Genprompt Bingo Card 12-3-17

Here is my card for Round Thirteen of the genprompt_bingo fest. This bingo challenge encourages original or fanfic material across all formats and lengths. It's a terrific fest if you want general and/or gentle fiction, although people can interpret prompts any way they like. There are many categories, and you can choose to omit up to three. Read the rules first.  Browse the Round Thirteen prompt list.  Request a Round Thirteen card here. Prompt lists are renewed once a quarter, and you may request a new card then even without bingo on a previous card. (See all my 2017 bingo cards.)

If you'd like to sponsor a particular square, especially if you have an idea for what character, series, or situation it would fit -- talk to me and we'll work something out. This is a good opportunity for those of you with favorites that don't always mesh well with the themes of my monthly projects. I may still post some of the fills for free, because I'm using this to attract new readers; but if it brings in money, that means I can do more of it. That's part of why I'm crossing some of the bingo prompts with other projects, such as the Poetry Fishbowl.

There are no deadlines.
Any content, fiction or poetry, etc. fanfic or original.
Minimum of 500 words for fiction, 5 lines for poetry.

Underlined prompts have been filled.


genprompt_bingo Card 12-3-17

Contentment	Extraordinary	Autumn	Conversation	Virtue and Vice
Angola	Complementary Colours (Opposite on the Colour Wheel)	Badass	Latent Heat	Things that go Bump in the Night
Junk	A Strange Friend	Wild Card	May you live in Interesting Times	Relative values: Families
Sunshine and Blue Skies	The Sky at Night	Terrible Choices	Coercion	Laboratory
My Guardian Angel	Drama	Housewife / Househusband	Supernatural Elements	Power Corrupts

Monday Update 12-4-17

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
How to Tweak Comfort Food
Today's Adventures
Adult Survivors of Child Abuse
Poem: "With a Tender Hand"
Stupidity in Sustainable Design
Bingo
Poetry Fishbowl Report for November 21, 2017
Moment of Silence: Jim Nabors
Fluffy Dinosaurs
Toward Synthetic Life
Epigenetics of Cuddling
Neuroprosthetics
Poetry Fishbowl Report for November 7, 2017
Taking Medical Abuse to a Whole New Level
Cuddle Party


Winterfaire 2017 is still running, and currently has 105 comments. \o/ If you have goods or services for sale that would make good gifts, please post a booth; and if you're shopping, come see what's on offer! We still have a few open linkback poems if you boost the signal.

The next Poetry Fishbowl will be on Tuesday, December 5 with a theme of "hearth and home." I hope to see you tomorrow!


Poetry in Microfunding:
"The Inner Transition" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Berettaflies and has 28 new verses.  Stylet enjoys a cup of tea and starts talking around some of the touchy topics.  "The Higher a Monkey Climbs" belongs to Polychrome Heroics.  Pips and Jules discuss what to get for G and Joshua after the fire.

Remember that we have the Year-End Sale coming up mid-month.  It would be helpful to finish off the older epics, especially since "The Inner Tradition" is ahead of several poems and also some stories that siliconshaman has been holding.

The weather has been mild here.  Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a flock of sparrows, several dark-eyed juncoes, and two pairs of cardinals.  :D  The metal tray feeder is gaining popularity.

Politeness in Japanese

Plenty of people know that Japanese has layered lexicons of grammar and vocabulary that indicate respective rank.  But most textbooks don't teach much beyond the fact that it exists.  This intermediate guide goes into considerably more depth.

Another quirk is that Japanese people consider it rude to say "no" outright.  Here's an article that looks at the nuances of polite refusal in Japan as a Guess Culture. 

Holiday Light Potpourri Bowl

Today I refreshed my holiday light potpourri bowl.  I've had this thing for years, it just needs to be taken apart every 2-3 years to replace the lights and potpourri.  While some people now make these with LED lights, I should point out it won't work nearly as well.  What is normally "waste heat" from incandescent lights is the engine of this project, warming the potpourri to release its scent.  Also, when putting the lights in, I find it impossible to point them toward the outer shell unless I put a toilet paper tube down the center to coil them around.  At the end, just drop some larger pieces of potpourri down the center and carefully wiggle out the tube.  Getting the lights positioned nicely is the biggest challenge of this craft, so test it before you put the cover on, as it's usually necessary to adjust some of the lights.

You can use commercial potpourri or make your own.  This year I couldn't find potpourri but I did find a miniature version of cinnamon-infused pinecones, which I mixed with some of the old potpourri. We'll see how that works.  Most people prefer a wintery scent for this project, such as cinnamon or pine.  I think I've always used something from the cinnamon family.  If you can find a good bag of cinnamon bark chips, you can just throw in some star anise, cardamom pods, and your favorite fixative to have a nice blend.