Pilgrimage, private life, mortality
Jan. 23rd, 2026 10:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sovayOn a theory, I believe, of sustaining me on literature, my parents very unexpectedly presented me with my own copy of Leslie Howard's Trivial Fond Records (ed. Ronald Howard, 1982), which seems to have shipped from the UK as if the international post just worked.
Well, here we are, the 29th of July, 1940. What have we done with all the years since 1918? Armistice night in Piccadilly Circus is so vivid in the memory, it seems like last Wednesday week. What did happen to all those years – and what have we done with them? It seems we are back where we began. Anyway, there it is on the calendar, July 1940, and this war has been on for eleven months. And I am in London speaking these words, and when I am finished talking to you I shall go out of this building, past sandbags and bayonets, into streets of medieval blackness. As I hunt for the two pin-points of light that represent a taxi it will be about two a.m. here, which is nine in the evening your time, and I shan't be able to resist a thought of the dazzling glare which at that moment is lighting the sky above New York's Great White Way. I daresay there isn't an Englishman alive who is more familiar than I with Broadway at nine o'clock on a summer's evening.
Well, here we are, the 29th of July, 1940. What have we done with all the years since 1918? Armistice night in Piccadilly Circus is so vivid in the memory, it seems like last Wednesday week. What did happen to all those years – and what have we done with them? It seems we are back where we began. Anyway, there it is on the calendar, July 1940, and this war has been on for eleven months. And I am in London speaking these words, and when I am finished talking to you I shall go out of this building, past sandbags and bayonets, into streets of medieval blackness. As I hunt for the two pin-points of light that represent a taxi it will be about two a.m. here, which is nine in the evening your time, and I shan't be able to resist a thought of the dazzling glare which at that moment is lighting the sky above New York's Great White Way. I daresay there isn't an Englishman alive who is more familiar than I with Broadway at nine o'clock on a summer's evening.
Why didn't anybody tell me that She-Ra was going off Netflix in a month?
Jan. 29th, 2026 11:08 pmconulyAnd not, apparently, legitimately going anywhere?
Guys, you need to tell me these things! Now where am I supposed to pirate this one from? (I mean, uh, legally obtain it - oh, fuck it.)
Guys, you need to tell me these things! Now where am I supposed to pirate this one from? (I mean, uh, legally obtain it - oh, fuck it.)
[ SECRET POST #6958 ]
Jan. 23rd, 2026 07:27 pmcase posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomsecrets⌈ Secret Post #6958 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
[All secrets have content warnings today!]
( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #993.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
Daily Check In.
Jan. 23rd, 2026 05:23 pmadafrog posting in fandom_checkinThis is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Friday to midnight on Saturday (8pm Eastern Time).
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Poll #34112 Daily poll
This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 22
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 22
How are you doing?
I am okay
13 (59.1%)
I am not okay, but don't need help right now
9 (40.9%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans are you living with?
I am living single
10 (45.5%)
One other person
8 (36.4%)
More than one other person
4 (18.2%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Long, Long Day
Jan. 23rd, 2026 01:25 pmranunculusYesterday I got in the car and went to San Francisco. Donald and I sorted through clothes, and boxes from closets. We loaded lumber, boxes and a small amount of clothing into the car. We had some lunch and I headed home. Total driving time about 5 hours.
As a treat I stopped at Dharma Trading Company and purchased a few dyes we were short on for tye-dying, and some other supplies.
Eventually I got back home. While fixing some salad as a late dinner the knife I was drying (having washed it) slipped and cut me across the top of my left index finger. It bled a lot. So at 9:45 I got ready with a bit of extra coffee and water; and headed to the emergency room for a few stitches. I truly do not trust the hospital in Ukiah, and my insurance is through Kaiser in Santa Rosa. I arrived just before 11. It took 3 hours to be seen, which I kind of expected. I was very low on the priority list. Turned out that the cut was nowhere near as bad as I feared. In fact it was borderline for needing stitching. Since I'm so active the (very nice) doctor put 3 stitches in it. I got home at 3 am and had to be up at 6:30 to feed the horses.
Pretty slow moving today.
As a treat I stopped at Dharma Trading Company and purchased a few dyes we were short on for tye-dying, and some other supplies.
Eventually I got back home. While fixing some salad as a late dinner the knife I was drying (having washed it) slipped and cut me across the top of my left index finger. It bled a lot. So at 9:45 I got ready with a bit of extra coffee and water; and headed to the emergency room for a few stitches. I truly do not trust the hospital in Ukiah, and my insurance is through Kaiser in Santa Rosa. I arrived just before 11. It took 3 hours to be seen, which I kind of expected. I was very low on the priority list. Turned out that the cut was nowhere near as bad as I feared. In fact it was borderline for needing stitching. Since I'm so active the (very nice) doctor put 3 stitches in it. I got home at 3 am and had to be up at 6:30 to feed the horses.
