept it hidden as best I could but I still got called different names and I was always chosen last on school teams when it was gym day. It felt personal back then, but it may have been because they didn't want my hearing aid to break.

As per the name calling? It's known today that children and some adults always make fun of things they don't understand, or don't want to deal with. It's a part of life and we, with any kind of hearing loss and or vision issues, just need to go with the old quote, "turn a deaf ear and blind eye" to all the rude comments. Seeking revenge is a waste of time. Karma eventually gets them in the end. I've seen it.

Stay strong, You be YOU.

Enjoy your hearing bling!

🤟☺️👍

[mocolococoffeesimp]

What do you use to make your character photos so pretty!?

Oh, I myself thought they were pretty average. But, they do their work for each character.

I normally get a png of the character, and than I mess around in Krita until I get something I like enough. That is pretty my whole process with them. Yeah, I mainly use Krita for them as, that's what I'm used to.

[thedrarrylibrarian]

As a bit of a special treat, and to celebrate their one year anniversary, I sat down with my good friend, the @wolfstarlibrarian. We recorded our conversation to share it here with you, our favorite patrons. I’ll be DL, in bold, and the Wolfstar Librarian is WL. I hope you enjoy this sweet peek into our friendship, and the wonderful insights that they had to share with me.

DL: First of all, congratulations on a whole year! In that time you've created a lovely and welcoming fandom space for authors, both new and established, lots of helpful guides and explanations for readers, and over 300 rec lists. What's been the most rewarding part of being "The Librarian"?

WL: Oh thank you so much! It’s been a wild year, made all the better for having this blog. As for the BEST part? Hmmmmm 🤔 This is difficult to answer because there have been so many unexpected gifts, but probably the most rewarding and surprising part is how much support the fandom community has come out with. I hoped that, at most, people would enjoy some of the lists, but beyond that they’ve given personal support as well, whether I’ve needed time, or someone to help find a fic, or just general support, the community has shown up, and that’s been an incredible gift that helps to keep me motivated and feeling special.

DL: I love that! I love how you describe fandom as a community. I think the real fandom isn't just the content, but the friends we made along the way! 😂

WL: YES! I agree! Fandom is just people connected by passion.

DL: Absolutely! And I think something really unique that you've done with The Wolfstar Librarian is encouraging others' passion as well.

WL: I was not prepared to feel this soft! 🥺

DL: Sorry, not sorry! Lol. I think something that's very unique to your blog specifically is the way that you are always giving "new" recs. A lot of the recs are ones that I haven't read before and I think that's very encouraging to authors and creators to keep writing and creating. It's not the same old "classics" over and over. That’s something I’ve tried to emulate on my own blog as well. I search for a mix of old and new fics.

WL: Oh yes, I'm always on the hunt for new fics. I check @ao3feed-wolfstar at least once a week and go through all of the new fics, picking out things I think I might want to read, and even when searching for lost fics I oftentimes end up adding a dozen new fics to be TBR list. I'm fascinated with the new, and am always looking for fresh takes on old tropes. Of course I also have tons of subscriptions for my favorite authors, but just like with food, I have comfort items I know I'll like but then I also enjoy new things just as much.

DL: Out of curiosity, how long is your TBR list?

WL: (after a significant pause) Oh goodness, I had to check. It’s currently 15 pages long and at 20 fics a page…

DL: Hold on, I’ll pull up a calculator. Um...300. So as many rec lists as you’ve made. You mentioned comfort items. What are some of your favorite tropes?

WL: Oh my goodness, yeah I hadn't done the math! 😂 I think what I find the most comfort in are things I can relate to the most? So lots of modern AUs with happy endings, and I'm also a sucker for soulmate or a good texting fic since they tend to include some fun humor that I can use as a counterpoint to real life.

DL: I love modern AUs!

WL: Me too! And fix-it AUs. JKR did them dirty 😉

DL: Who hasn’t JKR done dirty? Lol. Okay, and do you want to spill some tea? What are your pet peeves in a fic? The things that make you immediately click that red x and think "not for me". To be clear, I’m not saying things that you think are wrong — we’re not making any moral judgment here! Just your specific pet peeves that irritate you personally.

WL: The first thing isn’t so much a pet peeve as something I get asked a lot and feel bad about. The question I get asked the most is "how do I get rec'd on WL", and it just makes it clear how infrequently people read the pinned FAQ, where I encourage people to send in recs. Probably 4/5 people who send in their own fics as a rec actually end up on a list, but so few people do! So just remember that the Librarian is just one person who can easily miss a lot of things, but genuinely wants to read and share lovely fics. But actual pet peeves? I definitely can't handle MCD, or anything that's too dark just because it takes my mental health somewhere I don't want to go. I also tend not to like....imbalanced relationships? I know that's vague, but anytime there isn't mutual respect, it just feels weird and unnatural to me so I tend to just click out. Also, I need fairly standard formatting. I've seen a few posts about it, and it's definitely true that my brain struggles to read anything written outside of standard formatting (correct punctuation and capitalization). It's not even a judgement, just something like math where my brain goes "no thank you!" 😰

DL: That's definitely something that makes me hit the red x too. And I know what you mean about lack of mutual respect. I think that there's stories about relationships where someone makes a mistake and with work and apologies, they can come back from that and still have a solid relationship but there's other's where one person just completely disregards and breaks any trust or respect that they've built in the relationship and an apology can't fix that. It's a fighting together/fighting each other kind of thing. And I think that's an interesting point you bring up because I feel like with Drarry, Harry and Draco are set up to be adversaries and part of the story is them overcoming it. But that's not really part of Sirius and Remus' story.

