goodbyebird: Parks and Recreation: Leslie is rubbing her forearm against Ron's face, "I have goosebumps. Feel!" (P&R goosebumps!)
goodbyebird ([personal profile] goodbyebird) wrote2025-11-05 10:07 am

Bits and bobs.

+ Very heartening to see all the blue victories rolling in for the US. About damn time.

+ WE'RE GETTING A NEW MUMMY MOVIE! WITH BRENDAN AND RACHEL! DIRECTED BY RADIO SILENCE! That? Is a five course meal. A buffet. An absolute feast. Give it now.

+ I'm in Bangkok atm, waiting for my two brothers to arrive who told me "early in the morning", it is 11 now and I haven't heard a word. The tut tut they'll be having. Just glued to the window watching taxis come in, riveting stuff.

+ Did spend last night in bed ordering room service (it was raining) and sorting/coding some of the recs for Rec-Cember. And some folks have already joined in on the sigh-up post. EXCITE.

+ Ey we should have some more good news: Maldives becomes the first country to achieve ‘triple elimination’ of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B.

+ I know there's a whole bunch of Murderbot fans around, so wanted to give a heads up that both Illumicrate and Broken Binding are doing a limited edition collected set. I'm leaning towards Illumicrate for the cohesive look and fun book boards, but BB has some very cool endpaper art I'm drooling over.

+ Reading Rainbow is back!

+ The Video Game History Foundation's digital library system is now available to the public. You could do worse for an ill-advised late night deep dive ;)

+ hah nothing like inputting a title to my post to remind me that oh yeah, I lopped off my hair! Went from waist length to sporting a lil bob. Feels mighty freeing. And now it's all my natural hair color, and it's going to stay that way ✨
petra: Barbara Gordon smiling knowingly (Default)
petra ([personal profile] petra) wrote2025-11-04 09:45 pm

Food Bank Thank-Yous, an earworm, and reading

Thank you to [personal profile] sanguinity and [personal profile] ride_4ever for donating to your local food banks/pantries! This post has details on how to get me to write for you next by donating.

Party foul (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Slings & Arrows
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Darren Nichols/Geoffrey Tennant
Characters: Darren Nichols, Geoffrey Tennant
Additional Tags: Drabble, Shakespearean Comedy
Summary:

Darren and Geoffrey celebrate Halloween during university.


*

Still I think I've been overpaid (100 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: White Collar (TV 2009)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke/Neal Caffrey
Characters: Elizabeth Burke, Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey
Additional Tags: Drabble, First Time
Series: Part 2 of Can't be bought or sold
Summary:

El, Peter, and Neal get naked.


*

In persistent music news, Golden from KPop Demon Hunters is chasing me around the city to a degree that I haven't experienced with a song since I spent a lot of time in doctor's office waiting rooms during the peak of Let It Go-a-rama. I heard it in two different places today. I'm not sure which is going to prove to be more persistent outside my head; I still don't know what all the words to Golden mean, and it's not because I don't know how to find out.

*

I have been listening to The Expanse via audiobook.

Spoilers for Tiamat's Wrath's first couple of chapters )
*

Goodbye and good riddance to Dick Cheney and Andrew Cuomo's NYC mayoral bid!
sovay: (Sovay: David Owen)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2025-11-04 08:13 pm

A lie you told to the maze I'm in

[personal profile] spatch and I have performed our civic duties and received stickers in exchange for the exercise of democracy. It's been at least a year since we had to prove our residence in this ward and precinct, but the original experience was so scarifying that we still show up carrying utility bills just in case. The moon was brilliantly full and some of the leaves streetlight-orange in it. Earlier in the afternoon, I walked some distance by the side of a road where the afternoon sun had tinted the conservation meadows like ambrotypes. I have seen the news of the death of Dick Cheney. Twenty-five years sooner would have been better, but I had begun to wonder if he was even in the machine. Since Halloween, WERS has been playing a lot of the Last Dinner Party's "This Is the Killer Speaking" (2025). I am completly unsurprised that the band has covered Sparks.

P.S. w00t, Mamdani!
musesfool: LION (bring back naptime)
i did it all for the robins ([personal profile] musesfool) wrote2025-11-04 07:35 pm

and he backhands it down ice

A few years ago - I feel like it was sometime in mid-2020 - I bought a pillow that was 1. supposed to be "cooling" and 2. supposed to be good for side-sleepers, and reader, I hated it. Also it fucked up my neck a couple of times, but it was not cheap, so I kept using it. Until earlier this year, when I began trying to make my whole sleep experience better. I couldn't find the pillows I'd had prior to purchasing the crimes against my neck pillow, which I'd liked but had worn out, so I ended up getting something similar, on sale from Quince, so I was able to get 2. Which would not have been my first stop, but they were highly rated, down-alternative pillows available in 3 different firmnesses (I went with medium). It turned out to be a good purchase, because I like them so much better than the old side-sleeper pillow, which I now use between my knees.

