Mafief

Tremors

mafief — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 13:06:22 GMT

Original though: I’ll live stream a play with my sister and type in a chat room. Yahoo for for getting cultured, seeing plays I haven’t seen before, and feeling like we’re hanging out.

Invites other sibling and mom: planning ensues!!!

What actually happened: we watched Tremors 2. I’m disappointed that the guy I wanted to be eaten wasn’t.

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Questions

mafief — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 18:33:52 GMT

My turn!

17, 18, and 31 from stonepicnicking_okapi
17: What’s more draining: writing smut, fluff or angst?
I have a hard time keeping fluff fluffy; the angst just wants to creep in. I end up rewriting a piece multiple times to keep the fluff fluff-ified. Keeping myself in a light and spry mood takes a lot of energy.

18: Are you a ‘neatly designed outline’ writer or a ‘fuck it i’ll figure it out as i go’ writer?
I want to be the neatly designed outline writer with the detailed outline, and I need to improve my organization. However, I didn’t have a detailed outline for my thesis or dissertation, so there isn’t much hope for me.
I have a vague plot in my head of where I want to go and then I bounce around the fic and drill down to specific moments and dialogue. One day I’m writing the beginning and the other I’ll write something near the end. This is how I have two ~15k fics that I can’t show anyone because I only have unconnected snippets.
I need another way to organize and keep track of my thoughts because keeping it in short term memory means I forget things. Another writer on tumblr makes a list of cool things that could be added to a fic, prints them out and organizes the pieces to form the most compelling story. I want to try this when I have time to complete a thought.

31: mythological creature AU or superhero AU?
I’m choosing whatever side has dragons.

Another set from luthienberen
7: Do you listen to music while you write/read?
I need silence. Any music with lyrics distracts me and I end up either mentally shouting over it or paying more attention to the lyrics than my thoughts. It’s mentally exhausting to fight through it in my head. TV or kid noises are equally distracting. So, working in a coffee shop or when my family is awake and around doesn’t work and I end up doing nothing and getting frustrated.
If my thoughts are spinning and I can’t settle, I’ll listen to something classical until my thoughts calm and the music becomes too much noise.

10: What’s your favorite trope?
I like a lot of them, and don’t think I have a favorite.
- H/C heavy on the C is great
- A slow burn fic with lots of mutually unrequited pinning that had better become required unless there is a very good reason to rip my heart apart
- Eventually getting together and them learning to work out their relationship is even better
- A/B/O with intense and interesting world building that analyses some inequality means I’m going to be reading instead of sleeping.
- Domestic stuff and kid fics
- Random AU I know nothing about
- Random AU I know way too much about
- Fluff when I don’t have to write it

And so ends my vague answer.

24: fantasy or sci-fi?
Yes. I like them both and have equally enjoyed and disliked books from both categories.

Questions below the cut in case anyone wants to play.

1: Do you/would you like to write professionally?
2: Which author has influenced you the most?
3: Any guilty pleasures (books/fics)?
4: What’s better (or the least bad): character over plot or plot over character?
5: Do you think stories can change lives? Is there a story that has changed yours?
6: What’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to writing?
7: Do you listen to music while you write/read?
8: Favorite quotes?
9: If you could wish for a new book from any author, who would it be?
10: What’s your favorite trope?
11: What’s your (least) favorite overused trope?
12: Which trope would you absolutely abolish?
13: Are there any tropes you’re embarrassed for enjoying?
14: Do you have a go-to AU?
15: What kind of character do you wish you saw portrayed more often?
16: What’s more frustrating: plotholes or OOC characters?
17: What’s more draining: writing smut, fluff or angst?
18: Are you a ‘neatly designed outline’ writer or a ‘fuck it i’ll figure it out as i go’ writer?
19: Do you think major character deaths are ever necessary?
20: If you could ‘unkill’ any character from any story, who would it be?
21: Would you like to write an alternative ending for any of your favorite shows/books/etc?
22: Are you more likely to be the person who starts reading a 100k slow burn fic at midnight or the person who starts writing a drabble at 4 a.m.?
pick just one:
23: fluff or angst?
24: fantasy or sci-fi?
25: fake dating AU or inpromptu babysitting AU?
26: road trip AU or high school AU?
27: coffee shop AU or florist AU?
28: stuck in an elevator AU or camping gone bad AU?
29: 20s AU or 50s AU?
30: high school AU from a fantasy/sci-fi story or fantasy/sci fi AU from a realistic story?
31: mythological creature AU or superhero AU?
32: meet cute or meet ugly?

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Names for things

mafief — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 17:33:45 GMT

I've been reading through science protocols for my class and I keep reading about Domestos. When I first read this I freaked out not knowing what the heck that was and worrying that I would not be able to find that reagent and complete the protocol. (You all in the know are probably laughing at me right now.)

Yahoo for helpful google telling me it's bleach. Bleach. And a bleach brand from the UK. Lo and behold that book and subsequent manuscript was published from UK labs.

So grrr the researchers who used brand names and not just calling it bleach with the name brand in parenthesis like you should. Yes, the concentration of sodium hypochlorite (active ingredient in bleach) is different. Domestos has 5.25% and Chlorox (US brand) has 6.05%. Which can matter when making solutions..... Or not much. But if I were to be a good scientist, I would convert the percentages of one to the other to make sure the solutions were exact. Or not because it's bleach and I'm not sure 22% and 20% are that different in their bacteria killing powers.

Also ran into another difference. What is the difference between an UK and US apple pie? Google did not provide a good answer for this. Apple pie that I make has flour, vegetable shortening, salt, water and cinnamon in the crust. The filling has apples (Macintosh or Cortlands), cinnamon, tapioca pearls (thickener), sugar, and butter.

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Writing and reading update

mafief — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 13:10:25 GMT

Writing
Lets see… Ain’t happening much these days. I’ve lost track of words I’ve written and what not. I managed to participate in Watson’s Woes, which I’m very proud of myself for what I did. Beyond that big push, it’s been a struggle. My class is kicking my butt and taking my creative energies and when I typically write. Figuring out my new time management schedule is a major priority right now, since I want to still write.

