merrily | Network

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/813267513515376640

A blue-haired woman in a full winter-coat and furred hat with a yellow flower and a spiky-haired man with short-sleeved top and black scarf facing front and looking serious. They are both behind a marble-like backdrop. Text reads "Juvia & Gajeel".

Today is Platonic Tuesday and we’re spotlighting the friendship between the characters Juvia Lockser and Gajeel Redfox from the shounen manga series Fairy Tail.

They meet as members of Phantom Lord, the rival guild of Fairy Tail. Later, they both join up with Fairy Tail, where they are shown interacting with a mutual respect and support for each other’s happiness and personal development.

Fans speculate that Juvia and Gajeel’s friendship has been a needed source of support for them both, and though they don’t get that much focus in either canon or fandom, they are prominent among brOTPs. Often, you can find them referred to as “Rust BrOTP”. with rust representing the combination of water (Juvia) and metal (Gajeel).

Are you familiar with the series? Head on over to Fanlore to read more!

——–

We value every contribution to our shared fandom history. If you’re new to editing Fanlore or wikis in general, visit our New Visitor Portal to get started or ask us questions here!

https://fanlore-wiki.tumblr.com/post/813267513515376640

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.

glitteryv

There had been wishes that, after all of the ups and downs of Chapter 2's earlier part (IYKYK), BTS would drop a 5th entry in the Cypher series.

Although that didn't come to be, that's not to say that BTS decided to skip a diss track for ARIRANG. Here comes "2.0", a hip-hop song that might come across as repetitive or having extremely simplistic lyrics. In truth, this is 2026!BTS saying their piece after reuniting and surveying the Kpop landscape. I will dive a bit more when I do the album post (which will probably happen some time next week). So, for now, I can say that I clicked with this song from the get.

And now there's a GLORIOUS MV for it.

Trigger Warnings: lots of shaky cam, fast cuts, and heap of flashing lights throughout the video.

It's taken almost no time for it to become a fan fave. Everything from the many references to other works, to the visuals (both as old!BTS and as present time!BTS), the dancing, and the SWAGGER have been some of the key points that ppl can't stop squeeing abt. I love it to bits.

Watch on YouTube

A Live Performance

This is from a couple of weeks ago at the Guggenheim.

Watch on YouTube

Le Dance Practice

Even though it's not my favorite camera style, I do appreciate that they used a fish-eye lens this time around. According to Taehyung, it was his idea.

In a way, it kinda works a vibe of BTS showing up at someone's door and doing their choreo while dropping some choice lines, heheh.

Watch on YouTube

littlefics posting in

fandomcalendar

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dine

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kaberett

Today I have had MRI #1 (NHS), booked follow-up appointment #1 (NHS; in June), and also booked follow-up appointment #2 (private; next Thursday).

( feeeeeeeelings )

But. BUT. I made myself put the allotment keys in my pocket before heading out for the MRI (the allotments are right behind the hospital) and then did spend two hours Communing With Plants (by which I mostly mean "weeding", obviously, which is I suppose a kind of Communion) in pleasant weather, and. And. The cherry blossom is out. Only two clusters of it so far, but -- that's two more than a week ago, and the rest of the tree is thinking really hard about it. The unfortunately sited apple I appear to have inherited is also absolutely riotous. The garlic chives are finally Properly Established. I got to graze on allium and spinach. Small fierce joys, and that.

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.

svgurl

artistalley is a community for convention artists to share event news, ideas, feedback & critiques, manufacturers, etc

allbingo will be running a Flower Fest Bingo throughout the month of April. There are more pre-made cards or you can create your own based on the available prompts.

vforvictoryexchange, a multi-fandom exchange about V-shaped polyamory, is open for sign-ups until April 10th, 10PM EDT.

fandom5k, a multi-fandom gift exchange for fic with a 5,000-word minimum and comics with a 5-page minimum, has opened sign-ups until April 11th, 10:59PM EDT.

bitesizedfandomsex, a multifandom exchange for fandoms you can pick up in eight hours or less, has opened sign-ups until April 11th, 11:59PM EDT.

