(no subject)

Jul. 25th, 2025 11:53 am
pearwaldorf: donna noble looking up at something. light falls on her face from above (Default)
[personal profile] pearwaldorf
I really do think I would have been better off stupid.

I have been out of work for about a year. Some of it was me, thrashing through a skills-job mismatch. The rest has been the shitty job market. I now have some clarity about how I intend to proceed in the medium and long term, but the current concern is getting some fucking money in.

Please understand, I do not believe there is such a thing as unskilled labor. But there are some jobs where your purpose is to be a warm body that does things occasionally and shows up on time. This is not rocket science (although the way SpaceX is going? Eyy!).

I read a long thing on the politics of humiliation and it clarified a lot of things about the current milieu. It’s very long but extremely illuminating. “Humiliation is the forced recognition of domination.”

This can be done in many ways, both exceptionally grotesque and mundane.



During the job search, I have signed up for some silly things that are not completely useless.. One of the videos mentioned “the job market of XYZ years is gone. The job market of last year is gone. And you have to accept that.” It is unfortunately true.

The solution, according to this guy, is to market yourself on LinkedIn. All that value proposition create urgency CTA bullshit. Hawk your personal brand in a systematic way.

Y’know, all the shit that makes me (and other people like me in this regard) want to die.

If I were less aware of all the stuff around me I would just fucking do it because that's the way the world works. But I see it. I see what companies are trying to do to take advantage of this employers’ market. This combination of political uncertainty leading to lack of job mobility and a sustained capital strike that started after the Great Resignation.

I’m a perfectly talented and competent worker, but I do not believe the market should be tight enough that I have to attempt to differentiate myself for a position that pays $60K a year (which is exactly median for King County).

And it feels stupid to dig in my heels so much about this. Extremely entitled and bourgie when people are out there picking strawberries while dodging ICE or sucking in auto exhaust on the sides of freeways because they have no other way to survive. I don’t like writing cover letters, but I’m good at them. I’ll spin a goddamn magical narrative about how I’ll solve a problem you have with skills I bring to the table. But I don’t want to and I don’t think I should have to. (See? Entitled and bourgie and too fucking good to do what it takes.)

I'm probably going to have to do all this regardless because I don’t want to be a mooch on my parents and the unemployment money is gone.

But I will be kicking and screaming and doing this the whole time

Gif of Korra making the "I'm watching you" face at Lin

Foot issues

Jul. 25th, 2025 02:24 pm
mildred_of_midgard: my great-grandmother (mildred)
[personal profile] mildred_of_midgard
Knee is slowly improving, hamstring is slowly improving, foot is getting worse!

Remember that spot on the ball of my right foot that I injured last year, that popped and slid when I walk on it, caused weird feelings in my middle toes (especially the one next to my big toe), and sometimes was painful? I had to buy whole new shoes to deal with it and consistently wear recover slides?

Eventually it started to slowly get better, and it finally got to the point where it didn't pop even when I stepped on it, only if I manipulated it with my fingers.

Well, on one of my recent long walks (2 weeks ago, I think), I made the mistake of massaging it when I was massaging the rest of my foot for pain relief. I figured out last year that I shouldn't do that, but I thought it was safe this year! Alas, no, the spot has not recovered that much.

I immediately noticed it was popping again around the house. "Dammit, I re-stretched the spot that had been slowly tightening. Fine, it'll get better again like it did last time."

Two days ago, I was out on a short walk about half a block away, and I noticed the weird sensations in my toes. It's hard to explain, but the middle toes feel cooler and also mostly wet. Last year they would feel mostly warm and wet, but right now it's 36 Celsius, so maybe everything feels cool in comparison to that.

This is happening around the house even in my orthopedic slides, and I'm not sure what's up with that. I had noticed that my outdoor slides had deformed due to normal wear and tear (that's what you get for walking 5-8 miles a day in them, I guess), and I was overdue for buying new ones (they're expensive, which is why I was putting them off). It also occurred to me that the insoles in my regular shoes are a year old and probably also flattened, so I've ordered new ones of those.

