The Day in Spikedluv (Friday, July 4)
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spikedluvHappy belated The Original No Kings Day.
I had mom duty from 8am to 3pm. Before I left I hand-washed some dishes and changed kitty litter. I returned a book to the library on my way there. While I was at mom’s I went for a walk. (I had eyed up this walk previously, thinking it would be close to my half-mile walks, but this was the first time I tried it. It turned out to be .65 mi, but it was a nice walk. Aside from the horrid sidewalks. The village really needs to fix the sidewalks, which have been in poor condition since I was a child, and probably before that.)
When I got home I did more hand-washing of dishes, grilled steak for Pip’s supper, shaved, and tossed a load of bath towel in the washer (AND dryer!).
I started the next Amelia Peabody book.
Temps started out at 57.4(F) and reached 77. It was a lovely day, sunny with a strong breeze.
Mom Update:
Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )
I had mom duty from 8am to 3pm. Before I left I hand-washed some dishes and changed kitty litter. I returned a book to the library on my way there. While I was at mom’s I went for a walk. (I had eyed up this walk previously, thinking it would be close to my half-mile walks, but this was the first time I tried it. It turned out to be .65 mi, but it was a nice walk. Aside from the horrid sidewalks. The village really needs to fix the sidewalks, which have been in poor condition since I was a child, and probably before that.)
When I got home I did more hand-washing of dishes, grilled steak for Pip’s supper, shaved, and tossed a load of bath towel in the washer (AND dryer!).
I started the next Amelia Peabody book.
Temps started out at 57.4(F) and reached 77. It was a lovely day, sunny with a strong breeze.
Mom Update:
Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )
Interesting Links for 05-07-2025
Jul. 5th, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Kent council bans transgender books in children's library section
- (tags:bigotry lgbt transgender uk library )
- 2. The story behind George Lucas rewriting/reshooting Anakin's turn to the dark side after principal photography had concluded on Revenge of the Sith
- (tags:StarWars )
- 3. Capybara! On! Ice!
- (tags:ice cute animals video )
- 4. Scotland pupils show rising reading comprehension
- (tags:Scotland reading GoodNews children )
- 5. Hundreds of robots move Shanghai city block
- (tags:robots china cities architecture video )
- 6. You will own nothing and be happy (Stop Killing Games)
- (tags:games technology history )
Well, that was unexpected and unpleasant
Jul. 6th, 2025 06:43 amconuly( Though, upon reflection, it's surprising that this hasn't happened before in 30+ years of menstruation )
I'd say that was the worst thing to happen this weekend, but then I glanced at the news, and how do things keep getting worse? I thought we might at least get a reprieve over the holiday weekend, Congress would all go on vacation and not pass any terrible bills in the interim, but I guess not.
I'm not linking to it, not today. I know how to take a break, even if they don't. Take this article on amenorrhea instead.
I'd say that was the worst thing to happen this weekend, but then I glanced at the news, and how do things keep getting worse? I thought we might at least get a reprieve over the holiday weekend, Congress would all go on vacation and not pass any terrible bills in the interim, but I guess not.
I'm not linking to it, not today. I know how to take a break, even if they don't. Take this article on amenorrhea instead.
All of my ghosts are my home
Jul. 4th, 2025 11:32 pmsovayOn the normality front, our street is full of cracks and bangs and whooshes from fireworks set off around the neighborhood, none so far combustibly. Otherwise I spent this Fourth of July with my husbands and my parents and eleven leaves of milkweed on which the monarch seen fluttering around the yard this afternoon had left her progeny. My hair still smells like grill smoke. Due to the size of one of the hamburgers, I folded it over into a double-decker with cheese and avocado and chipotle mayo and regret nothing about the hipster Dagwood sandwich. A quantity of peach pie and strawberries and cream were highlights of the dessert after a walk into the Great Meadows where the black water had risen under the boardwalk and the water lilies were growing in profusion from the last, droughtier time we had passed that way. I do not know the species of bird that has built a nest in the rhododendron beside the summer kitchen, but the three eggs in it are dye-blue.
