Victory slips away as marathon runner celebrates too soon
Apr. 20th, 2026 04:02 pm(no subject)
Apr. 20th, 2026 02:29 pmTheir email said I was second on their list today and they'd be here around lunchtime and lunchtime can be anything around twelve. Even if I know that work never ever finishes early I still felt it necessary to be up and exercised and fed by 11, so no rolling back to sleep when I woke at 9. Curtailed sleep and allergies have kept me logey all day, helped by ordering in a banh mi and Vietnamese coffee for lunch. Guys showed up at 1:45 and lunch showed up at 1:50. Is bright and cold and blowy today, after yesterday's 'four seasons in 24 hours.' I went out in winter jacket for the grey autumnal morning temps, had to take it off when the sun came out and warmed the world up, came home to snow showers followed by thunder and monsoon rain. One really doesn't need this kind of drama, you know.
It's actually not 'how terribly strange to be seventy' or even seventy-something. It's realizing that stuff one remembers perfectly well happened sixty years ago. Lots of people don't even live to sixty. That's the weird part.
Hello, it's me.
Apr. 20th, 2026 02:52 pmAge: 35
I mostly post about: My life, my cat, Fred Hechinger, Joseph Quinn and different movies/TV. I also write fic/poetry.
My hobbies are: writing, drawing, witchcraft/magick, listening to music, watching TV, and watching movies. Travel, if I had that money.
My fandoms are: Fred Hechinger, Joseph Quinn, Stranger Things, and whatever things are on the back burner. I'm very multifandom.
I'm looking to meet people who: are super cool and chill. Somebody who I can talk to and laugh with, and exchange journal comments with.
My posting schedule tends to be: daily/weekly/monthly/sporadic/etc
When I add people, my dealbreakers are: Close-mindedness. Rudeness.
Before adding me, you should know: I ship "problematic" things. I'm of a time where it was 'ship and let ship' and all was for fun. If you've got an issue with it, please don't add me.
No minors, please. I'm in my thirties, and I post about adult things.
Trailblazing black beauty queen who defied apartheid South Africa dies aged 76
Apr. 20th, 2026 05:38 pmPolice gunfight with favela gang traps 200 tourists on hilltop
Apr. 20th, 2026 05:34 pmChat corner, dusty
Apr. 20th, 2026 08:37 pmHi,
here's the weekly chat post. All Star Wars related talk is welcome, come and share!
~ ~ ~
I've spent the last 2 hours cleaning and I'm so done. Do you think people in GFFA have to do their own vacuuming? You'd think they'd have droids for that... then again. I don't know which droid, from the movies at least, I'd trust with dusting my bookshelves. And at least I don't live on Tatooine - getting rid of all that dust must be hell.
Hey, lets play a game:
- Pick a SW character.
- Do you think they ever vacuum/sweep/dust?
Congratulations! (Aurora Awards)
Apr. 20th, 2026 11:27 amBest Novel - Blight, second book in the Sleep of Reason series
Best Short Story - “What If We Kissed While Sinking a Billionaire’s Yacht?“
Best Fan-Related Work, Wizards and Spaceships Podcast
Tribute to her excellent writing (and talking) and also to the uncrushable grit of small press publishing.
§rf§
Bundle of Holding: Land of Eem
Apr. 20th, 2026 02:11 pm
A bundle for Land of Eem, the whimsical tabletop fantasy roleplaying game of colourful characters exploring the Mucklands from Star & Flame Games and Exalted Funeral.
Bundle of Holding: Land of Eem
2025 NYC Primary Election Recommendations
Apr. 20th, 2026 05:59 pmNYC 2025 Election: Ballot Proposals
Apr. 20th, 2026 05:58 pm2026 NY State Comptroller Election: Who's Running
Apr. 20th, 2026 05:57 pmNYC 2025 Election: Judges
Apr. 20th, 2026 05:57 pmDay 20 check in!
Apr. 20th, 2026 01:55 pmHow are your projects going today?
Do you have a word count goal in your head when you sit down to write?
Spring Drabble 20/30: BTS, Tulips
Apr. 20th, 2026 06:45 pmTitle: Tulips
Author:
Fandom: 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Character: Kim Namjoon | RM/Min Yoongi | Suga
Tags: Drabble, Flowers, Gift Giving
Rating: G
Word count: 100
Summary: He buys them on impulse.
