Gosh, isn't it great
Jan. 12th, 2026 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulywhen you finally confess your love to the guy you've been pining after for half your life, and it turns out that you have a perfectly aligned and complementary set of kinks? Nobody has to compromise and agree to sometimes do the thing they're not that into or, conversely, never do the thing they're totally into. Nobody's turned off by the mere thought of any of it, every conversation is an ongoing saga of "yes, and".
I guess that's one more advantage of being fictional!
***********
( Read more... )
I guess that's one more advantage of being fictional!
( Read more... )
I am rapidly concluding that the B5 books are CURSED
Jan. 10th, 2026 10:17 pmsholioI don't think I posted about this at the time, but there was an absolute odyssey involved in getting the original batch of B5 script books that I ordered.
The original process was this:
I'd known about the existence of the B5 script books vaguely for a while, but hadn't really thought of buying them before. In October, when I came back from traveling, I googled it and found a massive site called "B5 Books" that had authorized editions of all the B5-related books available, which was a lot of them, not just the script books but tons of other stuff as well.
They had closed yesterday.
But wait! They were staying open through the weekend (like 2 more days) because they'd had technical issues. So I splurged and ordered an absolute ton of books (about 2/3 of the total script books out there, mainly focused on episodes I especially wanted to read about). I would have preferred to order just one to find out a) what the books were like, and b) what their customer service was like, but ... closing in 2 days! So I gave them my credit card info for a quantity of books that I don't want to think too closely about.
A month went by.
I got a shipping notice and a tracking number, and and then a box arrived .... with 2 books in it.
I contacted customer service (a bit nervously, in the hopes they'd still actually answer). To their credit, they were very quick to respond; evidently there was a second tracking email I hadn't received for some reason, for the box with most of the rest of the books in it. (They sent me a free digital book to make up for the emotional distress, too - they were really nice.)
This was back in December, and I was leaving on the 13th, Saturday, so I periodically checked the tracking info for the box. It showed up in Fairbanks over the previous weekend, and showed that it was supposed to deliver on Monday.
Monday came and went. About mid-week, the tracking info showed that it had traveled out of Fairbanks again. (Why??) I had visions of the box going all the way back to the sender for some reason. Meanwhile, I had planned to spend the last couple of days before I left diving into my new books, but as the week ticked down and it continued to tease me ... I guess not. Finally, on Friday, I got an actual "out for delivery" notice, and then a notice that a "pick up at post office" slip had been left. Also, Friday was our last day of actual mail delivery (we'd put a hold on it until after Christmas that started on Saturday and went for 2 weeks, i.e. about the amount of time that the post office will hold a box - you know, this box with $100s of books in it). I was headed to the airport Saturday afternoon, but I figured it should be possible to stop by the post office on the way.
I picked up the mail.
No slip.
I thought, okay, maybe I picked up an early batch (yesterday's? our mailbox is on the highway and both the mail delivery and our collection of it is kind of haphazard) so when Orion got home a few hours later, I asked if there had been a slip in the mailbox.
Nope!
So now my package is on hold at the post office, I GUESS, with no ability to redeliver and our mail delivery not starting until after the approximate return to sender date. We hunted all around the mailbox just in case it had been dropped. No slip.
I ended up printing out the tracking number and taking that to the post office on our way to the airport, and that DID work and they DID have the box and I got it, YAY. (Orion said that the slip spontaneously showed up in the mailbox when he was headed home after dropping me off, so WHO KNOWS what was up with that.)
Anyway, all of that ended up working out in the end, and I enjoyed the books so much that I went on Amazon to see if I could find used copies of the ones I didn't have. I ordered a few more, and I just checked the shipping info and discovered that one of them - from a 3rd party Amazon seller - was sent via Fedex and supposedly delivered on Thursday afternoon, i.e. 2 days ago.
Guess what I don't seem to have!
Orion says that Fedex often leaves deliveries in random places around the yard - he's found them on piles of construction supplies, left at the door of the shop instead of the house, etc. Inauspiciously, it snowed a few inches last night, so everything is covered with fresh snow. Also, it was dark. Still, we took flashlights and went and hunted high and low in all the places that a package might be, ranging from likely (covered with snow beside the door) to unlikely but possible (at the doors of the various outbuildings like the greenhouse, on top of random vehicles in the yard) to the highly unlikely (at our road sign, in our mailbox). Not a single sign of it! I don't know if it was delivered to some other house, mistakenly marked as delivered when it's actually fallen under the delivery truck seat, or if a very soggy B5 book is going to turn up four months later when the snow melts, but seriously, WHAT EVEN. I've never had a book go missing like this in all the time I've been ordering used books off Amazon!
Anyway, further updates from the B5 script books are coming soon, and maybe I'll have this particular book eventually, or maybe not.
The original process was this:
I'd known about the existence of the B5 script books vaguely for a while, but hadn't really thought of buying them before. In October, when I came back from traveling, I googled it and found a massive site called "B5 Books" that had authorized editions of all the B5-related books available, which was a lot of them, not just the script books but tons of other stuff as well.
They had closed yesterday.
But wait! They were staying open through the weekend (like 2 more days) because they'd had technical issues. So I splurged and ordered an absolute ton of books (about 2/3 of the total script books out there, mainly focused on episodes I especially wanted to read about). I would have preferred to order just one to find out a) what the books were like, and b) what their customer service was like, but ... closing in 2 days! So I gave them my credit card info for a quantity of books that I don't want to think too closely about.
A month went by.
I got a shipping notice and a tracking number, and and then a box arrived .... with 2 books in it.
I contacted customer service (a bit nervously, in the hopes they'd still actually answer). To their credit, they were very quick to respond; evidently there was a second tracking email I hadn't received for some reason, for the box with most of the rest of the books in it. (They sent me a free digital book to make up for the emotional distress, too - they were really nice.)
This was back in December, and I was leaving on the 13th, Saturday, so I periodically checked the tracking info for the box. It showed up in Fairbanks over the previous weekend, and showed that it was supposed to deliver on Monday.
Monday came and went. About mid-week, the tracking info showed that it had traveled out of Fairbanks again. (Why??) I had visions of the box going all the way back to the sender for some reason. Meanwhile, I had planned to spend the last couple of days before I left diving into my new books, but as the week ticked down and it continued to tease me ... I guess not. Finally, on Friday, I got an actual "out for delivery" notice, and then a notice that a "pick up at post office" slip had been left. Also, Friday was our last day of actual mail delivery (we'd put a hold on it until after Christmas that started on Saturday and went for 2 weeks, i.e. about the amount of time that the post office will hold a box - you know, this box with $100s of books in it). I was headed to the airport Saturday afternoon, but I figured it should be possible to stop by the post office on the way.
I picked up the mail.
No slip.
I thought, okay, maybe I picked up an early batch (yesterday's? our mailbox is on the highway and both the mail delivery and our collection of it is kind of haphazard) so when Orion got home a few hours later, I asked if there had been a slip in the mailbox.
Nope!
So now my package is on hold at the post office, I GUESS, with no ability to redeliver and our mail delivery not starting until after the approximate return to sender date. We hunted all around the mailbox just in case it had been dropped. No slip.
I ended up printing out the tracking number and taking that to the post office on our way to the airport, and that DID work and they DID have the box and I got it, YAY. (Orion said that the slip spontaneously showed up in the mailbox when he was headed home after dropping me off, so WHO KNOWS what was up with that.)
Anyway, all of that ended up working out in the end, and I enjoyed the books so much that I went on Amazon to see if I could find used copies of the ones I didn't have. I ordered a few more, and I just checked the shipping info and discovered that one of them - from a 3rd party Amazon seller - was sent via Fedex and supposedly delivered on Thursday afternoon, i.e. 2 days ago.
Guess what I don't seem to have!
Orion says that Fedex often leaves deliveries in random places around the yard - he's found them on piles of construction supplies, left at the door of the shop instead of the house, etc. Inauspiciously, it snowed a few inches last night, so everything is covered with fresh snow. Also, it was dark. Still, we took flashlights and went and hunted high and low in all the places that a package might be, ranging from likely (covered with snow beside the door) to unlikely but possible (at the doors of the various outbuildings like the greenhouse, on top of random vehicles in the yard) to the highly unlikely (at our road sign, in our mailbox). Not a single sign of it! I don't know if it was delivered to some other house, mistakenly marked as delivered when it's actually fallen under the delivery truck seat, or if a very soggy B5 book is going to turn up four months later when the snow melts, but seriously, WHAT EVEN. I've never had a book go missing like this in all the time I've been ordering used books off Amazon!
Anyway, further updates from the B5 script books are coming soon, and maybe I'll have this particular book eventually, or maybe not.
Four things make a post
Jan. 10th, 2026 11:41 pmermingarden1. I donated blood today, mentioned it in a text message to my dad, and received a reply asking "How did the blood removal go?", which is a masterful example of making something sound wildly ominous while still technically being an accurate description! ("Blood removal" went fine, as usual.) Side note: If you're in NY or NJ and are able to donate blood, please consider scheduling an appointment ASAP - we currently have less than a two-day supply and a blood emergency has been declared.
2. Recent reads:
- The Tsar of Love and Techno, by Anthony Marra, is a collection of interconnected short stories set in Russia, from the 1930s to the present (and arguably outer space in the near future, depending on how you read the last story). I read this for a book club with some coworkers and enjoyed it. Some stories are naturally stronger than others, but it's good throughout and at times excellent.
- New York Sketches is a collection of E. B. White's short pieces about NYC - vignettes, poems, brief essays, and assorted snippets resistant to categorization. It's very fun! A quick read, if you plow straight through it - I bought my copy at a bookstore in Washington Heights and finished it by the time I made it to Chinatown, so somewhere around an hour - but also a book amenable to being read in bits and pieces. Pages 35-44, devoted to the observation of pigeons and their nests (with illustrations!), particularly charmed me: "While [pigeon nests] endure we must note their locations, elevate our gaze above the level of our immediate concerns, imbibe the sweet air and perfect promise: the egg miraculous upon the ledge, the bird compact upon the egg, its generous warmth, its enviable patience, its natural fortitude and grace."
- Death in Dover is the latest book in Maureen Ash's Templar Knight Mysteries series. Unfortunately, it does not measure up to the earlier books in the series. I think it's primarily a matter of editing, or the lack thereof: The first eight books, through A Holy Vengeance, were traditionally published, but starting with Sins of Inheritance they've been self-published, and there's a noticeable difference. (Actually, I've noticed a distinction among the trad-published books as well: the first six were published by Berkeley, a Penguin subsidiary, while the seventh and eighth were published by a different Penguin subsidiary, InterMix, and there's clearly a bit less attention devoted to the seventh and eighth compared to the previous, including less detailed covers; I also believe that's when they started to be published as ebooks only, though I can't confirm that.) Even compared to the other self-published books in the series, though, Death in Dover disappoints. I hate to say this, I really do - you all know by now that this series is one of my favorites - but I unfortunately can't recommend this book.
3. I just started Mansfield Park, at the suggestion offiona15351, who wants to know what I think of it. I'm not far enough in to think much of anything, though I did accidentally text Fiona "Mary Crawford is such a butch omg" earlier today. I meant bitch! That typo is far too easy to make, in either direction.
4. Tomorrow is a red letter day: the anniversary of my adopting Queenie! Hard to believe it's been a year already! Cats may not keep calendars, but I do have a gift for her.
I don't know how I ever managed without a cat before!
2. Recent reads:
- The Tsar of Love and Techno, by Anthony Marra, is a collection of interconnected short stories set in Russia, from the 1930s to the present (and arguably outer space in the near future, depending on how you read the last story). I read this for a book club with some coworkers and enjoyed it. Some stories are naturally stronger than others, but it's good throughout and at times excellent.
- New York Sketches is a collection of E. B. White's short pieces about NYC - vignettes, poems, brief essays, and assorted snippets resistant to categorization. It's very fun! A quick read, if you plow straight through it - I bought my copy at a bookstore in Washington Heights and finished it by the time I made it to Chinatown, so somewhere around an hour - but also a book amenable to being read in bits and pieces. Pages 35-44, devoted to the observation of pigeons and their nests (with illustrations!), particularly charmed me: "While [pigeon nests] endure we must note their locations, elevate our gaze above the level of our immediate concerns, imbibe the sweet air and perfect promise: the egg miraculous upon the ledge, the bird compact upon the egg, its generous warmth, its enviable patience, its natural fortitude and grace."
- Death in Dover is the latest book in Maureen Ash's Templar Knight Mysteries series. Unfortunately, it does not measure up to the earlier books in the series. I think it's primarily a matter of editing, or the lack thereof: The first eight books, through A Holy Vengeance, were traditionally published, but starting with Sins of Inheritance they've been self-published, and there's a noticeable difference. (Actually, I've noticed a distinction among the trad-published books as well: the first six were published by Berkeley, a Penguin subsidiary, while the seventh and eighth were published by a different Penguin subsidiary, InterMix, and there's clearly a bit less attention devoted to the seventh and eighth compared to the previous, including less detailed covers; I also believe that's when they started to be published as ebooks only, though I can't confirm that.) Even compared to the other self-published books in the series, though, Death in Dover disappoints. I hate to say this, I really do - you all know by now that this series is one of my favorites - but I unfortunately can't recommend this book.
3. I just started Mansfield Park, at the suggestion of
fiona15351, who wants to know what I think of it. I'm not far enough in to think much of anything, though I did accidentally text Fiona "Mary Crawford is such a butch omg" earlier today. I meant bitch! That typo is far too easy to make, in either direction. 4. Tomorrow is a red letter day: the anniversary of my adopting Queenie! Hard to believe it's been a year already! Cats may not keep calendars, but I do have a gift for her.
I don't know how I ever managed without a cat before!
McDonald’s Brings Back Beloved Snack Rat
Jan. 10th, 2026 11:04 pmproustbotI have several things that absolutely must be finished by Monday, and I dealt with those inflexible looming deadlines by once again downloading Inscryption and beating all twelve levels in Kaycee's Mod.
Such triumph, such victory.
I have once again uninstalled Inscryption.
Such triumph, such victory.
I have once again uninstalled Inscryption.
Weekly Update, 1/10/26
Jan. 10th, 2026 07:40 pmyaaurensWhelp, it has been a week and a half of the new year and hoo boy has it been a doozy so far.
I don't really want to get into the politics of everything, but it surely has been weighing on my mind quite heavily.
I suppose I should mention at least briefly for posterity, because ugh. ( cut for politics )
ANYWAY on to the life updates and stuff.
- I started doing the Hybrid Calisthenics workouts via the app, and oof. I am so out of shape, it's ridiculous. I looked at it and was like, hey, this'll be easy. HA. I did three days and had to take a break because I was so sore. And then the next day was a physio day, and I've decided that's going to be a non-HC-workout day anyway. Annoyingly, because my physio days move around, I can't just set my rest day on the app and be done with it.
- I started ANOTHER part-time job, this time doing bookkeeping/accounting for a business someone I know just started. It's such a mess already, omg. It took me FIVE HOURS to fix the mess she made of her accounting software and get everything to balance and reconcile correctly. She also has zero clue what she's doing, because she sent me a message with a list of vendors that she said we needed to 1099, and I'm like... no? we don't? These are vendors, not contractors? She's just so clueless, and doesn't seem to have done ANY research into how to start a business/corporation, which is so frustrating to me. Like, who starts a huge, costly project like this without doing ANY kind of research to find out what you need?
- The good news is, with that new job, I can afford to go see Suzy Eddie Izzard's one-person Hamlet production, so we're making plans for that in a couple of weeks. Very fortunately, my work schedule is such that on Friday I get off at 1pm, and then don't go back to work until 3pm the next day, so being down in LA for an 8pm show will be doable and getting back late won't be harmful to my sleep either, haha.
- cohort and tax job continue; the other day I was horrified when only one person (me, humblebrag) answered a fairly basic question correctly. Seriously. Which of these four options counts as a capital asset, and NO ONE ELSE GOT IT RIGHT?!? How did these people qualify to be tax preparers? I also made the mistake earlier of telling the teacher that I had been an ATL and CSP prior, and now she expects me to know things. Whoops.
- discovered that the 1099s that the IRS sent us were very weirdly NOT carbon copies like they usually are, despite being formatted like carbon copies. Was I clever and did I discover this BEFORE I did all the typing? No, of course not. In any case, we have some time, so we're trying to get an account with the IRS to file them online rather than doing the typey-typey, because I always fuck up so many times. Our other option is to send in the forms we have, and use the PDF form to send to the contractors, but that requires so much more effort. Ugh. I am, however, doing better at tracking my work hours for mom, and I will Not Let Myself Fail to Invoice this year.
- health stuff! Got my PCP changed on my insurance to my actual PCP for the first time in literal years. I guess that's one nice thing about them switching IPAs; they all have to take new patients again, so I can sneak in officially. I also have an appt with my pcp for next week, so we can get the hand specialist worked out, and discuss all the other Things. I need to make sure I write up my list of things to bring up before then. Physio levelled up, they're giving me more resistant items to squeeze and pull and so forth, so that's nice? Progress is being made! Also had my yearly eye doc appointment, so I'm trying out different contacts since the ones introduced last year kinda sucked. We're also going back to same rx in both eyes because my right eye is right in between the two powers. This new brand of contacts seems better so far - the old ones seemed really flimsy, and would blink out super easily, or fold in my eye and jam up under the eyelid, which was no fun.
- I *almost* got to work as a handler at ALA this weekend, and then couldn't because of the dang schedule. I was trying So HARD to make it work, but then they found someone who could work all four days, and I could only do three. But they said they would put me on their list, so hopefully if they have shows with more advance notice (the discussion happened on Tuesday, the con started Thursday) I'll be able to do some more gigs. (I am also sad because a lot of my friends are work in New Orleans this weekend at a con, but I was not picked for it.) (more therapy fodder, yaaaay)
- Dad and I are watching Blood River as the evening show, but it hasn't really been holding my attention very well and I'm not sure why. Possibly because the story is sort of a prequel, but also sort not, because the writer realized he didn't like what he'd done with the characters originally and decided he wanted to re-work them? So things don't quite fit into what has already been laid out story wise. I joined a group watch tonight of the first six episodes of My Lady General, which is gonna be fun, and hopefully I'll be able to see the rest of the eps. Sunday was the B5 group watch, which is great fun because we're up to Babylon Squared and that set of episodes, which is just SO GOOD.
Next week is going to be busy busy busy. I have my first tax appointment on the schedule; hopefully he shows up and has his paperwork so I can actually do the thing and get those first time jitters over with. Shakes comes back this week too; I asked everyone to please double check their schedules and let me know if they foresee any missed dates so I can go ahead and get casting done now while it's calm and not while I'm stressed with tax work. We'll see if that actually works, ha. I also have So Much Work to do for mom, that I really need to get done this week. Maybe I'll take one of my non-tax work days and go sit at the shop and do work there.
Goals for the upcoming week: Survive the tax appointment. Finish work for mom. Get in the habit of doing regular HC workouts.
Good things: fuzzy blankets (always). surprisingly good headshots for work. my elephant slippers.
I don't really want to get into the politics of everything, but it surely has been weighing on my mind quite heavily.
I suppose I should mention at least briefly for posterity, because ugh. ( cut for politics )
ANYWAY on to the life updates and stuff.
- I started doing the Hybrid Calisthenics workouts via the app, and oof. I am so out of shape, it's ridiculous. I looked at it and was like, hey, this'll be easy. HA. I did three days and had to take a break because I was so sore. And then the next day was a physio day, and I've decided that's going to be a non-HC-workout day anyway. Annoyingly, because my physio days move around, I can't just set my rest day on the app and be done with it.
- I started ANOTHER part-time job, this time doing bookkeeping/accounting for a business someone I know just started. It's such a mess already, omg. It took me FIVE HOURS to fix the mess she made of her accounting software and get everything to balance and reconcile correctly. She also has zero clue what she's doing, because she sent me a message with a list of vendors that she said we needed to 1099, and I'm like... no? we don't? These are vendors, not contractors? She's just so clueless, and doesn't seem to have done ANY research into how to start a business/corporation, which is so frustrating to me. Like, who starts a huge, costly project like this without doing ANY kind of research to find out what you need?
- The good news is, with that new job, I can afford to go see Suzy Eddie Izzard's one-person Hamlet production, so we're making plans for that in a couple of weeks. Very fortunately, my work schedule is such that on Friday I get off at 1pm, and then don't go back to work until 3pm the next day, so being down in LA for an 8pm show will be doable and getting back late won't be harmful to my sleep either, haha.
- cohort and tax job continue; the other day I was horrified when only one person (me, humblebrag) answered a fairly basic question correctly. Seriously. Which of these four options counts as a capital asset, and NO ONE ELSE GOT IT RIGHT?!? How did these people qualify to be tax preparers? I also made the mistake earlier of telling the teacher that I had been an ATL and CSP prior, and now she expects me to know things. Whoops.
- discovered that the 1099s that the IRS sent us were very weirdly NOT carbon copies like they usually are, despite being formatted like carbon copies. Was I clever and did I discover this BEFORE I did all the typing? No, of course not. In any case, we have some time, so we're trying to get an account with the IRS to file them online rather than doing the typey-typey, because I always fuck up so many times. Our other option is to send in the forms we have, and use the PDF form to send to the contractors, but that requires so much more effort. Ugh. I am, however, doing better at tracking my work hours for mom, and I will Not Let Myself Fail to Invoice this year.
- health stuff! Got my PCP changed on my insurance to my actual PCP for the first time in literal years. I guess that's one nice thing about them switching IPAs; they all have to take new patients again, so I can sneak in officially. I also have an appt with my pcp for next week, so we can get the hand specialist worked out, and discuss all the other Things. I need to make sure I write up my list of things to bring up before then. Physio levelled up, they're giving me more resistant items to squeeze and pull and so forth, so that's nice? Progress is being made! Also had my yearly eye doc appointment, so I'm trying out different contacts since the ones introduced last year kinda sucked. We're also going back to same rx in both eyes because my right eye is right in between the two powers. This new brand of contacts seems better so far - the old ones seemed really flimsy, and would blink out super easily, or fold in my eye and jam up under the eyelid, which was no fun.
- I *almost* got to work as a handler at ALA this weekend, and then couldn't because of the dang schedule. I was trying So HARD to make it work, but then they found someone who could work all four days, and I could only do three. But they said they would put me on their list, so hopefully if they have shows with more advance notice (the discussion happened on Tuesday, the con started Thursday) I'll be able to do some more gigs. (I am also sad because a lot of my friends are work in New Orleans this weekend at a con, but I was not picked for it.) (more therapy fodder, yaaaay)
- Dad and I are watching Blood River as the evening show, but it hasn't really been holding my attention very well and I'm not sure why. Possibly because the story is sort of a prequel, but also sort not, because the writer realized he didn't like what he'd done with the characters originally and decided he wanted to re-work them? So things don't quite fit into what has already been laid out story wise. I joined a group watch tonight of the first six episodes of My Lady General, which is gonna be fun, and hopefully I'll be able to see the rest of the eps. Sunday was the B5 group watch, which is great fun because we're up to Babylon Squared and that set of episodes, which is just SO GOOD.
Next week is going to be busy busy busy. I have my first tax appointment on the schedule; hopefully he shows up and has his paperwork so I can actually do the thing and get those first time jitters over with. Shakes comes back this week too; I asked everyone to please double check their schedules and let me know if they foresee any missed dates so I can go ahead and get casting done now while it's calm and not while I'm stressed with tax work. We'll see if that actually works, ha. I also have So Much Work to do for mom, that I really need to get done this week. Maybe I'll take one of my non-tax work days and go sit at the shop and do work there.
Goals for the upcoming week: Survive the tax appointment. Finish work for mom. Get in the habit of doing regular HC workouts.
Good things: fuzzy blankets (always). surprisingly good headshots for work. my elephant slippers.
Signups Now Open!
Jan. 11th, 2026 12:25 amlittlefics posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
seasonsofdrabblesSignups are now open! They will remain open until Sunday, January 18 @ 11:59pm Eastern Standard time (Countdown). You can browse the requests in the app!
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The tagset will remain open for nominations through the end of signups. 4,000 characters have been nominated so far, but there's always room for more! Please disambiguate your nominations to make the approvals process faster.
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anti-ICE demonstration this afternoon
Jan. 10th, 2026 10:53 pmredbirdWe went to the Boston anti-ICE demonstration today, one of many throughout the United States. Cattitude and I got there slightly after the nominal starting time, and managed about an hour before the cold got to me. Yes, it was above freezing and not windy, but standing still on a large open plaza is chillier than moving around. Adrian came to the demo with some of her comrades from Havurat Shalom, and arrived before we did. The crowd was large enough that we didn't try to find her until we were all preparing to leave.
It was a good-sized crowd, but the acoustics and sound system were abysmal; I could only make out a few scraps of what the speakers were saying.
I wore a winter coat, wool socks, and light-weight long underwear, which was too warm while we were on the trolley.
It was a good-sized crowd, but the acoustics and sound system were abysmal; I could only make out a few scraps of what the speakers were saying.
I wore a winter coat, wool socks, and light-weight long underwear, which was too warm while we were on the trolley.
Fic: One Two THREE Force Born?!
Jan. 10th, 2026 09:58 pmsenmutAO3 Link | One Two THREE Force Born?! (1609 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, Sheev Palpatine | Emperor Palpatine | Darth Sidious
Additional Tags: Crack Treated Seriously, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kriffing Sith Plans
Summary:
Padmé Amidala was a woman on a mission. Anakin might be completely in a panic over the pregnancy but she was going to head this off. It was just too convenient that she was now being plagued with dreams of her own death, the very night after an unavoidable dinner with the man she had a growing distaste for.
And, deep where she would never tell her husband, she had a nasty suspicion he was trying to shove Anakin off a cliff of irredeemable violence. The Chancellor might not have commented on her state, but his eyes were not as easily fooled by their shared heritage of concealing fashion.
Today, she was going to go enlist the aid of the Jedi, while Anakin was tied up being the poster boy of the GAR. She had all of her diplomatic shields in place, and had the perfect cover story to do this with.
After all, with Jedi having lost so many, surely the Force would be interested in adding a few more children to the future.
Vokara Che was every bit as imposing in her domain as Anakin had said. However, her status as a long time ally had convinced Master Fisto to bring her down to the Healer's Wing. She had pleaded with him, and the healer, that there could not be a father, not when she was a mature woman who knew how to guard against such!
"You were correct that the pregnancy is heavily Force-influenced," Vokara said after several minutes of making Padmé wonder if the healer was going to break her constructed version of events. "You are carrying two very healthy, very Force-active fetuses."
Two. TWO?!
She was not going to faint like the damsel of a holo-drama. "Thank you, Master Che. Given my precarious positioning within the advocates for peace, and past attempts, I could not, in all honesty, acquire medical aid in the typical fashion. Given how my dreams are affected, and having such strange hunches of late, I turned to your Temple in hope."
"A wise choice." For a long moment, Vokara held her eyes, and Padmé knew that the healer was not actually buying the spontaneous pregnancy. A twitch of the lekku, however, indicated the secret was safe. "These hunches, I believe that Master Windu should possibly help sort them out with you."
Oh. Well, that might be the right way to go as well.
Kit, even before the appointment in medical had ended, had gone to find his age-mate. He did so in one of the botanical rooms. "Master Windu," he began. "And Master Yoda," he added to be polite, despite the ancient peering at one of the plants intently.
"Hmm," came over top of Mace's cautious "Master Fisto", and Kit grinned a little that his creche-mate had already detected the mild mischief Kit was feeling.
They all needed a little bit of amusement.
"Senator Amidala has come, and is being tended to by Master Che," Kit began, and both men looked sharply at him. "I do wonder about that old prophecy that was discussed when Master Jinn found a boy on a desert world with no father… as she is here to see about a Force-induced pregnancy as well."
Yoda's ears went flat, Mace's eyes narrowed, and Kit merely smiled.
Mace looked at the woman who had been a solid ally, and the subject of not a small part of gossip. He did not, for a moment, believe the story of no father, but in her political setting, it was for the best to go along with it.
"Master Che said you have been plagued by hunches of late, ones that play out true."
He set a mild tisane in front of her, and took a second one for himself.
"I think the Force has concerns about the path we are on, despite recent developments. After all, if the Count has been neutralized, and Master Kenobi is on the trail of their general… who will keep the momentum up to line pockets with war money, and build such sizable powers through war-time legislation?" Amidala asked, meeting the man's eyes squarely. "I am all but certain you and your peers have had the same intuitions."
Was she — had she —
Maybe Skywalker had been more circumspect than Mace had believed. For all that Amidala was firmly an adherent of a peaceful resolution, her physical and vocal cues were running in tandem with the Council's own suspicions.
"Perhaps we are looking in that same direction," he said.
"If the other Sith, the one Dooku spoke of on our side, is out there, I am certain he would try to harm those touched so firmly by the Light Side as ones fathered by the Force," Amidala told him. "I shudder to think of what such a being might have done had they had access to your Knight Skywalker for all the years of this phantom menace over us."
That, Mace decided, was both accusation and… an invitation to look more closely at how the cards were laid out.
And he had to admit she had a point.
"Anakin!"
"Chancellor."
"I do hope the scandal hasn't harmed your friendship with the Senator."
"What scandal?"
The exchange, handled in the hearing of several itinerant reporters, brought their elder statesman up short, until someone added the right question.
"That she's pregnant with no father in sight," the reporter with blood money in his pockets called out.
"You really think Senator Amidala would stoop to such petty, low-brow nonsense?" Anakin asked them, in his best 'are you kidding me' voice, and he caught the frown on his old 'friend'. He was so glad Saesse Tiin had been able and willing to explore the past several years in his head. "She's having children as the will of the Force, and we Jedi take that kind of thing very seriously."
He then kept walking, leaving the Chancellor stewing, the reporters trying to digest how to spin this, and a feeling that he could not have handled it that way without the Council all suddenly intent on supporting him. He didn't know what had changed there, but he couldn't wait to tell Obi-Wan all about it.
And the Force Twins, because he had to admit, he really hadn't had a lot of time, and they both used precautions.
Chancellor Sheev Palpatine was in a fury. He had primed the well perfectly, and somehow… somehow every insinuation and control he'd put in place had been cut off in the Chosen One. All because of some insane story concocted by the woman that had long since outlived her usefulness.
Any day now, that wretched Kenobi would be returning, and Sheev would have to find a different way to acquire everything he wanted… unless he acted now? He went to his desk to find the comm unit. He needed to provoke the right circumstance, to make it clear he was saving them from the Jedi, but what would it take?
The comm lit up in his hand.
What?
With the Force, he flipped the hood of his cape up, securing it to conceal his features, and turned it on.
"What do you know, that frequency is picked up, Commander," came the very annoying, should-be-dead voice of the Togruta menace. He hastily turned it off, throwing it into the back of the locked drawers.
The knocking at the door that came next, including a call of 'Coruscant Security' sent chills down his back.
He wondered idly if his own Master had felt this the night Sheev had gleefully murdered him.
Mace pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked over at the newest Master of the Council who was pretending he didn't want to hurry out and see a certain Senator. He then looked at Kenobi, who was waiting to be briefed on how and why the Chancellor had been killed in the midst of being served with detention papers.
"A tip from an ally told us to double check Skywalker for undue influence," Kit said, looking entirely too merry in the telling.
"Padmé," Anakin offered cheerfully. "She's having Force twins."
Mace did not groan. It really did sound like Skywalker believed that.
"Removing that," Saesee said, "let us more clearly see the shape of a possible end game, orchestrated to cast us all as traitors."
"Meanwhile, Skywalker's commander had been working on another angle of the endgame," Agen said.
"Leading him and Tano to turning up a plan to make the man expose himself, using the very tools meant to kill us all," Kit said, "by triggering a comm device he should not have had while we were keeping him very securely under comm surveillance with Naboo's and CorSec's cooperation."
"How did you get CorSec to agree to such?" Kenobi asked.
"Amidala implied that she had noticed a malevolent presence while dining with the man, and could they please keep it under wraps that there could be such a threat near the center of government?" Shaak Ti said, eyes dancing with mirth.
"A very tidy end, I suppose." Kenobi then looked at Mace with a deadpan face. "So, how are those prophecies handling the idea of three Force-fathered children?"
Mace did not, as he wanted to, flip the man's hood over his head with the Force.
Padmé smiled, despite fatigue, as she held her daughter, and Anakin held her son. Eventually, they might admit the farce.
Then again, listening to Anakin telling Luke all about the wonders of what the Force could do…
… maybe it was better to leave it at this. What really mattered was that they were all saved from the Sith.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, Sheev Palpatine | Emperor Palpatine | Darth Sidious
Additional Tags: Crack Treated Seriously, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kriffing Sith Plans
Summary:
It's Padmé with the nightmares, and a plan to head it all off.
One Two THREE Force Born?!
Padmé Amidala was a woman on a mission. Anakin might be completely in a panic over the pregnancy but she was going to head this off. It was just too convenient that she was now being plagued with dreams of her own death, the very night after an unavoidable dinner with the man she had a growing distaste for.
And, deep where she would never tell her husband, she had a nasty suspicion he was trying to shove Anakin off a cliff of irredeemable violence. The Chancellor might not have commented on her state, but his eyes were not as easily fooled by their shared heritage of concealing fashion.
Today, she was going to go enlist the aid of the Jedi, while Anakin was tied up being the poster boy of the GAR. She had all of her diplomatic shields in place, and had the perfect cover story to do this with.
After all, with Jedi having lost so many, surely the Force would be interested in adding a few more children to the future.
Vokara Che was every bit as imposing in her domain as Anakin had said. However, her status as a long time ally had convinced Master Fisto to bring her down to the Healer's Wing. She had pleaded with him, and the healer, that there could not be a father, not when she was a mature woman who knew how to guard against such!
"You were correct that the pregnancy is heavily Force-influenced," Vokara said after several minutes of making Padmé wonder if the healer was going to break her constructed version of events. "You are carrying two very healthy, very Force-active fetuses."
Two. TWO?!
She was not going to faint like the damsel of a holo-drama. "Thank you, Master Che. Given my precarious positioning within the advocates for peace, and past attempts, I could not, in all honesty, acquire medical aid in the typical fashion. Given how my dreams are affected, and having such strange hunches of late, I turned to your Temple in hope."
"A wise choice." For a long moment, Vokara held her eyes, and Padmé knew that the healer was not actually buying the spontaneous pregnancy. A twitch of the lekku, however, indicated the secret was safe. "These hunches, I believe that Master Windu should possibly help sort them out with you."
Oh. Well, that might be the right way to go as well.
Kit, even before the appointment in medical had ended, had gone to find his age-mate. He did so in one of the botanical rooms. "Master Windu," he began. "And Master Yoda," he added to be polite, despite the ancient peering at one of the plants intently.
"Hmm," came over top of Mace's cautious "Master Fisto", and Kit grinned a little that his creche-mate had already detected the mild mischief Kit was feeling.
They all needed a little bit of amusement.
"Senator Amidala has come, and is being tended to by Master Che," Kit began, and both men looked sharply at him. "I do wonder about that old prophecy that was discussed when Master Jinn found a boy on a desert world with no father… as she is here to see about a Force-induced pregnancy as well."
Yoda's ears went flat, Mace's eyes narrowed, and Kit merely smiled.
Mace looked at the woman who had been a solid ally, and the subject of not a small part of gossip. He did not, for a moment, believe the story of no father, but in her political setting, it was for the best to go along with it.
"Master Che said you have been plagued by hunches of late, ones that play out true."
He set a mild tisane in front of her, and took a second one for himself.
"I think the Force has concerns about the path we are on, despite recent developments. After all, if the Count has been neutralized, and Master Kenobi is on the trail of their general… who will keep the momentum up to line pockets with war money, and build such sizable powers through war-time legislation?" Amidala asked, meeting the man's eyes squarely. "I am all but certain you and your peers have had the same intuitions."
Was she — had she —
Maybe Skywalker had been more circumspect than Mace had believed. For all that Amidala was firmly an adherent of a peaceful resolution, her physical and vocal cues were running in tandem with the Council's own suspicions.
"Perhaps we are looking in that same direction," he said.
"If the other Sith, the one Dooku spoke of on our side, is out there, I am certain he would try to harm those touched so firmly by the Light Side as ones fathered by the Force," Amidala told him. "I shudder to think of what such a being might have done had they had access to your Knight Skywalker for all the years of this phantom menace over us."
That, Mace decided, was both accusation and… an invitation to look more closely at how the cards were laid out.
And he had to admit she had a point.
"Anakin!"
"Chancellor."
"I do hope the scandal hasn't harmed your friendship with the Senator."
"What scandal?"
The exchange, handled in the hearing of several itinerant reporters, brought their elder statesman up short, until someone added the right question.
"That she's pregnant with no father in sight," the reporter with blood money in his pockets called out.
"You really think Senator Amidala would stoop to such petty, low-brow nonsense?" Anakin asked them, in his best 'are you kidding me' voice, and he caught the frown on his old 'friend'. He was so glad Saesse Tiin had been able and willing to explore the past several years in his head. "She's having children as the will of the Force, and we Jedi take that kind of thing very seriously."
He then kept walking, leaving the Chancellor stewing, the reporters trying to digest how to spin this, and a feeling that he could not have handled it that way without the Council all suddenly intent on supporting him. He didn't know what had changed there, but he couldn't wait to tell Obi-Wan all about it.
And the Force Twins, because he had to admit, he really hadn't had a lot of time, and they both used precautions.
Chancellor Sheev Palpatine was in a fury. He had primed the well perfectly, and somehow… somehow every insinuation and control he'd put in place had been cut off in the Chosen One. All because of some insane story concocted by the woman that had long since outlived her usefulness.
Any day now, that wretched Kenobi would be returning, and Sheev would have to find a different way to acquire everything he wanted… unless he acted now? He went to his desk to find the comm unit. He needed to provoke the right circumstance, to make it clear he was saving them from the Jedi, but what would it take?
The comm lit up in his hand.
What?
With the Force, he flipped the hood of his cape up, securing it to conceal his features, and turned it on.
"What do you know, that frequency is picked up, Commander," came the very annoying, should-be-dead voice of the Togruta menace. He hastily turned it off, throwing it into the back of the locked drawers.
The knocking at the door that came next, including a call of 'Coruscant Security' sent chills down his back.
He wondered idly if his own Master had felt this the night Sheev had gleefully murdered him.
Mace pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked over at the newest Master of the Council who was pretending he didn't want to hurry out and see a certain Senator. He then looked at Kenobi, who was waiting to be briefed on how and why the Chancellor had been killed in the midst of being served with detention papers.
"A tip from an ally told us to double check Skywalker for undue influence," Kit said, looking entirely too merry in the telling.
"Padmé," Anakin offered cheerfully. "She's having Force twins."
Mace did not groan. It really did sound like Skywalker believed that.
"Removing that," Saesee said, "let us more clearly see the shape of a possible end game, orchestrated to cast us all as traitors."
"Meanwhile, Skywalker's commander had been working on another angle of the endgame," Agen said.
"Leading him and Tano to turning up a plan to make the man expose himself, using the very tools meant to kill us all," Kit said, "by triggering a comm device he should not have had while we were keeping him very securely under comm surveillance with Naboo's and CorSec's cooperation."
"How did you get CorSec to agree to such?" Kenobi asked.
"Amidala implied that she had noticed a malevolent presence while dining with the man, and could they please keep it under wraps that there could be such a threat near the center of government?" Shaak Ti said, eyes dancing with mirth.
"A very tidy end, I suppose." Kenobi then looked at Mace with a deadpan face. "So, how are those prophecies handling the idea of three Force-fathered children?"
Mace did not, as he wanted to, flip the man's hood over his head with the Force.
Padmé smiled, despite fatigue, as she held her daughter, and Anakin held her son. Eventually, they might admit the farce.
Then again, listening to Anakin telling Luke all about the wonders of what the Force could do…
… maybe it was better to leave it at this. What really mattered was that they were all saved from the Sith.
Me-and-media update
Jan. 11th, 2026 04:55 pmchina_shopPrevious poll review
In the Comfort food poll, 55.6% of respondents said their preferred comfort food is chocolate, and 46.7% said savoury carbs. In ticky-boxes, 'juicy intricate poetry words' and 'pushing on through' came second equal (40% each) to hugs (80%). Thank you for your votes! <3
Reading
I listened to half an m/m romance audiobook that I selected for one of its readers (Will Watt), but the overuse of "fucking" as an intensifier (and in particular, the repeated phrase, "he was so fucking hot") kept making me roll my eyes. It might be a faithful reproduction of the inner monologue of a first-year uni student, but I don't read romances for verisimilitude. So I switched to The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary, read by Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune, seen mentioned on my flist. I'm halfway through and enjoying it immensely. ETA:
A little more Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain in hardcopy. Nothing in ebook.
Kdramas
Andrew and I have nearly finished The Guest. I want to ship the OT3, but I don't really care about the priest. (Sorry, priest guy! Alas, you are not my type.) Still, it is a great (gory/horror-y) show, and I've conveniently forgotten some of the developments. We just have one episode to go.
A bit more of While You Were Sleeping, a few episodes of Cashero (I'm not sure I'm in the mood for established relationship, but otoh, Junho! ♥), and a marathon-running BL called Mr. Heart, which was sweet but extremely slight.
Where is the next Love Scout/Family by Choice/whatever??
Other TV
Finished Stranger Things, which got so complex that I lazily stopped following the logic and just watched it as a collection of scenes. But I enjoyed those well enough. So glad they got their victory lap.
Three episodes of Heated Rivalry.
Anyway, my prediction that it's probably not for me has proven correct. Like, I can tell that the show is made of crack (in the addictive sense), but I'm not into super-buff dudes, and I didn't like the 'fucking but feeling kind of miserable about it' vibe I was getting from Hollander. He deserves better.
But I kept going for episode 3, and I'm really glad I did. There was thecoffee smoothie shop not-AU and ♥Kip♥ and his friends and family. And Scott, who fell for Kip in 2.3 seconds like a parched man stumbling into an oasis and, okay, is messed up, but at least self-aware and ~able to communicate~ and ~say nice things~! They were such a breath of fresh air! All the "smoothies" for both of them!
So that (predictably) is me. And I'm actually kind of relieved, because while the show is compelling and well-acted, it's not what I want in a fandom, and anyway, I'm hardly even managing to keep up with my quiet corner of Guardian fandom atm. I may watch the last three episodes at some point, idk. Wishing those of you who're into it all the very best with your new addiction!!
Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Cross Party Lines, Letters from an American, more of Our Opinions Are Correct (Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz's podcast) including the Murderbot episode, Tech Won't Save Us, the starts of a few other things.
Writing/making things
I've been practising drawing, and picking up art supplies in bits and pieces. The moldable eraser is magic.
(Imperfect, but I think it's identifiable, which is not nothing. I darkened the linework a little in Paint.NET.)
For my future reference, this all started because I wanted to draw Bingo from Bluey!, which led me down a Youtube Art Videos For Kids rabbit hole. Then I bought new colour pencils and was noodling around with them, and people said nice things about some of my doodles... :-) Art Youtube For Adults is also really lovely, btw -- full of super-talented people being encouraging and helpful.
I've written a treat forfandomtrees, but I need to make some edits, and I have no attention span. Chances of my finishing it are about 90%, and chances of any further treats are more like 30% at this stage. Maybe one day I'll be able to make art gifts...
Life/health/mental state things
My arms are gradually improving, but I'm anxious about them. Andrew's having an operation this Thursday; I'll need to be able to bike and drive and cook and so on, and I'm still sore half the time. So I've started swimming again. (I stopped partly because I was avoiding public spaces where I couldn't mask, and partly because my long post-lockdown hair stays damp all day. But the outdoor pool is open for the summer, so I'm going for it.)
I just bought a small $2 desk at a junk shop so that I have a workspace to retreat to downstairs while Andrew's recuperating on the couch in the living room. I'll see how that goes.
I have a hand-me-down mini air fryer from my parents which I still haven't taken out for a spin. Quick/easy meal suggestions very welcome, especially if they're things I can throw together late at night, post hospital visits. (NB: I don't do onions or brassicas.)
Good things
Andrew, swimming, drawing, Kdramas, Guardian, Zhao Yunlaaaan, modern medicine. Cat:
In the Comfort food poll, 55.6% of respondents said their preferred comfort food is chocolate, and 46.7% said savoury carbs. In ticky-boxes, 'juicy intricate poetry words' and 'pushing on through' came second equal (40% each) to hugs (80%). Thank you for your votes! <3
Reading
I listened to half an m/m romance audiobook that I selected for one of its readers (Will Watt), but the overuse of "fucking" as an intensifier (and in particular, the repeated phrase, "he was so fucking hot") kept making me roll my eyes. It might be a faithful reproduction of the inner monologue of a first-year uni student, but I don't read romances for verisimilitude. So I switched to The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary, read by Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune, seen mentioned on my flist. I'm halfway through and enjoying it immensely. ETA:
Warnings.
Contains past emotionally abusive relationship, stalking, and PTSD.A little more Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain in hardcopy. Nothing in ebook.
Kdramas
Andrew and I have nearly finished The Guest. I want to ship the OT3, but I don't really care about the priest. (Sorry, priest guy! Alas, you are not my type.) Still, it is a great (gory/horror-y) show, and I've conveniently forgotten some of the developments. We just have one episode to go.
A bit more of While You Were Sleeping, a few episodes of Cashero (I'm not sure I'm in the mood for established relationship, but otoh, Junho! ♥), and a marathon-running BL called Mr. Heart, which was sweet but extremely slight.
Where is the next Love Scout/Family by Choice/whatever??
Other TV
Finished Stranger Things, which got so complex that I lazily stopped following the logic and just watched it as a collection of scenes. But I enjoyed those well enough. So glad they got their victory lap.
Three episodes of Heated Rivalry.
Minor spoilers; tl;dr not my thing.
Wow, I'd heard it was fanficcy, but I wasn't prepared for the total absence of anything resembling an external plot. Like, not even a figleaf. Not even a hockey arc. How??Anyway, my prediction that it's probably not for me has proven correct. Like, I can tell that the show is made of crack (in the addictive sense), but I'm not into super-buff dudes, and I didn't like the 'fucking but feeling kind of miserable about it' vibe I was getting from Hollander. He deserves better.
But I kept going for episode 3, and I'm really glad I did. There was the
So that (predictably) is me. And I'm actually kind of relieved, because while the show is compelling and well-acted, it's not what I want in a fandom, and anyway, I'm hardly even managing to keep up with my quiet corner of Guardian fandom atm.
Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Cross Party Lines, Letters from an American, more of Our Opinions Are Correct (Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz's podcast) including the Murderbot episode, Tech Won't Save Us, the starts of a few other things.
Writing/making things
I've been practising drawing, and picking up art supplies in bits and pieces. The moldable eraser is magic.
Have a couple of sketches.
(Imperfect, but I think it's identifiable, which is not nothing. I darkened the linework a little in Paint.NET.)
For my future reference, this all started because I wanted to draw Bingo from Bluey!, which led me down a Youtube Art Videos For Kids rabbit hole. Then I bought new colour pencils and was noodling around with them, and people said nice things about some of my doodles... :-)
I've written a treat for
fandomtrees, but I need to make some edits, and I have no attention span. Chances of my finishing it are about 90%, and chances of any further treats are more like 30% at this stage. Maybe one day I'll be able to make art gifts...Life/health/mental state things
My arms are gradually improving, but I'm anxious about them. Andrew's having an operation this Thursday; I'll need to be able to bike and drive and cook and so on, and I'm still sore half the time. So I've started swimming again. (I stopped partly because I was avoiding public spaces where I couldn't mask, and partly because my long post-lockdown hair stays damp all day. But the outdoor pool is open for the summer, so I'm going for it.)
I just bought a small $2 desk at a junk shop so that I have a workspace to retreat to downstairs while Andrew's recuperating on the couch in the living room. I'll see how that goes.
I have a hand-me-down mini air fryer from my parents which I still haven't taken out for a spin. Quick/easy meal suggestions very welcome, especially if they're things I can throw together late at night, post hospital visits. (NB: I don't do onions or brassicas.)
Good things
Andrew, swimming, drawing, Kdramas, Guardian, Zhao Yunlaaaan, modern medicine. Cat:
Poll #34068 Om
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 48
Do you meditate?
View Answers
yes, regularly
4 (8.3%)
yes, from time to time
10 (20.8%)
I used to
6 (12.5%)
I used to occasionally
4 (8.3%)
what you mean by 'meditate'?
7 (14.6%)
no
20 (41.7%)
other
3 (6.2%)
ticky-box of being squeamish about fingernail clippings
2 (4.2%)
ticky-box full of hockey show squee
6 (12.5%)
ticky-box full of feeling kind of zonky
19 (39.6%)
ticky-box full of skipping across treetops and dancing through the clouds
22 (45.8%)
ticky-box full of hugs
37 (77.1%)
Random Sports Stuff
Jan. 10th, 2026 07:50 pmmuccamukkYes, from me.
IDK if you can see![[youtube.com profile]](https://youtube.com/favicon.ico)
CBCSports in other countries, but they're currently playing my preferred type of figure skating (the recent nationals), which consists of:
Anyway, youtube has figured this out and is giving me random Canadian children gliding around the ice.
(Randomly my only sports icon relates to cricket.)
IDK if you can see
- Individual single short programs (long programs are usually too long for me to want to watch a single dance routine, and I also don't want to watch hours and hours of the stuff).
- Of just the top competators (so I don't have to feel bad when they fall down or do poorly, also see above about attention span).
- With the music directly onto the broadcast (rather than echoey rink music).
- Without commentary, except maybe a few notes before the dance starts (because I neither know nor care what a triple toe loop or whatever is, and equally do not care if the skater did a double instead.)
Anyway, youtube has figured this out and is giving me random Canadian children gliding around the ice.
(Randomly my only sports icon relates to cricket.)
#55 Breaking Bread and Breaking an Impasse part 1 of 1, complete)
Jan. 10th, 2026 10:40 pmdialecticdreamerBreaking Bread and Breaking an Impasse
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1204
[Monday, May 11, 2020, late afternoon]]
:: The Teagues’ preparation for a dinner guest is interrupted. Part of the Edison’s Mirror universe. ::
Aidan smiled at the driver as he hefted the large plastic tote full of onions. He balanced the folded jacket that the younger man had given Aidan on his head, then put the bin atop the jacket. “Thank you for the ride, Persia.”
“Just bring a sample of those pickled onions that you were talking about. I’ve never had them.” She waved, then rolled backward down the driveway.
Aidan walked easily to the garage door, but had to set the bin down to let himself in.
( Read more... )
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1204
[Monday, May 11, 2020, late afternoon]]
:: The Teagues’ preparation for a dinner guest is interrupted. Part of the Edison’s Mirror universe. ::
Aidan smiled at the driver as he hefted the large plastic tote full of onions. He balanced the folded jacket that the younger man had given Aidan on his head, then put the bin atop the jacket. “Thank you for the ride, Persia.”
“Just bring a sample of those pickled onions that you were talking about. I’ve never had them.” She waved, then rolled backward down the driveway.
Aidan walked easily to the garage door, but had to set the bin down to let himself in.
( Read more... )
Snowflake Challenge: #3 Dear Fandom, We need to talk
Jan. 10th, 2026 09:41 pmoldtoadwoman
Snowflake Challenge, #3: A Love Letter to Fandom
( Dear Fandom, We need to talk (this got much longer and weirder than intended) )
Where North Korea is headed: Kim Ju Ae
Jan. 11th, 2026 02:37 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
languagelog_feedAndrocentric China will have to live with this potentially formidable woman, just as they're having to deal with Prime Minister Takaichi.
"Is North Korea's 'princess' walking a path toward succession?", Nikkei staff writers, NikkeiAsia (11/25/25)
This is a most impressive article, based on AI analytics of more than 14,000 hours of footage that highlights the elevation of Kim Jong Un's daughter.
She's only 12 years old, but is poised, has good graces, and knows how to behave. She appears to be intelligent, curious, and attentive. Look at her gestures, her glances, her movements….
Just judging from this video-visual montage, Kim Jong Un picked the right "respected child" as his successor.
I think she is receiving excellent training from her auntie, Kim Yo Jung, Kim Jong Un's younger sister — Jung Un is a very impressive person, and so is Kim Yo Jung.
The Workers' Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, features stories about Kim Ju Ae's activities mainly on its front page, referring to her as "loved child," or "respected child." Nikkei picked up references to jajebun, a word used to refer to Kim Ju Ae, from more than 6,500 pages of the newspaper between her public debut and the end of October.
자제분 (jajebun)
is a Korean honorific term meaning "your child" or "someone else's child," used to show respect for another person's son or daughter, similar to how "Mr./Ms." shows respect in English but specifically for a child. It's a polite way to refer to a child when speaking to their parents or elders, combining the respectful noun "분 (bun)" (person) with "자제 (jaje)" (one's own child, but used respectfully for others). (AIO)
Mark Metcalf said that he was also interested in the significance of how Kim Ju Ae's name has been gradually modified over the years and the significance of such changes. Insofar as he recalls, Kim the Current's honorifics changed to indicate the increasing importance of his role.
BTW, did you know that, on 2/13/17, North Korea had Kim Jung Un's own half-brother, Kim Jung Nam, eldest son of Kim Jung Il, and once considered his presumptive heir, chemically assassinated (at the Kuala Lumpur Airport, no less!).?
They take this matter of succession very seriously. Almost bungled it with Kim Jung Il.
Selected readings
- "VX in Chinese" (2/27/17)
- "In North Korea, it's a dire crime to speak like a South Korean, part 2" (7/3/23)
Voice Stuff
Jan. 10th, 2026 08:25 pmtheradicalchildLast night's sleep score was 81/100, with duration being my weakest part, and again I'm always impatient at night and never deeply asleep. I used my mouth guard, and I was torn between whether to snuggle my Blåhaj or not.
I did my laundry this morning and afternoon and cleaned and dusted my apartment to the best of my ability. I picked up more Swiffer duster refills and wet wipes for my mop at Walmart after having pizza at the library's gaming day.
I had another gig on Upwork where I recorded 300 clips for a previous client and it took me all afternoon and evening, and I stumbled a ton and had to rerecord lines constantly, and it didn't help that some words were broken on separate lines.
I did my laundry this morning and afternoon and cleaned and dusted my apartment to the best of my ability. I picked up more Swiffer duster refills and wet wipes for my mop at Walmart after having pizza at the library's gaming day.
I had another gig on Upwork where I recorded 300 clips for a previous client and it took me all afternoon and evening, and I stumbled a ton and had to rerecord lines constantly, and it didn't help that some words were broken on separate lines.
Challenge 503: Sock
Jan. 11th, 2026 03:24 pmchina_shop posting in fan_flashworksOur new challenge is:
As always, you can interpret the prompt literally or figuratively, in whatever way works for you.
Each work created for this challenge should be posted as a new entry to the comm. Posting starts now and continues up until the challenge ends at 4pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, 20th January. No sign-up required.
Mods will tag your work with fandom and challenge. When you've posted entries to three consecutive challenges, you will earn a name tag, and we'll go back and tag all your previous entries with your name.
All kinds of fanworks in all fandoms are welcome. Please have a look at our guidelines before you play. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact a mod. And if you have any suggestions for future challenges, you can leave them in the comments of this post.
You can view stats forfan_flashworks entries and search and filter them via the Community Report and Creator Report. See our FAQ post for more details.
Also, keep an eye out for the nextffw_social post, which will go up in the next couple of days. If you haven't joined the ffw_social comm, it's never too late to come and check it out. (Posts are locked, which means you have to join to see them.)
SOCK
As always, you can interpret the prompt literally or figuratively, in whatever way works for you.
Each work created for this challenge should be posted as a new entry to the comm. Posting starts now and continues up until the challenge ends at 4pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, 20th January. No sign-up required.
Mods will tag your work with fandom and challenge. When you've posted entries to three consecutive challenges, you will earn a name tag, and we'll go back and tag all your previous entries with your name.
All kinds of fanworks in all fandoms are welcome. Please have a look at our guidelines before you play. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact a mod. And if you have any suggestions for future challenges, you can leave them in the comments of this post.
You can view stats for
fan_flashworks entries and search and filter them via the Community Report and Creator Report. See our FAQ post for more details.Also, keep an eye out for the next
ffw_social post, which will go up in the next couple of days. If you haven't joined the ffw_social comm, it's never too late to come and check it out. (Posts are locked, which means you have to join to see them.)Admin: Challenge closed
Jan. 11th, 2026 03:17 pmchina_shop posting in fan_flashworksThe Sand challenge is now closed. Here are the entries:
Stranger Things: Fanfic: Sand bywearing_tearing
Original: icons: sand bylilly_c
Marvel Cinematic Universe: Fanfic: In a Grain of Sand byalexcat
due South: Fanfiction: Sandy Boots bylucy_roman
Sherlock Holmes (ACD): Fanfic: Beneath the Sand bysmallhobbit
Terraria: Quatrain: A Prize to be Won byinfinitum_noctem
FAKE: Fanfic: Wishful Thinking bybadly_knitted
no fandom: icons: Sand byhighlander_ii
Multifandom (TV): Icons: Life’s a Beach (9 icons) byveronyxk84
S.W.A.T.: Fan Fiction: Looking Forward To Most bydarkjediqueen
US Politics: poetry: the sand in the gears byteaotter
Torchwood: Fanfic: Newsworthy bym_findlow
Heated Rivalry: Fanfic: Sweaty, Salty, Sandy byseeyouontheice
子非鱼 (Zi Fei Yu): Fanfic: the same soul (make the ocean wider) bybluedreaming
Also, congratulations to those who earned badges and name tags this round:
teaotter earned The Unstoppable (SILVER) (36 challenge streak).
\o/ \o/ \o/
Thank you to everyone who participated! You're now free to post your entries to your journal or wherever else you'd like. If you're archiving on AO3, you can add your work to our fan_flashworks collection there.
The Community Report and Creator Report will be updated shortly with the entries from this round. See our FAQ for more details.
Next challenge coming right up.
Stranger Things: Fanfic: Sand by
wearing_tearingOriginal: icons: sand by
lilly_cMarvel Cinematic Universe: Fanfic: In a Grain of Sand by
alexcatdue South: Fanfiction: Sandy Boots by
lucy_romanSherlock Holmes (ACD): Fanfic: Beneath the Sand by
smallhobbitTerraria: Quatrain: A Prize to be Won by
infinitum_noctemFAKE: Fanfic: Wishful Thinking by
badly_knittedno fandom: icons: Sand by
highlander_iiMultifandom (TV): Icons: Life’s a Beach (9 icons) by
veronyxk84S.W.A.T.: Fan Fiction: Looking Forward To Most by
darkjediqueenUS Politics: poetry: the sand in the gears by
teaotterTorchwood: Fanfic: Newsworthy by
m_findlowHeated Rivalry: Fanfic: Sweaty, Salty, Sandy by
seeyouontheice子非鱼 (Zi Fei Yu): Fanfic: the same soul (make the ocean wider) by
bluedreamingAlso, congratulations to those who earned badges and name tags this round:
teaotter earned The Unstoppable (SILVER) (36 challenge streak).\o/ \o/ \o/
Thank you to everyone who participated! You're now free to post your entries to your journal or wherever else you'd like. If you're archiving on AO3, you can add your work to our fan_flashworks collection there.
The Community Report and Creator Report will be updated shortly with the entries from this round. See our FAQ for more details.
Next challenge coming right up.
Snowflake Challenge: #2 What the hey, dude?
Jan. 10th, 2026 07:58 pmoldtoadwoman
Snowflake Challenge, #2: Pets of Fandom
For a few delusional moments, I thought I'd handle all of these prompts with art and after one quick initial sketch decided that I don't have time or I'll still be finishing these prompts next year. (I literally have art prompts from two or three Octobers ago that I keep saying I'm going to do "some day".)
I think sometimes starting an elaborate project might be a subconscious way of avoiding the project because deep down I know I'm never actually going to do the cool idea in my head.
That said, I do have a very clear idea of what my entry on Pets of Fandom should be.
So, I loved, loved, loved the 2025 Superman movie. I don't know how it landed with the younglings who didn't grow up with Christopher Reeve's Superman as the iconic version, but all of my friends that I've talked to had that same delighted reaction to this movie. It's fully modern and never even does any overt callbacks to the 1978 movie. But it has that same idealistic spirit, leans into the corniness without ever going too far, and just made me very happy. When I first realized the superdog Krypto was going to be in it, I think I cringed just a tiny bit. A CGI superdog was obviously going to drag things down, I thought. But. Oh, it was perfect. The fact that Krypto was a badly-trained chaos vector worked on so many levels. (My sister once had a dog that she always said she was going to take to obedience class when she had time but she never did and the dog eventually treated the entire house like a chew toy. Imagine that dog with super powers.)
If you didn't see Superman and were feeling done with superhero movies after a glut of them in the theater, I urge you to make an exception for the 2025 Superman. It's just so sweet.
A key character moment is when Lois Lane responds in disbelieve that Superman is about to put himself in danger for the sake of a dog. To which, Superman replies, "Yeah, and he’s not even a very good one, but he’s out there alone. And he’s probably scared."
