kiya

I'm visiting with my sister, brother-in-law, and niblings for a couple of days.

This evening, while the girls were getting ready to be put to bed, my nephew and I went for a walk to catch Pokemon together. It was pretty awesome and we'll probably go again tomorrow evening. He's already trying to wheedle money out of his parents so we can buy some "food," or really popcorn, or possibly something else he shouldn't be having so close to bedtime.

Also tomorrow, I get to go to the dentist with my youngest niece. Sure to be a fun time, that.

Saw the last ep of this series of Brokenwood Mysteries on Monday. They really outdid themselves with the stupid. It was mildly amusing. Not one of the better eps, imo.

The parents are watching The Chelsea Detective from the beginning, so I've been rewatching with them. Still a good show.

I think I need a Pokemon icon. It's been so long, I'm not sure if I remember how to make icons anymore. I'll figure it out at some point.

Watch on YouTube

Gender seems to be occurring.

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fandom: music

An interesting little survey of attendance costs at a media con.

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Orange Cake and Daily Tasks

Very quickly, because I'm busily rewatching a Korean music group challenge show (because of course I am), I wanted to announce to a waiting world that the second time I baked this particular orange cake, it was just as good as the first time. I am satisfied.

Today was supposed to be the first day that I gathered up all the paperwork we need to prepare Bob's Canadian permanent residence application. I ended up dealing with other things, but I hope it wasn't just a case of me trying to avoid a tough job. It's undoubtedly not nearly as tough as my fears make it seem. I'm going to do my best tomorrow to get the job done. Then Bob and I will figure out the following day's tasks wrt the application. We figured that we'd try to tackle one job each every day, and we're going to try to stick to that.

Well, except for me, obviously. Sigh.

Wish us both luck tomorrow.

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: the home office
Current Music: Kingdom: Legendary War

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Posted by Marissa Lingen

https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=4173

Review copy provided by the publisher.

I like books that don’t follow a standard hero’s journey or quest narrative, and wow, is this in that category. This one has–and this by itself should tell you a large part of whether you want to read it–a gigantic whale of space–in space? but also comprising space? and multiple worlds inside the whale, that part is certain. Doors into unfolding different worlds, all inside the whale.

The whale used to be something else, but *what* else is a spoiler.

So there is more worldmaking than worldhopping here, and the titular sisters–there are two pairs of candidates for the title–are trying to figure out what madness means in their context. It is not a book that is trying to make a commentary on mental health in our own context, or if it is, it’s being very roundabout and obscure about it. But there is a lot about how cultures construe madness, sanity, fitting in and not.

And there are indeed sisterhoods, very strong sororal relationships. And also space whale. Which you might like, and if so, step right up, here it is.

https://marissalingen.com/blog/?p=4173

When I was ten years old, friends and I came back from seeing a James Bond movie and were playing at James Bond on our bikes, and I swerved too sharply, fell over, and broke my left leg. I broke both the fibia and the tibula, in fact, but they were clean breaks, very tidy. Hurt like screaming hell, though. As was the custom of the time I was the hospital for several days and came out in a full-leg cast. My father, who lived some distance away, couldn’t get there right away and sent me a dozen roses in the hospital, which made the whole thing absolutely worth it; I had never felt so grown-up!

But that was the end of my bicycling career. For fifty years.

Now, however, I've moved to a small, mostly flat, navigable city, and I want to try getting back on that literal-not-proverbial bike! I fairly often have places to go and errands to run where driving feels silly but walking might take juuuuust too much time, and a bike seems like the obvious option. But do I want to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a new bike and run the risk that I won't enjoy it, or feel safely balanced after so long, or whatever, and will in fact end up not using it much? I do not.

Fortunately this city has a couple of nonprofit bike repairing and reselling organizations! So I stopped by one of them this afternoon and chatted with the head mechanic, and he picked out a bike for me from their (all donated) stock on hand, and we verified that it fits me. It needs some repair work and tuning up, which they will do over the next couple of weeks (him: "There's about six bikes ahead of you in line." me: "It's been fifty years, another two weeks is not a problem!"), and they asked for $125-$175, according to my ability to pay. I wasn't able to actually test-ride it, since it has no tires at the moment, but I was able to balance pretty well; I do feel pretty confident that I haven't forgotten how to ride a bike.

(And this time I hope to learn how to shift gears, too! Kid-me's bike was a three-speed and I just left it in second all the time.)

Now I just need to get a helmet -- which I do know to buy new/unused. And a lock. Whee!

And so we begin Part 4! This is a pretty special week, because it's the first time that all three tracks have different moods to work on.

This week's Minimum moods are: Angry, Awake, Confused

This week's Medium moods are: Stressed, Excited, Optimistic

This week's Maximum moods are: Chipper, Ecstatic, High

Goodness, that's some mix of moods we've got! Still, unless you're working on all three tracks at once, it probably won't be a problem. And even if you are working on all three tracks at once (...you'd tell me if you were, wouldn't you?), I still believe in you! You've got what it takes to make all three mood themes of your dreams!

