Linkspam Is Working On Expanding Capacity
Jun. 1st, 2025 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jjhunterMarianne Kuzujanakis: Book Review: “Take Joy” by Jane Yolen
Kelly Hayes: From Aspiration to Action: Organizing Through Exhaustion, Grief, and Uncertainty
Sasha Chapin @ Sasha's Newsletter: How to like everything more: on the skill of enjoyment
Liz Neeley @ Liminal: Week 19: What now & what’s next in science and higher ed
it is so important to understand that writing is a way of thinking and existing, and not just an act of doing
Kelly Hayes: From Aspiration to Action: Organizing Through Exhaustion, Grief, and Uncertainty
It’s easy to pass judgment on ourselves and each other for what we’re “already doing” or failing to do. But as an organizer, I’m concerned with what might motivate or allow people to act differently.
Sasha Chapin @ Sasha's Newsletter: How to like everything more: on the skill of enjoyment
In my experience, high-level enjoyment, like a sport, is composed of many interlocking micro-skills that must be trained individually, but which reinforce each other. This is not how enjoyment is taught—the only tip people typically receive re enjoyment is to “be mindful.” I think this is a suggestion to adopt what meditators call “one-pointed focus,” a form of concentrated, narrowed attention on a small portion of conscious experience. It’s a mediocre suggestion for a couple of reasons. First, this is hard to do well, even for seasoned meditators. Second, it is far from the only enjoyment-producing mental motion.
Liz Neeley @ Liminal: Week 19: What now & what’s next in science and higher ed
Everything is terrible, but I brought you some plums.
(no subject)
Jun. 1st, 2025 03:03 pmlycomingstI’m going to watch the finale of Dr Who and then opt out of Disney, Max and Hulu which I got as a package.
I thought the Dr Who stories were thin and not very engaging. I didn’t care about Rose 2.0 and this Dr Who didn’t charm me as much as he did other folks.
I never watch anything on Hulu. Max: I watched some of The Last of Us this season. In my head canon Joel and Ellie live happily after. The story on the screen is too traumatizing.
I watched about a half hour of the latest Capt America. The fights were bad. Bad guys pointing guns and waaaiting and waaiting to fire until the good guys jump them. Otherwise it was just guys talking.
But I’m enjoying the latest Taskmaster.
I thought the Dr Who stories were thin and not very engaging. I didn’t care about Rose 2.0 and this Dr Who didn’t charm me as much as he did other folks.
I never watch anything on Hulu. Max: I watched some of The Last of Us this season. In my head canon Joel and Ellie live happily after. The story on the screen is too traumatizing.
I watched about a half hour of the latest Capt America. The fights were bad. Bad guys pointing guns and waaaiting and waaiting to fire until the good guys jump them. Otherwise it was just guys talking.
But I’m enjoying the latest Taskmaster.
Arlathan eXchange
Jun. 1st, 2025 12:25 pmsettiaiThe Arlathan eXchange, a Dragon Age exchange focusing on elves, went live today. This year, I got not one but two lovely fics! 💕
First up is 152.41 is the Dewey Decimal for Love, a DA:TV fic featuring Bellara Lurate/Nonbinary Elf Aldwir. It's a Modern AU set in a university.
Then there's Mended Scars & Mended Hearts, which features Alistair/F!Surana/Leliana.
First up is 152.41 is the Dewey Decimal for Love, a DA:TV fic featuring Bellara Lurate/Nonbinary Elf Aldwir. It's a Modern AU set in a university.
Then there's Mended Scars & Mended Hearts, which features Alistair/F!Surana/Leliana.
Just Create - Sunburn Edition
May. 31st, 2025 06:45 pmsilvercat17 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
justcreateWhat are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?
Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?
What do you just want to talk about?
What have you been watching or reading?
Chores and other not-fun things count!
Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky
Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?
What do you just want to talk about?
What have you been watching or reading?
Chores and other not-fun things count!
Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky
charity time: ACLU fundraiser live!
May. 31st, 2025 09:41 amluninosityOkay, our link is live for the fundraiser! You can find that here on Galabid!
9am Saturday May 31st through 11pm Sunday June 1, R. Cooper and Geneva Vand and I (KL Noone) are offering small collections of short stories, flash fiction, AUs, sneak peeks etc. All proceeds will go to the ACLU, and everything is priced at $10!
The sale ends at 11pm Sunday night or if we run out of copies – limited quantities, so come grab yours now!!
