lunadelcorvo | Network

I'm watching a French Open qualifier and was watching for 10 or so minutes before I realized that there were no commentators. Everything else is exactly the same but with zero babble. It is so blissful.

pilottttt

Утро.
Солнце встаёт, освещая пустые безлюдные улицы.
Город просыпается.
Город зовёт меня выйти наружу из моего маленького комфортного привычного мирка навстречу новому дню.
И я выхожу.

Сегодня у меня нет маршрута, нет плана, нет цели.
Я просто брожу средь его белых стен, находя будто бы случайные подсказки, намёки, ориентиры, оставляемые мне Городом.
Город ведёт меня одному ему ведомым маршрутом, время от времени приводя в странные незнакомые места, раскрывая мне свои тайны.
Иногда он позволяет мне заблудиться в хитросплетениях его переулков, но каждый раз находит способ подсказать верное направление.

Вечер.
По тёмным улицам, освещаемым остатками вечерней зари, я возвращаюсь в свой дом, в свой мир.
Я иду мимо тысяч таких же домов, в каждом из которых притаился свой собственный мир.
Все они составляют душу Города.

Сегодня Город показал мне рыжего кота на широком подоконнике, окунул в аромат цветущей сирени, вывел к маленькому кафе на старой улице, где бариста поведал мне секрет южной ночи. Потом я нашёл странный заросший двор, в котором незнакомец в сером плаще рассказал, как когда-то на этих самых улицах повстречал свою любовь.

Под тёмным южным небом, сотканным из звёзд и черноты, я возвращаюсь домой, чтобы записать всё увиденное и успеть посмотреть сны прежде, чем наступит новый день, и Город вновь пригласит меня в путешествие.

Первоначально опубликовано здесь.

Current Location: Ташкент, Узбекистан

susandennis

This probably loses its spark in the telling but it really cracked me up.

Phillies broadcaster 1: [opposing pitcher] is really talking to himself out there.

broadcaster 2: Good communications is key, Tom.

A fair number of people here have cellphones. A small percentage of those people have been trained on the value of texting by their children and grandchildren. Turns out Dixie - the woman who came over Wednesday to find out how to do kinky hair on knitted dolls - is one of them. I got a text this morning from an unknown number that just said 'test'. I replied 'A+'. Then she sent me her question and remember to add her name. Well done, Dixie!

And in other Timber Ridge peops news... I was looking up something in the Timber Ridge app and spied that the new person moving into Gail and Roger's apartment is now listed! moving in June 3. with picture and bio and wow. She's not a frail old wallflower. She spent many years as admin in the county court system and also many years in local politics. And still works as a travel agent part time.

Martha has been whining that our floor is running out of people with enough marbles left to contribute. I sent her the link to Jackie (new girl) this morning and she's all excited. I also sent Jackie an email.

I had dinner last night with my friend, Steve (who is also a good texter). He's so nice but he's so boring. Hilariously, yesterday, he got hearing aids for the first time and he was having fun listening to everything. It was pretty funny. 'This dining room is noisy!'

Just got a note from Erica that the pool fix it guy isn't coming until Monday. Still icy. No volleyball. Sigh.

The vet left a voice mail that Biggie's drugs were in. So I'll go back again and hope this time they really mean it. Also I might stop at the grocery. I have this idea for a cuke and melon chopped salad but I don't have any cukes or melons.

alicevangeline

I'm starting to get grumpy and resentful about everything, which means time for a break (and probably that means a vacation day that isn't a weekend).

Oh well. I acknowledge I'm grumpy but it's friday!

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/05/23/lauren-fagan-in-the-rba/

sartorias

It'a tough to engage with the world and its events when the media largely pursues a bread-and-circuses approach in order to catch attention. I realize that that attitude doesn't come out of nowhere, that human beings do turn to look and linger at a crash site.

But it does no good whatsoever for anyone to feel my heart tearing in pieces over any news coming out of Washington DC, either engendered by the assclowns currently infesting governmental centers, or in the environs (the recent shooting) so my intention to ostrich becomes more vigorous. What's more, the spouse, who usually watches the news every waking moment, even turned off the yatter yesterday.

I try to fill my time with purpose and pleasure that harms no one. Plan things I hope will bring pleasure to others, like: my sister's seventieth is coming up. I took a slew of our old super eight films to a place to get them converted and color corrected, to surprise her with--I hope. One of those super-eights is from 1948, when the parents' generation were all young, all those voices gone now. Most of the films are from the sixties and early seventies, before my parents split; then they start up again in the eighties with my spouse having bought us a camera.

It's going to take time to convert that stuff--the small box I chose will be just under a grand. Phew. But I've been waiting years for the price to come down, and I figure I daren't wait any longer.

In just for me, I'm busy reworking some very early stories. And realizing that ostriching was a defense mechanism that started in when I was very young, coming out in my passion for escape-reading and for storytelling.

