dorinda

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

conuly posting in

1. Dear Care and Feeding,

I’m getting married next year, and my mom is helping me with a lot of the planning. She’s great at this stuff, and super excited to help (and I’m glad to have her—she’s one of my best friends!). But we’re worried about squabbling—or to be honest, yelling at each other—during the process. We’re VERY close, but prone to fighting about nonsense things. Any tips for avoiding a repeat of my (very loud) teenage years while we plan?

—My Fiancé is Very Calm, By the Way

( Read more... )

**************

2. Dear Prudence,

I am an only child and my mother has always been … let’s call it “involved” with my life, and I have done my best to deal with it. Two years ago, I met my now-fiancée, “Arista,” and we are getting married in November. Last week, my mother came to me demanding that I call off our engagement. As it turns out, she had had a professional background check done on Arista, and she really did not like what she’d found.

After her little snoop-about, my mother discovered that she used to be in adult entertainment. The thing is, Arista was up front with me about this early on in our relationship and it doesn’t matter to me. However, I had intended to not say anything to my mother because I knew she would react like this, but more importantly, it wasn’t her business.

When I told my mom as much, she blew up and told me that I couldn’t sully our family by “marrying a whore.” I told her this wasn’t her decision and that she could either treat my future wife with the respect and decency she deserves or sit out the wedding. Now she’s told everyone in the family. Many are supportive and think she’s nuts, but some have shared her reaction. Is this grounds for removing her from my life for good?

—Pilloried By the Past

( Read more... )

conuly posting in

agonyaunt

My mother-in-law, “Hannah,” is a retired pediatrician, and self-appointed captain of our kids’ health care. Whenever we take our kids to the doctor, we have to have a post-visit debrief with Hannah, who demands every detail before offering her own (unsolicited) advice. Often, her advice contradicts the pediatrician’s recommendations, and she will get upset when we take the doctor’s side over hers.

My husband, “Tom,” says it’s better to humor her and pay lip-service to following her recommendations. I get that it’s his mom, but I’m the one fielding the questions! (Tom does what he can, but I’m usually the one taking them to the doctor and talking to her after.) I’m just sick and tired of dealing with this.

—Enough

( Read more... )

firebatvillain posting in

agonyaunt

Dear Carolyn: I have five children, two daughters. “Lynn” is 40, and “Emma” is 29. Lynn got married 15 years ago, and since she was the first bride of the younger generation, a big fuss was made over her wedding by me, my two sisters and especially my mother.

Emma is getting married next month, but since she is the fifth and last bride in our family, it’s not as big a deal. That’s the way it was in the previous generation, too, because this happened to my sister, the sixth bride that time around.

Complicating matters is the fact that Lynn is a stay-at-home mom of four whose husband recently left her for another woman. She is in a tailspin and requiring a lot of support. The whole family of women are pulling together for her, cooking, cleaning, taking turns sleeping at her house, etc. Except for my mom, we all have full-time jobs, which two of us didn’t have 15 years ago.

All that leaves us with little time or energy to focus on Emma’s wedding, which I thought she would understand. When she asked when we would all be making the usual desserts and decorations for the reception, no one felt they could commit.

Emma was hurt and pointed out what everyone did for Lynn, but we can’t even “do the minimum” for her. I was blindsided by her anger. I’m sorry we did more for her sister and cousins, but Lynn has the greater need right now.

I told Emma her father and I are paying for everything just like we did for her sister, and she could ask her friends to help.

Am I/are we being unfair to Emma?

— Blindsided

( Read more... )

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2025/7/24/sea-otter-checks-out-her-new-digs

Via Shedd Aquarium, which writes:

Jade, the newest rescued sea otter at Shedd Aquarium, is settling into her new home!

She’s experiencing a series of firsts — from meeting her animal care team and fellow otters like Luna and Watson, to getting familiar with behind-the-scenes spaces. Most recently, Jade ventured into the sea otter exhibit in the Abbott Oceanarium for the very first time.

Watch as she explores her new surroundings, swims with curiosity and enjoys some icy enrichment along the way.

And here, they write:

Meet the newest rescued sea otter at Shedd. 🦦

Introducing… Jade!

After a surprise-and-delight naming vote from our guests, Jade earned her name — inspired by Jade’s Cove, a stunning stretch of California coastline just south of Monterey.

