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Things
Jan. 23rd, 2026 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vassBooks
Nearly finished Evelyn Araluen's 2025 poetry book The Rot. It's very good. I keep thinking of people I know who would appreciate it, and wanting to shove the book at them and say "here, look". (sovay, you're one of them.) Depression, colonialism, girlhood, death, hauntology, Country, survival.
Listened to Margaret Killjoy's narration of Katherine Mansfield's short story 'A Cup of Tea'. Margaret gave a little context about the story afterwards, including that the main character was thought to be based on Mansfield's cousin, also a writer, whom Margaret herself hadn't heard of. I looked her up afterwards: Elizabeth von Arnim, and went WHUT, Elizabeth and her German Garden? I haven't actually read it, and am not sure how I knew about it, just that it was on my radar. Mansfield's story is simultaneously scalpel-sharp and more merciful than it might have been: the story doesn't attempt to puncture the protagonist's saviour fantasy, or allow it to go as wrong as it could have done, but does make clear in every detail how entirely it is a self-serving saviour fantasy, how entirely she's disregarding the needs, safety, boundaries, and basic consent of the woman she's trying to help. (I thought of the scene in chapter 6 of What Katy Did in which Katy and Clover kidnap an Irish child from her parents and lock her in their attic because they want to "adopt" her.)
Went to the library and borrowed the second Asterix book, having not really given Asterix a chance since I was too young to have any historical context (plus the only one we had in the house was missing several pages, possibly by my own actions at a far younger age.)
Comics
Really feeling for Dina in Dumbing of Age right now. The part about her and Becky is sad and believable, but the part that hit me right where I live was "now even my room is not my own. It's been... ransacked. Strangers have touched... everything." Same fucking autism. I would be out of my fucking mind.
Fandom
Working on my claim for Fanoa'ary, the next Lays server event.
Games
Redactle and Squardle withkaberett, cryptic crosswords with shehasathree.
Little puzzle games on my phone: Breakout 71 (breakout with many possible upgrades to unblock, with a lot of flexibility in possible builds) and Tessel, a tile game in which one rotates multicoloured tiles to match the colours, creating enclosed areas of a single colour. I tend to get way too engrossed in this kind of game and spend too long on it, so I like very much that neither of these two are gamified beyond "actually being a game": no ads, no freemium, no nudging to play at a particular time or for a particular length of time. They're very pausible.
Tech
No progress on desktop problems yet: I'm working on paying down some technical debt on my phones before I try more intensive desktop troubleshooting. In the meantime, no Hollow Knight for me.
Crafts
Finished framing/backing a cross-stitched item which I had intended to givebookgirlwa for her birthday in 2025. Now to wrap it up and send it to her.
No weaving progress yet.
Garden
Two ripe tomatoes (pear-shaped, cherry form factor.)
Cats
Suspicious scab on Ash's nose seems to be healing up okay. *touch wood*
Nature
After a week of more moderate summer weather, we're heading into another heat wave. I hate hot weather, and physically don't deal well with it, but my biggest concern here is fire. Some of the fires from the last heatwave are still burning. The politicians are fighting about the CFA's funding (and yeah, they've been underfunded for a long time and have ageing equipment and an ageing volunteer force, and due to the governments' (plural but including ours) inaction on climate change, the fires they're fighting are getting more numerous and more severe) and there's a distinct scent of manufactured grassroots blame for the Labor state government (and. Like. I don't like Jacinta Allan either! Her authoritarian leanings concern me. But that doesn't mean the opposition would be better, or that a lot of her critics aren't misogynistic or conspiracy-theorists in distinctly Sky News flavours.) Which political digression I find easier to think (grumble) about than the fires themselves. The people and animals harmed already, the likelihood of more and worse in the next week. (And also, personally: the stress of managing my own potential evacuation in a situation where the danger zone is all over the state, my brain's in a constant loop of "but other people have it worse" and it's too hot to think.)
Current Events
It's bad. It's all so bad.