everythingisfemslashex, a femslash exchange (genderbent characters/ships - both cis and transgender - are welcome too), is accepting nominations until April 12th, 8PM GMT+1 (link will go to the schedule/rules post and has tagset page as well).

seasonsofdrabbles is open for sign-ups until April 12th, 11:59PM EDT. Nominations are still open and will be until sign-ups close as well.

holmestice, a Sherlock Holmes fandom(s) fanworks exchange that runs twice a year, has opened sign-ups for the Summer 2026 round until April 13th.

allbutromance, a multifandom gift exchange focused on all kinds of platonic relationships, is accepting nominations until April 16th, 8PM CEST/UTC+1.

likealighthouse is running april iconathon—an icon prompt fest, where people can leave prompts and others can fill them with icons. The event will run until May 6th.

fancake's theme of the month is: arranged marriage. Click on the banner below to learn more! :)

Two gold rings photographed on top of a dictionary opened to the definition of marriage. Text: Arranged Marriage, at Fancake.

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.

carenejeans

Quote of the Day:

"Imaginary worlds are the best worlds."

— Alicia Valdes-Rodriguez (Substack note)

My Check-In:

I wrote a drabble! Whoo-hoo! 8-)

Tally
( Days 1-6 )

Day 6:

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

ysilme

Day 7: china_shop

Let me know if I missed you, or if you wrote but didn't check in yet. And remember, you can join in at any time!

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.

kat_lair

***

Title: Yellow
Author:

kat_lair
Fandom: My Chemical Romance/Bandom
Pairing: Gerard/Mikey
Tags: Drabble, Sibling Incest, painting
Rating: T
Word count: 100

Summary: There’s yellow paint on Gerard’s wrist.

Author notes: Spring defiance from under the crushing forces of capitalism = a drabble a day in April. This one for

pushkin666's prompt 'MCR - Gerard/Mikey – yellow'.

Yellow on AO3

( Yellow )

***

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

leanwellback

I will likely come back to this one because green is my favourite colour and I love trees but have a silly placeholder haiku for now:

frogs, I have heard, find
the state of viridity
is not so simple

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

smbc_comics_feed

Posted by Zach Weinersmith

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/will-2

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
We will have had peace immediately!

Today's News:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/will-2

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?

spiralsheep

Read to 31 March 2026: 35 books (no dnfs but one I wish I had).

To read shelves: 61 books.

Current reading quote: "In the lives of the good, bad people are the deciding factor. That's just how it goes. In the lives of the bad, the good ones disappear. They don't even notice them."

Highly rated or interesting books I read in March:

- 28. Two Women Living Together, by Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo, 2019 (2026), non-fiction memoir self-help, 3/5.

( Because y'all might be interested. )

- 31. Woman Alive, by Susan Ertz, 1936, novel fantasy / science fiction "feminism" (of a sort), 2/5.

( Neither good nor especially interesting but a must for feminist sf or utopia completists. )

- 33. Bad Science, by Ben Goldacre, 2009, the second edition including the previously redacted chapter 10 "The Doctor Will Sue You Now", non-fiction science biology medicine, 5/5.

I've begun reccing this to younger people a generation after this was published because it remains one of the best popular How To Think About Science books as the arguments are both clearly written and entertaining.

Worked up from newspapers columns so very quotable, e.g. pg116: "Using this process, called photosynthesis, plants store the energy from sunlight in the form of sugar (high in calories, as you know), and they can then use this sugar energy to make everything else they need: like protein, and fibre, and flowers, and corn on the cob, and bark, and leaves, and amazing traps that eat flies, and cures for cancer, and tomatoes, and wispy dandelions, and conkers, and chillies, and all the other amazing things that the plant world has going on."

Also includes the infamous one-liner about Gillian McKeith, lmao.

- 34. Patchwork, a Graphic Biography of Jane Austen, by Kate Evans, 2025, comics history biography, 5/5 or 6/5. ;-)

Superlatively brilliant. Very Kate Evans. Jane Austen's life as a patchwork of what we know, with a central interlude telling double page spread histories about where the cotton and fabrics for Jane's patchworking came from and how her gentry family benefitted from Britain's unscrupulous trades. Highly recommended both as an Austen biography that includes her all-important familial relationships, and for placing the Austens' lives into historical perspective. I also rec Evans' previous graphic biography Red Rosa about Rosa Luxemburg.