Things you can get:
–from me (KL Noone): a bundle with six things: a couple of flash fics, a poem I wrote for my husband, a preview of the first 7k of the next Magician-related novel (it’s a Jer/Talis sequel!), a (moderately kinky!) bonus story for Sam and Leo from Character Bleed, and…well, one story you will never ever see anywhere else, a story which is now seventeen years old, from back when I wanted to write Humorous Fantasy and wanted to be young Terry Pratchett (or at least Peter David?), and I should probably apologize in advance about the terrible jokes
–from Geneva Vand: flash fiction of both m/m and f/f and stories for some of her published characters, including a proposal scene!
–from R. Cooper: one bundle of three AU short stories for the Familiar Beings (the Familiar Spirits/Beings fusion silliness) and ALSO a very limited rerelease of an old bundle for a different fundraiser several years ago
(The lovely R. Cooper, who organized this, adds: “copies will start to go out as Stripe (Galabid’s payment processor) begins to process the payments. So you won’t get your stuff immediately, but within a few hours or a day/two days. They tell me, and then I manually email them out. So it takes a bit lol. Please be patient with me.”)
After the sale is over and the last payment processed and copies are out, all three of us authors will post the total and the receipt everywhere!
Recent reads
May. 31st, 2025 11:50 amtheladyscribeA books update!
Recently finished:
Sonnets to Orpheus, Rainer Maria Rilke. Continuing my foray into Rilke's entire bibliography! I think this is my favorite of his works so far, with a clearer narrative arc than his other works that I've read.
The Siege of Burning Grass, Premee Mohamed. This started off strong, but the second half got messy and felt a bit rushed. I can see what Mohamed was going for - the complete devastation of war, how even peace movements fall to violence when a situation is desperate enough, how looking at your enemy can be looking at a mirror - but it didn't stick the landing for me.
The Fox Wife, Yangsze Choo. The first of two murder mysteries I read recently (I'll get to the second in a moment)! Loved the take on fox spirits in this and how they sit uneasily between the world of humans and the world of gods. I also really liked the elderly gentleman detective and his long-lost first love. There are a couple plot points I wanted more development of (I thought the people without shadows were underutilized), but on the whole I really liked this.
Catching the Big Fish, David Lynch. A series of essays on film-making, life, and meditation (a passion of Lynch's). I really liked the film-making essays - they put me in mind of Ray Bradbury's more autobiographical writing - but the meditation proselytizing got to be a bit too much woo for me.
A Song to Drown Rivers, Ann Liang. A retelling of the story of Xi Shi, one of the four great beauties of China. I wanted to like this more than I did, but I felt like it did a lot more telling than showing. I think it would make a great movie, but it was emotionally distant as a book, and I had a hard time connecting with the POV character.
Most Ardently, Gabe Cole Novoa. A YA trans retelling of Pride and Prejudice. This was recommended to me by my sister (a huge Jane Austen fan) and my nephew (he read it twice in a week lol), and it was very cute. I like some of the tweaks Novoa made, and Oliver's family's acceptance of his gender felt earned and cathartic when it very easily could have been treacly. I recommend it if you like P&P but want it queer!
Hyo the Hellmaker, Mina Ikemoto Ghosh. My favorite read of May! A kind of steampunk fantasy murder mystery set in a place that is not exactly Japan, but not not Japan, too. I mentioned on bluesky that it hits some really interesting notes on colonialism/colonization with its worldbuilding, though that isn't the focus of the story. It also has really cool takes on gods and patronage thereof, and you can definitely see the influence of both Japanese mythology and British mythology/fairy stories in the writing (the author is British-Japanese). And it's illustrated by the author!
Current Reads:
Unromance, Erin Connor
Think Little, Wendell Berry
Recently finished:
Sonnets to Orpheus, Rainer Maria Rilke. Continuing my foray into Rilke's entire bibliography! I think this is my favorite of his works so far, with a clearer narrative arc than his other works that I've read.
The Siege of Burning Grass, Premee Mohamed. This started off strong, but the second half got messy and felt a bit rushed. I can see what Mohamed was going for - the complete devastation of war, how even peace movements fall to violence when a situation is desperate enough, how looking at your enemy can be looking at a mirror - but it didn't stick the landing for me.
The Fox Wife, Yangsze Choo. The first of two murder mysteries I read recently (I'll get to the second in a moment)! Loved the take on fox spirits in this and how they sit uneasily between the world of humans and the world of gods. I also really liked the elderly gentleman detective and his long-lost first love. There are a couple plot points I wanted more development of (I thought the people without shadows were underutilized), but on the whole I really liked this.