Nearly finished Evelyn Araluen's 2025 poetry book The Rot. It's very good. I keep thinking of people I know who would appreciate it, and wanting to shove the book at them and say "here, look". (
sovay, you're one of them.) Depression, colonialism, girlhood, death, hauntology, Country, survival.Listened to Margaret Killjoy's narration of Katherine Mansfield's short story 'A Cup of Tea'. Margaret gave a little context about the story afterwards, including that the main character was thought to be based on Mansfield's cousin, also a writer, whom Margaret herself hadn't heard of. I looked her up afterwards: Elizabeth von Arnim, and went WHUT, Elizabeth and her German Garden? I haven't actually read it, and am not sure how I knew about it, just that it was on my radar. Mansfield's story is simultaneously scalpel-sharp and more merciful than it might have been: the story doesn't attempt to puncture the protagonist's saviour fantasy, or allow it to go as wrong as it could have done, but does make clear in every detail how entirely it is a self-serving saviour fantasy, how entirely she's disregarding the needs, safety, boundaries, and basic consent of the woman she's trying to help. (I thought of the scene in chapter 6 of What Katy Did in which Katy and Clover kidnap an Irish child from her parents and lock her in their attic because they want to "adopt" her.)
Went to the library and borrowed the second Asterix book, having not really given Asterix a chance since I was too young to have any historical context (plus the only one we had in the house was missing several pages, possibly by my own actions at a far younger age.)
Comics
Really feeling for Dina in Dumbing of Age right now. The part about her and Becky is sad and believable, but the part that hit me right where I live was "now even my room is not my own. It's been... ransacked. Strangers have touched... everything." Same fucking autism. I would be out of my fucking mind.
Fandom
Working on my claim for Fanoa'ary, the next Lays server event.
Games
Redactle and Squardle with
kaberett, cryptic crosswords with shehasathree.Little puzzle games on my phone: Breakout 71 (breakout with many possible upgrades to unblock, with a lot of flexibility in possible builds) and Tessel, a tile game in which one rotates multicoloured tiles to match the colours, creating enclosed areas of a single colour. I tend to get way too engrossed in this kind of game and spend too long on it, so I like very much that neither of these two are gamified beyond "actually being a game": no ads, no freemium, no nudging to play at a particular time or for a particular length of time. They're very pausible.
Tech
No progress on desktop problems yet: I'm working on paying down some technical debt on my phones before I try more intensive desktop troubleshooting. In the meantime, no Hollow Knight for me.
Crafts
Finished framing/backing a cross-stitched item which I had intended to give
bookgirlwa for her birthday in 2025. Now to wrap it up and send it to her.No weaving progress yet.
Garden
Two ripe tomatoes (pear-shaped, cherry form factor.)
Cats
Suspicious scab on Ash's nose seems to be healing up okay. *touch wood*
Nature
After a week of more moderate summer weather, we're heading into another heat wave. I hate hot weather, and physically don't deal well with it, but my biggest concern here is fire. Some of the fires from the last heatwave are still burning. The politicians are fighting about the CFA's funding (and yeah, they've been underfunded for a long time and have ageing equipment and an ageing volunteer force, and due to the governments' (plural but including ours) inaction on climate change, the fires they're fighting are getting more numerous and more severe) and there's a distinct scent of manufactured grassroots blame for the Labor state government (and. Like. I don't like Jacinta Allan either! Her authoritarian leanings concern me. But that doesn't mean the opposition would be better, or that a lot of her critics aren't misogynistic or conspiracy-theorists in distinctly Sky News flavours.) Which political digression I find easier to think (grumble) about than the fires themselves. The people and animals harmed already, the likelihood of more and worse in the next week. (And also, personally: the stress of managing my own potential evacuation in a situation where the danger zone is all over the state, my brain's in a constant loop of "but other people have it worse" and it's too hot to think.)
Current Events
It's bad. It's all so bad.
January journal: science fiction periodization
Jan. 21st, 2026 08:46 pmursulaglowingfish asked:The Golden Age of published science-fiction was more or less from 1955 to 1975 (lets say). Why did it end when it did? Do you think that science-fiction (or fantasy) published after 1975 was different, or do you just think it had less ability to become part of the "canon"?
This is really non-standard periodization! Wikipedia has the Golden Age of science fiction starting in the late 1930s, in connection with sci-fi magazine publishing history; the end of your period is solidly New Wave.
The counter-argument is the aphorism that the Golden Age of science fiction is twelve; by that rule, it's interesting to think about who was twelve in 1955-1975, or whatever guidelines you want to pick, and what influence they might have had on defining a canon, once they reached their twenties or thirties. The people who were twelve between 1955 and 1975 were mostly baby boomers, in the standard US generational framework; that was my parents' generation (and
glowingfish's parents', I'm guessing), and it makes sense that the stories they considered formative would seem quasi-canonized to our generation.(weather, therapy notes)
Jan. 20th, 2026 07:59 pmelainegreySo weather is forecast this weekend, and by weather i mean DOOM SNOW for North Carolina. Because 3 inches is end of world, what is 12 inches? And then an inch of winter mix on top?