Hopefully those help! I need to be able to start walking again! I was just starting to envision a future in which my knee and hamstrings were stable enough to allow running again. This weekend will be perfect walking weather, but I may need to stay home, finish revising the latest draft of Peter Keith, and give it another week to see if the new footwear helps. We'll see if I actually adhere to that plan. (I continue to badly need a break from writing about Peter Keith.)
[syndicated profile] nhc_feed
008
AXNT20 KNHC 251727
TWDAT

Tropical Weather Discussion
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL
1815 UTC Fri Jul 25 2025

Tropical Weather Discussion for North America, Central America
Gulf of America, Caribbean Sea, northern sections of South
America, and Atlantic Ocean to the African coast from the
Equator to 31N. The following information is based on satellite
imagery, weather observations, radar and meteorological analysis.

Based on 1200 UTC surface analysis and satellite imagery through
1710 UTC.

...TROPICAL WAVES...

A tropical wave is analyzed over the eastern Atlantic near 22W,
from 17N southward moving westward at 10 to 15 kt. No significant
convection is noted at this time.

An central Atlantic tropical wave is near 43W, from 18N
southward, moving west at 10 to 15 kt. No significant convection
is noted at this time.

A central Atlantic tropical wave is near 56W, from 18N southward,
moving at 10 to 15 kt. Scattered moderate convection is from 11N
to 15N between 54W and 58W.

A Caribbean tropical wave is analyzed near 76W, from 19N
southward moving west at 10 to 15 kt. No significant convection is
noted in the Caribbean at this time.

...MONSOON TROUGH/ITCZ...

The monsoon trough extends from Dakar, Senegal, to 09N43W. The
ITCZ continues from 09N43W to 09N55W. No significant convection is
noted at this time.

GULF OF AMERICA...

The latest surface observations indicate that the area of 1012 mb
low pressure is centered near 28.3N91.5W, with a trough extending
southwest from the low center. Cyclonic winds peak to fresh to
strong speeds near the low. Scattered moderate convection is 25N
to 29N between 91W and 97W. Elsewhere, the diurnal trough is
analyzed in the Bay of Campeche. The Gulf is dominated by gentle
to moderate SE winds and 3-5 ft seas.

For the forecast, the area of low pressure is moving west-
northwestward toward the Texas coast, and will moves inland
tonight. There is a low chance for tropical development.
Elsewhere, moderate to fresh northeast to east winds are forecast
along the Yucatan Peninsula each afternoon and evening as a trough
develops inland daily and shifts westward over the Bay of
Campeche at night.

CARIBBEAN SEA...

The latest satellite scatterometer data indicates strong to near-
gale force trades in the south-central Caribbean off the coast of
Colombia. Fresh to strong trades are noted across remaining
waters of the central Caribbean, with 8-11 ft seas. 5-7 ft seas,
and moderate to fresh trades, prevail in the eastern and western
Caribbean Sea and Windward Passage. Scattered moderate isolated
strong convection is in the NW Caribbean and Gulf of Honduras,
from 15N to 21N west of 82W.

For the forecast, the pressure gradient between Atlantic high
pressure and the Colombian low will support fresh to strong winds
over the central Caribbean into Sat. Fresh to strong northeast
winds in the Windward Passage are expected through Sat. Elsewhere,
moderate to fresh winds will prevail.

ATLANTIC OCEAN...

A stationary front extends from 31N50W to 27N60W to 31N68W.
Scattered moderate convection lingers across the frontal boundary.
Moderate to fresh winds are also near the front. Fresh NE winds
are noted in the Windward Passage. Elsewhere in the tropical and
subtropical Atlantic, the latest scatterometer depicts a quiet
basin, with gentle to moderate trades and 4-7 ft seas. 1022 mb
high is centered just northeast of the Bahamas.

For the forecast west of 55W, high pressure will dominate the
weather pattern across the forecast region, supporting fresh to
strong winds north of Hispaniola and the approaches to the
Windward Passage through Sat. Elsewhere, gentle to moderate winds
along with mostly moderate seas are expected.

$$
Mahoney

flu vaccines

Jul. 25th, 2025 01:47 pm
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird
This is health/health care, specifically vaccines, but it's related to US politics: If you live in the United States and are wondering whether you can get a flu shot this fall, yes they will be available. Whether you have to pay for it depends on what kind of insurance you have. The following applies specifically to the flu vaccine, and not to most other vaccines.

