merrily | Network

Yesterday I was out for a walk and I saw a shrub starting to leaf out! (Okay, it wasn't quite leaves yet. Some kind of buds? idk I'm not a botanist, and I didn't look it up to fact check anything.)

My first thought was: huzzah, the plants are back!

My second thought was: oh, I'm probably allergic to that

dine

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the_siobhan

I've been planning to recondition the ol' walking muscles for a while now, but spending 20 minutes putting on layers before you can walk out the door is not conducive to the casual stroll. Friday it was 20+ degrees and sunny so I went for a 90-minute walk, just in a big circle around the neighbourhood. I was not alone in this decision. The sidewalks were full, every patio was packed, and the ice cream store had a line down the block.

This morning I woke up and there was snow on my deck.

So that was second spring. We're due two more and then we enter smoke-from-forest-fires season.

In the course of my walk I found out there is a new brewpub at the literal end of my street. They will have a patio. This is going to be very very bad for my wallet.

***

Word has come down from Above, I am going back into the office one day a week starting the last week of May.

Completely stupid and unnecessary but it could be a lot worse. I suspect it's only once a week because they've received so much negative feedback from their employees and they'll try to bump it up to higher frequency once they figure we're resigned to it. But that's unlikely to happen this year.

Or you know, gas will hit $50 a litre and they'll have to either back off or pay people more. Which could also happen! Who the fuck knows, this is the most stupid of all possible timelines.

I'm taking a staycation to work on the house in a couple of weeks and after that I'm going to try to train myself to get up earlier on a daily basis. I would try to get up early on the monthly office days but anything that disrupts my sleep sets off the vertigo like woah, and I ended up leaving the house at the same time or later by the time I got it under control. It took me almost three weeks to get over the shift to daylight savings time. I figure I can spend a month being wobbly at home before I have to go into the office and navigate bright lights and too many moving bodies.

***

Lord Brock continues to develop concerning test results and cost me five million dollars per vet visit. But he still beats on a catnip mouse like it owes him money, so I have hope that whatever the underlying issue is it remains manageable.

While going through old paperwork to see what I could shred this year I found his original adoption records. He is 13 this year, not 15 as I originally thought. So he's definitely in his old man years, but not quite as old as I thought. So I might get a couple more years of being yelled at.

brokenframe posting in

vidding

Title: Walking On The Moon
Fandom: Ryan Gosling
Movie: First Man
Music: Walking On The Moon by Ruelle
Length: 3:56
Streaming/download at: DW | Tumblr

beatrice_otter posting in

fancake

Fandom: Bridgerton
Pairings/Characters: Anthony/Kate
Rating: teen
Length: 46k
Creator Links:

ronandhermy
Theme: Arranged marriage, AU, fork in the road, marriage of convenience, happy endings, marriage

Summary: At the age of eighteen Kate Sharma, after sending a desperate letter to her father's homeland, receives aid in the form of a letter from Lady Danbury who has arranged a match for the young woman. With only a letter, a promise and hope, Kate takes her mother and sister and sails to England where she is to marry Lord Anthony Bridgerton.

Reccer's Notes: I really enjoyed this take on how Kate and Anthony might have met when they were younger, and all the changes it would have brought.

Fanwork Links: A Red Thread of Convenience

starandrea

I know some people (especially in the west) have lots of legitimate concerns about LLM as AI, and many of them will not be as amused as I am by the ways in which Google's AI results present themselves in response to partial searches.

Nonetheless, I smiled at the return when I attempted to verify Old Dominion as the performer of the song "Snapback." I typed the opening lyrics "strictly out of curiosity" into google and accepted the suggestion "strictly out of curiosity what would happen"

Google's AI overview replied, "Based on the lyrics to 'Snapback' by Old Dominion, if you got with them, they would likely kiss you, skip rocks, and start something new together that night. They would focus on you in a snapback, T-shirt, and Ray-Bans, taking midnight selfies and making memories."

My point is, I'm not sure today's weather was strictly necessary.

( picture )

midnight_heavenly_bodies posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Power Cut
Fandom: Culture Club
Pairing: Boy George/Jon Moss
Rating: G
Length: 905
Author notes: Decided to write a little comedy.
Written for: Challenge 511 - Beam
Summary: The power goes out at half eleven. George gets his hands on the torch. This is a mistake.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: calm

cornerofmadness

Tuesday/Thursday are my long days and today was very long. It's only a few weeks until classes are over and my research students are spinning around. Turns out the new incubators we have on loan for micro suck it. They have SUCH a strong fan it's trying out the agar to the point of uselessness. Had to spend time googling can we turn the fan down (no) what else we can do (put distilled water in there to help humidify it) these seems like a design flaw.