The storytelling urge was very nearly a physical reaction,a kind of invisible claw right behind my ribs, partly that urge, and partly a shiver of anticipation. I can remember it very clearly when I was six years old, in first grade. I already knew how to read, but that was the grade in which public schools in LA taught reading, so I got to sit by myself and draw while the others were taught the alphabet and phonics. Writing stories was laborious, and I got frustrated easily if I didn't know how to spell a word, but I learned fast that adults only had about three words' of patience in them before they chased me off with a "Go play!" or, if I was especially mosquito-ish, "Go clean your room!" or "Wash the dishes!" (That started when I turned 7)

But drawing was easy, and I could narrate to myself as I illustrated the main events. So I did that over and over as the other kids struggled thru Dick and Jane. This became habit, and gave me a focus away from the social evolution of cliques--I do recall trying to make myself follow the alpha girl of that year (also teacher's pet, especially the following year) but I found her interests so boring I went back to my own pursuits.

I do remember not liking the times between stories; I was happiest when the images began flowing, but I never really pondered what that urge was. It was just there. I knew that most didn't have it, and for the most part I was content to entertain myself, except when we had to read our efforts aloud in class, there was an intense gratification if, IF, one could truly catch the attention of the others and please them as well as self. I remember fourth grade, the two class storytellers were self and a boy named Craig. His were much funnier than any of my efforts. Mine got wild with fantasy, which teachers frowned on. I tried to write funny and discovered that it was HARD. It seemed to come without effort to Craig.

In junior high, I finally found a tiny coterie of fellow nerds who like writing, and we shared stories back and forth. Waiting for a friend to come back after reading one and give her reactions made the perils of junior high worth enduring. One of those friends died a couple summers ago, and left her notebooks to me. In eighth/ninth grade, she wrote a Mary Sue self-insert about the Beatles. I have it now--it breathes innocence, and the air of the mid sixties. Maybe I ought to type it up and put it up at A03. I think she'd like it to find an audience, even if it's as small an audience as our tiny group back then.

Anyway, a day is a great day if I have a satisfying project to work on...and I don't have to hear a certain name, which is ALWAYS reprehensible. Always. And yet has a following. But...humans do linger to look at the tcrash site.

lolastar

he is the best

sabotabby

You all deserve a break from *gestures vaguely at the rest of the internet* so have a completely wholesome podcast for once. "LARP Camp" on Normal Gossip is about two awkward gay counsellors, a neurodivergent evil genius of a child, and a ghost or two.

It's been a challenging transition from Kelsey McKinney to new host Rachelle Hampton, but Rachelle has finally hit her stride with this episode (and the one after it)—it's very funny and her storytelling here does the thing where you're like, "and then what happened?" It helps that the subject matter is up my alley. Anyway, it is incredibly cute so take a break from doomscrolling and give it a listen.

andrewducker

1. Why are Scotland's councils so short of cash when tax is going up?: (tags:scotland tax )
2. Greenland Signs Lucrative Minerals Deal with Europe in Blow to Trump: (tags:Europe USA materials Greenland trade )
3. How I Beat NES Mario in 0.000005 Seconds (the nerdiest video I have ever watched. If you've seen something nerdier then do let me know): (tags:video games programming technology mario )
4. Trump's image of dead 'white farmers' came from Reuters footage in Congo, not South Africa: (tags:USA politics Africa southafrica )
5. Programmers spend 5% of their time editing code, the rest is mostly understanding it/the issue they're trying to solve..: (tags:programming research )
6. Which word made you old? (Mine was GOAT): (tags:language age change comic )
7. Explaining "what a species is" turns out to be very very tricky: (tags:video ontology life )

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: Genfic, John Sheppard & Rodney McKay, Original female character
Rating: G
Length: 8103
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: Sholio on AO3, Sholio's own site City on the Ocean's Edge
Themes: Angst with a happy ending, Friendship, Families of choice

Summary: The old guy in Room 30B was about the most disagreeable human being that the nurses had ever met. But he did get visitors, including a retired Air Force Colonel.

Reccer's Notes: This is told through the outsider POV of a young volunteer nurse at a retirement home, writing out what happened - for herself, but she tells it as though talking to her mother, who died some time before. Because of that, it's not at first as angsty as it might be, as she doesn't initially like or care about the cantankerous old guy in room 30B. That changes a little as the story progresses, and of course, we feel the angst even if she doesn't, knowing this is Rodney who's old, increasingly frail, and basically dying, while John, not quite as aged and infirm, watches helplessly. Despite herself, the young volunteer gets invested in Rodney, partly as she has enough spirit to stand up to him, which he likes. Also, before he gets really ill he tutors her in his abrasive way as she's had a difficult life and is studying for her high school diploma hoping to eventually go to med school - but until Rodney helps, she's not doing too well. Eventually there's a happy ending, but not before those closest to Rodney like John, Sam, and Elizabeth have grieved for him and come close to despair. Luckily, Teyla and Ronon are on the case, back in Pegasus. The ending is very satisfying, where we see what becomes of Annie, the volunteer nurse who cared for Rodney and put up with him at his worst.

