larryhammer: a wisp of colored smoke, label: "softly and suddenly vanished away" (disappeared)
[personal profile] larryhammer
For Poetry Monday:

Stills, R.A. Ammons

I have nowhere
to go and

nowhere to go

when I get
back from there.


---L.

Subject quote from The Boxer, Simon & Garfunkel.
kalloway: Lit patio lanterns (Patio Lanterns)
[personal profile] kalloway
As usual, these are all free to a good home in the US. Alas, international shipping is beyond my budget, never mind the ridiculousness of the current everything. If you'd like something, it's yours. Please just say thank you and let me know it arrived.

* One lot of BPAL perfume, including a couple of little bottles and quite a few of the tiny vials. I'll have to inquire how best to ship these but I'm guessing in bubblewrap and tupperware.

Books, Videos, etc. )

Masks

Nov. 24th, 2025 09:39 am
poliphilo: (Default)
[personal profile] poliphilo
 I have received an invitation to a Zoom Meeting which includes the words "strong feelings" and "complex issues"- and I think "O, bugger!"

Strong feelings and complex issues usually proceed from ego. Ego is a game we get to play while we're slumming it on planet Earth. It consists of putting on a mask and making like the mask is who we really are. The game consists of people exchanging sallies like, "My mask is prettier than yours" and "how come your mask has gold leaf on it and mine hasn't?" and "How dare you laugh at my mask!" After a while (many incarnations perhaps) it gets to be tiresome.

I've been thinking about Oscar Wilde recently. He's worth listening to on the subject of masks....

(no subject)

Nov. 24th, 2025 09:35 am
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)
[personal profile] oursin
Happy birthday, [personal profile] claudine and [personal profile] littlered2!
austin_dern: Inspired by Krazy Kat, of kourse. (Default)
[personal profile] austin_dern

Couple weeks ago I went to donate platelets. I've fallen into doing that this year, and it's kind of nice. It takes a couple hours, but they set up the TV for you to watch something and it's let me catch up on Mystery Science Theater 3000 some. Plus there's an almost unsettling number of gifts given for donating.

What takes a couple hours is that they can only remove the whole blood from you, so they do that, filter out the platelets, and return the rest to your other arm. And when I went to do that the start of this month, I had a curious failure. The needle in my left arm, taking out blood, was doing fune, but the needle in my right just wasn't making contact. The saline they were trying to inject wouldn't get into my vein and it just produced a small bruise. They tried a couple times but couldn't succeed. So I went home with a failed donation.

Thing is you can donate platelets in principle every week, and especially when there's nothing but the need for my elbow to heal up, and I went back in last Monday. Since I'd had the failure last time I figured the thing to do was draw blood out from my right arm and put the filtered blood back in my left, and give things the chance to balance. Getting the return needle in went just fine; apparently my left arm is really good for this stuff. But the right arm? They could figure where there were two veins either of which were viable but they bent off in weird directions, apparently, and while they finally got a needle into one of them, they also picked up some debris material so that none of the blood could get into the needle rather than make another bruise. The other vein might have been workable but it was too close to the already-present damage so there wasn't any using it. So that's two failures in a row and I'm plum out of arms to try donating with.

They did give me the Red Cross Pac-Man socks that are the gift for people donating platelets through to December 7th, though, which is kind.


More pictures here from the Musée des Arts Forains from our layover in Paris:

P1080617.jpeg

Swan-boat chariot on the the carousel with the fine steps. You can see hooks that I guess were once for reins, like a swan would let you get away with reins. That or it needs readers.


P1080618.jpeg

And a sheep, another rare animal for carousels.


P1080624.jpeg

Couple of figures on balconies that, it turns out, would move and 'sing' along to a massive organ, making this part of a huge mechanical performance.


P1080628.jpeg

More of the mechanism, part of a show that we got to see.


P1080629.jpeg

And a comic foreground, ready for you to poke your head into.


P1080632.jpeg

Looking back again at the carousel. You can see the sides of other chariots hug on the walls in the background.


Trivia: Shortly before accepting the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the quantum-mechanical model of atomic structure, Niels Bohr received a telegram from György Hevesy and Dirk Coster, who had just isolated the element hafnium on their first attempt, sifting through zirconium which Bohr's model predicted would have the not-yet-discovered element's closest chemical analogue. Bohr announced the discovery at his acceptance speech. Source: The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements, Sam Kean.

Currently Reading: The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, Kevin Baker.

(no subject)

Nov. 23rd, 2025 08:52 pm
dustbunny105: (Default)
[personal profile] dustbunny105
I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow T_T

Maybe I would be if not for having the niblings these last few days. Trying to get anything done with them around has been practically a non-starter and there were some things I couldn't even attempt. Or, well, I guess it's more accurate to say it didn't feel worth bothering. I stand by those decisions, though.

