PebbleInALake

thefridayfive questions for 4/10/26

1. What was the last book you read (or are currently reading)?
"First Degree" by David Rosenfelt (part of the Andy Carpenter mystery series)

2. What was the last movie you watched?
Project Hail Mary! Very obsessed with this movie. Going to see it for the fourth time this weekend lol.

3. What television series are you currently watching?
Currently introducing my roommate to Star Trek. We're watching random episodes from TNG, ENT, and TOS. Still trying to convince her to give VOY a chance.

4. What are some of your favorite blogs or communities online?
I have a lot of love for the indie web community. Most of the people I've met in those spaces are very passionate and dedicated to the hobby. It's always fun to see people sharing the new tips/tricks they've figured out.

5. What social media do you belong to and check often?
A few weeks ago, I would have said tumblr. It's the only social media site I belong to. But I've taken a step back from that site for a little while to recharge and get away from some of the fandom toxicity I'd been seeing. So at the moment I don't really have a social media account to check on.

Happy New Year! <3

It's a brand new year again, which means it's time to set a brand new list of goals for myself that will probably not get done lol.

Fandom Goals:
~ Write 80k words
~ Get into a daily writing habit (doesn't have to be literally every day, but I want to be writing most days)
~ Create 100 icons/graphics
~ Create 10 tumblr gifsets
~ Finish 1 WIP
~ Participate in at least one fandom event

Personal Goals:
~ Read 5 books
~ Learn a new hobby
~ Update my website every month
~ Move one of my fansites to the new webhost
~ Spend more time outdoors

With the new season of Tracker back on the air, I've obviously been pulled back into that fandom again (as evidenced by the sudden uptick in fics and icons I've been making for it lol). Really enjoying the new season and I have so many plans for new fics that I'm hoping to work on over the next couple months. Gonna be updating my fandom list to include Tracker, because I think it's sticking around this time.

Also, new fandom added to the collection! Towards the end of October, I was reading Tracker fanfics and stumbled across a crossover fic between that show and another show called "Hudson & Rex", which I think I'd vaguely heard of before but knew nothing about. I decided to give it a try. Currently finishing up season two, and I think it's safe to say that I am hooked. It's such a fun feel-good mystery show about a detective and his dog solving crimes together. It sounds cheesy (and it definitely is at times) but it's also a genuinely fun show to watch. I'll probably be making some fics and icons for it very soon.

One last new fandom to add to the list. Or, a possible one, as I haven't yet decided how invested I feel in it. I started watching "Night Agent" on Netflix and it's pretty good so far. Not quite done with the first season yet, so it's too early to say, but I'm enjoying it.

And my hopes of hitting 50k have gone up in flames lol. I really thought I had it, but work has been extra busy this month and it's leaving me too exhausted to write anything, let alone a 1600 per day average. Current word count: 33,085. I still passed my initial 25k goal, but there's no way I'm catching up to the full goal at this point.

I'm doing NaNoWriMo again this year. My local group rallied together last year and made our own November novel writing event when the "official" organization went under (info here but the tldr is that they made some truly terrible decisions, including multiple alleged crimes, before finally shutting down). We've become even more organized this year, with our own website and discord server and plenty of in-person events. I'm so happy we were able to save our little group because it's meant a lot to me over the years.

I set my initial goal for the month at 25k - half of what a normal NaNo goal is. This is so I don't burn myself out, as my work has become really busy and I've been dealing with some family health emergencies the last few months. I figured if I do manage to hit the 25k before the month ends, I can switch to 50k as a stretch goal.

Week one is over now and I'm actually really happy (and surprised) by the progress I made so far. Not only am I on track for my 25k goal, but I'm also currently on track for completing the full 50k goal! As of finishing writing on Nov 9th, my total word count is at 16,272. Not sure if I'll keep that momentum going all month, but I'm very happy for now. :D

Haven't done one of these in a while, so thought it'd be fun. Stealing last week's list because I meant to do it and forgot lol.

thefridayfive list for 10/17/25:

1. How long ago did you join DW?
I think it was back in 2018 on my original account. This new account was started in 2021.

2. How did you find out about DW?
I was on LJ originally and trying to find an alternative to move to. Saw one of my friends on LJ post about moving to DW, and I decided to give it a try.

3. If someone introduced you to DW, is s/he still on your friends list?
No, we eventually drifted to different fandoms and lost touch with each other.

4. Have you introduced anyone to DW?
A couple people. I post how-to guides on Tumblr and it sometimes manages to convince people to give DW a try.

5. Is your DW public or friends only, and why?
I have two DW journals. This one is for fandom stuff so it's public. I have another journal for personal stuff that is locked to friends only, but it's barely active anymore. I find I prefer to stick to fun things when I'm online and save the irl stuff for dealing with offline.

With the 20th anniversary re-release of Revenge of the Sith in theaters last weekend, I've found myself once again dragged back into my first major fandom obsession. Since I'm trying to post every day for 3W4D anyway, I figured it was the perfect time to try one of the Star Wars fandom questionnaires I've had bookmarked. Anyone is welcome to grab the questions and fill them out as well.

( Star Wars Fandom Questionnaire )

I finally saw "Captain America: Brave New World" yesterday. I actually hadn't intended to watch it at all. I'm more of a DC fan than Marvel, and with the rapid decline in quality the MCU has been suffering from lately, I've pretty much lost interest in their movies altogether at this point. But, I saw a trailer for CA:BNW on youtube and it looked pretty fun so I went.

Maybe it's because I went into the theater expecting less than nothing, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. No, it's not a great movie by any means (to be fair, most MCU movies aren't either), but it is good and I had a fun time watching it. Tbh I'm confused by the level of bad reviews I saw online after the opening weekend. If nothing else, it was far better than most of the other content Marvel has been churning out the past few years.

There were a few issues with pacing and one action scene fell kinda flat for me. (Also, there is one rather important moment in the climax that I wish had been done better, but I'll get to that later.) Other than that, I really didn't see anything wrong with the movie. It had some solid action scenes, an intriguing mystery plot, and genuinely good character moments for everyone. Also, as someone who loved "The Incredible Hulk" movie, it was fun to see so many callbacks to that one.

Overall, I liked it quite a bit more than I thought I would. Not a favorite superhero movie for me, but I definitely wouldn't mind buying this one when it comes out on DVD. As a side note, I took my roommate with me, and she actually is a huge MCU fan who was going solely to hate watch it (she wanted to hate it on principle due to them replacing Steve as Captain America) and even she enjoyed it.

Okay, all the spoilery thoughts are going behind the cut:
( SPOILERS AHEAD! )

Found this cool yearly wrap up questionnaire for fanfic writers on tumblr (here) and thought it looked fun. Posting my fills here because long posts are harder to write out on tumblr -- and also in case anyone on DW would like to snag it and fill it out for themselves. :)

( 2024 Fanfic Review )

...and it's done!! I lost track of posting updates at around the halfway point, but that's because I was fully focused on my writing.

Total words: 50,061!!!

I won NaNo for the first time ever. I'm so happy and relieved and also just dead exhausted. Will need to take a very long break from writing for a while. I'm happy I did it, and I'm actually really sad it's over, but also I never want to see another word doc again lol.