Catching the Big Fish, David Lynch. A series of essays on film-making, life, and meditation (a passion of Lynch's). I really liked the film-making essays - they put me in mind of Ray Bradbury's more autobiographical writing - but the meditation proselytizing got to be a bit too much woo for me.
A Song to Drown Rivers, Ann Liang. A retelling of the story of Xi Shi, one of the four great beauties of China. I wanted to like this more than I did, but I felt like it did a lot more telling than showing. I think it would make a great movie, but it was emotionally distant as a book, and I had a hard time connecting with the POV character.
Most Ardently, Gabe Cole Novoa. A YA trans retelling of Pride and Prejudice. This was recommended to me by my sister (a huge Jane Austen fan) and my nephew (he read it twice in a week lol), and it was very cute. I like some of the tweaks Novoa made, and Oliver's family's acceptance of his gender felt earned and cathartic when it very easily could have been treacly. I recommend it if you like P&P but want it queer!
Hyo the Hellmaker, Mina Ikemoto Ghosh. My favorite read of May! A kind of steampunk fantasy murder mystery set in a place that is not exactly Japan, but not not Japan, too. I mentioned on bluesky that it hits some really interesting notes on colonialism/colonization with its worldbuilding, though that isn't the focus of the story. It also has really cool takes on gods and patronage thereof, and you can definitely see the influence of both Japanese mythology and British mythology/fairy stories in the writing (the author is British-Japanese). And it's illustrated by the author!
Current Reads:
Unromance, Erin Connor
Think Little, Wendell Berry
what walking?
May. 31st, 2025 01:59 amtwistedchickSometime during lockdown in the last four years, my arches fell. They had never been particularly high, but they felt fine in Birkies and so on. But now I am doing foot exercises to get them to show up at all, and if I don't it is really painful to walk any distance.
This cuts into my abiity to regain stamina and general fitness.
The exercises are starting to help significantly, so now all I need is a day or two without a major rainstorm or enough after a rainstorm that I won't be getting wet just by walking around near trees and bushes.
A friend told me that it takes at least 6 months to get one's energy back after COVID. Well, I was diagnosed Jan. 20 and it went for a couple of weeks actively and a few more overall. It took more time to be rid of the bad taste from the Pax than I expected. So I'm still within six months of it. I keep telling myself this.
The other thing that interferes with my health at the moment is variable tinitis, as in it comes and goes, and when it's there I have to find a soundscape in my CALM app that has that tone in it, so that the app's sounds distract me from the one inside my brain. Usually it works, but last night the inner sound had apparently retuned itself (autotune is the plague) and did not match anything on Calm except a wind in the trees, so I wasn't able to sleep, since the 'wind in pines' just didn't work. There is a downside to having perfect pitch and noticing when the inner-produced noises change.
This cuts into my abiity to regain stamina and general fitness.
The exercises are starting to help significantly, so now all I need is a day or two without a major rainstorm or enough after a rainstorm that I won't be getting wet just by walking around near trees and bushes.
A friend told me that it takes at least 6 months to get one's energy back after COVID. Well, I was diagnosed Jan. 20 and it went for a couple of weeks actively and a few more overall. It took more time to be rid of the bad taste from the Pax than I expected. So I'm still within six months of it. I keep telling myself this.
The other thing that interferes with my health at the moment is variable tinitis, as in it comes and goes, and when it's there I have to find a soundscape in my CALM app that has that tone in it, so that the app's sounds distract me from the one inside my brain. Usually it works, but last night the inner sound had apparently retuned itself (autotune is the plague) and did not match anything on Calm except a wind in the trees, so I wasn't able to sleep, since the 'wind in pines' just didn't work. There is a downside to having perfect pitch and noticing when the inner-produced noises change.
RIP, Loretta Swit
May. 30th, 2025 07:58 pmsettiaiWe've lost another one. Goodbye, Hot Lips. 🙁
I really need to add a M*A*S*H rewatch to my ever-growing list. I started one last year, but then work exploded and I just... never got back to it. Maybe I can do that when and if I finish the Babylon 5 rewatch.
I really need to add a M*A*S*H rewatch to my ever-growing list. I started one last year, but then work exploded and I just... never got back to it. Maybe I can do that when and if I finish the Babylon 5 rewatch.