As for communities, I have kept up-to-date on the canon readings for Sherlock60, but I haven’t written a 60 word story for it in ages. I think I will adjust my commitment to that and just do the readings. Need to go back through and comment on the stories that have been written and cheer on that one person. For the others… I’ll continue to lurk and attempt when I can.

Ignoring how writing isn’t happening these days, I can still dream and doing some pre-writng with projects. Thus, instead of clearing WIPs off my list, I’ve managed to add to them. I have two stories I want to write for BBC Sherlock, but I am honestly terrified of that fandom. Reading through the comment section on some of stories in the fandom is not for the faint of heart.

Reading
I’ve been reading (listening to audiobooks), which I’m counting towards the creative writing process. Somewhere I read that reading is breathing in and writing is breathign out. Sure, I’ll go with that.

Finished
Lab Girl - Hope Jahren
This is one of those books that fell under the ‘I should read this’. It has been on the ASBP (American Society of Plant Biologist) summer reading list and a friend suggested it.

The book is a memior of Jahren’s life and her interactions with one of her science buddies. She’s a geochemist who happens to study plants. She grew up in a Swedish (maybe? forgetting details) community and didn’t speak much of emotion or how to express it. She has manic depression and wasn’t on medication for a while. She’s soly devoted to her work, period. She is a wife and a mom and has a best friend (Bill) who has been working for her since the beginning. Her and Bill go on science adventures to conferences and to collect samples. Bill is her right hand man and does a lot of the lab work.

I got a audiobook loan from the library and listened to it. Dr Jahren read the book. Her voice is nice to listen to. She pronounces ‘roots’ as ‘ruts’ and her pronouciation of my study plant (Arabidopsis) was odd, which makes since beause she never uses that plant and isn’t in that community. She describes in detail sterile technique (I almost fell asleep during this chapter). She puts in anecdotes about plants, which I like but most I know already and some are over statements. Her writing style isn’t my favorite. It’s like she finally got to use adjectives and adverbs that we never use in science and had at it.

Overall, I hated this book (yes, I know that is a strong word). I wanted to throw my phone across the room a few times and once I needed to stop the book, cool down, and have my husband listen to the offending passage. Besides my viseral reaction to the book because I lived this life for a while, it is a nice glimps into what is considered typically and (often) exhaulted in science, from the perspective of a female scientist. Other people do like this book a lot because of that reason, so I wouldn’t let my reaction to it prevent you from reading it.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage – Haruki Murakami

The book starts of with the main character thinking about death for so many years. Yup, it’s going to be one of those topics… The main character is trying to figure out why the 4 other people (whose names refer to colors and his doesn’t, thus he thinks of himself as colorless) in his group of friends immediately stopped talking to him and completely cut him out of the group years ago. He goes on a journey to try to figure this out. There is a random mystical element in it that I didn’t understand, but it had the desired effect of adding doubt into the reader.

What was odd was reading a sex scene from a guy’s perspective. I’ll assume that 99.9% of the fanfics I’ve read thus far have been from a non-male. What was focused on before, during, and after the act in the guy’s work was very different from what I’ve noticed from a female’s work. So I found his scenes rather jaring and overal strange.

It was OK. His writing was interesting, and produced the desired ‘wait, what?’ about half-way through the book. The book ends unresolved about a potential love interest, which I don’t really like in this book (other works have done this and I’ve been OK with it, but not this time). I have another more popular book from this author marked, so I’ll give him another go. Honestly, I chose this book from the library stack because it was short and the cover was cleverly done and I wanted to read something from that author. Man, I wish published books came with short AO3 tags.

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
This book was so much fun to read. I adore Aziraphale and Crowley and almost wish the book had more interactions between these two characters.

We were covering a prophecy in the OT in my church group. My unhelpful brain kept adding phrases about the ineffiable plan and I’m trying very hard not to giggle. I passed this book along to my husband, who loved it as well.

There is a series coming out with David Tennant as Crowley and Michael Sheen as Aziraphale. Those casting choices are so dang perfect, and I’m wicked excited for that to come out!

In-progress
I’ve been using my libraries ap for loaning audio books. Here is the BIG catch with that: they send back the books on you after a week. When I finally find time to listen to a book in the car kid-free, I’ll get half-way through the book and it sent back almost immediately after. Grr! Some of the books I’m trying to loan have a very long waiting list, and my hold is back at the end of the line again. I’m finding this whole process extremely frustrating. Thus, my in-progress books are way to many and I don’t exactly remember where I am in some of these books because they send it back before I got to mark my progress. In any case, these are the books I’m trying to finish:

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
A Man Called Ove
The Immortal Life of Hebrietta Lacks
Coraline

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Watson's Woes July Writing Prompts 2018

mafief — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 01:34:42 GMT

JWP1: Resident Horse (BBC_Sherlock, G)

JWP2: Teacups and Teapots (Great Mouse Detective, G)

JWP3: The Cat and String (RDJ movies, PG-13)

JWP4: Bound (BBC Sherlock, PG-13)

JWP5: It’s Poison (BBC_Sherlock, G)

JWP6: What Happened? (1939 Film Series, G)

JWP7: They Will Outlive Us All (ACD, G)

JWP9: Gary and The Opera (ACD, G)'

JWP10: Coffee (BBC Sherlock, G)

JWP11: Bathing Suit (Great Mouse Detective, G)

JWP12: Reputation (ACD, G)

JWP13: A Moment When We Collide (BBC_Sherlock, G)

JWP14: Dinosaur (BBC_Sherlock, G)

JWP15: Surprise (RDJ movies, PG-13)

JWP16: Mist, But Not (ACD, PG-13)

JWP23: Wrap Myself (ACD, G)

JWP25: The Arm in the Lock (BBC_Sherlock, G)

JWP27: Quiet Moments (BBC_Sherlock, G)

JWP28: New Beginnings (BBC_Sherlock, G)

JWP29: What Do You Do? (BBC_Sherlock, PG)

JWP31: Steps (ACD, G)

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Quiz fun

mafief — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 04:49:45 GMT

Nickname: Mafief

Zodiac: Aquarius

Height: 5′5″ Until recently, I thought I was 5’4”. I’ve been jibbing myself an inch!