One my special agars went missing. Argh. Found a different special agar that we can use thankfully.

I never get a moment to work on my exam for Thursday.

Students showed up. 'Dr. Evans there is a BAT in the study room.' (Funny part this is the same student who found the bat in the sink last time) So I get a wild life prof we suit up in mammal handling gloves but I don't do much. My climbing on chairs days are over. We get this adorable eastern brown bat safely back outside. Meanwhile these students were in this room for 2 hours with this bat just chilling asleep on the wall and they never noticed. (we need observational skills in health care, just saying).

After work, I race home, change, go out to eat because I'm going to an art thing at the library at 6. I slide in and there we have black canvases. We're making 'galaxies.' the pro art is faint swirls of purple/blue/pinks with white stars.

Well there wasn't much instruction other than go dark to light on the colors purple to blue to teal to pink and daub them on the canvas with the sponge with no instruction on how to get the swirls I kept waiting for it. Next thing I knew here's the white, splatter on your stars. Um....HOW do I make it look like a night sky? By now it's too late to swirl, it's dry. So I didn't get a galaxy but it looks like a 1980s era party pattern. I do rather like it. I think it's rather pretty but it did fail the assignment

Also I painted it all left handed.

I race home (since this was SHORT) I got the exam mostly done before the writer's virtual meet up happened. I blasted out about 800 words on a halloween short story and about 1500 words on the novel. I really need to get this moving because I don't want it to be overly long. It's weird suspense/mystery they want you to stick near 80K. Fantasy is longer which is good because the 80s novel is over 100K and now it's like add description. Where? What do I lose of the plot for this? That's hard. Writing's hard.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Evil Lives Here

queervanilla posting in

polyamships

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flowing_river posting in

fandomcalendar

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southernmedicine

Some positivity.

+ I'm feeling a lot better. For the past couple of weeks, I would cry at least once a day, usually at work. Hours a day, tears sliding silently down my face while I worked on my clients. These past couple of days, no crying at all. My mind has not been crowded with nasty thoughts, like a demon whispering to me trying to weaken me so it could possess me.

+ Gabe, our DnD group's DM and also Blair's brother-in-law, contacted me directly (!) which is pretty cool because while we get along well, we don't really talk much directly to each other when we're not playing DnD. He asked me how much a massage costs at my work, and I offered to do it for him direct, at home with my own table, for cheaper instead. So I've got an appointment with him this week.

+ It was incredibly stressful and time consuming, but I did my taxes (I'm getting money back this year instead of having to pay!) and I secured some new health insurance for myself. It's affordable, and honestly not that great, but it sure is something.

+ I've been sitting here in the lab with Blair, on her college campus, keeping her company while she works on a project. I've burned through the entire season of Wonder Man, which I hadn't even heard about until I saw it by chance listed on the streaming website I use. It's really good, and I really like it.

+ Things are improving a little between Blair and I. She's not exactly being as affectionate as I was getting used to, but after a huge break-down in front of her the other night (and her being very understanding and supportive of my depressive episode) we at least feel like we're connecting a little better. I guess that's the thing about rock bottom, is that once you're there, the only way to go is up.

+ Voted today!

Current Mood: hopeful

trobadora posting in

sid_guardian

If you signed up for this year's 520 Day Reverse Exchange, you should now have received your assignment email. (If not, check your spam folder!)

What to do next:

Reply to your assignment email now, so we know you've received it. Please don't change the subject line.

If you have any concerns about your assignment, let us know ASAP by replying to the email. (Again, please don't change the subject line!)

Create a fanwork for your assignment. Make sure it fits your recipient's requested canon(s), media, pairing(s) or character(s), and rating(s), and doesn't include anything they've said they don't want. Remember that specific scenarios and prompts are optional. Have fun!

Post your completed fanwork to the AO3 collection by 11:59PM UTC Wednesday 13th May! (What time is that for me?).
- On the AO3 collection page, click "Post to Collection" at the top of the page.
- Enter your recipient's AO3 name under "Gift this work to".
- Please keep any creator's notes or other commentary positive.
Keep your assignment secret! If you need to host fanart or podfic on a different site, make sure it's not visible/searchable on that site before reveals on 20th May.

