liralen | Reading

A human, lycan, or a vampire - what am I?! Completely unaware of the existence of these predators, Hwa Gok goes about his everyday life... That is, until Lee Bin turns his life upside down by biting him on the neck, setting off a whirlwind of events neither of them could foresee.

My Rate: 9 (www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/bloodlink)

Blood Link caught me by surprise for different reasons: first of all I wasn't expecting a mpreg romance; it's not at all an omegaverse story, since there is no talking about alpha and omega and their stereotyped roles, and instead here the "female" lycan (can be both a woman or a man) is the strongest species, sort of a praying mantis who can kill the male if it's not satisfied. Now it seems quite a dark story, and instead it is, again unexpectedly, quite cute and even funny: lot of romance and babies to both. Finally it's a story by Brothers without a tomorrow, and so it's a given that the graphic is nice, even if I can tell this is probably one of their first stories, since the graphic, while good, is somehow more basic than their mature works. Overall I plenty enjoyed this story, and the 135 episode are basically two different books, one about Hwa Gok and Lee Bin, and the second about their son.

flemmings

Wish being father to the thought, I keep thinking today is Tuesday. Not that tomorrow will be any cooler than today, but Wednesday will be, and I'd like it to be Wednesday. But much of the temporal displacement probably has to with being indoors three days running, which messes with my time sense.

I do very well with the window AC, run overnight and at intervals during the day, set to a conservative 21C for the latter and 18 for the former. Ran it Saturday night IIRC and thus kept the indoors from warming up. Otherwise fans work pretty well and I lounge about in my sleep shirt of thin breathable cotton. Unfortunately the brain does not want to work even in the cool house, so I doom scroll and play endless hours of solitaire and do not look at the news.

reviews_and_ramblings

I usually don't like too much anime, they seem awkard, but when I read about the adaptation of Twilight Out of Focus, I couldn't wait for seeing it: an anime adapted from one of my favorite yaoi series? the chance to see in full color the story develop under my eyes? And above all adapted from a manga whose graphic is one of the best out there right now? I was sold, and now that I have seen it, I'm soo deeply satisfied that I can only wish there will be more (there are other volumes in the series not yet adapted). Of course Hisashi is my favorite character, he is perfect both in graphic than in emotional development, he is so cool that everyone can't help falling in love with him. Ans Shion is so perfect in his cuteness, that you just want to snatch him away. The little price of 5$ to subscribe to Crunchyroll is nothing, I would have spent even more. Trust me, they are totally worth.

mdlbear

Welcome to the start of summer, and maybe of WWIII. This post that came across my Mastodon feed this morning kind of says it all:

You don't have to prefix things with "doom" anymore, that's just the default now. You can just say scrolling.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, ...

I had my oncology appointment; I'll be getting a hormone injection (tomorrow, and apparently they do house calls for that) rather than continuing with abiraterone (which insurance won't cover because not metastatic). It's good for six months, which will take me through the end of my 2-year course of treatment. I'm okay with this.

Last night I fell down a rabbit-hole troubleshooting my little script that prints out the URL of one's last post. See this commit. Pretty sure I can blame AI bots for that problem.

I fell down another rabbit-hole Friday, which started by looking for the overture to Wagner's opera Der fliegende Holländer. Turns out that J. Slauerhoff, whom our street is named after, wrote a poem about it. It's in his book, Eldorado. I expect to have a little fun trying to translate it. (And note in passing that doom is also mentioned in that connection.)

ysabetwordsmith has some good links about dealing with Heat. It was supposed to hit 30C (90F) today, but it looks like we may be getting a thunderstorm instead. It'll still be too hot indoors.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: apprehensive
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: The Merry Minuet

flemmings

The real heat arrives tomorrow so today was prime 'sit in front of fan and read' weather. Only of course I vacuumed, upstairs and down, because clean floors help with the depression that heat engenders. Also it kept looking like rain so I didn't go out. I kept wanting to order in but all my electronics needed charging simultaneously, and my phone- the semi-exception- wouldn't give me any restaurants on Skip the Dishes except a single Indian one. What I wanted was Vietnamese and enough to last me the three days of the heat dome. But I also have the makings of either mushroom or hamburger stroganoff and should make *that* before the heat arrives. Weather pages can't decide if it will be 30 or 35, which is a considerable difference. So yeah, in hunker down and survive mode here.

