Lads, I must get off Bluesky. 8 chapters of last-final-tweak-polish-compile-in-one-file draft to do today. Then 8 more tomorrow & out of the house it goes. No Sunday Dante translation. Everything to the wall until this book is DONE. Then I collapse & then pick up reins of life again. #writerslife

#CanThisLoveBeTranslated in pure gold 🌟. Excellently written, acted & directed #Kdrama. All episodes dropped in one go! My eyes are bugging out. No surprise at the quality of script. Screenwriters are ingenious #HongSisters - #AlchemyofSouls (greatest fantasy of all time), #HoteldeLuna & #MastersSun

My favourite library in Toronto, Main Street branch. Lived in it as a child 🥰. And the depth of snow, be still my Canadian heart. #Canada #libraries (Photo credit: B. Watson, one of my 7 sisters)

Finally got to osteopath yesterday - away all December - feeling GOOD. He says 3-day rest but I need to compile chapters of book into one file & of course I'm tweaking. Meanwhile Google Translate App tells me what's in these herbal pain patches Dr Li Tao, acupuncturist sold me. 🌟 #Chinesemedicine

When countries get hooked on US tech, their governments are constrained in reining in tech’s harms while most of the economic benefits accrue to the United States. It’s time to break out of that trap — but that means challenging the Silicon Valley model, not creating our own digital colonizers.

Last year, we made the decision to step away from X. The Royal Irish Academy is committed to creating, convening, and sharing knowledge for the public good and as an organisation we value Independence; Integrity; Curiosity; Openness and Rigour. In our view, X no longer aligns with these values

Free screenwriting advice. Yes, I've been commissioned to write screenplays for film & television, optioned & sold to various producers including Simon Brooks, Diplomat Films, Tim Palmer & RTE but no, despite being paid nicely, not a thing went into production which is why I prefer writing books.

1. Alan Stivell (Canada) 2. Stan Rogers (Canada) 3. Planxty (Ireland) 4. David Bowie (Ireland) 5. Sa Ding Ding (Ireland)

I'm the Bar Car blonde in blue hippie shirt, fag in one hand & drink in the other, beside québecois true love while chatting to gal on my left. Heading for a training camp in Manitoba before work projects in Malaysia. #CanadaWorldYouth #JeunesseCanadaMonde youtu.be/D3zLV9UaE68?...

Just sent this to someone on here & realised it's so good it needs to be shared more! Great Irish artist. 💚 🌟 Pretty sure I recognise the guy with long hair as well. Anyone know who that is?

And you may saye to yourselfe These are not my lone and level sandes And you may saye to yourselfe These are not my vast and trunklesse legges of stone

Finished my book yesterday - WOO HOO - and celebrated with French, Breton, Belgian and Irish friends by eating delicious galette de roi - a French pastry eaten Jan 6 in honour of the Magi (3 Kings) - accompanied by wine & homemade kombucha. Merci beaucoup, Dorothée! C'était délicieux! Her creation:

Not pissing off Elon Musk and Canada’s right-wing tech bros is far more important to Evan Solomon than protecting Canadians from deepfake sexual abuse and acting on child sexual abuse material.

Drinking game for #ShineonMe. Down every time: someone calls ML handsome; 2nd ML mopes through scene, 2 shots if mute when spoken to; barbed look/comment to FL by 2nd FL (sole function in script); yawnfest lecture/discussion/meeting on China's PV industry; love gazing to You are the Sun song.

Anyone else watching #IdolI (what's with the title)? On Netflix. 🌟 #Kdrama at its best - tight writing, great acting & pacing, slow burn romance, brilliant characters, suspense, indictment of Kpop industry (sort of), total emotional investment. But what's with the slow drop of episodes?!

Lordy, out of the bed at 7:30 am (asleep by 1:00 am so not too bad). It was still DARK outside. I keep thinking I'm supposed to be heading for the airport.

Drinking games for Asian dramas (ignoring insane world). Down it whenever: #Chenglei goes shirtless in #ShadowLove; pedestrian hit at Korean intersection; cliff fall survival, 2 shots if into river; FL stumbles into ML's arms, 2 shots if lips land on lips; forehead kiss when you want a real one ...

Every woman you know has been harassed, stalked, followed, threatened, molested, groped, abused, raped, or groomed at some point in her life.

From my pal in Northern Ireland this morning. We're sunny and VERY cold in the southeast - turf fires being lit - but no sign of snow. 😭 I'd've been out before breakfast making a snowperson. It's built into our make-up. #Canadian

Look what I found. (Bluesky does not make scrolling back easy or is it my laptop?) First spotted this corridor in #TheKingsWoman 🌟 with #Binbin & #Dilraba & I've been seeing it ever since in countless historicals. I don't get jealous easily but ...👀 imagine them green.

The degree to which I find it strange & just a little creepy that everyone & anyone - strangers, bosses, colleagues - randomly comment on the good looks of men in #Kdramas & #Cdramas shows to what degree, in the West, we have normalised this behaviour for women. 😲

Spanish & Chinese done ( #DuoLingo great for vocabulary, useless for speaking with others). Plan for the day: type up Mandarin class notes for review as TCD resumes classes Jan 19, begin reading manuscript of new book to finish it asap. (On last 6 chapters when hospitalised.) But am I dressed? No.

With that canto finished for TO HELL AND BACK AGAIN: Dante's Inferno on Social Media project, my last creative job for 2025 is done. Sliding in under the wire, standard writer deadline practice. I've so much work ahead to make up for lost month of trapped nerves 😭. Meanwhile wishing you all:

#MyGirlfriendistheMan is out. I'm a serial drama series dropper. Viewing time is limited when not ill & now back on my feet. Picked up whirlwind mini series #ThreadsofDestiny where every reborn palace revenge trope comes at ya fast. #TheDouble on steroids. It's hilariously over the top.😍

This message hits hard.