I also finally ended up buying not a big fluffy white comforter as I was looking for earlier this year, but a white "cooling blanket" from Rest. It was a NYT Wirecutter recommendation, and it was on sale, which made me feel slightly better about spending money on it. And I do like it. I like it enough that I bought a second one in navy blue to switch out while the white one is being washed. The one thing I dislike though, is that to get the full "cooling" effect (I put it in quotes, but the material is some kind of tencel thingy that cools off very quickly, so even when I feel too hot, I can kick it off and pull it back on after a few minutes and it is cool again), is that you can't use it with a top sheet. And I know some people never use a top sheet, but I was not one of those people until I bought this blanket. But the whole point is to have this fancy cool material against your skin. *hands*

It is lighter than a comforter and probably won't work if you need weight on you to sleep, but along with the pillows, and the percale sheets I've been using since the days of frequent hot flashes and night sweats (which have thankfully become much rarer these days), I've found my sleep has definitely improved. It also helps to keep the bedroom as cool as possible. Tbh, being hot is the #1 reason I can't sleep, and even now, after all these improvements, I do still sometimes have a bad night of sleep for whatever reasons, but I feel like it's a lot less often than it used to be.

In other news, I was off today for Election Day, but since I voted by mail, I didn't have to go anywhere. I ended up taking care of some chores around the apartment that needed doing since the cleaning ladies will be coming on Thursday. And now I'm watching the Rangers lose to Carolina. Sigh.

*
china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
The Gauche in the Machine ([personal profile] china_shop) wrote2025-11-05 12:22 pm
Entry tags:

Me-and-media update

I haven't done a media update in weeks! Here's what I've been watching and reading.

Reading
It didn't feel like a lot when I started, but cutting for length anyway. )

Kdramas
This always felt like a lot. )

Other TV
There's quite a lot here, too. )

Guardian/Fandom
Wishliiiiiiist! It went so well. Belated hooray for everyone and all the treats! :D

Perusing the Yuletide tagset was an object lesson in "other people's character preferences are not my character preferences, and that's okay." Still, I have a bunch of things to potentially treat if I can get into gear.

Films
Grace: a prayer for peace, a film about Aotearoa / New Zealand artist Robin White. Beautiful and arty, and I had trouble staying awake. (I'm not great at maintaining attention when there's no dialogue.)

Audio stuff
A handful of eps of Tech Won't Save Us, mostly AI-related. Some Guilty Feminist (UK), which is a bit hit-and-miss for me, but at least is tuned in to *gestures at the dumpster fire that is politics in a lot of places*
/o\ /o\ /o\(They have a new series of live shows called "The Road to Gilead", and are particularly loud about Farage's links to US right-wing anti-abortion group ADF.)
Writing Excuses. Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson.

Writing/making things
I currently have a thing at beta, and I'm gearing myself up to work on my Yuletide assignment fic.

I broke my [community profile] fan_flashworks streak during Guardian Wishlist. That's okay; I actually find streaks a bit burdensome when they get too long. I'm not in a pushing-myself headspace. Instead of writing anything for the Amnesty round, I posted some of the art I've been trying out via Youtube instructional videos for kids. (I'm so happy with how the eyes came out on the kitten-dragon.) (Youtube art videos for kids are excellent, btw! I've drawn a fox, a llama, an owl, a lemur, another dragon, a unicorn mer-red-panda, and a few other things, and they always turn out pleasingly, despite my zero skill level. I'm thinking of investing in a set of coloured pencils for grown-ups, but for now I'm enjoying the tin of miniature ones [personal profile] cyphomandra sent me before my hysterectomy and a few others left over from when I was five. :-)

Life/health/mental state things
Over the last few months, I've noticed more and more long silver hairs in my house. Hmph.

Good things
The Guardian Slo-Mo Rewatch on [community profile] sid_guardian. Guardian fandom generally. Yuletide. Podfic and audiobooks and Kdramas and libraries. The forecast for tomorrow is good. Kdramas. We went to an art exhibition opening yesterday evening, and it was great and made me want to make more things. Writers' Hour.

