the deep moans round with many voices

various things make a post: work, other work, home decor, fanfic, and Fallen London

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 02:55:05 GMT

It has been kind of a trip living in a Minneapolis suburb these past few months, but I think on the whole I prefer not to get into any of that here.

In general, life continues. I ruthlessly yanked my little section of payroll (mileage tracking and reimbursements) out of chaos into proper organization, and then a coworker I have never personally interacted with got promoted to assistant manager and assigned all the tasks upper management had been trying to foist onto me. Which, on the one hand, I am glad to be free of a task I didn't want in the first place (to say nothing of the sweet release of not dealing with the executive director), but on the other it's annoying to have somebody else reap the fruit of my labors.

Ah well. One moves on.

I am working pretty minimal hours at Not The IRS this year, which is reasonable since I am new locally and don't have a pre-existing client base. But I have been making a good impression on various walk-ins and drop-offs and people who just scheduled an appointment with whoever's available, so next year I should have some repeat/request clients as well as clients of opportunity. I think I really must buckle down and up my certification level, as well as get our in-house small business certification, because that will make me more likely to show up as "the best match for YOU, dear client!" in our various scheduling programs. I have been lazy about testing up because my old office knew I am actually qualified to be a level 4 (or 4.5ish) tax preparer despite only officially ranking as level 3, but unofficial ranks don't transfer like official ones, alas.

I am slowly getting my new apartment in order. All the basic stuff has been done for ages, but I still have some boxes I should unpack and tidy away, my kitchen needs more organizing, and I have yet to hang a few pieces of art. But I bought a new armchair and some nice throw pillows at Ikea recently, so I am good on the furniture front. I think I keep putting stuff off because I want to kind of spend an entire weekend doing Household Tasks, but obviously I won't HAVE an entire weekend until tax season is over. It's a silly psychological block, but annoyingly persistent.

Hmm. Also I have been reading a lot of heavily trope-laden Harry Potter fic lately, sort of returning to my fandom roots. I feel ambivalent about this because, you know, Rowling and her everything (may she die in a fire), but a lot of people still writing for HP have taken an attitude of "Fuck you, you transphobic neo-Nazi asshole, you don't get to steal and destroy a huge part of my childhood," and putting in all kinds of things specifically because she's expressed disapproval of them. Which is kind of nice.

I have to be wary when looking through people's AO3 bookmarks, because a lot of the tropes I am currently wallowing in tend to come with a side of "let's bash Ron and Hermione in order to set [fill in character(s)] up as better friends for Harry!" and I cannot be having with that. There is also quite a lot of Ginny-bashing (but not Neville or Luna), which irritates me because Ginny's (still) (always) my girl and the particular flavor of that bashing leans HEAVILY misogynistic. :(

Also I am having way too much fun playing Fallen London. I did try to narrow my focus to one plot thread at a time after initially running around and sticking my nose into everything, but the game really encourages sticking one's nose into everything so right now I have about two dozen things going and I focus on whichever one speaks to me on a given day. I remain a Watchful Lady in search of my Nemesis (my brother's murderer), but I have backburnered that plot until I get up to level 7 in all the Name quests and crank all my base stats to at least 100. (Currently my Persuasive is lagging. I keep getting distracted from seducing the Barbed Wit.) Then I think I will let the Ambitious Barrister make me a person of some minor importance (I backburnered that too; she's been sitting in my lodgings for DAYS, whoops!), after which I shall at long last embark on a voyage to Venderbight in search of the brother-killing asshole who I am definitely gonna shank one of these nights. :)

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some stuff

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 01:34:38 GMT

Some recent(ish) stuff:

1. Tax season has begun. I am working in a mildly grotty Not The IRS office that may be the only extant business in a small building that is notionally part of a larger shopping complex on the edge of a busier commercial neighborhood. I have had three clients so far: one finished, one is on hold for missing documents, and the third is scheduled to come back with their one (1) missing document on Tuesday evening to finish their state return.

2. I have been partially yanked sideways into payroll at my day job, which is an improvement over "hi we're making you the Person Responsible For Payroll" that they tried to stick me with. I successfully resisted that, but honestly I am now feeling like I should have resisted ANY attempt to foist payroll tasks onto me. I was getting comfy with my accounts receivable work and I dislike the way payroll stuff requires more contact with management and waiting for other people to approve stuff before I can actually do anything. Ugh. I may give it two weeks and then see if I can do an, "Actually now that I have tried this out I am still really uncomfortable with it and would appreciate being released back to strictly AR work thanks."

3. I started playing Fallen London and am enjoying it immensely. :)

4. For my mental health, I am not talking about politics (except just now very briefly to say fuck ICE with a rusty spork). Please do not leave comments about the whole Everything. I am aware, and I am trying not to doom-spiral, thank you.

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a few recent highlights

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 04:53:49 GMT

Drive-by life update:

1. I have properly moved into my new apartment, by which I mean I am now sleeping and eating here. My books are still in my aunt's garage, and my plants are still in my parents' basement (right up against a south-facing patio door; they're fine, don't worry), but I have acquired a new sofa as well as an over-the-toilet storage rack, a kitchen storage/counter unit, a folding step-stool, and assorted hardware supplies. I still need a few more things, but overall it's shaping up nicely.

2. I have settled in at work, and I think it's going fairly well. Credentialing is a pain but I have been figuring out where information is stored and tidying up a bunch of old and/or duplicate files and folders, as well as making spreadsheets to keep track of data and projects.

3. This morning I had my 6-month follow-up for my uterine fibroid embolization, which basically meant I had a pelvic ultrasound so the tech and a doctor could look at my innards and make sure nothing seemed problematic. I am pleased to report that the fibroid in question (the one that pressed against my bladder) has shrunk from 4.9cm to 3.5cm. I mean, I'd already experienced a significant reduction in phantom urinary urges by two weeks after the June surgery, but it's nice to have hard numbers to back up my experience.

4. I got my Yuletide fic posted last night, so not quite right up against the deadline, but I am still moderately annoyed at myself for procrastinating. Ah well. There's always next year.

