cornerofmadness
06 June 2025 @ 12:16 am
Write Every Day - Day 6  


Thought another writing prompt would fit the bill.

I was gone most of the day. I did work on my [community profile] intoabar story, got about 870 words. Had hoped to put it out of its misery but no such luck.


If I've missed you on the tally let me know. Feel free to jump in at any time.

Day five- [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] nafs, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] brithistorian,


other days )
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Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Midsomer Murder
 
 
cornerofmadness
05 June 2025 @ 09:39 pm
Winner Winner  
The day was broken up into car maintenance, casino time and a webinar for data literacy by the Howard's Hughes Medical Institute. Two were boring but necessary.

The casino however, was better than expected. At first I was losing like there was a hole in my pocket. Finally found the Lucky 8 machine that I liked last time, every 8th spin it gives you all the wilds you hit in the previous 7 wins. I do good on these and made back the 60 I lost and got to 10 over. Mom was 100 over. We decided to go home and while I was waiting on mom who was in the restroom I found the haunted house machine. I love this older machine at my casino. Two spins, hit the bonus, won another 50$. whee. Would have won more but this machine is SO old that the bonus touch screen was dead and I couldn't select half the offerings. Ah well.

I think I recced some of these communities before.

[community profile] fancake - a thematic multifandom recommendation community.

[community profile] fan_flashworks - Multimedia, Multifandom Flash Challenges

[community profile] drabble_zone - A community for people who enjoy writing 100 word drabbles.
 
 
Current Music: The Librarians
Current Mood: good
 
 
it only hurts when i breathe
05 June 2025 @ 06:27 am
The Day in Spikedluv (Wednesday, June 4)  
This one got long. Sorry about that. o_O

I had a chiropractic appointment and a pedicure this morning. I was relieved about the chiropractic appointment because my back started bothering me this morning in the shoulder blade area, to the point where I got up early because I couldn’t get comfortable and back to sleep. The pedicure was lovely and I chose a salmon-y color for my toenails.

I hit Price Chopper while I was downtown and Stewart’s (for milk) on the way to pick up the dogs. I got in a short walk around the park and did another ‘crazy 8' walk with the puppers (.50mi). (It’s a combination of two other trails that resembles a figure 8, hence the name. It’s my favorite and takes me around the pond and through the orchard.) I realized this morning that the next few weeks will be less than ideal for walking, since I’ll be going to the hospital the first week, then spending time with mom (split with my other two sisters), as she can’t be left alone for long because she’ll need help getting around and with the tubes.

(We’ve been told she’ll need care for three weeks, but we’ll see how that plays out in actuality. My one sister has already offered to take night duty and will be spending the nights with mom, so my other sister and I will just need to figure out the days. It helps that we won’t need to spend every minute of the day with her, so there’s some leeway for one leaving before the other arrives to take over.)

(Those who know me well know that I’m already dreading this, despite loving my mom very much. Not only the disruption to my usual schedule for an entire month, but also having to spend more time than I like ‘people’ing’. *bites nails*)

Speaking of my mom’s surgery, I have just found out from the surgeon (via my sister, the nurse) that the operating room has been reserved for ten hours. Ten frelling hours! For some reason, that makes me more nervous about the surgery.

In other unhappy-making news, I have sores in my mouth. The tongue sores from being burned by the pineapple went away and I had one glorious day without sores, and then, whammo!, more sores. I have a sore on the top of my tongue, inside cheek, roof of mouth, and at least two canker sores on the gum on the bottom front. I don’t know if it’s related to the pineapple, or if it’s from repressed stress, but I’m salt-water-rinsing like a fiend.

(I had a ball of anxiety in the pit of my stomach last night that kept me awake for a while, so another vote for general anxiety over everything that’s coming down the pike in the next few weeks.)

I did a load of laundry (more dog sheets), ran a load in the dishwasher and did the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, paid a bill online, placed an order online, wrote out checks for my aunt, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, and scooped kitty litter.

I finished the Duncan Kincaid book, watched an HGTV program, and talked with mom.

I grilled steak for Pip’s supper and made French toast for myself before Pip got home (he likes French toast, but we haven’t found a good GF bread to make it with and I didn’t want him feeling left out, even though he was getting steak).