Noodle around on YouTube with Murderbot clips. Will never watch the whole thing but excerpts are nice. Only as someone else said, the theme song of Sanctuary Moon is both annoying and unforgettable, so I combat it with Holst's Thaxted.

flemmings

Yesterday was literally a washout with rain and thunder and, I am told, steam. Succeeded only in bagging the backyard vines and putting them out in the rain. Did not bag front yard vines because there are still more of them. Did free window AC of its shrinkwrap and plugged in to see if it still works, and it still does, so d.v. as my aunt the nun used to write (deo volente) I am prepared for the heat dome.

Today, par contre, was bright cloudy, and blowy and dry. Blowy brought down a couple of trees in the Annex causing blackouts but here in Seaton we're still OK. But otherwise a nice early October day.

But have somehow reracked up my right leg, the one that went spasmy when I tripped, so am back on the sofa with a heat pack under it. Physio tomorrow who may be able to do something about it. Tomorrow and not yesterday because I looked at the extended weather forecast on the weekend and declined to go out in the rain yet again.

Finished nothing except Iorich, finally, hoping that the conspiracy would make sense this time, which it didn't, and a Miss Silver and an Inspector Littlejohn, bicycle reading, easy and forgettable.

reviews_and_ramblings

Yuri, one of the school's most handsome guys, and Jaerim, one of the school's ugliest, collide! ...or don't they... Can't understand what's going on between these two! It's Out of Control!!

My Rate: 8 (www.tappytoon.com/en/book/out-of-control)

I really like the story of Out of Control, what I didn't like was the graphic and the coloring, it always seemed like it was dark, when instead the story is more or less light. Sure there is the drama of Yuri, and the post thraumatic disorder that followed that drama, but Yuri is basically a good guy, and in the end, even that drama will not prevent him for falling in love with Jaerim. And what I really like is that the author and artist didn't try to make Jaerim the usual character that is actually cute, but no one notice it... Jaerim isn't cute or beautiful, but he is basically a good guy, who fight forwhat he sees as justice. He is not the one who falls first, like always happen in this sort of beauty and the beast thrope, actually Yuri, the Beauty, will have to conquer Jaerim, the Beast, with all his tricks.

mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

My keyboard arriving last Friday without any problems. NO thanks to FedEx, which has failed to deliver m's keyboard to their home in Seattle. Twice.
Remembering a very little bit of how to sight-read.
Finally solving my audio input problem. NO thanks to Zoom and Audacity, which fail in entirely orthogonal ways to sanely handle my UA-25.
Thanks to them, however, for at least allowing the system default as a device. Differently, of course.

Linux command-line tools, including (but not limited to) Grep, Find, Ls, Sed, and of course Bash, for always being there when I need to do some trivial but off-the-wall bit of data-mining. Like listing all Thankful Thursday posts with fewer than four list items.

$ for f in ../2*/*/*thank*; do echo $(grep "li>" $f | wc -l) $f; done |grep ^[2-3] 
  3 ../2019/09/12--thankful-thursday.html
  3 ../2020/06/05--thankful-friday.html
  3 ../2020/06/25--thankful-thursday.html
  3 ../2021/04/25--thankful-sunday.html
  3 ../2022/02/24--thankful-thursday.html
  2 ../2025/01/03--thankful-thursday-addendum.html
  2 ../2025/06/12--thankful-thursday.html

NO thanks to 2025!me for continued procrastination., and NO thanks to 2022!me, for letting the MakeStuff/music toolchain languish with no maintenance and inadequate documentation, making it way harder than necessary to put a two-song concert set online. Which might get done this week.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: not on line yet

reviews_and_ramblings

Openly gay college student Yu Yang hasn't entirely gotten over being rejected when he confessed to his classmate Lin Xiang last year, but at the start of a new term, he meets Li Huan; a tall, taciturn underclassman who soon becomes very precious to him. The two very different men get on each other's nerves at first, but as they slowly get to know one another, a deep love begins to bloom. No matter what difficulties Yu Yang encounters, Li Huan seems to always be there when he needs him most. But how long will it take Yu Yang to realize the perfect man for him is standing right by his side?

