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Day Of Running Late
May. 28th, 2026 11:55 pmYeah, I kept running behind on stuff today, which was kind of irritating -- I still got everything I wanted to get done, done, which is good, but I kept having to start it later than I wanted, or deal with it taking longer than I wanted. *grumbles* Probably can blame my period for at least some of that -- it DOES like to steal my focus, as I have said in the past! *shakehead* Anyway, here's what I managed to accomplish despite all that --
Work – Fortunately for my sanity, it wasn’t too rough a day at work – it was in fact pretty quiet, with my day consisting of:
A) Doing the usual morning reports and check scan (and answering a call from Fiscal to assure them that yes, I sent the 5/22/2026 GL over – turns out they were looking at the wrong e-mail or something)
B) Calling back some people who had left messages; answering a call from someone who wanted to know how their parish was doing goal-wise; and taking a call from someone who had to update the card on their recurring gift
C) Messing around some more with the obituaries and related roster maintenance tasks, cleaning up more duplicates and updating people’s birthdates and middle initials and marking them deceased and whatnot
D) And working on a QC file for the next set of thank-yous to go out...which led to me discovering two checks that had been put on the wrong account, because I’m starting to think that the people at our processing company only ever look at the FIRST donor who pops up if you search a certain address (there were two ladies who lived together on a certain street, and they put the gifts on the wrong one). *sigh* At least that’s better than discovering a check that doesn’t belong to us at all, I suppose…
So yeah – that wasn’t too taxing, overall. Which is good, because, again, period. Not doing great things for my brain. *grumble* We’ll see how Friday goes!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with Jon of Many A True Nerd’s “Fallout: New Vegas - Dust - Part 3 - Eat Or Be Eaten!” Tonight’s piece of “Doc Mitchell Explores The Post-Post-Post-Apocalyptic Mojave” featured –
A) Doc Mitchell going through some more of the recipes to break down things and craft new things available with his crafting kit, and discovering that one could make a throwing spear with a bit of wood and scrap metal – items that were available by breaking down any random hammer. And throwing spears were very useful items, as they were silent ranged weapons that did a pretty good amount of damage. Accordingly, he grabbed the first hammer he could find, broke it down into its components, and turned it into a spear! Jon wasn’t sure how, as the spear was notably larger than the hammer, but he wasn’t going to question it! XD He also made a note of what outfits could be rendered down into cloth strips for bandages (Patched Skin, Wasteland Settler, or Wasteland Wanderer); learned that tunneler hides could be turned into belts, which the game would then accept as leather belts that could be turned into tourniquets and (with the help of a medical brace and a few crutches he found by the shelves) splints; had some Cram for dinner to relieve his hunger – then discovered some lovely grilled mantis still sitting in his oven (Doc M, you’re lucky food can’t spoil in these games); and finally embraced alcoholism by having some whiskey followed by a wine chaser, because booze just gives one so many benefits in this game (especially beer and wine, which relieve thirst rather than making it worse).
B) Doc Mitchell heading to the neighbor’s house to try and find a hot plate to use to cook all his dog meat – sadly, he did not find one, as Jon had misremembered where it was. He did, however, find a dead Hulking Tunneler outside. He was very confused as to how it had gotten there and who killed it. O.o But he didn’t turn down the meat – maybe once he cooks it, it’ll be good eating?
( Doc Mitchell goes exploring – and gets killed a lot, as you might guess )
2. Continue editing Chapter 5 of “The Van Dort Vacancy”: Check – I returned to the world of Valicer In The Dark tonight, and inched a little closer to completing this chapter-that-shall-be-split-in-twain. Tonight’s editing session covered –
A) Victor nearly leaping straight out of his skin upon hearing an unfortunately-familiar yell behind him, followed by one Nell Van Dort descending on him to yell at him about vanishing from the party during the five minutes she was gone. And without even taking one of the noble young ladies she invited with him! Because yes, that would have been a scandal, but it would have at least been a step in the right direction too! Would have ensured he’d have had to get married! (Because, you know, no one would want to marry him of their own free will...)