To make edits to your work after posting, you can access it via your AO3 Statistics page.

If something comes up that means you can't complete your assignment by the deadline, please contact us ASAP so we can discuss an extension or, if necessary, find a pinch-hitter.

All entries will go live on Wednesday 20th May (520 Day). Please keep your assignment a secret until then!

General info, schedule and minimum requirements

We hope you enjoy creating for your assignment, and we can't wait to see what you come up with! *\o/*

starandrea

Oh, right. That was what happened when I wrote Lan Xichen/Nie Mingjue; it's coming back to me.

That is just 2000 words of soap opera, right there.

“I’m sorry,” Lan Huan says, and it’s more bitingly sarcastic than he’s been in years. “What did you want me to think? I slept with you and you decided to die. What exactly am I supposed to take from that?”

(Also it's chapter 28/30 in a story that's 14th in a million-word series, so I'm not claiming it makes sense out of context. But I really enjoyed rereading it.)

mrkinch

It was cold thing morning, especially the wind. I regretted not a single one of my five layers plus jacket and windbreaker, though I could shed the last two and a Henley while I sat in the dip in late morning. Still no Western Warbling Vireo or Black-headed Grosbeak though at least the latter should arrive eventually. What has arrived are European Starlings.:( Not many, think, and the strangest thing was a flyover of an apparently standard, blue and black Rock Pigeon. I had that white escapee a while back but never before a city pigeon. I saw the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in the same general area, and the White-crowned Sparrow was still singing near the parking lot; He's been there a month, now. But the most fun were the Warblers; lots of Orange-crowns, a couple of Wilson's, and in the willows at the corner, singing Townsend's and Yellow-rumped. All that's missing is McGillivray's! ( The list: )

I rarely actually want to go home, after, but my back gets tired after three or four hours. Today I parked briefly along Shasta Road and sure enough, I heard a Western Warbling Vireo. This is a place where I used to hear one every Spring/Summer as I drove by. It's been a couple of years, I think, but apparently it's still an attractive spot.

littlefics posting in

fandomcalendar

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dine

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lightreads

Truthwitch and Windwitch

3/5. First two books of five in this upper YA epic fantasy about two chosen sisters separated by circumstance trying to find their way back to each other as war brews and there’s an underlying magical plot happening, and obviously there’s a prophecy.

These are definitely a cut above the norm. They have that frenetic YA pacing and some POV bloat even by book two, neither of which are my favorite. But they also have a density to the worldbuilding and a thoughtfulness about character that you don’t usually get. As well as a commitment to super slow burning the romances. Also, there is a sort of chosen one character (though that gets complicated as we go) and she is refreshingly, wonderfully a hot mess. If there’s an arc towards heroism here, it’s a long, slow complicated one full of lots of impulsivity and bad decisions.

So yeah, I get why this one floats to the top of everyone’s lists of YA fantasy. It does really have something. Two books worth, which is saying a lot for me, since I’m lucky to make it a quarter into anything YA these days. So when I say I’m good after two books, that’s actually a compliment. If you want chewy plotty long YA that prioritizes platonic sister relationships and lets all the character arcs breathe, here you go.

twistedchick

The second box that I sent to my Canadian cousin arrived -- and she is thrilled.

I sent two pieces of artwork that I thought should be in the Canadian family somewhere, and a music book that dates back to 1920, "Everybody's Favorite Music", which is arranged to provide musical scoring for 18 instruments at once on each of its many songs. She's going to get it rebound, since the binding is falling apart.

The artworks are two signed, dated original prints, one of a four-masted ship on rocky seas and the other of Canada geese flying over snow under a golden moon. Mom bought the first one back in the 30s, but never remembered from where; the artist's signature is very hard to read. The geese print is by Richard Volpe, and I bought it at a sale at the first small college I attended in the 1970s, got it framed and gave it to her for Christmas. I suspect it's worth a bit more now than the $35 I paid for it.

I'm so glad they made it across the border without trouble.

twistedchick

One old sick insane man should not be able to destroy another country.

ashelterofpages

So, to help me do that, I think I'm gonna ask y'all to drop off prompts of some kind and then I can start practicing doing the thing.

