Professional fundraiser, having worked in non-profit my entire career (and my university degree was in a social sciences field). I wouldn’t call myself technically proficient, but I’m technically savvy - I was an early adopter of the internet as a teen, and have been online in some form or another since the mid-90s. Fuck spez.
Yeah, I watch anything I want to see at home, in my comfy entertainment room. The last movie I saw in theatres was in late 2021, I think? And that was at a local, independently owned theatre. The big corporate ones are so ridiculously overpriced these days.
I don’t necessarily object to longer films, but my small-to-begin-with-and-now-middle-aged bladder sure does. Bring back intermissions!
I’m halfway through Naomi Novik’s (edit - fecking autocorrect) third instalment of her Scholomance trilogy, The Golden Enclaves. So far I’m enjoying it!
I primarily use small (3”x3”) microfibre towels for dishwashing - bought a pack of four a while ago ant the grocery store and am still using them. I can’t remember what I paid, but I don’t expect it was much more than $6 or $7 CAD.
I also have a sturdier microfibre scrubby that’s holding up less well, which I wouldn’t buy again. And then, of course, steel wool for the big-time elbow grease jobs.
Yeah, this is pretty much my standard now too. I was in hospital for a day surgery recently and was more than a little taken aback at the fact that I was one of the only people masking.
A wise choice, it’s a time-suck for sure.
Ahhh good ol’ FPS death. I never make it that far, mainly because I love to embark somewhere with a waterfall.
Dwarf Fortress, been playing it off and on for many years now. I happily bought the steam version when it came out!
I roasted a big batch of veg (zucchini, mushrooms, onion) on the weekend to go with some roasted chicken legs. I poured the chicken drippings over the veg when everything was cooked. I still had some of it left after finishing the chicken, so I added a few cherry tomatoes and heated it all up in a pan, then tossed in some cooked fusilli and pasta water. Finished it with grated Parmesan. It was delicious!
I always come back to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, they are an eternal favourite. I love all Robin McKinley’s books, and Garth Nix’s Abhorsen novels are up there, too.
In terms of a more recent (and shorter) series, I very much enjoyed Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy, NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, and so far I’ve liked Freya Marske’s first two books in her The Last Binding series. Honourable mentions for the Dresden Files and Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London (which are just fun).
I have read Mistborn, but a while ago, and to be honest it didn’t really stick with me. I’ve also started the first Malazan (edit, fecking autocorrect) book a few times and just couldn’t get into it.
I mean, that’s like asking which child is your favourite (she says, having no children of her own). I honestly couldn’t pick a favourite - as others have said, the early ones aren’t great compared to the full body of work, but I love all of them.
Perhaps The Last Hero is my favourite owned book, if only because it’s a signed hardcover - I saw Terry speak in the early ‘00s, and had him sign it then.
Only one colleague has ever directly asked me if it was a Ghibli background - and she’s a very cool chick!
It’s the serious eats deep dish dough for me, baked off in a cast iron pan. It’s perfect, and can double as a focaccia dough!
A nice risotto - it takes a bit of time, but the basic recipe is super simple. Get a pot of about 5 or so cups of stock (chicken veggie, whatever) simmering on the stove. In a big pan, sauté a diced onion with olive oil, add a bit of minced garlic, then toss in about a cup and a half of arborio rice (or another short grain rice) and get it all coated in the oil. You can add half a cup of white wine now if you like, or just slowly start adding in a stock, one ladleful at a time. Keep stirring, don’t walk away! This takes some time, but as the stock gets absorbed the rice releases its starch and gets super creamy. Taste test to know when it’s done. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with some parmesan cheese grated over the top (ideally from an actual block of parm, which would likely be the most expensive part of this dish).
You can add various veggies in - I like adding mushrooms or blanched asparagus. It’s great as a side dish, but also works as a main.
Right now I’m using this as my lock screen and this as my background on my tablet.
I always use Ghibli landscape images on all my devices, and rotate through them frequently. I pull from a few Imgur galleries: this one for my phone and tablet, and this one for my laptop dual screen setups.
This would be a great header! I love this artist, Arthur Rackham - his pictures all have this weird fever-dream quality. I have a copy of illustrated Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen from childhood, lots of great weirdness in there too.
You’ve already gotten advice on preserving, but what about sharing/donating the bounty?
Some cities have public portals where you can post the location of your fruit tree and indicate people can help themselves. There’s also this webpage. And failing that, you could reach out to a local foodbank - they may be able to have volunteers come collect the fruit?
I watch them too. And there’s another similar channel of a single young (American, I think?) woman who’s doing the same thing. And again, the locals are very welcoming - I suspect this depends on whether the newcomers are making an effort to integrate, learn the language, etc.