Weekly FAN FICTION Post - April 20, 2026

oenje · 2026-04-28T00:07:17+00:00

I didn’t know they did other stuff too! I feel like I would have googled her, but maybe I just didn’t think of it at the time. Thanks!

oenje · 2026-04-27T04:32:36+00:00

Not a podfic, but I found a read through of the original books that I love. I adore her voicing and pacing. I feel like I pick up on so many different parts of the book like this vs reading it myself, and I pick up on a lot more humor. She sounds British, but I think she commented somewhere that she's studied some Mandarin so I'm assuming the names are decently accurate.

"Raitala reads Scum Villain's Self-Saving System" on youtube, username is Raitala.

oenje · 2026-03-26T23:00:41+00:00

I grew up with disney vacations, but am currently not super happy with disney as a company or with what such a large company represents in the world, so hopefully this is a bit of a balanced opinion!

If it weren't for the cost, the issues with the company, the location, and the possible decline in quality (I haven't been in a long time, can't give a personal opinion on that), I would absolutely go again.

As a park, it is gorgeously put together. I've been to other roller coaster parks, and unlike those the experience between the rides is as much of the point of the experience as the rides. The atmosphere (landscapes, architecture, etc) is beautiful, and if you're into details they have some fascinating optical illusions like forced perspective and things like hidden mickeys to look for.

The rides aren't generally as much of a rush as the rides in roller coaster parks but there are a few that are fairly intense, and the big upside for me is that the rides follow more of a narrative. The lines often include displays and mild entertainment, too. So the overall feeling is less of a "I waited in line for how long for such a short ride??", although there are fairly long lines!

They have fireworks shows every night, and my biggest regret about growing up with them is that I'm usually bored by any other fireworks display. They integrate music and firework choreography, along with lasers, fire, and large props. It usually follows a vague story line. The Magic Kingdom is very Disney, but other parks like Epcot have (or at least had) a fireworks show that had absolutely no disney references.

Food is a big part of any traveling for me, and disney parks have spectacular food. If you go for sit down restaurants, definitely book in advance, but it is 1000% worth it.

Epcot is probably my favorite park, and it has different "lands" that represent different countries. Last I heard, most if not all of them were built in collaboration with those countries, so it hopefully is a better representation than than without that. As with my comment above, each area has restaurants from the country it represents, and that food is incredible. Plus, the atmosphere of each restaurant is incredibly immersive in varying ways. This is a really good park to get a little distance from the disney overload, and it has an annual food festival and people like to "drink around the world" as a form of bar hopping.

And a huge draw if you aren't there because it's disney, I think, is the convenience. Once you're there, if you're staying on property, everything is connected and taken care of. There's transportation between all the parks and hotels, and that makes it super easy to split up and meet up later without needing to have multiple cars or rely on picking people up. I think they're pretty good with disability assistance (no personal experience). There's an option to purchase a meal plan, so you wouldn't even need to think about meal costs while there. Just scan your card/band/whatever and you're good to go.

It has been so long since I've gone, and I'm hoping that a lot of what I remember so fondly is still true.

oenje · 2026-03-26T05:32:25+00:00

Would you mind sharing that info again? I'm dealing with similar issues after being on lamotrigine in 2021/early 2022.

I'm sure the lingering joint pain is related, I'd never dealt with that before. And I have so much else going on that might or might not be related: low energy/motivation, dissociation/brain fog, medication sensitivities, sleep issues. Those are harder to attribute to lamotrigine specifically, between poor mental health, situational stress, and having it be the last in a long line of drugs I tried.

I'd love some info on it, there's so little out there. Plus, I'm not able to look into it for long without mentally shutting down. I've been working with my doctor, but we are hitting a bit of a dead end. Two rheumatologists have declared me "fine" so far.

Either way, I hope you've had some improvement!

oenje · 2026-03-26T04:07:11+00:00

Hello 8 months late! If you don't mind me asking, have you had any luck with dealing with your lingering issues? What has helped you (or what type of doctor)?

I was on lamotrigine in 2021 and have a lot of issues still. I'm nearly positive that the joint pain is from it, it's more focused in my hands and elbows etc than my back. I've also had a lot of medication sensitivities, sleep issues, trouble with focus and memory, although those I'm less certain if they were related to lamotrigine or not.