Time: 12:07 am

Favourite band/artist: I don’t have a favorite. like bands similar to Florence + the machine, mumford and sons, Phillip Phillips, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Imagine Dragons, etc.

Song stuck in my head: Geronimo by Sheppards because Mr Three has been singing “say Geronimo” as “say the Geronimo” non-stop.
Last movie I saw: That I picked (this distinction is important): Infinity Wars

Last thing I googled: popular waltz songs, gramophone records, 1920

Other blogs: I’m on Tumblr as Mafief and I was crossposting to LJ.

Why did I choose this username: It was a childhood nickname given to me because a classmate asked me if wanted fishy crackers (goldfish) and my real name and fish got smushed together somehow. But, really it’s usually available on most platforms I want to use, which I find surprising since it is only six letters.

Average amount of sleep: 7ish hours unless I get pounced on in the early morning hours

Lucky number: none

What am I wearing: brown shorts and a white tank top with tiny grey butterflies.

Dream job: Errr… I can complicate this one... How about something vague like something sciencey that involves plants.

Dream trip: I want to travel again. 1) New Zealand. So I can see the other side of the Nothofagus forest (I saw one side in Chile). 2) UK. I already have a list of places and peeps I want to see.

Fave food: Right now, it’s blueberries from a PYO place.

Play any instruments: Piano but only at the beginner level. I can’t read music and I have a hard time with written notes with tones. Beats are also confusing. So, I wouldn’t trust myself with a tambourine.

Eye colour: Brown

Hair colour: Dirty blond (what an awful color name…) and I’m finding a few grey hairs in there.

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: Since I found this on tumblr, this must be a tumblr thing that I don’t understand. Umm… A tree in winter in a field of white snow.

Languages you speak: English (americanized). I have taken years of Spanish and none of it stuck.

Most iconic song: Just pick one in general? Alphabet song or American Pie

Favorite book: Nope, not gonna pick.

Random fact: You have mites (all humans do) that live on your forehead and they were given to you by your parents. We can trace your lineage by it.

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Full Circle

mafief — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 02:16:17 GMT

This week I signed up Mr Five for his first ever swim lessons. He’s having lots of fun, but it’s been very cold each time. I’ve sat out on the outdoor pool deck and crochet while watching him swim/freeze. In a sense, this act signals that my life has come full circle.

My sister and brother were enrolled in ballet and taekwondo, respectively. I was dragged along to their events and needed to come up with something to do so I wouldn’t drive myself (or mom) insane. This often took the form of bothering the other parents around, especially if they were doing something interesting. One of the parents brought her spinning wheel and was spinning the yarn while she waited for her daughter to finish her ballet class. I was fascinated and wanted to learn, but the lady wanted to make sure this was something I wanted to do and not a passing phase thing. I needed to prove myself. She gave me a 2 lb trash bag filled with unwashed raw fleece. Btw, 2 lbs of fluff is HUGE. My job was to tease (separate the crimped and clumped fibers) the entire bag. I convinced a friend to help and we got the job done. Finally, when I turned 10 I was finally allowed to learn how to spin. She sat with me for a few hours and it took a while to get my unwilling 10 year-old body to be coordinated. I still have my first lumpy, bumpy, dear-god-what-am-I-doing first spun somewhere at my parent’s house.

One of my relatives, who I have never met, had a flax wheel. This was my first wheel and it was the worst wheel for a beginner to use, but I used it. Eventually, when this became more of a passion that would stick, I upgraded to my current wheel (which I still LOVE).

And this is a pic of me spinning tonight.

Next, my everything-must-have-a-purpose mom realized that I was going to be producing yarn. Now what? Knitting and crochet held no appeal to her. Our yarn that we were spinning was not fine enough. Most yarn at the store has multiple strands twisted together (8 or so ply). Our single ply was/is about the width of worsted weight. In order to use homespun for knitting or crochet and have it NOT twist, you need to two-ply it (I’ll spare reasons, unless you ask). So, our stuff was not thin enough for that purpose.

In any case, she looked into weaving. Harrisville Design is relatively close to where my parents live, and she took a class there. From the website: “Woolen yarn has been spun in the water powered, brick mill town of Harrisville since 1794. This small village is nestled in the Monadnock Highlands of southwestern New Hampshire and is the only industrial community of the early 19th Century that still survives in America in its original form.” It’s an amazing place to visit.

Our first loom was a table top (below). I’ve labeled loom anatomy (blue arrow = reed; orange = heddles (4 total); green = hand treadles that correspond to each heddle).

Using a special board with pegs on it (warping board), we would count out the length we needed and number of strings. The number of strings would correlate to how wide the piece would be. Once done, we sley the reed (aka: put one string in one slot in the reed - https://www.allfiberarts.com/2011/aa110299.htm). After the reed, one string would be placed into each heddle. The table top loom has 4 heddles, which determines the type of pattern you can create depending upon if you put a string in heddle 1 versus heddle 4. All of this is repetitive and time-consuming work. It would take me a couple of days to warp the loom (put all the strings on). Eventually, we upgraded to a 36” floor loom with 12 heddles (we only used 8) and a more ‘portable’ 22” floor loom.

This pic shows the 36” floor loom with the beginnings of a project on it. My mom was making a blanket for my brother. The black that goes through the reed is the warp. The red is the filler we take out, but helps evenly space the warp at the beginning. The blue/purple is the weft. If you look closely, you’ll see a chevron pattern. Remember the stringing heddle thing? This is one place where we can change the pattern. Some of the warp is lifted. We can lift certain heddles, in a specific order, and that also creates a pattern.