Do you have any particular goals for this week? Do you expect to have difficulties with any of the moods? Or maybe you've got great ideas for all of them already? Let's talk about it!

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https://xkcd.com/3095/

The only way I will not drink is simply to have no alcohol in the house. OTOH if it weren't raining and I didn't ache from vaccines and gardening, I might not need alcohol at all.

Have several books on the go and don't much want to read any of them. Discover that yes, I did read Network Effect and Exit Strategy in dead tree last year, is probably why they made more sense then. Sent Meddling Kids ebook back to the library because it was clearly heading towards Lovecraft Land and I have very limited patience (read: none) with abominable eldritch horrors and elder gods and whatever else horripilated that very unpleasant man's skin. Also The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, because it was set sort of this-world, not the pleasant otherworld of Waggoner's first two books.

Have KJ Charles' Think of England which is clearly heading towards disaster! before I presume happi endo, and I don't want to be there for it. The mystery set in ancient Athens with a playwright is pedestrian, because anybody writing theatre in ancient Athens is up against Mary Renault, even if I *know* Renault was cheating. She cheats so plausibly, is all. The Path of Thorns is growing tedious for no good reason, just it is. Have yet to start The Scholar and the Last Fairy Door, simply because Perry and I are a bad fit. So I read Paarfi instead, and even Jhegaala, because I am loose-ended in the extreme.

Did dream pleasantly last night, or rather this morning, of cleaning up at daycare with Daycare Hugh who in RL is as retired as I, and about to become a grandfather. Which segued into me buying a dress at a dress shop on the second floor of a nondescript outlet, sort of hidden from the masses behind a special door. Dresses turned out to be hand-decorated by the middle-aged woman who let me in to the large room where the special dresses were.

Other reason I can't get out is that my feet crack deeply and constantly unless I pumice and moisturize them before the cracks get too deep. I have a crack across the instep of my right foot which is hard to get at with pumice, elbows and ticklishness being as they are, so I have essentially a deep cut on the sole of that foot which is taking its own sweet time closing up, in spite of first aid cream and bandaids and all. Have bolstered the bandaids with panty liners to cushion it, but it still hurts to step on. So yeah, couch potatodom it is.

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Hey everybody, it's that time again: time to vote for which stuff gets the LiberaPay/Patreon money this month!

As always, anyone can vote (please do!), but LiberaPay and Patreon patrons get double weight for their votes. (Due to Patreon's porn purges, I really encourage you to use LiberaPay, if you get a choice.) If you want to see the blurbs for any of these works, those are here! (You can also leave your requests there; requesting a story or essay is always free!) If you don't have a DW and so can't do the poll, that's okay; just leave your vote in the comments below; anon comments are turned on.

Which works gets the money, and thus posted this month? YOU CHOOSE, readers!

Poll #33175 2025 June Fan Poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

View Respondents

Did you toss LiberaPay/Patreon money my way last month?

View Answers

Yes (my votes count double)
2 (100.0%)

What writing gets posted this month?

View Answers

Infinity Smashed: Born Lucky
2 (28.6%)

Reverend Alpert: the Traveling Exorcist
0 (0.0%)

Henchwench for Hire (F/F supervillainy)
1 (14.3%)

Rutless (trans omegaverse porno)
1 (14.3%)

Flights of Reality (the Cursed City)
0 (0.0%)

Anatomy of a Dance
2 (28.6%)

The Boy Whose Heart Is Home
2 (28.6%)

The Battleaxe and the Blood-Eater
1 (14.3%)

Crisis Planning: Legal/Medical Stuff
3 (42.9%)

What art/comic/zine gets posted this month?

View Answers

Cult Comix
0 (0.0%)

Death Watch
2 (33.3%)

How it Was, How It Is
2 (33.3%)

2012 hospital sketchbook
0 (0.0%)

2013 Homeless Year sketchbook
0 (0.0%)

2014 AllFam sketchbook
0 (0.0%)

Protection
1 (16.7%)

Kissing
5 (83.3%)

Current Mood: working

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poll

Which, I'm told, has prompted all the usual gross comments about the girl playing Hermione. Ugh. Why are people so disgusting?

(Also, fuck JKR, but she's not the one being awful inside this complaint. Not to fear, I'm sure she'll find a way to outclass them soon enough.)

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

( Read more... )

Metal From Heaven by August Clarke

I recommend to everyone

skygiants' review for a perspective from someone who enjoyed this book more than me. I respected it, but I can't say I liked it. However, it is clear to me that many people would like this very much! A violently purple, ambitious fantasy story about lesbians who hate each other and the workers' revolution (sort of).

I felt like it careened out of its own control around the 2/3 mark (which is also where one can audibly start hearing the Evangelion theme song). However, if you like swirly-marbled psychedelic books with 90s anime antecedents where every character can be described as The [attractiveness adjective] [morality adjective] Lesbian, evil blue tangerines, and other people's trip diaries, this is for you. It's very very different, ambitious, and fresh, which one likes to reward, so I hope it gets lots of attention, even if it wasn't totally for me.