Right now I'm not in any fandoms, so I can't really use that to help me. If you want a fandom based icon, I'll still try and do it but maybe give me some screencaps or something to go off of, or at least link to an image of who you want the icon for so I know who I'm trying to track down when I start looking myself.

If you don't leave a fandom request and are happy with just some random stock type icons, just leave me some prompts of whatever you want, and I'll see what I can do.

I miss doing stuff like this, tbh, and I think it'll be good to play with something that isn't writing for a little while.

Disclaimer: I am very low vision, so these 1) may not come out great and 2) while I'm going to try not to use AI images, I may accidentally mess this up because I have an extremely hard time telling what stuff is made with genAI and what isn't. I try and go for sources that shouldn't have any, but I wanted to say this just in case I'm wrong about the image I choose.

pauraque

This is the fifth and final part of my book club notes on The Black Fantastic. [Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.]

"Spyder Threads" by Craig Laurance Gidney (2021)

( Disabled fashion models keep disappearing after they work with a mysterious designer. )

"The Orb" by Tara Campbell (2021)

( An environmentalist cult creates an ever-growing, consuming entity. )

"We Travel the Spaceways" by Victor LaValle (2021)

( A homeless man hears voices from deep space. )

"Ruler of the Rear Guard" by Maurice Broaddus (2022)

( A Black American woman travels to Ghana to join a pan-African repatriation movement. )

the end

Though these last few stories weren't my favorites, the collection overall had some strong entries. It was noted that there was more group consensus about which stories we liked and which we didn't than there has been in some other books we've read, so the discussions ended up being a little shorter than usual.

The group plans to continue with This All Come Back Now, the first ever published anthology of speculative fiction by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors.

omens

Very BRIGHT and SNOWY today, lol. Gross!!! I thought we had moved beyond this!

My spanish-doing has taken a major hit lately with my need to write rising....except, I haven't actually written, either. Mostly just staring at the doc while I think "I should be doing spanish," or doing spanish and thinking "what if my story was already written." Not very useful!!

And my attention span is pulled to the NASA livestream every other minute, anyway. Astronaut chatter <3

merricatb posting in

polyamships

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pi_rate posting in

recthething

As someone who absolutely loves touch-starvation fics (BEST blend of fluff and hurt/comfort) here are my favorites (NON explicit, short) from several fandoms:

The House on the Cerulean Sea
"A Better Hot Water Bottle"
Linus/Arthur
Hurt/comfort, sickfic, basically Linus has a stomach ache and Arthur uses his heat powers to help. Super cute and dialogue is very in character.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/81700936

MHA
Okay you guys get four here because I CAN'T CHOOSE LMAO

PLATONIC/PARENTAL:
"Scientifically proven and fact based"
https://archiveofourown.org/works/64019350/chapters/164229040
touchstarved!shinso & parental erasermic
I LOVE THIS FIC Y'ALL the dialogue is SO GOOD and so CUTE and has me kicking my feet EVERY TIME. Very accurately captures the feeling of not knowing how to ask for help even for smth "stupid."

"Shut my eyes (run away from it all)"
https://archiveofourown.org/works/37360591
touchstarved!izuku and parental mic
tbh I didn't think I would like this one as much as I did, basic premise is izuku asks mic for a hug and it becomes a regular thing, JUST TRUST ME ON THIS ONE guys it feels like it'll be pathetic and sappy and it is but it WORKS. Sometimes you're just in the mood for pathetic and sappy yk?

ROMANTIC:
"Under the Weather"
https://archiveofourown.org/works/60022777
oboro/aizawa (high school)
It's not too romantic if you're not a fan of the ship, it's just very centered on touch-starved aizawa. He gets adorably stubborn and cute and he's so soft but he tries to act tough kinda vibes. Good writing of internal monologue.

"resigned"
https://archiveofourown.org/works/60268267/chapters/153797866
erasermic
OBLIGATORY WARNING: 30K WORDS, UNFINISHED, INFREQUENT UPDATES (last one took 7 months)
but y'all it's WORTH IT. Only forced proximity fic I can find for erasermic, idiots in love, mutual pining. Basic premise is a quirk accident that forces them to stay within a certain distance of each other. And oh no! It keeps getting shorter! So they have to share a bed! And oh no! Hizashi hugs in his sleep! Aizawa is such a dork in this one guys. This is legitimately one of my all time favorite fics and I think about it all the time. 100000/10.