Cool side note story: We (mom and I) participated at county fairs where we spun and wove products to show the general public. One guy who could come by the fair was responsible for making the spools for the loom harnesses that were used in Harrisville Design looms. We saw him for a few years in a row and he was very proud of his spools. (see spools in below pic)

Most of the material we used was wool or angora. The wool we tried dyeing, but that was a pain or more toxic than we wanted to deal with. So, we bought our wool dyed and processed at local Sheep and Wool festivals. This is also about the time where I started the angora bunny raising and breeding. So, we would harvest the angora wool and spin that.
(this is wool and mohair)

What did we make? Glad you asked. I’m saving that for a locked post because yours truly is modeling stuff so you can see it. (oh my!)

We also attempted to sell some of the angora scarves. Now, this was my first venture into what is something worth versus what someone is willing to pay. We calculated based on cost of material and labor that the scarves were worth about $75 and shawls were worth about $150. But, these are still low-ball figures. It was never a hobby that supported itself. The bunnies, however, did break even because I bred and sold the babies. Because of that experience, I know I dislike making things to sell and prefer to make things as gifts.

So, crochet and back to the being dragged around to sibling’s activities. Another lady was crocheting at my brother’s taekwondo class, and I pestered her into showing me the basics. From there, and with the help of youtube, I taught myself fancier stitches and patterns.

This post was requested a little while ago by Frankles. It’s taken me a little bit of time to find everything to take pictures, since a lot of it is in storage. However! I just brought my wheel and a tote of wool back with me. I’m wicked excited that I am beginning to spin again and even have a project (oh my!) already partially planned out project to crochet a long cardigan out of home spun. Hopefully it doesn’t make me look too much like a hipster. :)

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More crocheted blankets

mafief — Thu, 31 May 2018 18:40:36 GMT

I think I only posted one pic of my husband’s afghan in the ‘I’m still figuring this out’ stage. I settled on 9x12 squares which roughly means its almost 6 ft x almost 8 ft. Huge! Since I didn’t realize it would be THAT big when I first started the project four years ago, I didn’t purchase enough yarn. The yarn that I used for this blanket comes in dye lots, which means that the colors differ. There is no way I’m going to find the same dye lot from 4 years ago… So, I had dark and light yellow to work around. I think it ended up working out in the end and doesn’t look like too much of a mistake. I also worked around my hatred for tucking in ends and did most of it before I sewed squares together. There are still ends, but less of them so I don’t hate everything. Husband is very happy about the almost finished project and has already been using it even though there are ends untucked. So yahoo for most likely getting this blanket done very soon! :)

I’m standing on a chair and the ruler you see is a yard.

Next is Mr Three’s blanket, since he requested one. I took him to the craft store and had him choose his yarn. At first, he went through the yarn aisle and put one of each color into his shopping basket. Ok mom, need more rules… We narrowed it down to a lime and dark green and left before he changed his mind. The pattern I found, didn’t give him a choice of another, and he said he liked it. The original pattern has a counter-clockwise twist, which looked a little strange when I put a few of them together. So, I reversed the pattern to give a clockwise twist. I think having both directions give the blanket a better flow. I also thought of a nice boarder to finish up the blanket whenever I get to that. Mr Three didn’t give me an opinion either way and is just happy that he’s getting a green blanket.

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Herps!

mafief — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 17:57:25 GMT

In college, I took a herpetology class in the spring. The timing is important because that is when most of the amphibians in PA are doing something interesting instead of hiding. During the warm spring rains, salamanders and frogs come out en masse and breed. Thus, I spent my evenings in my rain jacket either walking up and down roads with a flashlight or hiking through the woods (with friends) to vernal pools (small ponds that flood in the spring and disappear by mid-summer).

During one adventure to a vernal pool in the dark, in the rain, in the woods, we saw hundreds of spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum). They were everywhere and it was an amazing sight to witness. In the water they would form these mating balls where the males would try to be the first one to grab a female with its back legs. Sometimes, the males are overly eager and drown the female in the process. (Side note: Some Ambystoma species don’t even need males. Two females can go through the process of mating but not actually exchange sperm and still lay viable eggs.)

I haven’t been able to figure out the timing to catch the great migration in NH nor do I have a good idea what pools are active. Last summer, I spent time scouting out the area for vernal pools to visit during the spring to hopefully catch this activity. I’ve done better and contacted the campus herpetologist and made plans. During the first warm (40F +) rains, I took the kids out (at 8:30 pm! In the woods! In the rain! In the dark!) to try and see this event. The first pool we went to only had Wood Frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus). You can hear their call here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_frog).

This was fine, disappointing, but fine because it gave me a chance to discuss the process of science and field biology with Mr Five. He told me once that he wanted to be a scientist, so part of that is explaining how much scientist fail and what to do when that happens.

We had to wait for our next attempt because the weather was silly and it decided to snow a few days after. Next warm rain, we visited another pool. This one included a hike up a rather steep incline (In the woods! In the rain! In the dark!) to reach three pools. This is also when my husband thinks I’m partially insane for taking children into this. I’ll disagree, but that’s another story. The part that excited Mr Three the most was holding his own flashlight.

This time we did better, but still no spotted salamanders. We saw wood frogs, spring peepers (Hyla crucifer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_peeper), a green frog (Lithobates clamitans), and redback salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). There was a large pond at the base of the hill we were on and the sound the spring peepers were making was deafening. For a frog that is about an inch long, they are super loud. Redbacks are extremely common, but the boys were excited that they saw a salamander that they didn’t care that it wasn’t a spotted. (Side note: redbacks don’t have lungs and breathe through their skin.)

The most exciting part of this trip, at least for me, was seeing the two redback salamanders above (bottom pic). I spotted two salamanders twisting around each other as they tumbled down the path. When we got closer, they froze and I was able to snap the picture above. What is hard to make out is that the smaller salamander has the larger one’s foot in its mouth. This behavior is new to me, and I’m not entirely sure if they are mating or fighting. Redbacks that need to mate around this time (female store sperm for over a year and lay eggs under a log on land) and the males are territorial. My other outdoor biologist friends had no idea. Mr Five asked if the salamanders were married and… I chickened out and said sure. So, he described to a group of church friends that he saw two salamanders ‘marriaged’. I’ll correct that later…

We are planning a guided vernal pool trip with this weekend, so hopefully I can get more connections to find better pools for next year.