But Not Too Bold, by Hache Pueyo

This was… basically okay. "Lady Mary and Mr. Fox" but lesbian horror-spiders. I appreciated how the Folklore Flavor details were specific in a way that I find sadly uncommon in this species of contemporary "monster" "romance" fantasy. It is stuck halfway between the broad strokes of a fairytale and the demands of a lengthier novella trying to have a mystery plot, and the romance is really just armature.

The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands, by Sarah Brooks

This is a blown egg of a book. There's a shell of cool things, like trans-continental trains, eco-horror gaslamp-style, a quasi-Rusalki in ambiguous love with the orphaned Chinese train-foundling, and alt-history, but the shell is all there is. Bombastic but substanceless.

Hopefully in the next few months I will read some new-to-me F/F which I can wholeheartedly love.

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Well, life is interesting. Dr. Hematology thinks I could go home today. With my hemoglobin still lower than any of us would like, and which trended downward this AM. Dr. Internal Medicine agrees with him, despite the hemoglobin, and despite the fact that the cellulitis is not resolved. He also tried telling me that my hemoglobin was stable. I was like it went down .2...

But I also pushed back because new Dr. Infectious Diseases came last night, we talked through everything, he agreed to two oral antibiotics that are NOT contraindicated for me, and said he wanted to "closely monitor" the situation, and cautioned we might have to go back to IV. Thus, I asked Dr. IM to make sure he spoke with Dr. ID given that we JUST did the med switch (it hasn't even been 24 hours) and he wanted to monitor. But I know Dr. IM's inclination will be to discharge tomorrow if my hemoglobin is stable (he wanted today until I pointed outthe hemoglobin drop). It will be interesting to see who wins.

The Last Hour Between Worlds

4/5. A single mother, just two months post-partum, gets out for one night to attend a ball in her fantasy city. Which gets complicated when the whole ballroom keeps falling through levels of reality each time the clock strikes, and when her former crush turned professional enemy, the hot lady thief, is also on the case.

This is a lot of fun, and very stylish. Visually, I mean – there’s a lot going on here with what people are wearing and carrying, and with the shifting esthetics of each layer of reality. And you know I’m in favor of adventure books about mothers, particularly very new mothers like this one.

If you’re paying even moderate amounts of attention, none of these plot twists will rock you. But they are all pleasing to unwind, as is the whole book.

Content notes: Violence, temporary character death.

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https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/david-dastmalchian-murderbot-dexter-resurrection-interview/

"Now I feel much more comfortable advocating for [what I need]. To give you an example, on the set of Murderbot, going to my directors and writers, the showrunners, Chris and Paul [Weitz], and saying, ‘I'm really sorry, but on Wednesday at 2pm - I know I'm on the schedule that day, but is there any way I could be in my trailer for 45 minutes to have a therapy session?' and them being so supportive and loving and saying, ‘Of course, we will get you a Wi-Fi booster,’ because we were out in the middle of nowhere.

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murderbot on tv

Mori: I textually transcribed this zine I raved about earlier! It's a mad pride manifesto with influences from Thich Nhat Hanh, the Icarus Project, Inner Family Systems, and anarchist concepts like mutual aid and collective liberation. Its beautiful imperfection means a lot to my hothead self, so here it is!

This zine is anti-authority and anti-medical. You may not want to read it, especially if you're in a place mentally where your brain is causing you a lot of havoc and doesn't seem at all your friend. Paris Williams's Rethinking Madness: Towards a Paradigm Shift In Our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis covers some similar territory with more research, page count, and moderation.

Knocking from the Inside: Breaking Free from Mental Imperialism
by Jimmy Dunson

( You have lost your mind? So? There are worse things to lose. You have found the heart and soul of the universe. You simply stopped being the false god to the universe within you, you stopped being the dictator to your differing parts. )

Current Mood: busy

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This is a bundle of "system-agnostic" material for RPGs in a wide variety of genres from Sine Nomine Publishing:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Sine2025

Last time I said "There's some good stuff in here, but a lot of it has been in previous bundles - if you've bought many of them it may be a good idea to cost out whether it will be cheaper to buy the remaining things that you want piecemeal, rather than getting the whole bundle." That still applies, but if you bought this bundle in 2023 there's no need to look, you've already got all of it.

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( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

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!challenge week

Short explainer for whats currently horrifying Lawyer, Moderation and T&S Bsky: The people who have been advertising 'Verified Gaza Go Fund Me Accounts', have now moved on to asking for people to hand over control of their personal US Bank Accounts so that they can 'receive international donations'

Greetings from British Columbia

Music Wednesday

SMOF News, volume 4, issue 39

Dept. of Kitchen Work

Mad Sisters of Esi, by Tashan Mehta

I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike

Part 4, Week 1

Archaea

(no subject)

2025 June Fan Poll

Welp, they've cast the main trio for the Harry Potter tv show

A few short, middling reviews from the year so far

The discharge drums are sounding

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

David Dastmalchian interview

Knocking from the Inside: Breaking Free from Mental Imperialism, by Jimmy Dunson

Another Repeat Bundle - Sine Nomine

Then and Now

Wednesday, May 28 - Challenge Week, Day 3

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