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wherein Liz buys stuff (at a con and then at IKEA)

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 01:53:27 GMT

This weekend (Friday through Sunday) I helped staff a table at Fables and Flames, a romantasy fiction con in its first year. Vicky has an ongoing m/m romantasy series (branching out in new directions from her contemporary m/m romance) and got an author invite, but it's hard to staff a vendor table alone so I helped set up/take down the displays, provided some company, and held down the fort when she wanted to go do some other con activities. I handed out a lot of cards and flyers, and even sold a few books!

(I also picked up cards for every other author present and bought more things -- scented candles, weighted plushies, scrunchies, a 3D-printed fidget toy -- than was probably wise, but that is only to be expected at a con. Also I love my new plushies with fierce devotion, so there.)

Word is that the con either broke even or came very close, which is excellent for a first-year event. Hopefully that means they will run it again next year. :)

Anyway the con was a lot of fun but also very tiring -- and I didn't even have to be "on" most of the time. Also once we packed up early on Sunday afternoon, we drove across the street to IKEA and spent a couple hours looking at sofa beds and other assorted things. As is typical for a trip to IKEA, I came away with more than I meant to buy. I am now the proud (?) owner of a slightly dinged-up "as-is" desk, a coat stand, two wooden storage crates, a bath mat (that was probably intended as a hand towel but pssht like I care), and a $5 print of a botanical illustration of a fig. And also a pack of cinnamon rolls, because reasons.

So that was my weekend.

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wherein Liz makes great strides toward reclaiming her own space

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 04:00:15 GMT

I officially took possession of my new apartment on Saturday! I am not actually moved yet -- I am still living in my parents' guest bedroom in their basement -- but all the big furniture is there and I spent several hours unpacking and putting things away on Sunday afternoon and again this evening.

Getting my three U-boxes delivered was more of a production than it should have been, which was entirely due to technical glitches on U-haul's part. In summary, I wanted to create a reservation to have U-haul drop off all three boxes on the street, hire some movers for two hours to unload them, and then have U-haul pick the boxes back up on Sunday. I even got permission from the local police to have the boxes on the street overnight despite parking ordinances that require everyone to clear out between 2am and 6am. But U-haul's website would only allow me to create a reservation for box A. Even if I clicked on box B or box C to start the reservation, the only box that appeared as an option was box A.

Eventually I made a reservation for box A so I'd have an order number to reference, and then texted U-haul's help line. (Yes, they have a text-based help line. This is both very nice -- no phone calls! no hold music! -- and moderately frustrating, because it can be harder to explain exactly what you need via a phone keypad.)

Instead of adding box B and box C to my existing reservation, the help line guy created an entirely new reservation for all three boxes, but set it to self-delivery instead of company delivery. Which meant I now had to cancel the initial unloading-only contract with the movers (I got a credit) and create a new one for delivery AND unloading.

Also a couple days later I discovered (via a U-haul email telling me the delivery had been rescheduled from 9am to 10am) that the help line guy hadn't bothered to cancel the original reservation. I duly tried to cancel it. U-haul's website wouldn't let me. I texted the help line again, got a different person, and told them to please CANCEL order #1 and KEEP order #2. The new help line tech did that.

Which you would think would finally clear everything up, but when my moving crew showed up at the U-haul storage center on Saturday, the U-haul crew initially thought they were there for order #1 and only had box A ready. *headdesk* The moving crew lead called me to verify which order was correct, I told him order #2, he said "I knew it! I told them!" and then went and made U-haul fix their end.

I think in the end the expense wound up about the same, and this way all three boxes were cleared out and returned on the same day instead of staying overnight, but it was a pain in the neck.

...

I already knew I needed to buy a new sofa (this one, I think, will be some kind of sofa-bed) and also a new desk, but I think I also want to get some kind of open shelving unit to extend my kitchen. The current cupboards and drawers have a bit less useful space than my old kitchen, besides which I want to move a bunch of the cookware to easily reachable height instead of having things way up high or down where I need to crouch to reach them.

I also want to repaint a couple pieces of furniture I've been hauling around since childhood (they are both sturdy and useful, but primary colors are not really my style) and either paint or varnish/stain a wooden "shelving unit" that I knocked together out of two cheap-ass shoe stands (I flipped one upside down and bolted them together) about 15 years ago. In my old apartment it languished in my entry room gathering dust and holding assorted random junk, but I have decided it will suit well as a nightstand and therefore it needs to be made presentable. :)

Also also I need to install curtains to supplement the blinds, buy a shower caddy, and add some towel racks or towel loops to the bathroom, but those are easier projects. You can buy curtain rods, shower caddies, and towel fixtures practically anywhere.

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wherein Liz acquires a job, an apartment, a 403(b), another job, and a leisure activity

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 01:46:16 GMT

I realized I forgot to mention that I have a new job! I am working in accounts receivable at a pediatric dentistry nonprofit, whose mission is to get dental care to all children in Minnesota. I started mid-October and spent my first two weeks mostly doing call center and scheduling work because A) cross-training is a good idea and B) there was a temporary staff shortage. But last week I finally got started on my real job and so far I am enjoying it. Lots of things to put in order!

Once I got the job, I began seriously looking for an apartment, and last Thursday I signed a lease with a November 15 start date for a 2-bedroom in a northwest suburb of Minneapolis. I am still waiting to hear if I can use the building's parking lot for my U-Haul U-Boxes, or if I'll have to finagle street parking, but that is a relatively minor detail.

My next step is to find a doctor, and also to decide if I want to get health insurance through this job for 2026, whether to buy another plan through the MNsure website, or whether to buy insurance directly from my current insurer.

Also my new job comes with a 403(b) plan, which I think I have set up to do Roth contributions. There are many valid reasons to go with a traditional tax-deferred retirement plan, but I have always preferred Roth accounts for myself, ever since I opened an IRA back in high school.

Also also, I am sure I forgot to mention that I was hired back by Not the IRS. The re-hiring was never really in question -- the issue was which office I'd be working in. That played a role in my apartment search, along with my main job, my parents' location, and Vicky's location. I have completed my required continuing education and renewed my PTIN, so things are going fine on that front.

