wednesday reads and things
Jul. 2nd, 2025 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What I've recently finished reading:
Lamentation by C.J. Sansom, the 6th Shardlake novel. This is all about the heresy hunts in the last few years before Henry VIII's death - one faction wanted to go back towards Catholicism, one wanted a radical re-imagining of religion and social structures, and if you wanted to stay in the regime's good graces, you walked the narrow path of "the King is the divinely ordained leader of the Church, and whatever he says goes." Warning for historical burning of heretics, plus canon-typical violence; also for weird religion and contentious legal cases. Matthew Shardlake still has a crush on the queen (Katherine Parr).
What I'm reading now:
My hold on Katherine Addison's The Tomb of Dragons came in, so that. Just barely started.
What I recently finished watching:
American Primeval, which, huh, I've never before encountered media in which the Mormons are the bad guys. (This is not a spoiler. It's pretty clear from the get-go, but it gets more pointed and cartoon-villainy toward the end.) Definitely violent and gory, though also it felt very clearly written to Tug The Heart Strings (and then, often, deliberately kill the character it's just tried to make you care about) at which at least for me it failed to do. I liked Abish, Two Moons, and Captain Edwin Dellinger, and James Bridger amused the hell out of me, but - I mostly enjoyed it, but I don't feel it was superlative. I got tired of the filter to wash out colors so it looked almost old-photo sepia.
I did enjoy the historical setting of the Mormon War; as I mentioned last time, I researched it for my Yuletide story, and I think it's just an interesting time, the settlement/colonization of western North America.
What I'm about to start watching:
Murderbot! We always wait until enough episodes are out that we can watch ~every other day and not have to wait.
What I'm playing now:
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, which was recommended to me as a "spooky atmospheric puzzle game", and I'm enjoying it a lot. You play as a mysterious woman who has come to a mysterious hotel full of locked doors in what might be Germany in 1963, at the request of a mysterious man for reasons of ??? I told my brother about it because it's cheap in the summer sale at Steam, and he decided it sounded good so he is playing it now, a bit behind my progress but because of the nonlinearity he's ahead of me in some things. We're trying to give each other elliptical hints when needed.
Lamentation by C.J. Sansom, the 6th Shardlake novel. This is all about the heresy hunts in the last few years before Henry VIII's death - one faction wanted to go back towards Catholicism, one wanted a radical re-imagining of religion and social structures, and if you wanted to stay in the regime's good graces, you walked the narrow path of "the King is the divinely ordained leader of the Church, and whatever he says goes." Warning for historical burning of heretics, plus canon-typical violence; also for weird religion and contentious legal cases. Matthew Shardlake still has a crush on the queen (Katherine Parr).
What I'm reading now:
My hold on Katherine Addison's The Tomb of Dragons came in, so that. Just barely started.
What I recently finished watching:
American Primeval, which, huh, I've never before encountered media in which the Mormons are the bad guys. (This is not a spoiler. It's pretty clear from the get-go, but it gets more pointed and cartoon-villainy toward the end.) Definitely violent and gory, though also it felt very clearly written to Tug The Heart Strings (and then, often, deliberately kill the character it's just tried to make you care about) at which at least for me it failed to do. I liked Abish, Two Moons, and Captain Edwin Dellinger, and James Bridger amused the hell out of me, but - I mostly enjoyed it, but I don't feel it was superlative. I got tired of the filter to wash out colors so it looked almost old-photo sepia.
I did enjoy the historical setting of the Mormon War; as I mentioned last time, I researched it for my Yuletide story, and I think it's just an interesting time, the settlement/colonization of western North America.
What I'm about to start watching:
Murderbot! We always wait until enough episodes are out that we can watch ~every other day and not have to wait.
What I'm playing now:
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, which was recommended to me as a "spooky atmospheric puzzle game", and I'm enjoying it a lot. You play as a mysterious woman who has come to a mysterious hotel full of locked doors in what might be Germany in 1963, at the request of a mysterious man for reasons of ??? I told my brother about it because it's cheap in the summer sale at Steam, and he decided it sounded good so he is playing it now, a bit behind my progress but because of the nonlinearity he's ahead of me in some things. We're trying to give each other elliptical hints when needed.
