Podfic and randomness and recs

In very exciting news Mousek podficced "Gone to the Mountain, See It Call to Thee" which was a ficlet I wrote last yuletide for the Hu Ge Eastern Airlines "Move Forward With Courage" Commercial. You can go give a listen to it here. (Of all my things to get podficced I have no idea why *this* one was chosen, but it's very exciting! and short at <2 minutes.)

Crafting-wise, I learned about a local group called Hats For the Homeless (one guess what its focus is) so I have decided to try crocheting a hat. I've never done one before. I might also start a new rug to experiment with using those plastic air pocket things that come in packages as the runner (after collapsing them, of course) and to use up all the supermarket plastic bags that have been living under my sink. (Do I need yet another rug, no, of course not but I also don't know if this will work so I guess that's okay.) Also debating what 'fun' sort of thing I can do. Oh wait, I also do have a plastic cordage rug in progress (making rope out of junk plastic like the wrappers papertowels 6pks come in and whatnot and then using that for the rug) so whoops, that'll be two rugs I don't need in the works.

Language learning-wise I haven't really liked Duolingo since it moved to the path format a year and a half ago and it keeps rejiggering its courses and I had been very close to quitting until I discovered a sort of trick that gives you a sort of old version of premium using Duolingo for Schools and I thought I'd pass on what it is and how to set it up in case anyone's in a similar place:

It's not everything premium offers now, not the tab with the exercises you need work on and you still pay gems for certain things, but you have endless mistakes with no worries about having to quit a lesson or pay if you make five mistakes. I had gotten to levels where I was never able to get through a lesson without paying gems to replace hearts and it was stressing me out so much so this works well for me.

To get the trick to work you might have to do it in a browser vs in the app (I'm not sure, I used a browser since that's how it was explained to me to get it) but what you do is you just click on the schools symbol and create a classroom. You don't need to do anything with the classroom once it's created or anything, just create it, close that window and then refresh on the original duolingo page to use it or open up the app. I think I also went into settings and turned off emails about classroom stuff but that was it. (You can also just join a classroom I think but creating one takes a second and is very easy.)

From then on you can use the app or the browser and you won't have to worry about running out of hearts ever again!

And, as always, here's this week's recthething recs (2 mdzs/untamed fics)

divine, divine by sunflowersfield (3k, locked to archive)
Summary Snippet: Lan Zhan accidentally adds assembly service to his furniture order and meets Wei Ying in the process. (short but sweet modern meet-cute)

The Lost Prince by hmmmmmmmm (40k)
Summary Snippet: After the fall of the Wei dynasty at the hands of the Wen, the emperor’s infant son is lost and presumed dead, along with the rest of the imperial family. Years pass and young Jiang Wuxian, with his two siblings Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng, leave Yiling to meet their destiny and search for the reason behind their father’s brutal murder, all while attempting to avoid enemies they didn’t know they had. (fascinating royalty AU with interesting world building and set up but as only the first of (a hopefully eventually continuing) series, it ends rather abruptly)