Totemo utukushii monogatari deshita!

While I'm enjoying the slow burn, slice of life series #ShineonMe - classic #GuMa work (she's endearingly called "turtle" for her pacing, but we all know who won the race) - I'm NOT happy with filthy rich lovable leads versus poor struggling very hateable 2nd leads. PR for Chinese capitalism?

My older sister does Christmas. 🌟 (I've 7 sisters & 2 brothers. 4 of us are here in Ireland & 6 in Canada.) Geni - named after G ene Autry, my mum's celebrity crush - makes trifle like our mother's. Also puts on a great spread. 🥰

Canadian Christmas card for Bluesky folk. (One from each of my countries. Dual citizen of two reasonably sane nations in an insane world.) For those who celebrate, wishing you a lovely Christmas, quiet or exciting whichever you prefer. I'll be off to family gathering. See you on the other side.

Irish singer/songwriter/musician Aoife Doyle singing about the Christmas lights in County Clare. #AoifeDoyle #CountyClare #Ireland youtube.com/shorts/SAYWs...

Here's your Christmas card, Bluesky folk. Message inside: Beannachtaí na Nollag ("Christmas blessings" in Irish). Oxfam collaboration with An Post, the Irish postal service? I'll be giving said card to my postman with his annual chocolates. Oddly, I've never seen a woman deliver post here. #Ireland

Great post on Reddit. Someone on her college days & a Lit professor asking about favourite books. She said "Little Women". He proceeded to tear it apart & elucidate everything wrong with it. When he was finished she responded: "I didn't say it was the BEST book. I said it was my FAVOURITE." ❤️🔥

From Stacey Walsh, a young woman with an old soul, who runs Phoenix Healing Centre, Co. Carlow with her husband Ger. You can find more of her writing here: phoenixhealing.substack.com/p/i-carry-th... *SOLSTICE BLESSINGS everyone*

🌟🌟

One of the strangest things about codeine medication (besides your liver turning it into morphine) is time distortion. Kept wondering why whenever I looked at a clock I got a surprise, as hours were disappearing. Apparently this is a side effect of blocked neurotransmitters. 😳

Anyone else want to play? When your heart breaks for the 2nd ML even though you ship the lead couple. I always think first of Seo Yul #AlchemyofSouls. Still weeping for him on my 10th rewatch (that song). Now I've been reminded of Shin Won #ForbiddenMarriage, sweet King's Captain.

Can't think of a Kdrama with a more ridiculous, illogical & unbelievable plot than #ThePriceofConfession, which nonetheless kept me rivetted because #KimGoEun. You could drive a white truck of death through the plot holes, unrealistic scenarios & character inconsistencies. That said, great viewing.

HURRAH #ZhaoLusi, HURRAH #LiuYuning. Now let's have them together again. 🥰

Got me thinking. Easily named three of each except the great loves. Can only name two: my first love (disastrous) and my first marriage (also disastrous but still a great love) but 3rd? Wouldn't count the others as "great" (I have history). So one more to go here at the end of all things? lol.

🎶ADVENT-DAY 16 Good King Wenceslas🎄 The real Wenceslas was not a king but the Duke of Bohemia who lived in the 10th century. He was assassinated in a plot arranged by his brother and later given the posthumous title of Wenceslas I by the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I 1/2

YES! #ZhaoLusi Everyone's darling. 🥰

Convalescent comfort viewing calls for rewatches where there are no surprises to traumatise. Two #Kdramas just the ticket. #ShootingStars with cast of thousands (many 🌟cameos) is so funny & #ForbiddenMarriage even more so plus a tad hilariously risque. Strong FL #ParkJuHyun & #KimgYoungDae 🥰

youtu.be/FWGxWkm12dg?... Here's a great mix of mv & viral moment at the award show. He had two nominations - Best Actor & Best Supporting Actor - sadly didn't win either. But he won the night along with herself as top trenders then & still. His shout: "Take your shoes!" lol #Hwasa #ParkJeongMin

youtu.be/Qe8fa4b5xNU?... GORGEOUS song and video. 🥰🌟 When she sang at #Bluedragonawards and he joined her onstage, the audience of Korean stars was wowed. Then the moment went viral globally. Her song hit No 1 across charts, his book sales skyrocketed & new play sold out, he became "the Nation's Ex"

Still going through nightmare before Christmas. Moved from Japan (amatsu) to China (acupuncture) & surrendered to doc's mega codeine (Tylex) & anti-inflammatories. Trapped nerves rate near childbirth for pain levels, gotta say. Survival mode: riding the Blue Dragon train. #Hwasa #ParkJeongMin

First #Amatsu treatment was on my birthday which synchronistically (synchronicity being a big word for magic) is the birthday of its founder/creator Masaaki Hatsumi Sensei, 94 last week. And he's a martial arts expert, writer & actor. We also share a penchant for purple hair. (website photo)

Got in the Christmas mood today despite intermittent pain (Amatsu working its wonders). Most of my international cards done for Canada & America. Decoration boxes out from under stairs, some window stuff done. Agatha Christmas on the couch with hot spiced punch.

Plan to improve my Bluesky experience: ignore house symbol that gives me nothing but non-stop news from America (fuck off, fed up, no longer interested). Instead, I'll click on whoever gives me likes or responses while trawling through followers & followees to see what's up (Americans included).

Is every health system in the West broken? Inevitable in late-stage capitalism? But I suspect Spain is better than Ireland from what I've heard & also Scandinavian countries. Wondering about the East also. As I was wheeled by paramedics in for emergency cat scan, I passed a hellish scene .../2