So i'm looking at the weather and my Sunday evening flight out of RDU through Charlotte and i'm just certain, that ain't gonna work. And i'm just dreading the chaos. (And then i begin thinking of Christine and her surgery recovery and snow and....) So, as i churn, i asked my colleague if he could change the schedule so Monday isn't so important for my presence. It turns out there's something called a weather waiver where airlines give you a chance to reschedule your travel instead of waiting for your flight to be delayed. I figured i would have to wait until Thursday before there would be a chance to change.
But no. I got the email this afternoon that my flight would be impacted. I've rescheduled for a midday Monday departure, a long layover in Chicago O'Hare/Orchard Field, then on to Columbus landing at 7 pm. That is far more relaxed.
So, tomorrow is grocery day, and i think we need a dump run so i can do that lifting, and then i need to wrap the well with heating tape (the next days are sub freezing and i just want to make sure things are prepared for Christine on the off chance the pump freezes). Oh, we need to keep the water filtration system from freezing too. And i guess moving the generator and trying to start it..... And check the weight of the salt to make sure it's in a range she can lift.
--== ∞ ==--
I'm a little drained from therapy. I'm realizing i didn't have any reassurance, "Don't worry, it will be OK" growing up and i need to hear that from my inner mother more. I lean a lot on my faith: believing that i only see a small part of all the things and i might not ever see t that i am helping the world be better place. But there's something different about the "Am i doing it right?" i constantly feel with respect to ... everything. And maybe giving myself reassurance more will help.
And this snow event and travel: 100% waves of am i doing it right, how do i make sure it's going to be OK, ....
--== ∞ ==--
Waffles with yarden blueberries for dinner! Maybe not weight wise, but yum.
( all the airports American Airlines is worried about weather )
(morning writing)
Jan. 19th, 2026 10:34 amelainegreyBleep Marlowe. She attacked my ankle -- just a few stinging claw punctures -- as i went over to the cat barrier where she'd confronted Bruno. I hope he learned that the barrier protects him. Ugh.
I am so easily distracted.
I feel a little guilty having today off work and nothing more than "try and get myself moving" as the order of the day. Plus tomorrows walk out protest and my conflict in attending (because work, which is whole point, i get it). Plus [deleting incomplete list and replacing with] all the other distressing issues with the slide to fascist government in the US.
Time passes
I have attended the Pendle Hill hybrid worship. There was a moment of clarity for me: a sense that released the guilt, a wave of grace, a sense that it is right to engage in zest in living. Not much more clarity than to turn my attention to my usual forward.
And then looking at the temps for Ohio as my travel dates begin to show up in the ten-day forecast: yikes. So far a high of 21°F and a low of 8°F. More concerning is the snow event on the day i need to get to the airport. I know better than to trust the call for 7" of .. snow? But....
(morning writing, work, us, cats, health, cabbage)
Jan. 17th, 2026 10:35 amelainegreyChristine's surgery plus work prep for the in-person meeting at the end of the month has sent me into a withdrawal from everything else. The surgery turned out well and her recovery state is far better than the general recovery for the type surgery she had.
The lack of proactive communication before and after the surgery is the most frustrating because it seems so resolvable. I understand uncertainty, i don't understand crap communication. Anyhow, my poking at possibilities on the internet and finding general surgery recovery instructions helped us (over) prepare for after care. I recognize that is my own soothing action:over prepare. Like i took EVERYTHING to the hospital and ended up just reading on my phone (but i did eat my healthy sandwich). Management for her recovery catheter - antiseptics, antibiotics, gentle soaps and various other cleaning things listed in keeping up catheters -- did get used for a few days. In general, she seems to be recovering more quickly than i did from my nose surgery.
--== ∞ ==--
I am heading to Ohio at the end of the month and spent week one working full out on getting clarity on complexities that were being ignored by product in writing stories that the engineering staff knew too little to question, then coming up with alternatives, and documenting the complexities.
This week was trying to come up with ways to communicate the complexities of the new product product wants to build and how that overlaps with the engineering executive director goal. I think i have come up with a simple place to start which can create a common cognitive grounding from the executive directors to engineers, and on which i can add the complexities in an iterative fashion. Next week is a short work week, so ... eek. Four workdays to the next meeting.