Fanwork Links: Old Soldiers Die Hard

joseph_teller

Watch on YouTube

"Fire eating combines a working knowledge of physics with a lack of common sense" -Penn Jillet

Current Location: Cambridge

quoteoftheday_feed

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Jack_Handey

"I hope that when I die, people say about me, 'Boy, that guy sure owed me a lot of money.'"

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Jack_Handey

quoteoftheday_feed

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Helen_Rowland

"The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity."

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Helen_Rowland

ysabetwordsmith

Today's theme is Het (heterosexual pairings).

( Read more... )

She is busy

sholio

1. Biggles - Biggles/EvS flirting/pre-ship + a long-suffering Algy

Prompt: EvS flirts with a mark to distract him, and Biggles has Feelings about it?

Originally posted here

( 500 words of flirting and Algy making faces about it )

2. Biggles - Erich + Biggles enemy-era h/c

Prompt: Biggles is giving his standard "You're too good for this, reconsider your nefarious ways" speech to EvS but wholly unexpectedly/uncharacteristically EvS just starts crying in response (feverish delirium? drugged? exhausted? drunk?) and now a flummoxed Biggles has to contend with a sobbing nemesis and (horror) Emotions

Originally posted here

( 1000 words of awkward crying )

3. Babylon 5 - Susan & Delenn post-series

Prompt: Susan / Delenn after the show ends. You might have to wait to finish the whole thing for full context. Anything. They just deserve to be happy.

(The resulting fic is basically gen, but could be pre-ship.)

Originally posted here

( 500 words of gentle post-canon bonding )

ysabetwordsmith

Waterfox - a new privacy-oriented search engine option

This could be useful. Even if you don't want to make it your primary search engine, it's ideal for searches you want to keep secret. Regrettably the only means of support seem to be ads or subscription. A voluntary donation model would be much more flexible and appealing.

She is busy

fred_mouse

hex plant growing game - quick game, simple mechanics, simple win condition. You have to infer those from your interaction with the page; if it isn't clear leave a comment and I'll explain.

found at creator's post

I couldn't get the sudoko land to work - not sure if that is a brower or an extensions issue, but I didn't care to work it out.

dine

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beamkatanachronicles posting in

fandomcalendar

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apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250522.html

A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky,

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250522.html

joseph_teller

Watch on YouTube

troisoiseaux

I recently got around to listening to the cast album for Operation Mincemeat, a new-ish musical about the 1943 British deception operation to disguise the planned Allied invasion of Sicily by planting false documents on a corpse, which I can only describe as "what if Team Starkid wrote a British version of Hamilton?" (Which I don't mean in a bad way! It's not going into my Spotify rotation, but I'd like to see it at some point during its Broadway run.) Obviously, after that, I had to read Ben Macintyre's nonfiction account Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory— it's a doozy of a spy story, stranger than fiction at every turn, from the sheer bonkers Rube Goldberg Trojan Horse of the whole idea to the farcical period where German spies in Spain were trying to get their hands on the documents and the British were pretending like it was of utmost important that they didn't, while also trying to make sure that they did - since that was, you know, the entire point - to the fact that operation mastermind Ewen Montagu's own brother was a Russian spy. (Which explains a subplot of the musical I couldn't quite piece together from the cast album.) I'd actually first encountered this particular bit of spy history during my middle school spy phase, and I remember being enchanted by how they'd conjured up this whole fictional persona down to the stuff in his pockets; it occurred to me this time that they'd essentially reverse-engineered a mystery, with puzzle pieces laid out to be pieced together into the intended misinformation: one of the carefully drafted letters sent by the doomed courier was included solely for a passing reference to sardines as A Clue that the second choice for the planned invasion discussed in the other letters was Sardinia (and definitely not Sicily). It is completely wild that this actually worked.

Anyway! While the plot and characters of the musical Operation Mincemeat appear to be a particularly tongue-in-cheek fictionalization of the actual events and people involved, I genuinely got a little choked up to discover that one of the lines from its song Dear Bill - And why did we meet in the middle of a war? / What a silly thing for anyone to do - is a line from an actual letter the actual Hester Leggatt wrote to "Bill" from his fiancée "Pam."

madgastronomer

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brithistorian

I just learned about a new series called K-pop Demon Hunters that premiers on Netflix on 20 June. It looks great, and it features a song by Twice's Jihyo, Jeongyeon, and Chaeyoung. I'm really looking forward to it!

mific

Run don't walk, as a new Stargate Atlantis fic by

punk has just gone live! It's a collab where I did the podfic and cover art, and I love the story to bits. It's here on AO3, and here on Punk's DW.

In other news, I'm having fun inserting "mer" into various characters' names for Mermay art. so far, Merdurbot, Aquamer, and Steve MerGarrett. And I organised all my mer art into a series called just stick a mer in it (innuendo fully intended).

My Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia Diversifolia) is gradually getting more spectacular - visitors are starting to comment on it and ask what it is. Here's a pic.

A huge plant taller than the one-story unit behind it, with big lobed green leaves and many plate-sized yellow daisy flowers.

A huge plant taller than the one-story unit behind it, with big lobed green leaves and many plate-sized yellow daisy flowers.

I took that photo yesterday - a lovely, sunny Autumn day. Today it's cloudy, cool and grey, and I'm going to make middle-eastern orange almond cake but as muffins, and will stew all my apples up as the small red ones are decidedly underwhelming but if I add in the 4 remaining Granny Smiths and some lemon juice, it'll be fine. Are you cooking anything interesting? Hugs to you all!

sovay

I seem to have spent much of this day driving in a nor'easter, when all the potholes overflowed and every other driver in between the streaming gutters drove like a hydroplaning yak. I got to see

rushthatspeaks and secured a new inhaler and an appointment with a pulmonologist. Foods of the hour look like pastrami, scones, and a Zagnut.

Last night's shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum is still going around in my head, even if I didn't have people in the Jewish professional community of D.C. I don't want to entertain a referendum on the politics of the victims any more than I want to hear it about detained students or deportees, but it feels too cheap for irony that the shooter targeted an event with a focus on humanitarian aid in Gaza: all that mattered was that it aggregated Jews. The word antisemitism should be like hot iron in the mouth of the man in the White House. What he has to offer, none of us need.

In stark contrast to the mishegos with FB, when Criterion's website refused to honor a gift certificate I had received from them in the last month, I was able to get a real live person on their customer support staff who solved the problem for me so that I could ship a DVD of Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) to a relative who really needed it. Maybe I should try to bribe them for editions of my favorite films.

In the background you hear Matt Berninger, "Bonnet of Pins"

svgurl

This is what I wrote for the

unsent_letters_exchange. :)

Title: my heart is with you
Fandom: DCEU
Pairing/Characters: Diana/Steve
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1983
Summary: Diana writes letters for Steve, until she no longer has to.

svgurl

These were the fics I received from the

unsent_letters_exchange. :D

Title: Please Mr Postman
Author:

Ultra
Fandom: Gilmore Girls
Pairing/Characters: Lane/Dave
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 2855
Summary: When Dave goes off to California for college, he and Lane agree to do the long distance thing, largely through letters... and a lot of pop and rock music references, of course

I was so excited to get Lane/Dave! Loved all the fun music references and the letters were very them. :D

Title: Please Mr Postman - Post Credits Scene
Author:

Ultra
Fandom: Gilmore Girls
Pairing/Characters: Rory/Jess
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1097
Summary: Inspired by Dave & Lane's letter writing, Rory writes to Jess.

The Rory/Jess references in the original fic was already nice but it was a lovely delight to get a followup fic with giving them a chance at a happy ending too!

sholio

unsent_letters_exchange author reveals are out, and my shockingly unsurprising entry is Eloquent (Biggles/EvS, 2100 words).

In other recent exchange developments, I joined in the Mismatched Tropes flash exchange and got two lovely small gifts: A Safe Landing (Biggles wingfic) and Cuddly Circumstances (B5, Londo & Vir, literal cuddle pollen).

There is also this thoroughly satisfying snippet written by

philomytha for a prompt I left her: Any Biggles characters, revolutions.

magicrubbish

Preview

105 stock icons

( See them here under the cut. )

She is cheerful

matsushima posting in

addme

Name: Meep
Pronouns: æ/ær, ey/em, or she/her
Age: 36
Location: Tokyo, Japan (from New England, USA)

I mostly post about… my daily life - work (international school librarian) and school (MA Humanities, Self Designed - focusing on imagination as a form of escape from capitalism) but my conversion journey to Judaism, also pretty flowers I saw today; interesting things I read; Shinto shrines I visited; and my cat, Tiamat.

The hobbies I'm trying to monetize/professionalize are… writing - picture books, poetry
The hobbies I'm not trying to monetize/professionalize are… crochet, writing - queer romance, doll photography, indie web design, getting my nails done

I'm looking to meet people who… are adults (21+ only, non-negotiable because of my day job), post about your daily life (whatever that looks like), interact occasionally (I don't expect comments on every post!), and aren't -ist/-phobic, you know? no transphobes, no biphobes, no Islamophobes, etc. welcome here!

My posting schedule tends to be: I post at least once a day most days, often more; I use the "Don't show on Reading pages" ticky-box for inane thoughts or when I'm really on a hypergraphia tear and try to put excessively long posts under a cut.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: (See above, and…) I am a genderqueer asexual lesbian converting to Judaism [with a non-Zionist rabbi] so I think you can guess. If you voted for the current U.S. president or you are very concerned about """fairness in women's sports""" but aren't talking about the pay disparity between the NBA and the WNBA we are not going to get along.