And lastly, unrelated to any practical concerns, I signed up for a one-afternoon online seminar about medieval high German literature through Medievalists.net, which will run from 11am-2pm CST this coming Saturday. I just received the course documents today, and I am looking forward to it a lot!

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Dear Yuletide Writer 2025

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 02:37:56 GMT

Hi, and thank you in advance for writing a story for me! I'm pretty easy to please -- unless you write a context-free sex scene, I'll be thrilled just to get a fic in one of the fandoms I asked for. *grin* But I realize that's not terribly helpful, so here's the (very!) long version. (I am sorry for the tl;dr, but I like to talk about things I love and I figure more details are better than fewer.)

---------------

( General Information )

Okay. On to specific fandoms!

---------------

( Summer in Orcus )

( The Steerswoman Series )

( The Darkangel Trilogy )

( Saga of the Skolian Empire )

And that is that. Thank you again, and happy writing!

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a bit more trip reporting, plus a current life update

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 01:04:53 GMT

Hello!

So since I last posted, I reached the gathering site in Alberta (a very swanky "cabin" in the Canadian Rockies, and I will not be any more specific than that, thank you very much). The get-together was WONDERFUL, which is unsurprising, but alas all good things must end so the vast majority of people left Sunday morning (July 20) in order to fly home (or in one case catch a bus to Banff). I drove northeast to Drumheller, leaving around 11ish, and that was the only day where I had to stop on the side of the road to pee in a ditch because Google Maps decided to route me via county roads through the middle of nowhere so I had no chance to find a gas station.

The Royal Tyrell Museum was EXCELLENT and I highly recommend a visit to anyone who has the chance. If you have the time, arrive in the morning to take a badlands hiking tour (this obviously did not work with my schedule), but the museum itself is still damn cool. I then spent the night in a "hotel" that was 7 rooms above an Indian restaurant. The room was fine! It was just kind of a surprise. But on the bright side, I bought a double order of garlic naan for an evening snack and proceeded to munch on that as car snacks for the next two days.

I also bought a t-shirt, a pair of socks, and a travel mug (no handle, has a tea-and-dinosaurs pun) from the museum gift shop. No regrets!

Monday the 21st I drove back south into the US and then took the Going-To-The-Sun Road from east to west through Glacier National Park. (I had previously acquired an America The Beautiful pass which gets you into ALL national parks, plus any sites managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, and US Army Corps of Engineers that charge an entrance fee.) Glacier is fucking BEAUTIFUL. Due to time constraints (and also weather; it was gray and drizzly during most of my visit) I didn't do any proper hiking, but I did get to walk upstream along Siyeh Creek for a little way.

I spent Monday night at a motel in Kalispell, west of Glacier, where I was able to wash a load of laundry. And I will post about the rest of my trip another day.

-----

In non-trip news, I am currently staying at Vicky's house while she is off on her own two-week road trip. She is circling through Chicago, Pittsburgh, NJ, DC, South Carolina, Tennessee, and then Chicago again on her way home to Minnesota. Meanwhile I am dogsitting Alfie, bringing in her mail, and generally making her house look lived-in rather than vacant.

What I get out of this is A) some distance from our parents, which is nice (I love them but it's still fundamentally awkward to live in their basement as a middle-aged adult); B) BETTER INTERNET (my parents' wifi works fine for anything word-based but is frankly tragic about images, gifs, and videos); and C) the company of one of the world's most adorable dogs. <3

In job search news, I have applied to two Not The IRS offices in the Twin Cities area (annoyingly you can't apply for a region -- you have to apply to each office individually). I have also updated my resume and tomorrow I am going to poke at LinkedIn until I can figure out how best to upload it and start refining my job search terms.

Also I may have fallen down a rabbit hole reading Ask A Manager columns, but shhh, we'll keep that as our little secret. ;)

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wherein Liz travels through the Canadian great plains

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 02:48:06 GMT

I decided to leave on Monday instead of Sunday, so yesterday I drove from St. Paul to Winnipeg, where I visited a botanical garden and had dinner (a delicious gourmet cheeseburger accompanied by an interesting local hard cider) in their attached café/bar.

Today I drove from Winnipeg to Regina, where I visited a natural history museum. Unfortunately both restaurants located within a block of my hotel are temporarily closed (probably due to roadwork) and I didn't feel like driving anywhere, so for dinner I ate half of a dubious pre-made turkey sandwich (thrown out: 1 slice of bread, raw onion, raw cucumber; eaten: 1 slice of bread, turkey, "swiss" cheese, lettuce, tomato) and one dubious pre-made pork "empanada" (I strongly suspect this began life as a Cornish pasty recipe, somewhat inelegantly repurposed), both purchased from the dinky café attached to the hotel lobby. Two dubious empanadas remain, lurking in the hotel room mini-fridge.

So far driving in Canada has been an interesting experience. I am glad that Google Maps has switched to tracking my speed in kph, because trying to read the kph part of my car's spedometer is, shall we say, challenging. Also, did you know that in Canada you have to pre-authorize the dollar limit of your gas payments? Wild. And there are no rest areas on the Trans-Canada highway in Manitoba or Saskatchewan (can't speak for any other provinces), so you have to look sharp for gas stations or fast food restaurants at each tiny gathering of stuff beside the road if you want a chance to stop -- and settlements are few and far between on the prairie.

Anyway tomorrow I should reach the gathering place in Alberta, and I am told that toward the end of the drive the landscape becomes excitingly vertical instead of flat. :D

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it is good that I never wanted to be a travel agent, because I would SUCK at it

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 20:05:39 GMT

Trip planning is HARD, you know?

I will be leaving on either Sunday or Monday on an approximately 2-week trip. The main point is a gathering of fandom friends in western Alberta, but I have planned my approach so as to have time to do One Thing in Winnipeg (Manitoba) the afternoon of my first travel day, and One Thing in Regina (Saskatchewan) the afternoon of my second travel day. Then the gathering, and on Sunday the 20th I will head to Drumheller to visit the Royal Tyrell Museum.

I THINK I have my itinerary roughed out for the following week.