Temps started out at 62.6(F) (quite a difference from yesterday morning!) and reached 93.7. (I feel the need to remind everyone (myself) that this is the temp in the shade. It’s probably ten degrees warmer in the sun. *melts*) Pip put the AC in the bedroom last night.
 
 
cornerofmadness
05 June 2025 @ 12:45 am
Write Every Day - Day 5  


Another big day of editing. I got a chapter ready for my online writers critique group. I managed to get 750 words into my [community profile] intoabar story. It wasn’t easy. I have the exact same prompt as last year which was a lot of fun last time. The Owl House/Hazbin Hotel crossover was surprisingly popular and I was happy to repeat it until I remembered how I struggled last year too. I got Niffty for the Hazbin crew. I am not great at writing her and to be honest, she’s not really a well developed character but also not a blank slate either.

Speaking of blank slates, I’m onto the Arackniss story of my Yahtzee attempt for [community profile] getyourwordsout, got 560 words in so all in all a good writing day.


If I've missed you on the tally let me know. Feel free to jump in at any time.

Day four- [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] ysilme, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] nafs, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] yasaman,


other days )
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Current Mood: drained
Current Music: The Night House
 
 
cornerofmadness
04 June 2025 @ 08:24 pm
that Wednesday book thing  
I was thinking about real life experiences that would NOT make believable characters (cause I'm living with it right now)

For example this home HOW much money do you need to get your curtains to be an exact match to your wallpaper? Someone needs this in a story. Surely this is the beginnings of a haunted house

What I Just Finished Reading:

Under This Red Rock - Mindy McGinnis - it didn't end like I thought it would so I was happy. Still this is a heavy book

The Smoke in His Voice - good story lost in the world's worst grammar/sentence structure. the editing is absolutely rubbish.


What I am Currently Reading:

The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan PI mystery and it is very good so far.

West By God - horror

Anima rising - a good reads Frankenstein retelling giveaway win but also real person fanfic of Klimt and others and so far it's not great.


What I Plan to Read Next: Something for the popsugar challenge probably or one of the books I won from Goodreads
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Current Music: Resident Alien
Current Mood: cranky
 
 
Creature Of Hobbit
04 June 2025 @ 09:21 pm
May book bingo  


Book in a series: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62226126-the-last-devil-to-die
Multiple POVs: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136276174-the-search-party
Female author: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210795013-here-one-moment
Friendship: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/196764063-the-day-after-the-party
Name in the title: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197627190-the-reappearance-of-rachel-price
YA: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/174163045-the-dare
Biography/memoir: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211163702-kingmaker
Scifi/fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36630924-here-and-now-and-then
Book from TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28016509-the-girl-before
With a woman protagonist: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200638897-the-fortune-teller
Ebook/audiobook: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204587595-her-majesty-s-royal-coven
Set somewhere you've been: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13614116-natural-causes
From the library: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/179312410-has-anyone-seen-charlotte-salter

Substitution list:
*Author you've never read before
*Book older then you are
*Fairy Tale or Fairy Tale Retelling
*Graphic novel or Comic - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213477761-fate
*Pet or Animal Companion
*A main character over the age of 30
*Under 100 Pages - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63945326-the-gift
*Romance Plot or Sub-plot - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203416581-a-novel-love-story
*Translated https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61448964-g-kungen
*Humour
*Non- fiction
*With a Blue Cover - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62792245-five-bad-deeds
*Horror or Paranormal
*Colour in the Title
*Seasonal Read
*Book made into a film or tv series - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36306720-the-perfect-couple
*Historical (fiction or non-fiction)
*Number in title - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61653791-four-found-dead
*Female author
*Three word title - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37819454-three-days-missing
*Craft, Hobby or Cookbook
*Written by an author from your state or country
*Animal on the cover
*Disability or Mental health
*Read a book from the year you were born
*Mythology
*Title begins with first letter of your name - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40770941-her-pretty-face
*Dystopian - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214471703-sunrise-on-the-reaping
*Book mentioned in another book
*Diverse reads
*One word title - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218455872-sleep
*Award Winning/Bestseller
*Disabled Author
*Non-western Setting - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63247547-last-resort
*Set in your state/country
*Title is at Least Five Words Long - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203019749-things-don-t-break-on-their-own
*indigenous author
*Has illustrations (but not a comic or graphic novel) - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62715477-fire-and-blood
*Set at a school/university (my old one, in fact)- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219491276-when-we-were-killers
*No sex/romance
*Re-read

My Goodreads is here, feel free to follow: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/46625765?ref=nav_profile_l
 
 
 
it only hurts when i breathe
04 June 2025 @ 07:27 am
Wednesday Reading Meme & Books 37-39 of 2025  
What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells, Out of the Deep I Cry (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) by Julia Spencer-Fleming and Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells.