If you have Medicare, the seasonal flu shot is covered at no charge. For adults with private insurance, that's up to the insurer, and Dr. Jeremy Faust thinks most insurance companies will cover it. For children, either their insurance covers the flu vaccine, or they can get it from the "Vaccines for Children" program, but only in certain locations, which do not include the pediatrician's office. I'm linking to Dr. Faust's post, and his description is complicated because it's describing a complicated situation.

https://insidemedicine.substack.com/p/is-rfk-jr-calling-the-shots-who-can

That article says that federal law also has specific rules for three other vaccines--pneumococcus, covid, and hepatitis B--but neither Dr. Faust nor the website he links to say whether the same rules apply to them and to seasonal flu shots.

The information above is as of July 25, 2025.

2025 Candidate Q&A and Chat Round Up

Jul. 25th, 2025 03:16 pm
[syndicated profile] otw_news_feed

Posted by callmeri

The election season is in full swing! As part of the election season, we have a chat with our candidates coming up soon. You can also find links to the candidates’ answers to your questions at the bottom of this post.

Chats

There will be one public chat with all three candidates that will last 90 minutes. Chats will take place in our public chatroom (Discord).
It is scheduled for:

During this chat, chat attendees will have the opportunity to ask the candidates questions not already covered in their platforms, bios, and Q&A, as well as to ask individual questions of specific candidates. New questions will only be accepted for the first hour of the scheduled chat time to make sure candidates have time to finish them all.

We hope that you can join us for this chat!

Please note that though the link to the public chatroom is already active, chatting capabilities will not be enabled until approximately half an hour before the chat begins.

Read on to learn more about using Discord.

  • On the login page, you’ll need to provide a screen name.
  • Once you enter the server, you’ll find a list of users on the right and a list of chat rooms on the left. Settings are available via the gear icon on the lower left, near your screen name; there you can choose, among other options, whether you prefer a dark or light chat room appearance.
  • There are three rooms available to chat attendees who are not candidates or Elections Committee volunteers: general, candidate_chats, and open_chat.
    • General is where you’ll find a list of rules for the chats. Please read through these carefully before entering the other two rooms.
    • Candidate_chats is where the candidates will answer questions and debate amongst themselves. Only the candidates and moderator will be able to chat in this room.
    • Open_chat is where all attendees can participate and talk to each other. We ask that you try to stay on topics related to the election. A moderator will be in the room, so if you have a question for the candidates, you can signal the moderator with o/, the candidate’s name, and the question. Use o// if it’s a follow-up question to the current discussion.

Q&A

When we posted the Board candidates’ bios and platforms, we asked the public to submit additional questions for them. Once again, our sincere thanks to everyone who did so! We have already posted candidate answers to Q&A questions.

To navigate answers by individual candidate, please use the links below:

lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)
[personal profile] lightreads
A Letter from the Lonesome Shore

3/5. Sequel to last year’s charming, epistolary science fantasy novel about mental illness and academia. More of the same concludes this duology, but either I was cranky when reading (I definitely was) or this book misses a step (I think it does). This is still charming epistolary science-fantasy with a lot of feelings about academia and structures of knowledge and inquiry. But some of the small lingering questions I had from the first book about how this world works are much bigger and even less resolved now in ways I do not enjoy. Like, there are extremely basic things that I’m still wait, what? about.

But if you want an epistolary romance about two unusual people – multiple mental illnesses floating around, plus someone on the ase spectrum – then I do recommend these. And I would be curious for other opinions on the resolution of E’s story here. I’m of multiple minds about what it is doing in terms of mental illness, and I haven’t resolved that yet. Is it treating her social anxiety as a kind of superpower that lets her do a hard and isolating thing that many others could not? Maybe. Or is it doing something far less positive with it?

