Reading

Current Mood: busy

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recurring posts

Cuddle Party

Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

Current Mood: accomplished

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food

Today's Cooking

Tonight I'm making the Tomato Basil Bread on page 15 of Hello! 365 Tomato Recipes. It uses dried basil flakes and sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, rather than fresh, so it can be made any time of the year. We are planning this as an accompaniment to a meatloaf later this week.

EDIT 9/9/25 -- The result is ... interesting. Way sweeter than we expected. It will probably work as an accompaniment to meatloaf, but I'm not sure it'll work as sandwich bread.

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Наша честь song

I think this is about as good as my translation attempts at the Наша честь song ("Our Honour") are going to get; I haven't made any more changes for a week or so. So here it is.

It's a rather different challenge from Boyarsky's red horse song, partly because the metre (dactyl line endings) is just so beastly to write in English -- plus every single line is supposed to be either a rhyme or a half-rhyme -- and partly because it isn't even vaguely humorous. I need to try to get the elegaic but elevated and affirmative tone rather than sounding inadvertently like Byron's "Don Juan", and the metre really doesn't help in that respect. I have compromised and not attempted a full rhyme on any of the dactyl lines, but I have put a lot of effort into attempting at leat an assonance on all of them; life would have been a good deal easier if I had not!

Original lyric (with very unsatisfactory translation): https://teksti-pesen.com/lyrics/12/Mushketery/tekst-pesni-Nasha-chest

My attempt at a literal translation:( Read more... )

My attempted 'singing translation':( Read more... )
I made a conscious choice, after much agonizing over the issue, to change the translated title from the literal "Our Honour", because the song isn't *about* 'our honour' (and moreover that reiterated phrase doesn't actually occur anywhere in my version of the lyric, because it doesn't fit the scansion...) It's not a song about the possession of honour, as such; it's a song about honour being the one thing within our control in a world where we have no influence over the events that happen to us. So I went for the phrase that I did use at that same point in the chorus, the repetition in my case being of "ours" rather than of "our honour".
I am *still* not happy with the translation of the chorus as a whole, but have consistently struggled to do any better :-(

(I have also, of course, deliberately chosen to translate the Russian 'soul' with the more English concept of the heart
in the context of such idioms!)

Current Mood: busy

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Libraries

Library Loot on

chroniclesofreading
Library Loot is a weekly event that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.
See the tag feed.

Current Mood: bitchy

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Fuuuuuuuck

Week one for Social Problems class:
- Read one chapter of your textbook
- Write an essay on a half-hour documentary

Week two for Social Problems class:
- Read one chapter of your textbook
- Write an essay on a half-hour documentary

This week for Social Problems class:
- Read two chapters of your textbook, one for Tuesday and one for Thursday
- Write an essay on a two(-and-a-half?) hour documentary

Next week for Social Problems class:
- Read two chapters of your textbook, also one for Tuesday and one for Thursday
- At least there's no documentary to write an essay on!
- Oh wait, you get to study for an exam taking place on the first day of Week 5 instead
- Welp! Good luck with that!

~~I'll tell you what a social problem is, I'm going to be a social problem if I have to keep this up 🤬~~

Okay. Okay, I can do this. I'm very glad I checked the class schedule today, because that means I can get a solid handle on my energy needs and get started on that reading ASAP. I can manage this. (If I didn't like these teachers I would be so fucked.)

Edit: Just emailed my Intro to Human Services teacher (not this class, but also more homework-heavy than I'd like) to say that I'm borderline struggling and also help please. She's been pretty vocal about wanting to help us if she can, so. Fingers crossed!

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goodreads

Retellings based on other literary classics

A possibly useful list for 'comps' in a book pitch?
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2959-twice-told-tales-192-top-retellings-that-readers-love

( Forty-three derivative novels )
Well, that was a depressing list to slog through. Apparently you need to take a source novel and rewrite it from a feminist/immigrant/queer/YA perspective (bonus points for hitting as many of the above of possible simultaneously). I could tell just from reading the blurbs, never mind the reviews, that I had absolutely no desire to read almost any of the titles mentioned, and presumably none of those authors/publishers/readers have any desire to read the sort of thing I write...

Most popular source novels: Frankenstein, Mrs Dalloway, The Count of Monte Cristo (surprisingly), and The Great Gatsby. Dracula, Little Women and The Brothers Karamazov also got two entries each.

Current Mood: busy

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Exoplanets

Planet birth photographed for the first time

For the first time, a growing planet outside our solar system has been discovered to inhabit a gap in a disk of dust and gas.

Astronomers have directly spotted a rare young planet, WISPIT 2b, still forming within the gap of a dusty ringed disk around a star like our sun—something long theorized but never observed until now.

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is mostly sunny and warm.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus one tiny brownish-olive bird I couldn't identify.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/9/25 -- I bagged up 21 Ginger Gold apple seeds with damp sand to cold-stratify in the refrigerator.

I watered the telephone pole garden and some of the savanna seedlings.

EDIT 9/9/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/9/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/9/25 -- I did some work around the yard.

EDIT 9/9/25 -- I did more work around the yard.

EDIT 9/9/25 -- I watered the irises.

