Remix Revival fics are live. Someone remixed my old Mickey Smith fic from ten years ago--it's a sweet tribute to Mickey and to past Mickey x Rose and present/future Mickey x Martha. The nostalgia factor! The Mickey Smith love! I should re-up my paid account here so I can access my Mickey userpic...

It's funny: the fic I remixed is also about ten years old, at least according to its post date on AO3. (Given some other factors, I'd guess that the original story is older than that. AO3 has only been around for ten years, for one thing.) Fandom and fanwork as yet undisclosed. I will say that my remix story is the only one posted in that fandom this year, but that's not much of a hint; the remix crowd is only in the seventies this year and a lot of fandoms have one unique remix offering.

It was a stretch, trying to remix a fanfic and still do, well, everything else. I'm overdue to tackle Mount Clean Laundry, for instance.

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A few weeks ago I fell into a YouTube rabbit hole and ended up watching a video about opulence--and getting a helpful explanation about one aspect of Donald Trump's appeal. (Basically, by indulging in opulence / acting like the nouveau riche rather than behaving as an heir to wealth, Trump is more relatable to some in his audience.) Anyway, the whole video is a wild journey with YouTuber Natalie Wynn, aka ContraPoints. I've only recently discovered her channel. Language warning for her vids--I wouldn't play them aloud at work. Also, Wynn delves a bit into her own journey as a trans woman, so it could be a sensitive topic for some. Finally, this video is a year old, so a few of the people she name-checks have acquired various scandals in the meantime.

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The garden! I collected some tomato seeds from some tasty cherry tomatoes and I actually have baby plants! The race is on: will I get tomatoes from them before it gets too cold for tomato plants to be productive? As for non-food plants, last weekend I moved some irises from one side of the flower bed to the expanded edge; this weekend I plan to add some daffodil, crocus, and iris bulbs in the rest of the expansion.

One odd quirk of social distancing: I wasn't paying attention to how long I worked in the yard, because I didn't have to rush to do the next thing. (Go out to meet friends, have a class in-person, whatever...) And I ended up working out there for two hours. Well, that explains why my arms hurt.

Trimming hedges. Trimming back baby trees that I don't want and then painting the wee little stumps with tree poison. Collecting all of that yard waste in the appropriate bags... which really doesn't make a difference for the moment, because yard waste collection isn't an essential service, so it's on hold. I dunno if I'm going to give in and dump all of this in the regular trash or try keeping the bags of yard waste on the patio for an unspecified amount of time.

Anyway! Last night I watched The Farewell on Amazon Prime and I definitely recommend it. Things I liked about it (without being too spoilery):

• the way it portrayed the lives of immigrant children
• there was this one moment where it becomes painfully clear that at times it’s not a “third culture” experience, it’s two incomplete cultures that will never feel like they’re enough
• the use of negative space, if that can be a cinematic term
• lots of moments with no soundtrack
• dwelling on scenes that don’t have to move the narrative forward, they’re just... people being people
• the ongoing ambiguity of people’s choices - there’s no clear right or wrong, just different opinions influenced by culture

Things are growing in the garden! The raspberry bush that I thought was dead has made some tiny baby raspberry plants! The three big branches from last year really are dead, but the baby plants may do okay in that spot. Or maybe I'll need to move them elsewhere, but at least there's something to move, y'know?

(The leaves on the raspberry plant just... went away last fall. I don't know if they were eaten by something, or there was some kind of fungus or parasite, or what. But baby plants! I don't think I'll get many actual berries this year, but baby plants! Alive!)

Last year was my first significant attempt at doing much gardening where I live. So this is all still pretty exciting. Someday I may be bored of raspberries, or overrun in raspberries, but for now it's cool.

The small blackberry bush is doing far better: lush green leaves all over the place. Last year it was just big enough to produce a single berry; hopefully, I'll get a small crop instead of only one. I will need to put up some netting at some point. The birds really loved dive-bombing for raspberries last year; I doubt they'll discriminate against blackberries.

I recently planted a fruit tree in the side yard. More details and pics maybe this weekend, since Friday is a holiday. It will probably be a friends-locked post, btw.

I still need to figure out where to plant cucumbers this year. That task is way overdue, so I may end up buying plants instead of growing from seed. Unfortunately, it gets too hot for cucumbers fairly quickly here, so I might be better off trying for fall cucumbers. But the lettuce has gotten a good start; we should be eating garden salads soon.