What I am Currently Reading: In a Dark House (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie.


What I Plan to Read Next: I have three more library books out, and four more on request, so definitely one of those!!




Book 37 of 2025: Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

So good! spoilers )

So good! I'm trying not to read these all at once, but I'm already getting the final two books from the library, so it's going to be hard to hold back. I'm giving this book five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥



Book 38 of 2025: Out of the Deep I Cry (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Julia Spencer-Fleming)

I really enjoyed this book!!! spoilers )

Really good book. I've requested the next and am giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥




Book 39 of 2025: Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

So good! spoilers )

This book was really good. I'm giving it five hearts, natch.

♥♥♥♥♥
 
 
it only hurts when i breathe
04 June 2025 @ 06:12 am
The Day in Spikedluv (Tuesday, June 3)  
I did zero shopping while I was downtown \o/, but still got in a short walk around the park. I did run to a local shop on my way home to get the meat sticks that Pip likes, and of course they were out of them. I got a yogurt parfait to try and was impressed to see that they used fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries and blueberries). It was good, and filling.

I did a load of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, scooped kitty litter, hit the bank drive-thru, and paid a bill online.

I finished Network Effect and started the next Duncan Kincaid book, and talked with mom. For my walk with the dogs, I went on a different trail, one that’s .50 mi instead of .25. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to add on a 1/4 mile each week. If so, by next week I’ll be doing a mile a day, which is good, considering. I also did some more writing, ~900 words on a brand new fic for [community profile] smallfandomfest. (If you guessed that it’s a Murder, She Wrote crossover, you’d be right. *g*)

We had leftover pulled pork (from Sunday’s b-day party) for supper, so another night I didn’t have to cook!

Temps started out at 39.9(F) (I know! I was o_O about it too!) and reached 84. It was very nice out, but still cool inside the house, so I wore a sweatshirt most of the day while iside.
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cornerofmadness
04 June 2025 @ 12:23 am
Write Every Day Day 4  


Never thought of it that way but it's a great way of looking at it.

So how it is going? Day three was all about editing for me. I got my original short in shape enough for the beta reader to look at it.


If I've missed you on the tally let me know.


Day three- [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] nafs, [personal profile] yasaman, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme,

other days )
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Current Music: Svengoolie
Current Mood: hot
 
 
scripsi
04 June 2025 @ 04:59 am
Psycho Chicken  
Ever since the TACO acronym hit the news, I've had this Modern Talking parody running rent free in my head. So I will be genereous and share it...

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cornerofmadness
03 June 2025 @ 09:23 pm
This is very cool  
I was interviewed by Kandisha Press who features women horror authors. It was fun.

I was left in Costco barely supervised. Dear credit card, we're sorry.

I've been meaning to do this, Pride month recs. Check out [personal profile] duckprintspress. They have SO much good stuff (including a reading challenge on storygraph.

It was 60 degrees yesterday. 90 today. I am not amused.


And for fannish 50, I'm continuing with the ladies of fandom. Hazbin Hotel has a lot of ladies (maybe even more than the men, actually no I think it is more). However, a lot of them aren't that well developed (yet), Sera, Emily, Lute, Lilith, Rosie, Velvette, Cherri and Carmilla would be the major secondary characters, most only appearing in an episode or two. Rosie is one of my favorites but she is pretty much a blank slate.

That leaves me with the main three, Charlie, Vaggie and Niffty. While Niffty is good comic relief but again there isn't much to her. Vaggie and Charlie are the best developed of the ladies and I am going with Charlie for this.





