sage: a library with a spiral staircase (books)
sage ([personal profile] sage) wrote2025-06-04 06:35 pm
Entry tags:

What I'm Doing Wednesday

books (Palmer, Davis, Liu, Trungpa, Trungpa, Adams) )

dirt
Yay, the ginger root I planted has FINALLY sent up a shoot! Boo: Thursday I found the evidence of chomped leaves in the terrarium, meaning the snail is an omnivore and had to go, so I scooped it up with a spoon and put it outside...where the lemon tree has a whole actual branch now! The leaves are still tiny, but I'm so glad to see it come back to life. Meanwhile, the arugula died, which was sort of expected. I have more seed so I can just plant more. But I probably need to sterilize the soil, given the whole thrips situation. Also, I harvested a double handful of rattlesnake beans and am waiting on the rest to be of size to pick. I put more seed to soak yesterday and planted them today.

yarning
I went to yarn group on Sunday and finished the bodies of two kickbunnies and worked on a head. My shoulder ached but didn't scream, so that's a relative win. Then I voted in the municipal runoff. It remains hard to get motivated to crochet during the week. This is frustrating.

#resist
June 3 to 9: Target Boycott
June 14: Flag Day & No King's Day (Trump's Birthday) Protest
June 19: Juneteenth Protest
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott and Protest

I hope all of you are doing well! <333
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
The Gauche in the Machine ([personal profile] china_shop) wrote2025-06-05 09:43 am
Entry tags:

Me-and-media update

Previous poll review
In the Detectives poll, the most popular options were softboiled (38.2%), ingredient in alcoholic beverages (32.4%) and hardboiled (26.5%). Over easy, poached, and deviled tied for last place with 14.7%.

In ticky-boxes, dinosaur feathers came second to hugs, 55.9% to 76.5%, yay science! Thank you for your votes.

Reading
The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown -- Revisiting my childhood. I enjoyed this so much. It's episodic, good-natured, and now I want to re-read all the sequels.

Just Kiss Her by Clare Lydon, narrated by Katy Sobey -- This was very silly. It's an f/f romance about a lesbian who fake-dates her closeted-to-his-family gay bff at his cousin's destination wedding and finds herself falling for his mother. Which I would have been here for, but a) the only obstacles were the obvious situational ones, b) neither lead seemed to have a character arc, and c) their connection was 30% feeling comfortable with each other and 70% finding each other sexy, in a telling-not-showing way. (I prefer the proportions reversed, along with some shared interests and values, thanks.) DNF.

Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers, narrated by Robert Bathurst -- So much fun! I find the dispassionate descriptions of court appearances and the reading out of letters both drag a little (the letters are always very convenient), but not enough to undermine the general charm of it all. Peter's “justice first” attitude to his brother’s arrest (not a spoiler) was great, and I'm well on my way to shipping him with Parker and/or Bunter. (Will check AO3 when I have more time.) (I know, I know, Harriet, but I haven’t got to her yet. ) I preferred the previous audiobook narrator, Frederick Davidson, but you can't have everything.

Guardian by priest -- The readalong continues, yay! I’m enjoying the mix of ensemble humor, very intense/weird romance, and Miyazaki-esque imagery. It’s pretty easy to lose track of events, but the readalong helps enormously with that.

Still slowly making my way through the 520 Day Guardian Exchange collection. Really need to sit down and write some comments!

Kdramas
Nothing! I hardly recognise myself. (ETA: Okay, now I’ve watched half an episode of Our Unwritten Seoul. Not enough to get a real sense of it yet.)