Unplanned hiatus
May. 29th, 2025 10:51 ambeatrice_otterI just realized that I haven't looked at Dreamwidth in I have no idea how long. At least a week, probably. I wasn't especially busy; I did take a few days with my family for Memorial Day weekend mini-vacation (which we have done every year since before I was born), but judging by how far I've gone back in my reading list and haven't started seeing posts I recognize, I had stopped well before that.
Normally, checking DW is part of my daily routine. My flist isn't hugely active, so there's no need to check more than once a day, but it's the only place that I can reliably check in with several long-term friends, and of course a lot of exchanges are mostly run through DW and it makes it easier to keep up with what's planned and what's in progress. I missed the signups for Fandom 5k, and none of the pinch hits are things I'd want to write, which is a shame, because I prefer the longer exchanges. Ah, well, I guess that means I will have more time for shorter-minimum thematic exchanges instead.
If you posted something important and I missed it ... sorry! Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Normally, checking DW is part of my daily routine. My flist isn't hugely active, so there's no need to check more than once a day, but it's the only place that I can reliably check in with several long-term friends, and of course a lot of exchanges are mostly run through DW and it makes it easier to keep up with what's planned and what's in progress. I missed the signups for Fandom 5k, and none of the pinch hits are things I'd want to write, which is a shame, because I prefer the longer exchanges. Ah, well, I guess that means I will have more time for shorter-minimum thematic exchanges instead.
If you posted something important and I missed it ... sorry! Feel free to let me know in the comments!
(no subject)
May. 28th, 2025 07:57 pmlycomingstThe “put up a new fence” boys are here and have just about finished the job. Looks good. And I discovered my neighbor has a cherry tree. I am envious. I am out in the yard every day for about an hour or two. But the weeds and bushes are on a at least eight hour day and they’re racing ahead of me.
I took my first bath here last night. As opposed to the shower. I wanted to pumice stone my feet which are very hard skinned on the heels. The tub isn’t big but then I am not tall. I enjoyed it.
The Park has told me that I am on the list to have the very large, very dead tree in my backyard removed, at their expense. Later this summer. That will leave another stump but my plan involves having whatever I can afford ground down, in the future.
I took my first bath here last night. As opposed to the shower. I wanted to pumice stone my feet which are very hard skinned on the heels. The tub isn’t big but then I am not tall. I enjoyed it.
The Park has told me that I am on the list to have the very large, very dead tree in my backyard removed, at their expense. Later this summer. That will leave another stump but my plan involves having whatever I can afford ground down, in the future.
Oops?
May. 28th, 2025 08:05 pmsettiai"I'm exhausted from not getting enough sleep, and my spoons are gone after the hell that was work today," I said yesterday evening after getting home from work.
"I have so many things that I need to get done this evening, but I don't have the energy right now," I said. "Plus my head's really starting to hurt."
"You know what?" I asked myself. "A short nap will be the perfect solution."
Spoiler: it was not the perfect solution for accomplishing things yesterday evening. Why not? Because instead of it being a short nap, it turned into a full night's sleep.
Oops?
Seriously, I didn't even turn out the lights. I curled up on top of the comforter on the bed. I wasn't even under the sheets. And I still slept for hours.
Luckily, I woke up for something like twenty minutes a little before midnight. That gave me time to take care of a couple of things that I really had to do, and then I was able to at least turn out the lights and such. But, yeah. That wasn't exactly what my plan was for yesterday. It's certainly what happened, though.
"I have so many things that I need to get done this evening, but I don't have the energy right now," I said. "Plus my head's really starting to hurt."
"You know what?" I asked myself. "A short nap will be the perfect solution."
Spoiler: it was not the perfect solution for accomplishing things yesterday evening. Why not? Because instead of it being a short nap, it turned into a full night's sleep.
Oops?
Seriously, I didn't even turn out the lights. I curled up on top of the comforter on the bed. I wasn't even under the sheets. And I still slept for hours.
Luckily, I woke up for something like twenty minutes a little before midnight. That gave me time to take care of a couple of things that I really had to do, and then I was able to at least turn out the lights and such. But, yeah. That wasn't exactly what my plan was for yesterday. It's certainly what happened, though.