Death Note
"ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space"
https://archiveofourown.org/works/63630748
L/light
Cute, banter. A little ooc but any lawlight fic is gonna be ooc. "shut up and enjoy it" kinda vibes.

I had a great jjk one but apparently didn't bookmark it :(
That's all, hope y'all enjoy!

Current Mood: touched

yourlibrarian posting in

tv_talk

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk

Vince Gilligan was recently quoted as saying “[Slow storytelling] is a plus in a world of very fast-paced editing and TikTok videos that are only a minute long. If the whole world were to move at that pace...that would be very sad to me. I think there is a certain percentage of the viewership… is ready for a slower pace. It’s fast food versus home cooking.”

Have you found that the pace of TV storytelling has increased? Have you seen patterns in different time periods? And how slow is slow enough for your viewing taste?

shipperslist

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watersword

Seder was excellent; we actually got all the way through the Haggadah, which I don't think I've ever done before (usually after Shulchan Oreich we just hang out) so it was really nice to get to Miriam and Elijah's cups, and we had some good conversations and I'm so glad this tradition is something I have in my life now. I served snacks of popcorn, crudités with hummus and ranch, steamed shrimp, olives, and pickled red onion and pickled jalapenos; the baked brie with quince jam was a good idea that didn't work great in execution (tiny cast iron did not retain heat and the cheese was hard to put on the matzah, alas. But the vegetarian shepherd's pie and green beans and rhubarb-raspberry crisp were all delicious and doing the mango salsa for charoset is a great choice I am doing forever.

It is still cold and I am extremely tired of it. I am sick of my winter wardrobe. I yearn to drop off my winter coat at the dry-cleaner's and pack it away in storage. When????

darkjediqueen posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Feeling Wanted
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Explicit Sex
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Relationships: Ilya Rozanov/Shane Hollander
Tags: Established Relationship, Plot What Plot, Ass Eating, Shane Teases Ilya
Summary: Ilya was beautiful with the sun on him. Shane couldn't help himself.
Word Count: 5,240

( Feeling Wanted )

savagelove_feed

Posted by Nancy Hartunian

https://savage.love/lovecast/2026/04/07/my-ex-friend-is-in-a-porno/

https://savage.love/?p=11771

A woman was invited to the bachelorette party for her co-worker’s wedding, which required costly travel. She was presented with a bill to cover all of the expenses of the bride to be. The caller was just laid off her job and simply cannot afford this. Now the bride is miffed, and the friendship is … Read More »

The post My Ex-Friend is in a Porno? appeared first on Dan Savage.

https://savage.love/lovecast/2026/04/07/my-ex-friend-is-in-a-porno/

https://savage.love/?p=11771

savagelove_feed

Posted by Patrick Kearney

https://savage.love/savagelove/2026/04/07/show-and-tell/

https://savage.love/?p=11778

I’ve been married to my wife for nine years and we share a beautiful life together with our two young children. I came out to her as bi late last year after working through some major intimacy issues that are still ongoing. She accepts me and the issues are getting better. We are monogamous and … Read More »

The post Show and Tell appeared first on Dan Savage.

https://savage.love/savagelove/2026/04/07/show-and-tell/

https://savage.love/?p=11778

marcicat

Heading back to the office after two weeks of escaping office days (first by being sick, then by the office declaring our presence not-so-mandatory after all). (Sometimes we have weeks that are optional, baffling everyone.)

ANYWAY.

Work-related things I plan to do in the office today:
*email coworkers who are not in the building because they live too far away to be impacted by the office rules
*email people who are not in the building because they work for other companies and I'm requesting information from them
*work with online files that could be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection

Non-work-related things I plan to do in the office today:
*eat the free breakfast
*drink the free coffee
*probably irritate a lot of people because I'm still coughing and sniffling a non-zero amount (I'm better! Definitely not contagious or anything, but sitting in a room with someone who is coughing or blowing their nose even once just isn't that fun, and I totally get that.)

torachan

1. I actually got a full night’s sleep! Fingers crossed that continues.

2. It was a little rainy this morning (never more than sprinkling, really, and never for a long time) but dry the rest of the day. Very windy and cold, though. I’ve been wearing shorts and t-shirts since we got here, but today was definitely a jeans and hoodie day and unlike Disneyland, you can’t get back in the park once you leave, so we wouldn’t have been able to go back to the hotel and change if we’d needed to, but thankfully we made the right choice in the morning. It was colder than I would prefer today (especially with that wind!) but I’ll take it over the heat we had this weekend. (Still getting over the sunburn…)