Other TV
Murderbot -- continues to be a) enjoyable, and b) very different from my experience of the book (and that's okay).
Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life -- a bit less structured than his previous stand-up specials, but still enjoyable.
Doctor Who -- I'm just shaking my head at RTD and whoever gave him this ridiculous budget where he could throw whatever random elements he thought of into the mix. (We still have the final episode to go.)
Turning Point: The Vietnam War -- Turning Point: The Cold War was so good that we thought we’d try this one, too. Fact-filled and meaty.
Department Q -- new Edinburgh-based cold-case unit is staffed by asshole detective with PTSD. Really good so far (two episodes in), even if the asshole detective is... really leaning into the “asshole” bit.
The Expanse -- finished season 4; started season 5. AMOSSSS!!! NAOMI!!! BOBBY!!!! I am earwormed by the opening credits music.
El Eternauta -- we’ve only seen ten or twenty minutes of this eerie Argentinian series, but it looks really good and is on our to-watch list.
Fringe -- my sister and I are still making our way through season 1.
Spy (2015) -- the Melissa McCarthy movie. I loved this when it came out and saw it multiple times at the theatre. So when Netflix said it was being removed in a few days, I thought I should take the opportunity to revisit it. I got halfway through. This is partly attributable to my poor attention span, and partly argh Jason Statham, go away! (I know it’s a deliberate plot/humour choice, but argh.)

Guardian/Fandom
*bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce*

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, and bits of Brandon Sanderson’s writing lectures. (I’ve listened to the latter very haphazardly, and I have no idea which ones I meant to review again.)

Writing/making things
Writing continues apace. I don’t generally keep track of word counts, but I wrote 4,343 words in one day recently, which is astonishing for me. What is even happening? Currently on the hunt for a title, and whittling away at a WIP.

Random aside: partly because of the state of my arms, I reasonably often don’t hit the keys hard enough. One of my common typos is “hae” instead of “have”, which always makes me feel I’m writing in Scots.

Life/health/mental state things
I find it so hard to put anything here these days... which is probably telling. Let's try. )

Food
The dish I’ve been referring to as “the vegan thing” (Youtube link) isn’t even vegetarian when I make it, because there’s bonito extract in my miso paste. Oops. It’s still delicious, though. Somehow, the combination of fresh ginger, fresh tomatoes, random vege, miso paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds makes a really delicious gravy.

Good things
Anticipating getting shelves in my cupboard and imposing some order on (*gestures*) all this. Also, anticipating my windows not leaking. Guardian fandom, especially on Dreamwidth. Zhao Yunlaaaaaan. Writing. Books and Kdramas and so much TV. Cooking. Friends, online and off. Wonderful insightful beta. The boy and the cat and the house and the city. The view from my living-room window. Clean sheets. Baby!red panda blep face (Insta link).

Poll #33200 hair, there and everywhair
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 58


How do you dry your hair?

View Answers

air dry
45 (77.6%)

towel dry roughly
21 (36.2%)

towel dry carefully / squeezingly
18 (31.0%)

hair dryer or other device
13 (22.4%)

other
0 (0.0%)

not applicable
1 (1.7%)

add styling stuff
10 (17.2%)

add conditioning stuff
10 (17.2%)

add anti-frizz stuff
7 (12.1%)

other
1 (1.7%)

ticky-box of other people are, generally speaking, quite mysterious
21 (36.2%)

ticky-box full of poll votes
17 (29.3%)

tickybox full of a yawning cat broadcasting calm and satisfaction into the world
41 (70.7%)

ticky-box full of the tickly froth edge of a wave on pale sparkly sand, at dawn
29 (50.0%)

ticky-box of rationing your exclamation marks
14 (24.1%)

ticky-box full of hugs
39 (67.2%)

telophase: (Default)
telophase ([personal profile] telophase) wrote2025-06-04 02:27 pm
Entry tags:

Because I am waiting for inspiration to strike

I am mulling ideas for a client's cover in my backbrain and poking at my elevator pitch generator, which I updated with some more elements last night.

Okaaaay...:

An uncanny, rollicking novelette, this eldritch horror post-apocalyptic fable is what you'd get if you mashed up The Vampire Diaries with Schindler's List.

This timely media tie-in, a transcendant contemporary fantasy narrative, is the result of mashing up Conan and Mutiny on the Bounty.

This rambunctious trilogy, a rollicking romantasy narrative, is the result of mashing up Murderbot and Titanic.

