Catching Up

[miss_ingno]

Hi! Haven't gotten around to updating this blog in a while :') time passes quickly when you're busy!

Life Update

I celebrated my birthday at the end of October, the first time I invited the entire (maternal side of the) family to my place since I moved in last November. It was fun, but quite a busy time, between baking cakes and cleaning everything up. I was glad I took a couple days off work before and after, or I would've been *really* stressed.

Among other things, I got the translated Guardian novel Vol. 1, a crotcheted lil dragon and new kitchen towels with a cute black kitten & pumpkin design :D!


(I invited some coworkers and friends for a second party, that's why the buttercream cake shows up twice!)

Work's been busy, too, with two co-workers calling in long-term sick. Hopefully one of them will make it back in December to ease the workload again, especially at this particularly busy time of year. Flu's going around as well - I caught the cold early on but managed to push on for a couple weeks, but finally caught the ear infection the kids are all trading between each other (that's what I get for helping out in the daycare section of the job RIP) so now I'm on sick leave. Fingers crossed I can go back to work on Wednesday, but right now it's not looking too great just yet.

The cases at least are interesting? One of mine is getting to the final stage, in a positive way, which is great to watch. Another of the new cases is a difficult nut to crack, but I'm hopeful to establish a good working relationship with them.

Dreamcatcher

They just put out a new short album! I'm very happy with all the songs on it, even if the fandom seems divided on the title track OOTD (it *is* a departure from their usual style, but in a very imo predictable way. They've been leaning into this style as far back as Odd Eye, with BEcause being the major exception. It's still very clearly uniquely Dreamcatcher in vibe and sound, with experimental mixing of genres into what otherwise might be Just Another Mainstream song. And the BSides have at least two very cool songs with more of a rock/metal vibe for any disappointed fans to make up for it imo.

I'm very interested in the whole... "fakeness" of the MV and concept. Like, they took a typical girl crush concept with a very retro vibe rather than high-glam-fashion and then the main dance outfits being those leather-jacket white top combos? It makes for an interesting visual, especially with all the car driving and motorcycle straddling. The "bts"/"editing" style of the MV also gives it a vibe of robotic/in progress - which really leads well into the surprise ending of the members going dead-eyed and killing the camerawoman. I'm excited to find out what the narrative idea of this Villains arc will be! But taken on its own, the message to me seems to read how fake the industry is, how robotic the girl groups, and Dreamcatcher ones more breaking out of expectations (as they have done since they rebranded Minx into Dreamcatcher).

Rising is absolutely my favourite of the songs tho, it's so catchy, and the whole "Ri-ri-ri-ri-ri-rising" is GREAT :D Shatter took me a bit to get used to - I immediately liked the melodic soft parts, but wasn't quite sure of the contrast to the "Bang It On Me" chorus. It's a very metal song in the same vibe of other woman-lead metal bands I love, while still uniquely Dreamcatcher. Definitely looking forward to learning the dance choreo to it and OOTD! (Though I'm still behind, I haven't even touched Bon Voyage and Demian yet *sobs* I need more time in the day!)

Exchanges

I signed up for fandomtrees - here's my tree! I requested three Kpop MV canons (Dreamcatcher's Deja Vu & Vision, and Loona's love4eva), three cdramas (Guardian, GYADL, and Love Between Fairy And Devil), the short (not quite indie) game "Song of Nunu" (a League of Legends story) and the DnD tableplay "A Crown of Candy" from Dimension 20.

I finished my gifts (and now, edits) for the ficinabox exchange, though I have some ideas of how to polish up one of them a bit more. I'm torn between picking up pinch hits, finishing any of the treats I started, or working on my other assignments.

Because I'm also signed up to fffx and yuletide_admin. For the first, I'm 2k into the story and have a strong idea of what I want to do with it; for the latter I just did a canon review to refresh my memories of the canon and am still brainstorming ideas. There's so many options, and I want to do all of them! :( why does the day only have 24hrs (and why do I have to spend so many of them at work, grumbles)

I've also been writing some more on my posted WIP In This, As In All Things, which I hadn't meant to put on pause for so long, but, well. Life happened *shrugs*. I'm gonna get the next three chapters done before posting (chapter 5 is close to done and I got a decent chunk of 6 going already), and then I need to figure out what I need to happen so I can wrap it up. It's always been one of the more vibes-focussed fics I've written, and the things I wanted out of it (confrontations of older!Weilan with Zhao Xinci) don't seem as plausible anymore now that I'm writing it. Or at least, the two different things I have in mind are vastly different in tone so I'll have to pick one over the other, le sigh.

Gonna try and post more again (and share my thoughts on Song of Nunu and Love Between Fairy And Devil, since I finished those two now) and soon!

Comments

[mumblemumble]

Oh gosh, that Bundt cake is so German, I love it! Marmor or Sand? Tell me everything about the Torten! Oh, and also happy belated birthdaaaaay! 🎉🎈🎂🍾🎁

Good luck with all your exchange assignments! Work is stupid and the day should have like five more hours to make fanworks, is that too much to ask. 😔

the things I wanted out of it [...] don't seem as plausible anymore now that I'm writing it.