Note: I recently read The Novel Life of Jane Austen, another graphic bio, which was a solid 4/5 for the life but lacked wider context compared to Patchwork, published only six months later, which is unfortunate timing for the creators Janine Barchas and Isabel Greenberg.

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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????

otw_news_feed

Posted by an

https://www.transformativeworks.org/march-2026-newsletter-volume-209/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=283023

I. AO3 IS EXITING OPEN BETA

In early April, we announced that AO3 is exiting open beta!

AO3 has grown and changed a lot since open beta launched in 2009! We’ve gone from 347 users to over 10 million and from 6,598 works to over 17 million. We’ve also introduced many features in that time, including the tag system and tag wrangling, additional privacy settings that allow creators to restrict their works or comments to logged-in users, downloads for offline access to fanworks, and more.

Since AO3’s software has been stable for a long time, this change is mostly cosmetic and doesn’t indicate everything is finalized or perfectly working. Our volunteer coders and community contributors will still be adding to and improving post-beta AO3 every day.

For more information on AO3 exiting open beta, check out the announcement for details.

II. ELSEWHERE AT AO3

In March, we celebrated AO3 reaching 17 million works! \o/

Beyond exiting beta, Accessibility, Design & Technology also performed two important upgrades in March: updating Elasticsearch to version 9 and Ruby on Rails to version 8.1. With these two upgrades, AO3 is on the latest version for two of its most important pieces of software. They also published January’s release notes.

Systems published a postmortem on early March’s AO3 downtime.

Open Doors announced the import of SlasHeaven, a Spanish-language slash fanfiction and fanart archive, as part of their Online Archive Rescue Project.

In February, Policy & Abuse (PAC) received 5,674 tickets, which is over 2,000 fewer tickets than the previous month and marks the first decrease in PAC’s backlog since 2024. PAC also coordinated with Communications on a news post describing various spambots seen on AO3 and how we’re combating them. Also in February, Support received 3,031 tickets, and User Response Translation completed 42 requests from PAC and Support.

Tag Wrangling announced 31 new “No Fandom” canonical tags in their March round-up. On the @ao3org Tumblr, they announced changes to Critical Role fandom tags, creating an overarching fandom metatag for the Exandrian Universe and having specific campaigns or other media split into subtags. They hope these changes will help users better tag and filter for the works they want to see.

In February, Tag Wrangling wrangled over 543,000 tags or approximately 1,200 tags per wrangling volunteer.

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

Communications has updated the OTW News by Email service! You can now subscribe specifically to recruitment posts. If you’re already subscribed to OTW News by Email and would like to change what emails you receive, please contact Communications via their contact form.

In March, Fanlore ran a monthly editing challenge inviting users to archive external links on a page.

Legal answered a number of questions about pending and newly enacted laws around the world, as well as dealing with internal requests from OTW committees.

TWC released No. 47 of Transformative Works and Cultures, a special issue on Gaming Fandom edited by coeditors Hayley McCullough and Ashley P. Jones.

IV. GOVERNANCE

Board and Board Assistants Team continued work on ongoing and newer projects, including making progress on the OTW website project with Communications, supporting Accessibility, Design & Technology with their documentation, and supporting Finance with streamlining messaging policies. They also began preparing for the next public Board meeting scheduled for April 18.

In March, Development & Membership caught up on their recurring donation gifts and put in more regular procedures for them going forward. In conjunction with Communications and Translation, they’re now preparing for April’s Membership Drive by getting graphics and new gifts ready.

V. OUR VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers & Recruiting conducted recruitment for three committees this month: Communications (News Post Moderation), Translation, and User Response Translation.

From February 21 to March 22, Volunteers & Recruiting received 160 new requests and completed 159, leaving them with 66 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below). As of March 22, 2026, the OTW has 992 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.