My Rate: 9 (amzn.to/4n7DLqH)

reviews_and_ramblings

Seoyu is an extremely recessive omega who can’t believe his luck when he meets an extremely dominant alpha named Sunghoon Choi. This alpha has it all, even if he might be a gang leader! Seoyu intends to enjoy their fling for as long as he can because that’s all it is, right? Sunghoon can’t possibly be interested in being Seoyu’s boyfriend. However, he does boyfriend-like things, like having meals delivered to Seoyu’s apartment and constantly worrying that Seoyu is too cold… but surely this is just temporary!

My Rate: 8 (tapas.io/series/bye-bye-comic/info)

Bye Bye is a manhwa that has a lot of triggers, first of all the starting point, the suicide attempt of Seoyu. Said that, it's not an overly sad story, the author managed well to mix drama and romance, and above all comedy, that is what I love most in my romance. Bye Bye can be also funny, actually really funny, but it doesn't clash with the emotional moments in the story, the story doesn't go over the edge, neither when pushing on comedy or romance. I really really love the character of Seoyu, he is a completely klutz, but he believes in love, and is desperetaly searching it. He also wants to build a family, he is not those characters saying they can be happy alone, Seoyu knows that, for him to be completely happy, he has to find his partner. Sure, he is wrong when he thinks anyone will do. And I also like that he commits bad mistakes, and I liked, even if it was sad, that those mistakes cannot be miracolously deleted by Sunghoon Choi. Even if an alpha, and a gangster, he is also a man, and he doesn't have superpower. And also Sunghoon Choi is an ordinary person, making mistakes, but he is also able to admit he will need a professional help to face a drama that will affect first of all Seoyu, but also himself.

flemmings

One should note when the weather is decent because it's about to become the reverse. Muggy and wet tomorrow, probably same for the rest of the week, then heat dome arrives. But today, when I finally made it out, was pleasant and breezy and the sky was blue, which it hasn't been lately, what with fires and pollution.

In winter I sit on the couch because there's nowhere to go and I tell myself I'll be more active in summer. Well, it's summer now and I sit on the couch because my back hurts, and I do nothing because my elbows hurt, and my nose is stuffed up from pollen. Thus there is no health within us.

reviews_and_ramblings

To most people, being called “cute” is a compliment…but to Uju, it’s just about the worst thing imaginable! Haunted by his adorability even in adulthood, Uju puts up a barrier pretending to be a badass so that he won’t have to hear the dreaded ‘C’ word any longer. But this facade can only last so long when Koh Han-gyeol asks him to prove just bad he can be - in the bedroom!

My Rate: 8 (www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/cuzimcute)

All 'Cause I'm Cute is a funny romp with zero drama. Uju thinks to be haunted, if people call him cute, those same persons will encounter a bad fate. When Koh Han-gyeol calls him cute, Uju, to prove him wrong, tries to behave like a delinquent, to the point to accept to have sex with Koh Han-gyeol like he is a pro at it... and instead he is a virgin. The following thrope about Uju accepting to date Koh Han-gyeol for two weeks to prove the cute/haunting stuff is just a myth is none else than an excuse for Koh Han-gyeol to continue having sex with Uju, but of course neither of them have considered that being that close will in the end involve also feeling other than sex. If I have to find a small defect to the story that is quite light, is that Uju's first love is a good guy, and I'm a little sad he lost his chance with Uju, he basically did nothing wrong, if not, maybe, not having the courage to leave everything behind to stay with Uju, like Koh Han-gyeol does, when arrive to the same decision point.

reviews_and_ramblings

Can you form a life-changing bond with somebody overnight? It’s a question Sejoon has never imagined he’d have to ask himself, but here he is. He’s spent his entire life as an omega with an innate disgust for alphas, which has only grown since he was forced into prostitution by his own cousin. Yet when he accidentally spends a passionate night with Taeheon, a gruff but thoughtful alpha, they immediately form a bond that’s deeper than anything either of them have experienced before. But is this connection meant to last for only an instant? Or will it last for a lifetime?