ZhuBai picspam (sort of)
Jul. 2nd, 2025 02:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I'd mentioned to
mumblemumble making desktop wallpaper calendars from Zhu Yilong & Bai Yu photos, and to commemorate my 6th Guardianniversary here's a little picspam of what they have looked like.
( Years 2020-2025 )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
( Years 2020-2025 )
Venting
Jul. 2nd, 2025 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
A former co-worker called me last week. We were...work friends. We never socialized outside of work.
She left the company before I did and moved to Ohio; she'd call me occasionally to talk.
She's one of those people who 1) thinks she's knows everything and 2) makes everything about her. The last time she called before this most recent one was probably 18 months ago. She asked so I was trying to tell her about everything I was going through with my father. Her response was to tell me not to trust doctors and do some woo-woo shit. Then going on about how terrible her life is. Then she started in on how she wanted to move back up here and she needed people to help her.
This time I told her dad had passed. She started with how she knows how hard that is. Her mother died (so did mine). Her brother died (so did mine). Then she started with how the landlord and other tenants were harassing her. Playing loud music ALL THE TIME (except for when she was on he phone with me.) And somehow causing electro-magnetic interference that destroyed her phone and that she could feel and measure. Again she told me how she wanted to move back and needed help. I basically just hmm'd in response to everything she said.
She's called twice more. First early Monday morning (I didn't answer) asking me to call someone in government to help her. How I, in MA, was going to do that, I don't know, considering I only know she lives in Ohio somewhere. And again a half hour ago (didn't answer) telling me she was being evicted. The other tenants were sending electrical shocks through the floor. She needed help to move. She has two kids in their early to mid twenties. Her oldest got married and moved to Finland. The other one lives with her.
I think she thinks I'll say "Hey, no problem. I'll help you move and you can stay with me." Nope. Ain't gonna happen. I can't block her because the phone number she has for me is a landline. Honestly it sounds likes she's in the middle of a mental health crisis. But there's really not much I can do about that.
/venting
She left the company before I did and moved to Ohio; she'd call me occasionally to talk.
She's one of those people who 1) thinks she's knows everything and 2) makes everything about her. The last time she called before this most recent one was probably 18 months ago. She asked so I was trying to tell her about everything I was going through with my father. Her response was to tell me not to trust doctors and do some woo-woo shit. Then going on about how terrible her life is. Then she started in on how she wanted to move back up here and she needed people to help her.
This time I told her dad had passed. She started with how she knows how hard that is. Her mother died (so did mine). Her brother died (so did mine). Then she started with how the landlord and other tenants were harassing her. Playing loud music ALL THE TIME (except for when she was on he phone with me.) And somehow causing electro-magnetic interference that destroyed her phone and that she could feel and measure. Again she told me how she wanted to move back and needed help. I basically just hmm'd in response to everything she said.
She's called twice more. First early Monday morning (I didn't answer) asking me to call someone in government to help her. How I, in MA, was going to do that, I don't know, considering I only know she lives in Ohio somewhere. And again a half hour ago (didn't answer) telling me she was being evicted. The other tenants were sending electrical shocks through the floor. She needed help to move. She has two kids in their early to mid twenties. Her oldest got married and moved to Finland. The other one lives with her.
I think she thinks I'll say "Hey, no problem. I'll help you move and you can stay with me." Nope. Ain't gonna happen. I can't block her because the phone number she has for me is a landline. Honestly it sounds likes she's in the middle of a mental health crisis. But there's really not much I can do about that.