New Committee Chairs/Leads: Becca Bun and Jules Moon (Fanlore), Rebecca Tushnet and Stacey Lantagne (Legal)
New Communications Volunteers: LinnK, Jahnavi, and 3 other Social Media Moderators
New Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Policy & Admin and 1 Social Media & Outreach
New Open Doors Volunteers: Andrea T and 4 other Import Assistants; Kathy and 1 other Technical Volunteer; adyn, Seren, Claire M, and 2 other Administrative Volunteers; and 1 Liaison
New Organizational Culture Roadmap Workgroup Volunteers: 1 Volunteer
New TWC Volunteers: 1 Symposium Editor
New Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: miffmiff, PippaLane, and 2 other volunteers

Departing Committee Chairs/Leads: 1 Open Doors Chair, 2 Fanlore Chairs, and 1 Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution Lead
Departing AD&T Volunteers: 1 Senior Volunteer and 1 Liaison
Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Social Media & Outreach
Departing Finance Volunteers: 1 Bookkeeper
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: 1 Technical Volunteer
Departing Policy & Abuse Volunteers: 1 Volunteer
Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: 4 Tag Wranglers and Soppon (Tag Wrangling Supervisor)
Departing Translation Volunteers: Ito, Polyxeni Foutsitsi, and 3 other Translators; 1 Chair Trainee; and 1 Volunteer Manager
Departing User Response Translation Volunteers: 1 Translator
Departing Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: 2 Volunteers

For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/march-2026-newsletter-volume-209/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=283023

mortmere posting in

ds_noticeboard

Before I completely forget, here are the new dS artworks from March:

ARTIST: allofthebeanz and dirtyzucchini

I survived the 11the of March (Dief)

https://www.tumblr.com/allofthebeanz/809996200257503234

ARTIST: look_turtles

The Reaching Out One (Manip) (F/K)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/80943721

ARTIST: Middlepeep

Ohhh I donno (F/K)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/80769021

ARTIST: Wandererseas

Ray V and Fraser sketch

https://www.tumblr.com/wandererseas/810805963484430336

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.

rionaleonhart

I put out a call on my Tumblr for people to ask me questions about the Goes Wrong Show; here's the first batch of my responses!

enter_doctor_frog: what's robert's ideas about musicals? does he like them, would he ever put one on, does he look down upon them, etc

By beautiful coincidence, I was thinking about Robert’s attitude to musicals just before I received this question.

I think Robert likes musicals! My instinct is that he has a slight preference for classic rather than contemporary theatre, but he enjoys both, and he’s not particularly snobbish about genre; he sees value in theatre in all its forms. He’s happy to embrace Peter Pan being a pantomime, for example, whereas Chris insists on presenting it as a Serious Adult Play.

(I think Chris does look down upon musicals; he’s occasionally willing to include a musical number, but I suspect he does it with a pained look. I headcanon that Chris wrote The Spirit of Christmas himself, which might seem strange when I also think he doesn't like musicals, but this is why it's a bad musical! Most of the songs delay the plot rather than moving it forward, because Chris has no respect for the art of the musical; he just thinks 'give each character a song, done.')

Therefore, Robert would absolutely put a musical on. In fact, he’d probably try to write the songs himself, and his castmates would desperately have to prevent him; the results would not be good.

Anonymous: if robert got a persona 5 calling card, how do you think he and the rest of the society would react?

Oh, interesting question! I think Robert would be outraged by the aspersions the card cast on his character, but I don’t think he’d be worried about it; he wouldn’t really expect the Phantom Thieves to succeed in stealing his heart.

Chris, on the other hand, would worry a lot; he’d lie awake, wondering whether Robert’s personality is suddenly going to change. In many ways, it would probably be more convenient! And yet the thought bothers him in ways he can’t pin down.

mygoeswrongblog: Robert is invited to a halloween costume party: What is he wearing and how does he want everyone to react? (bonus if you wanna think about how people would actually react)

Robert dresses as a famous stage actor or playwright for Hallowe'en, and he responds with absolute scorn if anyone asks what his costume is; he’s obviously Richard Burton. Everyone goes ‘how were we supposed to know that?? you’re just wearing normal clothes!’ with the exception of Dennis, who sees Robert and immediately goes 'oh, nice Richard Burton costume.’

mygoeswrongblog: Do you think Robert likes to gamble?

