My family is so overstimulating. They all talk at once, crosstalk, and jostle for attention. And like that's not bad enough, some of the things they say to me or to each other are aggravating. Just in trying to keep track of threads of conversation and in trying to decide what to respond to and what to ignore, my brain becomes overtired. On the other side is my own struggle to be heard. (Going to take a cough drop now!) I have retreated to the quiet of my room to recover and write this entry.

This evening, when I was out on the balcony to hang up laundry, I saw Diya with baby and pram taking a walk downstairs. I hurried to my phone to see whether she'd texted me about joining her. (When we texted previously, I had said I'd be happy to accompany her on her walks.) She hadn't. And I know it's probably not personal, that she probably does want to be friends; perhaps she just didn't feel up for socialising today. But it was disheartening and part of me does feel socially anxious and insecure about it. Interacting with my family on a daily basis is so tiring that I wish ardently for a friend who I can hang out with on the daily. To counter the negative effect (of making me not want to have anything to do with people) that talking to my family for long has on me.

I did a round of yoga after that. It made me feel a lot better. Talking to my family might have exhausted me even more than it has, if it wasn't preceded by yoga.

Asked by blackcatofmisery: Is there a creature, real or imagined, that you feel you identify with somehow?

Among real creatures, I identify with birds so strongly that the name I gave myself (Mynah) is a bird's name. I think it's wild that such cute, fluffy, musical creatures came from dinosaurs. There's an olive-backed sunbird that visits my balcony to sip nectar from one of the flowering potted plants my grandparents keep. I love seeing and hearing it. I also love seeing the squirrel that visits for peanuts.

Among imagined creatures, I fancy the pegasus. Clearly I have a thing for creatures that can fly.

blackcatofmisery: Is there a real or imagined creature's ability/behaviour that you wish you could have?

I want the sweet singing voice of a songbird, and a pegasus's ability to gallop, fly, and otherwise be powerful and free.

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...


* Commented on "Canyon Paintings & Fimo Disc Roses" in everykindofcraft.

* Commented on "Speak Up Saturday" in tv_talk.

* Commented on "just create - alien edition" in justcreate.

A friend gave away some butternut squash, so I decided to make soup. :D While I was working, I thought of this poem. It fills the "touched" square in my 9-1-26 card for the Life Events Bingo fest. I'm posting it here in thanks for the squash.

( Read more... )

Humble Bundle is offering a batch of "For Dummies" books on self-reliance and off-grid skills. There are 25 books, available in various electronic formats. Asking price is $25, minimum $18, and proceeds go to charity.

Workplace informed me that since the organization that provides us with our time-keeping mechanism has been bought out by a new organization, that new organization called WKH is providing training on how to use the new and improved model, which will provide a far more accurate record.

Sigh. Can't we just keep the current system until I retire in 2029? I like it. It's working for me. I swipe in when I get to work and when I leave, and I get paid. Plus I'm giving the stupid organization 15 more minutes of my time, so fail to see why it needs to be changed. Stupid organization keeps periodically changing things.

And, yes, everyone has to swipe in and out of time clocks (with their finger print proving it is really them) - because we have over 77 unions and the organization isn't savvy enough to know how to bracket off the employees who can get overtime pay from everyone else.

I guess it is Wed, so Wed reading meme?

I finished, third book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl Series, and am now on the fourth, The Gate of the Feral Gods (or the fifth floor of the Dungeon - each book appears to be a different floor, it's confusing since the first book does two floors, the second book - the third floor, and the third book - the fourth floor).

The fourth book takes place in what appears to be a portal bubble with sand, and a tower. I got to give the writer credit for being innovative. They are crass, crude, and violent books - think Kurt Vonnegurt meets Stephen King by way of Seth McFarland?

Listening to them in audio book. There is a down side? I find myself hearing the narrator's voice off and on when I think, it's like having Bruce Campbell in your head? I tend to mimic other's writing styles while reading their books. (In case you haven't noticed this. No reason why you should, I've been trying not to do that here - but alas, do not always succeed.)

I'm still reading the books because I'm invested in the characters. Also, for some reason or other, I'm entertained by the parody of the D&D Role playing game, and want to see what new satiric elements the writer dreams up? The books, for whatever reason, are working for me.