--== ∞ ==--
In Bruno news, i convinced Christine we should buy a "cat gate" -- two clear plastic doors that we can tension mount against ceiling and floor to partition Marlowe and Carrie from Bruno, while allowing more visibility, scent, and air exchange. My biggest worry was that if Christine was overwhelmed while i was away, i could at least ease her worry about Bruno being isolated. Christine bought in when it was clear it was a way we could have Marlowe and Bruno more exposed to each other in a controlled way.
It arrived yesterday morning, and we set it up during lunch. Bruno has pretty much stuck to his safe places since. He's clearly learned over the past months the open physical door means Marlowe or Carrie can show up. Unlearning that will take a while, although maybe not weeks. Marlowe has tried hard to break in, comically. I'm pretty confident it's secure against her. It's probably not secure against a medium sized animal intent on breaking through: i think if Carrie threw her body weight against it repeatedly she could dislodge the tension supports. Fortunately Carrie is a Good Girl and accepted there is a barrier.
--== ∞ ==--
Meanwhile, ( weight stuff, to be referred to as cabbage )
Things
Jan. 16th, 2026 03:38 pmvassBooks
So far this year (since January 1) I've read Margaret Killjoy's The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice, listened to the audiobook of Alexandra Rowland's Running Close to the Wind, am reading Victoria Goddard's Plum Duff, and started Evelyn Araluen's The Rot.
Games
Quoting my own complaint elsewhere: the worst part of Hollow Knight is the runbacks. Each time my desktop switches itself off I need to turn it on again, restore my browser tabs and do other "just booted" chores, see what troubleshooting data I can get now, check what steps I can take next, then start the game again to find out whether whatever I tried this time worked. Then two minutes later my computer crashes.
Have also been doing Redactle and Squardle withkaberett, and cryptic crosswords with shehasathree.
Tech
As you may gather from the previous section of this post, I am having technical difficulties. So it goes.
Crafts
No active progress yet, but the yarn I ordered arrived. This is for weaving with my mother's old knitter's loom which she gave me for my birthday last year.
Actually, no, I'll share the complaints I emitted while trying to decide what yarn to order (huge thanks to Iphys on the Lays server for sorting me out on this.)
( cut for length )
Garden
No ripe tomatoes yet, but they're still alive. Raspberry bush looking very sad indeed. Harvested a little bit of parsley and oregano for cooking purposes.
Cats
Didn't enjoy the hot weather last week. Neither did I.
Nature
Hot and windy. (This is an understatement. Last week there was a heatwave and my whole state, as well as those nearest it, was at either "extreme" or "catastrophic" fire danger. I was in one of the "extreme" parts, and unpleasantly aware that on the fire danger scale they use, "catastrophic" is 100 out of 100. Meaning, your area can be at 99 and yet not catastrophic.)
It cooled down after that, but summer is very much not over, and there are places all over the state that are still on fire.
So far this year (since January 1) I've read Margaret Killjoy's The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice, listened to the audiobook of Alexandra Rowland's Running Close to the Wind, am reading Victoria Goddard's Plum Duff, and started Evelyn Araluen's The Rot.
Games
Quoting my own complaint elsewhere: the worst part of Hollow Knight is the runbacks. Each time my desktop switches itself off I need to turn it on again, restore my browser tabs and do other "just booted" chores, see what troubleshooting data I can get now, check what steps I can take next, then start the game again to find out whether whatever I tried this time worked. Then two minutes later my computer crashes.
Have also been doing Redactle and Squardle with
kaberett, and cryptic crosswords with shehasathree.Tech
As you may gather from the previous section of this post, I am having technical difficulties. So it goes.
Crafts
No active progress yet, but the yarn I ordered arrived. This is for weaving with my mother's old knitter's loom which she gave me for my birthday last year.
Actually, no, I'll share the complaints I emitted while trying to decide what yarn to order (huge thanks to Iphys on the Lays server for sorting me out on this.)
( cut for length )
Garden
No ripe tomatoes yet, but they're still alive. Raspberry bush looking very sad indeed. Harvested a little bit of parsley and oregano for cooking purposes.
Cats
Didn't enjoy the hot weather last week. Neither did I.
Nature
Hot and windy. (This is an understatement. Last week there was a heatwave and my whole state, as well as those nearest it, was at either "extreme" or "catastrophic" fire danger. I was in one of the "extreme" parts, and unpleasantly aware that on the fire danger scale they use, "catastrophic" is 100 out of 100. Meaning, your area can be at 99 and yet not catastrophic.)
It cooled down after that, but summer is very much not over, and there are places all over the state that are still on fire.