Pretty slow moving today.
protest meets weather in a very real way
Jan. 23rd, 2026 11:05 amchanter1944I would very much like to attend a local rally in solidarity with Minnesota today - there are events planned nationwide - but it's currently -24C, which is -11F, and it feels like -32C, which is -26F. The wind is making my wind chimes do the intermittent mambo. Schools have closed all over the area, because it's not safe for kids to wait for buses in this. BRRRR! And not only BRRRR! It would be unsafe, in a very real way, for me to be outside for any length of time, even if I layered up.
... Do I head for a rally anyway, despite the horrible weather, or not? A large chunk of me is willing to risk it. I mean, the ICEDamns* aren't taking time off from intimidating and brutalizing people, are they?
*That's an admittedly clumsy play on ice dams i.e. what accumulate on a roof if there's heat escaping a house through the attic or similar, but I couldn't come up with anything better on short notice.
... Do I head for a rally anyway, despite the horrible weather, or not? A large chunk of me is willing to risk it. I mean, the ICEDamns* aren't taking time off from intimidating and brutalizing people, are they?
*That's an admittedly clumsy play on ice dams i.e. what accumulate on a roof if there's heat escaping a house through the attic or similar, but I couldn't come up with anything better on short notice.
Snowflake Challenge 2026: Prompt 12
Jan. 23rd, 2026 11:31 amautobotscoutriella
Challenge #12: Make an appreciation post to those who enhance your fandom life.
If you've ever stopped by to talk to me about rarepairs or favorite characters or niche AUs, here or on Discord or Tumblr or in the AO3 comments, thank you! You're the reason I've written as much as I have. (I'd still write for those rarepairs/rare characters/AUs, but knowing I'm writing for someone makes it that much more fun.)
If you followed me over here to Dreamwidth because I would not stop talking about it everywhere else, welcome :D I'm really glad you're here and gave it a shot. And if you've been on Dreamwidth way longer than I have, thank you for being here! It's my favorite place on the internet, and I'm enjoying it so much.
And if you write fic, or meta, or make art or moodboards or memes or anything else fandom-adjacent, you're the reason I got into fandom in the first place, so thank you! I've had a great time here and I'm looking forward to sticking around for a long time. I hope you do too. <3
Assortment
Jan. 23rd, 2026 03:37 pmoursinDr rdrz may imagine the noises I made when reading this (we get the London Standard free from our newspaper deliver people): Make America Hard Again: is there an erectile dysfunction epidemic?, particularly when I came to '“There have been huge uncertainties about male virility since the rise of feminism,” says Grossman.' and started screaming 'THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF HISTORY!!!!'
Okay, there are some very creepy blokes there.
***
Creepy but in a different way: I was being 'recommended' this on Kobo, Y O Y???? The Voyage Out: A Quick Read edition:
Discover a new way to read classics with Quick Read.
This Quick Read edition includes both the full text and a summary for each chapter.
- Reading time of the complete text: about 13 hours
- Reading time of the summarized text: 20 minutes
The horror, the horror. And really, is Woolf a writer for whom this is an appropriate approach?
***
I'm sorry, but I couldn't help flashing on to the famous phrase 'Normal for Norfolk' when reading this: Archive reveals hidden stories of Queer Norfolk:
Norfolk: That's a queer ol' place
In the depths of the Norwich Millennium Library, there’s an archive dedicated to Norfolk’s LGBTQIA+ history
Doesn't mention that Gurney was a Friend, also disabled as a result of childhood polio.
***
This is rather fascinating: Flap Anatomies and Victorian Veils: Penetrating the Female Reproductive Interior:
Lifting flaps that unveiled the female reproductive body for medical purposes could just as easily be interpreted as a pornographic act imbued with sexual titillation and voyeurism. The ‘obstetrical flap’ was thus understood and used as both a teaching prop and an obscene tool. It functioned as a ‘veil’ of Victorian modesty in the name of new and penetrating obstetrical knowledge and a ‘veil’ of man's apparently underlying and untamable penetrative sexual impulses.
***
One has rather worried about this, and it appears that there are grounds for concern: ‘That belongs in a museum’: The true ‘cost’ of detecting in England and Wales.:
My previous work has discussed various aspects of the hobby of detecting: how the context of archaeological finds is often lost, how private ownership of finds is reducing the archaeological dataset, how our obsession with monetary worth may be fueling an increase in artefact theft and, more recently, the hidden and unacknowledged costs of the hobby of detecting to the wider British public.