This curious 3-year-old joins our rescued otter raft as a potential surrogate and ambassador, helping connect visitors to the kelp forests and coastlines her species calls home.

Since arriving at Shedd, Jade has been making a splash — exploring the exhibit, meeting fellow otters like Luna and Watson and practicing important skills like grooming, foraging and diving.

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2025/7/24/sea-otter-checks-out-her-new-digs

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: melancholy

china_shop posting in

sid_guardian

( A couple more pics. )

Poll #33412 I didn't expect you to have such skillful hands.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 21

View Respondents

In the liniment scene, why does Zhao Yunlan wince?

View Answers

it hurts and he doesn't want to admit it
9 (45.0%)

it hurts in a sexy way
4 (20.0%)

he's having a Feeling about Shen Wei touching him
14 (70.0%)

other
2 (10.0%)

Why does Shen Wei have a first aid kit?

View Answers

it came with the house
1 (4.8%)

it's part of his passing-as-human camouflage; he has excellent attention to detail
9 (42.9%)

when he was living in the staff dorm, he was the go-to guy for when people got minor injuries (and they always healed suspiciously quickly)
13 (61.9%)

for Zhao Yunlan
14 (66.7%)

other
0 (0.0%)

Also, feel free to say in comments what your favourite aspect of the liniment scene is. I was going to do a poll question for that, too, but it would have had about a hundred checkboxes. ;-D

ride_4ever

squidgiepdx has been showing fandom the love for 31 years (he founded Squidge.Org in 1994 to provide both website hosting and mailing lists for fandom and in 2020 he created the SquidgeWorld Archive) and I'm here to say let's have fandom show some love back with a successful fundraiser. (And I'm putting my money where my mouth is: I donated $100.00 to this fundraiser.)

Click here for detailed post about the fundraiser and about how to donate.

Click here for Fanlore page about Squidge.Org and SquidgeWorld.

Current Mood: supportive
Current Location: near the lake they call Michigan

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: Genfic. John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Evan Lorne, Ronon Dex, Carson Beckett, Teyla Emmagan, Original characters
Rating: Teen
Length: 79,623
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Grim at times, as it depicts an aspect of WWII.
Creator Links: kristen999 on AO3, everybetty on LJ
Themes: Working together, Action/adventure, Teamwork, Friendship, Genfic, AU: historical, Novel-length

Summary: WWII-based AU. The Team as we know it has been transplanted to the South Pacific.

Reccer's Notes:
This tour de force is a novel-length story by

kristen999, assisted by everybetty, an historical AU set in Papua-New Guinea, in WWII. It's pretty male-centric because of that, but does include Teyla as a local liaison with intel about the enemy. It's got lots of plot, great action and adventure, and an excellent sense of place - you can almost feel the tropical heat making you sweat and hear the mosquitoes whine. The story is illustrated throughout with lots of period photos from the time. It's told from all of the team's POVs, particularly John's (he's a pilot, of course, with Rodney and Ronon on his flight crew). Naturally, John gets thoroughly whumped, in the best genfic tradition. There's tons of atmosphere, friendship and teamwork, and it's a really great read.

Fanwork Links: Long Ago (and Far Away)

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250723.html

Have you ever seen a fireball?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250723.html

resonant

Anybody want to beta 400 words of light-as-air Sinners genfic?

sage

( books (Oken, Hope, Tarnas, Hamaker-Zondag) )

yarning
no yarn group this week. I was all showered and dressed and ready to go, and boom, migraine. Apparently my pulse skyrocketed to 144 when just out of the shower, so that triggered the migraine. Stupid hEDS.

healthcrap
Had a useless appt with physical medicine Monday, where they put me on the Hypermobile Spectrum Disorder spectrum, instead of doing a full exam for hEDS. Irritating. They also confirmed that they couldn't help me, since I don't need further PT or equipment (like a walker or wheelchair) at this time. HSD is basically the same thing, but you don't meet the diagnostic criteria of hEDS. I wish I'd been up to arguing with them, but I wasn't. Also, still haven't worked out. :(

dirt
I watered the plants today for the first time in over 3 weeks, which means I've been taking my terrible mood out on the innocents in my household. I hope I haven't lost any, but it's the (moderate) depression's fault if I have. At least I did get them watered. That's something.