I don’t think Robert habitually gambles; he doesn’t seek out opportunities to gamble. However, if you invite him to play a game with financial stakes, he will promptly lose all his money to you.

mygoeswrongblog: What sorta thing do you think Robert likes to listen to if anything?

I think Robert mainly listens to classical music and audio dramas. The fact that he did a show on the radio makes me think he’s a radio listener.

mygoeswrongblog: Do you have any idea what Robert's favourite play is?

Robert's favourite play is Summer Once Again, a self-penned masterpiece tragically cut short in its first performance. (I firmly believe that Robert wrote Summer Once Again himself.)

For plays by other people: I think he likes both classic and modern theatre, but I think his favourite is likely something Shakespearean. Maybe something on the dense and difficult side, like King Lear, or a comedy that he takes bizarrely seriously. He puts on Much Ado About Nothing but insists on playing it like he's playing Hamlet.

mygoeswrongblog: What do you think Robert's driving motivation is?

Robert is driven, at all times, to put on a performance and get a warm reception from his audience. When I say 'at all times', I mean at all times. If you're in bed with Robert Grove, he's still thinking of it as putting on a performance for you, his audience.

Whether Robert is on the stage or off it, he's always in the actor's mindset; he is overwhelmingly, all-encompassingly passionate about theatre. Theatre's a significant aspect of all the characters' lives, but theatre is Robert's entire life. The only other significant interest he canonically has (or the only one I can think of, at least) is teaching, and most of the teaching he does is teaching others to act: leading the Cornley Youth Theatre, writing acting books, running acting courses.

It’s only just hit me that my 'Robert likes to cook’ headcanon (which is admittedly based on very little; he mentioned that he likes to make crêpes on Christmas Day, and I took that and ran with it) also fits into his love of performing: cooking a meal is a performance, and then you serve it to your audience and get their reactions!

adore

I've talked here about moving away from Gmail after it started shoving Gemini in my face. It's been a while since I left Google Docs after breaking out in metaphorical hives at the revelation that they were using docs to train their AI. No you don't! My writing is MINE!

I was watching AuthorTube and recently came to know of Skrib. It seems like a browser-based Scrivener, with the ability to split your screen to look at your notes and organise things. I like that it's staunchly against generative AI. It's stated on the website that they'll never use your writing to train AI. And that they'll never have tools that generate writing or write for you.

They have what they call an assistive AI that helps you refer to your own work. It can search through your research, notes or previous writing and pull up something for you if you need to find something real quick. I have writing friends on here who write long series with sustained worldbuilding, including one friend who writes historical fiction and tracks timelines and research. I thought y'all might be interested. Skrib's in closed beta and I'm on the waiting list, but I have an invite link: https://skrib.spot/599079c9

I'm waiting to try it. In the meantime I'm happy with Ellipsus, which is also against generative AI and which has a very soothing dark mode. I wish the interface was slightly different though: I like being able to have my chapters lined up on the sidebar so I can move between them quickly and easily within a project, like the interface of 4thewords.

I don't think anyone in this cosy corner of the internet would argue with me about generative AI but just in case anyone's wondering:

If I wanted to publish something I didn't write myself, I'd become a publisher who publishes other people's writing.

As it is, I want to write my stories myself and publish them myself, too. That's what being an indie author is all about!

What are your recommendations for writing software/word processors?

Current Mood: curious

beanside

Well, that wasn't at all how I was expecting my night to go. I think I had mentioned that Jess was taking Boodle to the vet yesterday, because she had lost a bit of weight and now seemed to have an upper respiratory infection. The appt was a 4, and I couldn't take off early from work, so they took an Uber, and I would come to them right after I got off at 4:30 and give them a ride home.

Reality, I wasn't particularly useful that last hour of work. Especially when I started getting texts about the doctor being concerned. The second I could, I lit our of here, getting to the vet just in time to hear the bad news. The short version, she was very sick and we made the decision to euthanize. It sucks. She was a special cat, and I'll miss her so much. Longer, more in depth version below the cut.