On the non-normality front, I meant it about the spite: watching my country stripped for parts for the cruelty of it, half remixed atrocities, half sprint into dystopia, however complicated the American definition has always been, right now it still means my family of queers and rootless cosmopolitans and as most of the holidays we observe assert, we are still here. It's peculiar. I was not raised to think of my nationality as an important part of myself so much as an accident of history, much like the chain of immigrations and migrations that led to my birth in Boston. I was raised to carry home with me, not locate it in geography. I've been asked my whole life where I really come from. This administration in both its nameless rounds has managed to make me territorial about my country beyond the mechanisms of its democracy whose guardrails turned out to be such movable goalposts. It enrages me to be expected not to care that I have seen the pendulum swing like a wrecking ball in my lifetime, as if the trajectory were so inevitable that it absolves the avarice to do harm or the cowardice to prevent it. It is nothing to do with statues. The door to the stranger is supposed to be open.
The wet meadows of the Great Meadows are peatlands. They were cut for fuel in the nineteenth century, the surrealism of fossil fuels: twelve thousand years after the glaciers, ashes in a night. The color of their smoke filled the air sixteen years ago when some of the dryer acres burned. If you ask me, there's room for bog bodies.
On the non-normality front, I meant it about the spite: watching my country stripped for parts for the cruelty of it, half remixed atrocities, half sprint into dystopia, however complicated the American definition has always been, right now it still means my family of queers and rootless cosmopolitans and as most of the holidays we observe assert, we are still here. It's peculiar. I was not raised to think of my nationality as an important part of myself so much as an accident of history, much like the chain of immigrations and migrations that led to my birth in Boston. I was raised to carry home with me, not locate it in geography. I've been asked my whole life where I really come from. This administration in both its nameless rounds has managed to make me territorial about my country beyond the mechanisms of its democracy whose guardrails turned out to be such movable goalposts. It enrages me to be expected not to care that I have seen the pendulum swing like a wrecking ball in my lifetime, as if the trajectory were so inevitable that it absolves the avarice to do harm or the cowardice to prevent it. It is nothing to do with statues. The door to the stranger is supposed to be open.
The wet meadows of the Great Meadows are peatlands. They were cut for fuel in the nineteenth century, the surrealism of fossil fuels: twelve thousand years after the glaciers, ashes in a night. The color of their smoke filled the air sixteen years ago when some of the dryer acres burned. If you ask me, there's room for bog bodies.
Movies watched in June
Jul. 5th, 2025 08:12 amshallownessCinema:
I saw The Ballad of Wallis Island in a screening with about twenty of us in the cinema. It has bags of charm, and, indeed, heart, a tight script (the two leads and director developed it from a short film), with great rhythym between the leads. It’s a comic drama, I guess, about a rich superfan arranging a very intimate gig from his favourite folk rock duo, who haven’t seen each other since splitting nine years ago. It’s hyperspecific, but I think it’ll translate even if you don’t get all the references.
Streaming: I finally watched Tenet.
!?!?
I thought I understood the central conceit, but the longer it went on the more confused I was. The people and objects moving in reverse thing is cool to watch, and I generally got the emotional stakes, but I mainly understood this for its place in Nolan’s ouevre (I am one of the people who did not get the timey-wimey stuff in Dunkirk, Interstellar lost me, and there are some bits of Inception that it took me years to understand.) This is less accessible than Inception, so even had the timing of its release been different, I don’t think it would have saved cinema, however big the stunts are, although with some of them, I was reminded of stunts from his Batman trilogy etc, and not just because Pattinson is in it. ‘Oh well,’ I thought when Robert Oppenheimer was referenced, ‘Nolan’s next film will be a success.’ The acting is good, Branagh is just on the right side of not going too big, although Debicki might be in danger of getting typecast (big The Night Manager vibes.) Washington jr has presence.
But !?!?
I also watched A Little White Lie, a comedy set at a literature festival, where a handyman with the same name as a reclusive author who wrote one hit novel agrees to attend a struggling festival. It’s got a strong cast – Michael Shannon plays the lead, Kate Hudson is winning as the professor who is in charge of the festival – a smart script, though it’s more amusing than laugh-out-loud funny, which The Ballad of Wallis Island was, with a non-naturalistic twist (though it doesn’t go as far as American Fiction.) I liked it because it was ultimately rewarding kindness, but it might strike some people as too kooky. (Full disclosure: have never been to a proper literary festival and have a strained relationship with lit fic.)