Poll #33799 Time is
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 21


Time is

View Answers

an arrow
2 (9.5%)

a fruit fly
7 (33.3%)

a banana
2 (9.5%)

melting
3 (14.3%)

relentless
8 (38.1%)

elusive
5 (23.8%)

other
4 (19.0%)

ticky-box full of hippity-hoppity frogs
8 (38.1%)

ticky-box full of blue-haired punk red pandas being, on average, purple
13 (61.9%)

ticky-box full of weird clock karma
9 (42.9%)

ticky-box full of colouring in
10 (47.6%)

ticky-box full of hugs
15 (71.4%)

mickeym: (Default)
mickeym ([personal profile] mickeym) wrote2025-11-04 06:14 pm

I need help

Hey, y’all.

I hate doing this, and I’m so ashamed that I’m having to do it again, but I am asking for some help. I know things are tight for everyone right now, especially those who’ve been furloughed, or had hours cut, or have had their SNAP benefits withheld because of government stupidity.

We have four things we need to get paid in the next couple of weeks:

Electric, due 11/6; $160
Water, due before 11/22; $190 (that includes a 10% late fee)
Groceries, any amount, for stuff we can’t get from foodbanks: hamburger, chicken, milk, butter, cheese. Ideally $150, but anything.

And we need to get insurance on the junkmobile again. It lapsed, and we need to have it. That’s, I don’t know, about $150-$200.

My Medicaid case manager and I have been making the rounds to try and find funding for the electric and water, but we’re coming up short. Too many in need and not enough resources.

If anyone can help at all, I would be very grateful.

You can use my Paypal account: kimandmattg6794@gmail.com and Matthew has a CashApp which is whiteshotmatt.

Thank you for reading this, and a huge thank you and eternal gratitude if you can help me out.
cimorene: painting of two women in Regency gowns drinking tea (austen)
Cimorene ([personal profile] cimorene) wrote2025-11-04 10:44 pm
Entry tags:

I've had it in lattes before but couldn't taste the difference bc lattes are delicious

When I saw her a few weeks ago my vegan-and-gluten-free-bc-allergies friend said that she loves oat milk and it tastes much better than soy or almond milk, especially in coffee, so I got some to try.

And it's so good! I'm only making cocoa with it right now, but it impressed me right away. I use lactose-free dairy products usually, but I suspect that they disagree with me too, just mildly, especially cocoa made with milk. I've always been too lazy to test that systematically. Eliminating all dairy for an extended period (which I have a few times) isn't rigorous enough because other things can upset my stomach too, including just... anxiety.

I really love lattes - mostly chai and matcha, but I like coffee lattes too - and I've been wanting to make them for years and years. I was originally planning to get a milk steamer as a reward when and if I ever pass the driving test, but currently I'm trying a caffeine-free diet to see if it helps my anxiety. I'm not sure if I will decide to consume it again when the trial is over (I'm doing two and a half months minimum on physician's advice), and there's no point buying one if not.

There's popcorn flavored oat milk at the store. Bewildered and concerned. Don't like that.
oursin: Animate icon of hedgehog and rubber tortoise and words 'O Tempora O Mores' (o tempora o mores)
oursin ([personal profile] oursin) wrote2025-11-04 07:11 pm

O for the days of handmade spam....

Actually I daresay it was bots, even then, but it had a vaguely handspun amateur air about it-

Does anyone else remember (did anyone else receive) those scam messages alleging that they had VIDEO of the recipient pleasuring themself to PORN and if X amount was not sent to scamdealer's bitcoin wallet, they would send it to all of the recipient's contacts?

This was all badly enough spelt and ungrammatical enough, before the whole This Never Happened factor, that it could be readily dismissed.

(Or do I lead an unnaturally clean life? Is this a version of 'Fly! All Is Discovered!' at which a significant % who receive the message will, indeed, Get Out Of Dodge Pronto.)

Anyway, it sounds positively sweet and pastoral, compared to this, which is presumably pulling on the same shame strings: Rise of the ‘porno-trolls’: how one porn platform made millions suing its viewers:

Thousands of lawsuits follow a similar formula: Strike 3 claims to use a proprietary software called VXN Scan to track IP addresses that have downloaded porn they own. The software cannot identify the user beyond a rough geographic location, so Strike 3 files suit against an anonymous John Doe, and subpoenas their internet service provider (ISP) to unmask the user. The ISP in turn alerts the subscriber – which is when most people find out they have been sued. These people are often keen to settle, being cheaper than litigation and the only way to ensure their anonymity.
....
Thousands of lawsuits follow a similar formula: Strike 3 claims to use a proprietary software called VXN Scan to track IP addresses that have downloaded porn they own. The software cannot identify the user beyond a rough geographic location, so Strike 3 files suit against an anonymous John Doe, and subpoenas their internet service provider (ISP) to unmask the user. The ISP in turn alerts the subscriber – which is when most people find out they have been sued. These people are often keen to settle, being cheaper than litigation and the only way to ensure their anonymity.