Charlie is a great character really. She is the eternal optimist but she's also painfully naive and pretty damn clueless. She means well but doesn't have the tools to necessarily do well. She is about the only person who believes that hell is meant to help rehabilitate the sinners and send them to heaven. Finally after being out of touch with her mother for several years, and having zero support from Lucifer, Charlie opens up one of his rundown properties, the Happy hotel, to start trying to redeem sinners.

When she finally gets two sinners to try and redeem, it's obvious Charlie is in over her head. She doesn't understand people. She concocts a lesson plan that villainizes everything that makes Angel Dust Angel, praises Pentious for embracing the role play while totally missing the pain on Angel's face.

But she can learn. She realizes the mistake she made in trying to help Angel with Valentino only we do wish she had corrected that mistake more violently (but then we'd not have Valentino down the road and we couldn't have that). She is forgiving (of her father, of Vaggie) and she is capable of violence when necessary (while apologizing for it). She fights for those she loves and she fights hard and that's what I love best about her (I wish she were easier to write for me)
 
 
Current Music: Resident Alien
Current Mood: hot
 
 
it only hurts when i breathe
03 June 2025 @ 07:17 am
The Day in Spikedluv (Monday, June 2)  
I hit Walmart and the Feed Bag while I was downtown and got in a short walk around the park. I stopped by the vet (to pick up Ti's special dog food) and the library (to return a book) on the way home. I got in another short walk with Pip and the puppers in the afternoon.

I did a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher and ran another load, then emptied ~that load (I hate emptying the dishwasher, but I was on a roll!), did the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, scooped kitty litter, and mowed the lawn.

I read more in Network Effect, watched an HGTV program, and talked to mom on the phone. Also, while I haven’t seen any fawns yet, Pip saw some deer running around frantically when he got close to the orchard to mow (so he left), which means there are probably more than one fawn hidden up there in the tall grass!

Pip had leftovers for supper (thanks to the BBQ chicken quarters, we had plenty, lol) so I didn’t have to cook. I made myself a ham sandwich. I’m not generally a fan of ham sandwiches, but they’re tasting really good to me lately.

Temps started out at 48.7(F) and reached 72.2. We had sun all day, with a slight breeze. I didn’t need a sweatshirt when I mowed, but I did retain my long-sleeved t-shirt. It was really a beautiful day.
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cornerofmadness
03 June 2025 @ 12:09 am
Write Every Day Day 3  


Thought I'd toss a little writing prompt out there this time


So how it is going? Day two went well for me about 1600 words on my wipbigbang

If I've missed you on the tally let me know.


Day One - [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] nafs, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] yasaman, [personal profile] ysilme, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] luzula

Day Two [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] yasaman, [personal profile] shadaras


Day three- [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] shadaras
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Current Music: The Haunted Strangler
Current Mood: sleepy
 
 
cornerofmadness
03 June 2025 @ 12:01 am
June's Bingo  
[community profile] allbingo is having a pride month theme this month

Bisexual / biromantic Name Comfort Polysexual / polyromantic
Demisexual Friendship Lesbian Queer
Pansexual / panromantic Genderqueer Hope Genderfluid
Drag Love Nonbinary Twink
Tags:
 
 
Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: Murder She Wrote
 
 
cornerofmadness
02 June 2025 @ 08:49 pm
Why brain?  
I woke up out of a weird dream today. I was at a spa and having a treatment on my feet. But instead of those little fish that nibble the dead skin off your feet, they were using a huge pool and crayfish to do the gnawing of dead flesh. As I was debating if I wanted to try it, the proprietor promised an even better, more special treatment and proceeded to cut off his foot at the ankle and floated that in the water. I was too dumbstruck to do anything. Then he cut off his other foot and the feet of a few other people. I woke up before they could dump me in the foot pool. Why brain?!?



It's music monday. I'm doing the alphabet again picking songs of the 2020s. I'm up to I. Feel free to share your I songs.