My Rate: 7 (www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/instantfamily_en)

I'm not saying I didn't like Instant Family, but personally I think Sejoon is too much of a weak character; sure he wants to protect his father, and he wants also to repay the kindness of his uncle, but this is not enough motivation to prostitute himself, especially when that is dangerous for his own health. And when he meets Taeheon, also in that case I think he lets himself being overwhelmed by the events without trying to steer them towards his own interest. What I like of this story is that Sejoon doesn't reject Taeheon when the truth comes out, because after all, also Taeheon is a victim.

flemmings

If I didn't know that going to restaurants on Father's Day was a bad idea, the amount of woodsmoke would have discouraged me anyway. Either the whole neighbourhood was barbecuing or something somewhere was burning. Whatever, it's been cough sneeze all day, except briefly to pick up the vines and such I cut down in the back yard yesterday. Must still bag them, a task I hate, but pickup is this week. In the rain, as ever.

Have also a bin of ivy that I got from the front walk last night. The ivy is an unmitigated pain because it isn't just encroaching on the walk, it's actually growing over the concrete edging. And the stems are beyond my shears' and elbows' ability to cut through.

Stooping and straightening of course tightens everything up, and stretching doesn't undo the worst of it. Is one reason I really didn't want to get out of bed this morning.

$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

mdlbear

I think this was one of those weeks that makes me want to give up on trying to characterize my week. It wasn't particularly good, it wasn't particularly bad, I didn't get a whole lot done, the US had a lot of mostly-peaceful No Kings" demonstrations, but it also had political assassinations in Minnesota alongside other symptoms of its slide into fascism.

Last Sunday was the 23rd anniversary of this blog's founding, back on LJ. Today is the 27th Father's Day since my Dad's death in February of 1999, and I've been kind of wrecked since Thursday. The keyboard I ordered on Tuesday arrived Friday; it's flawed but will do what we need it to. The one I ordered for m has not arrived yet. I may have the start of a toothache.

Thursday was my first, and so far only, Thankful Thursday post ever with only two items. Since then, both of my kids wished me a happy Father's Day, so next week should have at least that many. I had a blood tests and a CT scan done last week, but I won't get to talk with a doctor about them until tomorrow.

See what I mean?

Here -- give a listen to the recordings of my and m's 2-song "set" at DFDF two weeks ago. In keeping with the theme of the week, the first verse and a half of Millennium's Dawn got cut off thanks to technical difficulties.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: unhappy
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: earworm: Sam's Song

reviews_and_ramblings

The most popular person on campus, a pretty face with smiling eyes, a friendly-yet-awkward classmate…that’s all Sung-yeon ever was to Hosik. But after a wild night out, Hosik awakes with zero memories of their time together - and one naked Sung-yeon in bed next to him! Hosik would have been fine with leaving their relationship as a drunken mistake on a night of many; but when he started feeling funny in the following days, a trip to the doctor’s office would change everything: “Mr. Kim Hosik, you’re pregnant!”

My Rate: 8 (www.lezhinus.com/en/comic/hosik)

Go, Hosik, Go! is strange in many ways, but I don't know why, in the end all these strange pieces clicks together in a manhwa that is worth even more than one read. Sung-yeon is for sure obsessed with Hosik, to a level that he is basically forcing Hosik to enter a relationship the other guy hasn't even considered possible. Basically Hosik, overwhelmed by Sung-yeon, who is richer, more beautiful and more accomplished, can only accept everything Sung-yeon wants. Even the sex, more than once, is initiated by Sung-yeon who continues without the explicit consent of Hosik. One of the strange things is that, aside for one friend of Hosik (that I would strongly reccomend Hosik to listen more than he does) everyone is apparently convinced that their life is perfect. And in a strange and twisted way, it's perfect, they have two beautiful babies, Sung-yeon is indeed deeply, and madly, in love, but I think it's that love that could become a tragedy if, by any chance, Hosik would try to distance himself. It's good that Hosik is a good soul, lovely and meek, and he will never consider to really leave Sung-yeon.