/venting
What I'm Doing Wednesday
Jul. 2nd, 2025 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
books
Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand And Interpret Your Own Birth Chart by Demetra George, Douglas Bloch MA. Rev 2006. A bit outdated in terms of social examples, but the basics are sound.
not quite finished with: Chiron and the Healing Journey: An Astrological and Psychological Perspective by Melanie Reinhart. 2009 ed. Super creepy case studies, esp Jonestown, pre-De Klerk South Africa.
yarning
Didn't go to yarn group, though I was dressed, packed up, and ready to leave. I just couldn't get myself to get into the car and go. Or to work on the languishing bunnies on my own. It's true that crochet still hurts my shoulder and I haven't kept up my PT for it, but seeing people in person again would have been nice. And good for me.
( healthcrap )
fandom
Interview with the Vampire S3 is filming, and my tumblr dash is full of pics. It's delightful. I watched Murderbot through 1.6 & haven't yet caught up with the most recent 2 eps. So excited, though, to read that Martha Wells is polishing the final edits on the new Murderbot novella!
astrology
I'm studying hard, and it feels really good to be learning (and relearning) so much again.
#resist
July 4: Independence Day Boycott/Free America Protest/Weekend of Community Events
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action (in honor of John Lewis, who died 7/17/2000)
I hope all of y'all are doing well & we US-ians have a happy Fourth of July weekend! If you go to a protest/march, please be safe! <333
Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand And Interpret Your Own Birth Chart by Demetra George, Douglas Bloch MA. Rev 2006. A bit outdated in terms of social examples, but the basics are sound.
not quite finished with: Chiron and the Healing Journey: An Astrological and Psychological Perspective by Melanie Reinhart. 2009 ed. Super creepy case studies, esp Jonestown, pre-De Klerk South Africa.
yarning
Didn't go to yarn group, though I was dressed, packed up, and ready to leave. I just couldn't get myself to get into the car and go. Or to work on the languishing bunnies on my own. It's true that crochet still hurts my shoulder and I haven't kept up my PT for it, but seeing people in person again would have been nice. And good for me.
( healthcrap )
fandom
Interview with the Vampire S3 is filming, and my tumblr dash is full of pics. It's delightful. I watched Murderbot through 1.6 & haven't yet caught up with the most recent 2 eps. So excited, though, to read that Martha Wells is polishing the final edits on the new Murderbot novella!
astrology
I'm studying hard, and it feels really good to be learning (and relearning) so much again.
#resist
July 4: Independence Day Boycott/Free America Protest/Weekend of Community Events
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action (in honor of John Lewis, who died 7/17/2000)
I hope all of y'all are doing well & we US-ians have a happy Fourth of July weekend! If you go to a protest/march, please be safe! <333
PSA: The People's Union USA economic boycotts for July
Jul. 2nd, 2025 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The economic boycotts led by The People's Union USA for the month of July: Amazon, Home Depot, Starbucks.
For more details, see this Newsweek article.
For more details, see this Newsweek article.
The Sun Down Motel, by Simone St. James
Jul. 2nd, 2025 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
One of those thrillers that splits the narrative between two women—both twenty years old, working at the same grubby motel and living in the same apartment, one in 1982 and the other in 2017 trying to solve the mystery of the first one's disappearance—and their stories run so parallel they're basically interchangeable and you start wondering if maybe the author should have only told the story once. It certainly would have cut down on the amount of clunky exposition and awkward dialogue.
The thrills were not thrilling, but the mystery might have been interesting if we weren't getting it from both ends. As it is, not worth the time.
Contains: References to rape, domestic abuse, and child death; descriptions of dead bodies; ghosts.
The thrills were not thrilling, but the mystery might have been interesting if we weren't getting it from both ends. As it is, not worth the time.
Contains: References to rape, domestic abuse, and child death; descriptions of dead bodies; ghosts.
Start July as you mean to go on
Jul. 1st, 2025 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Technically this was yesterday, but I climbed a hill and had an eagle fly past me. (The hill is the Bodenburg Butte in Palmer, AK.)

I realize the eagle is more like a dot, but if you've tried to take a quick photo of a bird, this is without zoom (I was just trying to snap a fast shot without completely losing the experience of having an eagle flying in front of me) so it is actually very close! After it flew past, I turned around and two teenage guys were standing above me, having just descended from the top and watched it too. "Sick," one of them said in obvious delight, and we nodded at each other.