The Whisperer in White by Y. R. Liu

Jul. 25th, 2025 08:52 am
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
[personal profile] james_davis_nicoll


A young hunter's carelessly loosed arrow earns her imprisonment under the supervision of a mage.

The Whisperer in White by Y. R. Liu
lirazel: A close up of Jane Eyre as portrayed by Ruth Wilson in the 2006 version ([tv] not a bird)
[personal profile] lirazel
Two things, both for my parents!

1. My parents are planning on going to Ireland (both Northern and Republic of) for two weeks in the spring, and it is my job to plan their trip. Of course I'll be consulting, like, Rick Steves and other travel guides, but I'd love to hear any recommendations, tips, etc. anyone has!

2. My mom has a new Bible and it's soft-cover and she's trying to find the best solution to make sure it doesn't get all torn up.

I know how to find protective covers like this or this but only in large amounts for library use. I have no idea how to find things for individual use.

Of course she can always just buy some contact paper, but I'd rather come up with something a bit sturdier if I can.

Anyone got any ideas?

Louisiana Zine Fest!

Jul. 25th, 2025 06:16 am
yhlee: Alto clef and whole note (middle C). (Default)
[personal profile] yhlee
I’ll be tabling at the Louisiana Zine Fest (I'm not yet listed but I'm confirmed)! I’ll be there with a Ninefox comic zine and solo journaling / micro-TTRPG zines, including some never before released to the wild! Come say howdy if you’re in the area!

(Yes: physical zines. I have a laser printer and I'm not afraid to use it!)

Date: Friday, August 1, 2025
Time: 12pm – 8pm

Place:
Main Library at Goodwood
7711 Goodwood Blvd
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70806
USA

(Pro tip: Goodwood Grill across the way has terrific food if you do meat/seafood. I especially love the shrimp po'boys if shrimp is a thing you do.)
beanside: (Default)
[personal profile] beanside
It's Friday! Whoohoo! One and a half more days left in my week! Then, I'm going to go do some shit.

Yesterday was a bit wild. I had to deal with a really difficult patient who didn't want to go to the main hospital. Unfortunately, due to past behavior, that was the only place we could accommodate them. They had some truly wild suppositions about how neurodivergence worked. She finally agreed to go, but goddamn. That was a long call. It wasn't my error, but I would prefer that I take that rather than one of my younger coworkers, who probably would have been driven to tears. I just shrugged and went "that's not how ADHD works at all?" (In my head, obv. I didn't poke that bear.)

Aside from that, two more Cardiac appointments opened up and required me to fill them, and it just felt busy. Then at the end of the day, I got to update windows, which is always fun. Apparently, I had 11.2hb2, and I needed 11.2hb3. Whatever. We'll see if everything works today.

After work, I made bacon and French Toast Casserole. The french toast casserole came out really well. I used croissant bread and I really liked it. It was delicious and custardy with brown sugar sprinkled on top to get crispy. The bacon was...okay. I had ordered from Costco, and I ordered the Kirkland bacon. I much prefer Sam's Club's bacon. It was very salty and also very fatty. I have like a centimeter of left over grease in my pan. It's just a lot. I have another package, and I think I will use it mostly for cooking. I'll get some kale or spinach and cook it up with some bacon and maybe parmesan.

Not sure what I'm going to make today. Going to have to look in the freezer. I think we have some brussel sprouts left, so maybe I'll use some of that bacon on them. Bacon, onions, and maybe some red wine vinegar. If I had sugar dusted pine nuts, I'd use that, too. I like that salty sweet with a little crunch. Mental note, get some pine nuts for future endeavors.

I'd like to bake something, but with the dog requiring a walk at lunch time, since he will no longer go out with Jess solo in the mornings, there's no time to throw together cookies during break. Maybe tomorrow evening I'll make some. Or Sunday morning before game.

Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have a excellent Friday!
xdiorix: (Default)
[personal profile] xdiorix posting in [community profile] amplificathon

Image credit: Vecteezy

Hello and welcome to the sixth round of the Chromatic Characters Podfic Anthology! As always, we’re collecting short podfics that center characters of color in different fandoms to release as an anthology and as a collection of individual files.