I saw The Ballad of Wallis Island in a screening with about twenty of us in the cinema. It has bags of charm, and, indeed, heart, a tight script (the two leads and director developed it from a short film), with great rhythym between the leads. It’s a comic drama, I guess, about a rich superfan arranging a very intimate gig from his favourite folk rock duo, who haven’t seen each other since splitting nine years ago. It’s hyperspecific, but I think it’ll translate even if you don’t get all the references.
Streaming: I finally watched Tenet.
!?!?
I thought I understood the central conceit, but the longer it went on the more confused I was. The people and objects moving in reverse thing is cool to watch, and I generally got the emotional stakes, but I mainly understood this for its place in Nolan’s ouevre (I am one of the people who did not get the timey-wimey stuff in Dunkirk, Interstellar lost me, and there are some bits of Inception that it took me years to understand.) This is less accessible than Inception, so even had the timing of its release been different, I don’t think it would have saved cinema, however big the stunts are, although with some of them, I was reminded of stunts from his Batman trilogy etc, and not just because Pattinson is in it. ‘Oh well,’ I thought when Robert Oppenheimer was referenced, ‘Nolan’s next film will be a success.’ The acting is good, Branagh is just on the right side of not going too big, although Debicki might be in danger of getting typecast (big The Night Manager vibes.) Washington jr has presence.
But !?!?
I also watched A Little White Lie, a comedy set at a literature festival, where a handyman with the same name as a reclusive author who wrote one hit novel agrees to attend a struggling festival. It’s got a strong cast – Michael Shannon plays the lead, Kate Hudson is winning as the professor who is in charge of the festival – a smart script, though it’s more amusing than laugh-out-loud funny, which The Ballad of Wallis Island was, with a non-naturalistic twist (though it doesn’t go as far as American Fiction.) I liked it because it was ultimately rewarding kindness, but it might strike some people as too kooky. (Full disclosure: have never been to a proper literary festival and have a strained relationship with lit fic.)
To-read pile, 2025, June
Jul. 5th, 2025 08:00 amrmc28Books on pre-order:
- Queen Demon (Rising World 2) by Martha Wells (7 Oct 2025)
Books acquired in June:
- and read:
- Playing for Keeps by K A Findlay (Kim Findlay) [7]
- The Charlie Method (Campus Diaries 3) by Elle Kennedy
- and unread:
- Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen
- Sort Your Head Out by Sam Delaney
- The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
Borrowed books read in June:
- Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
- The Domino Pattern (Quadrail 4) by Timothy Zahn [8]
- Judgment at Proteus (Quadrail 5) by Timothy Zahn [8]
Annoyingly, when I thought I'd cancelled my KU subscription in May, Amazon thought I'd suspended it for a month, so I got charged again in June. And as the above makes clear, I didn't really get my value for the month of it. The Timothy Zahn Quadrail series is really fun (Trains! In Space! And also galaxy-spanning conspiracy and action adventure with really interesting aliens!) and I'm glad I got to finish it, but I have now definitely and for real cancelled the subscription until further notice.
I don't expect to read much this month either, with the women's football Euros running most of the month. Farocation is running again and I didn't yet get through all the books from last summer, so I'm being even pickier about which ones I decide to pick up this summer.
[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book
[4] Crowdfunding
[5] Goodbye read
[6] Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens
[7] FaRoFeb / FaRoCation / Bookmas / HRBC
[8] Prime Reading / Kindle Unlimited
I am now the proud owner of a secondhand Steam deck! Rec me games!
Jul. 5th, 2025 07:02 amrydra_wongA whole world of games not playable on Mac has opened up to me, and it's Steam summer sale time!
Please rec me your favourite games, bearing in mind that I have very limited reflexes/co-ordination.
(I'm not completely ruling out games involving them, but the threshold for entry has to be very very low. I am currently enjoying Refunct because it allows me to try some simple platforming in a very chill and pleasant environment with no time pressure and no penalties for taking several hundred tries to get a jump.)
Please rec me your favourite games, bearing in mind that I have very limited reflexes/co-ordination.
(I'm not completely ruling out games involving them, but the threshold for entry has to be very very low. I am currently enjoying Refunct because it allows me to try some simple platforming in a very chill and pleasant environment with no time pressure and no penalties for taking several hundred tries to get a jump.)
