This and that
Sep. 1st, 2026 02:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maggie33Guardian Wishlist 2026 started and there are already a few interesting prompts posted. But my poor elbow still isn’t in the best shape (it’s a bit better, but not really up for writing for long), so I don’t know if I will be able to write anything. Maybe something like a triple drabble would be possible, we’ll see.
The Edge of Horizon
The finale was lovely. Nothing surprising for me, that was more or less exactly what I expected. There was one thing, which made me go all “seriously???”. But all in all it gave me what I wanted, so I’m satisfied.
So they (whoever that was, other soldiers perhaps) found rings near a mutilated body, thought it was Phob, and brought the body and the rings to his mother? And Phob was, unknowingly to everybody, despite still being in his uniform, taken by some villagers and recovered from his very serious gunshot wound somewhere in the village, and not at the hospital? And he never was able to send a message at least to his mother, or to his superiors in the army, that he was alive? Until he appeared dressed in an elegant white suit in front of Tin, conveniently in the palace where they spent their happy childhood together? Because it really would be too cruel for Siri and Janthorn to know that Phob was alive, and instead of instantly informing grieving Tin, to just let him go to the palace for that meeting.
But I guess the creators really wanted to have that wedding-like image (since Phob and Tin can’t have a real wedding during those times) with both of them dressed in white, standing under the tree with pink petals falling all around them.
But I’m not really complaining, because, yay, a happy ending. I mean as much as it can be a happy ending for them in those times. They can never be openly together, but people in their life love them and accept them. And they got Tin’s father’s blessing. And even Chat finally knows they are together, and he thinks they are cute. “Disgustingly cute” as he had said it. Heh...
And Siri and Janthorn held hands that one time, so I’ll take it as a sign that they are together, too. 😊
Last, but not least – I have two new interesting trailers.
The Intern - Korean remake of an American movie with Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro, about a 70-year-old widower who is bored with his retired life, and he applies to a be a senior intern at a fashion company. Han So Hee and Choi Min Sik play main roles in the Korean version.
The Remarried Empress - a new kdrama based on the popular webtoon about the Empress of the Eastern Empire, whose husband the Emperor wants to divorce her to marry another woman. And she says that she will accept a divorce, but only on the condition that they let her remarry a prince from the Western Kingdom. And it’s also fantasy, I guess, since apparently in the webtoon The Empress’s new husband can transform into a bird. I wonder if they will keep that in the drama. 😊
The Edge of Horizon
The finale was lovely. Nothing surprising for me, that was more or less exactly what I expected. There was one thing, which made me go all “seriously???”. But all in all it gave me what I wanted, so I’m satisfied.
Major spoilers here.
I knew Phob wasn’t really dead. He “died” in the middle of the episode. With 40 minutes still left it was obvious that he would be back somehow. But the way they did it – that was my one complaint for this episode, because it didn’t make any sense.So they (whoever that was, other soldiers perhaps) found rings near a mutilated body, thought it was Phob, and brought the body and the rings to his mother? And Phob was, unknowingly to everybody, despite still being in his uniform, taken by some villagers and recovered from his very serious gunshot wound somewhere in the village, and not at the hospital? And he never was able to send a message at least to his mother, or to his superiors in the army, that he was alive? Until he appeared dressed in an elegant white suit in front of Tin, conveniently in the palace where they spent their happy childhood together? Because it really would be too cruel for Siri and Janthorn to know that Phob was alive, and instead of instantly informing grieving Tin, to just let him go to the palace for that meeting.
But I guess the creators really wanted to have that wedding-like image (since Phob and Tin can’t have a real wedding during those times) with both of them dressed in white, standing under the tree with pink petals falling all around them.
But I’m not really complaining, because, yay, a happy ending. I mean as much as it can be a happy ending for them in those times. They can never be openly together, but people in their life love them and accept them. And they got Tin’s father’s blessing. And even Chat finally knows they are together, and he thinks they are cute. “Disgustingly cute” as he had said it. Heh...
And Siri and Janthorn held hands that one time, so I’ll take it as a sign that they are together, too. 😊
Last, but not least – I have two new interesting trailers.
The Intern - Korean remake of an American movie with Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro, about a 70-year-old widower who is bored with his retired life, and he applies to a be a senior intern at a fashion company. Han So Hee and Choi Min Sik play main roles in the Korean version.
