Reading

Many Labor Day protests to choose

Many locations for the protests tomorrow: Monday Sept 1st. If you aren’t able to attend, observe by writing Congress and your state gov.

Current Mood: busy

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Bingo

I have made 7 fills in my 8-1-25 card for the Crime Classics Bingo.

I1 (Somebody at the Door) -- "No Faster or Firmer Friendships" (Polychrome Heroics)
I3 (As If by Magic) -- "To Allow in More Light" (Monster House)
I4 (Someone from the Past) -- "An Inkling of Things to Come" (Polychrome Heroics: Shiv)

N4 (He Who Whispers) -- "He Who Whispers" (An Army of One)

G2 (Family Matters) -- "When You Learn to Read" (Polychrome Heroics: Big One)
G3 (Before the Fact) -- "Where You Find Light" (Polychrome Heroics: Big One)
G4 (Deep Waters) -- "The Most Precious Heritage" (Polychrome Heroics: Rutledge)

Current Mood: awake

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Shifting Plans (part 1 of 1, complete)

Shifting Plans
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1901
[End of March 179-]

:: As they get ready for the day, Trokhym throws a small twist in their previous plans. Part of the “Lost Son” story arc in the Frankenstein’s Family universe. ::

Laszlo woke very early. His eyelids flung themselves upward as his lungs heaved eagerly for the crisp springtime air. He washed in cold water, frigid but not bearing a skin of ice, and dressed carefully. Tucked into the vardo, he brushed his hair and braided the queue, just to make it harder for David to grab at it.

The thought made him freeze.

The memory, blurred by more than a decade, softened into wistfulness.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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Cyberspace Theory

The ecology of attention

There’s a moment, usually around the seventh open tab, when your brain lets out a quiet scream. Not loud. Just a gentle, exhausted howl from somewhere behind your eyeballs. You've read ten headlines, watched half a video, skimmed three opinion pieces, checked your email, ignored two messages, and now you can't remember what you were doing in the first place. Welcome to the modern infoscape. It's busy, it's loud, and it's eating us alive.

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Current Mood: busy

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New Year's Resolutions Check In

We made it to the end of August! \o/ If you have completed some of your medium-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We have also finished summer. If you're doing seasonal goals, hopefully you have completed your summer batch and are about to start on fall.

This year I'm trying something new, continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them. The main drawback is that this update becomes more of a chore each month.

These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 4
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 10
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 17
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 24
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In May 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31

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Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is partly cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. I heard a cardinal singing but didn't see it.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/31/25 -- I watered the irises.

EDIT 8/31/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/31/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/31/25 -- I took out the hose and watered the new picnic table and septic gardens.

A male ruby-throated hummingbird dive-bombed me while I was out with the hose. Hopefully he'll go back and drink from the droplets on the plants. :D I heard a woodpecker drumming but didn't see it.

EDIT 8/31/25 -- I watered the patio plants, old picnic table, barrel garden, goddess garden, and other house yard plants.

A sphinx moth tried to lick me, and then visited the impatiens and other flowers on the old picnic table. :D

Cicadas and crickets are singing.

We got the hose reeled up and put away.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

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Done This Week

So we have wasps. In fairly short order, I noticed there seemed to be an unusual number of them, then I spotted them assembling on the cold frame, then I realized I could see the edge of a nest. No more than five minutes after informing my mum that we would be keeping a respectful distance while we figured out how to handle the situation, one of them headed straight for me to sting. Ow, motherfucker, goddamn. Fine. Murder time, I guess???

We do not generally use pesticides. We try to use non-chemical options wherever possible. I’m certainly not in the habit of dousing chemicals all over the place to eradicate insects. I like insects. Unfortunately, they chose just about the highest-traffic area possible to set up shop. The cold frames are right by the faucet shutoffs going to both the orchard and the horses, not to mention the main entrance into the backyard.

The possibility of them swarming mum while she tried to go about her chores had me crawling out of my skin with anxiety. So they were going to have to die. It sucks, and I feel bad about it, but here we are.