What I'm Doing Wednesday
May. 28th, 2025 03:39 pmsage( books (Shaw, a different Shaw, Spinney, Ames, Barkataki, Palmer) )
yarning
ahahaha, etsy. So, out of the blue, I sold 3 things Monday, 2 of which I didn't have in stock and had to make, and guess who hadn't crocheted at all in 3 weeks? And hardly at all for nearly 3 months? Also, I hadn't sold anything through Etsy except patterns in months, or promoted my shop on social media, or even uploaded the few things I've finished lately to my shop. Stupid shoulder, stupid slump. But now I've caught up, I need to jump back into it. And also get the sold items in the mail.
dirt
omg the thrips saga is ongoing. The whole extensive bathroom-greenhouse is at risk, and I've sprayed almost everything in there down with Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew, whether it's edible or not. Also unfortunate, there are fungus gnats in my terrarium, so along with a Buddha statue, there are 2 yellow sticky trap flags. They really set the tone. Um, not. Also, but fortunately, the snail is 100% NOT a leaf-eater, so I'm hoping it lives on detritus and not something important, like roots. Will have to do more research now that it's large enough to possibly identify.
( healthcrap )
food
I made mujadara for the first time in at least a year, and it turned out so well. I'm glad I used both giant sweet onions, because they were just enough. Also made sunflower arugula pesto. Zucchini noodles are weirdly satisfying, even if they aren't near filling enough. Still having trouble getting anywhere near thirty different plants a week in my diet, and also getting enough protein.
#resist
June 1: Pride LGBTQ Protest
June 3 to 9: Target Boycott
June 14: Flag Day & No King's Day (Trump's Birthday) Protest
June 19: Juneteenth Protest
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott and Protest
a list of resources:
50501, Tesla Takedown, Build The Resistance, The General Strike, Indivisible, Rise & Resist, Move On, The People's Union USA, all but the last taken from 50501's latest Substack post. Plus, on DW:thisfinecrew and communityactionusa.
I hope all of y'all are doing well! <333
yarning
ahahaha, etsy. So, out of the blue, I sold 3 things Monday, 2 of which I didn't have in stock and had to make, and guess who hadn't crocheted at all in 3 weeks? And hardly at all for nearly 3 months? Also, I hadn't sold anything through Etsy except patterns in months, or promoted my shop on social media, or even uploaded the few things I've finished lately to my shop. Stupid shoulder, stupid slump. But now I've caught up, I need to jump back into it. And also get the sold items in the mail.
dirt
omg the thrips saga is ongoing. The whole extensive bathroom-greenhouse is at risk, and I've sprayed almost everything in there down with Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew, whether it's edible or not. Also unfortunate, there are fungus gnats in my terrarium, so along with a Buddha statue, there are 2 yellow sticky trap flags. They really set the tone. Um, not. Also, but fortunately, the snail is 100% NOT a leaf-eater, so I'm hoping it lives on detritus and not something important, like roots. Will have to do more research now that it's large enough to possibly identify.
( healthcrap )
food
I made mujadara for the first time in at least a year, and it turned out so well. I'm glad I used both giant sweet onions, because they were just enough. Also made sunflower arugula pesto. Zucchini noodles are weirdly satisfying, even if they aren't near filling enough. Still having trouble getting anywhere near thirty different plants a week in my diet, and also getting enough protein.
#resist
June 1: Pride LGBTQ Protest
June 3 to 9: Target Boycott
June 14: Flag Day & No King's Day (Trump's Birthday) Protest
June 19: Juneteenth Protest
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott and Protest
a list of resources:
50501, Tesla Takedown, Build The Resistance, The General Strike, Indivisible, Rise & Resist, Move On, The People's Union USA, all but the last taken from 50501's latest Substack post. Plus, on DW:
thisfinecrew and communityactionusa.I hope all of y'all are doing well! <333
David Dastmalchian interview
May. 28th, 2025 02:29 pmmarthawellshttps://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/david-dastmalchian-murderbot-dexter-resurrection-interview/
"Now I feel much more comfortable advocating for [what I need]. To give you an example, on the set of Murderbot, going to my directors and writers, the showrunners, Chris and Paul [Weitz], and saying, ‘I'm really sorry, but on Wednesday at 2pm - I know I'm on the schedule that day, but is there any way I could be in my trailer for 45 minutes to have a therapy session?' and them being so supportive and loving and saying, ‘Of course, we will get you a Wi-Fi booster,’ because we were out in the middle of nowhere.
"Now I feel much more comfortable advocating for [what I need]. To give you an example, on the set of Murderbot, going to my directors and writers, the showrunners, Chris and Paul [Weitz], and saying, ‘I'm really sorry, but on Wednesday at 2pm - I know I'm on the schedule that day, but is there any way I could be in my trailer for 45 minutes to have a therapy session?' and them being so supportive and loving and saying, ‘Of course, we will get you a Wi-Fi booster,’ because we were out in the middle of nowhere.