-Monday 7/21, drive south across the Canada/US border to Glacier National Park, hike an easy trail

-Tuesday 7/22, drive west to Yakima, WA; no stops planned

-Wednesday 7/23, drive to Olympic National Park, hike an easy trail, look for banana slugs, etcetera, then overnight in Forks or Oil City

-Thursday 7/24, drive south on US-101 and stop at some point to get out and dabble my feet in the Pacific Ocean, before heading inland and stopping short of Portland, OR, probably in Beaverton; might also visit Tillamook Creamery if time permits

-Friday 7/25, drive to Boise, ID, possibly stopping at a winery or two along the Columbia River valley (more research needed)

-Saturday 7/26, drive from Boise, ID to Bozeman, MD, skirting the western edge of Yellowstone en route; might stop for photos but more likely will just drive on through

-Sunday 7/27, drive from Bozeman, MD to probably Dickinson, ND, with a stop en route to sightsee in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and hopefully see some bison and/or prairie dogs

-Monday 7/28, head home to the Twin Cities; no stops planned

This feels generally doable to me. None of the driving days are excessively long, none of the activities are excessively strenuous, and I will return home before August. Now I have to research national park admission policies and also start making motel reservations. Argh.

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Dear NFE Writer!

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 18:50:08 GMT

Note: I am repurposing my stock Yuletide letter here, which is why some of the sections may seem slightly off-topic for a single fandom exchange.

Hi, and thank you in advance for writing a story for me! I'm pretty easy to please -- unless you write context-free porn, I'll be thrilled just to get a response to one of my prompts. *grin* But I realize that's not terribly helpful, so here's the (very!) long version. (I am sorry for the tl;dr, but I like to talk about things I love and I figure more details are better than fewer.)

---------------

( General Information )

Okay. On to specific prompts.

---------------

( Jadis & the Gods of the Narnian World )

---------------

( The Secret Life of Lasaraleen's Pet Monkey )

---------------

( Arthuriana & Morgan Le Fay )

---------------

( Telmarine Aeneid )

---------------

( Journey to an Alternate Charn )

---------------------------------------------

And that is that.

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wherein Liz has moved!

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 17:41:42 GMT

Hey, quick update: I am IN MINNESOTA!

More specifically, I am in my parents' basement, because apparently this is my current millennial life milestone to hit. *wry*

Anyway, the U-boxes were delivered on Monday, we sorted and packed Tuesday and Wednesday, and then decided to order a third U-box because my dad was uneasy about the weight limits. So on Thursday the delivery guy (who is also apparently the local warehouse manager) picked up one box that we had completed and dropped off an empty replacement. We finished packing both boxes that afternoon and moved on to packing the cars and cleaning. Friday morning the delivery guy picked up the two remaining U-boxes, we finished cleaning, and I turned in my keys to Landlord Dude in return for my security deposit refund.

(I stayed in my parents' hotel room Wednesday and Thursday nights, since we packed my bed on Wednesday.)

Then we drove from Ithaca to the Twin Cities in two days (Friday and Saturday), which was kind of a lot and included two stints on local city streets in downtown Chicago because of a nasty traffic jam on I-90. My mom kept going through stoplights just as they turned yellow so I had to follow on red; it was extremely stressful. But we made it!

I have spent the past few days changing addresses with assorted companies and getting my license, car title, and car registration switched from NY to MN. Today I may or may not see about getting a local library card and visiting a Verizon store to see if they can clear some unwanted apps off my phone (I would do this myself but they came pre-installed and don't seem to have a delete option) and also ask about international calls to/from Canada. Also I will try switching my car insurance and AAA membership to MN -- I couldn't do either of those before I got my car paperwork dealt with.

We have been eating down some food brought from my fridge and freezer, since my parents' freezer was very full already. I have seen Vicky briefly when she picked up Alfie (her dog) Sunday evening -- my parents were watching him while Vicky and some friends were staffing a booth/table at a local Pride festival. Also my dad had a colonoscopy yesterday, my mom had a cardioversion this morning (for her afibrillation), and my aunt should currently be getting knee replacements. It has been a medically exciting week!

I believe I still have one refill left for both of my prescriptions, and my Ithaca pharmacy said that although they can't mail medications, I can have a Minnesota pharmacy contact them and they can transfer the authorization. So that is a relief, though I should still find a local primary care doctor sooner rather than later.

Oh! And signups for the 2025 Narnia Fic Exchange are open until July 11, so if you have any interest, please check that out over at narniaexchange!

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why is moving so much work???

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 03:04:59 GMT

I have successfully emptied my filing cabinet into two boxes!

Admittedly the first box was not sorted or weeded at all, but that's because that drawer contained all my folders of Things What I Have Written and I knew if I so much as cracked one open I'd lose the entire day. So nope, directly into the box, do not pass go, do not collect $200, I'll sort it in Minnesota.

The other two drawers got sorted with extreme prejudice and I chucked a good 2/3 of the papers. A small victory by size of box, but a very large victory by amount of psychic weight I have consequently shed. :)

I'm trying to do a little sorting of the GIANT ACCORDION FOLDERS my mom kept for every goddamn year of my life up through... I think the end of elementary school? Anyway, I did weed all the preschool materials some years back so those are just in nice normal file folders, but the best I managed with the TWO massive kindergarten accordion folders was condensing them down to ONE massive accordion folder. Which is not nothing! But I do need to weed more strenuously when I have more time to be selective and also to ditch some items after taking well-lit photos.

...I think I will tackle 1st grade after I eat some dessert, and then I might call it a night.

(I have been trying to finish all paper-sorting tasks today since recycling gets picked up at about 4am on Mondays and I would like to get as much nonsense out of my apartment as possible.)

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drive-by update!

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 02:16:12 GMT

1. I had a uterine fibroid embolization on June 4. This is a minor surgery that basically murders a fibroid by cutting off its blood supply. I had to stay in the hospital overnight for observation, since blood clots can be Bad News and this procedure essentially creates an artificial clot -- they needed to make sure it didn't hare off and cause problems.

My sleep was very disrupted for about a week thereafter, and I had some minor side effects as well as discomfort, but I am now pretty much back to normal. It will take a month or two to see if the slow withering of the fibroid fixes some problems I was having.