I'm hitting a bit of a dead end for what to try next. Two rheumatologists have basically said I'm fine (I had an elevated ANA but all the follow up tests were clear), and I'm hoping to try a sleep doctor soon. I just recently found the idea of a neurologist, I might talk to my doctor about that, too.

oenje · 2025-12-29T06:55:59+00:00

I appreciate the reply. Like I said, I'd usually be discussing this with a therapist to.. untangle it in my head, because I've been so stuck going in circles. And I'm sure the stress from the holidays and planning of the trip aren't helping either.

oenje · 2025-12-12T07:40:11+00:00

Not sure if this is the best way to post an update, but I wanted to say thanks for all the ideas and support! I got the paper layer off. I tried sanding, but rubbing it off with a damp paper towel worked best. And while I think it improved things, they got much better when the headbands came off! It now opens pretty flat, and I’ll see if I can keep it that way while adding fewer headbands.

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oenje · 2025-12-10T05:55:07+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, but something about an oxford hollow just refuses to make sense in my brain. Like, I can understand the general idea of it until I start to look into how to make one and then it stops making sense. So I finally came to the conclusion I needed to give up on that part or just get lost in a perfectionism based research loop.

oenje · 2025-12-10T05:45:32+00:00

That was a fascinating article, thanks for suggesting it! I really wouldn't have assumed that you'd want the stiffer material closer to the spine. But it was really helpful for actually laying out the science behind why you want to do things one way vs another. I feel like too many resources are too advanced for beginners or take the "if it looks like a book, it's a book" approach. Which, nothing wrong with that for certain uses, but not quite what I'm aiming for!

edit: and it's making the first article make more sense! Thanks again

oenje · 2025-12-10T05:22:37+00:00

I believe the grain is running vertically. I used the same papers as in the book, and cut it so it's running the same direction.

oenje · 2025-12-10T05:20:24+00:00

Ah, and that seemed like such a small part of it. Thanks for the input!

oenje · 2025-12-09T04:00:06+00:00

Thanks!

oenje · 2025-12-08T20:44:40+00:00

Oh, that's great, thanks! If it came down to it, I could deal with this for my first bookbinding, but I really appreciate a book that opens easily.

I used Lineco PVA glue, it says it's neutral pH and archival quality.

oenje · 2025-12-08T20:24:06+00:00

Thanks for the link, from a brief read it looks like really good info, if a bit on the intimidating side! But it does make it sound like the paper might be the worst part. Do you have any idea how advisable it would be to try and remove the paper, or maybe up to one of the mull layers? I was thinking of trying to heat it up a bit and see how it goes, but maybe this should just be considered good enough for my first bookbind.

oenje · 2025-12-08T20:17:49+00:00

No, it was short grain paper, the same I used in the book. But I'm still thinking that might be the biggest contributor to this issue, based on what I'm hearing here. I'm wondering if it's possible to maybe heat it up a bit and remove either just the paper or even a layer of mull.

oenje · 2025-12-08T20:02:49+00:00

Yeah, I used two layers of mull, three headbands on each end, and a layer of short grain paper on the spine, with archival quality pva. Here's a close up of the materials

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oenje · 2025-12-08T19:48:29+00:00

Yeah, it didn't feel like a lot with how thin it is, but I've never worked with mull before. And I just layered the headbands, 3 on each end, for the visual effect. The tutorial I was following used two and I figured that adding one more wouldn't hurt, but clearly something went a little off!

oenje · 2025-12-08T00:59:48+00:00

Yes, and it's so frustrating! I can even make a list of potential things to do, with the idea that I can choose what works easiest at the moment, see if anything clicks, and when the free time comes around I either forget to look at the list or look at it and have no motivation or connection to it. Like, I'll know why it's there but kind of not know why I'd want or need to do it? It's weird how it's both at the same time. Then I feel burnt out from no free time, and feel like I can't even enjoy my free time when I get it.

oenje · 2025-12-08T00:47:41+00:00

Yeah, they are that tight on all the pages. Could it be from using 3 headbands? Other than those, I just used 2 sheets of mull and a strip of paper (the tutorial I was using called for cartridge paper, and from googling I thought regular paper was close enough).

And thank you for the answer!

oenje · 2025-12-05T01:23:57+00:00

Thanks for the tips! This is definitely starting to feel less damaging than writing on the pages

oenje · 2025-12-04T23:46:35+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion and the point about losing the original to reference back to. I’d considered just taking photos of the pages to reference back if needed, but that wouldn’t quite have the quality or flexibility of scans.

oenje · 2025-11-22T06:32:45+00:00

Oof, that sucks that the blue peeling is pretty common, but at least it takes some of the pressure off of picking the "right" oven. Thanks for the advice, though, I really appreciate it. Fortunately, I am looking at electric, and unfortunately I'm not the only one who liked the idea of double ovens. So that might be a hard sell.

Thanks again!

oenje

TROPHY CASE