3. We had a really nice day at Universal Studios. Even though we were only there for a few hours yesterday, it really did help us navigate better today, so I’m glad we went with the 1.5 day ticket. I do wish I’d done more research about the express passes and access to Super Nintendo World, because I tried to buy passes this morning before we went over there and they were all sold out. If you get a pass for one of the rides in Super Nintendo World, it guarantees access to the land, but otherwise you might end up with a situation like I did yesterday where even though you reserve a spot, there’s still a lottery for who gets in. I think that might only be for later in the day, though. This morning I couldn’t sign up for access at all, so I thought it was all sold out, too, but I then later I read something that they have non-reserved access first thing in the morning, so I tried again and was able to get a reservation for 3pm. Didn’t get to go on any of the rides because without a fast pass the lines were ridiculous (3 hours for Minecart Madness) but at least we got to go in and see the land. Even their original Super Nintendo land is bigger than ours, but now it has the Donkey Kong expansion so it’s huge and really impressive. We had a great time overall, though. Rode a few things they don’t have at our park, saw some shows, ate some delicious food, and took in the sights.

dine

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tielan

The brother came for dinner with his wife and his eldest daughter (they left the 20 month old with the Phillipino nurse) and we had a great evening of dinner and talking and catching up and dealing with an enthusiastic 5 year old.

And I have learned that I do not know how to deal with small willful children. I've dealt with small children at church and in social things before, but generally their parents are pretty clear on the boundaries. Not that G and his wife S weren't, just that I think Miss 5 worked out that I was a pushover pretty early and basically decided I was the most fun to push boundaries with.

Oy.

But it was a good night. I did the food prep and it went down well. G and S enjoyed themselves, and Miss 5 also liked having aunties who were happy to play and engage with her.

But man that girl has a lot of energy.

Anyway, they came around 5:30pm, we had dinner around 6:15, and they left around 9-9:30pm. It was such a good night!

jamethiel

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Current Mood: grumpy

cornerofmadness

Turns out no. I really thought it was the 7th. Was waiting for a half hour for my writers' meet up. Yeah it's tomorrow. I hope to hell that the galaxy paint thing at the library is tomorrow and wasn't tonight. sigh.

Water aerobics was good.

What wasn't good, trying to change my vascular surgeon/vascular testing appointments. He is now only coming down twice a month. It's probably time to switch back to Epstein (who saved my leg) and suck up the trip to Columbus once a year. But why can't I just go to Berger in Circleville if Chillicothe can't take me. It's BOTH Ohio Health (oh, he doesn't allow that) Well guess what we're waiting until August then. Oh No! You need to come. Well if you can't make this happen when I can be there too bad. I'm gone for three months.

By mere coincidence I sat down to see Hallmark Mystery rerunning Remmington Steele. HOW much did 15 year old me love this show?!? Called Mom to tell her because we both crushed on Pierce (dad is rolling his eyes at me for telling her) But MAN how much did I hate (now) the premise. I had forgotten she needed Remmington because a woman wasn't taken serious and couldn't get work in her field....

I had a weird dream. I was outside (my parent's place but it didn't look like their home) picking blackberries. I went inside to get my family and friends to help. I went to put my flip flop back on and I saw a huge red spot on the top of my foot which was swollen. I asked 'does it look like my foot has cellulitis?' expecting to be told it was my imagination again.

I didn't want for an answer. I lifted my left foot and there was a grade one ulcer and degloving of my one toe. I was thinking yeah that's got going to heal. to my surprise my calf jiggled like it was filled with fluid and it was so swollen I said I need to go to the ER

The dream shifted and I was in the ER and they were trying to work on my foot but I kept kicking at them because the surgical rake was tickling me and I kept telling them to numb it better. The doc was saying there are bubbles coming out of the wound and they needed to get me to a specialist. Right about then I started waking up. I could see the light behind my curtains but couldn't get up going in and out of the dream. So weird.

