stayinside | Member Posts

Trying to clear my calendar and hunker down for the next few days in light of the storm had me allowing myself a little bit of panic buying in the form of another bottle of olive oil. It's not on the same level as rescheduling an appointment because I know there's no point trying to get anywhere farther than two blocks, maximum, come Monday, but it helped a bit.

I'm also charging up my devices as something of an insurance policy and made sure to return all my outstanding library checkouts. Again, something that only helped a bit, and still helped. Mostly I'm now waiting for it to arrive so I can finally enjoy the snow. The build-up to it isn't nearly as enjoyable.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Music: nothing now

lightbird

Title/Link: The Perfect Soufflé
Fandom: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga Pataki, Phoebe Heyerdahl

ladiesbingo prompt: wabi/sabi

genprompt_bingo prompt: cooking
Rating: G
Summary: After a big pre-holiday move, Phoebe helps Helga unpack.

petra

This post is about Erotica 4 Barbarians, a challenge to write smut in words of one syllable.

I neglected to include all the Marvel characters I could write, in part because I did not think it through, so -- Wade, I already mentioned, but also Steve, Nat, Bruce, Thor, Clint. (I just heard

minoanmiss cheer and punch the air.)

Anybody who wants a flashback to 2012 Avengers fandom, The Avengers Kink List Team Bonding Sessions: the files is a collaborative project that happened in my comments back in the day, in which we played with all kinds of Avengers pairings.

If anyone wants more in that vein, I will see what I can do to scrape off the rest of the MCU and chill in that headspace. In words of one syllable.

\o/

Current Mood: out there
Current Music: The last time I heard the Avengers theme was at a work training

dine

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

hannah

Friday night dinner this week was still with family: out in Brooklyn. My parents weren't in town but my brothers were, so I went out to them since that was easiest for everyone. There and back was easy, thanks to not waiting long for a train to arrive and for finding one of the trains was running express that afternoon. The dinner itself went okay, and when my brother J., his wife E., and their daughter A. were around, I spent most of the time in the kitchen with my brother R. so his wife G. could spend time with J.'s family - I peeked out into the living room a couple times and they were all chatting and looking at something on someone's phone, and I thought it better not to intrude.

An amusing moment came partway through dinner. Weather came up, and I was the only one who expressed any pleasure at the idea of snow. I pointed out that this was the kind of weather we used to have, getting snow at the end of February. B., one of G.'s friends who'd come as well, said she'd grown up in the Midwest and was aware of that. At the time, I didn't think to point out I was talking pre-Industrial Revolution. It's probably just as well; later in the meal, she said she didn't want to feel like life was full of construction zones, that she'd had times of at least a couple things going smoothly, and I struggled to relate. A good person to talk to, and someone with a life fairly removed from mine.

Current Mood: ditzy
Current Music: nothing now

petra

I was backreading one of my tumblr tags looking for a joke, and I refound https://www.spidersge.org/ which is, I promise, not a rickroll.

This DW post has the Spiders Georg reference I was looking for. Since that posting, my friend's partner has gone into remission! Yay!

Current Mood: migraines georg lucas
Current Music: John Williams is not my friend until the painkiller and triptan kick in

petra

( Suicide and book banning )

Current Mood: argh
Current Music: You'll sledge the hammer if there's no one else to take the flak

dine

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

hannah

I took advantage of the day and took in a small William Eggleston exhibition. I started reading Clockers on the way there and a book that commanding of my attention put me in the right frame of mind to take in the colors. And the colors were why it was there - it's called The Last Dyes because these prints, the ones I saw today, were made with the world's last materials for this kind of printmaking. Kodak decided to stop making the necessary materials for the process some decades ago. I don't know if it was for cost, environmental concerns, lack of a market, another reason, or a mix of several. What I can say is that all the critics were right: knowing that going in gave it an autumnal feeling. Something fading out.

They were also right that it's astonishing to see the colors up close. More than once I got as close as I could to take in the depth of blue or red or green, thinking that it was like seeing paint made from crushed-up gemstones. The intensity of color, the intentions of the lines and shapes. I'm happy to watch his fascinations with what makes America tick, and I was very happy to stop and look close and then step back and look far and take in all the different parts and pieces in the compositions. More than once I looked at something off in the distance and then farther in the distance and saw how it was a reflection of something in the foreground. Walls and fences at a parking lot. The swirl of a sign matching the clouds behind it. The flowers, the fence, the truck, the houses peeking out.

What really struck me was how the outdoor photographs had such good distance to them. There wasn't a horizon but there was clarity to a long ways away, and more than once I'd think that this was human influence as far as the eye could see. The tilled fields. The cars off in the far distance. The car right up in front of you that you couldn't look away from even if you wanted to see the stream just beyond it. Forcing you to pay attention to what's really there.