( Read more... )
At least this time, I don't feel like I waited to long like I did with Sam.

After that, we all kind of sat around staring at each other and crying.

Today, work will probably be busy. I'm going to have a hard time giving a shit about any of these people, but I will manage.

I cancelled all of the cat food subscriptions and will send some emails to see which shelter or food bank can use it. Also if they'll take the 30lb bag of litter we just got.

We'll probably get to pick her up on Monday of next week, so there will be more tears then. Jess and I are waiting for her clay pawprint so we can take a picture and send it to our tattoo artist. Jess sid last night that they lost the cat of their heart, and I have to agree.

With Yoda's asshole tendencies, we won't be able to get another cat for a while, so we're going to have to sit with our sadness until we add more sadness to it before we can get another baby.

In other news, our vacation is now 30 days away. I put in a few more orders for things I need before the cruise. Here's hoping some of them get here in time. One of them is a lightweight fleece lined rain jacket. I think it might be warm enough for Alaska. We'll see when it gets here. I have absolutely no regrets about anything that I bought for this trip.

Today I'll find out what the difference will be in my paycheck with the new job when the paystubs drop at about 4pm. The actual money will come tomorrow for CapOne and on Thursday for Chase. Despite that I'm still thinking about shifting the balance of my account to Chase. It's nice to have a brick and mortar to deposit checks. I need to add Jess onto the Chase accout. Should have done that on Saturday when we went to deposit the disbursement check from Dad's estate. Oh well, another Saturday. I'll see if it'll let me make an appointment.

I split up the disbursement into three accounts. CapOne got $5000 and Wells Fargo and Chase each got $10k. I figure that's a good mix, and gives me three cards for various charges. I know there will be a hold for the hotel, there will be a hold from the ship. I still have to pay for the car that's going to take us to the hotel, so I don't want anything to be tied up too much.

Okay, time to go forth and get myself dressed and together for work. Everyone have an amazing Tuesday.

dine

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alethia

I realized I'm already falling down on posting more!

( The Pitt 2.13 )

Current Mood: contemplative

grammarwoman

In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, I have fallen deep into "Heated Rivalry". It's so refreshing to be only a few months late to a TV show fandom's debut! I absolutely love every part of it, from the steamy love scenes, to the tropealicious romance arc, to the gorgeous and talented leads, to the unhinged interviews with the cast (Hudson Williams, you horny chaos gremlin, never change), to the showrunner Jacob Tierney and his uncompromising vision of a gay love story with passionate love scenes that doesn't end in punishing tragedy, as well as his media savvy and whip-smart presence. The only thing that could have made me love it even more is if they had hired some of the old gang from the Seacouver Acting Mafia. David Hewlett as a crotchety coach? Tahmoh Penikett as a hockey enforcer? Throw us a bone here, Jacob!

I love everybody in this bar and have a ridiculous number of tabs open and a huge swath of fic marked for later on A03.

In no particular order, here are some of my favorites:

Gay Hockey Show
An absolute gem of a filk + vid (do I need to call them edits now? Fuck I'm old). This had me literally clapping and kicking my feet. I may have hit octaves only my dog heard with my squees of joy.

Shane & Ilya - We Found Love [Heated Rivalry]
Do you ever get lost in new relationship energy and every song on your playlist could be the soundtrack for a vid? And then sometimes you get lucky enough that someone has already had your brilliant idea and done a fantastic job so you don't have to? Yeah, that's this one with Rihanna's "We Found Love". I swear I watched it on repeat for a week to get my micro dopamine hits for this show. I really want to learn how to incorporate dialogue and audio from the source with the vid song to be able to make something like this.

clear to a hedgehog by magneticwave
An AU where Boston Raider Ilya Rozanov wonders if his casual fling Doctor Shane Hollander thinks he's actually in the Russian mafia. If I could send the author flowers and accolades and beg for more of this, I would. Delicious prose, fantastic character voices, super hot.

the secret society of stick handlers by gurlsrool
A screamingly funny epistolary series which had me shrieking so loud my husband was laughing at me.

So yeah, that's where my brain is at. What are you up to?