Recommended for fans of big swords and true love.

Reminiscent of James Patterson and Lord Dunsany, this debut biopunk book is a fast-moving novel.

If Evan Winters mixed Slaughterhouse-Five with a touch of Casablanca, the result would be this numinous tour-de-force.

Fans of Rebecca and Fury Road will resonate with this suspense story that seriously examines loss.

If Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Man in the High Castle, this striking saga is what you'd get.

What would happen if Nicholas Sparks wrote The Expanse?


I would read these:

Full of delicious food, love transcending all, and bears.

Takes readers into a haunting and haunted world of mutants and Faustian bargains.

An extraordinary Murderbot meets Fallout and tackles issues of determinism in this darkly comic novel.

A breathtaking, contemporary novelette, this folktale is what you'd get if Umberto Eco wrote The Planet of the Apes.


I would read the ebook sample of these:

The Maltese Falcon meets Ninefox Gambit in this wonderful neo-classic book. Recommended for readers who want medieval settings and circuses.

A surprising, endearing series, this cozy mystery series successfully mixes YA fantasy and legal thriller with layered characters.

A transcendant paranormal romance, this Stabby Award-winning trilogy is like Friday the 13th, but with extra bears.
azurelunatic: Hacker-Kitty (aka Yellface) snuggling with Azz. (Hacker-Kitty)
Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 ([personal profile] azurelunatic) wrote2025-06-04 12:21 pm

Things said to cats

Cat: "Me-ow!"
Me: "Me-ow! You-ow! We all ow!"
sine_nomine: (Default)
sine nomine ([personal profile] sine_nomine) wrote2025-06-04 11:49 am

Rant

After ALL that talk yesterday about "of course we won't discharge tomorrow without labs" NO ONE ORDERED ANYTHING FOR TODAY.

Yes, I have already left voicemail with the Office of Patient Advocacy. And yes, we all know they are actually there to protect the hospital and not the patient. Still, they have power to do something.
conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-06-04 02:12 pm

Why Are Your Poems So Dark? by Linda Pastan

Isn't the moon dark too,
most of the time?

And doesn't the white page
seem unfinished

without the dark stain
of alphabets?

When God demanded light,
he didn't banish darkness.

Instead he invented
ebony and crows

and that small mole
on your left cheekbone.

Or did you mean to ask
"Why are you sad so often?"

Ask the moon.
Ask what it has witnessed.


*****


Link
oursin: Photograph of small impressionistic metal figurine seated reading a book (Reader)
oursin ([personal profile] oursin) wrote2025-06-04 04:57 pm

Wednesday had text and phonecalls about credit card fraud BEFORE COFFEE*

What I read

KJ Charles, Copper Script (2025): somehow not among my top KJCs.

Finished Bitch in a Bonnet Vol 2, perhaps even better than vol 1.

Angela Thirkell, The Old Bank House (1949): not quite sure why this got to be picked as a Virago Modern Classic: WO WO Iron Heel of THEM i.e. the 1945 Labour Government, moan whinge, etc etc; also several rather repetitious passages of older generation maundering to themselves about the dire prospects that await the younger members.

Finished Dragon's Teeth, the last parts of which were quite the wild ride.

Latest Slightly Foxed, a bit underwhelmed, well, they can't always be talking about things that really interest/excite me or rouse fond memories I suppose.

On the go

Have started Upton Sinclair. Wide is the Gate (Lanny Budd, #4) (1943) simply because I had very strong 'what happens next? urges after the end of Dragon's Teeth, but that gets answered in the first few chapters, and I think that in this one we're already getting strong hints that Lanny is about to head southwards to Spain, just in time for things to start getting violent. I might take a break.

I have just started a romance by an author I have vaguely heard well of and was a Kobo deal but don't think it's for me.

Up next

Dunno: perhaps that Gail Godwin memoir.