🚨 Assignments are due in one week! 🚨
Jul. 5th, 2025 02:08 pmcasemod posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
caseficexchangeThis is not a mistimed April's Fool joke. We are one week out from our assignment due date! Where has the time flown? Perhaps that's another case for a plucky detective to take on…
Please be aware that if you do not turn in a work and do not default, you may be banned from participating in the next round.
This exchange allows extensions; however, I will not be granting extensions if they are requested after the assignment due date (Friday 11 July). If you need an extension, please ask before this date!
Please email gumshoeagency@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns. Our rules and guidelines have information about defaulting and extensions.
We have deliciously mysterious pinch hits that are available for creating problems to be solved!
Happy creating! See you in a week. 😅
Assignments, including pinch hits assigned prior to Friday 27 June, are due on Friday 11 July at 11:59pm EDT [ In your timezone + Countdown ]. The first batch of pinch hits claimed after the default deadline (that was Friday 27 June) are due Friday 18 July at 11:59pm EDT [ In your timezone ].
Please be aware that if you do not turn in a work and do not default, you may be banned from participating in the next round.
This exchange allows extensions; however, I will not be granting extensions if they are requested after the assignment due date (Friday 11 July). If you need an extension, please ask before this date!
Please email gumshoeagency@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns. Our rules and guidelines have information about defaulting and extensions.
We have deliciously mysterious pinch hits that are available for creating problems to be solved!
Happy creating! See you in a week. 😅
(no subject)
Jul. 4th, 2025 11:38 pmaurumcalendulaI'm at the annoying vidding stage where I have an idea but not a song yet (and all the potential ones I've listened to feel not quite right).
Two Guardian fics: Sunshine and Honey (M-rated) and Pages for You (T-rated)
Jul. 5th, 2025 03:20 pmchina_shopI wrote a self-indulgent Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan treat for idproquo and a post-canon Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan domestic-fluff flashfic for the fan_flashworks Amnesty round. Thanks to trobadora for beta on both of them! <3
Title: Sunshine and Honey (4126 words) [Mature]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Outdoor Sex, Feeding, Finger Sucking, Oral Fixation, First Kiss (for one of them), First time (for one of them), Treat
Summary:
Title: Pages for You (1762 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Fade to Black, Community: fan_flashworks
Summary:
idproquo and a post-canon Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan domestic-fluff flashfic for the fan_flashworks Amnesty round. Thanks to trobadora for beta on both of them! <3Title: Sunshine and Honey (4126 words) [Mature]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Outdoor Sex, Feeding, Finger Sucking, Oral Fixation, First Kiss (for one of them), First time (for one of them), Treat
Summary:
They were halfway to the Allied Forces’ southern boundary when the sun came out. Shen Wei pulled back his hood and looked around, conscious of the breeze on his bare face. The heavy clouds were finally breaking up.
Meanwhile, Kunlun had dropped his bag and flopped onto his back on the grassy slope. “Let’s rest here a while.”
Title: Pages for You (1762 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Fade to Black, Community: fan_flashworks
Summary:
Over the course of the evening, an impulse had taken root, and now Shen Wei submitted to it. He switched on his desk lamp, laid out several large sheets of paper and quietly ground some ink. If Zhao Yunlan wanted to read of their time together through the eyes of a Dixingren soldier, who better than Shen Wei to write an account—to show Zhao Yunlan exactly how much his arrival had meant to the war effort and to Shen Wei himself.
Me-and-media update
Jul. 5th, 2025 03:06 pmchina_shopPrevious poll review
In the Routine poll, 84.2% of respondents voted for tooth-brushing, 50.9% for locking up and switching things off around the house, and 33.3% for tending to pets. Night-time routines taking more than half an hour got 24.6%, and "sometimes it takes me an hour or more" got 7%. *high fives*
In ticky-boxes, hugs won with 75.4%, followed by "how stressful it is to ask tradespeople to change things they've done" with 57.9% and "sitting on a mountain ledge in the moonlight, listening to owls" with 56.1%. Thank you for your votes! <3
Reading
Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm, who sounds exactly like Emma Thompson. I spent the middle third of this being unsure what the plot was (or if there even was a plot; "is this a cosy magic-school story?" I asked nobody in particular). Things stirred ominously under the surface, but the tension relied on the reader being more worried about them than the mostly oblivious POV character -- which was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it very much.
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain). A few more chapters. I'm past halfway and it still feels like setup, which I guess is a function of it being the first book of five.
A tiny bit more of Neurotribes. I'm bored with the case studies/anecdotes and ready for some theory.
Two more chapters of Guardian by priest.
My Whimsy binge stalled after bouncing off three different narrators for The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. None of them hit the humour right. I suppose I'm going to have to read in text, but Prydain first (and I still haven't finished my reread of Werecockroach, note to self).
Kdramas
I finished Our Unwritten Seoul and enjoyed it very much. It's about 30yo identical twins, one who works in a corporate office in Seoul, and one who lives in their hometown and does a series of temporary and part-time jobs. The office worker is miserable from being bullied at work, so they decide to swap lives. Contains some pretty good (in my inexpert opinion) disability rep, and
I cancelled my VIKI subscription earlier this week because I wasn't using it, so of course I immediately started watching My Dearest Nemesis, as recced byadore. It has a bit of a "based on a webtoon" feel, but I'm fine with that, and it's a neat twist on the Obnoxious Repressed Chaebol Exec trope. (The leading man is leading a double life: he's a closet fanboy, but his family and position require him to present as a 100% bland, respectable businessman.) I'm obsessed!
Note to self: check out First Night with the Duke next. And maybe renew your VIKI subscription.
Other TV
Poker Face and Murderbot continue to be enjoyable (we're an episode behind on each of them). I found the second half of Andor season 2 a lot more engaging than the first half (and might like the first half more on the rewatch; yet to be determined). Another episode each of Étoile and Krapopolis. The Old Guard 2 on Netflix.
A rewatch of French film Rosalie Blum, which I love.
Guardian/Fandom
The continuing delights of read-alongs and polls.
Audio entertainment
A little bit of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American (US constitutional-law context for current developments), a little bit of Midnight Burger (audiodrama), most of the first season of Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones (which I'm enjoying despite not being familiar with DWJ's earlier books).
Writing/making things
I wrote a flashfic for thefan_flashworks amnesty round and am poking at a couple of WIPs. My brain seems to be in recovery mode. My only current deadline is the fan_flashworks Science round.
Life/health/mental state things
My thumbs/hands/wrists are not in great shape. My body is working hard to metabolise ambient stress. (*hugs to everyone*) I'm feeling a little under siege by winter and ~the state of things~, but I saw my sister for the first time in weeks (she's had a cold), a friend came over for lunch on Thursday, and last night our tv-watching friend joined us for Rosalie Blum.
Good things
Chocolate. Andrew and Halle. Fandom and all of you. Polls. Kdramas. Books. Podcasts. Eminem. Writing when it happens. AO3 (*clutches*). Love, kindness, and diversity.
In the Routine poll, 84.2% of respondents voted for tooth-brushing, 50.9% for locking up and switching things off around the house, and 33.3% for tending to pets. Night-time routines taking more than half an hour got 24.6%, and "sometimes it takes me an hour or more" got 7%. *high fives*
In ticky-boxes, hugs won with 75.4%, followed by "how stressful it is to ask tradespeople to change things they've done" with 57.9% and "sitting on a mountain ledge in the moonlight, listening to owls" with 56.1%. Thank you for your votes! <3
Reading
Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm, who sounds exactly like Emma Thompson. I spent the middle third of this being unsure what the plot was (or if there even was a plot; "is this a cosy magic-school story?" I asked nobody in particular). Things stirred ominously under the surface, but the tension relied on the reader being more worried about them than the mostly oblivious POV character -- which was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it very much.
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain). A few more chapters. I'm past halfway and it still feels like setup, which I guess is a function of it being the first book of five.
A tiny bit more of Neurotribes. I'm bored with the case studies/anecdotes and ready for some theory.
Two more chapters of Guardian by priest.
My Whimsy binge stalled after bouncing off three different narrators for The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. None of them hit the humour right. I suppose I'm going to have to read in text, but Prydain first (and I still haven't finished my reread of Werecockroach, note to self).