WL: Yes, exactly! And I definitely read fanfic for comfort, for romance, and I feel like you can't have true love without mutual respect, without equality. Of COURSE that can take time and work to get to sometimes, but as long as they end up on the same page, I'm game. 😊

DL: Exactly. And again, I just want to say that it doesn't mean we think those fics are inherently bad or anything. It's just our personal preferences as readers. So, it's obvious that I also read Wolfstar in addition to Drarry. Do you ever read Drarry?

WL: Honestly, I rarely read outside of wolfstar, but sometimes I do read Drarry because it's so much bigger and tends to cover a wider variety of stories. I also read Dorlene, Jegulus, Jegulily, and a host of other smaller ships like Fleur/Tonks that end up in wolfstar fics.

DL: Can I put you on the spot and have you give us a Drarry rec?

WL: My favorite one is actually one you rec'd! It's the Christmas one that's just SO soft I can't help but read it each year as the weather gets cooler.

DL: Ohhhh! The Christmas Tree by @cottonpadenthusiast. I love that one! It’s a Drarry + Remus/Sirius get together! Just a sweet, happy family dynamic.

WL: Yes! It's half wolfstar, half drarry, and totally sweet.

DL: With families....we often joke in private that you and I have "sibling" blogs. Did you ever mind that I joined you in being a librarian?

WL: Oh, of COURSE not! Running a rec blog like this is so much work, there's no way I could do more than one, and I truly love having you, and other rec blogs, because they inspire me so much! I love finding new fics, new ways to share content, and new people to share with. Rec blogs inspired me to make my own, and hopefully I inspire people to find their own style as well!

DL: That's definitely something I've tried to do as your "little sibling" blog. I feel very lucky to have such a cool "older sibling" and mentor librarian that I can always come and ask a question or advice from, but I've tried to be thoughtful in making it my own too, with my Happy Hours and stuff. And I try to be mindful as well that I'm not copying exactly what another Drarry rec blogger does either. We all get our own niche, and I think that makes the recs we give more rich. And in true younger sibling fashion, I started my blog because I saw you doing it and thought it was such a neat idea that I wanted to join you. What made you start your library?

WL: When I first made the library, and imagined what I wanted it to be, I wanted more than anything for the library to be a place that I had searched for when I was new to fandom. I was so desperate for someone to show me fics for my exact mood, or comfort tropes, or just introduce me to something new the way librarians have done all my life. With this blog, the library, I'm trying to provide that comfort, that answer that we're all seeking. Hopefully, other people find the same relief and comfort here that an old wood lined library, full of wonder and hope, offers them in real life as well.

DL: Oh, now you’ve made ME soft. I think that’s such a lovely statement that we’ll wrap it up there. Do you think people are going to judge us because neither of us can do math?

WL: Ahahaha, honestly, if that's my worst feature, I'm okay with it. 😂

[monstersandmaw]

I was hulling walnuts yesterday and because they were black walnuts my hands are all stained now... It's incredibly hard to get off and I had to go to classes today with my hands all stained.

But good news I got coffee after and I got a honey, cinnamon, vanilla drink. It has whipped cream and cinnamon on top with honey drizzled on and omg it's soooo good!

Anyways hope you have a great day <3

I thought you were going to say you were part shadow monster or something now, with your hands changing colour! On the plus side, you now have lots of walnuts to go with your unique look, I guess?

Your drink sounds amazing, although I have a savoury tooth rather than a sweet tooth, so it sounds a little sweet for me, but the spice/flavour combination sounds wonderful!!

Hope you had a wonderful day, and thank you for thinking of me and dropping this by my inbox. I love it so much when people stop by to share what's going on like this :).

I had a really productive day of chores and doing stuff, and I bit the proverbial bullet and bought a small printer, so I'm one step closer to opening my etsy shop!! Eeeeep!!! Very nervous.

Enjoy your day/night, anon, and take care x

[soulofatiny]

coffee asks

let’s brew up a chat, shall we? ☕️

aeropress: how do you like your coffee?

affogato: night or day person + why?

americano: what film universe would you like to live in?

cappuccino: what’s the most annoying question that people often ask you?

café au lait: what is your love language?

chemex: what color would you avoid wearing + why?

cold brew: define what the “perfect weather” would be like for you.

cortado: what’s a promise that you have broken before?

drip coffee: what’s a promise that you have kept + proud of?

doppio: if you could erase one thing in this world completely, what would it be + why?

espresso: if all planets were inhabitable, which planet would you live in + why?

flat white: how would you describe your personality?

french press: which dere type are you? (tsundere, dandere, kuudere, deredere, etc. feel free to use google for assistance)

latte: would you rather be a cloud or a star + why?

long black: which infinity stone would you like to obtain + why? ahsdhgk still not over endgame

macchiato: your first love experience?

misto: is the cup half empty or half full? why???

moka pot: introvert or extrovert? 

mocha: what type of energy do you think you radiate + why?

pour over: most depressing memory?

red-eye: happiest memory?

ristretto: favorite five senses + why?

romano: people say “never judge a book by its cover”, what do people often mistake about their first impression of you?

siphon: which au fanfic type are you? 

turkish: what do you take for granted?

vienna: ask anything you would like!