Anyway, my room is a mess right now, lol. I shoved stuff around to move furniture, only to realize things didn't fit as well as I'd thought they would and I didn't like it. In my defense, the spaces were awkward to measure. I did end up switching placements for my display shelves and I do think I like them better this way but the bed is back where it started and the dresser and Travis didn't even move. In between all this, aside from having to deal with the kids, I put more time than I expected it would take into trying to reorganize yarn and books and a few other small things. I'm going to try to get up early and work on it some more rather than keep going tonight. Then I'll keep at it after work each day.

I keep reminding myself that it isn't as bad as it looks; things are mostly just out of place. Looking around is still pretty overwhelming, though. I'm gonna be relying heavily on the fifteen-minute and clockwise methods this next week, haha. I think it's time for another declutter too. I've realized that I still have a lot of my plushies not because of any special memories that are attached but simply because I'm used to having them. I'll keep the handful with sentimental value and the fandom characters, maybe a couple others. Some of them can go with the kids' stuff we keep here but others will probably be rehomed. I know some charities like Toys for Tots only accept new stuff but I'll see if anyone is taking donations of gently used stuffed toys. Might ask the neighbors with kids too.

So, my vacation hasn't ended on the sweetest note but I got a solid start on a few things. I maintain that I can finish what I want finished by the end of the month. Just gotta lock in. Easier said than done, granted, but just because something isn't easy doesn't mean it's impossible. Keep wishing me luck, guys! And if you wanna needle me about it, that would probably help too.

Writerly Ways

Nov. 23rd, 2025 10:55 pm
cornerofmadness: (writing king1)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Today was hard, tomorrow will be worse. Fully expecting to be yelled at but I don't regret posting the the union all the DOJ investigations into the shit insurance we're voting on. So enough of that. Let me get into the writerly ways.

One of the reactors for Hazbin Hotel was ranting about 'forced conflict' and I'm like that is a great term for it and I do hate that writing...shortcut? Trope? I'm not sure what I want to call it. Basically, characters X &Y act (often out of character) in a way that most people would not do and it ends up creating drama and conflict that we otherwise wouldn't have and don't necessary need.

I'm sure this has been happening forever. But the first time I remember ranting about it was way back in the heyday of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Xander purposely doesn't tell Buffy that Angel's soul could be/was being returned. At least that example has a reason. Xander is a jealous douche.

Later in the same verse we have much less of an excusable example is in Angel S4 with Connor. When the whole team knows that something is wrong with Cordelia and they set out to prove it, Angel excludes Connor rather than keeping him close so he could see for himself that Cordelia is being influenced. Because Connor isn't there in the beginning he believes the team is attacking Cordy for no reason. There was no reason to force this conflict and it made the team look like a team of morons.

Oh I know why it was done. Joss was punishing Charisma for getting pregnant and wrote the world's stupidest story line to make her look bad (she is now freely talking about how much of a piece of shit he was to her) but at the time we didn't know this and it felt like bad writing.

Where this came up in Hazbin was Charlie, the pollyanna of the group, sees her father's big secret exposed to all of hell and rather than comfort him for the torment he just endured she tears him a new one for destroying her dreams on purpose (he didn't know Vox had found his secret out and had gone to stop him for his daughter's sake) and when Vaggi mentions she had asked Lucifer to help, this out of character ire is turned on her for the better part of two episodes. The fans did not react well and as far as I'm concerned, we shouldn't. There was still an opportunity for Charlie to be mad b ut maybe mad for the right reasons. Sigh.

So have you written this? I try hard not to. Have you come across it and been disappointed by that turn of events? Or did you like it?

Open calls


The Faerie Cat Volume 3
Fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror, especially those steeped in Celtic mythology or featuring the Fair Folk

Adventitious Issue 1 Stories that offer a surprise and sense of wonder through their language, characters, plots, or all of the above

The Phantom Pulse 2026 First Window speculative fiction of the grey corners of humanity, dread that permeates the skin, and the bizarre

We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2025 Queer short fiction reprints from 2025

Shift: Now Seeking Submissions

30 Magazines Accepting Genre Fiction






From Around the Web


Charting Your Course #2: Self-Publishing in 2025

How to Maximize Book Pre-Orders (Even With a Small Audience)

Creating Low Points for Your Protagonists

these next four are from [community profile] ushobwri

Character backstory tips for better writing

A Writer’s Comprehensive Guide to Backstory.

