#rossie rambles

[runawaydragons]

I am alive.

I'm just struggling with chronic overwhelm, that is worsened by it being summer. Most social media is just too much for me to engage with lately. I'm available if anyone wants to chat or something, as it isn't the people that bother me, so much as the act of scrolling itself. I haven't been able to read books or write like at all, either... 🙃🤷‍♀️ I dunno why, but I'm not gonna fight my brain about it. It will pass, whenever my brain decides it's ready or intrigued enough to overcome the executive dysfunction roadblock it created.

Still doing archery things. Also focusing on new history curriculum for the kiddos that is honestly a lot of mental work and time investment. I've had doctor appointments, the dogs' vet appointment, and now I have to meet the farrier tomorrow morning. My anniversary is Sunday and my mom got us concert tickets, but it's in a different state and hubby doesn't do well staying up too late (and the band isn't one he knows but I like them). So we'll see how that shakes out, I guess.

There's also been a lot of bear activity on our street lately, to the point I don't feel safe trying to relax in my own yard. (In my defense, last time I hung out in my hammock two weeks ago, a bear started raiding a trashcan twenty feet away from me.)

Camping was great. But then the morning after we got back Tali's pasturemate colicked and I had to rush over there, because his owner is useless when it comes to doing anything other than feeding the horses (despite me repeatedly teaching him horse care shit for the past nine fucking years). Algebra had a minor vaccine reaction in May when I was camping, and he couldn't even catch the horse for the vet to check him... Luckily his animals trust me implicitly, so I got Algebra on the mend fairly easily (he was dehydrated and uncomfortable, probably because during the severe weather two days prior he probably didn't venture out to the tub to drink at all).

I started playing Horizon Zero Dawn today, and actually made it past the first 30 minutes without having a panic this time. So fingers-crossed that now that I have my anxiety managed better she stays chill so I can enjoy playing something new to me. (I also have been playing the new Barbie mobile horse game, because my inner child lost her shit when I realized I could finally play a Barbie horse game myself and not on a friend's computer in their cold dark basement for two hours randomly every couple months.)

I hope anyone who actually sees this (and hopefully reads this) has a spectacular weekend, and unexpected comfort. 💜💜💜

I need to go the fuck to sleep, as I have to be up early. 🥲

[arcaneschemes]

Well, after trial and tribulations, I finally found something that sparked my brain so I could do the thing.

I need to have these damn crossstitch earrings done by Friday, so they're ready for the fair.

Yes, that's a brown Stardew Valley chicken. It's gonna have a mirrored white chicken version of it to match. There are 7 different colors in that chicken, because I can't ever just do things at a normal level...

For reference, these were last year's entry:

Sixth and Ninth House skulls from The Locked Tomb books (they have a pretty dark purple fabric as a backing). I wear them a lot, and get compliments fairly often, although no one has seemed to recognize what they're from. :(

Also, just throwing it out there that I'm open to taking cross-stitch earring commissions if anyone is interested, or even doing an art trade possibly. They're very labor intensive but they're pretty and since I make them using a plastic mesh as a base, they're very durable for what they are.

Editing to add the finished Chickens!

[runawaydragons]

Yesterday I discovered that Eternal Strands had a demo available in the PlayStation store! So I downloaded it.

I just finished the demo. I had fun! The music so far is excellent, and the combat isn't too bad. I like the characters, and there is animal in camp to pet. Most of all, I am in love with Oria.

Look at her 😍

I freaking love a tall, strong, badass, intelligent, big hearted lady who could kill me. 😍😘

I have just over $20 in PS credit on my account, so I just pulled the trigger and spent $11 on the game.

My migraine med has caffeine in it, so even though I'm tired I'm very awake. So I'm distracting myself with the pretty bird lady and friends.

[runawaydragons]

I want to write something silly and fun. So I think it's time for a ✨❄️Hallmark/Holiday Movie AU❄️✨ one shot.

The question is who do I write it about, and what setting should I choose? I'm torn, so I'm gonna put it up for a vote. Round 1 is the characters, then once that is decided, we'll do some extra polls for the details. ^_^

Round 1:

Which Pairing Should I Use?

Matteo Lucia Alessandro De Riva/Neve Gallus

Nadarevas Thorne/Lucanis Dellamorte

Mary Brithari Surana/Taash

Gelen Lavellan/Dorian Pavus

How dare you leave out (insert pairing here)!?

Voting ended onNov 18, 2025

Gonna put my OC tags in this post so y'all can click on them if you want to know more about them. ^_~

[runawaydragons]

I need a silly distraction, so hey mutuals and friends, which winter sport would your OC participate in?

I don't know about all of my mine, but I do know that Gelen Lavellan is a figure skater in my modern AU stuff. And I had visions of Mary playing hockey and being absolutely kickass at it.

Matteo would find the idea of participating in a winter sport abhorrent. She would be up for drinking and hanging out with Neve though in expensive clothes next to a fire.

Nadarevas would do Biathlon. They'd be very good at it too, I think.

Unsure about anyone else. I love curling, surely one of my characters would also love it? 🤔

Gonna tag a few people just because I don't trust this hellsite to show it to anyone: @feralkwe @avoskorm @brennacedria @chubritza

[arcaneschemes]

✨🏹 Archery Post 🏹✨

I DID IT!

Not only did I survive, I beat my personal best score!

What I'm really proud of is that my second round (204) was better than my first round (186). Instead of steadily getting worse because I was tired, like I did in previous competitions, this time I rallied and improved!

I realized on the 19th end that I beat my previous score and got so excited it caused problems for my last end, but it's fine.

Chaos did phenomenal, especially when it came to slowing down his shot process and remembering to breathe. I'm so proud of him!

My back and neck are screaming, and I'm exhausted, but I'm happy. We'll have no idea how we placed in our divisions until later in the day tomorrow. If I end up not being last in my division I will be over the moon, because one of the shooters in my division holds the national record currently, so the rest of us are competing for 2nd and 3rd. 🙃

I think my favorite thing about these competitions is that they really have a good vibe and there is a real sense of community. Everyone is supportive and friendly, even if they're strangers. One of the kids I was scoring with came out from the Boston area, and he was an insanely good Olympic Recurve archer (his score was in the 500's). It was a really diverse group of people on our line, with a huge range of ages and backgrounds.

Okay. Gonna probably fall asleep now.

[runawaydragons]

So it only just occurred to me that I should share this on here, in case any of you all might want to add me as a friend if you have a Nintendo Switch.

I've literally only had @brennacedria (beloved mutual 💜) as my friend for the majority of my time with a Nintendo account, because I never actually shared my friend code anywhere. ^^;;

Also I'm RunawayDragons on the PlayStation network too, although I do not have a PlayStation+ membership (because that shit is too damn expensive) so I can't do any sort of online play there anymore (which is bullshit). But I still like having more friends regardless!

[arcaneschemes]

It's nearly midnight. I'm finally in my bed. I left my house at 9am this morning, and left the competition at 9:39pm tonight.

I'm beyond exhausted. But holy shit the archery community is so cool.