The further one reads, the dodgier this all sounds.

spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
it only hurts when i breathe ([personal profile] spikedluv) wrote2025-11-04 01:16 pm

Fandom Gift Basket 2025 Fic: Hawkeye (tv)Hawkeye (comic)/Thunderbolts (2025) & Teen Wolf (tv)

I wrote two fic for [community profile] fandomgiftbasket this round. I hope you enjoy them!


Title: Pretzels and Pizza
Author: Spikedluv
Fandom: Hawkeye (tv) | Hawkeye (Fraction comics) | Thunderbolts (2025)
Rating: PG13/Femslash
Pairing/Characters: Kate/Yelena, Clint, Bucky
Length: 1,605 words
Spoilers: Takes place post-everything, but just bits and pieces from each canon.
Summary: When Bucky dragged Yelena out for an afternoon of ‘fun', she didn't know they were going to Clint Barton's apartment, or that Kate Bishop would be there.
Author's Notes: Written for [personal profile] impala_chick for [community profile] fandomgiftbasket 2025. One of their prompts was the rest of the team finding out about them. I hope you enjoy this variation on that!
Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.
Posted: October 8, 2025

Read Fic @ AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72130546




Title: Open Arms
Author: Spikedluv
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Rating: PG13/Pre-Slash/Slash
Pairing/Characters: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski (Cameo by Erica and pack; OFC)
Length: 2,500 words
Spoilers: Spoilers through season two, though the story takes place later.
Summary: Stiles and Derek are kidnapped. Again.
Author's Notes: Stiles is not underage in this story. Written for [personal profile] logans_girl2001 for [community profile] fandomgiftbasket 2025. They asked for Teen Wolf, Derek/Stiles and one of their ‘likes' was Soulmate AUs of all kinds. I hope you enjoy this! Title from a Journey song that popped into my head.
Feedback: Would be greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.
Posted: October 11, 2025

Read Fic @ AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72290586
spikedluv: created by tarlan (misc: tv talk by tarlan)
it only hurts when i breathe ([personal profile] spikedluv) wrote2025-11-04 11:14 am
Entry tags:

TV Talk: 9-1-1, Matlock & Tracker

9-1-1: Good ep. spoilers )


Matlock: Good ep. spoilers )


Tracker: Good ep! spoilers )
lydamorehouse: (Default)
lydamorehouse ([personal profile] lydamorehouse) wrote2025-11-04 09:17 am

Skip Day, Autumn Break

 autumn trees at Afton State Park
Image: sunlight through yellow maples at Afton State Park

Yesterday, Shawn woke up with a migraine. She gets these a lot, but there must have been something about this one because, even though she decided to go to PT, the rest of the day was a wash.  The PT was even touch and go. She and I sat in bed a couple of extra hours debating the merits of going or not. She felt that having not quite mastered the most recent exercise meant that she should postpone and reschedule. That sounded valid to me, but then I also asked what would be the benefit in going... and she talked herself into the idea that maybe the physical therapist would have some mini-steps she could practice so that she *could* figure out the exercise. 

So, I grabbed a bit of extra coffee for the road, turned off the coffee maker, and we headed out.

I sort of thought that this late start would be it--the end of a nice little break to the rushing, workday routine. But, lately Shawn and I have been taking detours on the way to work to look at the early morning sunlight through the golden, orange, and blazing red maple leaves. At this point, Sunday's wind took down a lot of the showiest displays, but there are still plenty of trees here and there that are in their full glory.  At one point, when we were admiring a tree, I jokingly said (as I often do, keep in mind) that if she was feeling poorly, she could just skip and we could go on a leaf peeping adventure. Maybe a drive down to Red Wing? Maybe all the way to Wabasha?

She wasn't sure she was up for that, but then, to my utter surprise, she said, "But how about Afton State Park?"

So we went. 

Afton never has really spectacular fall colors, though. Afton is largely prairie, oak savvana, and oak woodland.


oak trees in the fall
Image: The Wisconsin Bluffs from the Minnesota side of the St. Croix River, very oak, much brown.