Author notes: Spring defiance from under the crushing forces of capitalism = a drabble a day in April. This one for
Tulips on AO3
( Tulips )
***
Music Monday
Apr. 20th, 2026 10:35 amAmazing! They did the chorio, too!
As always, this is about discovering something and thinking it's NEW!!!
Apr. 20th, 2026 06:00 pmI will slightly concede that maybe women have not had quite the opportunities in film and TV that they have had for centuries in written fiction, though even so I suspect with a little thought we could come up with instances where female gaze was significant in creating popularity even if it hadn't been part of the purpose in making.
But as ever, the instances about fiction are limited in their genre range (OMG there is a long history of ROMANCE) and appear never to have read anything that was not on the radar approximately five minutes ago.
E.g.
[T]he genre has altered the way female worlds are received. “I wasn’t the only one who thought that if you were female in the fantasy world it wasn’t going to end well: if you fall in love it’s going to be used against you, if you have any sort of power you’re going to die or become the mad queen,” she says. “You never really saw female characters represented in any way where you felt safe, thinking they’re going to be here in the end and not have to give up their sense of identity to do so. People, almost, have been waiting for these books to come.”
Good grief.
Okay, will concede that I am currently reading The Books of Earthsea and I occasionally look up from Ursula Le Guin's commentaries and thinking a very strong case can be made that she had never, at least when she was writing those works, encountered anything by Naomi Mitchison. Which would blow out of the water certain of her contentions about female protagonising....
But leaving my much-neglected and overlooked precious aside, I scan my shelves for the works I was scooping up during the 70s-80s-90s, ahem.
And no mention of fanfic.... dearie me. Did not do the research?
***
On another topic, there was an interview with Will Self in The Observer which is paywalled, so not linking. But in it he moans that after his divorce and ex-wife claiming mental abuse, ALL their friends cut him off, even his oldest besties: which makes me rather wonder whether a) they had actually observed things going on or b) they were fed up with him whingeing on about it.
Oh, I really didn’t want to write this.
Apr. 20th, 2026 04:34 pmMore than 200 rescued from IS-linked group in DR Congo
Apr. 20th, 2026 04:25 pmDays of Our Lives and Starship Troopers actor Patrick Muldoon dies aged 57
Apr. 20th, 2026 03:51 pmOh, I really didn’t want to write this.
Apr. 20th, 2026 04:34 pmTrailer for Road to Empress II
Apr. 20th, 2026 07:05 pmAnd the new trailer looks so good! I loved Part I so much, so I'm super excited for part II - probably the game I'm most excited for in 2026!
2026 Aurora Award ballot announcement
Apr. 20th, 2026 12:11 pm
Congratulations to the finalists!
2026 Aurora Award ballot announcement
The nominees are ( Read more... )
Rachel Reid, Fiction, & More
Apr. 20th, 2026 03:30 pmBury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is $5.99! This came out last summer and was a big release. If you’re still waiting on that library hold, maybe grab this one.
From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger.
This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.
This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.
This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.
This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.
Time to Shine
Time to Shine by Rachel Reid is $1.99! I believe this is a standalone contemporary from Reid. Lara reviewed this one and gave it a B:
I read this book in a day. A delicious day. A work day! In between meetings and emails I was reading this book. (Sorry, boss.)
For Landon Stackhouse, being called up from the Calgary farm team is exciting and terrifying, even if, as the backup goalie, he rarely leaves the bench. A quiet loner by nature, Landon knows he gives off strong “don’t talk to me” vibes. The only player who doesn’t seem to notice is Calgary’s superstar young winger, Casey Hicks.
Casey treats Landon like an old friend, even though they’ve only interacted briefly in the past. He’s endlessly charming and completely laid-back in a way that Landon absolutely can’t relate to. They couldn’t have less in common, but Landon needs a place to live that’s not a hotel room and Casey has just bought a massive house—and hates being alone.