Commenting expectations: I post a lot but I don't expect comments on every single thing! I try to comment when I have something to say but I won't spam you.

She is hopeful

siliconshaman

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She is spooked

bill_schubert

Usaa responded to the complaint I filed at CFPB just now:

Hi William,

Thank you for bringing your concern to our attention. My team at USAA Federal Savings Bank works in conjunction with the CEO’s office, and I’m researching what occurred. I’ll contact you shortly to discuss this further.

If you need to reach me, please feel free to call me at 210-531-USAA (8722), 800-531-8722, (TTY:711/TRS) or #8722 on a mobile device and enter extension 54205 when prompted.

Sincerely,

Carolyn

Member Advocacy

USAA Federal Savings Bank

Very interesting. And thanks, again to Senator Warren. And fuck the MAGAs who undercut CFPB funding.

bill_schubert

I'm about halfway through moving my banking from USAA to SoFi. Most of it is easy, just a lot. Connecting PayPal and Schwab and my credit union and HEB and probably others I've not thought of is time consuming and has to be done with care for obvious reasons. Plus things are still happening so I've got to be sure I have money where it should be when it should be there.

I've got half a dozen various auto deposits coming into the USAA account and have to track each one down and change it. The first was my military pension. That was actually not too bad. I did make the change but it will not take effect until my July paycheck. I actually have some USAA checks so I can deposit money into SoFi that way. I did the first today. If that works I'll just keep doing that until everything is moved over and automated.

The big glitch, turns out, is Social Security. Thanks to Elon I can't make a direct deposit change without physically going to a SS office. I'm not attempting to make an appointment to do that. When I went to their page I found this note:

The Austin and Georgetown offices have shifted to an appointment focused enumeration model for both original and replacement SSN Cards. If using ESS to assist caller with scheduling, please input the Online Control Number. Walk-ins may not be accommodated. Callers should complete OSSNAP and schedule an appointment. If caller has a driver's license/ID card, iSSNRC will allow them to complete the process without visiting the FO.

Can you imagine the majority of people who need to go to the office now due to Elon's edicts and they get this message. I actually do not know what all of that means but have called to request an appointment and am waiting for a call back.

Well while I was writing that I got a very nice lady from Georgetown on the phone who said I could drop in and make a Direct Deposit change without an appointment. She said the paragraph above had to do with getting or replacing a card. So strange.

At least it appears that it should be straightforward if annoying to go there and make the change. But I'm resolved to leave USAA behind with or without my $500.

ysabetwordsmith

Today marks the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, one of the most influential authors of modern detective stories. To honor his legacy, May 22 has been dubbed the Sherlock Holmes Day. Last year, we celebrated with a roundtable chat about the beloved sleuth. This year, we’re shifting our focus to his spiritual successors, wrapped in the rainbow flag. Enjoy the list of 21 Queer Detective Reads, compiled thanks to: Nina Waters, Shadaras, Owl Outerbridge, theirprofoundbond, hullosweetpea, Mikki Madison, Shea Sullivan, Dei Walker, Shannon, Rhosyn Goodfellow and an anonymous contributor.

She is busy

fauxklore

Continuing the catch-up ...

1. Name three things in your fridge right now that you are looking forward to eating I have corn tortillas and Mexican cheese blend, which means I can make quesadillas. I also have surimi and ramen noodles (and there are frozen Asian vegetables in the freezer) which will make a nice stir fry with the addition of sesame oil and soy sauce. And there are a couple of containers of Trader Joe’s strawberry-vanilla Greek yogurt. Aside from that, except for some eggs and a jar of spaghetti sauce (which really doesn’t need to be refrigerated since it’s unopened), almost everything in the refrigerator is some sort of condiment or a beverage.

2. What is the price of a dozen eggs at the store near you? Is there a price at which you will choose to not buy eggs? I think I paid $4.29 at Trader Joe’s a couple of days ago.

3. What does "copy cat,” mean to you? Someone with the good taste to imitate me.

4. What was your first pet? Why did you choose this pet? My brother and I both had turtles when we were really little. I don’t think there was any choice involved, since my parents bought them for us. Later on, we had Rosie the mouse, who we got from my next-door-neighbor after her mother objected to having a mouse. (I think her name was officially Rose Petal. She was a very cute white mouse.)

5. What is my earliest or happiest memory? My earliest memory is of being at my grandparents’ bungalow in the Catskills. I may have been chased by a cow, so it wasn’t actually a happy memory. I do have happier memories there which involve all the women playing mahjongg.

6. How are you going to make tomorrow a joyful day? Maybe working my way through my to-do list.

7. What are a few qualities you dislike in other people, and why? At the top of the list of annoying qualities is interrupting people. Mansplaining is a particular example of this.