#resist
August 2: 50501 Rage Against the Regime National Protest
August 3: first Move On "Won't Back Down" rally.

I hope all of y'all are doing well! <333

languagehat_feed

Posted by languagehat

https://languagehat.com/uniomachia/

https://languagehat.com/?p=17867

Uniomachia: a digital edition is a splendid scholarly presentation of a text so obscure it doesn’t have its own Wikipedia page (as yet). I’ll quote the introduction (the right-hand column at the linked webpage):

Uniomachia was composed in 1833 as a response to a schism in the history of the Oxford Union Society, Oxford University’s famous affiliated debating society and members’ club. In protest at the election of a Liberal Standing Committee, the Society’s executive body, several Tory ex-committee members formed a new debating club which they named the Ramblers. Concerned that the latter was drawing away Union members, the incumbent committee motioned to expel all Ramblers from the Oxford Union in an acrimonious debate.

Concerned that this schism would tear both the Society and their friendships apart, two undergraduates of St Mary Hall, Thomas Jackson and William Sinclair, decided that the best way to heal the rift would be to immortalise the debate in poetry. The resulting work, Uniomachia or ‘Battle at the Union’ is a pastiche of Homeric epic, composed in Homeric hexameters and an absurd macaronic Anglo-Greek; the poem’s name recalls discrete battle episodes or -machies in early Greek hexameter poetry (such as the ‘Theomachy’ of Iliad Book 20 or the ‘Titanomachy’ of Hesiod’s Theogony 664-728) as well as ancient satires of the Homeric poems such as the Classical Batrakhomyomakhia or ‘Battle of the Frogs and Mice’. The text quotes liberally from Homer’s Iliad, equates its protagonists – various Union committee members – with Homeric heroes, and satirises Homeric style and narrative features for comic effect to turn what must have been a fairly unpleasant and petty argument into an honour-dispute between mighty warriors. The result lionises and legitimises both sides of the schism while exposing the fundamental triviality of the disagreement by contrast with the real tragedy and pathos of the Homeric original.

Upon its publication Uniomachia was an instant hit, with several improved editions published in the same year and a Popean translation following thereafter, which has been published on Taylor Editions by Dr Laura Johnson. Indeed, the poem as a whole owes much to Pope’s Dunciad (1728-43). Posing as a scholarly edition of an antiquissimum poema or ‘most ancient poem’, the Greek text is supplemented by a line-by-line translation into dog-Latin prose and a set of critical notes in which Jackson and Sinclair, as ‘editors’ under the pseudonyms Habbakukius Dunderheadius and Heavysternius respectively, puzzle over aspects of their text; this fourth and most complete edition was supplemented by a set of additional notes produced by Robert Scott (of the later Liddle and Scott Greek Lexicon) under the pseudonym Slawkenbergius. Intended partly to satirise contemporary textual and literary-historical scholarship, the notes provided by Jackson, Sinclair and Scott give the impression of a pretentious faux-erudition, with recondite Latin vocabulary, strong personal opinions unsupported by evidence, frequent insults directed at the intelligence of editorial ‘predecessors’, and shoehorned references to Classical sources.

There are obvious barriers to reading and enjoying the humour of Uniomachia. It is written in two ancient languages, and many of the jokes contained within it depend either on a knowledge of Classical philology or of the Oxford Union and city of Oxford in the 1830s. This edition attempts to surmount these barriers by offering a critical transcription of the text alongside a translation into modern English prose, both of which have been encoded with a high level of functionality to allow access by classicists and non-classicists alike.

I note with displeasure the misspelling of Liddell as “Liddle” (which is, of course, how it’s pronounced), but otherwise I am impressed. The first line is “ἩΥΤΕ τομκάττων κλαγγὴ περὶ γάρρετα σούνδει,” translated as “As around the garret sounds the screeching of tomcats,” which should give you an idea of the epic silliness of the thing. If only all our controversies could be resolved by Homeric hexameters and absurd macaronic Anglo-Greek!

https://languagehat.com/uniomachia/

https://languagehat.com/?p=17867

the_shoshanna

It's always been a while. I wish I posted more regularly. And who is to blame for that, I ask ~~you~~ me?