Kdramas
I finished Our Unwritten Seoul and enjoyed it very much. It's about 30yo identical twins, one who works in a corporate office in Seoul, and one who lives in their hometown and does a series of temporary and part-time jobs. The office worker is miserable from being bullied at work, so they decide to swap lives. Contains some pretty good (in my inexpert opinion) disability rep, and
I approved of both the morals (spoilers)
1) if you bottle things up and don't let people see your vulnerability, you can't feel their love; and 2) love isn't about winning or losing, or whether you're a burden; it's about being on the same team, staying together, and supporting each other as you win or lose. <3 <3 <3 (I was so happy when Ho-su stopped pushing Mi-ji away, and with the ending when they used sign language sometimes. <3 <3 <3)I cancelled my VIKI subscription earlier this week because I wasn't using it, so of course I immediately started watching My Dearest Nemesis, as recced by
adore. It has a bit of a "based on a webtoon" feel, but I'm fine with that, and it's a neat twist on the Obnoxious Repressed Chaebol Exec trope. (The leading man is leading a double life: he's a closet fanboy, but his family and position require him to present as a 100% bland, respectable businessman.) I'm obsessed! Note to self: check out First Night with the Duke next. And maybe renew your VIKI subscription.
Other TV
Poker Face and Murderbot continue to be enjoyable (we're an episode behind on each of them). I found the second half of Andor season 2 a lot more engaging than the first half (and might like the first half more on the rewatch; yet to be determined). Another episode each of Étoile and Krapopolis. The Old Guard 2 on Netflix.
Tiny spoiler for the very end.
Andrew was disgusted that, at the end, as [redacted] leave the secret archive full of ancient texts, they turn out the light but leave candles burning. "What about the ancient books?!" LOL!A rewatch of French film Rosalie Blum, which I love.
Guardian/Fandom
The continuing delights of read-alongs and polls.
Audio entertainment
A little bit of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American (US constitutional-law context for current developments), a little bit of Midnight Burger (audiodrama), most of the first season of Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones (which I'm enjoying despite not being familiar with DWJ's earlier books).
Writing/making things
I wrote a flashfic for the
fan_flashworks amnesty round and am poking at a couple of WIPs. My brain seems to be in recovery mode. My only current deadline is the fan_flashworks Science round.Life/health/mental state things
My thumbs/hands/wrists are not in great shape. My body is working hard to metabolise ambient stress. (*hugs to everyone*) I'm feeling a little under siege by winter and ~the state of things~, but I saw my sister for the first time in weeks (she's had a cold), a friend came over for lunch on Thursday, and last night our tv-watching friend joined us for Rosalie Blum.
Good things
Chocolate. Andrew and Halle. Fandom and all of you. Polls. Kdramas. Books. Podcasts. Eminem. Writing when it happens. AO3 (*clutches*). Love, kindness, and diversity.
Poll #33324 Crowd-sourcing randomness
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18
Crowd-sourcing randomness
View Answers
heads
4 (22.2%)
tails
5 (27.8%)
edge
5 (27.8%)
zero-g (the coin never falls)
6 (33.3%)
ticky-box full of grumbly cats in search of treats
12 (66.7%)
ticky-box full of being protective of your blorbos
12 (66.7%)
ticky-box full of surviving AO3 outages
13 (72.2%)
ticky-box full of soft, bright-green moss nestled at the base of a tree, glittering with beads of dew
11 (61.1%)
ticky-box full of hugs
14 (77.8%)
BOOM
Jul. 4th, 2025 10:33 pmjadelennoxI've been trying very hard to cheerful!post this week because I'm frequently struggling to breathe, as one does these days. You all know how it is. I was planning on posting from the perfect 4 July book (The Westing Game). But when I looked at the exact words of the quotation, it felt much too on the nose:
The sun has set on your Uncle Sam. Happy birthday, Crow. And to all of my heirs, a very happy Fourth of July.
So, okay, I thinks to myself. I'll quote my other favorite Fourth of July bit from the end. But when I looked it up, uh. That didn't feel any less apropos to the moment?
Turtle?"
"I'm right here, Sandy." She took his hand.
"Turtle, tell Crow to pray for me."
His hands turned cold, not smooth, not waxy, just very, very cold.
Turtle turned to the window. The sun was rising out of Lake Michigan. It was tomorrow. It was the Fourth of July.