2. Friday the 20th will be my last day at the rental company. I am trying to get a certain set of tasks complete before I leave, but Lawyer Man keeps yanking me aside to work on stuff related to our imminent website revamp, which is frustrating. I am 90% sure I will not be able to finish everything I want to wrap up, but such is life.

3. I have two U-Haul U-Boxes set to be delivered to my driveway on Monday the 23rd. My parents will arrive later that day, and the goal is to have the boxes packed and collected by midday on the 26th, and for us to hit the road no later than mid-afternoon on the 27th.

Then I get to crash in their guest room and go AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa for a bit.

4. In July Mom and I will return to Ithaca for my surgery follow-up appointment, and probably also to close my Ithaca bank accounts. Later in July I am road-tripping through western Canada en route to a fandom friends' gathering, and then road-tripping home by way of Washington and assorted bits of the northwestern US, because why not.

Then I will do a bit more AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, and in August I start looking seriously for a new job. New housing will follow, since it's easier to rent an apartment convenient to a job location than to find a job convenient to an apartment location.

5. I have been sorting through boxes and bins of stuff that I have not touched for literal decades, and holy shit I have been clogging my apartment and my life up with so much nonsense. It will be good to start over on a cleaner footing.

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a moment of argh

Fri, 16 May 2025 00:54:23 GMT

I have been reading a book about the moon, which details both astronomy/physics stuff, some things about how the moon affects environmental conditions on earth, and how humans have viewed the moon over time. It's very interesting!

But it is also wildly Euro-centric and the author just rhapsodized about an artifact from ~1800 BCE Germany, stating that this was A First In The World and would eventually lead to events in Mesopotamia, including the start of moon-worship, and I just.

Author. My dear author.

Mesopotamia had cities and astronomers and moon gods back in fucking ~5000 BCE, which is a good 3000 years before your precious European artifact. I agree with you that it is a very cool artifact! And Bronze Age Europe was more cosmopolitan and connected than people often think!

But ye gods and little fishes, please broaden your cultural horizons.

...Also I am now retroactively suspicious about every single claim you have advanced thus far, which is not an attitude one wants to invoke in a reader. Just saying.

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wherein Liz is ill

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 16:48:01 GMT

I started feeling a bit off on Thursday afternoon, collapsed into an unpleasantly feverish two-hour nap immediately upon arriving home, and then continued to sleep badly after dragging myself up to eat a minimalist dinner. So I took a Covid test Friday morning and yeah. :(

I was very short on supplies since I'd intended to buy groceries Friday evening, but I was able to get some basics via Instacart (which is now incessantly advertising at me, blargh), and I have been sort of sludging along between naps and large glasses of Ocean Spray cranberry-pomegranate juice, which I honestly cannot recommend highly enough. Delicious stuff.

So far it's been about the same as my first go-round with Covid, which is to say it's like a bad cold and/or a mild flu: upper respiratory gunk, sore throat and cough, utterly drained, everything aches. Fortunately the fever seems to have been a one-off incident during the onset -- thank you vaccines for mitigating that!

I had tickets for the Cayuga Wine Trail's annual Wine & Herb Fest this weekend, but obviously that is OFF the agenda. Instead my goal is to not miss more than one additional day of work, since while this seems to be conforming to the way upper respiratory gunk usually hits me and I expect I'll feel a bit better tomorrow, I will probably still be exhausted and sore all over on Monday, plus of course there's the contagion concern.

I suspect I was infected during my end-of-tax-season Sunday brunch treat for myself, since nobody else in my office is ill and that was the time I was around a bunch of people unmasked in close quarters for a good length of time. Ah well. I rolled the dice and luck was not with me. *sigh*

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cross-stitch experiments

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 23:27:48 GMT

I decided to try swapping out some colors in a cross-stitch pattern I designed this past winter, and after filling in enough to get a good visual sense of how they would fit in the overall design... nah, I was right the first time.

So now I have to snip some knots and unpick a bunch of stitches, but hey. I have learned something from the experience.

The unpicking is going to be so tedious, though. *sigh*

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tiny update

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 03:37:32 GMT

Survived tax day. Was utterly useless at the rental office the following day, but I did manage to do some actual work on Thursday and Friday.

Packed a couple more boxes of books. Probably ought to assembled some more empty boxes and start sorting through clothes and kitchen paraphernalia.

Hmm. I should probably also weed my filing cabinet. I am 100% sure I don't need to bring all those papers with me to Minnesota.

But tomorrow is mostly for unwinding. I will resume productivity Sunday afternoon, after treating myself to brunch.

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bits and pieces of the moving process

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 19:53:04 GMT

On Tuesday, Landlord Dude asked if he could drop by my apartment on Wednesday or Friday to take some photos for use in advertising the unit. I said Wednesday was no good, but Friday was fine.

So I did NOT put off my laundry another week and instead washed everything on Wednesday, as well as tidied a bit. Thursday I did more tidying, put away all the clean laundry, and also baked snickerdoodles for a memorial service because I promised to do that a couple weeks ago and didn't remember until Thursday morning. (This is how me promising cookies for memorial services always goes.)

Then this morning I ran a dustmop across a bunch of surfaces and tidied a couple more things.

Hopefully he will get decent photos!

He also mentioned that he will have to start showing the apartment, which is fair. I do want to get some of the stuff I have been boxing up (or collecting for donation) OUT prior to any strangers tromping around, but that's not really under my control, so whatever.

Three more days at Not the IRS (Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday) and I will be DONE!!! for the year. I don't know if I want to do taxes next year in Minnesota -- on the one hand, I do enjoy the work, but on the other hand, it is a logistical pain in the neck and runs me ragged for 3.5 months of the year. Ah well. We'll see how job searching goes in general before I make a decision on that front.

(Apparently my dad has said that he expects me to live in their basement for 2 to 12 months, which seems like a reasonable range. We all hope it's closer to 2 months, but he suggested that it would be fine for me to lurk in their basement and finish a BA in accounting while doing taxes on the side rather than dive straight into the job market. TBH I would prefer to have a steady job and do school on the side a couple years from now when I am eligible for cheap in-state tuition rates, but. Y'know. Who can say what will make the most sense in six months? *waves hands at the general state of the world*)

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wherein Liz is tired

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 20:53:24 GMT

As the end of tax season draws near (REMINDER TO US CITIZENS & RESIDENTS: file your taxes) I start to feel like cloth worn a bit thin. It's not that I am failing to get enough sleep, or to carve out some time for activities I enjoy, but I basically spend three months working 7 days a week, and even if some of those work days are pretty short (4 or 5 hours), that is still a long time with no true break.