8 Dos & Don’ts of How to Write Sex Scenes That Work


Five Principles For Writing Kick Ass Action Scenes




From Betty

Mining Off-Stage Movement

Five Popular Tropes Writers Struggle With

Pacing Your Dialogue

Five Problems With Focusing on Internal Conflicts

Six Tricks for Memorable Character Moments

Should Your Romance Be Single or Dual POV?

How to Edit Emotion in Romance & Women’s Fiction

The Plunge

Make the Most of Your Manuscript’s Resting Time

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Spending Time in Nature

You're Writing a Book. So Stop Writing a Movie.

How To Be An Author: What's Your Next Book About?

Find and delete these phrases from your novel

Redshirts

Creating Low Points for Your Protagonists

Insights into the Shape of a Scene

Microtension – A MUST in Your Fiction

Charting Your Course #2: Self-Publishing in 2025

The Art of Intimacy in Writing

Living, Breathing Characters

Is Your Writing “Good Enough” to Publish?

8 Qualities that Will Help Your Protagonist on Their Journey

Be careful setting children’s books in the recent past

How to Get Your Blog Posts Found in AI Search (Not Just Google)

Write With Imagination: How to Stay True to Your Voice and Avoid Predictable Stories

Dept. of Memes

Nov. 23rd, 2025 10:16 pm
kaffy_r: The TARDIS says hello (Default)
[personal profile] kaffy_r
Music Meme, Day 13

The first song that plays on shuffle:

Well, the first difficulty is that I, being monotonously linear, don't use shuffle. I think I've used shuffle on my winamp list (yes, that's how old I am; I love winamp) once, and I stopped using it almost immediately. I like organizing my lists in a way that makes sense to me. So I thought I'd have to scratch this entry. Next, I thought I'd just pick one of the songs that are halfway through my current 111-song list. 

But then I thought I'd try to be true to the meme. I toggled "shuffle" and waited for the first song. It turned out to be Stray Kids' recent piece, "Ceremony." 

Welp. It's one of the rare SKZ pieces that I respect, but not one I'd necessarily introduce a Stray Kids newbie. Still, rules are rules, and here you go. It really is a good song. It's just not one of my multitudinous SKZ favorites. 



So I'll also include one of the songs I pinpointed as being smack dab in the middle of my list, or at least as smack dab as an uneven list allows. It's a piece by the Irish duo Saint Sister, called "Causing Trouble." I think I might have shown the actual music video for the song at some point in the past, but this is their live performance of it, many years ago. It's definitely one that I love,  and sing along to. They're whip smart and lovely.






And I'm just going to link you to the last meme entry I made, so that you can catch up on previous entries, should you desire. 

Misc things

Nov. 23rd, 2025 07:13 pm
sholio: sun on winter trees (Default)
[personal profile] sholio
The n-OH-vember Flash Exchange revealed, and I am delighted with my gift!

A Momentary Thing (Biggles/EvS, 3100 wds)
Absolutely delightful and satisfying enemies-era forced drugging/rescue. Bittersweet and delicious.

In other news, evidently Paletteful Packs (makers of curated art supply boxes) are going out of business and having a sale. However, the two things I attempted to buy both came up as "out of stock" when I clicked to add them to the cart (though this was not otherwise indicated) and after that I gave up. So either my choices were uniquely unlucky, or a bunch of items appear to be available for purchase on the website but actually aren't.
queenlua: (Default)
[personal profile] queenlua
"Verso," Sciel says, smiling brightly, "I'm starting to think you don't want our little expedition to succeed."

---

Verso’s working toward another end. Sciel won’t let it happen.

Set during Act 3.

Sciel &/ Verso, ~7k words.
Read here on AO3.

author's notes (very full of spoilers for the fic!) )

Daily Happiness

Nov. 23rd, 2025 08:01 pm
torachan: arale from dr slump with a huge grin on her face (arale)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Last week when I was reorganizing stuff in the shed, we went over some items and decided we no longer needed to keep them, but since it was still raining off and on, I didn't put them out at the time. Today I got them out on the curb, along with a box of ornaments we decided we no longer want, so hopefully those all get picked up soon.

2. I did some cleaning out of kitchen cupboards and fridge drawers yesterday and today. There were a lot of snacks that are expiring within the next week or so and Carla's out of town and I'm not going to eat them on my own, so I took them up to the Little Free Library that's been converted to a mini food pantry and they were already all gone the next time I took a walk.

3. Look at this sweet Chloe.

The Vertigo Project: new work!