The Chromatic Characters Podfic Anthology aims to spotlight podfics that portray characters of color as full, multifaceted beings. We welcome podfics that are positive, happy, and fluffy as much as we do podfics where characters of color grapple with heavier themes. We value the beautiful complexity and diversity of people, identities, cultures, and experiences. We hope to promote the creation of more creative works (fannish or otherwise) that reflect these values.

This year's submission deadline is September 12th, and we will post on September 30th.

Our theme for this year's anthology is persistence. It's optional—all podfics are welcome as long as they follow the rules laid out in the Submission Guidelines—but feel free to let it inspire you if you'd like and to interpret it as broadly as you'd like.

If you’d like to get a sense of this project, you can see the previous CCPA anthologies here, here, here, here, and here.

To Podficcers: Interested in participating? We'd love to have you. This should be a low-stress project, even for people who are new to podficcing, due to the word-count: 1500 words or less (with many being as short as 1-2 minutes.) If you'd like to record something for this anthology, please fill out this quick google form and we'll send you the link to the spreadsheet where we'll be keeping track of all the podfics.

Here are some good places for finding short fics about characters of color:
-The Character(s) of Color, Female Character of Color, LGBTQ Character of Color, or Male Character of Color tags at the AO3, limited to word counts of 1500 or less.
-The Dark Agenda Collection on AO3 (includes fanworks from Chromatic Yuletide, Chromatic Remix Redux, Kaleidoscope Fanwork Exchange, Kaleidoscope Treats, and Racebending Revenge)
-chromatic_fanfic
-The Chamber collection
-Chromaticvision drabble collection
-Seeing Color collection
-Marvel POC Characters Fanworks Exchange
-Awesome People of Colour are Awesome: Comment-a-thon on DW and the AO3 collection
-No White Saviors Allowed-- Challenges for The 100 Characters of Color
-Not Green or Blue ficathon for characters of color in comics

Since this project has a relatively quick turnaround time, you may want to refer to this database of authors who have posted blanket permission statements and/or install this browser extension that highlights all blanket permission authors from that database in green.

As an aid to encourage mindfulness when selecting stories for the anthology, we strongly recommend you to check out this resource from Writing With Color about common stereotypes and tropes in stories about characters of color. We would like to encourage thoughtful representation in the stories included in this anthology as much as possible.

To the Podcurious: A number of prolific podficcers have gotten their start by contributing to the Awesome Ladies Podfic Anthology, which this anthology is based on. If you have ever thought you might like to create podfic, this could be a really great starting place. It's low pressure, you'll get a lot of listeners, you're contributing to a cool fanwork that celebrates our love for characters of color, and it's not too intense of a spotlight, because your piece is in the company of many other voices.

To Everyone: Feel free to comment with links to other fests or specific works that you think would be a good fit for this anthology. Additionally, we are looking for technical beta listeners who can absolutely commit to at LEAST two hours of beta listening between September 13th and 20th to check for volume issues, errors and inconsistencies, metadata, etc. In addition, if you are a person of color who would be willing to lend their services as a contextual content beta (formerly known as cultural sensitivity listeners in previous years), please let us know if you'd be available and interested; we'd be very grateful!

To Participants and Contextual Content Betas: This year we'll be implementing the same matching process for contextual content betas as last year. If you're willing to provide your services as a contextual content beta, we'll ask you to provide a brief description of your background and what you feel confident in providing input on. We'll provide you access to the submission spreadsheet and you can let us know if there are any fandoms/characters/submissions you know you'll be comfortable beta-ing.

When the submission window closes, participants will also be asked to look over the briefs provided and let the mods know which content beta sounds like the best match for their submissions. As mods, we are not familiar with every character and fandom submitted and will be relying on participants to help us connect your submissions with the closest possible match. Contextual content betas check that submissions reflect the mission of the anthology. They are our "sniff tests." They help us by letting us know if there's anything about a submission that would give them pause about including it in an anthology celebrating characters of color. They are also a second set of eyes for content warnings. It's possible that your content beta won't be familiar with something in your submission. As the CCPA mod team values lived experience as the best source of knowledge, content betas may, at their discretion, offer additional cultural insight and guidance to the best of their ability.

