What is a food you loved as a child but do not enjoy anymore?

I used to have cereal for breakfast just about every morning; it was an independent meal I could assemble for myself without needing a parent to interrupt their own morning activities. I had a milk allergy when I was a wee babby, though, so I poured soy milk over my cereal for the first several years. Nowadays cereal does absolutely nothing for filling me up, so I only have it around as a snack or crunchy topping for ice cream, or occasionally prepared like Rice Krispie treats.

( More more more! )

Questions if you want to play along:

<strong>What is a food you loved as a child but do not enjoy anymore?</strong> <strong>What’s a food you used to dislike but now enjoy? What changed?</strong> <strong>If you could eat only one cuisine for the rest of your life, which would you choose?</strong> <strong>What food instantly makes you feel comforted or happy?</strong> <strong>What food reminds you most of your childhood?</strong> <strong>Are there any foods you think are overrated?</strong> <strong>What traditional dish from your country would you recommend to a visitor?</strong> <strong>Who is the best cook you know, and what makes their food special?</strong>

This is a placeholder. I'll finish the letter after I finish the signup and before the signup deadline. SECOND YEAR RUNNING OF HAVING THE LETTER READY BEFORE THE DEADLINE, BOO AND YAH.

Dear Yuletide Writer

Hi, I'm vass (they/them). Thank you for agreeing to write a story for me. I hope you have fun.

I included my DNWs and character exceptions in the signup, so everything else here is just likes and prompts and thoughts, and can be ignored or used as you prefer.

Note about DNWs: by "DNW" I don't mean "what I think no one should write or read" or even "what I won't write or read". I just mean "what I don't want to receive in my Yuletide gift fic this year."

General likes:
I'm equally happy with shipping (platonic or otherwise) or gen. I don't think my requests this year really lend themselves to sex or kink, but if you want to prove me wrong, go for it. I like workplace details, science (including mad science), humour, rebellion, politics, worldbuilding, technical details (and technicalities), experimental formats and/or interactive fiction, and infodumping.

General DNWs: animal harm, sad cats, dementia or terminal illness, underage.

Fandom Specifics

Nine Worlds
( more )

Radiant Star:
( more )

Baba is You
( more )

Calvinball
( more )

And that's it. Thanks again, and good luck!

Books
Finished Platform Decay. It was a Murderbot book, if you like that sort of thing then that is the sort of thing you'll like. There were a few tense issues (past vs present) which I expected to end up being significant but seem to have just been accidental.

Finished Cliff Tan's Feng Shui Modern and unfortunately cannot recommend it at all, even for people who like his TikTok videos. Just watch the videos, you're unlikely to find new insights or a clearer understanding of feng shui from reading this.

Nature
So, I usually like to drive with the aircon on and the fans pointed at my face.

Did you know that ants can lay their eggs in a car's fans? Neither did I.

Garden
Weeding persists.

Cats
Think 1am is a good time to play chasey.

There are so many amazing fans posting Heated Rivalry recs out there! I will never keep up, or remember how I found one. Have this one that's stuck in my head:

( Dawn in the Altered World )

In other news, work is a shitshow. My company was bought by a private equity firm over a year ago, and we've been struggling ever since, especially as they keep yanking us around for what our path forward should be. I should be glad to have a job, yes, but I'm so overdue for a promotion and a raise that I've been crushed by burnout for a long time.

I am fired up to see all the holiday fannish exchanges popping up. I have 11 tabs open for Festivids that are sparking treat ideas in my brain. Now that I have a laptop again capable of making vids, I can't wait to dive back in.

On that note, it's been so long since I attended a fannish hangout that I'm granting myself a treat by getting a ticket to Confabulation. It wraps up just before the kid's birthday, so I don't have to feel bad about missing that. (The Emperor is turning 22. TWENTY TWO. Still having trouble wrapping my brain around that.) I think I recognize a couple of usernames from the Discord, but it will be a huge change from knowing most of the faces from Vividcon (sniff, RIP). I'm spending that Thursday night at my folks' place to celebrate my dad's birthday and will drive in on Friday. I need to find out how to pick up my registration and what time stuff starts Friday morning.

TGTF, y'all!

I use the same name everywhere so I am beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.

I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for a long time and am usually very happy with my gifts.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

( General Likes and Dislikes )

Yuletide Challenges
I am opening this up to the following challenges: Yulebuilding, Neurotide, Yuletide Takes the Case, Wrapping Paper, Chromatic Yuletide, Transtide, Two For One, and Three Turtledoves. With Two For One, feel free to expand beyond what I've suggested here. I am always up for worldbuilding, and for crossovers with fandoms I've written or requested before.

( Peter Wimsey )

( Bruce Springsteen RPF )

( Sense8 )

( Fandom For Robots )

( Rivers of London )

( Dirty Computer )

( The Swan )

I use the same name everywhere so I am beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.

I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for a long time and am usually very happy with my gifts.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

( General Likes and Dislikes )

Star Trek Specific Likes
I love alien culture worldbuilding, boldly going, exploring, wacky science hijinks, time travel, AU shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). I love moral quandries and stories where philosophy matters and you're left with a lot of thoughts.

My headcanon on Vulcans was shaped by 80s Trek novels but I also enjoy trying to fit the Star Trek: Enterprise Vulcans with ... everything else we know about Vulcans. One thing I will point out, though, is that while there are a lot of things about Vulcan culture that seem/are sexist, the most powerful Vulcans we see throughout the series are elderly women. I love Pon Farr, but mostly dealing with the implications of it (both before and after) and not the sex part.

I love Klingons, PARTICULARLY when they're written with depth. The warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them. I love the perspective Martok and the others had on mental illness when they were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, that mental illness is an enemy to fight and it takes a lot of strength to fight an enemy in your own head.

As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into wacky tropes, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.

I haven't watched modern Star Trek, you can bring in stuff from that if you want but feel free to ignore it if you want.

( Crossovers )

( Original Vulcans and Klingons )

( DS9 )

( TNG )

( Enterprise )

( Voyager )

( Star Trek Crossovers )