B) Nell getting distracted from berating Victor by the realization that, oh, hey, he’s not alone, and deciding to berate Kasimir, Smiler, and Alice instead, demanding to know who they were and when they’d been hired and if that damn housekeeper of hers had gone behind her back again. She then turned on Kasimir and Smiler individually, complaining about Kasimir dragging his cane everywhere and ruining her floors (with Kasimir blandly apologizing and saying he’d try harder not to have to walk) and Smiler’s weird haircut with the ends dyed purple (Smiler explained it was done with a special chemical concoction of their own design, causing Nell to grumble that she hoped they hadn’t been near the kitchens). She was okay with Alice’s appearance, but demanded to know why she had a bag – Alice explained they were new and hadn’t gotten a chance to get settled yet. Nell asked why not, leading to –
C) Barnaby swooping in to try and save the day! He told Nell that it was all HIS fault, weaving a story where he and Victor had gotten to chatting about houses at the party, and Victor had described the Van Dort mansion so wonderfully he’d just had to ask for a tour. They’d picked up the “new servants” during said tour (Barnaby making it clear he hadn’t bothered to learn their names), and Victor had asked the trio to accompany them so they’d get an idea of the layout of the house. He then began going on and on about how fabulous the house was, and how he was sure Nell had done all the decorating herself, given her incredible sense of style – Nell was appropriately flattered, giggling about how glad she was that Barnaby had noticed, and how gratifying it was that someone of his station approved. Barnaby assured her that he’d tell all his friends about it, subtly steering her backward as he asked her where she’d gotten her head chef as he’d so thoroughly enjoyed the food at the party…
Allowing Kasimir to tap Victor on the shoulder and subtly indicate they should make for the door. Victor silently agreed, and he, Kasimir, Alice, and Smiler began sloooowly inching toward it, Victor mentally encouraging Barnaby to keep his mother distracted for just a minute longer –
And then I left off with another servant rushing in yelling for “Mrs. Van Dort.” Tomorrow, we meet said servant and learn why she’s yelling for the lady of the house – namely, she just found some very unconscious guards on the floor near the vault...
3. Watch something on YouTube: No check, not even a technical substitution one – I got back on the computer late after supper (had to help Mom finish the laundry she’d forgotten earlier) and thus just didn’t have the time even for a “research” video. Probably will be the same tomorrow, but we’ll see!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – there was nothing going on over on Valice Multiverse, but I was able to keep on top of my Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) queue today despite all odds –
A) First, this morning, I finished off my “Smiler In ‘Beneath A Broken Sky’ Memes” post – adding alt text to all the images, an explanatory paragraph of where the memes had come from (rereading “Beneath A Broken Sky” triggering my old thoughts about a version of Smiler from a Blades In The Dark universe without Victor and Alice falling into the BABS world, basically), and all the necessary tags! And I’m pleased to say that the person I most hoped would like it, thesatiricaldemon, did indeed enjoy it, reblogging it with some fun commentary on each meme – and noting in the tags that, if/when he finished BABS and started on any sequels, he wouldn’t be opposed to adding Smiler to HIS version of the Valice pair… :D I naturally reblogged with my own responses to his commentary, and some tags telling him no rush, my imagination was filling in the gaps nicely for now – though I wouldn’t MIND canonical Eldritch Hellworld Valicer. :P Here’s the latest post in the chain so you can see the memes, plus his and my additions in the reblogs!
B) And then, tonight, I managed to queue up a fic snippet for Friday – specifically, “Make You Smile,” the short fic I wrote covering Smiler and Alice’s very first meeting in the Valicer In The Dark verse! Specifically, Smiler encountering Alice while on their way back to the MOJ to get lunch before going back to their Joy Serum sales, and giving her some money for lunch when she admitted she didn’t have enough even for Dibbler’s stand. Mostly because she reminded them of themselves when they ran away from the Sanctuary for the first time. It’s a little rough around the edges, but I like it, and I’m happy to share it. :P
Hooray for having the time to add in the spaces tonight! *nods* And now it's time for me to head to bed. Hoping to get some decent sleep tonight, but we'll see...night all!
