Ren the Ghost

I did many things this week… At least, that’s how it feels. I’ve been so busy with work, but I made progress on my craft project, and that makes me happy. I know I’m not an artist and my skills aren’t out of this world, but embroidery is an activity I really love. I read, finished a series I’d had on hold since December, and caught up on a few others from my list… though not all of them. I also kept up with my Chinese classes, went out for food and drinks with friends on Friday… and yeah, it did feel like I did a lot. There are days when I wish I could do everything, but it’s just not possible. I try not to sacrifice sleep to do everything I want to do, but sometimes my brain is too active and insomnia kicks in, so instead of just tossing and turning in bed, I read or watch stuff, though I try to keep that to a minimum.

But anyway, on to the update.

Currently making

• Not-so-secret craft project – Yuri on Ice test for a future triptych…

Finished reading

• SVSSS Vol. 2

Finished watching

• El secreto del río (Mexican drama) – 8 episodes

Currently reading

• SVSSS Vol. 3 – Chapter 15

Currently watching

• Winter Begonia (Chinese drama) – Weekly, weekends – 33/49 episodes
• My Stubborn (Thai BL drama) – Weekly, Sundays – 8/12 episodes
• Boys in Love (Thai BL drama) – Weekly, Sundays – 7/12 episodes
• The Ex-Morning (Thai BL drama) – Weekly, Thursdays – 3/10 episodes
• Break Up Service (Thai drama) – Weekly, Mondays – 9/12 episodes
• Leap Day (Thai drama) – Weekly, Tuesdays – 8/12 episodes
• The Bangkok Boy (Thai BL drama) – Weekly, Saturdays – 2/12 episodes

On hold

• Perfect 10 Liners (Thai BL drama) - No schedule - 4/24 episodes

Last weekend, I transferred the pattern onto the fabric. It’s a black cotton fabric that I love. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to dark fabrics, but there’s just something about them… I have some embroideries from almost a decade ago and I made them on black fabric. I think they have a certain charm. Maybe one of these days I’ll post pictures of them here. And last year, I made a gift for an event here on Dreamwidth… also using black fabric.

But before actually starting to embroider, I remembered there are some DMC threads that would be perfect for this project (on black fabric, though I think they’d look good on colored fabric too) and went looking for them. I found an online craft store in my country that sells them individually and was about to buy them (they’re in my cart), but before doing so, I wanted to check a local craft store that carries DMC threads, just in case, by some miracle, they had them. Since I was out on Friday anyway, I stopped by, but unfortunately, they didn’t have the specific series I wanted. So I’ll have to order them online… after payday.

Since they didn’t have what I needed, I bought some satin threads instead and started embroidering over the weekend. It’s still a test run, but at least I have a clearer idea of how I want the final project to look. Hopefully, I can pull it off, haha. I’ll share a photo of my progress… for accountability. I think I need to change the font of the text I want to add and maybe increase the size a bit, too.

Working on the embroidery let me finish (well, mostly listen to) El secreto del río, since it’s a Mexican series and I could follow along without needing to watch every second. The show is set in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and follows two childhood friends who share a dark secret. SPOILER! *One of them is muxe, and the series also touches on muxe life.* I’ll admit, one reason I paused it was because it deals with transphobic violence, and I wasn’t in the best mental space to watch it without feeling triggered. There are painful and difficult moments, but in the end, I really liked it.

After finishing the series, I embroidered while listening to music playing through my beloved headphones: the Yuri on Ice OST, of course. No, the obsession hasn’t ended 😀

Ahhh, SVSSS Vol. 2 was so fun. There were some really interesting and hilarious moments. Well, at least I found them hilarious. SPOILERS! *I loved the reveal of Luo Binghe sleeping with Shen Qingqiu’s corpse when he thought his shizun was dead and was trying everything to bring him back… meanwhile, Shen Qingqiu was already inhabiting his magical mushroom body. Luo Binghe is unhinged, but ridiculously sentimental (affectionate, I love a weirdo) when it comes to his shizun. I’ll admit, that passage gave me ideas. I imagined Luo Binghe dressing and undressing Shen Qingqiu’s lifeless body in different outfits like a doll, combing his hair, being absurdly gentle and careful, even talking to him (kinda like Hable con ella).* I don’t know, those thoughts made me want to read fics about it, but I haven’t gotten around to searching for something that fits what I want… As for writing it myself? Please, I haven’t even written MDZS fic… and I do have ideas sometimes. But anyway, I finished Vol. 2 and already started Vol. 3. Maybe I’m regaining some of my reading stamina? Who knows… but my need to know what happens next is strong, and that always motivates me, haha.

I’m almost caught up with Winter Begonia again, and that makes me so happy. But oh gods… the last seven? eight? episodes have destroyed me. It’s such a wonderful series, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about the novel it’s adapted from. But beyond that… The visuals? The acting? Love it. I adore Shang Xirui more with each episode. I’d also love to embroider fanart of this series someday. There’s one of Shang Xirui’s opera costumes (not one of the more intricate ones) that I loved, and I think it’d make a beautiful piece.

I thought I’d have enough energy to finish this whole post, but I overestimated myself… my eyes are closing. I’ll write the rest tomorrow in a second part.