In the wee hours before work, I waddled out there in a disposable jumpsuit from work, hoodie, goggles, mask, and gloves to spray down the nest. That slowed down the activity, but we were still seeing some wasps in the area. Which is when mum spotted the second nest in the cold frame. *sigh* So I sprayed that this morning.

I’m hoping to knock the nests down from the wood and dispose of them tomorrow morning. I really, really hate this. But aggressively territorial creatures in vital parts of my home are, you know, a problem.

And now for something completely different: I went out to the cute coastal town with my work buddy A for shopping. She is a much more enthusiastic shopper than I am, but there were a couple places I wanted to go, and hanging out with her, whatever the activity, is always a pleasure. We’ve been trying to get this scheduled for months. I think she turned down a half dozen other invitations for the weekend--including while we were driving there--in favor of being with me, which was quite touching. I have acquired incense and yarn and roving for felting.

Lewisia: 0 new pieces written

Day job: 39.25 hours, short days Monday and Friday

Cooking: cooked down peaches into sauce for use in cake later

Gardening: moved some of the plants in the house outside, wasp battle round one...

Reading: The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy (I wanted a break from sportsboys and was still craving some horror-type stuff, very unsettling!)

Listening: Big Stepper by Louie Zong (needed one of those good palate cleansers from Louie)

Aftermarket Parts: set up a consultation appointment with a tattoo artist, had a random encounter with a trans guy (I’m making some assumptions there, but they are very safe assumptions based on the details) which had an almost magical effect on me--oh, right, I’m not the only guy in this county, I am not utterly alone

Clock Mouse: 1556 words--huh, things are getting interesting, I think I may be pantsing my way through this until the heat death of the universe, but at least I’m having fun

Other: shopping trip with A

Current Music: The Foggy Dew - Primordial

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round up

August 2025 round-up

In taking time off from writing fic, it seems I have made time for some other pursuits... I mean, in truth, I did write a little this month as the WN fics listed below can attest to, as do the other two unpublished stories waiting inside my notebook (for TLK and Bad Sisters). I just decided to rest and to branch out a little more this month and it did me a lot of good -- I don't think that doctor superion fic I posted for

femslashfete would have come out had I not taken a break!

Bad Sisters:

(Art) Nap time - Eva & Grace & Ursula & Bibi & Becka, G. The Garveys all end up snoozing on big sister Eva, who is not bothered in the least.
(Gif) "There was an outbreak of cholera :D" - Ursula Garvey being ridiculous, just the way we love her, at one of my Tumblr blogs (the original post is in the locked one but you can probably see it at the other one here :))
(Gifset) "gratuitous tank top gifs" -- Some more Ursula... In a tank top. On Tumblr, though you'll need to log in.

Warrior Nun:

(Art - comics) Lemon drop - Sister Beatrice/Ava Silva, Jillian Salvius/Mother Superion, T-M, five panel comic. In a visit to the Cat's Cradle, Beatrice shares something she learned with Ava, who is thinking of other skills they've both been practising... For femslashfete
(Fic) Sister pawns - Ava/Lilith, M, 100 words (drabble). Ava and Lilith struggle because they are sister souls... (femslashfete / sisterscell)
(Fic) Higher devotion - Jillian/Suzanne, T, 1904 words. Every night, Jillian watches Suzanne kneel. (femslashfete / AO3 / sisterscell)

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In a study, wearing rose scent for ONE MONTH increased growth in the brain's gray matter!

Well, this is kinda interesting! It's hard to say at the moment what the significance of it is, though. This is what I love about medicine: they discover one thing, only for it to prove how little we know about the body. "Hey! We know how to stimulate growth of gray matter! But we don't know why or if it's good for anything...." But hey, it's science, and science builds upon science, so it's all good.

From the article: "Researchers from Kyoto University and the University of Tsukuba in Japan asked 28 women to wear a specific rose scent oil on their clothing for a month, with another 22 volunteers enlisted as controls who put on plain water instead. (and that's not entirely accurate: 29 women wore the scent, but one was unable to do the post-MRI)

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans showed boosts in the gray matter volume of the rose scent participants.