***

*Even barely woken up I was not at all sure that this was not all one of those cunning scams that is in fact a fraudster telling you they are your bank/credit card co, but it turned out it was actually about somebody making fraudulent charges - in really odd small ways - on my card, when I got onto the website and found the number to ring - the number being called from with automated menu bearing no resemblance to the one on my card, ahem - went through all the procedures and card is being cancelled and new one sent. SIGH. This is second credit card hoohah in two days, yesterday got text re upcoming due payment for which bill has so far failed to arrive, for the one for which logging into website involves dangers untold and hardships unnumbered and having the mobile app. (Eventually all resolved.)

conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-06-05 10:45 am

Recommend me something to read

Ideally something I can get through the NYPL or the Queens Public Library (I haven't yet re-upped my Brooklyn Public Library card. I ought to go do that this weekend or the week after.)

I suppose I should set a good example and rec something to all of you first. Lemme see....

I did recently enjoy both Long Live Evil and How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying!

******************************************


Read more... )
runpunkrun: combat boot, pizza, camo pants = punk  (punk rock girl)
Punk ([personal profile] runpunkrun) wrote2025-06-04 08:45 am

Fancake's Theme for June: Female Relationships

Photograph with added text: Female Relationships, at Fancake. Four old Nepalese women sit together on a low brick wall, their feet dangling, most of them barefoot, their shoes kicked off below them. They're dressed in loose patterned fabrics in various shades of red and the mood is relaxed.
[community profile] fancake's theme for June is Female Relationships! That's any kind of relationship with any kind of female—cis, trans, alligator priestess, whatever you got! We already have recs in Star Trek Reboot, Mo Dao Zu Shi/Chen Qing Ling, a stop animation film featuring Barbie dolls and a Cher song (yes, it's as amazing as it sounds), Ghosts (US), and King Falls AM.

If you have any questions about this theme, or the comm, come talk to me!
spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
it only hurts when i breathe ([personal profile] spikedluv) wrote2025-06-04 07:27 am

Wednesday Reading Meme & Books 37-39 of 2025

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells, Out of the Deep I Cry (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) by Julia Spencer-Fleming and Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells.


What I am Currently Reading: In a Dark House (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie.


What I Plan to Read Next: I have three more library books out, and four more on request, so definitely one of those!!




Book 37 of 2025: Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

So good! spoilers )

So good! I'm trying not to read these all at once, but I'm already getting the final two books from the library, so it's going to be hard to hold back. I'm giving this book five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥



Book 38 of 2025: Out of the Deep I Cry (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Julia Spencer-Fleming)

I really enjoyed this book!!! spoilers )

Really good book. I've requested the next and am giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥




Book 39 of 2025: Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

So good! spoilers )

This book was really good. I'm giving it five hearts, natch.

♥♥♥♥♥
spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
it only hurts when i breathe ([personal profile] spikedluv) wrote2025-06-04 06:12 am
Entry tags:

The Day in Spikedluv (Tuesday, June 3)

I did zero shopping while I was downtown \o/, but still got in a short walk around the park. I did run to a local shop on my way home to get the meat sticks that Pip likes, and of course they were out of them. I got a yogurt parfait to try and was impressed to see that they used fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries and blueberries). It was good, and filling.

I did a load of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, scooped kitty litter, hit the bank drive-thru, and paid a bill online.

I finished Network Effect and started the next Duncan Kincaid book, and talked with mom. For my walk with the dogs, I went on a different trail, one that’s .50 mi instead of .25. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to add on a 1/4 mile each week. If so, by next week I’ll be doing a mile a day, which is good, considering. I also did some more writing, ~900 words on a brand new fic for [community profile] smallfandomfest. (If you guessed that it’s a Murder, She Wrote crossover, you’d be right. *g*)

We had leftover pulled pork (from Sunday’s b-day party) for supper, so another night I didn’t have to cook!

Temps started out at 39.9(F) (I know! I was o_O about it too!) and reached 84. It was very nice out, but still cool inside the house, so I wore a sweatshirt most of the day while iside.
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
oursin ([personal profile] oursin) wrote2025-06-04 10:04 am

(no subject)

Happy birthday, [personal profile] starlady!