As roommates, Casey refuses to be defeated by Landon’s one-word answers. As friends, Landon comes to notice a few things about Casey, like his wide, easy smile and sparkling green-blue eyes. Spending the holidays together only intensifies their bromance-turned-romance. But as the new year approaches, the countdown to the end of Landon’s time in Calgary is on.
Wild Dark Shore
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy is $2.99! I hesitate to call this one “recommended” but we had an amazing guest post about this book. Be warned, it will definitely make you cry.
From the beloved, New York Times bestselling author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves, a novel about a family living alone on a remote island, when a mysterious woman washes up on shore
A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.
Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, can they trust each other enough to protect one another—and the precious seeds in their care? And can they finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together?
A novel of heart-stopping twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us is ending.
Book People
Book People by Jackie Ashenden is 99c! This contemporary romance was mentioned on Hide Your Wallet. This was also our third bestselling book of last year.
Don’t miss this utterly charming, spicy, enemies-to-lovers rom-com from Jackie Ashenden!
When Kate, a fledgling bookseller, decides to open a bookshop that celebrates the kinds of genre fiction she loves to read (popular and fun!), she’s surprised to find that not everyone in the town is as excited as she is.
Least excited of all? Sebastian, owner of the highbrow bookshop across the road, who has rules for everything: the kind of books he sells, the clothes he wears, and the people he dates (no-one local).
When the pair find themselves working together on the town’s literary festival, their growing attraction becomes harder and harder to ignore. Professional rivalry aside, just one steamy kiss can’t mean anything, can it?
Patriots Day!!!
Apr. 20th, 2026 11:54 amToday is Patriots Day here in Massachusetts (not the football team, lol), so that means the 251st anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord (which is re-enacted), and the 130th running of the Boston Marathon. ☺️
Cross-posted: https:/)bradygirl-12.livejournal.com/1612586.htm
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Nigh
Apr. 20th, 2026 11:20 am
Click here to go see the bonus panel!
Hovertext:
I read a guy the other day saying all cognitive tasks will be automated, so it's important to stay flexible, and all I can figure is he was imagining humans would make a good building material.
Today's News:
Books read in 2026
Apr. 20th, 2026 11:47 am19 An Heir of Distinction (Bad Heir Days #5), Grace Burrowes (e)
18 Longeye (Fey Duology #2), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller***
17 Duainfey (Fey Duology #1), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller***
16 *Crystal Dragon (Liaden Universe® #10), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
15 *Crystal Soldier (Liaden Universe® #9), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
14 Seeking Persephone (Lancaster Family #1), Sarah M. Eden (e)
13 Theo of Golden, Allen Levi (e) book club
12 *Balance of Trade (Liaden Universe® #8), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
11 *Scout's Progress (Liaden Universe® #6), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
10 *Local Custom, (Liaden Universe® #5), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
9 *I Dare (Liaden Universe® #7), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller**
8 Cuckoo's Egg, C J Cherryh, (audio first time)
7 *Plan B, (Liaden Universe® #4), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
6 Getting Rid of Bradley, Jennifer Crusie (audio first time)
5 *Carpe Diem (Liaden Universe® #3), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
4 *Conflict of Honors (Liaden Universe® #2), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
3 *Agent of Change (Liaden Universe® #1), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
2 A Gentleman in Possession of Secrets (Lord Julian #10), Grace Burrowes (e)
1 Spilling the Tea in Gretna Green, Linzi Day (e)
________
*I'm doing a straight-through series read in publication order
**I screwed up and moved right on to I Dare from Plan B, therefore deviating from publication order. I will now amend myself and go back to pick up Local Custom.
***I'll be re-issuing Duainfey and Longeye as an e-omnibus later this year, and so I need to read them!
Outrage over Israeli soldier's vandalism of Jesus statue in Lebanon
Apr. 20th, 2026 06:57 pmTrump tariff refunds begin but consumers likely to miss out
Apr. 20th, 2026 02:49 pmNigerian wins global prize for trying to save bats in a country that shuns them
Apr. 20th, 2026 01:10 pmNew Zealand declares state of emergency in Wellington as floods hit
Apr. 20th, 2026 05:48 amMonday
Apr. 20th, 2026 08:02 amI do think I may have solved a bit of my shower issue, though. There's a toilet paper stand that is in the way and Amazon is bringing me a much smaller one that may make it less of a PIA to use the shower. It arrives today - assembly required. I have several Amazon purchases arriving today.
