Getting the knees taped up and slathering on the Korean sunscreen (even though I won't likely be in the sun all that long) to take the train in to NYC to see Veganhothead. Since Emily can't make it this trip, we're going to meet at what looks like a cute walk-in vegan restaurant called LeBotainiste which the location isn't far from Penn Station.

After that I wanted to show her the new Moynihan train hall behind the regular entrances to Penn Station. When I was meeting the sister and bil last time, I wandered that way not knowing about the overhaul and was flabbergasted at it. I was thinking I was entering one of the regular grungy looking train station areas only to be met with light and glass and new things.

So a little walking but not a ton which is probably a good thing since the joints, especially the knees, have been wobbly and sore this week. But so excited to see my friend!

zavodilaterrarium

I really REALLY want to hang out with GuiGui on the weekend, but my body says "I don't like the sound of that... Ask again at the last possible second and I might consider it" :devastated: I'm gonna go insane if I reach a year of no physical contact with them :throwing_table:

Current Mood: /disappointed
Current Location: In the Pits of Hell
Current Music: Faster Car — Loving Caliber

althea_valara

It all began with a stone, or so the legend says.

In ages past, a sentient jewel, enormous and beautiful, banished the darkness. Its many-colored light filled the world with life and brought forth mighty gods.

Bathed in that light, the world entered an age of bliss until, after a time, the gods fell into slumber. That world was called Vana'diel.

The legend goes on to say...

From the darkest depths of the earth the Warriors of the Crystal rose...

The Rise of the Zilart expansion tells the story of the Warriors of the Crystal, and of the ancient clash between two races, one of which was the Zilart - who have plans to bring about Vana'diel's destruction. Read on to find out just what the Zilart have planned.

(As before, the actual game script is located at my Neocities site, here: https://altheavalara.neocities.org/ffxi/rotz - what lies under the cut is my summary for those who don't want to read the long script.)

( spoilers galore! )

zavodilaterrarium

Realised I forgot to post about it, but I’ve set up a community (

corrosivefate) for my WIPS or old projects I might revisit, which have more notes on how/why I made something the way I did lol

You don’t have to follow it or anything, it was made to reduce clutter on everyone’s end after all XD

zavodilaterrarium

POST EDITS

EDIT 2025-08-12:I realised I could change [padding: 10px] to [padding: 0px 10px 0px 10px] on the overflow: hidden div so that you don't get any extra bit cutting off the top and bottom as you scroll!

If anyone wants to know the Casual HTML for my fancy (but mostly mobile-compatible) posts so they can workshop something with the same function, here are my templates! Assuming I didn't write them wrong, aha...

Thank you to

zoomieyo for having such a wonderful journal that made me realise the power of the div function! If you're on desktop, you always have the option to rightclick pages/elements for the source code ;p

General

<div style="border: 5px double; padding: 5px;"><center>Navigation
<a href="#1">[PAGE 1]</a> | <a href="#2">[PAGE 2]</a></center></div>

<div style="display: block; height: 700px; overflow: hidden; border: 1px solid; padding: 0px 10px 0px 10px;"><div style="display: block; height: 700px; overflow: auto;"><h1><a name="1">PAGE 1</a></h1>DESCRIPTION / SUBHEADING

<div style="border: 1px dotted; padding: 10px;">BODY OF TEXT</div>
<h2>OTHER</h2><div style="border-style: dashed none dashed none; padding: 5px;">BODY OF TEXT</div>
<div style="border: 5px double; padding: 5px;"><center>Navigation
<a href="#1">[PAGE 1]</a> (here) | <a href="#2">[PAGE 2]</a></center></div>
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UNSEEN SPACE BETWEEN PAGES

<div style="display: block; height: 700px; overflow: auto;"><h1><a name="2">PAGE 2</a></h1><div style="border: 1px dotted; padding: 10px;">BODY OF TEXT</div>
<h2>OTHER</h2><div style="border-style: dashed none dashed none; padding: 5px;">BODY OF TEXT</div>
<div style="border: 5px double; padding: 5px;"><center>Navigation
<a href="#1">[PAGE 1]</a> | <a href="#2">[PAGE 2]</a> (here)</center></div>
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Which looks like:

Navigation
[PAGE 1] | [PAGE 2]

PAGE 1

DESCRIPTION / SUBHEADING

BODY OF TEXT

OTHER

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[PAGE 1] (here) | [PAGE 2]

UNSEEN SPACE BETWEEN PAGES

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BODY OF TEXT

OTHER

BODY OF TEXT

Navigation
[PAGE 1] | [PAGE 2] (here)