Current Mood: melancholy
Current Music: Stronger Hearts Than Mine Lie Empty - Ballboy

mific

Heated Rivalry is a difficult fandom to write in, as there's an intimidating amount of incredible fic!

I finished this a week ago, then vacillated about posting it after reading other stories by far more skilled writers, but I just finished the final edit and hit post, on the principle of "MORE CAKE!"

It's my attempt at writing something a bit like sex pollen in HR. Weird tropes are a lot easier in Stargate, where they're either already in canon, or can be explained away by alien tech and alien plants!

when you have to go there - about 13,000 words, Ilya/Shane, Ilya's POV.

dine

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

petrea_mitchell

Seattle's convention center not doing so well financially. Seattle in 2035, anyone?

petra

The main post is here.

What I said:

Let's write smut in short words for the spring Fools' Day! This will be a lot of fun. For me. And for you, too?

A list of folks I could write from my works is next. If you see a pair, group of three, or big group that you want me to write, drop me a line!

( Cut for length (that's what he said) )

Current Mood: sneezed on by cat
Current Music: Shall we recombine with the familial gathering in the vestibule?

hannah

Looking around the kitchen cabinets and what passes for a pantry, wanting to supplement a half-meal's worth of pasta, thinking about what's readily available. Some cherry tomatoes came my way, a couple onions didn't get used in last week's rice dish. There's sardines. There's an impulse buy can of kidney beans.

With one thing and another, there's tomato-sardine-bean soup that manages to do the trick and then some. Sardines and beans - affordable luxury.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: nothing now

dine

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

hannah

The day's major activity was sending out some emails and texts to try to coordinate future plans. I'll probably have to send them again in a day or two, given the track record of trying to get some of these plans together - especially my brothers in regards to setting a schedule and keeping to it. My parents are presently traveling and my younger brother offered to host Friday night dinner this week, but beyond the offer, nothing's been said so far. I sent out a message this morning and all I got was a promise there'd be some coordination.

It doesn't fill me with hope, especially not without a timetable. It's not that I have anything else going on so much as I'd like to know what little might be happening so I can at least figure out what kind of nothing I might be doing.

Current Mood: grumpy
Current Music: Past Lovers - Ballboy

duskpeterson

The Emorian Palace

Entrance to the palace

Do not be offended if you are denied entrance to the Emorian palace. The fact that you have come far enough to be denied that entrance shows that the Emorians' trust in you is high indeed.

The strong manner in which Emor protects its ruler, the Chara, is not evidence that the Chara is weak and frightened. Rather, it is a simple fact that being Chara is the most dangerous job in the Three Lands. Fully four-fifths of the Charas have died before their time, many from assassination. Few Charas live beyond the age of thirty.

(I should explain to any mainlanders who are puzzled at this point that noble peninsulareans have been known to live as long as one hundred years. Even commoner peninsularans often live till they are fifty. If you meet a thirty-year-old, he is not an elder; by peninsularean standards, thirty years old is barely out of one's youth)

Under these circumstances, it is only natural that the Emorians should seek to protect their Chara, giving him the opportunity to live at least long enough to father an heir. By Emorian law, the Chara may not leave his palace, except in wartime. The number of visitors who are allowed past the outer wall of the palace grounds is small. The number of visitors who are allowed past the inner wall of the palace grounds is even smaller. The number of visitors who are allowed inside the palace is very small indeed. And the number of visitors who are allowed inside the East Wing of the palace, where the Chara lives, can be counted without losing your breath.

In practice, this means that the only people who see the Chara are his council, officials from the palace and army, boys who are training to be palace officials, royal messengers, the palace guards, and honored guests, such as ambassadors.

And the servants. Everyone forgets the servants. If you want to see the Chara, I suggest entering into training for high service.

[Translator's note: The perils of living as a Chara can be seen in Empty Dagger Hand.]

dine

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

hannah

In today's dubious triumph over aphasia, I told my client I'd emptied out her utility kit.

Her toolbag. I couldn't remember toolbag and tried to use the next best thing to describe the object in question.

It was a fairly remarkable moment on a number of levels, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be shaking my head over it for quite some time.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: I Need Two Hearts - Ballboy

jesse_the_k

The singer and the band are all on roller skates performing Bend Your Knees by Henry Mansfield & Digital Velvet! It’s an NPR Tiny Desk contest entry. Lyrics on bandcamp, video on YouTube or…

( Stream it Here )

Thanks to clevermanka for sharing Fabulous, an absolute banger in both fashion and music from MEEK. Not work-safe since the chorus repeats “fucking” 42 times. Video on YouTube with accurate captions and lyrics in the description or …

( stream it here )