It's music monday 30 weeks of music. This week's prompt is # 20 A song from the year you were born. Share my friends, share

( 1967 was a good year apparently )

here's the whole prompt list

( It's under here )

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Hudson & Rex

mrkinch

Well, that was a wasted week. ANYway, this morning there was so much bird song! We heard Western Warbling Vireo in the parking lot as well as two or three Townsend's Warblers, and many woodpeckers were apparently chasing each other in the tall pines. There was an Allen's Hummingbird just a bit up Upper Packrat, and as soon as I started along Lower Packrat I heard a Black-headed Grosbeak. A bit further on there was a Western Flycatcher. Orange-crowned, Townsend's, and Wilson's Warblers were singing all along the trail, but the Grosbeaks were the soundtrack of the morning. At Jewel Lake we watched the female Anna's Hummingbird perching on the rim of the nest, bill pointed down into the nest clearly feeding chicks, but we haven't yet seen any tiny bills. ( The list: )

I heard just one Hermit Thrush and no Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a surprise since they've stayed much longer in other years. So the Winter visitors seem all to have left.

whateverjohnonly_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/06/a-bedazzling-book/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59984

At my event this evening in Upper Arlington, my interlocutor Tom Winegard presented me with this copy of The Shattering Peace, which had been bedazzled by his spouse as a gift to me. This is the first time that I had heard of bibliodazzling, but apparently it’s a thing people do all the time these days. I have to say I don’t mind the effect. The book is now at home in a place of honor on my shelf. I am bemused and bedazzled.

Also, the event itself was a lovely time! Thank you to everyone who came out to see us.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/06/a-bedazzling-book/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59984

jadelennox

So! Some people went around the moon! And are on their way back!

I know the live video feed was super compressed and low-res intentionally, but I hope there is high-res eclipse footage when they land.

Also I know returning to the moon is not necessarily the best use of limited resources from a science perspective, but (one) I want people to feel aspirational about people doing science in space again, so we're not just getting press about billionaire assholes who want to, I dunno, put a casino in orbit around venus; and (two) this was all a mission by and for The People. This isn't a damn SpaceX or Blue Origins launch, this is NASA (with an assist from ESA and CSA).

I am going to love good things when they happen and space is a good thing.

Current Music: Pink Floyd, Brain Damage

oliviacirce

A little devotional-ish poetry for Easter Monday. I love Joy Harjo.

( Eagle Poem )

sholio

I finished edits on Luke over the weekend (Westerly Cove 4). Feel free to grab a copy 'til it goes live on Amazon on April 17!

book cover with a bear framed against a sunset

Get it on Bookfunnel:
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/30s06n16u7

(Blurb is still a work in progress.)

infinitum_noctem posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Moving On
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairings: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Characters: Emily Prentiss
Rating: G
Length: 84 words
Summary: Emily decides to let go.

( Read more... )

delphi

Fandom 50 #8

For 1984, it's a song that was baby's first trans/gnc anthem and remains a classic of the Canadian drag scene.

Let It Go by Luba

Watch on YouTube

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3229/

Communication is one of the most popular ways to transmit information, ahead of rivals such as

https://xkcd.com/3229/

jenab

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starandrea

I'm taking the dog to the park, then I'm coming back to watch episode 4. Or write. Or both.

(I should watch episodes that have Nie Mingjue in them to further the writing agenda. He's such an easygoing guy in my mind; I have no idea why. Maybe because the only time I think of him it's from Lan Xichen's perspective and I imagine them being childhood sweethearts.)

Actually I'm watering the dahlias first. But all of you are the best, just FYI.

...

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, I didn't watch episode 4.

♥ ( Episodes 10 & 23 )

ladyjax

After much low-key drama (original ortho referral to UCSF got hooked in with my nutritionist, who also happens to be in ortho but not for this) I got another referral and will be seeing ortho on this side of the Bay. I start with the P.A. and there's probably going to be more imaging, most likely an MRI which means I need to take my nose stud out. JFC, that's going to be a thing but whatever. In any case, back stuff is moving along.

Went out for a walk this morning without my walking poles for the first time and things are feeling a lot better. Only did an easy 30 minutes so as not to aggravate anything but overall, it felt good. I know the surrounding neighborhoods pretty well so I can easily eke out a route that doesn't have a lot of people around while I am having big feelings about my body.

Saturdays I am part of a group working through "The Artist's Way." Participants have ebbed and flowed through according to our various schedules but the time working on it has been valuable. There's definitely some class issues embedded in it which are much more evident to me now as opposed to when the book came out in the 90s, especially when we're talking about time, being able to make space within your current situation. However, it's been useful to do this and meeting new folks is always fun.

