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starandrea Mar. 8th, 2026 04:26 pm)
starandrea Mar. 8th, 2026 04:26 pm)♥ Plant update
Two of the succulents whose names I can't remember are flowering. That's neat; didn't know they did that. The white-and-purple fuchsia has so many more buds. I have not given the vines a trellis. The yucca is probably not dead yet.
+Winter sowing project week 2: the snow has melted off the top of the containers but it's still around freezing or below at night, so I think that counts toward cold stratification.
+Dahlia tubers: somehow I ended up with 22 pots of dahlia tubers, which is weird because that's how many containers of winter sown seeds I have also.
...after looking up the number 22, apparently numerology likes it. A master number not reduced to a single digit, specifically the master builder, signifying the ability to turn grand dreams into reality through practical execution. Great! Gardens are off to an excellent start, then.
I don't have any lights set up for the dahlias yet, but that's not actually a problem until they put their heads above the soil, so. Take your time, little tubers. I'll probably move the cannas out to the garage to keep them from getting any ideas, but I need to put one of the temperature sensors with them so I can make sure they don't freeze.
♥ Language and writing
The SuperChinese app is great at catching the j/zh distinction, which I'm lazy about, along with zhe/zhi, ditto. It couldn't care less about tones, but luckily I found "Speak Chinese: Learn Mandarin," which is an app with a clunky name and a free chatbot that's a stickler for both tones and grammar. Thanks, chatbot that puts in a period every time I pause. I appreciate you pretending you don't know what I'm talking about when I use the wrong tone.
I was going to write a Chinese fic about Spring Festival this month, but I wrote an English followup to Apparently instead and then made a series called Back to School, because of the time travel. I don't know how much I'll write of it, but it's fun to not feel like I'm "wasting" study time. Probably because all the speaking practice feels like progress.
Or the reading. Those BLCUP readers are finally easy after years of sitting on the shelf. I actually bought Andy Weir's Hail Mary in Chinese, not because I think I can read it now, but because it's something new to aim for. (I now know Mo Dao Zu Shi too well for it to serve as a benchmark, ha ha. I was listening to the audio drama yesterday and I was like, "Surely I've always understood this.")
♥ March challenges
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communal_creators time only mini event March 22 - 28
(sign-ups not open yet, sign up for a daily amount of time to create stuff and log it)
no_true_pair Four-Character Mini-Challenge March 26 - 31
(sign-ups open at the link above, list four characters and create to prompts for their interactions)
Two of the succulents whose names I can't remember are flowering. That's neat; didn't know they did that. The white-and-purple fuchsia has so many more buds. I have not given the vines a trellis. The yucca is probably not dead yet.
+Winter sowing project week 2: the snow has melted off the top of the containers but it's still around freezing or below at night, so I think that counts toward cold stratification.
+Dahlia tubers: somehow I ended up with 22 pots of dahlia tubers, which is weird because that's how many containers of winter sown seeds I have also.
...after looking up the number 22, apparently numerology likes it. A master number not reduced to a single digit, specifically the master builder, signifying the ability to turn grand dreams into reality through practical execution. Great! Gardens are off to an excellent start, then.
I don't have any lights set up for the dahlias yet, but that's not actually a problem until they put their heads above the soil, so. Take your time, little tubers. I'll probably move the cannas out to the garage to keep them from getting any ideas, but I need to put one of the temperature sensors with them so I can make sure they don't freeze.
♥ Language and writing
The SuperChinese app is great at catching the j/zh distinction, which I'm lazy about, along with zhe/zhi, ditto. It couldn't care less about tones, but luckily I found "Speak Chinese: Learn Mandarin," which is an app with a clunky name and a free chatbot that's a stickler for both tones and grammar. Thanks, chatbot that puts in a period every time I pause. I appreciate you pretending you don't know what I'm talking about when I use the wrong tone.
I was going to write a Chinese fic about Spring Festival this month, but I wrote an English followup to Apparently instead and then made a series called Back to School, because of the time travel. I don't know how much I'll write of it, but it's fun to not feel like I'm "wasting" study time. Probably because all the speaking practice feels like progress.
Or the reading. Those BLCUP readers are finally easy after years of sitting on the shelf. I actually bought Andy Weir's Hail Mary in Chinese, not because I think I can read it now, but because it's something new to aim for. (I now know Mo Dao Zu Shi too well for it to serve as a benchmark, ha ha. I was listening to the audio drama yesterday and I was like, "Surely I've always understood this.")
♥ March challenges
communal_creators time only mini event March 22 - 28(sign-ups not open yet, sign up for a daily amount of time to create stuff and log it)
no_true_pair Four-Character Mini-Challenge March 26 - 31(sign-ups open at the link above, list four characters and create to prompts for their interactions)
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