straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2026-05-10 04:13 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2026-05-10 04:13 pm
361 | sourdough, eridan, lord byron
A trio of miscellaneous small things that I’ve been wanting to post about:
► I’ve been attempting to make a sourdough starter! Following these instructions. I think I succeeded? At the very least, it’s bubbly, smelling nice, and rises after feeding, so I’m assuming that means it was a success, haha. I haven’t had a chance to actually use it yet because it hit the “ready to use” stage in the midst of a busy week… but maybe next weekend? I’ve cautiously put it into the fridge for now, so hopefully it’ll all work out. (If anyone has recommendations for recipes, I’m all ears!)
► Because of a certain book + newly released movie adaptation’s recent increase in popularity, I keep finding myself seeing people talking about “eridians” but (initially) misreading it as Eridan… as in Eridan Ampora from Homestuck… imagine that reality, where Eridan Ampora suddenly had a huge surge of popularity in this year of 2026.
(I actually read Homestuck fic* for the first time in who knows how long last week, but the two facts are, as far as I can tell, genuinely unrelated.
* specifically, this series of three fics totalling 40K, which I had fun with! despite one of the main characters focused on being one I don’t particularly care for [Gamzee].)
► I’ve started reading The Late Lord Byron by Doris Langley Moore, which I’m enjoying so far, though it’s odd reading a history about “what happened after Byron died” when I only have a shaky understanding of his life, one mostly formed through references to him in other histories and fictional narratives I’ve consumed. I do find it retroactively amusing that my initial reaction to the opening pages of this book was, “huh, wonder who this Hobhouse person is? never heard of him in relation to Byron before”, because now, even though I’m only two chapters in, I’m pretty certain he would have been devastatingly offended by that.
Anyways, that’s not the reason I wanted to bring this up! The main reason is because, through this book, I’ve discovered an anecdote about Byron that instantly made him 1000% more sympathetic to me: it seems that he had a trio of pet geese! They were originally meant to be fattened up and later served as a meal, but he became so fond of them that they were spared; apparently, they “frequently wandered into Byron’s villa” and were “always kindly received”, and he even made provisions for them to be taken care of while he was abroad. I am very charmed.
► I’ve been attempting to make a sourdough starter! Following these instructions. I think I succeeded? At the very least, it’s bubbly, smelling nice, and rises after feeding, so I’m assuming that means it was a success, haha. I haven’t had a chance to actually use it yet because it hit the “ready to use” stage in the midst of a busy week… but maybe next weekend? I’ve cautiously put it into the fridge for now, so hopefully it’ll all work out. (If anyone has recommendations for recipes, I’m all ears!)
► Because of a certain book + newly released movie adaptation’s recent increase in popularity, I keep finding myself seeing people talking about “eridians” but (initially) misreading it as Eridan… as in Eridan Ampora from Homestuck… imagine that reality, where Eridan Ampora suddenly had a huge surge of popularity in this year of 2026.
(I actually read Homestuck fic* for the first time in who knows how long last week, but the two facts are, as far as I can tell, genuinely unrelated.
* specifically, this series of three fics totalling 40K, which I had fun with! despite one of the main characters focused on being one I don’t particularly care for [Gamzee].)
► I’ve started reading The Late Lord Byron by Doris Langley Moore, which I’m enjoying so far, though it’s odd reading a history about “what happened after Byron died” when I only have a shaky understanding of his life, one mostly formed through references to him in other histories and fictional narratives I’ve consumed. I do find it retroactively amusing that my initial reaction to the opening pages of this book was, “huh, wonder who this Hobhouse person is? never heard of him in relation to Byron before”, because now, even though I’m only two chapters in, I’m pretty certain he would have been devastatingly offended by that.
Anyways, that’s not the reason I wanted to bring this up! The main reason is because, through this book, I’ve discovered an anecdote about Byron that instantly made him 1000% more sympathetic to me: it seems that he had a trio of pet geese! They were originally meant to be fattened up and later served as a meal, but he became so fond of them that they were spared; apparently, they “frequently wandered into Byron’s villa” and were “always kindly received”, and he even made provisions for them to be taken care of while he was abroad. I am very charmed.
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And awwww, that geese fact does also make me think better of Byron! And I'm sorry to Hobhouse, whoever he is.
ETA: I assume he's not English sociologist Leonard Hobhouse, who pops up when I search the name. ;D
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And awwww, that geese fact does also make me think better of Byron! right??? This is an excerpt from a letter the person taking care of them sent after Byron had died (written in the context of, "...so what do I do with these geese now?") (the emphasis is mine): it's so sweet ;_; as long as he or they lived...
ahh, let me see if I can dig up Hobhouse's full name! I'm sure the book had to have mentioned it at some point... and it appears on the very first sentence of the first page: John Cam Hobhouse. From what I've gathered from the book so far, he was a close and longtime friend of Byron (like twenty years, I think?), the executor of Byron's will, and was very jealous about that friendship, in a "gets upset about anyone claiming or seeming to be closer to Byron than he was" kind of way. So I'm sure he would not be wild about the fact that while I can name a few of Byron's friends on the top of my head, he wasn't one of them, haha.
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