While an increase in brain volume doesn't necessarily translate into more thinking power, the findings could have implications for neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia."

There was no change in the areas of the brain where smell or emotions were processed, which is interesting. But "significantly more gray matter in the posterior cingulate cortex or PCC (linked to memory and association)."

They don't know why this change is happening. One thought put forth is that the rose scent is acting as an irritant, which is interesting. I'm hoping they do longer term studies to see if it actually affects dementia-related illnesses! Of course, I'd also like to see this study replicated using men. It's the same problem of most medical studies using only men because they don't want to have to bother with accommodating women's hormonal variances, it's just so yucky and unpredictable! Then they proclaim that everything applies equally to all women, and they just don't.

The scent-wearing group were 29 participants aged 41–69 years, the control group 22 participants aged 41–65 years.

https://www.sciencealert.com/smelling-this-one-specific-scent-can-boost-the-brains-gray-matter

The full paper is currently available at
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361923024000297?via%3Dihub

If it becomes restricted, I downloaded the PDF and would be happy to supply it.

Current Mood: happy

Entry tags:

comfort corner

Bonus Comfort Corner

The carpet is thick, soft and cream coloured, while the walls are a yellow bronze colour. In the corner along one wall there is a large sofa, able to seat 4 or 5 people comfortably. Along the other corner wall there is a smaller sofa for 2 or 3 people. In the middle of the furniture, there is a low, round coffee table, perfect for colouring at or for other craft activities.

There is a scratching post and a cat tree for climbing, which are both along the wall opposite the couch. A few fluffy beds have also been put out, in varying sizes, in case any one prefers the floor. There is also a large sturdy perch and a marked off area that says "Landing Pad" in case any winged friends want to visit.

There is now a blue chaise chair in the nook as well, which has been placed near the couch and is good for both sitting and spreading out lengthwise. There are also two armchairs; one an oversized, deep gray leather chair, the other a square fabric armchair in deep blue with light purple swirls on it.

There are two baskets off to the side. One contains fuzzy blankets, a variety of fuzzy and textured pillows, and a collection of stuffed animals while the other contains a variety of art supplies, ranging from colouring pages and blank paper to crayons and coloured pencils, and more besides.

The last comfort corner of August (and summer)! Outside, there is an inflatable pool set up for floating around and a sprinkler for running through. There is fruit salad, a mixed greens salad, hot dogs, hamburgers, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, coconut macaroons, chocolate cake, red drink, iced tea, and lemonade. Come have some fun!

Current Mood: happy

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Today's Adventures

Today we went to the Tuscola Family Fun Day and the Arthur Amish Country Cheese Festival.

Amusingly, I'm wearing a goldenrod-yellow T-shirt with a corncob and the caption "This is my crop top." (It's full length.) I got at least half a dozen compliments on it. :D I bought it earlier this year at another event, definitely a good choice for fall festivals.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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Communities

When your job treats you like a person

As I write this, however, as the new part-time engagement coordinator for a small community farm, I’m laughing at the comedy of errors. I’m not afraid, because this is the first job I’ve ever had that treats me, first and foremost, like a person.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: too much homework for so early

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school life

New semester first week homework status

Reading: One chapter of each textbook: Done!

Two to five page autobiography for Human Services: About half done? It's a little over a page, and I've covered a lot of the material I'm supposed to.
Due date: Sunday night, 11:59pm

Watch video for Social Problems: Done
Take notes on video for Social Problems, including at least three observations on specific time stamps: Not yet
Due date: Sunday night, 11:59pm

I'm going to try and get my autobiography at least another quarter done tonight, and then I might call it quits for the evening.

Entry tags:

movie news

"It was great when it all began!" 50 years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show!

My, my, how time flies! But fly it does, and October will see the release of a 4K HDR box set of the newly-restored movie that will have TWO documentaries!

A lot of the movie cast is still with us, though we lost Meatloaf a few years back. Interestingly, the movie was not a success in its initial run, it wasn't until the midnight circuit picked it up and the shadow casting and other fun started and it took on a life of its own that it really became a success. According to the article, RHPS may be the origin of cos-play!