Nov. 23rd, 2025 09:08 pm
mrissa: (Default)
[personal profile] mrissa
 

I've mentioned here before that one of my big projects this year is my involvement with The Vertigo Project, which now has a webpage so the rest of you can see what we've been doing. Earlier today I facilitated the first creative therapy-style writing workshop through that group, and it was really lovely--and is just the tip of the iceberg on what this group is doing.

Specifically, you can now read all the new work they've commissioned from me! Friends, it's a lot. It's journaling prompts for people who would like to use writing to process some of their own vertigo experiences. But also it's the following stories and poems:

Advice for Wormhole Travelers (story), safe conduct through strange new worlds

Club Planet Vertigo (poem), this is not the dance I wanted to do

Greetings from Innerspace (poem), my orbits are eccentric

The Nature of Nemesis (poem), me and Clark Kent know what's what

On the Way Down (poem), falling hard

Preparation (poem), sometimes we're just literal, okay

She Wavers But She Does Not Weaken (story), when the waves hit you even on dry land, it's good to have someone who's willing to swim against the current for you

The Torn Map (story), rewriting the pieces of the former world into something new

The main page also has links to some of the other aspects of the project, which includes a nonfiction book, dance, puppetry, a podcast with a physical therapist, and more. Please feel welcome to explore it all.

A Tale of Two Competition Shows

Nov. 23rd, 2025 07:42 pm
yourlibrarian: Dance Couple in tango hold (OTH-Dance Couple)
[personal profile] yourlibrarian posting in [community profile] tv_talk
Dancing with the Stars which had its 20 year anniversary this month, has been on so long it had its own In Memoriam segment. (Charo and Wayne Newton though, in the audience, still with us). It was a great show, starting with an excellent opening number. Funnily enough, I turned to my partner and commented on how well choreographed it was, only to find out a minute later that it had been done by Derek Hough.

"He should choreograph everything," he said. There were a number of excellent dances, as well as a good effort by Andy Richter.

The best moment though, was at the start when we not only saw the original pros start the show (I can't believe there were no interviews or moments with them about their memories – guess that was all saved for the podcast) but Tom Bergeron was back. I am quite happy with Alfonso and Julieanne as co-hosts but I miss Tom.

And speaking of hosts, Project Runway has had a more checkered history for several reasons. Read more... )
equusgirl: (Mon Mothma)
[personal profile] equusgirl posting in [community profile] swrarepairs
All PHs have been claimed! A huge thank you to all of those reached out; you guys rock!

Hello hello! The deadline has passed and we have 3 post deadline PHs in need of a good home. PHs are due Nov. 29th 11:59PM ET. The deadline can be flexible if need be. To claim a pinch hit, you may comment down below (comments are screened) or contact Sassy or myself on Discord (SassySnowperson and nightingalesighs respectively). Please tell us the number of the PH + AO3 username when reaching out.

Tooka 1 - Claimed! )

Tooka 2 - Claimed! )

Tooka 3 -Claimed! )

Japan trip 2025

Nov. 24th, 2025 12:02 pm
thawrecka: (Default)
[personal profile] thawrecka
I should write more about my Japan trip than just plane troubles, because I want to get all these thoughts and feelings down before they slip through my fingers.

I'll organise my thoughts mostly by area, as it's easier that way:

  • Ginza: This is where I stayed, and it was a perfect base for exploring Tokyo. Last time (which was 17 years ago! A long time!) I stayed in Nihonbashi, and it felt less convenient. My hotel was literally right above an entrance to Higashi-Ginza station.

    Of course, Ginza is perfectly nice on its own. Touristy, but not overwhelmingly so, and clean and nice with lots of good signage, and very walkable. I spent a bunch of money at Loft and Itoya, which are dangerous as a stationery fan (I did not realise until I got home how many stickers I bought). Cursing that I didn't buy one of the sun and rain umbrellas at Loft, tbh, because it would be super useful in Melbourne. I also spent a lot of time wandering through Mitsukoshi department store just browsing and not buying anything. If I'd been more flush with cash I might have been in danger of buying a bunch of fancy makeup here, but given I already have too much eyeshadow I'm not sad I didn't.

  • This reminds me how convenient the trains are. They come so often! When I visited Tokyo in 2008 I'm pretty sure only Roppongi had the subway fare table in English, which was inconvenient when I was trying to get to Roppongi and my nearest station in Nihonbashi only had signage in Japanese. Now pretty much every subway station has English signage, and the ticket machines allow you to display the information in multiple languages and type in the station you're going to to get fare advice anyway. It's so convenient.

    In general, Tokyo is so much more convenient for foreign tourists now. (Which turned out to be great for me because my Japanese is so much worse than I thought it was, lmao.) In some of the more tourist heavy areas the overhead announcements are in Japanese, then English, then two varieties of Chinese, then Korean. At Tokyo Station I think there were also announcements in Thai. Amazing, tbh. I don't feel any city has an obligation to be convenient for foreign tourists, but it is very nice.