8. What was your favourite thing to collect as a child, and why? I collected foreign coins, which started with buying a packet of them. I know I bought some at Expo ’67 in Montreal, but I may have gotten some earlier than that at the New York World’s Fair in 1964.

9. What is your greatest fear and how often do you think about it? I am terrified of heights. I can’t say I think about that a lot, however, since it is easy to avoid high places in my day to day life.

10. Have you ever moved? Tell about one of your moves. I’ve moved several times. Probably the most interesting was driving from Los Angeles to northern Virginia in 2002. I stopped at the Meteor Crater in Arizona and went to both the Cadillac Ranch and the less famous Bug Ranch in Texas. I ate some very good Mexican food in Tucumcari, New Mexico. I did not stand on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, but I resented the sign suggesting I should do so since I was then earwormed by the song “Hotel California” all the way to Oklahoma, where there was a sign telling me that the land was grand. I was also surprised in Russell, Arkansas where overhearing a conversation between two guys and a motel desk clerk informed me that dry counties still exist in some places.

11. Tell about a time you were given, or gave, flowers. My mother was really thrilled with the bouquet of flowers I had sent for her 80th birthday.

12. What is something that made your mother happy. Aside from getting flowers, Mom loved going to the theatre and I took her to Broadway shows for Mothers’ Day for several years.

13. What did your family do on Sundays as a child? My brother and I rode our bikes to Rhodes (officially called a delicatessen, but really more or less a general store) to pick up the Sunday New York Times and a box of “mixed fancies” (i.e. Italian pastries). We ate pastries as well as things like bagels or pletzel for brunch. We had to wait for Mom to finish with the NYT Sunday crossword before we were allowed to even look at it to try to fill in the words she didn’t know.

14. As a whole, do you live for tomorrow or today? Explain. I do both. I have long to-do lists for today, but I am also always planning things for the future.

15. Which talent would you most like to have? I’d like to have actual musical talent.

16. Which holiday has the most meaning for you-—and why? Passover brings back a lot of family memories.

17. What’s something exciting you are looking forward to? My upcoming paper conservation workshop in Greece.

18. Who do you feel most connected to right now and why? Probably Cindy, because we talk on the phone or text almost every day.

19. How much money is enough for you? As much as it takes to pay for my condo fees, food and other necessities (e.g. housewares and drugstore purchases), books, and a couple of trips a year.

20. How have your views on friendship changed as you’ve gotten older? I recognize that some friendships will inevitably end, just because of people moving or changing interests.

21. Make a list of 10 fun things you could do this week. I’m going to Balticon this coming weekend, so that probably accounts for 10 in and of itself.

22. What author, book or series do you refuse to read? I have no interest in the Fifty Shades series.

23. What helps you feel grounded and centered? This is a tough question. I guess completing some home organizing chores would qualify.

24. How are you and your parents alike? I share my parents’ love of books, especially mysteries. I also share some of their musical tastes, especially Broadway show tunes and humorous songs, e.g. Tom Lehrer and Allan Sherman.

25. What did your parents do for fun? My parents liked to go to the theatre and to play board games. Those are also things I do for fun.

26. If you had the option of living forever, would you take it? Only if that included perfect health and if the people I’m close to would also live healthily ever after.

27. What is your favorite day of the week? I don’t think there is any particular day of the week that is always my favorite. For any given week, there may be some event I am looking forward to, however.

28. Who do you talk to when you have a problem? One of my friends, usually either Cindy or Kim, depending on what the problem is.

29. What did you see today that was beautiful? The fabric that one of the women in my crafts group dyed.

30. Did you have a good sleep last night? Pretty good.

31. What are some things you are proud of yourself - for accomplishing, for being, for surviving, for changing, for not changing? I’m proud of how many places I have managed to travel to.

ysabetwordsmith

People are trying again to kill the penny. Just to add insult to injury, the law would require all prices to be rounded up.

She is annoyed

maju

It's a cold miserable day and once again, I have not left the house all day. (It's only cold for the time of year; it would be considered moderately warm if this was winter.)

Finally got to talk to my tax preparer, and I think my taxes will be finalised by the end of the day. That will be a relief.

Later: Tax guy called back just now. I'm getting a refund! This is a very pleasant surprise, because I was expecting to have to pay something. I do, however, have to arrange to have tax withheld from some of my investments if I want to avoid paying tax from now on. On the other hand, if I don't have the tax withheld, I'll continue to earn interest right up until I have to pay the tax.

brithistorian

I've been playing ukulele for years now, but never really felt like I knew how to play. But I just had an experience that really changed the way I feel about it. Back when The Talented Mr. Ripley first came out, I learned the words to "Tu Vuò Fa' L' Americano", and then I forgot about it for a long time. Today S. mentioned the song and I discovered I still remembered the words, so I pulled up the ukulele chords. To my surprise, I was able to play a passable version with literally five minutes!

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cool.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I set out the flats of pots and watered them.