Current Mood: cheerful

jamethiel

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Current Mood: grumpy

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.

petra

Miss Manners' guide to padawan seduction (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: Drabble, Bad form
Summary:

Obi-Wan judges Anakin's timing harshly.

Current Mood: proper
Current Music: Lightning has just struck my brain

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

flamingsword

The 5 Spells Meme

You are a magician, and you have immense power, but it can only be channeled into FIVE SPELLS. You can cast the spells on yourself or as many other people as you like, an infinite number of times. Your casting range is as big as you decide it is, but no larger than the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. No building Dyson spheres, sorry. I didn't make the rules. So: what are your 5 priorities? You can take as much time as you like to think it over, and it took me about 16 hours of turning things over in my mind.

My answers are:
1. Cause Disbelief - All within the affected area can suddenly spot the flaws that the caster can see in an idea, religion, or other form of dogma. Imagine if the whole planet suddenly spotted the massive flaws in capitalism, and instead of thinking wack stuff like "That's the exception that proves the rule" and dismissing the cognitive dissonance with a thought-terminating cliche, they thought "Hey, this has more problems than I was thinking it had. Maybe this isn't such a good idea to base our whole economy on." The world would be radically different within 5 years, and I wouldn't even need a guillotine to do it.
2. Heal Person - heals a person to maximum hit points. Cancer? LOL, NO. I don't think so.
3. Heal Trauma - heals a mind of the terrible things that happened or the terrible absences of connection that traumatize us and break our ability to form narratives and feel like real people. That next 5 years is going to look way different, and the 20 after it will be a golden age of growth if we can get past our aversion and psychic pain associated with growth, to which end:
4. Create Outrun Bullshit Drug - For 1D4 hours, a person taking this non-addictive magical drug will experience mild euphoria and easier physical pleasure, but their mind will work faster instead of slower - so fast that they can spot the bullshit that they've been trained to think but that they don't really want to believe. I want it to wear off fairly quickly so that people are incentivized to do the work on themselves that makes them better people. It might slowly change our culture towards more easy acceptance of the self, less hiding and holding shame, and less feeling trapped and frozen inside the wicked mess problem of being a person in a world that has been manipulated into being an unwinnable game.
5. Teleport - teleports self or others any distance within the Earth's orbit. This one is just for fun, because I want to take my besties out for Indian food. In like, Mumbai.

Credit for this meme goes to

ot_atma. A blank copy of the meme will be in the comments.

kuwdora

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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.)

starwatcher posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Monday, April 06, to midnight on Tuesday, April 07. (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34451 Daily Check-in

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 22

How are you doing?

I am OK.
13 (59.1%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
9 (40.9%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single.
9 (40.9%)

One other person.
7 (31.8%)

More than one other person.
6 (27.3%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

sunnymodffa posting in

fail_fandomanon

I don't have a quote link, I just couldn't miss the opportunity to pay tribute to one of the founding fathers of Old Man Yaoi fandom.

All the fail_fandomanon Rules and Information (and Ban Requests): https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/1076.html. The short version: no embeds, don't out people's real names, don't be that much of an asshole, body fluids are off topic, Mods reserve the right to freeze, screen, and delete the fuck out of stuff. FFA discussion covers a wide variety of topics and has a very flexible view of 'fandom' that includes politics, current events, and cooking techniques. FFA is a Choose NOT to Warn experience. Meme away.

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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/

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
水 part 18
浴, bath; 海, sea; 消, to reduce/to consume ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=85

语法
3.19 一...就~~~, as soon as ... then ~~~
https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-3-grammar

词汇
反, to turn over/to rebel/on the contrary/instead; 反而, instead; 反应, to reflect; 相反, contrary ( pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
怪异事件第一次发生的时候，就在这间浴室里, the first time something abnormal happened it was in this bathroom
你是不是一开始就是装的, haven't you been pretending from the start?
没反应是对的, no reflection is right

Me:
最好不要跟她喝酒了，她就是海量。
我一看到他就爱上他，总之一见钟情。

marinarusalka

Jackie and Shadow, the two BaldEagles nesting in Big Bear Valley, hatched two chicks over the weekend, yay!