Ao3-Type Details Box

<div style="border: 1px dashed; padding: 10px;"><strong>Rating:</strong> 
<strong>Archive Warnings:</strong> 
<strong>Fandoms:</strong> 
<strong>Categories:</strong> 
<strong>Relationships:</strong> 
<strong>Characters:</strong> 
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<strong>Summary:</strong> 

<strong>Notes:</strong> </div>

Which looks like:

Rating:
Archive Warnings:
Fandoms:
Categories:
Relationships:
Characters:
Other:

Summary:

Notes:

Current Mood: /shy
Current Music: GRANBLUE FANTASY: Versus OST

$radiantfracture: Beadwork bunny head (Default)$

radiantfracture

Old Fairview: White Lake Observatory

Mile 12.1 (4.4) – Half a mile further along, the access to White Lake Observatory turns right. (White Lake itself is the alkali pond opposite the Twin Lakes turnoff.)

Because of their electrical systems, which interfere with the operation of the radio-telescope, cars are not allowed on the road to the radio telescope. The big dish itself towers above the other installations, listening eternally to signals from outer space. The maze of poles and overhead wiring back towards Oliver are another form of radio-telescope, which pick up very long radio waves. The observatory is well worth walking the three-tenths mile; what's happening is completely incomprehensible to the layman, but fascinating nonetheless.

(1975/77)

* * * * * *

This observatory still exists, under the rather grander name of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. It is, so the government website tells me, "an internationally renowned facility for radio astronomy and leading-edge instrumentation." Until just now, I had no idea that it existed.

DRAO is still, naturally, a radio-quiet site, which must be more difficult these days than in 1975.

Dave Stewart, author of Okanagan Backroads, is quite right about its fascination. I am absolutely a lay person, and yet statements like this are weirdly thrilling: "The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is Canada's largest radio telescope. ... CHIME has no moving parts, but the Earth's rotation allows the telescope to map all of Canada's visible sky every day. CHIME was designed to survey atomic hydrogen from the largest volume of the Universe to date." No real idea why that would be important to do (feel free to explain!), but I'm glad it's happening here.

They have a Perseids viewing party next week!

§rf§

Source: https://nrc.canada.ca/en/research-development/nrc-facilities/dominion-radio-astrophysical-observatory-research-facility

zavodilaterrarium

Got new compound microscopes in the lab this semester, with a different software too. They’re so pristine… I will NOT miss the jank of the older ones, not one bit. I’m here for the functionality, not the vibes!

Though I love looking at tiny organisms, I’m always a bit iffy on the microscopes. Sometimes it’s a struggle to find what I’m looking for, especially when everything looks alike or indistinct at lower magnification. Obviously part of the struggle comes from not having too much experience, but the rest is just that micro-organisms (especially fast-moving ones) are pesky little buggers.

Well, I also can’t seem to set up the microscopes in a way where I can properly see through both eye pieces at once? Maybe it’s supposed to be all finicky, idk I didn’t ask. Could be my astigmatism, I guess? But if I wear my glasses, it just won’t work at ALL because I can’t get close enough to see anything. I end up just seeing clearly through one side and nothing through the other half the time.

Current Mood: /excited
Current Location: University
Current Music: Blackbloom — Soken Masayoshi

althea_valara

My pivot table tells me I crafted 16 hours 13 minutes in July, on seven different projects.

Two of those projects were tablet pillows. Like this phone pillow I previously made but a bit bigger:

[Image Description: A crocheted phone stand, made in nautical-colored yarn.]

I am keeping the first tablet pillow for myself, and the second one is for my older sister, who requested one.

I did 2 hours on my crocheted cardigan. Not much, but I got frustrated with it because... well, I left the ends rather long, so long they tangled with one another AND the working yarn, and it's a pain to try to feed the working yarn through the knot. I need to deal with that this month.

I did 4 hours 38 minutes on a secret project. It's coming along! But I had rather expected to be done with it by now. I lost my momentum with it, and just lost my crafting mojo in general.

I started a gnome as a present for the kidlets, but dropped a stitch and got fed up so put that aside. I am probably going to give up on this plan, and make them snowflakes (if I make anything) instead.

I spent 1 hour 19 minutes making ICONS! It's rare I do image manipulation, so this definitely deserves to be counted. The icon on this post is one of them.

Finally, I spent 20 minutes working on a knit top. I don't recall why I dropped it (literally - the yarn is on the floor under my desk, sigh). Probably got frustrated for one reason or another.

I'm... a bit sad my output is slowing down. I mean, I still did craft quite a bit! But I definitely notice a difference in my oomph. Guess this is my new normal.

Current Mood: blah

alone in the windy city

Reading

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FFXI: Rise of the Zilart summary!

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More from Okanagan Backroads Volume One

Microscopes!!!

Crafting Update, July 2025