Minnesota linkspam
Jan. 23rd, 2026 03:54 pmrydra_wongMostly to create some space in my head. But holy shit, Minnesotans, you are extraordinary and we see you. Across the fucking ocean, we see you.
( Cut for US politics, violence )
How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota by Naomi Kritzer
( Cut for US politics, violence )
How To Help If You Are Outside Minnesota by Naomi Kritzer
The Angsana Tree Mystery (Crown Colony, volume 8) By Ovidia Yu
Jan. 23rd, 2026 10:41 amjames_davis_nicoll
Su Lin dutifully accepts a social obligation, only to find herself embroiled in another murder and further colonial machinations.
The Angsana Tree Mystery (Crown Colony, volume 8) by Ovidia Yu
Fandom Snowflake, Challenge #8
Jan. 23rd, 2026 10:18 amthe_wanlornChallenge #8
Talk about your creative process.
I... actually do have a creative process? Weird. I've never really thought too hard about it, but here it is:
And then, of course, my actual writing process is um. Literally turn off thinking/editing brain, sit down for a writing session on my "work" laptop for an hour or so, pound out somewhere between 500 and 3,000 words, walk away for a while. Rinse, repeat. I am not very complicated.
Talk about your creative process.
I... actually do have a creative process? Weird. I've never really thought too hard about it, but here it is:
- Have an idea. Where do ideas come from? I do not know. The aether. Wherever. Mostly I think of a situation and go lmao it would be so funny if that happened. "Funny" stands in for many, many different emotions, though. Not necessarily funny things.
- Go for a long drive. No, longer than that. No, even longer. Minimum amount of drive time I need for an idea to percolate enough to write is around 2h. For a short idea/short portion of a longer idea. The longer the idea in general, the longer the drive needs to be. I just need something where I can turn off my brain, and just ruminate, yanno? Nothing else does that for me.
- (Optional) Talk out the idea with a friend. Sometimes if I can't go on a drive this works. Sometimes it doesn't. But this is sooooort of my version of creating an outline. Just a very wordy outline with input from another person. Otherwise, at this point in my life, I do no planning. Just vibes.
- Hope that the idea is sticky enough to still be around when I feel like writing again.
- Eventually my hobbyfocus (get it? get it??) circles back around to writing. So I sit down and write as fast as possible to get as much as possible out of my head before my focus shifts to, idk, knitting.
And then, of course, my actual writing process is um. Literally turn off thinking/editing brain, sit down for a writing session on my "work" laptop for an hour or so, pound out somewhere between 500 and 3,000 words, walk away for a while. Rinse, repeat. I am not very complicated.
my 2026 planner
Jan. 23rd, 2026 03:09 pmsummerstorm posting in journalsandplannersHi! I'm new to this community, here from a sixbeforelunch post. I've been using planners on and off for many years now, the main difference year to year being whether I found a planner I could afford and liked enough, because I'm shallow as hell. Having an actual planner works much better for me than setting up weekly spreads; I still get the Monday ritual of decorating the week's pages, but I don't have to fuck around with a ruler (for the most part).
Last year I found and began using a weekly spread planner from Kokonote, and got really into stickers.
( many pictures under the cut )
This year I swapped to a page-a-day model, and I'm still learning what does and doesn't work for me in terms of decoration. Each page has a checklist on the side and a portion that's dotted. This is what I've done so far:
( many pictures under the cut )
EDIT to say two things: most of my stickers are from TEDi, who have a veritable fucking mess of a corner that I often just crouch and make my way through trying to drop as few things as possible off their hooks; and I am also on Finch, if anyone else uses that? It's been a really nice companion to the planner this year. My friend code is LWQMXDV9J56. I think you get a ghostie micropet if you sign up and tell them I sent you, and I get app currency or something I think.
sixbeforelunch post. I've been using planners on and off for many years now, the main difference year to year being whether I found a planner I could afford and liked enough, because I'm shallow as hell. Having an actual planner works much better for me than setting up weekly spreads; I still get the Monday ritual of decorating the week's pages, but I don't have to fuck around with a ruler (for the most part).Last year I found and began using a weekly spread planner from Kokonote, and got really into stickers.
( many pictures under the cut )
This year I swapped to a page-a-day model, and I'm still learning what does and doesn't work for me in terms of decoration. Each page has a checklist on the side and a portion that's dotted. This is what I've done so far:
( many pictures under the cut )
EDIT to say two things: most of my stickers are from TEDi, who have a veritable fucking mess of a corner that I often just crouch and make my way through trying to drop as few things as possible off their hooks; and I am also on Finch, if anyone else uses that? It's been a really nice companion to the planner this year. My friend code is LWQMXDV9J56. I think you get a ghostie micropet if you sign up and tell them I sent you, and I get app currency or something I think.