I'll definitely be ordering this when it comes out. As it happens, I listened to the soundtrack just a week or so ago.

https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/08/celebrating-50-years-of-the-rocky-horror-picture-show/

So, the title said something about the Argonaughts or maybe the Hugonuts?

Me, using correct spelling: Those are two entirely different groups of people. Is there any way you can narrow this down even a little?

Them, repeating the wrong spelling: Nope, absolutely not!

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

( Read more... )

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Evening Discussion (part 1 of 1, complete)

Evening Discussion
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1629
[End of March 179-]

:: Part of the “Lost Son” story arc in the Frankenstein’s Family universe. ::

By the time the last drips of sunshine leaked from the clouds scraped by the shadows of the tall trees, the vardo was parked close to the leeward side of the small house, barely twice as wide as the vardo and only a little longer. Laszlo had split two of the six logs into firewood, stacking it in the drying pile where Rebeka had pointed, among the towers of green hardwood. On the windy side of the house, chimney style stacks took up most of the space that might be used for a garden. Rebeka had quickly identified the towers of hardwood, as tall as she was, and pointed out the newest, half-finished one. Piles of loose branches took up the corner farthest from the house, and a pile of wood chips beside it was nearly half its height.

Laszlo returned from the errand to find Rebeka in discussion with Troknym, talking about a book. He listened eagerly, until he realized that her hands were shaking as she tried to peel potatoes. “I can help,” he offered, motioning toward the potatoes.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: listless
Current Music: In Memoriam: Margaret Thatcher by Chumbawamba

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Thought process: "Why isn't there a biopic about John Brown? His life was weird and full of adventures and it would be a banger. Wait, maybe there is, let me check wikipedia... oh my goodness these are very different movies."

If anyone's seen any of these and they're worth watching (because good), or hatewatching, or avoiding like the plague, then let me know!

Santa Fe Trail (1940), with Raymond Massey as John Brown, also Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Ronald Reagan as General Custer. That's certainly some casting?

Wikipedia says:

[The film] depicted Brown completely unsympathetically as a villainous madman and Massey plays him with a constant, wild-eyed stare. The film gave the impression that he did not oppose slavery

and quotes from the film:

Mammy: "Well, Old John Brown said he's gonna give us freedom, but shuckins, if this here Kansas is 'freedom', then I got no use for it. No, sir." Then, a black man adds, "Me, neither. I just wants to get back home to Texas and sit till Kingdom Come."

So this certainly sounds like a gem.
The Good Lord Bird (2020 miniseries), starring Ethan Hawke as John Brown and an large cast including Daveed Diggs, Orlando Jones, and...Killer Mike? Sure, why not.

Did I know about this one? I bet I did—it won a lot of awards—but everyone's brain was oatmeal in 2020 and I am not sure I formed long term memories. Also maybe I heard of it and assumed it was about the Lord God Bird (the ivory billed woodpecker) because who wouldn't assume that?

Anyway the assessment of this is mostly a lot of awards and a positive rotten tomatoes rating so probably a safer bet watching Daveed Diggs as Frederick Douglass instead of Ronald Reagan as George Custer, yeow.

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is partly cloudy and warm.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 8/30/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/30/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/30/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/30/25 -- I potted up 10 Ginger Gold apple seeds.

EDIT 8/30/25 -- I watered the apple seeds and the new picnic table plants.

I've picked several groundcherries today.

Cicadas and crickets are singing. I saw one firefly; it's cool for them and terribly dry.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

So, I've now created a DW feed

for

chopwood_carrywater_feed. I thought that getting it in my email and on my reading page would help prompt me to call (or email, listen, I have limits) my congresscritters.

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current events

This one will be [curr ev]

Current rumors engulfing Bluesky have me recalling an old Communist-era Russian joke:

Every day, a man walks to a news stand and pays for a copy of Pravda, unfolds it, looks at the front page, and throws it in the trash. Every day he does this, for months, until finally the news seller asks the man, "So what is it you are looking for on the front page every day?"

"I'm checking for an obituary."

"Comrade, the obituaries aren't on the front page."

"Oh, this one will be."