So that’s what I’ve been up to! So yah, Come for the random things this scientist does, stay for the… salamander fighting/mating????

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Your scones are not our scones

mafief — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 18:39:20 GMT

So sayeth the smallhobbit.

Rational:
Curiosity was piqued and the experiment began to test the difference between British and American scones.

Methods:
SmallHobbit’s scones
8oz SelfRaising Flour (a.k.a. 2 c regular flour + 3 tsp baking powder)
2oz Margarine
1oz Sugar
2oz Sultanas (a.k.a. golden raisins)
0.25 pint Milk

Rub marge into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in sugar and sultanas. Quickly add most of milk and mix with a knife until it forms a soft dough (add more milk if necessary). Roll out to about 0.75" and cut in 2" circles.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, Gas mark 7 (Electric 230C) (a.k.a. 425 degrees F)
Sugar and Sultanas not necessary if served with jam (I think you call it jelly) and clotted cream.

American scones
For comparison, I tried a scone recipe from King Arthur Flour (https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/scones-recipe). The company was founded in 1790 in Boston, Massachusetts and is now located in Vermont (~4 hrs from me). I think that’s American enough for my purposes.

2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder (this added to the flour essentially makes self raising flour)
1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup to 2 cups chopped dried fruit, chocolate or other flavored chips, nuts, Jammy Bits*, or a combination, optional (used < 2 c golden raisins)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or the flavoring of your choice
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup half and half or milk (used less than 2/3)
*See "tips," below.

Topping
2 teaspoons milk
2 tablespoons sparkling white sugar or cinnamon sugar, optional (I reduced this to a light sprinkle of normal sugar)

Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
Work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly; it's OK for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated.
Stir in the fruit, chips, and/or nuts, if you're using them.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla or other flavor, and half and half or milk.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together.
Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don't have parchment, just use it without greasing it. Sprinkle a bit of flour atop the parchment or pan.
Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment or pan, and divide it in half. Round each half into a 5" circle (if you haven't incorporated any add-ins); or a 6" circle (if you've added fruit, nuts, etc.). The circles should be about 3/4" thick.
Brush each circle with milk, and sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.
Using a knife or bench knife that you've run under cold water, slice each circle into 6 wedges.
Carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them just a bit; there should be about 1/2" space between them, at their outer edges.
For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. Chilling the scones relaxes the gluten in the flour, which makes the scones more tender and allows them to rise higher. It also chills the fat, which will make the scones a bit flakier. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F.
Bake the scones for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown. When you pull one away from the others, it should look baked all the way through; the edge shouldn't look wet or unbaked.
Remove the scones from the oven, and cool briefly on the pan. Serve warm. They're delicious as is, but add butter and/or jam, if you like.
When the scones are completely cool, wrap them in plastic and store at room temperature for up to several days. To reheat room-temperature scones, place on a baking sheet, tent lightly with foil, and warm in a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.

To reduce experimental variations, I used the same flour, milk, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Both scones had golden raisins to reduce the ‘I like this flavor better’ factor.

Results and Thoughts:

If you had asked me about my opinion of scones before this experiment, I would have said I didn’t like them. I consider scones these overly dry bake good that sucks all of the moisture out of my mouth and have very dull to no flavor. Great start, eh? Husband likes scones and was eager to try the results.

Both husband and I agree that there is very little difference between the two scones in taste. I think there is a difference in texture. The King Arthur scones have a slightly stiffer, stuck together texture (most likely due to the egg). Hobbit’s scones were crumblier and softer and sort of remind me of a biscuit. Next day and two day old King Arthur scones were starting to get a rubbery texture, which was strange. Can’t report on Hobbit’s scones because they were finished quickly.

The King Arthur scones were a absolute pain to make. The dough was stupidly sticky (adding to the list of why I didn’t like scones in the first place) and it took me an hour to make them. Hobbits scones were ready from start to finish in <20 minutes and the dough did not annoy me.

Overall, I like Hobbit’s scones better and would make them again. I think the recipe is a great base for other flavors including a savory version (if this doesn’t scandalize SmallHobbit too much). So, it’s been added to the rotation.

Lastly, we tried clotted cream, or something I think is clotted cream, on both types of scones. After trying to make my own and realizing that cream that is not untra-pasturized cream is extremely hard to find in my area, I found Double Devon Cream. I’m not sure I would eat it on a regular basis. Remember that my sense of taste is not normal. To me, this product had no taste and the only thing I registered, if I could detect it, was a slimy mouthfeel. It didn’t put me off entirely, so I would eat it if in a position where I was expected to, but I prefer butter. :)

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What I’m Reading

mafief — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 19:48:23 GMT

Finished
The Martian by Andy Weir
I’ve just finished and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The line “Mars will fear my botany powers” is my new science war cry. It combined my favorite things: plants, NASA, and problem solving/tinkering. I saw the movie first and the movie did a very good job at representing the book. The ending was different, but that’s ok.

There is a lot of what I would call engineering humor and Weir’s characterization of the engineers feels spot on to the engineers that I know. Some of the NASA engineer humor reminds me of the From the Earth to the Moon mini-series. My favorite episode was “Spider” where the engineers try to build things and make it work.

Not to overstate, but Mark Watney is my new literary hero. This character’s “go get ‘em” and “work the problem” philosophy are very strong. That said, while it works great in the book, I’m not entirely sure it’s realistic. There wasn’t much talk about his emotional state. He is talking out a blog meant for recording the mission and says he needs to keep this more professional, so that makes sense.

Since this is a sold book and not a fic, I can say I found a continuity mistake. I heard from another chemistry PhDs that the chemistry and calculations are spot on, which is good. The author does go into math and calculations (problem solving) a lot and it is most of Watney’s dialogue in his logs.