I've seen a young fox squirrel.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- Of the 6 pots I sowed with Gaillardia 'Firewheel' seeds on 2/23/25, three sprouted. One of those has since died, but one of the remaining pots had two seedlings in it. I planted the survivors in one of the mowed strips of the prairie garden. So that's roughly 50% success if you count by pots, but less if you count by seeds since I put two in each pot. I plant them by pots, though, so it's not a terrible result.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I started trying to trim grass around the septic garden, but the grass shears broke. >_< Fortunately I had an older pair that I could use, but I need new ones. I did get one section trimmed. I'm taking advantage of the cool, cloudy weather for a laborious project.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I trimmed more grass around the septic garden.

I've seen a mourning dove, a phoebe, and two young ground squirrels.

The first peas sprouted a couple days ago and more are up now. :D The 'Chocolate Sprinkles' cherry tomato has the first green fruit, although it's among the last ones I planted, just over a week ago.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I wanted to go back out, but it was raining.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- Eventually it stopped raining long enough for me to do more trimming.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- Aaaaand now it's raining again.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I brought in the flats of pots.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I got back outside and started pulling weeds from inside the septic garden.

EDIT 5/22/25 -- I pulled more weeds from inside the septic garden.

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

She is busy

cosmolinguist

By lunchtime I was thinking: it feels like I'm getting a migraine...and the massive sudden change in weather would back that up...but... I can't have a migraine! I just had one on Friday!

Yeah that's not how it works. I do feel like it's "not my turn yet," though. Hmph.

And yet here I am to tell you that my favorite musician is being threatened by the administrator of the country he and I are both from, for what Springsteen said in the city where I am now.

I refuse to read any more about this but D, who sent me this link, has been updating me since on it. The Boss keeps saying the government of his country is a threat to life and liberty every night on stage and Trump keeps insulting him on Truth Social: apparently now his skin is like a wrinkly prune.

Today D told me that Springsteen and the E Street Band have released an EP of what Bruce said and a few relevant songs from that first gig outside the U.S.

I listened to (most of) it while I was trying to work this afternoon. I'm just so delighted that it was in Manchester, which prides itself on being a city of rebellious and momentous music. (If only the gig had been at the Free Trade Hall instead of Coop Live! but it still makes me think of Bob Dylan and the Sex Pistols...)

I listened to the introduction, some of the lines I'd read about, and then the song and it struck me that "Land of Hope and Dreams" is a song closely connected to Clarence Clemons's death. It couldn't be as good a song as it without stemming from a profound lifelong love that Springsteen talks so movingly about in his autobiography and in Springsteen on Broadway, and that love existed between a Black man and a white man, about whom a Springsteen biographer said "They were these two guys who imagined that if they acted free, then other people would understand better that it was possible to be free."

And the song has taken on this whole new life, which I'm glad of even if I'd rather The Big Man got to live a longer life.

I listened to the intro for the other song, I was trying to eat my lunch and I ended up with my eyes closed, unable to do more than listen and breathe. And after talking for a few minutes, he quotes James Baldwin -- "There isn't as much humanity in the world as I'd like. But there's enough" -- and then says "Let's pray." And for some reason, the next track didn't start. And that was the end of that one. So I just sat there, over my bowl of leftovers, imagining this happening a few miles down the road and a few days ago, I felt like I was there.

But suspended in this weird silence that went on for a long time before I realized that something technological had gone wrong.

I read all about his Catholic childhood in his autobiography and recognized a lot of it myself, but neither of us have retained it. Silent prayer isn't his style. Going right in to the next song is. And that's what he did.

maevedarcy posting in

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anais_pf posting in

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These questions were suggested by

thegreymouser.

1. What was the best gift you received?

2. What was the worst gift you received?

3. What gift did you wish for, but never got?

4. What was the best present you gave?

5. What was the worst present you gave?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

pauraque

I picked up this book because I saw it mentioned as an example of the concept that "Hell is locked from the inside." That is, if God is the source of all good and you separate yourself from God, then your existence can have nothing good in it, and that's Hell. You can escape anytime by reconnecting with God.

Lewis explores this idea by imagining himself being taken on a journey from Hell (envisioned as a dreary, lonely, mostly-empty town in perpetual twilight) to the outskirts of Heaven. Here the "ghosts" of those in Hell are met by people they knew in life, who try to persuade them to enter Heaven instead of turning back. This is very much inspired by Dante, and like Dante, Lewis gets a guide: the Scottish fantasy author George MacDonald, who I'd never heard of, but apparently he was a great influence on Lewis. (Has anyone read his stuff?)

So, why would the dead turn back? Well, because it turns out the hard part of getting into Heaven is letting go of all the damaging patterns that made you miserable in life: Abusively controlling people and calling it love. Feeling big by making others feel small. Manipulating loved ones because you're scared they'll leave you. None of this has any place in Heaven, but most of the ghosts Lewis meets are so entrenched in it, blustering in pride or cowering in terror behind their emotional walls, that they'd rather go back to Hell than admit there's a better way.