One is a pill shooter. Biggie has this gynormous tablet that he has two take twice a day. Plus a much smaller one. The smaller one is no problem but that giant one is killing us both. Actually, it's just annoying him but between his teeth and claws my hand is not faring well.
I can't put it in his food because 1. I can't guarantee he'd even eat it all and 2. Julio might eat it. I can't put it in a pill pocket because he's not allowed non-prescription food. So we're going to try a pill pistol if I can find one that will handle a pill this size. Cutting it in half is not an option. I actually have a smaller version and could do that twice making 5 pills a day. ugly option.
No plans for today. I worked up a little doll backlog so I spent some time on my mitered corner blanket yesterday. I may do more today.


Weird times (CW for apocalyptic musings)
Apr. 21st, 2026 02:19 amI've been ruminating in a confused way about that, since Friday. Will it be the start of supply line collapse here, as we're at the far end of that chain, in worldwide terms? Or just a period of restrictions, annoyances and a degree of belt tightening? It'll affect two things massively - transport, and farming. Like, the trucks that bring food and essentials to supermarkets, and deliver groceries to us, and in the longer term, it'll affect the farms growing the food.
Bring an old bastard who's profoundly unfit and who doesn't get out much, there's not a lot I can do for others, except maybe to help my immediate neighbours in some way. And I vacillate between vague prepping notions, nihilism, and thinking it'll turn out to be nothing after all. But I read apocafics, so I wonder. I mean, my car's petrol tank is fairly full and I use it only occasionally, but if it runs out will there still be buses? Which doubtless run on diesel. And if petrol gets harder to come by will people start stealing it, like, siphoning it off from cars parked outside like mine is, close to the road?
The fuel crisis expert guy in the article, Nathan Surendran, recommends talking to neighbours to prepare, but I'd definitely feel weird if I did that. At this point, anyway, when things alternate between feeling totally normal or like we're all fiddling while Rome burns. Or doesn't burn, due to the lack of diesel.
Guess I'll get an extra grocery delivery in, and make sure I have seeds in case I need to clear my garden beds of flowers and plant veggies more seriously. And I did unearth my camping gas stove and lamp in the last "cyclone", but I think we'll have power, as most of our grid runs on hydroelectricity (with the parts to repair the power stations probably delivered by diesel-powered trucks).
Well, we'll see if this is anything. Covid was fast. A week or three of worrying reports then (for us, here) whammo, lockdown. It felt surreal at the time. This is like that pre-Covid prodromal period with some signs and warnings cropping up but no one here taking it seriously, mostly. And our government now is largely shits and idiots, not a decent crisis leader like Jacinta, who actually listened to experts.
I'll keep fiddling, and let you know how it goes.
Elon Musk snubs interview summons by French prosecutors amid X probe
Apr. 20th, 2026 03:44 pmIt's amazing how high a number you can get to with a deck of cards!
Apr. 20th, 2026 03:57 pmTo imagine the number of ways a standard pack of playing cards can be uniquely shuffled, follow these simple instructions:
Go to the equator with a deck of cards and start shuffling them. Shuffle them so that every second you produce a new and unique ordering of cards. Keep shuffling them over and over, a new ordering, every second, for a billion years.
At the end of a billion years take a single step forward.
Keep shuffling.
Every billion years keep taking a single step forward.
Once you have circumnavigated the Earth, take a single drop of water out of the Pacific Ocean. Keep shuffling. Keep taking a single step every billion years. Keep taking a single drop of water out of the Pacific Ocean each time you walk around the Earth.
Once the Pacific Ocean is dry, refill it and place a single piece of paper on the ground.
Keep shuffling.
Keep taking billion year steps. Keep taking a drop out of the Pacific Ocean with each return to your start point. Keep refilling the Pacific Ocean once dry. Keep building your tower of paper one sheet at a time.
Once your tower of paper is as tall as Mount Everest, throw it away and place a single grain of sand on a weighing scale.
Don't stop shuffling.
Don't stop taking a step every billion years.
Don't stop emptying the Pacific Ocean and refilling it to build an Everest of paper.