The Remarried Empress - a new kdrama based on the popular webtoon about the Empress of the Eastern Empire, whose husband the Emperor wants to divorce her to marry another woman. And she says that she will accept a divorce, but only on the condition that they let her remarry a prince from the Western Kingdom. And it’s also fantasy, I guess, since apparently in the webtoon The Empress’s new husband can transform into a bird. I wonder if they will keep that in the drama. 😊
September begins!
Sep. 1st, 2026 06:29 ammarcicatAnd with it, posting for the No True Pair 2026 Eight-Character Challenge!
(I was going to be all fancy and post this to marcicatverse, then link it here, but then I remembered I would need to log in and out of accounts multiple times to do that, and it felt like more work than I wanted to do. Also I'm holding out hope that I'll decide to post all my taggle exchange stuff to marcicatverse at some point, and this lets me maintain that fiction a bit longer.)
********
Title: [no title yet]
Fandom: Last Binding Series (Freya Marske)
Pairing/Characters: Edwin Courcey & Maud Blyth
Content Notes: It's an AU! IN SPACE! But still with magic!
Prompt: September One - nine o'clock on a Saturday
( September One - Edwin & Maud - nine o'clock on a Saturday )
(I was going to be all fancy and post this to marcicatverse, then link it here, but then I remembered I would need to log in and out of accounts multiple times to do that, and it felt like more work than I wanted to do. Also I'm holding out hope that I'll decide to post all my taggle exchange stuff to marcicatverse at some point, and this lets me maintain that fiction a bit longer.)
********
Title: [no title yet]
Fandom: Last Binding Series (Freya Marske)
Pairing/Characters: Edwin Courcey & Maud Blyth
Content Notes: It's an AU! IN SPACE! But still with magic!
Prompt: September One - nine o'clock on a Saturday
( September One - Edwin & Maud - nine o'clock on a Saturday )
Things to ponder.
Sep. 1st, 2026 02:14 ampattroseWhen I finished my Radiation therapy, the doctor said he would see me in three months, and they would be taking a CT Scan to see if the radiation did its job, or not. The the radiology department called to schedule a PET Scan and I'm wondering why. I just had one done in July. I'm going to call to see if a wrong orrder got sent in. Things that makes you go hhmm.
September questions
Sep. 1st, 2026 02:12 ampattrose01. The first US bank robbery took place on this day in 1798. The Bank of Pennsylvania at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was robbed of $162,821. Have you ever had anything stolen?
That seems like a lot of money for back then. I have never had anything stolen. I've been very lucky.
That seems like a lot of money for back then. I have never had anything stolen. I've been very lucky.
Loneliness
Sep. 1st, 2026 02:18 amysabetwordsmithPsychology suggests the loneliest part of growing older may be realizing that when you stop texting first, some friendships quietly disappear without anyone ever saying goodbye
Loneliness isn't just being alone. It's the gap between the connection you want and what you have. Studies show that quiet, one-sided friendships hit harder as we grow older.
That makes sense for a lot of reasons, but this is one part of loneliness that may prove difficult or impossible to fix. :/
( Read more... )
Loneliness isn't just being alone. It's the gap between the connection you want and what you have. Studies show that quiet, one-sided friendships hit harder as we grow older.
That makes sense for a lot of reasons, but this is one part of loneliness that may prove difficult or impossible to fix. :/
( Read more... )
Food
Sep. 1st, 2026 01:39 amysabetwordsmithUltra-processed foods may not be as unhealthy as we thought
Canned beans, whole-grain breakfast cereal, and fortified soy milk carry the same ultra-processed label as soda, French fries, and packaged cake.
I would classify canned beans as processed, not ultra-processed. They have been cooked and canned; that is 2 processes. Open the can and you see whole beans in it. Even whole-grain breakfast cereal has typically been ground to flour, made into a paste, extruded, and cooked (often with added sugar, salt, preservatives, vitamins, etc.).
( Read more... )
Canned beans, whole-grain breakfast cereal, and fortified soy milk carry the same ultra-processed label as soda, French fries, and packaged cake.
I would classify canned beans as processed, not ultra-processed. They have been cooked and canned; that is 2 processes. Open the can and you see whole beans in it. Even whole-grain breakfast cereal has typically been ground to flour, made into a paste, extruded, and cooked (often with added sugar, salt, preservatives, vitamins, etc.).
( Read more... )
Extinction
Sep. 1st, 2026 01:32 amysabetwordsmithEarth’s mass extinctions share a surprising hidden pattern
Every mass extinction comes with a named culprit. At the end of the Cretaceous it was an asteroid; at the end of the Permian, a long run of volcanic eruptions in Siberia.
A new study of the past 539 million years shows what condition the planet was in when each one arrived. Earth’s climate and carbon cycle had only five long-lived states in all that time, and life was at its most fragile during the switches between them.
Fascinating! I'm familiar with dual-state systems that have two stable modes, each of which reinforces itself strongly.
If this is true in the case of Earth's climate/carbon cycle, and it's currently locked in "cold" mode, then this could be a very strong ally in buffering global warming. It's one of the rare newsbits that could be positive.
On the other hoof, we don't know what the mechanisms are for steering that system. Even a correction back to previous conditions could be pretty brutal.
Every mass extinction comes with a named culprit. At the end of the Cretaceous it was an asteroid; at the end of the Permian, a long run of volcanic eruptions in Siberia.
A new study of the past 539 million years shows what condition the planet was in when each one arrived. Earth’s climate and carbon cycle had only five long-lived states in all that time, and life was at its most fragile during the switches between them.
Fascinating! I'm familiar with dual-state systems that have two stable modes, each of which reinforces itself strongly.
If this is true in the case of Earth's climate/carbon cycle, and it's currently locked in "cold" mode, then this could be a very strong ally in buffering global warming. It's one of the rare newsbits that could be positive.
On the other hoof, we don't know what the mechanisms are for steering that system. Even a correction back to previous conditions could be pretty brutal.
friday i almost lost a knife down the disposal
Sep. 1st, 2026 01:16 amtsuki_no_baraso it's been two weeks since surgery #2 and it feels like forever ago and also yesterday. my sister took me to the hospital, waited around, took me home. i don't have any fun stories like last time except i complimented the anesthesiology resident on her nail art and she said "they're fish!" all excited. and yes, her nails were painted like different fish. they even had eyes. they were very cute. otherwise everything was very straightforward and my sister and i came home after they released me from recovery and we called mom and my sister had some potato salad (she brought it over) and after she left i was finally hungry enough to finish it. (it's very good potato salad. little red potatoes, mint, garlic, olive oil. came from the silver palate cookbook which is extremely 80s and which i believe she stole from our parents' house when they moved down to florida.) my surgery was at 3p and because you can't eat after 10p the night before i was expecting to be STARVING by the time they rolled me into the or but i was not. surprise!
recovery #2 was easier and way less painful than recovery #1. i didn't get a prescription for painkillers because i didn't need them. and then i was on vacation finally.
saw the gum doctor before surgery #2 and i need gum grafts. :| not until october tho. i am still not thrilled.
anyway. fun shit i've done since the last time i posted:
mattel is making a whitney houston barbie. it only took them twenty years.
this is news in china more than other places but oreo introduced kfc spicy chicken cookies. i think i speak for everyone when i say what the fuck, oreo.
i know this was almost a month ago but a cyclist in the women's tour de france was almost taken out by a bystander in a panda suit. not what you expect in a bike race.
have some pics of the lunar eclipse.
i've been listening to assorted versions of jolene and clips of dolly singing herself so i have to share dolly singing with kermit the frog. watch for the chickens.
and finally, in honor of the us open starting, admire the nail art. (i'm not a tennis person but i love me some themed nail art.)
recovery #2 was easier and way less painful than recovery #1. i didn't get a prescription for painkillers because i didn't need them. and then i was on vacation finally.
saw the gum doctor before surgery #2 and i need gum grafts. :| not until october tho. i am still not thrilled.
anyway. fun shit i've done since the last time i posted:
- went to birthday brunch for friend a followed by a pass around a local flea market (a short pass because it was hot out and the flea market was in a parking lot). good food, cool shit.
- took a doughnut walking tour of boston ending at a twenty-four-hour bakery in the north end that i know for its cannoli and now also its delicious doughnuts.
- saw the odyssey and liked it but didn't love it. i'm not a classicist and i'm happy to give christopher nolan some leeway because it's his movie and he can adapt the story however he wants but that said i think matt damon and charlize theron were miscast, jon bernthal was an... interesting choice, and the greeks wearing pants totally threw me out of the story. pants. i do however appreciate that mr nolan is a big believer in practical effects so there was remarkably little cgi.
- saw one night only which i would have liked a lot more if i could've gotten over the premise. callum turner and monica barbaro had some nice chemistry and a lot of it was very cute but i just couldn't with the "unmarried straight folks can only have sex on one specific day each year". i had questions.
- toured the jason russell house which was the site of the bloodiest battle on the first day of the revolutionary war. they preserved the bullet holes in the house. mrs russell and the kids fled the british and when she came back she discovered eleven dead militiamen laid out on her kitchen floor. the floors in the house are original altho i suspect the kitchen floor has been replaced. jason russell's granddaughter was still living there 100+ years later.
- went to concord and took a revolutionary war/19th century writers walking tour and learned that thoreau started out as a teacher but after like three weeks the headmaster visited his class and announced his kids were unruly and needed to be disciplined. "discipline" meant "corporal punishment" and since henry david didn't believe in that he quit. i learned some very location specific revolutionary war history (partly involving about ninety british soldiers staring down about four hundred colonial militiamen and no doubt thinking "someone has made a tactical error and it's probably us") and took a bunch of pictures and it was educational and great.
- went to salem with my sister for the peabody essex museum (historical clothes! art! culture!), an early dinner, and a nice walk down interesting streets to find a candy store.
- drove an hour and forty minutes for lunch and a used bookstore. >.< (the book mill. books i don't need in a place i can't find.) bought books! came home.
- went into boston proper and wandered around for a bit because i could.
- went up to rockport with my sister to walk around, admire the ocean, eat an early dinner, buy chocolate, and come home.
- weather was great for most of it (gray and overcast for concord but at least it didn't rain) and i got very used to having the day off. fortunately reentry into work wasn't bad.
mattel is making a whitney houston barbie. it only took them twenty years.
this is news in china more than other places but oreo introduced kfc spicy chicken cookies. i think i speak for everyone when i say what the fuck, oreo.
i know this was almost a month ago but a cyclist in the women's tour de france was almost taken out by a bystander in a panda suit. not what you expect in a bike race.
have some pics of the lunar eclipse.
i've been listening to assorted versions of jolene and clips of dolly singing herself so i have to share dolly singing with kermit the frog. watch for the chickens.
and finally, in honor of the us open starting, admire the nail art. (i'm not a tennis person but i love me some themed nail art.)
Red/Green fest bingo
Sep. 1st, 2026 12:15 amcornerofmadness posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
allbingoName: cornerofmadness
Card Theme: red/green
Prompts: Parrot, Rose, Cherry, Ruby, Raspberry
Fandoms: Hazbin Hotel, Star Trek Voyager
My Card: My Card
( my fills under here )
cornerofmadnessCard Theme: red/green
Prompts: Parrot, Rose, Cherry, Ruby, Raspberry
Fandoms: Hazbin Hotel, Star Trek Voyager
My Card: My Card
( my fills under here )
Worldcon
Aug. 31st, 2026 08:47 pmgwynnegaShortly after I got home from Worldcon this afternoon, I discovered that my poem "the jacarandas are unimpressed by your show of force" made the Hugo longlist. Not only that, but it only "needed 2 more nominations to get on the ballot." (I.e., it was in the spot right below the finalists.) This delights me.
I had a lovely Worldcon. My panels (Sherlock Holmes and SF Films of the 1950s) both went well, and I attended a lot of excellent panels and readings. I especially enjoyed the wealth of poetry programming. Plus I spent a lot of time with friends from my local writers' group, and I got to hang out with one of my dearest friends, who lives in Anaheim and who I hadn't seen this decade. I didn't manage to see everyone I would have liked to, and I am fairly exhausted, but I am glad I went.
In the not-so-lovely category, the con is still messing up when it comes to accessibility--to put it mildly. They owe Mari Ness a massive apology.
I had a lovely Worldcon. My panels (Sherlock Holmes and SF Films of the 1950s) both went well, and I attended a lot of excellent panels and readings. I especially enjoyed the wealth of poetry programming. Plus I spent a lot of time with friends from my local writers' group, and I got to hang out with one of my dearest friends, who lives in Anaheim and who I hadn't seen this decade. I didn't manage to see everyone I would have liked to, and I am fairly exhausted, but I am glad I went.
In the not-so-lovely category, the con is still messing up when it comes to accessibility--to put it mildly. They owe Mari Ness a massive apology.
Politics
Aug. 31st, 2026 10:40 pmysabetwordsmithI found another news site, Voice of the People. It has a variety of useful points.
* It studies the overlap in opinions between Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters. Finding common ground is vitally important to getting anything done.
* It encourages various methods of communicating and enacting what people want. Given how the voting lever is disconnected from what the government chooses to do -- except for the top 1% -- it's essential to find some other lever that actually produces results that people want.
* You can just browse through it for issues and information about them, which is helpful in being an informed voter or activist.
* It studies the overlap in opinions between Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters. Finding common ground is vitally important to getting anything done.
* It encourages various methods of communicating and enacting what people want. Given how the voting lever is disconnected from what the government chooses to do -- except for the top 1% -- it's essential to find some other lever that actually produces results that people want.
* You can just browse through it for issues and information about them, which is helpful in being an informed voter or activist.
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Aug. 31st, 2026 09:13 pmysabetwordsmith posting in goals_on_dwWe made it to the end of August! \o/ If you have completed some of your medium-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We have also finished summer. If you're doing seasonal goals, hopefully you have completed your summer batch and are about to start on fall.
These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 9
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 16
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 23
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In for May (June 1)
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
( Read more... )
These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 9
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 16
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 23
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In for May (June 1)
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
( Read more... )
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Aug. 31st, 2026 05:49 pmysabetwordsmithWe made it to the end of August! \o/ If you have completed some of your medium-term goals or subgoals, and/or you're still chugging away at your ongoing goals, then pat yourself on the back. You worked hard for that. We have also finished summer. If you're doing seasonal goals, hopefully you have completed your summer batch and are about to start on fall.
I'm continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them.
These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 9
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 16
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 23
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In for May (June 1)
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
( Read more... )
I'm continuing to track goals at the end of each month. So far it seems to be helping, so that's encouraging. I'm looking at my goal list more often and trying to keep ticking off more of them.
These are the previous check in posts:
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 9
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 16
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 23
New Year's Resolutions Check In January 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In February 28
New Year's Resolutions Check In March 31
New Year's Resolutions Check In April 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In for May (June 1)
New Year's Resolutions Check In June 30
New Year's Resolutions Check In July 31
( Read more... )
Of note.
Aug. 31st, 2026 09:15 pmhannahThe interview was scheduled for 30 minutes and lasted 45. I've got no idea what's going to happen next, whether it's another interview or a quick rejection, but it's still proof to myself I've got something going for me.
It was a quick turnaround for the application, too, though as it's a small nonprofit with fewer than 30 people on staff and I sent my cover letter directly to a person, that makes some sense. As ever, it's less the quick response and more the actual response that spoils me for form-based applications.
It was a quick turnaround for the application, too, though as it's a small nonprofit with fewer than 30 people on staff and I sent my cover letter directly to a person, that makes some sense. As ever, it's less the quick response and more the actual response that spoils me for form-based applications.
he got hammered early and often
Aug. 31st, 2026 06:48 pmmusesfoolI survived pickleball with the bosses! (Well, not my boss, since she is still recovering, but the rest of the c-suite.) It would not have been my chosen "fun" activity, but once we got there, I had a good time. My knees, otoh, are very unhappy with me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
*
*
Worldbuilding
Aug. 31st, 2026 02:55 pmysabetwordsmithDwarves Can't Farm. So What Do They Eat? (Worldbuilding Reality Check)
Dwarves can't farm. Worldbuilding a mountain kingdom starts with the room where the food goes — and almost nobody draws it.
Well, I don't draw much, but I do describe things in worldbuilding, and I do tend to pay attention to food. It's interesting because, as argued, a lot of folks forget that part. However, it does come up in fanfic -- I've seen multiple Hobbit fanfics set after the Battle of the Five Armies that focus primarily on how to feed and supply a lot of people, in a mountain whose forests and support town were razed years ago, coming on to winter and with difficult relationships complicating both economics and politics. Crunchy stuff. :D
( Read more... )
Dwarves can't farm. Worldbuilding a mountain kingdom starts with the room where the food goes — and almost nobody draws it.
Well, I don't draw much, but I do describe things in worldbuilding, and I do tend to pay attention to food. It's interesting because, as argued, a lot of folks forget that part. However, it does come up in fanfic -- I've seen multiple Hobbit fanfics set after the Battle of the Five Armies that focus primarily on how to feed and supply a lot of people, in a mountain whose forests and support town were razed years ago, coming on to winter and with difficult relationships complicating both economics and politics. Crunchy stuff. :D
( Read more... )