Watch on YouTube

I've been ridiculously invested in these eagles for over a year now, following their YouTube channel nearly every day. The chicks are the cutest little fluffballs, go look!

And hey, maybe also throw a few bucks toward the fundraising effort to stop a luxury condo development from being built less than a mile from their nest, which would seriously impact their foraging area and possibly drive them to abandon the territory all together. (I know this is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things these days, but I still don't think a bunch of rich assholes should get to mess up an important wildlife habitat just 'cause they feel like it.)

Current Mood: anxious

sunnymodffa posting in

fail_fandomanon

and with three unnecessary modifiers.

What about the three Marcuses. Are there three Marcuses? If so you have one of the Forbidden Texts.

- And I, Claudius, generated all of them!

-- Et tu, Claude?

All the fail_fandomanon Rules and Information (and Ban Requests): https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/1076.html. The short version: no embeds, don't out people's real names, don't be that much of an asshole, body fluids are off topic, Mods reserve the right to freeze, screen, and delete the fuck out of stuff. FFA discussion covers a wide variety of topics and has a very flexible view of 'fandom' that includes politics, current events, and cooking techniques. FFA is a Choose NOT to Warn experience. Meme away.

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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.

pegkerr

Sending this out a little early.

Minion 59 was this past weekend. I stayed at the hotel, and to my joy, Delia joined me. I really appreciate it when a member of the family comes to Minicon with me.

Somewhat rashly, I had signed up for a glut of panels. I had a reading, too, which was relatively well attended, considering that it scheduled rather early in the con. I read from the latest chapter of my book in progress, and people seemed to enjoy it well enough.

I definitely had a good time, with excellent conversations, although I found myself getting tired in the evenings and was glad I had decided to get a hotel room. (I also ate way too much.) I made some nice acquisitions in the dealer's room, including a new sterling silver ring and my first set of gaming dice ("Baby's first gaming dice!"

lydamorehouse exclaimed when I showed them off to her). I liked them because of the leaf motif on the sides of the dice.

gaming dice

I've done collages about Minicon in the past, because it's such an important event for me each year (I've been attending since, I think, 1988). It's getting increasingly challenging, however, to come up with something new. The flying saucer is an enormous blow-up thing that sits in the Garden Court each year. The picture of the various guests of honor and convention personnel was taken at Closing Ceremonies, where traditionally people in the audience bat around ballons. I always miss Rob during Closing Ceremonies--we would separate as we each enjoyed the con, but we always came to sit together at Closing Ceremonies.

One thing that was announced at the Closing Ceremony is that I will be one of the two Guests of Honor at Diversicon this year, which will take place July 24-26.

Image description: Bottom: a panel of speakers sit at a long table. Background: a view of deep space. Center: a flying saucer hovers over a field of flying ballons. Top: Peg's schedule at Minicon (a reading and six panels).

Minicon

14 Minicon

Click on the links to see the 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.

mildred_of_midgard

Update re previous post: While I still think having soreness in very different places on both legs is a red flag, and I definitely noticed myself coming down harder on the left toes than the right, I do still have soreness on the right toes, aaaannndddd...

Google thinks I need different shoes. Which I suppose makes sense, as I optimized these shoes for "doesn't cause the ball of my right foot to pop," not for distance running. Since the ball of my right foot is mostly better, it's probably time to hit some shoe review websites and shoe stores and find a pair best suited for us crazy people known as aspiring ultrarunners.

While I hate shoes and hate shoe shopping, it seems safer than adjusting my stride.

Concern: I had to buy a shoe with a ton of space in the toebox to avoid compressing the ball of my right foot and causing numbness in my right middle toes. Now I apparently need less room in my toebox to avoid slamming my toes into the front of the shoe on every step. Maybe I can get away with keeping the width and going down half a size? We shall see. Wish me luck; I don't have good luck with shoes, feet, and legs.

We All Came Here Together

I. AO3 IS EXITING OPEN BETA

II. ELSEWHERE AT AO3

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

IV. GOVERNANCE

V. OUR VOLUNTEERS

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