Work – Fortunately for my sanity, it wasn’t too rough a day at work – it was in fact pretty quiet, with my day consisting of:
A) Doing the usual morning reports and check scan (and answering a call from Fiscal to assure them that yes, I sent the 5/22/2026 GL over – turns out they were looking at the wrong e-mail or something)
B) Calling back some people who had left messages; answering a call from someone who wanted to know how their parish was doing goal-wise; and taking a call from someone who had to update the card on their recurring gift
C) Messing around some more with the obituaries and related roster maintenance tasks, cleaning up more duplicates and updating people’s birthdates and middle initials and marking them deceased and whatnot
D) And working on a QC file for the next set of thank-yous to go out...which led to me discovering two checks that had been put on the wrong account, because I’m starting to think that the people at our processing company only ever look at the FIRST donor who pops up if you search a certain address (there were two ladies who lived together on a certain street, and they put the gifts on the wrong one). *sigh* At least that’s better than discovering a check that doesn’t belong to us at all, I suppose…
So yeah – that wasn’t too taxing, overall. Which is good, because, again, period. Not doing great things for my brain. *grumble* We’ll see how Friday goes!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with Jon of Many A True Nerd’s “Fallout: New Vegas - Dust - Part 3 - Eat Or Be Eaten!” Tonight’s piece of “Doc Mitchell Explores The Post-Post-Post-Apocalyptic Mojave” featured –
A) Doc Mitchell going through some more of the recipes to break down things and craft new things available with his crafting kit, and discovering that one could make a throwing spear with a bit of wood and scrap metal – items that were available by breaking down any random hammer. And throwing spears were very useful items, as they were silent ranged weapons that did a pretty good amount of damage. Accordingly, he grabbed the first hammer he could find, broke it down into its components, and turned it into a spear! Jon wasn’t sure how, as the spear was notably larger than the hammer, but he wasn’t going to question it! XD He also made a note of what outfits could be rendered down into cloth strips for bandages (Patched Skin, Wasteland Settler, or Wasteland Wanderer); learned that tunneler hides could be turned into belts, which the game would then accept as leather belts that could be turned into tourniquets and (with the help of a medical brace and a few crutches he found by the shelves) splints; had some Cram for dinner to relieve his hunger – then discovered some lovely grilled mantis still sitting in his oven (Doc M, you’re lucky food can’t spoil in these games); and finally embraced alcoholism by having some whiskey followed by a wine chaser, because booze just gives one so many benefits in this game (especially beer and wine, which relieve thirst rather than making it worse).
B) Doc Mitchell heading to the neighbor’s house to try and find a hot plate to use to cook all his dog meat – sadly, he did not find one, as Jon had misremembered where it was. He did, however, find a dead Hulking Tunneler outside. He was very confused as to how it had gotten there and who killed it. O.o But he didn’t turn down the meat – maybe once he cooks it, it’ll be good eating?
( Doc Mitchell goes exploring – and gets killed a lot, as you might guess )
2. Continue editing Chapter 5 of “The Van Dort Vacancy”: Check – I returned to the world of Valicer In The Dark tonight, and inched a little closer to completing this chapter-that-shall-be-split-in-twain. Tonight’s editing session covered –
A) Victor nearly leaping straight out of his skin upon hearing an unfortunately-familiar yell behind him, followed by one Nell Van Dort descending on him to yell at him about vanishing from the party during the five minutes she was gone. And without even taking one of the noble young ladies she invited with him! Because yes, that would have been a scandal, but it would have at least been a step in the right direction too! Would have ensured he’d have had to get married! (Because, you know, no one would want to marry him of their own free will...)