To Authors: We've had some awesome authors get involved in the past, in [community profile] pod_together style, to create short pieces for CCPA in collaboration with podficcers. If you’re an author who’s interested in writing for characters of color and is seeking podficcers to work with, feel free to comment below. Podficcers who would like this sort of collaboration, please reply directly to the authors.

Below you will find our rules and submission guidelines. If you have any additional questions, please let us know!

Basic Rules
  • Each reader can make up to 5 podfics to include in the anthology (though an unlimited number may be included in the spreadsheet/AO3 collection), and each story should be no more than 1500 words.
  • All stories should focus on characters of color, including racebent characters.
  • All fandoms, including rpf fandoms, are eligible.
  • All podfics should be submitted in mp3 format.
  • As long as it is still the day of the deadline anywhere on Earth, you are allowed to submit podfics.
  • Effects are fine, but please do not use intro or outro music in the version of the podfic you submit for the Anthology (just for the sake of time—it's usually hours long, so we'd like to keep each podficlet within it to the header info we requested, the words of the story, and "the end" in order to not expand the time further.) If you'd like to add in music to the version that you crosspost or that goes into the excel spreadsheet of individual podficlets, that's totally fine! In addition, if you'd like to include a podficcer freetalk about why you chose to record a particular story for the anthology, please feel free to include those on your individual AO3 posts!
  • Important note: Please make sure you read and follow the Submission Guidelines. It helps everything flow together much better, and it makes the mods' jobs so much easier!

Submission Guidelines
For the sake of consistency within the anthology, we'd like to ask that everyone follow these guidelines for eligible fics and the metadata you include in the podfic:

-All recordings should begin and end with two seconds of silence.

-Each reading should begin, "[Title], written by [author], read by [reader]. Fandom: [Fandom]." Then, if applicable, provide a content warning if oppression is thematic to the work. Please also specifically warn for slurs, depictions of hate crimes; and racist microaggressions. We also suggest including appropriate warnings or content notes for common triggers such as sexual assault, graphic violence, and major character death. (This is not to say that we discourage stories in which characters engage with the lived realities of racism and colonialism; rather that we recognize that some listeners may not be in a space where they want to engage with those kinds of themes and should have a choice to opt in or out of listening.) Please refer to this document for suggested guidelines about when and what to warn for, as well as resources for defining and identifying microaggressions.

-Each reading should end with "The End".

-The metadata should follow this format:
Name: Title
Artist: readername (reader) & authorname (author)
Year: 2025
Album: Chromatic Characters Podfic Anthology VI
Comments: Text at: http://link
Genre: Podfic
(Note: Capitalize reader and author names as they’re displayed on AO3; same goes for titles.)

-To help make sure the volume across the anthology is consistent, we are providing a benchmark volume file to use for volume-matching. Please make sure that your own podfics are approximately matched to this volume. One way is to listen to the benchmark at a comfortable volume, then listen to your file, and if you don't find the transition jarring or feel a need to turn the volume up or down when the file switches, you're good! If you aren't sure how to adjust volume, in Audacity it's Amplify under the Effects menu, and in Garageband it's track volume (the blue line here). If you have more questions, feel free to ask in the comments! The benchmark volume file is here (right-click save to download; thanks to [personal profile] klb for letting us use the benchmark volume from ALPA). ALTERNATIVELY, you may use the volume normalization feature on auphonic, which levels audio at a consistent volume. You can create a free account which allows you to process up to 2 hours of audio per month. If you would prefer not to sign up for an account, you may contact a mod who can process your audio for you.

New this year!: As we did last year, we are opening a bonus collection where you can submit podfic of those stories you found and loved but were too long for the anthology. Consider this permission/motivation to record and share those stories! This is completely optional--these submissions do not need to be submitted via the google spreadsheet or beta'd, nor do they need to follow any kind of standardized header format/volume guidelines. This collection will be revealed at the same time as the anthology on September 30th, so you'll have until the 29th to submit your podfics.