Yesterday Geoff and I went kayaking for the first time this year -- almost; he went with a friend last weekend while I went hiking with a different friend, but this was my first time this season and our first time together. This was also my first time with my new kayak! He wanted to upgrade our kayaks but couldn't find one he fitted comfortably in, so in the end I got a shiny new one -- longer and lighter than my old one, cuts through the water more cleanly -- and he is taking my old one, which although a bit clunky is still lighter than his old one. He's trying to sell his old one, but no bites so far, apparently. Anyway, we got out on the water for two hours and saw goslings, and cygnets, and even a baby loon with its mama! We've only seen a loon once before, so that was really special. (The chick was swimming on its own, not riding on its mom.) Also, the first clutch of cygnets we saw were young enough that one parent huddled at the edge of the reeds with them while the other came out to meet us and warn us off; when Geoff got a little closer than it liked, it rushed him with great flapping wings! No actual contact, but the message was clear and we rapidly paddled away. The second clutch we saw were a little older and were out on the water in an adorable toddling line between the parents, and we were able to pass by them rather closer than we'd been to the first family without anybody getting upset.

(Loon chicks don't seem to have a special name? We tried to think of one: Geoff suggested "lunatics" and I counterproposed "lunettes," French for "glasses.")

I've just finished going through the most recent season of Yellowjackets for the second time, since I've been watching it with two friends on slightly offset schedules. It continues to keep me riveted without being what I'd call "a good show"? I love how Shauna has been slowly revealed (yes, I know it's probably more like "how the writers have slowly changed their minds about Shauna" but I'm living in Watsonia here, okay) and we keep hoping that all the spouses and kids are safely off somewhere starting a mutual support and therapy group, never to be seen again. I'm dying to know where Melissa will turn up next, and what Jeff and Cally are going to do. (Poor Jeff and Cally.) I'm still not entirely sure which Taissa we've been seeing all season. And I love it when the teen and adult versions of the characters get to interact. I admire how the show has managed to hedge its bets on the supernatural-or-not? question for so long (I hope it's not), I'm delighted that we've finally wrapped around to the beginning of the show, and I really hope the mystery of the weird symbol does get explained in the end. The show was originally planned for five seasons, but it's hard to see how they could keep it going that long; I will be quite content if they wrap it up in the fourth season, especially since the alternative will be biting my nails hoping they actually get a fifth! I just hope they do actually wrap it up...

Having finished YJ, I'm now watching Interview with the Vampire with one friend (new to both of us) and Shetland with the other (a rewatch for me, but it's been a while). IwtV is slow-moving and sometimes I wonder why I'm interested, but I am, and now that previously unadmitted mysteries seem to be being hinted at I am more intrigued... (No spoilers, please! I read the original novel in like 1982, and saw the original movie when it came out, but remember basically nothing of either of them [except that I remembered for decades the stupid way in which movie-Claudia's hair curled when she was turned].) And I love Shetland and the way that (after a shaky bit at the end of the Perez stories) it refocused to center on my girl Tosh and our new DI Ruth Calder. I mean, it basically did what I wistfully hoped the fourth season of Ted Lasso would do: waved goodbye to the dudes and settled in to tell a story centering women. I absolutely adore Tosh.

I'm doing a bunch of traveling this summer, which used to be par for the course but is excitingly new since the pandemic! I had that brief trip to Virginia in May, and then my inlaws had two (TWO) family reunions in Quebec, and now I'm leaving on Friday for almost three weeks in the States, visiting friends, some of whom I haven't seen in years. I'm excited! And then (after my stepmother visits here for four days) Geoff and I are going on our first big trip since the Before Times, spending two weeks in Wales! I'm even more excited about that, and also somewhat intimidated; I'm out of practice at managing logistics for this kind of thing, plus the first week is going to involve some rather challenging hiking. And of course I am still afraid of COVID. But we're both over sixty, we won't be able to travel like this forever even in the best-case scenario, and COVID isn't going away, so we want to do this travel while we can. We're still going to take as many precautions as we reasonably can.