B) Nell getting distracted from berating Victor by the realization that, oh, hey, he’s not alone, and deciding to berate Kasimir, Smiler, and Alice instead, demanding to know who they were and when they’d been hired and if that damn housekeeper of hers had gone behind her back again. She then turned on Kasimir and Smiler individually, complaining about Kasimir dragging his cane everywhere and ruining her floors (with Kasimir blandly apologizing and saying he’d try harder not to have to walk) and Smiler’s weird haircut with the ends dyed purple (Smiler explained it was done with a special chemical concoction of their own design, causing Nell to grumble that she hoped they hadn’t been near the kitchens). She was okay with Alice’s appearance, but demanded to know why she had a bag – Alice explained they were new and hadn’t gotten a chance to get settled yet. Nell asked why not, leading to –
C) Barnaby swooping in to try and save the day! He told Nell that it was all HIS fault, weaving a story where he and Victor had gotten to chatting about houses at the party, and Victor had described the Van Dort mansion so wonderfully he’d just had to ask for a tour. They’d picked up the “new servants” during said tour (Barnaby making it clear he hadn’t bothered to learn their names), and Victor had asked the trio to accompany them so they’d get an idea of the layout of the house. He then began going on and on about how fabulous the house was, and how he was sure Nell had done all the decorating herself, given her incredible sense of style – Nell was appropriately flattered, giggling about how glad she was that Barnaby had noticed, and how gratifying it was that someone of his station approved. Barnaby assured her that he’d tell all his friends about it, subtly steering her backward as he asked her where she’d gotten her head chef as he’d so thoroughly enjoyed the food at the party…
Allowing Kasimir to tap Victor on the shoulder and subtly indicate they should make for the door. Victor silently agreed, and he, Kasimir, Alice, and Smiler began sloooowly inching toward it, Victor mentally encouraging Barnaby to keep his mother distracted for just a minute longer –
And then I left off with another servant rushing in yelling for “Mrs. Van Dort.” Tomorrow, we meet said servant and learn why she’s yelling for the lady of the house – namely, she just found some very unconscious guards on the floor near the vault...
3. Watch something on YouTube: No check, not even a technical substitution one – I got back on the computer late after supper (had to help Mom finish the laundry she’d forgotten earlier) and thus just didn’t have the time even for a “research” video. Probably will be the same tomorrow, but we’ll see!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – there was nothing going on over on Valice Multiverse, but I was able to keep on top of my Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) queue today despite all odds –
A) First, this morning, I finished off my “Smiler In ‘Beneath A Broken Sky’ Memes” post – adding alt text to all the images, an explanatory paragraph of where the memes had come from (rereading “Beneath A Broken Sky” triggering my old thoughts about a version of Smiler from a Blades In The Dark universe without Victor and Alice falling into the BABS world, basically), and all the necessary tags! And I’m pleased to say that the person I most hoped would like it, thesatiricaldemon, did indeed enjoy it, reblogging it with some fun commentary on each meme – and noting in the tags that, if/when he finished BABS and started on any sequels, he wouldn’t be opposed to adding Smiler to HIS version of the Valice pair… :D I naturally reblogged with my own responses to his commentary, and some tags telling him no rush, my imagination was filling in the gaps nicely for now – though I wouldn’t MIND canonical Eldritch Hellworld Valicer. :P Here’s the latest post in the chain so you can see the memes, plus his and my additions in the reblogs!
B) And then, tonight, I managed to queue up a fic snippet for Friday – specifically, “Make You Smile,” the short fic I wrote covering Smiler and Alice’s very first meeting in the Valicer In The Dark verse! Specifically, Smiler encountering Alice while on their way back to the MOJ to get lunch before going back to their Joy Serum sales, and giving her some money for lunch when she admitted she didn’t have enough even for Dibbler’s stand. Mostly because she reminded them of themselves when they ran away from the Sanctuary for the first time. It’s a little rough around the edges, but I like it, and I’m happy to share it. :P
Hooray for having the time to add in the spaces tonight! *nods* And now it's time for me to head to bed. Hoping to get some decent sleep tonight, but we'll see...night all!