Your mods for this event are blackglass and miss_marina95. We can be contacted at [twitter.com profile] ccpamods or at ccpamods at gmail.
radiantfracture: Two cat characters from the 1985 anime lean out the train window (Night on the Galactic Railroad)
[personal profile] radiantfracture
Welcome to the asynchronous viewing party for the The Space all nonbinary/trans staged reading of Twelfth Night, introduced by Sir Ian McKellen! Yay!

Come in. Get comfy (or pleasantly uncomfortable). Grab some snacks. Etc.

The purpose of this post is to act like an oddly static Discord, to wit: I'll live-comment here as I watch the reading, and you are invited to do the same, whenever you watch the stream, so that the end result is a braiding-together of our viewings, a co-viewing and conversation in slow time.

I'll see if I can timestamp. I might not be that together tomorrow morning.


§rf§

Notes

The show starts at 11 am July 25 my time (Pacific) / 7pm Greenwich.

(Book here if you haven't yet.)

Daily Happiness

Jul. 24th, 2025 09:36 pm
torachan: a cartoon owl with the text "everyone is fond of owls" (everyone is fond of owls)
[personal profile] torachan
1. The first day of the new store's soft open was a huge success. We didn't advertise it at all, but the store was very busy all day (only open from 10-4) and we made over three times as much as the first soft open day of the store that opened in December, so hopefully that is a sign that this store will be a success.

2. Look at Tuxie in his little house! He doesn't sleep here at night and doesn't ever seem to use it during the day, but sometimes he likes to go in there in the early morning between waking up and leaving wherever it is he sleeps at night and coming up to the porch for breakfast.

Getting Into The Zone

Jul. 24th, 2025 09:26 pm
esteefee: broken typewriter (type)
[personal profile] esteefee posting in [community profile] fan_writers
as we were discussing in this thread:

I feel like when I'm writing, there are two zones. The first is more plodding and difficult, where I'm using prompts of where I want to go in the story (such as an outline) and [I'm] sort of blind emotionally, if that makes sense, and it's very slow going. The writing really suffers as a result. The second is the true zone, where I've really percolated the story/universe in advance, and I'm so deep in the backstories, 'verse, and intent of the overarching plots that the writing kind of just rolls out of me, and individual threads I'm not even consciously aware of pop out and intertwine in a really kinetic way. That is the gold standard for me, but so much harder to achieve. I really wish I knew how to create that zone more readily, but it appears to be an almost accidental thing that occurs when I'm really into a story idea.

[personal profile] mific went on to say (paraphrasing, don't want to steal her words) that sometimes it's the story idea that gets her there, and sometimes it's the headspace she's in that makes the words really flow.

What gets you into the right headspace for a good zone? One where the words come easily and you feel you're doing the kind of writing where synergy really happens?
jadelennox: Senora Sabasa Garcia, by Goya (Default)
[personal profile] jadelennox

This essay was alluded to and quoted from in several of the essays I read about Edna St. Vincent Millay. I correctly suspected I could find the journal issue (The Outlook, vol. 147 no. 10, 1927) on the Internet Archive, and I'm very glad I looked for it. Here's a couple-few excerpts.

This is also in reference to Sacco and Vanzetti.

ExpandRead more... )

If I could meet one person from history I've always said it would be Millay, but right now I'm so enamored of her prose I can't even think what I'd say to her. To be able to write like that...!

Thursday Recs

Jul. 24th, 2025 09:17 pm
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool patterned after the Polysexual Pride flag, in horizontal stripes of purple, white, and green; the Dreamwidth logo echos the colors. (Genderqueer)
[personal profile] soc_puppet posting in [community profile] queerly_beloved
Thursday Recs are here again, yay!


Do you have a rec for this week? Just reply to this post with something queer or queer-adjacent (such as, soap made by a queer person that isn't necessarily queer themed) that you'd, well, recommend. Self-recs are welcome, as are recs for fandom-related content!

Or have you tried something that's been recced here? Do you have your own report to share about it? I'd love to hear about it!

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