I was also noting how Weir was blending epistolary and narrative since that’s relevant to one of the things I’m writing.

Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett
This was my first introduction to Terry Pratchett and I need to read more of his works. The humor was fun and quirky. I was also surprised as to where who was the villain and Carrot’s role. Overall, that was fun. I’m listening to audiobooks, so some of the humor involved in how things are written are lost.

Pratchett’s style and wit seem very distinct to me. One writing thing that standing out was Pratchett’s use of adverbs. X said conversationally, Y said helpfully, A said agreeably, B said knowledgeably, etc. As this is my first book from Pratchett, is that normal for him? When I was paying attention to when he used them, they seemed to coincide with parts of the story I found funny. So, B said helpfully when he isn’t being completely helpful to the other characters.

Lastly, does this guy believe in chapters?

Current
I’m currently reading Good Omens and so far enjoying it.

Fan Fics
As for fan fictions, I’ve realized I read a lot of the longer fics. If it’s 30k+, odds are I’ll try it. I like getting lost in what the author has the characters experience and see how they’ll resolve stuff. I just finished one of the 280K ones where one of the characters was dealing with debilitating depression as well as other issues. Not a happy read at the beginning, but there was a happy ending.

In the past when I’ve read or watched stuff with depression it would mess me up for days. This time I was happy that it didn’t and I was able to take the time to think about it instead of immediately shelving it to avoid. It was a good story, not easy, but a good read and character development.

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Another questionnaire

mafief — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 18:43:17 GMT

Filling out questionnaires/memes that SmallHobbit finds. :)

1. Fandom crossovers: If you like them, what is your fav, or if not why don't you?
I like ‘em and need to read more of them.

3. Favorite story inspired by/related to a song.
I’ve only done this twice so far. One was for a Watson’s Woe prompt where I used “roll the old chariot” in a fic and got the song stuck in my head for days. The other was based off of “I am a Rock” by Simon and Garfunkel and is unfinished.

4. A piece of music you were unfamiliar with you discovered through fandom/fanfic.
I’m not up on poplar music, so “The Young Men Carbuncular” by PlaidAdder introduced me to Phillip Phillips. I ended up liking his music a lot and made a pandora station.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/786119/chapters/1482709

Gimme Shelter by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John uses Rolling Stones as fic and chapter titles. I realized that I’ve heard some of these songs before but never knew it was them. Other songs I haven’t heard at all. In my defense, they were popular before I was born. :)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/11578941/chapters/26019564

24 Caprices and a Bottle of Claret by Okapi uses Paganini’s caprice as inspiration for each chapter. I don’t typically listen to classical music, and learning more about Paganini and his music was a treat.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/11817738/chapters/26664114

5. Guilty pleasure movie[s].
The Fifth Element, Princess Bride, Stranger than Fiction, French Kiss

6. What crafty things do you make?
I like to work with my hands and am willing to try just about anything. I’ve done fiber arts (spinning, weaving, crocheting, felting), sewing, needle point, hook rugs, paper making, origami, etc. I don’t knit, but I have friends who are threatening to teach me. One day, I want to learning quilting and pottery.

7. How many cups of coffee/tea does it take to make you human.
I’m on decaf coffee these days, which I’m not entirely sure counts as coffee.

9. How many books do you own/how many of them are paper?
I owned more physical books as a high schooler and they are somewhere. When I went to college I quickly learned that it sucks carrying book boxes when you move once or twice a year. Since my family is still in transition period and haven’t settled on a location, we still keep things relatively portable. I don’t buy physical books or DVDs and prefer to keep things digital. Right now, I have more time for audiobooks and I play those with my phone.
Kid’s books are another thing and we have a bookshelf filled.

10. How many electronic devices do you own that connect to the internet?
Phones, laptops, tablets, and TV. Not counting…

11. Are you interested in swapping hand-made crafty items?
Absolutely! I love making things and receiving handmade stuff. I’m a sucker for knitted socks.

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Candy!

mafief — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 19:18:29 GMT

One of my husband’s (J) coworkers has recently moved here from the UK. She brought back candies and J snagged Fruit Pastilles and Smarties to share with us.

The Fruit Pastilles reminded me of a stiff (or frozen, minus the cold) gummy bear covered in large sugar particles. I found it odd that they were in a wrapper and foil, similar to the packaging of LifeSavers. I was expecting the consistency of a LifeSaver (hard candy), but they were much softer. Despite the extra sugar coating, these candies were not exceedingly sweet and seemed less sweet compared to most US candies that I’ve had. (Remember that I have limited taste ability, but I can tell sweetness levels that aren’t relying on small molecules to trick our brains into thinking the thing is sweeter.)

Smarties were next. In the US, we have a candy called Smarties, but they are a sweet, chalk-like, round disk. Side note, Smarties were an important part of keeping me awake during lectures from a prof who could cure insomnia. These reminded me of a large, flat M&M, but less sweet compared to an M&M. The sugar shell is thicker compared to an M&M. The chocolate, in consistency and flavor, seemed different as well. The Smarties packing is a cardboard hexagon, which is neat.

The last thing I thought was interesting was the nutritional facts and comparing how they are written and organized to what we have in the US. I’ve included the Know Your Servings from Smarties and Nutritional Facts from a box of Raisins. Both use 2000 as the daily value/reference intake. UK has more details and numbers in a table while US has grams per serving and % daily value. Other differences include salt vs sodium, labeling or not labeling cholesterol, etc. Looking at the packaging further, I think another difference is calling these sweets versus candies, but I’m not entirely sure.

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Ten things (why not?)

mafief — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 16:51:01 GMT

Filled out the ten things about me meme that’s floating around. Not going to tag anyone.

1) I’m married to a guy and we have two boys (three and five-year-olds).