reviews_and_ramblings

Seonu Lee, an omega, has agreed to carry a child for Beom Yoo, an alpha from a powerful crime family. Have the baby, take the money, and get out of Beom’s life. Sound simple, right? But behind Beom’s tough exterior is just another softie looking for love. Good food, walks on the beach, and steamy encounters—how could Seonu not fall for him? However, not everyone in Beom’s family is excited about this budding relationship. Will Beom be able to keep Seonu safe?

My Rate: 8 (tapas.io/series/tigers-den-mature/info)

Tiger's Den could have been practically perfect if not for some misstep: Beom Yoo, the alpha character, is always behaving more like a jester than a gangster, but then, sometime, he kills people for reason that really didn't deserve it. Sure, Seonu Lee was mistreated by his former lover, but not to a level that deserve for this lover to be killed. A beating, maybe having him loose his job, yes, but kill him is too much. If you can forget these details, that doesn't happen often in the course of the story, this is basically a pure comedy. I'm always smiling when Beom Yoo tries to get sexy, and Seonu Lee is always thinking to food... Seonu Lee is basically a bottomless pit and the way to his heart is for sure passing through his stomach! The graphic is nice and funny as well, their chibi are so cute, that even when they are in a sexy situation, having them transformed to chibi, put the mood more to comedy than erotic.

flemmings

The cool temps aren't as cool as I'd hoped, but will take them over the high 20s forecast next week. Am seriously considering returning Amina for the next person because what I want is easy care, tried and true Brit stuff, Miss Silver and Inspector Littlejohn, not complicated fantasy. However, Damned finally appears in the middle of postal shenanigans, so shall read that as a compromise: Brit (alright, European) fantasy. And thanks very much, G.

mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

Thomann and Sweetwater. Minor grumps at Thomann for having a US site that looks tempting until you find out that shipping and tariffs are added at checkout. Major grumps at my old standby, Musician's Friend, whose site is totally broken when seen from Europe. Major grumps at ME for not having installed a VPN yet.
Online filk circles. NO thanks to the weird audio problems I was having tonight during Eurofilk. But I got one song (The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of) out. (I wrote it for my father, who died 26 years ago. And Father's Day is this Sunday.)

Not feeling terribly thankful today. Sorry.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: working on it

flemmings

I sometimes zone out into semi-sleep and have fragmentary dreams that confuse me when I come to. Haven't done it in years and don't even know if I did it this morning, but all through physio I was tormented by the idea that I'd been googling something or saw something on Facebook that involved scheduling for something and I couldn't remember what it was. Which might have been doom-scrolling with half my attention or could actually be a mental glitch. Not helped by air quality, mug, TO definitions of too hot, or whatever else that was futzing with my breathing. We'll be back to the mid-teens briefly by week's end, which will help. I am part Pratchett troll and my brain doesn't operate at anything over 20C.

Finished The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door, and Sethra Lavode, also a couple of Miss Silvers. Must start The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi.

SND texts me about is it OK to get an arborist in to cut the branches of the cherry that overhang her yard, on account of cherries not being good for dogs. Never bothered Sadie but Ollie is a very young pup and a different breed. I of course said yes and offered to split the cost. Knew there'd be a major expense this year to offset my virtuous thrift, but oh well.

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Liralen Li

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Page generated Jun. 24th, 2025 01:28 pm

Daily Adventures

A Posse Ad Esse

Reading

Blood Link by Brothers without a tomorrow

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Twilight Out of Focus (2024)

Done Since 2025-06-15

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Out of control by Bboong

Thankful Thursday

Here U are by D Jun

Bye Bye by Kang pu con, Wildcat and Sorim

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All 'Cause I'm Cute by BaeRipoteo and Heo

Instant Family by Ananas and Kingo

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Done Since 2025-06-08

Go, Hosik, Go! by Nokchae

Tiger’s Den by Huung and Dam-rain

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