Ah well. Two more weeks and I'll be down to just the normal 40-hour 5-day business week grind.

Then I can swing back into planning and preparing for my move to Minnesota. *sigh*

I have decided to take the entire month of July as a vacation, during which I will road trip to Canada to meet some Narnia friends, possibly also road trip around the Pacific Northwest, and spend a week or so loafing at the family cabin. Absolutely NO work thoughts or housing search thoughts until August.

...I do want to do a bit of preemptive job hunting during April and May, though. If I can get something lined up in advance, that would relieve my mother's anxiety in a BIG way -- and the less stressed she is, the less she will inadvertently stress me. (That is particularly important since I plan to crash in my parents' basement (yes, ha ha, I know) until I have a job and an apartment lined up, and I know from long experience that I react badly when Mom frets in my direction for too long. I prefer to avoid snapping at her, so anything that reduces her reasons to worry is a plus.)

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fidget toys for grownups (more or less); also some moving progress

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 03:41:52 GMT

I went to a chamber music concert this afternoon and remembered to bring my cross-stitch. I adore chamber music, but it is often difficult for me to focus through a concert without drifting. It occurred to me last year that concerts would probably be similar to podcasts and audiobooks, in that having some kind of physical task (fiber craft, cooking, household chores, driving, etcetera) might eat my distraction and let me pay attention to the music.

This is indeed the case! But it requires me to A) have a project that I don't need to be paying VERY close attention to (that is, not a lot of counting stitches) and B) remember to bring the project to the concert.

Anyway the concert was lovely and I made some good progress on my current cross-stitch project. :)

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In unrelated news, I have notified Landlord Dude that I am moving out in mid to late June. The next step is to work out how to hire a storage pod and where to put it. It is not entirely clear if my driveway would work (unpaved, narrow), and if not, whether I could get permission to either drop a pod in the street for a few days or use a couple spaces in the parking lot kitty-corner of my house. So that's a bunch of research and also a small adventure with a measuring tape waiting for me.

I will also continue sorting and discarding 15 years of accumulated stuff, as one does.

And then I think I will notify the rental company of my plans around March 28, which will leave them two full months (plus some fraction of June) to hire and start training a replacement.

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wherein Liz has a nightmare

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 03:22:52 GMT

Got my last tax document yesterday so today I filed my taxes. \o/

I also had an actual client despite the vicious snow squall that blew through the area from 5 to 6pm, so that was nice.

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And now for something completely unrelated to work!

I spent pretty much the entirety of last night sweaty and overheated, to the point where I took off my pajama pants and kept shoving my comforter half off my body. No idea what was going on there, but I suspect it was the cause of the deeply unpleasant nightmare I had.

The dream was loosely based on Stephen King's Pet Sematary and ~helpfully~ featured my own nuclear family in the starring roles. (Context: Pet Sematary is one of the few books that I deliberately set aside rather than finish, not because it was in any way bad -- it's very well written -- but because I could tell EXACTLY where the foreshadowing was leading and I decided I did not want to go there. I stand by this choice.)

I am a semi-lucid dreamer, which meant I was aware that I was dreaming, but I am not a fully lucid dreamer and was therefore unable to successfully derail the dream or force myself awake. Any minor alterations I managed just fed back into the narrative, which of course made the whole thing worse.

When I did finally wake up, I experienced what I am pretty sure was a type of night terror/sleep paralysis. I will swear to any god you like that I saw the translucent, ghostly form of Catherine Tate (yes really. no, I have no idea why) hovering over me and rippling like smoke in the air, and I knew that she had caused the dream, and if she touched me I would get sucked right back into it. And I couldn't move. Couldn't even blink.

In the back of my head part of me was calmly cataloging this, all "This is a night terror, you are hallucinating, ghosts aren't real, there is a perfectly rational scientific explanation for this experience," but that did sweet fuck-all to convince the irrational gibbering occupying the majority of my brain for that handful of seconds.

Anyway I did eventually manage to blink, and then blink again and sit up and wake my phone to create a bit of light. And then I spent about 45 minutes reading about ancient Mesopotamia in hopes that I could create enough of a mental/emotional gap that my brain wouldn't attempt to recreate the same dream when I went back to sleep.

This mostly worked -- a bloodthirsty reanimated cat did appear in my next round of dreams, but my family was not involved and the emotional weight was gone.

I devoutly hope the experience will not repeat itself tonight.

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[Fic] Three Sentence Ficathon 2025 fills, part two

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 17:44:43 GMT

Link to prompt post one (closed for prompts, still open for fills)

Link to prompt post two (closed for prompts, still open for fills)

Link to prompt post three (open for prompts!)

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( 7. ) For anonymous, in response to the prompt: Any, any, dysfunctional found family, written 1/14/25

But Not (Quite) Broken (215 words)

Fandom = Nine Worlds

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"Does it make me a terrible person that I occasionally feel it might have been for the best that the Silver Forest scattered us across the nine worlds?" Jullanar asked Sardeet over the table, heavily laden with tea and cakes and dishes of glazed fruit and bowls of sugared ice; "By that point, I'm not sure most of us much liked each other anymore, but Fitzroy would have reacted... ah... badly, shall we say, to any suggestion that we part ways in a less dramatic fashion, and the consequences of any wild magic he might have flung around in response don't bear thinking of, neither for what he might have done to us in a panic, nor for the sort of person (to say nothing of the sort of Emperor!) he might have become with that in his past. What did happen was horrific, of course, but at least it left us with a memory of friendship strained rather than utterly shattered."

Sardeet popped a slice of peach into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully before saying, "I think those are entirely understandable feelings, and in any case actions are what truly matter when weighing a person's virtue -- that said, I wouldn't mention those thoughts around Fitzroy unless he or his Kip raise the possibility first."

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( 8. ) For lumiosecity, in response to the prompt: Any two fandoms, any crossover ship, second date, written 1/15/25

Warning Signs (195 words)

Fandoms = Chronicles of Narnia/The Dark Is Rising

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"This has been a thoroughly enjoyable evening, Merriman," Professor Pevensie said as she folded and set aside her napkin and reached for the glass of eiswein she had ordered to accompany her dessert, "but if you would like me to agree to a third such outing, to say nothing of anything beyond, I think we had best lay our cards on the table: I know that you're much older than you look, that you have some magical responsibility you consider dreadfully important, and that you have been subtly angling since we first met to discover if I have traveled through time. I propose to answer any questions you have if -- and only if! -- you can reassure me that you have no intention of ever using children as pawns in your great game, however necessary that may seem."

As Merriman drank a measured sip of his own whiskey, buying time to order his thoughts, Professor Pevensie added, "Ends may seem as though they justify means, my dear, but I assure you that means have a way of shaping ends in their own likeness, and I should hate to think badly of a man I otherwise respect."

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( 9. ) For wingedflight, in response to the prompt: any, any, lyrics do not work on me, written 1/16/25

Points for Effort (140 words)

Fandom = The Magnus Archives

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"Roses come in many colors/ violets are purple or white/ this poem is just to ask/ you to cook golabki tonight?" Martin read in a voice that, while it didn't quiver or break into laughter, was nonetheless tinged with an unmistakable air of incredulity.

"I know I'm somehow worse at writing poetry than I am at understanding or savoring it," Jon said, apparently unembarrassed at Martin's (shamefully) obvious judgment of his wordsmithing, "but I thought that if I enjoy your work because it's yours, you might appreciate if I made an effort, and the base format I started from is considered traditionally romantic -- I'm also open to tutoring if you think that might help."

Martin pulled him into a hug, the scrap of doggerel still clutched tightly in one hand; "You're ridiculous and I can't believe that worked on me."

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( 10. ) For topaz_eyes, in response to the prompt: Any, any, I’m counting the steps to the door of your heart, written 1/21/25

The Ones That Got Away (150 words)

Fandom = Nine Worlds

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Before her theft of the Lady's son, Violet mattered in the way of any valuable possession; after, Lark found her thoughts turning increasingly to ways to win her back, the same way Jemis had only truly begun to preoccupy her after he tore free, impossibly, from her snares at Morrowlea: Violet had declared herself an opponent rather than an obstacle or a tool, finally worthy of attention. Someone worth the effort to keep.

That both of Lark's erstwhile lovers feared and hated her was beside the point; obedience could be compelled (now that she knew compulsion was needed) and love was perfectly compatible with nearly any emotion aside from apathy; once she had them in her hands, she merely needed time to find and unlock the doors into their hearts, patience to thread the labyrinth of their limits and desires, until those brilliant, reckless souls hunted willingly at her command.

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( 11. ) For rionaleonhart, in response to the prompt: Any fandom, the first two characters to come to mind when you see this prompt, only one bed, written 1/21/25

An Attempt Was Made (150 words)

Fandom = Chronicles of Narnia

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"Um," Lucy said as she pushed aside the flap of the tent the Narnians had directed them toward, and which a Leopard and a Hare had boasted, quite excitedly, was equipped with everything appropriate to Humans; Susan shot a concerned look toward Peter at the slightly strangled note in their sister's voice, lifted the fabric a bit higher so she could peer over Lucy's shoulder, and then said in a similarly awkward tone, "Ah."

"Do I want to know what Narnians think 'appropriate to Humans' means?" Peter asked; "Please tell me they at least managed blankets -- I can do without a bed, but I expect tonight will be cold even with the magical thaw."

"They not only managed blankets, they managed a bed: frame, pillow, and all," Susan said; "Unfortunately, there's only one, I think it must be sized for Dwarfs, and there's no way all of us will fit."

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( 12. ) For syrena_of_the_lake, in response to the prompt: Any fandom, any character, as sharp as a sack of wet mice, written 1/21/25

Mean What You Say (110 words)

Fandom = Nine Worlds

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"Point of clarification," Cliopher said, and then repeated himself at greater volume until he broke through the flow of Prince Rufus's peroration. "Apologies for the interruption, but I'm unfamiliar with the phrase 'as sharp as a sack of wet mice,' which I presume is an Amboloyan idiom, and unfortunately cannot parse the intended meaning; obviously a sack of mice would be an inadequate substitute for a knife, but mouse teeth are surprisingly pointed and a sack of wet mice would be strongly motivated to bite anything in range. I'm concerned that the minutes won't clearly convey your intent, and I therefore request a paraphrase -- for the historical record, you understand."

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More to come!

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[Fic] Three Sentence Ficathon 2025 fills, part one

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 04:49:51 GMT

Link to prompt post one (closed for prompts, still open for fills)

Link to prompt post two (currently open)

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( 1. ) For araknifae, in response to the prompt: Any, Any, catching an inconvenient cold, written 1/10/25

Common and Ordinary Woes (185 words)

Fandom = Nine Worlds

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The first sneeze caught me by surprise -- wetter and somehow drawn from deeper in my airway than usual -- and I frowned as I pulled a handkerchief from my coat pocket, for there was no pollen or dust here in Elderflower Books, nor had Mr. Dart given me any warning of strange magic afoot when I passed by Dartington on my morning run.

"Did I hear-- ah, so I did," said Mrs. Etaris as she emerged from the back room with a handful of recently purchased books she had been skimming through to decide on their pricing and shelving; "Jemis, go upstairs, make yourself a pot of tea, and take the rest of the day off to rest -- hopefully that will cut this off at the pass and you'll feel recovered enough to host the knitting circle tomorrow night as planned."

She seemed to catch my confusion for she smiled somewhat wryly and added, "You've caught a cold -- best prepare yourself to listen to at least a dozen well-meant lectures about this being only the natural consequence of running in the snow without a proper coat."

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( 2. ) For templefugate, in response to the prompt: DC, Barbara Gordon/Dinah Lance, sexting, written 1/12/25.