2) I’m a scientist (geneticist). I decided I wanted to be a scientist by the third grade and been slowly settling down on what type of biology I like (which is really a lot of it). I prefer the overlooked organisms like plants, fungi, lichens, and herps (reptiles and amphibians) and much prefer to be an indoor biologist where I can carefully control conditions. The idea of setting up traps far off in the mountains to collect bobcat poop holds no appeal to me. However, I will willingly jump in a mucky pond or tide pool after a random organism. And I’ve licked a salamander (there were good reasons).

3) I’m terrified of moths. I don’t like insects that sporadically fly around and hit my face.

4) I’m mildly dyslexic. I have a hard time differentiating between my left and right hand and lowercase b’s and d’s (still). I call things by the wrong name even thought I know what it is. An example is calling an object orange and even though it is yellow. In the lab, I’ve had to overcome my tendency to flip the order of things and thus have had to devise systems to keep everything in order. One of my projects involved determining left-handed twist from right-handed twist and it took a ridiculous amount of mental effort to keep everything straight. Reading aloud is stressful. I will do it and sound very awkward but reading to the kids is an absolute must. Writing, spelling, and word pronunciation have always been a struggle for me. Because of this, I am more comfortable producing things with my hands than expressing myself through writing.

5) Teaching. Despite the dyslexia thing, I enjoy giving presentations and I’m rather good at it. I usually find myself in a position where I’m teaching whether that be through 4-H clubs, agricultural displays at county fairs, ski instructing, teaching assistantships, or teaching college level classes. Because of my experience with dyslexia, I know what it is like to struggle in school (I am not naturally gifted, but I am persistent as hell) and can often guide students through their struggles.

6) When I was 5 or 6, I had a severe allergic reaction to a medication which caused Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. I had extensive blistering on my lips, eye lids, and mucus membranes. My case was mild, which was good because I wouldn’t be here today filling out this get-to-know-you-thing. I was left with messed up eyelids and eye lashes that used to rub against my eye until corrective surgery fixed it. Also, the tissue scaring on my mucus membranes have limited my sense of taste and smell to the point that I can barely smell anything and my sense of taste is limited to what I can detect with my tongue. Thus, I don’t drink tea because it’s just hot/lukewarm water with no flavor.

7) I’ve semi-recently figured out I am gray asexual. It’s a big deal for me since I’ve thought something was wrong with me for a very long time. I do not find random folks hot or visually appealing which made conversations with other high school girls very awkward. I’m really only attracted in that way to my husband. So, yah, I’d have no problem living in a monastery being a nun.

8) I am not lefthanded. I’m predominately right, but I can write and perform tasks with some level of proficiency with my left.

9) My high school graduating class totaled 9 people. I was not the valedictorian.

10) I had an extensive hobby as a kid. My mom and I learned how to spin fibers and weave it into cloth. We wanted to keep a wool producing animal, so we settled on angora rabbits instead of sheep or llamas. I kept the average of twenty angora rabbits (max was forty) for their wool and eventually brought them to rabbit shows. The super fluffy bunny with long fluff on the face is an English angora and the type I raised. Unlike most hobbies, I could fund it by breeding the rabbits and selling the kits. I essentially had a small business as a kid. The inheritance of rabbit coat (fur) color has been worked out and I was fascinated by it. My first introduction to genetics was when I would analyze the parent’s history (pedigrees) and predict the coat color of the babies.

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Weekend adventures

mafief — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 17:42:38 GMT

This weekend I was at my sister-in-law’s house celebrating my parent’s fortieth wedding anniversary. Congrats to them and we wish them many more. My two were a little confused and sung them happy birthday because we were celebrating with cake. My parents had a blast playing with their grandkids and seeing us.

My sister-in-law does a much better job at decorating than I do (I completely fail at this) and I had been to my sister-in-law’s house many, many times before but never really paid attention to items on display. Tucked into the corner of her dining room was the plaque below. Being my awkward self, I asked to take a picture of it with the books she had in her sewing room. She told me that she visited London and the Sherlock Holmes’ museum during her high school trip. I didn’t know that about her before. She then asked me why I wanted a picture of it. Cue me trying to explain to someone that I am writing fanfiction. Now there are two people that I know personally that are aware I am writing. In any case, I took the picture to potentially use it as an icon. I still need to upload and use my watson_woe icon from this round.

Also took the kids to a park and found that someone had littered googly eyes. Being a good citizen, I cleaned them up. Since googly eyes are just about my level of humor some days, I proceeded to take pictures of googly eyes on things.

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Writer’s block

mafief — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 17:39:31 GMT

Upper (1974) paper is making the rounds again on an academic social media account that I follow. This has been my giggle for the day and I thought I’d share it. The links go to the corresponding journal article reference.

It all started here…
Upper, D. (1974). The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of “writer's block”. J Appl Behav Anal. 7, 497.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1311997/?page=1
Reviewer A’s comment is gold.

The cross-cultural replicate (no one asked for):
Didden, R., et al., A multisite cross-cultural replication of Upper’s (1974) unsuccessful self-treatment of writer’s block. J Appl Behav Anal. 40, 773
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2078566/pdf/jaba-40-04-773.pdf
Stay for the editor’s comment

Studies should be repeated to see if similar findings can be reproduced. It’s under a paywall (stupid), but you get the idea.
Artino, A. R. (2016) The unsuccessful treatment of a case of ‘Writer’s Block’: a replication in medical education. Med Edu. 50, 1262.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/medu.13003/abstract

The meta-analysis of the literature on the unsuccessful treatments of ‘Writer’s Block” since more than one person did this! The authors suggest that single papers on the subject are wordier than group papers. In reality, there is one single author paper that has 32 words and the rest of the literature has 0.