Although, I could do without Morris the Spider Guy & 3rd Level Psionic Psychiatrist (it's the same guy). (First Helca the Icelandic Psychiatrist who was trying to kill our hero, to get at Donut - actually she wanted Donut's manager. And now, the Spider Guy. My guess is the writer doesn't like psychiatrists all that much? Not that I blame them, I've not had the best experiences with this particular profession either. It's called a soft science for a reason?) Morris is described as a man with the body of a tarantula. Or a tarantula with the head of a man - then just Morris the Spider Guy. Thank god, this book isn't as descriptive as Tolkien. I really do not want to see the television series version of this. Sorry, just no. I prefer this in book form. (There's also a graphic novel series - but again, no.)

* Winterblaze - surprised me? I thought it was going in one direction, and it took a left turn that I wasn't expecting. It is not a werewolf shapeshifter romance as expected. So, now, I'm curious again.

[Everything else is pretty much the same as before, with no changes.]

***

Question a Day Meme - September

9. It’s International Sudoku Day! Do you like completing Sudoku puzzles?

Not really. But my mother adores them.

10. Did you have a teddy bear when you were small?

Yes. I have one now. (A different one). I can't sleep with it though (which I could do when I was small) - became allergic. It's highly annoying.

I am definitely not going to finish my library system’s summer book bingo because I apparently never read anything I could even remotely stretch to fit the “soothing” square. Anyway, on Monday night I finished An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon.

This book takes place on a vast spaceship traveling for centuries, but the core of its story is an examination of racism and inequality. The dynamics between citizens of the upper decks of the ship and those from the lower decks is an allegory for the antebellum South, with the light-skinned upper deck citizens convinced of the moral necessity of their superiority over the dark-skinned lower deck citizens. Protagonist Aster and her friends and family aren’t slaves in name, but in practicality, they are.

Solomon excels in showing the myriad ways, large and small, that this dynamic breaks down Aster and those like her, particularly Aster’s companion Giselle. There’s scarcely a moment of Aster’s life where she’s allowed to forget “her place” and the constant stress of this wears on her. Aster is very intelligent, but none of that matters in a world where one look at her convinces people in power that she’s worthless.

I found Solomon’s writing engaging and her characters realistic. You may not like all of them, but they all feel like real people, and plausible products of the harsh lives they’ve been forced to live. When they behaved irrationally, it felt earned and real. When they were victorious, it felt like the story had provided enough support to back that.

Also at the core of the story is the passing down of information, stories, and traditions, which not only give Aster solace when times are difficult, but also guide her to the revelations she makes later in the book.

This is Solomon’s first book, and I do think it shows in some clumsy editing and dropped threads, but overall I think the book is a creative exploration of social dynamics with interesting characters and solid writing. If Solomon improves from here, I look forward to seeing what else they put out!

I was intending to post last Wednesday, but when I woke up in the morning I had way too many floaters in my left eye; a few years back this happened with my right eye, and I learned that this is something warranting an immediate visit to the eye doctor, so I called the office and got a mid-morning appointment. Fortunately it looks (again) like vitreous detachment rather than corneal tear (translation: not going blind today, hooray) but my eyes were dilated and I couldn't face sitting at the computer; even after my eyes returned to normal the floaters have been incredibly annoying, so I've been limiting my online time. Grr! (I've been writing this bit by bit all day...)

What I've recently finished reading:

Royal Gambit by Daniel O'Malley, the 4th Checquy Files book. Okay, this was a lot of fun, probably my second favorite of these behind the first. The protagonist is named Alexandra "Alix" Dennis-Palmer-Hudson-Gilmore-Garnsey, the twelfth Lady Mondegreen - how can I resist that, hee! Because of her aristocratic background, Alix (who can break bones with her brain) has been brought up as a friend to the royal family, and when the Prince of Wales dies unexpectedly (and unnaturally), she's assigned as lady-in-waiting to the new heir - his sister, who she attended school with but was never really close to - and tasked with solving the murder.

The royalty stuff was as over the top as the powers stuff, which kept it from being boring to me - I'm not into royalty stuff, but hey, all the ladies wearing bizarre varieties of tiara at a ball is as funny as the guy whose superpower is that he can turn into a tree. I am also really pleased that Shantay showed up again!

Pagans by James Alistair Henry, which (like the Checquy Files books, heh) I lifted from merit's recommendations. This is a police procedural set in the modern day of an alternate history in which the Norman Conquest never happened: Britain is a "developing nation just off the coast of the Islamic Caliphate of Southern Europe", divided into the Celtic tribal lands to the west, the Saxon kingdom to the east, and the Democratic Republic of Scotland - part of the Nordic Economic Union - to the north. The world superpower is the Pan-African Unified States; Asia is a patchwork of warring nations, and the Americas are barely mentioned.

This makes for a super fascinating mishmash of modernity (cars, drones, mobile phones) and ancient culture (ritual tattoos, ceremonial seaxes, psychoanalysis via herb-assisted vision quest) that reminded me a little of the TV show Beforeigners (in which Viking era Norse start showing up in Oslo; the main character, the cop Alfhildr, reminds me a lot of the protagonist Aedith Mercia), and a little of B. L. Blanchard's Peacekeeper, which is similar in that it's police procedural set in the modern day of an alternate history in which North America has never been colonized (set in the big city of Shikaakwa, where the protagonist comes from his small village on the train of the killers of his mother's best friend, and for reasons that don't need exploring at this venture...) - though I think this book is much better.

The story centers on the apparent serial killing of members of some weird minor cult called the Fishers - because they have tattoos of stylized fish - and yep, that's exactly what you think it is, thus the title. This is all happening as the Unification Summit is about to get underway, so there are political implications; and the detective in charge, Aedith Mercia, has political connections. I really enjoyed this one, and I hope the ending means that there will be a sequel.

Speaking of this weird minor cult in something closer to our world, I also read:

Conclave by Robert Harris, which I found surprisingly enjoyable - surprising, because a thriller set during a papal conclave sounds very much not up my alley. What made it work for me was the close 3rd person narration by Cardinal Jacopo Lomeli, who as Dean of the College of Cardinals holds the responsibility of presiding over the conclave. Lomeli is a sympathetic narrator, who wants above all for the conclave to reflect the will of God - but he also has opinions about the primary contenders for the papacy, and struggles to reconcile these things. His position also brings him additional knowledge about these men, which also must be part of the mix.

I figured out the twist (more or less, such as it is) early on as I noticed the clue which Lomeli does not consider the implications of until later; I also guessed the ending. Which didn't make it any less satisfying! I know the movie version has a huge fandom, doubtless because of the actors playing the various cardinals. Though I was surprised to see they'd made Lomeli into an Englishman, as the nationalities of the various men is a consideration in the plot.

What I really tried to read but I don't think it's for me:

Children of Strife the fourth book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time series. The library hold was so long that I ended up buying it; maybe that's why I can't seem to get into it. Well, it's still on my e-reader, I might try it again at some point.

What we recently finished watching:

House of the Dragon season 3 - it was enjoyable! Though some storylines are more enjoyable than others, and I admit that I was hoping certain people would die and just stay dead, you know? But I guess that would make for a less exciting story.

What we have tried out watching:

Black Mirror, the first episode (huh, of this season, not actual first, I just realized, though of course for this it doesn't matter), "Common People". It was extremely sharp and relevant - the subscription model of everything (which I hate in the real world) and the constant enshittification of products - and I thought about it for days afterward. It was also unpleasant to watch, and the idea of watching a bunch of unrelated dystopian stories was just too depressing.

Little House on the Prairie, the first episode of the reboot. I don't recall if I watched the original, but I certainly read the books. It struck me as the G-rated version of the Yellowstone prequel 1883; no swearing or sex or gratuitous death, utterly wholesome and predictable. Not sure we're up for this, either - maybe?

If you have a recommendation of a good series for us, let me know! Pretty much any streaming service. We like SF, fantasy, and historical, and are not really into contemporary drama. (Though I am thinking I'd like to give Slow Horses a try.)

We may try Star Trek Lower Decks, in honor of the series' recent OMG 60 year anniversary.

I decided to write some Stardew Valley fic.

Title: This is my place
Rating: G
Word Count: 2090

Summary: The farmer has a good year. So does the Valley.


( the Valley sees everything )

Reread thread for Pet Shop of Horrors chapter 41 “Disappearance”.

Heads-up: These final 3 chapters all flow together, and I’m expecting a lot of “how well is this explained/paid off by the end” type of reactions. So there’s going to be a lot of implicit spoilers, even for things I don’t say straight out. If you’re avoiding those, maybe go finish the series yourself before coming back to this.

Originally liveblogged on Mastodon / Bluesky, posts collected here. Affiliate links for the whole Collector’s Edition.

I finished the Little Sister D darkfic, probably gonna get to that D/Tetsu FWB fic next. Feels like I should switch up the tones instead of posting too much angst in a row, and this one’s mostly sweet, with a happy ending.

 

( …so, hey, you know those lizards that can drop off their tails to escape a predator, and grow back a new one later? )

Today I am making "Butternut Squash Soup with Apples and Onions." :D Cutting up the butternut squash was a workout, but that and the onion are in the crockpot along with copious corncob broth.  I still need to do the Granny Smith apples, garlic, etc. after lunch.

EDIT 9/9/26 -- The soup is done!   It turned out well, albeit with more of a bite than last time.  I think I overdid the onion a bit.

I have enough squash and apples to make more soup.  I'm thinking about varying the flavor.  I can pick up a hand of ginger and a red onion.  Use garam masala for the seasoning.

In 19th century, American heiresses had one advantage in that the only American accent that the British could pick out was the southern, which was thought to be uppercrust. Consequently whether she spoke, as they thought, without accent, or with a southern accent, she was not branded on the tongue as lower-class, no matter how long she had lived in poverty before her father made his fortune.

Franco was the youngest captain, major, colonel and general in the Spanish Army.

( Read more... )

A list of my favorite musicians/bands.

• Aviators


• Celtic Woman


• The Crane Wives


• Disturbed


• DragonForce


• Enya


• Heather Dale


• Kamelot


• The Mechanisms


• Muse


• Nightwish


• S.J. Tucker


• Starset


• Within Temptation

Space Princess of Arcadia by John C. Wright

Starquest book 9. Serious spoilers ahead for the earlier book.

( Read more... )

Today is cloudy and warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/9/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/9/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/9/26 -- I watered the new picnic table, patio plants, house yard, purple-and-white garden, and old picnic table.

EDIT 9/9/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I watered the telephone pole garden.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.  I saw one firefly flashing in the dusk.

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

Asked by applepips: A little on the nose -- but what does real independence mean for you? And how do you try to live it in your daily life?

Since I have limited control over my circumstances, what independence means for me in daily life is control over my time and how I choose to spend it. I have more of that now than I used to. I like to spend time alone when I need to recharge. I like to do the things that make life feel worth it, and when I used to work fulltime that was harder to do regularly. Reading a good book, meeting friends, watching an episode of a k-drama, writing. Some days I couldn't do a single one. These days I can do all of these except meeting my friends (which involves external logistics and scheduling, so won't happen at my command). However I have time to meet my friends whenever they're free, able and willing. Which feels empowering to me.

I also feel more independent if I can be myself, and live according to my own convictions. But I can't do that as much as I want, or as much as I could in college (it was the first place I felt accepted just as I was). Not having to perform feels like freedom to me, which feels like independence. As things are, though, I'm having to perform every day.

Freedom to dress how I want is very important to me. It's an extension of having bodily autonomy. I have more of that than I used to (I didn't used to be "allowed" to wear shorts, and nowadays I wear shorts). But I'm still a long way from where I want to be, because I want to be able to wear sleeveless/strappy tops and blouses, especially with sarees, but my family is dead against that. I have a hankering for these two:
( Saree pictures )

I'm revamping my "media lists" posts. (By that I mean I deleted them and intend to start over from scratch.)

I think I'll start adding more information to them. Meaning new ways of organizing them. Now, how am I going to go about that... This will need more thought.

And the beaches are closed

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

( Read more... )

The train on Staten Island only goes from the boat to Tottenville and back. Also, it's free at most stations. Anyway, I got to the train to head to work and I saw a pack of middle schoolers - three 13 year olds and one 10 year old, apparently. They were arguing with somebody over the phone - a sister, I think - and after listening for a while I managed to piece together what had happened.

They were supposed to go from Jefferson to Dongan Hills, one stop on the train. They had decided the train was taking too long and they should take the bus instead. When they got on the bus, despite knowing better, they didn't want to ask the driver to let them off at the correct stop. Therefore, they ended up at the wrong stop, whereupon they decided that rather than hazard the bus again they'd take the train back. Their sister or whoever wanted them to wait where they were, and she'd come meet them - a fine plan, except that train wasn't coming for half an hour, and we've already established that these kids weren't very patient. Their plan was to catch whichever train came next and hope for the best.

This is the part where I stepped in, because that is madness. (I mean, as it happens the very next train would take them where they were going, but they didn't know that! And they weren't willing to ask the driver either, which as you'll recall is half of how they got into this mess in the first place.) I spoke to their whoever and promised I'd escort them to Dongan Hills, and then they could go the final stop on their own. And you wouldn't think they'd need an escort, but when they got to Dongan Hills I had to pull them back from trying to disembark there and go to their original destination. No, thank you, you've inconvenienced your family enough for one day.

You know, any one of them could've managed it. It's sending four boys together that causes problems.