I'm down in Southcentral doing Mom Things. Mom has been moved out of the rental where she was living since last August, and she was supposed to go home via helicopter today, but the weather was a problem. But that's why I reserved two extra days at the Airbnb beforehand, just in case. Tomorrow we try again! She was very respectful of my space today - I think she recognized that I was planning on having the evening to myself tonight and it didn't happen - and I wrote both fanfic and original fiction, and took a long walk to sort some plot things out in my head. Thursday I go home, and perhaps drive the Denali Highway on my way, if the wildfire smoke isn't too bad.

I realize the eagle is more like a dot, but if you've tried to take a quick photo of a bird, this is without zoom (I was just trying to snap a fast shot without completely losing the experience of having an eagle flying in front of me) so it is actually very close! After it flew past, I turned around and two teenage guys were standing above me, having just descended from the top and watched it too. "Sick," one of them said in obvious delight, and we nodded at each other.
I'm down in Southcentral doing Mom Things. Mom has been moved out of the rental where she was living since last August, and she was supposed to go home via helicopter today, but the weather was a problem. But that's why I reserved two extra days at the Airbnb beforehand, just in case. Tomorrow we try again! She was very respectful of my space today - I think she recognized that I was planning on having the evening to myself tonight and it didn't happen - and I wrote both fanfic and original fiction, and took a long walk to sort some plot things out in my head. Thursday I go home, and perhaps drive the Denali Highway on my way, if the wildfire smoke isn't too bad.
6 years
Jul. 1st, 2025 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
My 6th year Guardianniversary was a couple of days ago. ♥ I have a Guardian-adjacent post in mind but it requires some digging through folders and I haven't finished that yet.
Instead, today's post isn't about Guardian... ( but about a sus AO3 encounter )
Instead, today's post isn't about Guardian... ( but about a sus AO3 encounter )
Fannish 50 Challenge 2025: Post # 20: Canada Fandom: Canada Day
Jul. 1st, 2025 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
From this U.S. fangirl for Canada on today's Canada Day and every day: declaring my love and respect for the Great Sovereign Land of Canada.
Ten Inspiring Quotations About Canada.
(And furthermore: Fox Delta Tango!)
Ten Inspiring Quotations About Canada.
(And furthermore: Fox Delta Tango!)
DC-Slash Con Seeking Panel Suggestions Today
Jun. 30th, 2025 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
DC-Slash is an online convention coming up at the end of July. We still have ONE DAY for people to make panel suggestions (https://www.dcslash.org/dc-slash-con/programming) and I for one would LOVE to see MOAR Asian Drama-related suggestions!!!
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Into a Bar, Slipping in Under the Wire
Jun. 29th, 2025 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Since I've been fighting a migraine for the last four days, I didn't think there was anyway I was going to finish my story by the
intoabar challenge deadline.
But somehow, I did!
So, here it is, Illya Kuryakin walks into a bar and meets...Bucky Barnes!
Two of my biggest fandom collide! I couldn't have picked a better pairing myself.
Title: Jazz and Vodka
Author: P.R. Zed
Word count: 8,879
AO3 Link
The assignment let me pull out a fragment I've had kicking around forever with young KGB agent Illya Kuryakin getting pulled in as a last minute replacement for the Winter Soldier's handler. Which turned it into a multi-timeline 8K mini-epic. (When I told him what my word count was looking like, my husband just said "Of course you did.")
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
But somehow, I did!
So, here it is, Illya Kuryakin walks into a bar and meets...Bucky Barnes!
Two of my biggest fandom collide! I couldn't have picked a better pairing myself.
Title: Jazz and Vodka
Author: P.R. Zed
Word count: 8,879
AO3 Link
The assignment let me pull out a fragment I've had kicking around forever with young KGB agent Illya Kuryakin getting pulled in as a last minute replacement for the Winter Soldier's handler. Which turned it into a multi-timeline 8K mini-epic. (When I told him what my word count was looking like, my husband just said "Of course you did.")