McLean, D. C. and Thomas, B. R. (2014) Unsuccessful treatments of “writer’s block”: a meta-analysis. ‎Psychol. Rep. 115, 276.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2466/28.PR0.115c12z0

Oh, academics…

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Reorganizing my commitments

mafief — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 17:38:50 GMT

My plan for the month of November is to participate in that NaNoWriMo. There is no way I’m going to stress myself out and do 50,000 words in a month, thus I’ve signed up for the mini_wrimo. My plan is to write 200 per day on this one project and I hope to have 6000 words in the end. To do that, and maintain my sanity, I probably need to step away from other communities (fan_flashworks and holmes_minor) for a bit. I’ve been trying to write this story in between deadlines and I’m feeling stretched thin. My creative forces want to focus on one project at a time. Hopefully, I’ll keep doing Sherlock60 unless I can’t handle it during Nov.

More about the project below

The project:
I like crossovers (especially between ACD Holmes/Watson and BBC Sherlock/John), AUs, and sci-fi. Years ago I was a huge Stargate SG1 fan but I’ve never written or read any of that fan fiction. The fan_flashwork prompt “disguise” started an idea of creatures who could disguise themselves as different people thus I had an idea of crossing Holmes/Watson and Stargate SG1 (I guess this is a plot bunny?).

Ok, hang with me a bit because I know that sounds weird. One of the things Stargate did a lot is change the history of events or religions. For example, Thor was an alien and their technology was the origin of Norse mythology. For this AU, I have Holmes/Watson stranded on earth and influencing science/forensics/chemistry/literature/whatever for thousands of years.

What I want to do with the universe:
Transition from ACD Holmes/Watson to BBC Sherlock/John.

Have SG1 and meet Sherlock & John.

I like the idea of Holmes and Watson interacting with historical people and different historical times, so I’ll be incorporating that. This mean I need to spend time researching while writing which is why I’ve decreased my word count to something manageable.

These aliens (Tok’ra) are symbiotes inhabit hosts and must switch hosts every ~200 years. This means that the hosts could be any gender or race. Thus, I can have a female Holmes or Watson if I want. Fem!lock or het!lock anyone?

I want to explore the bond between Tok’ra and host. Switching hosts is likely stressful. The former host dies when the Tok’ra leaves and the Tok’ra is starting a new relationship with its new host. Also, successful blending isn’t guaranteed thus it’s a dangerous. Viola! Drama.

I will need to make up histories and names for the hosts. Which can be fun. Holmes’ host during the 1900 could be Jeremy and his new host for 2000 could be Benedict. I don’t know if I’m bold enough to really do that, but we’ll see.

Holmes/Watson will probably be shipped in this fic and I would like to write that backstory. That’s fine if it doesn’t fit within this particular story because I can make it into another story if needed.

How did they become stranded on earth in the first place? Another fun backstory to play with.

What do I have done already:
I started this story at the end of August and I’ve been slowly working on it. It started as first person present tense but I am going to switch to third person present tense. Right now I have about 6000 words written and a mental sketch of where I want to go and what I want to include in the story. I feel like I’m at the point where I just need to sit and write it.

I have a rough timeline of events, but I need to finalize my timeline and make sure everything would fit within the two blended universes.

How I’m talking myself out of this and my thoughts to try and counter it:
This concept is dumb/stupid/ridiculous.
- Yup (probably), but I like it. Sci-fi always sounds insane when it is explained outside of the story. I’m going to try something new and be honest with myself about what I like and try to champion my idea instead of hating it from a distance.

No one will read it.
- Probably, but that isn’t why I’m writing. I’m writing for myself and to have fun. I’m honestly shocked that people read any it and some even like it. My husband read part of my draft and liked it, so at least one person will read it. :)

You have no idea what you are doing
- I’m giving myself a break and say I’m learning. I won’t get better if I don’t try. So, my expectation is that this will be on the terrible side but at least it will be done.

You are letting other commitments slide
- I’m under no obligation to do any of this. Go away guilt.

200 words is not a bit deal and you could write that with the other stuff
- Nope, none of that. I’ve been doing that and it’s been too much. I know I’m not a prolific writer but I’ve been consistently writing about 200 words each night (heck, this post is almost 800 words). I only have about 0.5-2 hrs each night to write or read if I don’t accidentally fall asleep first. My thought is not to create an unrealistic word count for myself but make a goal that I know I can reasonably achieve. I don’t need more stress!

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Master List for JWP 2017

mafief — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 17:34:21 GMT

My works for Watson’s Woes July Writing Prompts for 2017.

Prompt # - Title - Prompt

1 - Second Opinion - Watson injury (any severity), from a different POV than Holmes.

2 - Catacombs - summer in the city

3 - Banned - Overheard

4 - Banned (Part 2) - To the Makeup Table!

5 - I Can See Just Fine - Note to Self

6 - Busy as a bee - Poetic License

7 - Dreaded hours - Midnight summons

8 - Garden Plot Mystery - Everyone Loves Sharing Their Expertise

9 - One, two, three, half turn - I Never Get Your Limits

10 - Puzzle - Do Not Take the First Cab, Nor the Second, But the Third

11 - New Understanding - The Bard

12 - The Life of an Umbrella - For the Want of a Brolly

13 - Meteor - picture prompt

14 - An’ we’ll all hang on behind - Ensemble

15 - Banned (part 3) - Blood on the Snow

16 - Advertisement - Picture prompt: Submitted Without Comment

17 - Remembrance - A cardboard box

18 - The Force is Strong with this One - Dr. Watson, Meet Dr. Freud

19 - City Chase - Whump Watson woefully with an alliterative injury

21 - Practice - A trip to the theatre

22 - The Guard’s Recommendation - I Came Here to Talk About the Red-Headed League and I’m Honestly Feeling So Attacked Right Now.

23 - Purple Hyacinths - ’Tis But a Scratch

24 - Nor A Sam - Music hall songs

25 - Disobey or Obey - Healer's Choice

26 - Feather - Exhaustion

27 - Untitled - Fix a Canon Scene

28 - Dusting - No Ghosts, Demon Hounds, Vampires, etc. Need Apply.

29 - Nudge - What's the worst that could happen?

30 - My Master - The Devil's Caprice.

31 - Paper-Fasteners and Chewing Gum - Improvised Tools

I posted a few of them on AO3. ACD here and one BBC here.

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