Hate when that happens. Fingers crossed it'll cooperate the rest of the way.

[miss_ingno]

Hahaha, thanks! It's Mamor (or as my grandma would say, Babe). The other ones are Schwarzwälder Kirsch, Marzipan-Sahne (the one with the chocolate strips twirled over the top), and then the two buttercreams. The one with the heart turned out slightly better, the cream whiter and smoother despite giving me a crisis during baking because it turned /too fluid/ during mixing 😅

Dedicated fanwork hours for everyone! 👏

Thanks 💖

[mumblemumble]

I'm so impressed! It wouldn't even occur to me to make a Marzipan-Sahnetorte at home! That's so cool. And also 🤤.

And I hope you'll feel better soon! <3 Stupid cold season.

[miss_ingno]

It's surprisingly easy, in that you just mix the marzipane with a bit of lukewarm water, then mix *that* with the (slightly whipped but not finished!) cream + Sahnesteif. Then you sprinkle chocolate couverture over the biscuit? flan? (what even is English. Tortenboden!), slather the finished cream on top, add another layer of cake biscuit, slather on more cream (including around the outside) and sprinkle the finished product with more chocolate couverture. Into the fridge for cold storage, and it's done!

Tbf I've got practiced, but it is one of the easier cakes I know 😘 (then again, buttercream is my favourite to make, just because I've done it so much, and it's supposedly fairly advanced, so take my opinion with a grain of salt xD)

[mumblemumble]

*SCRIBBLES NOTES, SCRIBBLES NOTES* I had no idea! I thought there was like, a separate layer of marzipan, but ohhhh, it's mixed INTO the cream. I want a slice right now.

I like to bake but I mostly make cookies. Easy to prep the dough one day, shape it into dough balls the next day, bake some and freeze some, then have cookies on hand and also freeze some. Good for singles and lazy people! :-D This post has some of my cookie pics. :"> I salute your beautiful cakes!

[miss_ingno]

I love cookies, but I don't often take time to make them. I should try this season!

I've been helping my mom with cakes for various family birthdays over the years, hence the experience there. Making the biscuit layer from scratch a day earlier, then the cream the day after, put it in the fridge for the next day, done :D it's a lot of work sometimes but very rewarding!

Maybe I should take some step-by-step pictures some day and write the recipe up 🤔

[mumblemumble]

What better time to bake some cookies than Advent! :-D Here are some of my favorites if you're interested.

I'd say cookies are so much easier and faster than a layer cake, but I guess you have to portion the dough into little balls or roll it out and cut out shapes or something, so that does take a bit of time. Anyway, I'd totally take some step-by-step pics of your cakes! :-D

[trobadora]

Your cakes all look great!

So sorry about the ear infection, that sounds miserable. I hope it goes away soon! *hugs*

why does the day only have 24hrs (and why do I have to spend so many of them at work, grumbles)

The eternal problem(s)! Alas!

I've also been writing some more on my posted WIP In This, As In All Things, which I hadn't meant to put on pause for so long, but, well. Life happened *shrugs*.

Woohoo! *cheers you on*

It's always been one of the more vibes-focussed fics I've written, and the things I wanted out of it (confrontations of older!Weilan with Zhao Xinci) don't seem as plausible anymore now that I'm writing it. Or at least, the two different things I have in mind are vastly different in tone so I'll have to pick one over the other, le sigh.

Oh, that sounds difficult. Good luck figuring it out, I'm sure you'll get there!

[miss_ingno]

Your cakes all look great!

Thanks 🥰 and thanks for the well wishes, too! I'm hoping it's gonna get better, the cold is slowly dying down at least?

Oh, that sounds difficult. Good luck figuring it out, I'm sure you'll get there!

The main trouble I'm having, I think, is that I know exactly which scenes I want, but I need to get the story there, and I don't have any clue what to write in the in between that wouldn't be boring. Ah well. Maybe I'll do the serious scene as part of the story and the comedy scene gets to be some sort of epilogue-outtake thing that is set in a *handwaves* future 🤔

[trobadora]

I know exactly which scenes I want, but I need to get the story there, and I don't have any clue what to write in the in between that wouldn't be boring

Oof, that is tough! Maybe you don't need to write all of the in-between?

[tehfanglyfish]

Happy (belated) birthday!! The cakes look so good. And I'm so sorry about the ear infection. I hope you're feeling better soon!

[miss_ingno]

Thanks, and thanks! <3 it's slow-going, but I am feeling slightly better every day :)

[china_shop]

Happy belated birthday!! <3 <3 <3 Wow, look at those cakes!

(I'm still curious about your kitchen and how it turned out.)

So glad the work cases are going well.

Or at least, the two different things I have in mind are vastly different in tone so I'll have to pick one over the other, le sigh.

Oof, that's always a hard trade-off. *cheers you on*

[miss_ingno]

Thank you! I'm very happy with how those cakes turned out. They were tasty, too!

(omg I need to take pictures /o\ I forgot!)

And thanks <3 I'll put it on the backburner to work on my assignments first, I think. Just to make sure I have less pressure to finish :)