Lewis keenly observes the lies people tell themselves to justify their own self-destructive behavior, and it's startling how little has changed in 80 years! Some of the ways these characters talk are chillingly familiar. Though I don't share the religious side of Lewis's worldview, we're certainly in close agreement in our understanding of how people lock themselves in their own personal hell on Earth.

The book is short but impactful. Lewis had a gift for viscerally expressing what his faith felt like to him, which is something I find valuable as someone who has never experienced religious faith. Part of why I read is to better understand what it's like in other people's heads, and this book did that for me.

(Oh, and I'm not being snarky by tagging this as fantasy. He calls it fantasy in the introduction! He makes it clear that he's writing imaginatively and not presuming to describe what the afterlife is actually like, because he can't know that. Well, I mean, I guess he knows now...)

brithistorian

Yesterday was L.'s 21st birthday. And of course everyone else was wiped out by flares in their various illnesses. Fortunately, birthdays in our house are low-key affairs: The birthday person gets to choose where we order food from and what movie/show we watch, and then we have cake and ice cream. Yesterday that meant ordering delivery from Burger King and watching Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (which was extremely cheesy and entertaining).

Fortunately, L. has tried alcohol and decided she doesn't like it, so she wasn't missing out by not going out for her first legal drink yesterday, but I still wish her birthday could have been better.

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2025/05/22/genrefuck-at-buddies/

glitteryv posting in

recthething

Every Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.

This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)

(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)

So what cool fics/fancrafts/fanvids/fanart/podfics/other kinds of fanworks have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.

BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.

paradisedinermod posting in

paradisediner

We remain thoroughly confused:

Zerobaseone
Good Night: 5 votes
Insomnia: 6 votes

TXT
New Rules: 6 votes
No Rules: 6 votes

Red Velvet
In My Dreams: 6 votes
Nightmare: 5 votes
Sweet Dreams: 1 vote

This was beautifully inconclusive, congratulations to us all!

minoanmiss

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She is amused

minoanmiss

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

She is cynical

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bill_schubert - Can we do this everywhere?
pilottttt - Белый город
susandennis - Baseball bon mots
alicevangeline - burnout approaching - hooray for a weekend
chickenfeet - Lauren Fagan in the RBA
sartorias - Ostrich
lolastar - (no subject)
sabotabby - podcast friday
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 23-05-2025
mific in fancake - SGA: Old Soldiers Die Hard by Sholio
joseph_teller - Something on the Light Side To Entertain
quoteoftheday_feed - Jack Handey
quoteoftheday_feed - Helen Rowland
ysabetwordsmith - Follow Friday 5-23-25: Het
sholio - Recent ficlets from Tumblr
ysabetwordsmith - Waterfox
fred_mouse - Web browser clicky game
dine - I live to spread happiness and joy wherever I go
beamkatanachronicles in fandomcalendar - The Great Ace Attorney: Homumiko Week 2025
apod_feed - Curly Spiral Galaxy M63
joseph_teller - Vance & Maga Failed To Buy The Papacy To The Tune of $1 Billion
troisoiseaux - Operation Mincemeat - Ben Macintyre
madgastronomer - Mad Gastronomy in Gaming
brithistorian - New show I'm looking forward to
mific - New fic by Punk!
sovay - It's a cup trick shell game, it's a puff of smoke
svgurl - fic: my heart is with you (diana/steve)
svgurl - unsent_letters gift fics (1 lane/dave, 1 rory/jess)
sholio - Unsent Letter author reveals, plus little gifts everywhere
magicrubbish - Stock Icon Update - May, 25
matsushima in addme - nice to meet you ✨
siliconshaman - Music break...
bill_schubert - This is the good and bad from the same government
bill_schubert - Thanks Elon
ysabetwordsmith - Celebrate Sherlock Holmes Day with 21 Queer Detective Reads!
fauxklore - March 2025 Prompts
ysabetwordsmith - Pennies
maju - (no subject)
brithistorian - Wow! I feel really good about that!
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
cosmolinguist - “news with a beat”
maevedarcy in fandomcalendar - Four Or More 2025 Bingo
anais_pf in thefridayfive - The Friday Five for 23 May 2025
pauraque - The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (1945)
brithistorian - Big day yesterday
chickenfeet - Interesting double bill at Buddies
glitteryv in recthething - Community Recs Post!
paradisedinermod in paradisediner - POLL: confusing ass group part 2 - results!
minoanmiss - Watch out, Orangutans!
minoanmiss - Farming In America

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Things I need to remember:
• Asking for help is not, as it turns out, fatal.
• Laughing is easier than pulling your hair out, and doesn't have the unfortunate side effect of making you look like a plague victim.
• Even the biggest tasks can be defeated if taken a bit at a time.
• I can write a paper the night before it's due, but the results are not all they could be.
• Be thorough, but focused.
• Trust yourself.
• Honesty, always.

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