  • I did a lot of shopping at the Tokyo Station shops in 2008; I did a lot in 2025, too 🤣 I bought a kimono Miffy, and a fancy mug from the fancy Ghibli store, and I very nearly bought a tacky plastic keyring about my fave anime character before reminding myself I have too much plastic crap already...

  • Tokyo Tower! I went to Roppongi thinking I'd go to the Mori Art Museum, but once I got there I only wanted to walk to Tokyo Tower instead (even though there's a closer station to it, yes). And it was so worth it. The bright red and white tower against the bright blue sky! In front of Tokyo Tower there was a mini Tokyo Tower surrounded by Christmas trees, and it was so cute. This is the only thing I remembered to photograph.

  • Ikebukuro: I really enjoyed this neighbourhood and went there two days in a row. It's well known as a place full of anime merch frequented by women, and certainly I went to the massive Animate and looked in several of the second hand stores and considered buying things... but in the end, I stumbled into the Sunshine City shopping mall and bought a bunch of feminine accessories and looked at a bunch of cute clothes. I planned to buy other things, but then I spent ¥16,500 on a cute handbag & bag charm at Samantha Vega, and I can't remember how much on a hairclip at Mary Quant, and honestly if I'd had more cash I could have spent so much more... I also liked the other shopping malls in the area and the general vibe. Just a really nice area, tbh. I have to go back!!

  • Akihabara on the other hand, meh. I didn't like it in 2008 because it felt crowded and sleazy, and I don't like it for the same reasons now. Most of Tokyo smells mysteriously nice, but Akihabara doesn't. OTOH, the Animate there had a different selection of merch, and was where all the Natsume Yuujincho stuff was?? I bought a Nyanko-sensei pen.

  • I also could have spent entire days in Shimokitazawa. If you like neighbourhoods full of vintage shopping and independent designers that make you feel like you're not cool enough to be there, as I do, then this is top notch. There were so many cute things in the stores! I nearly bought a purple handbag at Wego (where everything was delightfully tacky), before reminding myself I'd already bought a handbag the day before elsewhere and how many handbags do I need... Well, I'm still thinking about that handbag, so I guess this is a reminder you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and 100% of the accessories you don't buy.

    I bought so many stickers at B Side Label. I could have spent hours in there, buying every sticker I saw. They're so cute! This is their website, and I bought more anime stuff here than anywhere else, lmao. You can get B Side Label stickers all over the place - Loft, the Jump shop, the various TV station shops in Tokyo station, etc. - but I'm glad I waited to buy any until I got to one of their own stores and could browse a bigger portion of the collection.


Some other thoughts:
- I'm 5'4 or 5'5 depending on who measures me, and it's really nice to visit a country where almost everything is made for people around my height.
- Rice is healthy for most people, but I can't actually digest it very well, so after eating it several days in a row, having to deal with plane turbulence didn't only do in my back, I also felt queasy the whole plane flight. Live and learn.
- Google maps was good at telling me the public transport to get somewhere, but almost every time I needed walking directions it tried to lead me in a circle. What is with that?
- I talked with a friend about it after I got home, who said that he felt disappointed that Japan no longer gives him the feeling it used to the first time he went there, whereas it still gave me that feeling: excited to be there, and just different enough from home to be interesting but not so difficult that anything was particularly hard to navigate (even with language issues). Honestly, still feels like a very nice place for a solo female traveller to go, and I can't wait to go again.

I've probably forgotten so much of what I wanted to say about it already.

Culinary

Nov. 23rd, 2025 07:22 pm
oursin: Frontispiece from C17th household manual (Accomplisht Lady)
[personal profile] oursin

This week's bread: the Collister/Blake My Favourite Loaf, strong white/wholemeal/wholemeal spelt, splosh of pumpkin seed oil, nice.

Friday night supper: ven pongal (South Indian khichchari). cashew perhaps a bit burnt, still pretty good.

Saturday breakfast rolls: basic buttermilk, 3:1 strong white/mix of coarse and fine cornmeal, turned out v well.

Today's lunch: salmon fillets baked in foil with slices of lime, butter, dill and salt and pepper, served with La Ratte potatoes roasted in goose fat, Boston beans roasted in walnut oil with fennel seeds and splashed with gooseberry vinegar, and steamed asparagus with melted butter.

Profile

cyphomandra: fractured brooding landscape (Default)
cyphomandra

November 2025

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
91011 12131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Nov. 24th, 2025 03:43 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios