Uterus: yeeted
Jun. 22nd, 2025 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironic( Discussion of menstruation, reproductive organs, surgery recovery )
I took off work ’til the end of the month. My mom came for a week, my sister for almost a week, and now it’s “vacation” with daily-ish friend visits. I’m hoping my brain will permit playing around with a vid for some of the time. I have ideas for a show and a movie, neither of which I had any plans to vid until compelling songs presented themselves.
I took off work ’til the end of the month. My mom came for a week, my sister for almost a week, and now it’s “vacation” with daily-ish friend visits. I’m hoping my brain will permit playing around with a vid for some of the time. I have ideas for a show and a movie, neither of which I had any plans to vid until compelling songs presented themselves.
ouch
Jun. 21st, 2025 08:33 pmesteefeenote to self: do not purchase children's bandaids. children's bandaids were invented by an unlicensed sadist. sure, they're cute. but there's a reason kids hate having them removed, and that is: they don't come off! not without taking your skin with them.
boycott children's bandaids. even if they have SpongeBob on them.
boycott children's bandaids. even if they have SpongeBob on them.
apparently it's just like riding a bike!
Jun. 21st, 2025 04:43 pmthe_shoshannaI picked up my bicycle yesterday!
Onringthebells's wise advice, I had them show me how to lube the chain and pump up the tires. (not that I own chain oil or a pump, but in principle I am prepared!) They installed a locking kickstand (fancy!) and threw in a rear-view mirror, which they mounted on the left handlebar and which I didn't think I'd have the spare attention to look into for days, as I concentrated on figuring out how to ride a bike again after fifty years, but I was certainly glad to have it. I wobble-rode around the local parking lot a bit to get the hang of it and then headed home! I felt secure enough to ride it on some of the deserted residential streets, but got off and walked it whenever there was traffic or I just felt insecure. (Every now and then I have to swerve a bit to keep my balance, which is not a thing to do if there are cars around.)
And today I rode and walked it into downtown again, to a community festival going on this weekend that provides a secure bike valet service. And I already feel more secure and stable (which is not to say that I'm not still occasionally wobbling, or jumping off in a hurry, and definitely am still walking it whenever anyone or anything else might be moving anywhere near me) -- and checking the mirror is already almost second nature! I think forty years of driving a car helps with that. I have the theory of how to shift pretty well down, too; this bike has three gears in front and five in back, which feels like massive overkill for my needs, and all the riding I've done so far has been on the level, but I've tried changing gears a few times just to get used to how to do it.
I traded my bike for a claim check and wandered around the community festival; and then I wandered through the big main-street commercial festival that's also going on; and then a friend texted me to find out if I was nearby and I connected with them and we wandered back through the community festival so they could check their bike as well, and then through the weekly farmers&crafters market, and then through the National Indigenous Peoples Day festival -- there was a lot going on in my city today! And then we went back and reclaimed our bikes and said goodbye and I biked-and-walked home, and now I'm exhausted from four hours in the midday sun but I still have a bunch of stuff to do before I leave tomorrow morning for eight days, oof. (Vacation with my in-laws. I do like my in-laws, but still -- oof.)
But it feelsslightly scary and also good to be back on a bike after all this time! And my goodness but that is faster than walking. A very different kind of muscular effort, as well.
On
ringthebells's wise advice, I had them show me how to lube the chain and pump up the tires. (not that I own chain oil or a pump, but in principle I am prepared!) They installed a locking kickstand (fancy!) and threw in a rear-view mirror, which they mounted on the left handlebar and which I didn't think I'd have the spare attention to look into for days, as I concentrated on figuring out how to ride a bike again after fifty years, but I was certainly glad to have it. I wobble-rode around the local parking lot a bit to get the hang of it and then headed home! I felt secure enough to ride it on some of the deserted residential streets, but got off and walked it whenever there was traffic or I just felt insecure. (Every now and then I have to swerve a bit to keep my balance, which is not a thing to do if there are cars around.)And today I rode and walked it into downtown again, to a community festival going on this weekend that provides a secure bike valet service. And I already feel more secure and stable (which is not to say that I'm not still occasionally wobbling, or jumping off in a hurry, and definitely am still walking it whenever anyone or anything else might be moving anywhere near me) -- and checking the mirror is already almost second nature! I think forty years of driving a car helps with that. I have the theory of how to shift pretty well down, too; this bike has three gears in front and five in back, which feels like massive overkill for my needs, and all the riding I've done so far has been on the level, but I've tried changing gears a few times just to get used to how to do it.
I traded my bike for a claim check and wandered around the community festival; and then I wandered through the big main-street commercial festival that's also going on; and then a friend texted me to find out if I was nearby and I connected with them and we wandered back through the community festival so they could check their bike as well, and then through the weekly farmers&crafters market, and then through the National Indigenous Peoples Day festival -- there was a lot going on in my city today! And then we went back and reclaimed our bikes and said goodbye and I biked-and-walked home, and now I'm exhausted from four hours in the midday sun but I still have a bunch of stuff to do before I leave tomorrow morning for eight days, oof. (Vacation with my in-laws. I do like my in-laws, but still -- oof.)
But it feels
Archiving Fandom Stuff Analog Style
Jun. 21st, 2025 08:08 pmabyssal_sylph posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
journalsandplannersSo, because of i found my mom's secret fanfiction stash by ![[youtube.com profile]](https://youtube.com/favicon.ico)
ColeyDoesThings has made me wanna archive my own fandom stuff analog style (maybe even the fics & art I find beautiful). I'm currently not in a possition to do this project because of lack of cash, sadly. But I'm not sure how to go about it, so I thought of asking here if people had done similar things?
Here are some ideas of my own for now:
One of the things I'm not sure how to handle is how to organize the future folders. I thought of doing it by fandom, but my fandoms can change rapitly. And I also thought of doing specific challenges like minifemslashfebs in their own categories (since I'm not doing them on time anyway). The reason I wanna do this besides "I can" is that the comments in Coley's video mention the archiving of this is basically helping archaeology &/or anthropology. Which I think is important and cool/neat, so I wanna do my part.
Here are some ideas of my own for now:
- Printing my fics at my shared housing, and printing my art by my parents' house because they can print in colour.
- Same for others' fanfics & fanart, but seperate them into a diffrent folder.
- This might give me the excuse needed to make collages &/or mini-shires? IDK
One of the things I'm not sure how to handle is how to organize the future folders. I thought of doing it by fandom, but my fandoms can change rapitly. And I also thought of doing specific challenges like minifemslashfebs in their own categories (since I'm not doing them on time anyway). The reason I wanna do this besides "I can" is that the comments in Coley's video mention the archiving of this is basically helping archaeology &/or anthropology. Which I think is important and cool/neat, so I wanna do my part.
Shroud, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Jun. 20th, 2025 10:18 amrachelmanija
While on a commercial expedition, an unexpected accident causes Mai, an engineer, and Juna, an HR person, to crash-land on a pitch-black planet called Shroud. They can't get out of their escape pod because the air is corrosive and unbreathable, and they can't call for help. Their only hope is to use the pod's walker system to trek all the way across the planet... which turns out to be absolutely teeming with extremely weird life, none of which can see, all of which communicates via electromagnetic signals, most of which constructs exoskeletons for itself with organic materials, and some of which is extremely large.
As readers, we learn very early on that at least some of the life on Shroud is intelligent. But Juna and Mai don't know that, the intelligent Shroud beings don't know that humans are intelligent, and human and Shroud life is so different that it makes perfect sense that they can't tell. As Juna and Mai make their probably-doomed expedition across Shroud, they're accompanied by curious Shroud beings, frequently attacked by other Shroud creatures, face some of the most daunting terrain imaginable, and slowly begin to learn the truth about Shroud. But even if they succeed in rescuing themselves, the predatory capitalist company that sent them on their expedition on the first place is determined to strip Shroud for materials, and doesn't care if its indigenous life is intelligent or not.
This is possibly the best first contact novel I've ever read. It's the flip side of Alien Clay, which was 70% depressing capitalist dystopia and 30% cool aliens. Shroud is 10% depressing capitalist dystopia and 90% cool aliens - or rather, 90% cool aliens and humans interacting with cool aliens. It's a marvelous alien travelogue, it has so many jaw-dropping moments, and it's very thematically unified and neatly plotted. The climax is absolutely killer.
The characterization is sketchy but sufficient. The ending is a little abrupt, but you can easily extrapolate what happens from there, and it's VERY satisfying. As far as I know this is a standalone, but I would certainly enjoy a sequel if Tchaikovsky decided to write one.
My absolute favorite moment, which was something you can only do in science fiction, is a great big spoiler. ( Read more... )
Free ebooks Friday, June 20
Jun. 19th, 2025 11:15 pmstarwatcherHooray! I saw this in time for people to get in on the deal.
"On Friday, June 20, 2025, get a curated offering of free romance books at your preferred ebook retailer, no strings attached. This is just a helpful collection of free-for-a-limited-time romance ebooks!"
Feel free to share this wherever.
infinite punchlines from LearnedLeague's Best Worst Answers
Jun. 19th, 2025 04:06 pmjesse_the_kI always enjoy the wide variety of postcards which appear regularly from fflo. Tuesday, fflo posted about the "Best Wrong Answers" to LearnedLeague. These are a series of punchline-worthy responses to Jeopardy!-style questions. For example:
In photography, the overall brightness of an image is determined by the "exposure triangle" of aperture, shutter speed, and a third factor which is a measure of the sensitivity of the camera's sensor (or the film) to light. This third factor is known as what?
- REMEMBERING TO TAKE THE LENS CAP OFF
Even though I got online before the WWW, I’d never heard of LearnedLeague, which is a very dedicated group of trivia fiends. Here’s what I found:
Like any tight-knit community, there’s a ton of jargon. Participants are called LLamas (the double L matching Learned League). Membership is by invite only, though there is some public content at
LearnedLeague.com
Some of the world-readable "Best Worst Answer" tallies follow the URL pattern
https://learnedleague.com/hist/awards/100.php
Where 100 references the season—I had some fun plugging in random numbers.
From season 97:
A Wind in the Door (1973), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978), and Many Waters (1986) continue the story first told by author Madeleine L'Engle in what 1962 novel?
- 3 REASONS TO HAVE HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE
Public, unofficial Learned League groups on Reddit and Facebook. More fun to be had from grazing the #BestWrongAnswers tag on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/bestwronganswers
What I'm Doing Wednesday
Jun. 18th, 2025 05:59 pmsagebooks
The Art & Science of Happiness by Swami Mukundananda. 2025. Mix of science and religion. Some interesting texts, but a lot of "come to Krishna", which was not really a surprise.
All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil by Stephen Alford. 2024. Interesting bio. Good job including the women. A very negative view of Elizabeth I. (I've never read a positive view of her that wasn't the shallowest of surveys.)
currently reading The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume 5: c.1198 - c.1300 by David Abulafia (Editor), et al. 1999. A slog through ecclesiastical history before it gets to more interesting stuff.
dirt
The volunteer catnip is blooming! And growing 2 new stalks! That means I can collect the seed and plant more. The leaves are the largest I've ever seen on catnip, nearly 3 inches long. The peperomia red stem in the terrarium is taking over. I found more thrips in the rattlesnake beans, dammit, and sprayed them yesterday. Also did a hard prune of another jade plant because it was falling over due to the weight of its leaves. Still on the verge of buying a tiny orchid but haven't done it yet. Maybe in the next grocery run? We'll see.
( healthcrap & food )
yarning
Didn't make it to yarning AGAIN, thanks to a migraine. I've managed to make a bunny arm, which is nothing in the grand scheme of crocheting. I want my motivation back. It doesn't even have to be yarning, it could be anything, anything at all. I just am so unhappy sitting here feeling crummy. I'm not even motivated to repot the plants that need it because it's hot outside...and it isn't even 95F yet. Augh. /o\
media
I caught up on Murderbot and I mostly love it! Even though I have the attention span of a gnat and had to pause it every few minutes. (I am so bad at visual media!)
#resist
June 19: Juneteenth Protest
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott and Silent(?) Protest
July 17: the next big demonstration (in honor of John Lewis, who died 7/17/2000), per Axios.
I hope you're all doing well! <333
The Art & Science of Happiness by Swami Mukundananda. 2025. Mix of science and religion. Some interesting texts, but a lot of "come to Krishna", which was not really a surprise.
All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil by Stephen Alford. 2024. Interesting bio. Good job including the women. A very negative view of Elizabeth I. (I've never read a positive view of her that wasn't the shallowest of surveys.)
currently reading The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume 5: c.1198 - c.1300 by David Abulafia (Editor), et al. 1999. A slog through ecclesiastical history before it gets to more interesting stuff.
dirt
The volunteer catnip is blooming! And growing 2 new stalks! That means I can collect the seed and plant more. The leaves are the largest I've ever seen on catnip, nearly 3 inches long. The peperomia red stem in the terrarium is taking over. I found more thrips in the rattlesnake beans, dammit, and sprayed them yesterday. Also did a hard prune of another jade plant because it was falling over due to the weight of its leaves. Still on the verge of buying a tiny orchid but haven't done it yet. Maybe in the next grocery run? We'll see.
( healthcrap & food )
yarning
Didn't make it to yarning AGAIN, thanks to a migraine. I've managed to make a bunny arm, which is nothing in the grand scheme of crocheting. I want my motivation back. It doesn't even have to be yarning, it could be anything, anything at all. I just am so unhappy sitting here feeling crummy. I'm not even motivated to repot the plants that need it because it's hot outside...and it isn't even 95F yet. Augh. /o\
media
I caught up on Murderbot and I mostly love it! Even though I have the attention span of a gnat and had to pause it every few minutes. (I am so bad at visual media!)
#resist
June 19: Juneteenth Protest
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott and Silent(?) Protest
July 17: the next big demonstration (in honor of John Lewis, who died 7/17/2000), per Axios.
I hope you're all doing well! <333
Things I Can Only See Up North
Jun. 18th, 2025 12:58 pmjesse_the_kI’m up near Rhinelander staying on Flannery Lake. I’ll be reveling in 15:45 hours of daylight on the summer solstice. Today there’s zero wind, while the second-growth white, yellow, and red pine trees are pumping out their jizz with enthusiasm. The lime-yellow grains appear darker as they overlay almost every square inch of the water, with wild swirls and eddies that extend many feet off shore until eventually the black surface reflects many puffy cumulus clouds in a light blue sky.
Lovely to look at, but not so great to breathe. At least we're not bedeviled by wildfire smoke.
( click for pic )