Have a quilt or two I want to start. Mostly just have to cut things and prep and get on it. Also have to start a wedding quilt for the godson. After I do one the first one that's scratching my brain, I'll start on the one for the wedding. The wedding is in October but I know me and how I work/not work with time. I already have the fabric so it's just a matter of getting started.

Our sportsgay transformation continues. Baseball is incoming. We went to the second exhibition game between the Oakland Ballers and the San Jose Giants in San Jose. Got to see our baseball friends and enjoy a mostly dry game. Shirley and I came prepared for rain and there was a bit of a drizzle but nothing too bad. Our team got waxed but we all still had a good time anyway. The Ballers were able to get the original Battle of the Bay trophy from NBC Sports and the original artist refashioned it to reflect that it is now the San Jose Giants vs. the Ballers instead of the SF Giants and the (formerly) Oakland As. The Ballers' season opener is May 19 so not too long now.

sweettartheart

"On a Scale of 1-10," Said the Nurse, "How Would You Rate Your Pain Today?"
by Tony Hoagland (2018)

If 1 is the name of your best friend from sixth grade,
which, for no reason, you remember right now,
standing in your socks on the cold tile of the examination room

—and 2 is how you will find your car in the parking lot later
and notice how dirty it has become—the back seat littered
with plastic wrappers and sales receipts—
and how it seems like a statement of how you have lived your life.

If 4 is the ache you feel in your left jaw
from clenching your teeth for the last ten years,
much in the manner of your father,

and 5 is what you felt at midnight last week
when you saw the flashing red lights of a police car
rolled up on your next-door neighbor’s lawn,

splashing the whole street the sickening
color of strawberry jello
as their son was handcuffed, locked in the back, and driven away.

If 6 is the quiet discomfort you feel about being
a citizen of the richest country on earth
—which seems to be dragging you along for the ride,
a ride to which you do not seem to be objecting
as you enter the all-natural grocery store.

If 8 is the absence of a parent or brother or child
whom you might call at this moment
to explain where you are.

If 9 is your loss of belief in sense-making itself
combined with the slight nausea you get
when you try to arrange things in ascending order,

then how do you measure that?
What is its numerical value?

wychwood

We made it through the Triduum! Actually, in some ways I felt like this year was less stressful than it often is; somehow I just... wasn't as worried about things going wrong. I knew we would cope if they did. And, in fact, nothing really did go wrong, although as ever I have notes for next year. Between that and the free time I did manage to find (taking Maundy Thursday off work so that I have the day free before the service in the evening is the best idea, and I desperately needed that break this year) I have bounced back pretty well already. Although Fr A decided that we were going to kneel down between every single intercession on Good Friday, and my thighs were so stiff the next day! I felt very feeble for it, but also, ow.

Yesterday was family Easter, which is always nice but a bit exhausting just from the sheer volume of people (we had thirteen for dinner this year) (didn't seem unlucky though!). But today I slept in, refused to shower or get dressed, and ended up with enough energy to do the first couple of rounds of moving things back to where they ought to be after several days of dumping bags and pocket contents and so on on the nearest surface; the desperately overdue washing up (I've not been home for many meals, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it wasn't great!); and, unexpectedly, even some of the "I must at some point" tasks.

I washed the net curtains in my bedroom - turns out they're actually white, who knew. They were already up when I moved in here and I haven't taken them down since, so it really was time. I hung them straight back up as the best drying option - it was a lovely fresh day, bizarrely for a bank holiday. I still need to do the spare room net curtains; maybe tomorrow. And I've added a reminder to my to-do list to wash them once a year, although I have no idea whether that's a reasonable length of time... anyone have any opinions?

And I did three of my sewing projects pile - I've had a t-shirt and a hoodie sitting on the blanket chest for at least six months, and I tore the pocket of my new hoodie slightly on Saturday, as well as bringing my horrible sweaty alb home from church to wash again, with the fraying sleeve I meant to fix last time. So the two hoodies and the alb sleeve were all hand-stitching projects and are now done; the alb hem and the t-shirt need the sewing machine really, and I have hopes for tomorrow on that. I'm so bad at sewing, but none of these are really visible and they're better than they were before I started, so that will have to do.

My reading took up most of the rest of the day; I finished the initial ebook collection I'd made on Thursday, and made a new one with 23 books in it which I am very much enjoying working on.

hellaverseex posting in

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