EDIT 9/9/25 -- I watered the old picnic table plants and the new picnic table plants.

I picked some groundcherries. :D

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

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moment of silence

Moment of Silence: Acelightning

I spotted this, for those of your interested:

Online Memorial

In case you have not signed up and would like to, a Virtual Memorial for Alice Stewart/Acelightning has been set up as a Zoom meeting starting Sept 13 2025 at 1:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada).

To sign up please send an email to MemorialForAceLightning@gmail.com to get specific details.

Thanks to all that want to come.

Current Mood: busy

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Magpie Monday

dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Lost and Found."

Welcome to another prompt call! This month’s theme is Lost and Found. That could mean a literal box of random things left behind in a diner just off a freeway connection, a person wandering back and forth, unable to translate what they know from the map into the correct spot to wait for an upcoming bus, or the metaphorical sense of “Well, NOW what?” after being stranded by a flat tire on the way to a Very Important job interview.
[---8<---]
For each reader who offers an idea, I’ll write at least a thousand words. That’s about four pages, but let’s be honest, I tend to lean into it, so that’s truly a minimum word count. Estimate four to five minutes of reading time, which is just about perfect for a good rest with a cup of your favorite beverage and your feet up.
[---8<---]
Readers who might want to sponsor a story, thank you. Feel free to message me as soon as an interesting summary goes up. The usual request is two cents per word, or $20 per 1k words, and that’s steep for today’s pockets. It’s perfectly fine to sponsor a story other than the one for which someone prompted; that doubles the fun for the amount spent. Sponsored stories will get another typo hunt, then be posted with either an anonymous or named sponsor (let me know if you wish to be acknowledged, but I default to anonymous sponsorships). Many thanks.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries: 9 September 2025

Snakes

Note to readers: This is an alternate reading from the Three Year Lectionary, and may not match up with the readings your church uses this Sunday.

Numbers 21:4-9 – From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

It doesn’t look like there was any way to avoid getting bitten by the snakes. Even after the people repented, the snakes were still there, and they had to cope with them. And maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, because that’s the way it is in our lives, too. When we do something wrong and stupid, we still have to deal with the consequences, even after we repent. That broken relationship, that lost reputation, that fine or jail time, is still there.

But God takes away the worst bit, which is kind of Him. That would be the death that results from sin. In the case of the Israelites, all they have to do when they get bitten is to look at the metal snake Moses has put on a flagpole. That’s a really weird way to heal people, but it does make it super clear who actually believes in God’s promise. Because they’re the ones who look and live.

So what about us? We, too, get bitten by the snakes of evil that seem to be everywhere in our lives. We live in a broken world and we ourselves are broken by sin. But God has given us Jesus to heal us. And if we look to Him—the One who loves us so much He gave Himself up to death for our sakes on that cross—we will live forever. Because He has risen from the dead, and He has promised to raise us, too. And He never lies.

WE PRAY: Lord, help me to trust You and look to You for help and forgiveness, every day of my life. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

Current Music: Neko Case, "Wreck"

A wreck of possibilities, a volatility of stars

I wish merely to register my pleasure that when I went looking for the uncredited actor playing the dean of the law school in the early scenes of Winterset (1936), I found that Murray Kinnell had the kind of Wikipedia biographer who includes short reviews with their subject's stage and screen resume. "An unusual role for Kinnell as a derelict one-time gentleman; the film opened in July 1931." "'No man is a hero to his valet', as Kinnell's character in this murder mystery could testify." "Kinnell as yet another butler, though this time with an unexpected flourish." I am much more used to finding this kind of partisanship on social media: with no prior attachment to an actor whom I did not notice previously in a handful of pre-Codes, just its enthusiasm makes me want to see these lovingly noted small parts even when a non-zero quantity of Charlie Chan seems to be involved. I hope Kinnell would have appreciated his future, however microscopic fandom.

Current Mood: accomplished

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Poetry Fishbowl Report for September 2, 2025

This month's theme was "Communication Styles." I wrote from 1:30 PM to 3:45 AM, so about 11 hours 45 minutes, allowing for lunch and supper breaks. I wrote 5 poems on Tuesday and actually finished everything. \o/

Participation was about the same, with 6 comments on LiveJournal and another 30 on Dreamwidth. A total of 9 people sent prompts.

Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the September 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:

"Bring Unique Qualities"
"For Those Who Work at It"
"The Only Thing That You Absolutely Have to Know"
"A Reader, an Interpreter, and a Creator"
"Simple and to the Point"

Buy some poetry!
The September fishbowl sold out! Wow, that hasn't happened in a while. You are all awesome.

If you've been wanting to sponsor an older poem, or commission something new, now is a good time -- I have time to post things. Ask me if you need a list of available poems in your favorite series, characters, topics, etc.

This month's donors include:

janetmiles and

fuzzyred. All sponsored poems from this fishbowl have been posted. There are 0 tallies toward a bonus fishbowl.

The Poetry Fishbowl has a landing page.

Current Mood: busy

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Walkability

Can we imagine life without cars?

The builders of a car-free community in Arizona want to find out.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: exhausted

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school life

Status report

pokepodproject fics:
- Xatu: Posted!
- Sneasel: First draft finished! Up next: Typing

summerofthe69:
- Fest closed for the year
- Amnesty period open

Homework:
- Keeping up with it 👍
- Good grades so far ✌

Socchan in general:
- Uh...
- Uhhhhh...

(I think it's mostly not getting quite enough sleep? ~~Plus, you know, the background fascism.~~ I read ahead in one of my textbooks, and I'm taking this upcoming Sunday off, so that should help some. Also, Sot69 is done for the year, so I don't have to worry about or work on that at all. Once PokéPod is done, I'll have no major fandom obligations that I can't just schedule posts for, so I'm hoping that I'll be doing better in two weeks.)

Current Mood: busy

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Poem: "Bring Unique Qualities"

This poem came out of the September 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

chanter1944,

see_also_friend, and

wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "affiliate" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the series Daughters of the Apocalypse.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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Poem: "A Reader, an Interpreter, and a Creator"

This poem came out of the September 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

mama_kestrel and

librarygeek. It also fills the "patch" square in my 9-1-25 card for the Piracy Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the Rutledge thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

around and around and around

Today the boss called me in her office. She wanted to talk about what I need to be trained...AGAIN. I said that I told you what I needed but you didn't want to do it. If you did it then we would have one through all the reports by now. Sigh. I agree that I should be further along. I find this frustrating. I find it discouraging that you do not value well written procedures, but since you don't I am not going to waste my time (and not leave anything to train a replacement. I said that I would come up with topics and I would lead with questions.

I also told her that I dont work well when she freaks out over a question, like she did on Friday. I asked for clarification because I was working with a new product and wanted confirmation that I did it correctly... not a lecture on how behind I am in learning. It makes me shut down and afraid to ask questions (I wanted to dot say it f'ing pisses me off). She said she didn't mean. to make me feel that way. (Ummm...BS)

I suggested we go over a report when the instructions are just formulas but there is not enough info to tell me where there info can be gathered. She said after I did some postings. I did the postings and then she sys that all the month end reporting is due Friday because a board member is going on vacation... and then she has a doctors appointment tomorrow so she won't close the month until Wednesday. So that means that I will not get training this week and I have 2 days to do reports that I usually have 2 weeks to do.. Oh and she will be out next Monday so I won't have training next week either.

Yeah...

I found some training on linked in and there is a course on Coursera. The hard part is that they all use a Quick Books model

I heard a quote from a woman on you tube that I liked. Some jobs are like having Stockholm syndrome with health care. Yeah...

Entry tags:

characters,
writing

I swear, people today are boring compared to 100 years ago

Another example of truth is stranger than fiction.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/books/review/the-improbable-victoria-woodhull-eden-collinsworth.html

Woodhull was born Victoria Claflin in 1838, the seventh of 10 children. Her father, Buck, was a one-eyed con man; her mother, Roxanna, was a mentally unstable woman who talked to ghosts. Buck put 12-year-old Victoria and her younger sister, Tennie, to work by taking them on the road, billing them as “AMAZING CHILD CLAIRVOYANTS.”

Two years later, Victoria married a physician named Canning Woodhull. She was 14; he was 28, and he also happened to be a terrible drunk. She had two children with him: a son, Byron, who was born impaired and would need care for the rest of his life; and a daughter, Zulu Maud. Victoria and Tennie struck out on their own, eventually moving to New York, but they brought their Ohio family with them. Spiritualism was both a source of notoriety and a calling card. The shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt hired Victoria as his spiritual adviser and Tennie as his “healer” (she soon became his lover).

Vanderbilt helped the sisters open their brokerage firm; the riches it earned laid the foundation for Victoria’s presidential run. (Her first run, that is — she campaigned for the job twice more.) Finding herself on the brunt end of Anthony Comstock and his anti-obscenity campaign (for salacious stories published in a newspaper the sisters owned), she spent Election Day in the Ludlow Street Jail.

Seriously, if I created a character like that today, people would say she was unbelievable!

Current Music: Jack, "Love and Death in the Afternoon"

In my time on earth, I said too much, but not nearly, not nearly enough

Unless I lost track of one in the phone tree, I have just spent my afternoon calling five different doctor's offices, garnished with one bookstore and one library, and I would still like a refund on selected and considerable tracts of physical existence. In other news, while I have always had an inevitable affection for the mild-mannered character acting of Donald Meek, I have not seen him anywhere near recently enough to explain his appearance in last night's dreams, especially not the one with the used book store crumbling literally on the edge of some awful revelation. Over the last three days, I mainlined a rewatch of the first two seasons of Turn: Washington's Spies (2014–17) and just before bed had started re-reading Paul French's Midnight in Peking (2011), which in the years since I originally read and much later wrote about it has garnered at least one nonfiction rebuttal and more contextually interested explorations, because nothing engages the human instinct for rabbit holes like a cold murder case. No offense to Donald Meek, I'm not sure where he came in.

P.S. Stop the presses, Benny Safdie and Dwayne Johnson will be adapting Daniel Pinkwater's Lizard Music (1976)? They had better get the Surrealism.