Ah, well. Ready for a nice game of chess?
Book Review
Jul. 4th, 2025 10:02 pmkenjariMiss Wonderful
by Loretta Chase
This historical romance was glorious. Alistair Carsington is a scandalous dandy and hero of Waterloo left with a damaged leg and PTSD. In order to prove himself to his demanding father, he agrees to help his friend Lord Gordmor plan a canal in Derbyshire. However, Alistair finds himself facing stiff opposition from Mirabel Oldridge, a smart, practical spinster who has been managing her father's vast estate for years, ever since he descended into an obsession with botany. As they face off, they find that not only are they enormously attracted to each other, they find each other both admirable and fascinating. True love ensues.
I enjoyed this romance immensely. Both Alistair and Mirabel were terrific characters that I loved and rooted for. Alistair is very earnest and determined - he has lot of courage and heart. He's not selfish and wants to do right by those around him. His struggles with PTSD made him achingly vulnerable. Mirabel is smart, stubborn, and very capable. She works so hard and has sacrificed so much, and yet all of that weight on her shoulders is invisible to just about everyone, including her. I liked the way Alistair comes to really see her, and how rooted in that his love for her is. I also love how he fights for her.
by Loretta Chase
This historical romance was glorious. Alistair Carsington is a scandalous dandy and hero of Waterloo left with a damaged leg and PTSD. In order to prove himself to his demanding father, he agrees to help his friend Lord Gordmor plan a canal in Derbyshire. However, Alistair finds himself facing stiff opposition from Mirabel Oldridge, a smart, practical spinster who has been managing her father's vast estate for years, ever since he descended into an obsession with botany. As they face off, they find that not only are they enormously attracted to each other, they find each other both admirable and fascinating. True love ensues.
I enjoyed this romance immensely. Both Alistair and Mirabel were terrific characters that I loved and rooted for. Alistair is very earnest and determined - he has lot of courage and heart. He's not selfish and wants to do right by those around him. His struggles with PTSD made him achingly vulnerable. Mirabel is smart, stubborn, and very capable. She works so hard and has sacrificed so much, and yet all of that weight on her shoulders is invisible to just about everyone, including her. I liked the way Alistair comes to really see her, and how rooted in that his love for her is. I also love how he fights for her.
Purrcy; WSFS
Jul. 4th, 2025 10:09 pmmecurtinThere was a brief but dramatic thundershower yesterday evening, & afterwards when Purrcy came out of hiding he DEMANDED pets, regardless of where I was or what I was doing. As you can probably tell.
Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.
Politics has of course been super stressful, I'll write up something under separate cover tomorrow or something.
Today, all afternoon, I attended the first session of the WSFS Business Meeting, which was as almost as emotionally draining as attending one in person but much more convenient. The Chair, Jesi Lipp (they/them) is a *master* at running a meeting and parsing rules quickly & logically.
Result for me: the Hugo Process Committee is continuing for another year (including me by default), and also stuff that I insisted on digging out & including in our report conforms to the second part of C.2 Dude, Where’s My Motion?, even though it wasn't required yet & wasn't even aware it was under consideration, just because it seemed so obviously necessary. So I definitely can bask, feeling like I made a real & meaningful contribution.
I've pledged the family not to overdo it for Hugo Process Committee 2.0, but I *am* going to maybe be the one insisting that we have regularly scheduled meetings & an agenda.
Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.
Politics has of course been super stressful, I'll write up something under separate cover tomorrow or something.
Today, all afternoon, I attended the first session of the WSFS Business Meeting, which was as almost as emotionally draining as attending one in person but much more convenient. The Chair, Jesi Lipp (they/them) is a *master* at running a meeting and parsing rules quickly & logically.
Result for me: the Hugo Process Committee is continuing for another year (including me by default), and also stuff that I insisted on digging out & including in our report conforms to the second part of C.2 Dude, Where’s My Motion?, even though it wasn't required yet & wasn't even aware it was under consideration, just because it seemed so obviously necessary. So I definitely can bask, feeling like I made a real & meaningful contribution.
I've pledged the family not to overdo it for Hugo Process Committee 2.0, but I *am* going to maybe be the one insisting that we have regularly scheduled meetings & an agenda.