The Direct Approach (95 words)

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O: I'm quite certain that sending me videos of yourself masturbating is well beyond the boundaries of a professional relationship, even if you did include several pieces of actionable intelligence in your "incoherent" babbling

BC: listen a girls gotta make do when her usual lines of communication arent working -- no shade to your gadgets or hacking, but we both know sometimes theres no substitute for a personal touch 😘

O: ...Fair play. I'll expect you in the Clocktower in ten

BC: babe im already at your window. kill the lasers and let me in

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( 3. ) For scytale, in response to the prompt: Any, any, fox (metaphorical or demonic or ordinary), written 1/12/25.

Mushrooms and Mischief (330 words)

Fandom = Nine Worlds

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"Jemis, have you heard that your twa-tailed vixen has begun answering questions from children?" Mrs. Henny the Post asked from behind her desk as I scraped snow off my boots in the doorway and fished out the letters I had come to mail. "What times we live in!"

"That sounds somewhat, ah, concerning," I said, trying to convey my confusion and worry without seeming too alarmed, since I assumed Mrs. Henny would have opened more directly if anything truly dire had occurred. "Dare I ask for details?"

Mrs. Henny beamed at me. "Oh, it was grand ridiculous nonsense, from what I've been told. Young Daphne Overmorrow found the fox sitting on her doorstep when she stepped out to fetch in the day's milk delivery, and promptly asked the fox where she could find mushrooms to add to an omelet. To which the fox replied, 'Where have you found mushrooms before?' Whereupon Daphne said, 'But mushrooms don't grow in the winter,' which is not properly a question, but nonetheless the fox replied, 'When do mushrooms sprout?'"

I began to develop an idea of where this tale was leading, and gestured (with the hand not clutching my letters) for Mrs. Henny to continue.

Delighted, she did so: "For her third question, or perhaps statement, young Miss Overmorrow said, 'They sprout when it's warm and everything is muddy and rotting,' and the fox winked and asked, 'Where can you bring earth and wood to stay warm?'"

"And now the Overmorrow house is full of muck from the forest floor?" I asked.

"Indeed it is, and both Mr. and Mrs. Overmorrow are in a right state but don't feel quite safe telling their daughter to ignore answers from a fairy fox," Mrs. Henny concluded. "Naturally they consider it your fault, so I expect one or the other will stop by the bookstore to complain. I suggest you have a book or two on mushroom farming on hand to help them sort out the mess."

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( 4. ) For be_themoon, in response to the prompt: The Nine Worlds, any, we'll set something ablaze / a trail for the devil to erase, written 1/12/25.

Illumination (100 words)

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"When all of Alinor rests in my hands, I think I shall set Morrowlea alight," Lark said in the cold, thoughtful voice Violet had learned to both love and dread; "Or perhaps only the staff -- the structures could easily be repurposed into a stronghold from which to govern the surrounding country, and I do dislike waste."

"The flames would surely prove most instructive," Violet agreed, "especially if paired with your generous sponsorship of other, less impractical, universities."

She left unspoken that the lessons one might draw from such a conflagration might not be solely the ones Lark meant to teach.

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( 5. ) For anonymous, in response to the prompt: any, any f/f pairing, that thing you did with your tongue, written 1/12/25.

Absence Makes (160 words)

Fandom = Nine Worlds

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My dearest Violet (and I do hold you dear, though I know you will either dismiss the sentiment or think to yourself that any possession may be dear to its owner), do not burn this letter until you have read its entirety; you may hand it to Jemis to search for codes if you like, but I think neither of you would take pleasure in the resulting conversation, and in any case I have no need to bother with subterfuge.

Instead I am writing to say that I have yet to find anyone else who can properly manage that trick you did with your tongue: neither the one where you pressed the tip up into my heat like a spear and drank me as though I were water to a woman dying of thirst, nor the one where you spoke two truths but only allowed me to hear the one I expected.

Have you yet found anyone to equal me?

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( 6. ) For topaz_eyes, in response to the prompt: Any, any, My pirate days are over, written 1/13/25

What Marian's Bound To Do (220 words)

Fandom = Nine Worlds

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Jullanar wonders, now and then during slow days in her bookshop, or when forced to smile and play happy families with her blackmailing mother-in-law, what it might have been like to raise children in the midst of the Red Company rather than Ragnor Bella -- would her friends have reached out to lift the babies from her hands so she could fight or argue or cause a distraction, or would she have found herself relegated once more to the background she had struggled so long and hard to leave behind? What would those hypothetical children have learned on those hypothetical journeys? Would the forces of Astandalas have caught them in the end? Would they have survived the Fall?

But might-have-beens are no place to dwell for long, so she folds those half-spun dreams and lays them aside for the next day when the thought of spending the rest of her life tied to Benneret Etaris and a twenty-mile slice of South Fiellan makes her teeth itch and her skin feel too tight for her soul.

Her outlaw days are done for now, though she hopes she's raised her children to face adventures with more composure than she mustered in her own youth, should some strange fate befall them.

And as for her own future -- well, might-yet-bes are a different beast altogether.

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More to come!

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assorted daily stuff

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 04:56:22 GMT

I had a dentist appointment this morning to fix an old filling that had gone bad. We were also initially scheduled to do a second filling at the same time, but the dentist decided that since one of the affected teeth was in the upper right quadrant and the other was in the lower left quadrant, doing both fillings would potentially leave me with no good chewing surfaces if either tooth was sensitive after the Novocain wore off.

So now I have a THIRD appointment scheduled for January 28. *sigh*

On the bright side, the filling replacement seems to have gone well and I am not, in fact, having any pain. I also got the dentist to shave down the little scraggly bit on the filling she replaced a couple weeks ago, so it is no longer snagging food, my floss, or my tongue. \o/

Other things done today:

1. Completed a renewal lease and made good progress on creating a key plan for the 1st floor of one of our largest buildings.

2. Uploaded a batch of my 2023 Three Sentence Ficathon fills to AO3.

3. Refilled my blood pressure meds.

4. Bought groceries (and upon getting home immediately realized several items I forgot, so I made a new list)

5. Prepped for laundry tomorrow.

6. Wrote one (1) Three Sentence Ficathon fill.

And now I shall go to bed. :)

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