But it was a really, really lovely sunny morning and the view down on the picnic area's dock was absolutely spectacular.

St. Croix River from Aspen State Park
Image: the azure expanse of sky and river on the St. Croix (from Aspen State Park)

All this touching grass, though? Very much exhausted the migrainer. So, we came home, had a little bit of a lunch and faceplanted until dinner time.  I would normally be chagrined to have slept so long in the afternoon, but between the gig last night and the fact that Mason was flying home from Oklahoma City at 12:30 AM (that's in the morning!) I figured it was fine. I was, in fact, able to stay awake until he was deplaning around 1:00 am. 

For those of you just tuning in, Mason has a romantic partner, Jas, down in Oklahoma. They are doing the long distance thing very well so far, but they do like to punctuate it with actual togetherness as much as they can afford. Next planned trip is to try to coax Jas up here for... Minnesota WINTER.

Wish Mason luck. I think he's gonna need it.
sholio: aged sepia paper with printed text saying "If undelivered, return to Air Ministry, London" (Biggles-london air ministry)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2025-11-03 09:15 pm

Fic in brief

A couple of quick things I wrote for Fandom Giftbasket:

Firefly (Biggles/EvS, G, 1500 wds)
An evanescent moment on the journey home from Sakhalin.

Vaguely inspired by a photo of fireflies in India.

Birds (Alliance-Union, Meg/Dek, 500 wds)
Posted as a commentfic snippet, just a soft little moment for them after a rider ship mission.
conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-11-02 07:45 am

Cheney died

Happy Election Day, I guess?
spikedluv: (fall: caramel apples by candi)
it only hurts when i breathe ([personal profile] spikedluv) wrote2025-11-04 07:44 am

The Day in Spikedluv (Monday, Nov 3)

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. He did another exam before the adjustment to determine whether we can go back to regular once-a-week appointments, instead of continuing with three-times-a-week. I’m currently labeling my healing level at 95%. There’s still just that little bit of pain left when I sit too long. I need to remember to ice and do stretches more regularly.

I hit Price Chopper while I was downtown, drove mom to her treatment, did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, baked chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and shaved. I made French toast and bacon for supper.

I didn’t write today, which was a bummer, but I watched Tracker and an HGTV program. Then I turned on NatGeoWild in the background; tonight was Dr. Pol again. I also took a short nap.

Temps started out at 42.4(F) and reached 65.0. There was morning sun, which was nice, but dark clouds moved in after noon and brought some rain with it.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing well. more back here )
fred_mouse: pop funko of Jodie Whittaker as Doctor Who (thirteenth doctor)
fred_mouse ([personal profile] fred_mouse) wrote2025-11-04 08:13 pm

Life lived in dot points

  • I submitted my preliminary candidacy proposal today. I still have to present it, get reviewer's feedback, and resubmit, but it is one hoop closer to done.
  • I received confirmation that my application to work with a larger project has been accepted. I have until Monday to tell them what my milestones, deliverables, and KPIs are, and while the first two are okay, the last one is supposed to have at least one from a list I can't find
  • I caved and bought an ebook bundle from StoryBundle: this trilogies bundle - I bought it for the Natania Barron (which I acquired book one while travelling, and then lost when I was 1/3 in) and the Jane Yolen (I believe I know where book 1 is, but I didn't know it was a trilogy). I have no expectations for the rest, but it was cheaper than trying to buy either of the trilogies (definitely in hard copy, but possibly still cheaper than them in softcopy, with the cost of ebooks)
  • I was running ahead on the quilting, I then did none in the weekend just gone, so I think I'm a block behind, but I've also done some of the assembling, so I've worked ahead as well. progress is progress
  • the little chamber orchestra has a performance on Sunday, and Youngest (who has not been able to attend a rehearsal all semester due to uni scheduling conflicts) came along and can play at least some of it, which helps bolster the currently light on cello section (we have a new cello player. This was their fourth session with us; I'm not sure they had met any of the other cello players before last night).
  • I have managed to lose the blanket that lives on the red couch. I have zero memory of it ever being anywhere else, so I'm a bit :( about it. But I used it as the reference object for a course I'm doing (I'm doing two tiny courses, on the future of data and the future of communication, each ~10 hours, while attempting to do a stack of other things. As is the way, I'm too slow moving for it to be only 10 hours, given that I spent nearly two this afternoon doing 1/6 of the work)
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
oursin ([personal profile] oursin) wrote2025-11-04 09:36 am

(no subject)

Happy birthday, [personal profile] erika!