I have more I's than I thought I would )
 
 
Current Music: Resident Alien
Current Mood: grumpy
 
 
gilda_elise
02 June 2025 @ 02:22 pm
Full Throttle by Joe Hill  
Full Throttle


A little door that opens to a world of fairy tale wonders becomes the blood-drenched stomping ground for a gang of hunters in “Faun.” A grief-stricken librarian climbs behind the wheel of an antique Bookmobile to deliver fresh reads to the dead in “Late Returns.” In “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain,” two young friends stumble on the corpse of a plesiosaur at the water’s edge, a discovery that forces them to confront the inescapable truth of their own mortality . . . and other horrors that lurk in the water’s shivery depths. And tension shimmers in the sweltering heat of the Nevada desert as a faceless trucker finds himself caught in a sinister dance with a tribe of motorcycle outlaws in “Throttle,” co-written with Stephen King.

I’m not normally one for short stories, but I do so enjoy Hill’s writing. And there were some in this collection that I enjoyed immensely. Throttle, which is the only story that doesn’t have a supernatural or sci-fi slant, is really quite good, but I enjoyed the stories that did wander off into strange avenues. Dark Carousel, Faun, and especially Late Return are favorites when it came to the supernatural, but it was the sci-fi story,You Are Released, that was my favorite.

Of course there were those that I didn’t care for, some not at all, mostly those whose endings were a bit too dark for me; YMMV on that.

Still, I felt the book leaned enough into the worth reading column. Maybe because many of the stories are quite long, sort of pushing out into novella territory, that I was able to overlook the stories that I wasn’t all that crazy about.


Mount TBR

Mount TBR 2025 Book Links 1-20 )

21. We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
22. America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War by H.W. Brands
23. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
24. The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
25. A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen
26. Lost and Found by Marilyn Harris
27. Strange Weather: Four Short Novels by Joe Hill
28. Three Wild Dogs by Markus Zusak
29. Full Throttle by Joe Hill


Goodreads 30
 
 
it only hurts when i breathe
02 June 2025 @ 08:39 am
Monday [Fandom] Madness! The Murder, She Wrote 2.10 & 2.11 & 2.12 & 2.13 Comments Edition  
I have rewatched the next few MSW episodes and I wanted to share some thoughts with you. The eps in question are: 2.10 Sticks and Stones, 2.11 Murder Digs Deep, 2.12 Murder by Appointment Only and 2.13 Trial by Error.


all comments back here )


What are your thoughts on these eps?
 
 
it only hurts when i breathe
02 June 2025 @ 08:06 am
The Day in Spikedluv (Sunday, June 1) & Mom Update  
I took the dogs for a short walk, did a load of laundry and the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and scooped kitty litter. I paid a couple bills online and placed a puzzle order for mom.

I started Network Effect, watched some HGTV programs, and attended a group birthday party at my sister’s house (including for my niece Leandra and nephew Ian). That’s what I made the cabbage salad for; mom made pulled pork.

Temps started out at 43.1(F) (it was cool enough in the house that I turned the furnace on to take the chill off; it was definitely a hot tea morning) and reached 59.9. On one end of the spectrum we had some sprinkles, on the other, the sun tried to peek out a few times. (The next three days are supposed to have temps of 66, 76, and 86! Talk about a quick turn around.)



Mom Update: My mom had a visit with her oncologist on Friday. She liked him. He told her that the cancer was Stage 1, so she'll need a less aggressive treatment of chemo. They're going to wait until after the surgery (coming up on Monday, June 9) to set it up, but he's thinking two weeks on, one week off for six weeks. (Does that mean only four weeks of chemo total? Or six weeks of chemo around the one week off?) Also, half the usual dose. Hopefully the side effects won't be as bad. (He also said that, no matter what, he'd recommend chemo because this is her third cancer diagnosis.)

My mom's next appointment with him is July 14, so I'm guessing the chemo won't start until after that? Do they normally wait 4 weeks post-surgery to begin? Do they need her to be drain-free?

He also told her that the procedure would be a long one. I joked with mom that we ~do want the surgeon to put everything back together correctly.
 
 
cornerofmadness
02 June 2025 @ 01:05 am
Write Every Day Day 2  


That writing advice goes back as far as Aristotle tickled me.

So how it is going? Day one for me was going to be an alibi sentence until I hit a stream of something and now it's one in the morning and I'm just getting this up. And I managed 900 words on my [community profile] wipbigbang


Day One - [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] shadaras, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] nafs, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] yasaman, [personal profile] ysilme, [personal profile] carenejeans, [personal profile] luzula
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Current Mood: rushed
Current Music: Midsomer Murder