And I'm not reading much that's meaty, but last night I remembered that I was halfway through World War Z and picked it up again, which was a mistake at ten pm; I read for a while, freaked myself out, and had to do crossword puzzles for a while before trying to go to sleep, so today I am le tired.

vaguely political stuff

I mentioned to a Canadian friend the the day that I was about to go to the States, and she got that look you get when someone tells you someone has died and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry." I keep thinking I can't reel any more and then there's more. The volunteer work I was doing so much of last year for the Movement Voter Project is slowly beginning to start up again; two different people in the group have independently asked me to develop a training program to teach other people to do the kind of Zoom tech support that I do for them. (I'm not the only person who does that work, but they tell me I'm the best 😊) I don't have time to do that right now -- look at all my travel! -- but I brain-dumped a whole bunch of tips and advice for the first person, who has written them up and will incorporate them into a training she'll do, and told the second person to connect with the first. And the work itself will really start up again in the fall, when I'll be back and ready to take it on.

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3119/

"And in maritime news, the Coast Guard is on the scene today after an apparent collision between two lighthouses."

https://xkcd.com/3119/

prisca posting in

fic_promptly

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

runpunkrun

A good old fashioned young adult novel about being stranded on an inhospitable planet and struggling to live off a steadily declining cache of resources. In one case, it's an alien world far in the future, and in the other, the dying Earth those colonists left, where the last inhabitants are about to extinguish themselves through nuclear war. Ah, children's lit.

This is actually a sequel to The Darkness Outside Us, but if you're a chaos demon you might be able to read this without having read the first. Partly because it stands on its own while gently reminding the reader what happened in the first book, but also because it fully retreads some of the same ground.

Because half of this book was telling me stuff I already, basically, knew, I was much more interested in the sections on the alien planet with its frontier survival vibes and foreign mysteries. I wanted to spend all my time there rather than on Earth, since I already knew that was a lost cause, and any new information we got in those sections could have easily been worked into the future segments and much of it, in fact, was. But it wasn't a chore to spend time with the original versions of Ambrose and Kodiak as they come to terms with the lies they've been told and try to undo some of the damage they caused, and together the two parts of this book tell a full story that comes to a satisfying conclusion, whether or not there's ever a third book in the series. But if there is, I'll be there.

Contains: queer dads; child harm and references to child death; wild animal harm/death; mental illness with intrusive thoughts; gun violence; nuclear apocalypse; climate disaster.

dancing_serpent posting in

c_ent

This month is almost over, so, let's hear it. *g* How did it go with your fannish creativity?

Did you manage to make a thing?

Created fanart or made vids? Wrote fic or meta? How about picspams, link collections, character mood boards, themed playlists, promo posts, or whatever else you create for fannish enjoyment?

Here's the place to share it with us! Leave a link in the comments, or elaborate on it as much as you want.

daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2025/7/23/somebodys-teething

Via Alaska SeaLife Center, which writes:

Let this video remind you that, at only an estimated two weeks old when he was admitted, this otter pup already has a strong jaw and sharp teeth growing in!

We know sea otters are incredibly adorable, but they are also animals with a strong bite force that can potentially be dangerous. When you spot a sea otter in the wild, always keep your distance and appreciate them from afar.

https://dailyotter.org/posts/2025/7/23/somebodys-teething

smallhobbit posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Doggies will be Doggies
Fandom: Spooks (MI5) [Werewolf!Lucas 'verse]
Rating: G
Length: 289 words
Summary: Please don't tease the werewolf

( The werewolf sat patiently )

Profile

dorinda

January 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Ivory Alcea for Mobility by branchandroot
Resources: Mitsuba Aoi

Page generated Jul. 26th, 2025 04:25 am

|

Reading

Expand Cut Tags

Two more wedding letters

(no subject)

Carolyn Hax: LW thinks fifth bride in family's wedding is not as big a deal

Sea Otter Checks Out Her New Digs

food surprises

Poll: The liniment scene, episode 7 (drama)

Fannish 50 Challenge 2025: Post # 22: SquidgeWorld Fundraiser

SGA: Long Ago (and Far Away) by Kristen999

(no subject)

Beta wanted: Sinners

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Uniomachia.

been a while

Flettner Rotor

Wednesday, July 23 - Theme: Friendship

The Brightness Between Us, by Eliot Schrefer

One More Week To Sign-Up For VOXTEK Gift Baskets!

Did You Make a Thing?

Somebody's Teething!

Revenge: Spooks (MI5): Fanfic: Doggies will be Doggies

Profile

January 2025

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit