spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
I had the morning off of ‘mom-duty’ because of appointments. I told my sister S I’d be there by noon definitely, but would try to get there earlier, just so I didn’t have to rush. I got there around 11:30am.

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning (to go over results of last week’s tests and an adjustment) followed by a pedicure (I cancelled the last appointment because mom was still in the hospital so I really need it as I have an ingrown toe nail issue that needs addressing almost every visit). I chose a pretty lilac purple for my toes. I also got in a walk around the park.

I was also relieved early because my one sister has ‘summer hours’ and gets out early, and since she wasn’t staying the night, she bridged me and our other sister. I was home early enough to grill baby back ribs for Pip’s supper (saving the frozen GF pizza for another night). I also did a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, hand-washed dishes, and scooped kitty litter.

I started the second Lily Adler book, watched an HGTV program, and showered.

Temps started out at 66.7(F) and reached 84.4 that I saw. It was beautiful today, hot but not humid and there was a lovely breeze. A perfect day, really.


Mom Update:

Mom was up and sitting at the table with my sister, who was putting together a puzzle, when I got there. Mom didn’t seem that interested in the puzzle, but she was eating a yogurt. She later got on her tablet and then ate some rice krispies. I turned on Matlock while I was eating lunch, but it was a bust because it was two eps that my mom didn't like to watch (with Matlock being locked inside a prison to solve a crime).

I asked my sister S about scheduling for Friday and she was like, I can barely think about Thursday. *rolls eyes* I told my sister A (can't recall if I mentioned it to S) that I want to have a meal free to cook something for the holiday, either lunch or supper. I'm happy to spend the day there as long as I can get off early enough to grill (and it better not rain). We'll see what happens.
burnhername: Faith pic with the word editor (SH editor Faith)
(a small pink pig is loose in the school hallways, until Buffy picks him up)
MR. FLUTIE: (talking to pig) Lordy, Herbert! Gave Mr. Flutie quite a scare, didn't he?
MR. FLUTIE: (talking to students) Students, I'd like you all to met Herbert, our new mascot for the Sunnydale High Razorbacks!
(The students all clap.)
BUFFY: He's so cute!
MR. FLUTIE: He's not cute. No! He's a fierce Razorback! (more clapping)

~~The Pack~~




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runpunkrun: Dana Scully reading Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' in the style of a poster you'd find in your school library, text: Read. (reading)
One of those thrillers that splits the narrative between two women—both twenty years old, working at the same grubby motel and living in the same apartment, one in 1982 and the other in 2017 trying to solve the mystery of the first one's disappearance—and their stories run so parallel they're basically interchangeable and you start wondering if maybe the author should have only told the story once. It certainly would have cut down on the amount of clunky exposition and awkward dialogue.

The thrills were not thrilling, but the mystery might have been interesting if we weren't getting it from both ends. As it is, not worth the time.

Contains: References to rape, domestic abuse, and child death; descriptions of dead bodies; ghosts.
spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
I finished five books this week! That's what happens when you spend the days at your mom's and have so much time to read.


What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: The Ape Who Guards the Balance (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters, The Prince and the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell, Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells, Where Memories Lie (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie, and All Mortal Flesh (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) by Julia Spencer-Fleming.


What I am Currently Reading: I haven’t had time to start another book, but my plan is for it to be the second Lily Adler book.


What I Plan to Read Next: I have the next Amelia Peabody at the library, so probably that one.




Book 48 of 2025: The Ape Who Guards the Balance (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) (Elizabeth Peters)

It was slow-going getting into this book, but once I did I really enjoyed it. spoilers )

I enjoyed this book and have requested the next. I'm giving this book four hearts only because of how difficult it was to get into.

♥♥♥♥



Book 49 of 2025: The Prince and the Apocalypse (Kara McDowell)

This was so good! I can't recall who posted about this book, but thank you! spoilers )

I highly enjoyed this book and have already requested the next from my library. I'm giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥



Book 50 of 2025: Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries) (Martha Wells)

I really enjoyed this! Though I'm glad I was warned to read it out of order as it would have been weird to read this one then System Collapse. spoilers )

I enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next one to be released. (I heard there *is* a new one coming out, but I haven't seen a release date for it.) I'm giving this one five hearts. And have the urge to re-read the entire series.

♥♥♥♥♥



Book 51 of 2025: Where Memories Lie (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) (Deborah Crombie)

I really enjoyed this book! spoilers )

This book was very good and I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥



Book 52 of 2025: All Mortal Flesh (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) (Julia Spencer-Fleming)

This book was so good! spoilers )

I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading the next in the series. I'm giving this one five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥
spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
I was at mom’s by 6:45am so I didn't have much time to get things done before I left. I did manage to fold a load of laundry, hand-wash some dishes, cut up chicken for the dogs’ meals, scoop kitty litter, pack my own lunch, and dropped Grant at the garage. Whew!

My sister called to tell me she got out of work at 2:30pm and could relieve me early, so I was able to get home in time to actually cook supper! I planned to grill something, but it started to pour the moment I got inside the house, so instead I got sauce out of the freezer to defrost and we had spaghetti. I also baked chicken for the dogs, did the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and did a load in the dishwasher.

I started and finished reading the next Clare Fergusson book and watched the rest of the Hannah Swensen movie.

Temps started out at 72.1(F) and it was only 73 when I got home ~3pm since the storm was moving in, but it had to have broken 80.


Mom Update:

In mom’s own words, today she was ‘whooped’! more back here )

(no subject)

Jul. 2nd, 2025 03:45 pm[personal profile] thawrecka
thawrecka: (Bleach)
I've now watched through episode 249 of Bleach and am still in the depths of the sword filler zone. Emo villain isn't super exciting no matter how much he bleeds from the eyes, and overall I'm finding it a mixed bag. There's a lot that I just find kind of unconvincing about the premise. But there are upsides: the Hitsugaya episode about reconnecting with his sword and reminding it of a home they found is great, though to be fair most of that actually comes from the manga flashback about him meeting Matsumoto; I also thought it was an interesting choice for the anime to explicitly mark Kenpachi and Yumichika as very similar. Which I agree with! They have a lot in common, but their similarities aren't often drawn out (in canon or in fandom, tbh). I also like the continuing Matsumoto and Hinamori interactions, but the stuff with their zanpakutou has diminishing returns.

(I've also been fully immersed in rereading the series, and one of the things that strikes me about the early volumes of the Viz translation is how visible to me now is the youth slang that was used to translate it at the time, in a way it wasn't visible and obvious to me at the time. Then it was just how people spoke, but now it really sticks out.)
rahirah: (su_editor)
BUFFY: You realize that Anya's probably seducing R.J. even as we speak.
WILLOW: My God. You think so?
BUFFY: Well, I wouldn't put it past her. She's recently evil, you know.
WILLOW: Well, so am I. Why should I miss out?

~~~~



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kingstoken: (Clint Barton Comics)
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (tagged both Books and Granada)
Pairings/Characters: Holmes & Watson
Rating: T
Length: 2743 words
Creator Links: RatTale
Theme: working together

Summary: After a long day of seeing patients, Doctor Watson is on his way home when he gets pulled into an alleyway to help one more patient for the night.

Reccer's Notes: When Watson has an unexpected patient, in an unexpected place, Holmes gets roped into helping.  They have to work together for the benefit of the patient.  It's very nice to read a story where Watson is the competent medical professional and is the one in charge instead of Holmes. 

Fanwork Links: AO3
spikedluv: created by tarlan (misc: tv talk by tarlan)
Murderbot: Good ep. spoilers )


Resident Alien: Good ep. spoilers )

Round 176: Working Together

Jul. 1st, 2025 09:19 am[personal profile] runpunkrun posting in [community profile] fancake
runpunkrun: combat boot, pizza, camo pants = punk  (punk rock girl)
Photograph with added text: Working Together, at Fancake. Workers in India use wide wooden paddles with long handles to shove a huge yard of drying grains into big piles. The grain, most likely rice, is a beautiful golden color, and there's a mix of western and traditional clothing among the seven men and women.
Our theme for July is working together!

This round is for fanworks that feature characters working together to achieve a common goal or—and this is not necessarily the same thing—fanworks set in the workplace.

The tag for this round is: theme: working together

If you're just joining us, be sure to check out our policy on content notes. Content notes aren't required, but they're nice to include in your recs, especially if a fanwork has untagged content that readers may wish to know about in advance.

Rules! )

Posting Template! )

Promote this round! )

spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
I arrived at mom’s at 6:15am, so, as you might imagine, I didn’t get a lot done before I left. Mom agreed that she would like to get out of the house and go for a ride, so I was able to get my shopping done at Price Chopper while she people-watched in the parking lot. (We also took the groceries to my house so I could put the cold stuff away, and stopped to fill her gas tank and for me to pick up a book at the library on the way back to her house.)

I was relieved at 5pm. I stopped at the library again to return a book I finished reading this afternoon. After I got home I did a load of laundry (washed and dried), hand-washed dishes, scooped kitty litter, and took a shower.

I finished the Duncan Kincaid book I was reading and watched the first half of the new Hannah Swenson movie.

Temps started out at 54.1(F) and reached 89.2 (at 5pm when I got home; Pip said it had gotten up to 93). I’m really glad I wore shorts even though it was a cool morning, because it heated up quickly.


Mom Update:

Mom felt alright today. more back here )
veronyxk84: Editor icon for su_herald (_Herald Editor#1)
WILLOW: It says that Meredith and two other girls in the car were killed instantly. They were all on the Fondren High Pep Squad, on the way to a game.
BUFFY: You know what this means.
XANDER: That Fondren might actually beat Sunnydale in the cross-town body count competition this year?
BUFFY: She wasn't killed by vampires. Somebody did dig up her corpse.
CORDELIA: Eww! Why is it that every conversation you people have has the word 'corpse' in it?

~~BtVS 2x03 “Some Assembly Required”~~




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Rebuilding journal search again

Jun. 30th, 2025 03:18 pm[personal profile] alierak posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
alierak: (Default)
We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.
umadoshi: (lilacs 01)
With Canada Day rudely falling on a Tuesday, [personal profile] scruloose and I both booked today off. I haven't managed a whole lot of manga work yet, but hopefully between today (as soon as I finish this post) and tomorrow I'll get a reasonable amount done. While I'm doing at-my-desk things, [personal profile] scruloose is working on the next step(s) in getting a dedicated hose set up for our individual townhouse.

Last night we finally got around to switching the desk chairs in our offices, cut for the uninterested )

It occurred to me very late in the game that I might do better at spending non-work time at my desk (where, y'know, most of my writing used to happen) if I didn't hate my chair; I've been attributing the fact that I spend 95% of my evenings down in the living room these days to the fact that Sinha's such a lapcat, and that's definitely a huge factor, but...being able to sit comfortably in here would sure help.

Another pleasing tech-related development has to do with my phone keyboard. again, cut for the uninterested )

Speaking of things that feel so much better now, Saturday also involved Ginny chopping my hair off for me. I've been leaving it alone (other than the undercut) since whenever the last time we buzz cut it was, and maybe a month ago I found that it was long enough to easily ponytail. That was pleasantly novel for about a week, even though the front bits weren't long enough to get into the ponytail and quickly started to need clips or something when it got hot. By last weekend, I was very, very done with the whole thing, and this weekend Ginny was able to deal with it. Such a relief.

My younger nibling and their spouse of eight months or so stopped by a few days ago to pick up a few years' worth of my spare comp copies from Seven Seas. Only one box, since I've technically scaled back my freelance workload (and I think there's also a backlog of comps that I should be getting sooner rather than later), but a hefty box that was bulging a bit at the seams, so it's nice to have that all sent off to a new home. It was lovely to see my nibling and meet their spouse, however briefly. (They politely rolled with the "we're going to stand in our driveway and chat while masked and overheat more than a little" element.)

A final thing before calling this a post and getting to work: last weekend [personal profile] scruloose and I gave the Sensation lilac a long-overdue aggressive pruning (and it should probably get the same amount cut out of it in a year). The poor thing was all spindly limbs and mostly-high-up blooms, so hopefully this will help it for next year.But what to do with the mutant hybrid? )
thenewbuzwuzz: Spike at computer, caption says EDITOR (Herald)
VI: I hurt his arm. (nods proudly) Yep. And an arm can be as lethal as a mouth.

~~Potential~~




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mific: (Tea or coffee)
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Characters/Pairings: Harriet Vane & Mary Wimsey
Rating: Gen
Length: 1951
Creator Links: Beatrice_Otter on AO3
Themes: Female relationships, Female friendship, Female characters

Summary: "I was complaining to my brother about how few friends I had, and he suggested that you might be an interesting person to know."

After Harriet is exonerated, she and Mary Wimsey meet for tea.

Reccer's Notes: A lovely, quietly perceptive story about two slightly lonely women finding commonalities and starting to become friends - one of Lord Peter's more successful machinations. It's beautifully written and the author's note at the end is interesting if you're a fan of the Wimsey books.

Fanwork Links: Tea For Two

spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
I didn’t have to be to mom’s until 9am this morning, so I was able to get some chores done before I left: I dried and folded yesterday’s load of laundry, washed another load and got it in the dryer, did some hand-washing of dishes, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, paid some bills online, swept the hallway, laundry area and kitchen, returned another book to the library, and scooped kitty litter.

I had scheduled it so I would be relieved at ~3pm so I could actually make supper, so when I got home I did more dishes, emptied the dishwasher, made supper, did even more dishes, shaved, tossed a load of bath towels into the washer and remembered to also put them in the dryer.

I finished Fugitive Telemetry and started the next Duncan Kincaid book, and watched the current ep of Resident Alien.

Temps started out at 61.5(F) and reached 78.2 (that I saw at 3:30pm), but 85 according to Pip. It was cool in the morning, but sunny with a nice breeze in the afternoon.


Mom Update:

Mom was tired today. more back here )

Deadloch: Keep On Gruckin' by kirazi

Jun. 30th, 2025 09:48 am[personal profile] mific posting in [community profile] fancake
mific: (Deadloch)
Fandom: Deadloch
Characters/Pairings: Dulcie Collins/Eddie Redcliffe/Cath York
Rating: Explicit
Length: 5010
Content Notes: not kidding about the rating
Creator Links: kirazi on AO3
Themes: Female relationships, Femslash, Polyamory, Friends to lovers

Summary: “This is not a good idea, love,” Dulcie says, keeping her tone level. “I know I said I’d try to be more open to change, and I hear and respect your opinion, I truly do, but this is — it’s like the hobby farm. It’s really not going to work.”

“I just think,” Cath says, bright-eyed and earnest, “that it would be a healing experience for me. For us both! To share that kind of intimacy. I am committed to working through my anxiety about you fucking your partner and I’m sure that would be so much more manageable for me if we fucked her first. Together.”

(Eddie needs a gruck. Dulcie and Cath offer to help her out.)

Reccer's Notes: This is a polyamory fic where Cath decides she and Dulcie should have sex with Eddie so as to manage her anxiety that Dulcie might be unfaithful with Eddie (as happened in the past with a former partner at work). There's some nice psychological and historical exploration as Dulcie tries to work out what's going on, and the eventual sex is hot and well-written. What I like most is the character voices and dialogue for the three of them, which are spot on. It's also very funny, as are Eddie's creative takes on the English language.

Fanwork Links: Keep On Gruckin'

Two weeks' worth of reading

Jun. 29th, 2025 03:16 pm[personal profile] umadoshi
umadoshi: (books 01)
A weekend post never happened last weekend, but here's what I'm been reading over the last couple of weeks. (Watching has been basically unchanged: we're up to date on Murderbot and continuing to slowly work through Leverage season 4.)

I finished reading Tchaikovsky's Service Model, which I thought was...fine? It was interesting enough, but if it had been my first exposure to his work it wouldn't have made me rush out and try more right away.

I read and liked Margaret Owen's Little Thieves in April, and Jenny Hamilton on Bluesky was recently talking about the trilogy as a whole (and this reminds me that now I can go read her "How to Break a Heart: Subverting the Hero’s Breakup Trope"), so when I decided a week or so ago to finally burn through all of my Kobo points and clear at least a bit of my wishlist, I included the second book, Painted Devils, which I enjoyed enough to want to read the third (Holy Terrors) right away. I try not to buy many ebooks at full price, though, given how many more I buy overall than I'm ever going to manage to read, and thankfully my library not only has it but had it available right away.

Consider that a recommendation, but beyond it I'm just going to quote the non-spoilery part of Jenny's essay that describes the series (and the essay then details how things stood at the end of book 2, so consider that the spoiler warning):
This year brought us Margaret Owen’s Holy Terrors. It’s the third in a trilogy about an angry, selfish girl named Vanja who made it through a lifetime of neglect and abuse with a crop of emotional and physical scars, a talent for picking pockets, the favor of the gods (sometimes), and a healthy hostility for rich people. Against both their better judgment, she falls in love with prefect Emeric Conrad, whom she variously describes as a “human civics primer,” an “accounting ledger made flesh,” and an “intolerable filing cabinet.”

(Here the author of this piece has been compelled to delete a ten thousand–word manifesto about the greatness of the Little Thieves series. If you like the TV show Leverage, or you enjoy digging your teeth into solid character development, or you just hate rich people, you should read it. The first book is Little Thieves. Thank me later.)

For a dramatic change of pace, I'm now reading Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 by M.E. O'Brien and Eman Abdelhadi (also a with-points acquisition), which I keep wanting to file under non-fiction, although the title will clearly tell you that it's speculative fiction. (IIRC I learned about it from [personal profile] skygiants' post.) Its fictional interviews build a distressingly plausible picture of global collapse through this decade and the couple to come, but also offer glimpses into how we could come out on the other side, if we're willing to largely raze and rebuild ~human society~ in a way that actually takes care of people. (The book came out in...2022?...so it in no way accounts for the most recent and current forms of the political hellscape.)

On the non-fiction side, I read Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, a book of essays and corresponding recipes that I'd previously read maybe ten years ago. Colwin died in 1992 (I think I've got that right), and this book (and the follow-up, More Home Cooking) is a food-writing classic for good reason, although also very much of its place and time--very American, very '80s.

(The rest of my using-all-my-Kobo-points haul: The Hands of the Emperor, We Are All Completely Fine, Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower, All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China, and Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World. Did this put a visible dent in my Kobo wishlist [which is a relatively curated list of books I keep an eye on for preorder purposes and sighting sales]? Yes. Has the dent since been filled in? Also yes.)
spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
Another long day. Hopefully the final one. Today was Ian’s graduation party. Thankfully I did not have to be to mom’s as early as I feared so sister A could leave to get set up for the party. She said I could get there between 9 – 10am, so I split the difference and got there at 9:30am. Then I took mom to the party. Sister S relieved me at 7:30pm.

I did manage to get stuff done before I left the house: two loads of laundry (one dried and folded), hand-washed some dishes and did a load in the dishwasher, scooped kitty litter, took the dogs for a short-ish walk, and dropped a book in the library return box on my way to mom’s. I did more hand-washing of dishes when I got home and tossed some laundry into the dryer.

I watched the current ep of Murderbot, finished my book and started another (Fugitive Telemetry, finally). And, of course, attended Ian’s graduation party.

Temps started out at 64.4(F) and reached 87 (according to Pip). He couldn’t have been far off because it got HOT. (It was still 79.2 when I got home after 7:30pm.) My sister had moved Ian’s party from a tent at her house to the local fire house because we were supposed to have scattered thunderstorms all day, but we didn’t get any.


Mom Update:

Mom did well yesterday. more back here )

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