Don't stop throwing your paper tower away to place another grain of sand on your weighing scales.
On the other side of your scale is a bull elephant. When it raises off the ground you will be half way done.
To see the maths behind this, click here.
(With thanks to my brother Mike, who saw a version of this which wasn't as good, rewrote chunks of it and did the maths.)
Five Science Fictional Solutions to Finding Your One True Love
Apr. 20th, 2026 10:44 am
Looking for more romance in your SF? Look no further...
Five Science Fictional Solutions to Finding Your One True Love
A Sapphic Dream, George Moore
I love the luminous poison of the moon,
The silence of illimitable seas,
Vast night, and all her myriad mysteries,
Perfumes that make the burdened senses swoon
And weaken will, large snakes who oscillate
Like lovely girls, immense exotic flowers,
And cats who purr through silk-enfestooned bowers
Where white-limbed women sleep in sumptuous state.
My soul e’er dreams, in such a dream as this is,
Visions of perfume, moonlight and the blisses
Of sexless love, and strange unreached kisses.
Moore (1852-1933) is best known for adapting French naturalism into English fiction, but before he turned novelist he was a poet under the influence of French symbolists. (He was also a childhood friend of Oscar Wilde.) This is from his first collection, Flowers of Passion (1878). After all the preceding orientalist imagery, that “sexless love” gets some heavy sideeye. Commit to the bit!
---L.
Subject quote from Hotel California, Eagles, and yes colitas are cannabis buds.
Japan on high alert for 'huge' second quake after issuing tsunami warning
Apr. 20th, 2026 02:54 pmThree things make a post
Apr. 20th, 2026 10:01 am(I'd think about asking Wahl if he has transcripts of his commentaries, but it looks like he doesn't have a website outside of Facebook and the idea of messaging him on Facebook weirds me out.)
I finished watching season 1 of NCIS: Hawai'i this weekend - I enjoyed it overall and I like that one of the season's significant subplots was Lucy and Kate's romance!
I also finally got around to making subtitles for a bunch of the fanvids I finished this year (I'd been kinda putting them off).
Are insider traders making millions from the Iran war?
Apr. 20th, 2026 12:14 pmSapporo status update
Apr. 20th, 2026 09:04 pmFalling behind on daily updates, oh well. Quick check-in:
I don't particularly like Sapporo as a city; it feels like the USA and USSR had an ugly baby. Wide streets, lots of parking lots, lots of blocky high buildings, not enough businesses and street life for the inferred density (possibly incorrect: high building + parking lot = not that dense.)
( Read more... )
Is “Satoshi Nakamoto” Really Adam Back?
Apr. 20th, 2026 11:07 amThe New York Times has a long article where the author lays out an impressive array of circumstantial evidence that the inventor of Bitcoin is the cypherpunk Adam Back.
I don’t know. The article is convincing, but it’s written to be convincing.
I can’t remember if I ever met Adam. I was a member of the Cypherpunks mailing list for a while, but I was never really an active participant. I spent more time on the Usenet newsgroup sci.crypt. I knew a bunch of the Cypherpunks, though, from various conferences around the world at the time. I really have no opinion about who Satoshi Nakamoto really is.
audiobook ramblings
Apr. 20th, 2026 07:29 amIf an audiobook is only two and a half hours long, I'm happy as long as it is mildly entertaining. (These books are super helpful for 'long afternoon at the office' or 'keep me from getting annoyed while grocery shopping.' If an audiobook is 14 hours long, I want it to be actually engaging, with a satisfying-to-me conclusion.
The point is, I tried starting a 14-hour audiobook a couple weeks ago, noped out after an hour, and was hesitant to try again with a new, also 14-hour, book. Last night I told myself 'I'll just try it for ONE hour, then I'll stop crocheting and read fanfic instead.'
Very pleased to announce I got a full 90 minutes in and am interested in hearing more! (I actually stopped not to read fanfic, but because it was bedtime and I am in a competition with myself to WIN the '7 hours of sleep for 20 days in a month' challenge.)
(PS: The new book is 'A Rake of His Own' by AJ Lancaster. I have not read any of the previous books in the series. I'm not generally a murder mystery fan, but the magic part is fun so far.)
