tcpip | Reading

1. If you had to participate in one Olympic event, what would it be and why?
Basketball, or anything involving throwing a ball.

2. What is the one song you always sing along to?
There's way more than one! But just today, I was singing along to "Alone in Hollywood on Acid." Check it out:

Watch on YouTube

3. Do you wear a seatbelt in the car?
Yes.

4. Car, SUV or truck and why?
Truck! BIG truck! Because large vehicles feel (are?) safer, and you can move things – good for thrifting furniture and stuff!

5. Are you a good/bad driver? Explain.
I'm what they call a "passenger princess."

Current Mood: calm

microbie

Two books I bought on whims didn't turn out to be gems, but it was good to try new authors, I guess.

Allegro, Ariel Dorfman

This is billed as a mystery about Johann Sebastian Bach's death that is solved by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is actually a hellaciously overwrought, needlessly wordy, and tedious meditation on art and how suffering affects art. There is no mystery, just page after page of absurdly intricate prose. I assume Dorfman was paid by the word. I gave it one star on Goodreads because there's a playlist at the end. That's the best part of the book.

The Nakano Thrift Shop, Hiromi Kawakami (translated by Allison Markham Powell)

The premise was alluring--a story centered on three people who work in a thrift shop in a Tokyo suburb. I did enjoy reading a Japanese novel that was about ordinary people. There are no murders, no fantasy elements, no wealthy characters. Nakano is the family name of the owner, and he employs two people, Hitomi and Takeo. His sister, Masayo, is also frequently at the shop (though she has her own business nearby and is an artist). Like a lot of workplace ensemble stories, there's a tendency for the characters to overshare and become overinvolved in each other's lives. Nakano shares details about sex with his girlfriend that I'd be embarrassed to share with a close friend, let alone co-workers I supervise. Hitomi and Takeo attempt to date despite not having anything in common. The dates are deeply awkward, yet somehow they progress to having sex, and later Hitomi decides that she is in love with Takeo. Maybe I was just too tired to appreciate this author's particular brand of quirkiness. I gave it two stars, mostly because the writing didn't make me want to bleach my eyeballs.

The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead

I knew this would be an emotionally draining read, but I didn't realize how draining it would be. I read it quickly, over Thanksgiving weekend, because I absolutely did not want to linger on it. Whitehead is a terrific writer, but the brutality made my eyes water and my stomach heave. I will not be watching the movie adaptation.

silver_chipmunk

Got up at 10:00 today. While I was lying in bed deciding to get up, I got a text and then a call from

mashfanficchick. Then I did get up, had breakfast and coffee, and then took a shower, washed my hair and dressed.

Then while I was waiting for my hair to dry I worked on the decorating some more. I poured a glass of eggnog, put on Christmas music on Pandora, and put up a lot of the tree ornaments, though there's still lots more to do. I also put the star lights across the TV and plugged them in, so I have them going too, as well as the tree and the entryway lights.

Then once my hair was dry I got my sweater on and my coat and hat and took out the garbage, and walked around the block. Then while I was going around the block I detoured to the mailbox and mailed the three cards I made out yesterday.

Then I got a call from Middle Brother's group home, they wanted to get our plans for Christmas straightened out, so I did that, and it's taken care of now.

Came back in and did more tree decorating.

Finally heard back from Chris, we're going to meet up on Thursday, in Union Square at the Barnes and Noble. In the cafe, I am not going to order anything because it's Starbucks and the strike is still on, but I can sit there and meet up with him.

And then we'll have dinner somewhere I guess. So I'm not going to mail his card to him. I'm hand delivering it that night.

Anyway, I kept decorating til I got too depressed to go on, and lay down in bed until 6:30 when I came out and got ready to Team the FWiB,

We talked at 7:00 until 8:00 when I got off for my Al-anon meeting by Zoom, which was very good tonight though M wasn't there.

After the meeting I had dinner, and lay down to play solitaire until pet feeding time, when I fed the pets,

I finished Somewhere Beyond the Sea last night, not as good as The House on the Cerulean Sea, but I enjoyed it.

Tomorrow, more tree decorating, And hopefully, finally, a gaming session.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Cards mailed.

3. Middle Brother's plans set.

4. Tree is getting done.

5. Eggnog.

6. Got in touch and made plans with Chris.

Current Mood: good

sweetsorcery

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Current Mood: depressed

fred_mouse

Well into 'it's not one thing after another, the damn things overlap' territory here

nominal deadline for my confirmation of candidature to have been submitted has passed without anything from my reviewers (one of three from our school has theirs)
Eldest's quilt has been somewhat abandoned, which is annoying me but I haven't had the cope
Instead I've been working on logistics of Youngest's quilt, which is very heavy in the planning stages (picture quilt, converting it from a photo)
Took a week at home on light duties last week, this week I'm back in the office. Did surprisingly well yesterday. Surgery site looks to have healed on the surface but the internals are still quite sore, so I'm still sleeping with the post-surgery bra.
Middlest and their partners have bought a house. They move in January. There was a messy blow up with the fourth housemate, who has since moved out, so they are learning how they fit together as a trio, and it sounds like things are going well. R's parents are providing lots of important support for the process.
Saw the nurse for follow up on Monday. They didn't like the wound support stuff I'd found in the pharmacy (because it is plasticky) and replaced it with a stiff fabric 'can be washed but blow dry it after' dressing that was so annoying/itchy I took it off last night (and it took off lots of ick; that area has an unsurprising build up of Stuff) and put the second piece of the wound support stuff on. That is so much better -- it is a clear plastic lattice that actually moves with the area, rather than digging in. Also, I'm not reacting to the glue.
My middle sibling and their partner are moving to Perth for two years. D has a job at UWA, K's job will allow 'remote' work from the Perth office. Amusingly, D described UWA as 'not restructuring' and Youngest laughed when reading that out. My comment was that from my perspective it has never not been restructuring, it is just the level that is changing. Plus, there was a leaked minutes from some meeting that suggested they were going to try and get a merger with Curtin, which I learned about when the Curtin Guild sent a 'not if we can help it' email out to all students. Pointed out to sibling that as they and I share a family name there is a non-zero chance they are going to get spotted as related.

dorchadas

Just about every year for Thanksgiving,

sashagee and I head out for our parents' houses for Thanksgiving, usually doing dinner at one and lunch at the other's the next day, but this year was different. To help give

sashagee time to clean the house and get some chores done, Laila went out to the grandparents last Saturday and stayed there until Friday afternoon, when all the grandparents assembled at our home for our first family hosted Thanksgiving!

It went very well. My parents still had a dinner with Laila, with turkey and their traditional sides--rolls, potatoes, A Vegetable, and jello--and they brought the turkey, stuffing, and jello with them when they came.

sashagee's parents brought two pies, one pumpkin and one apple.

sashagee made steamed broccoli, honey-glazed carrots, and whipped feta pumpkin dip. We sat as many people as would fit around our table, my parents sat on the couch with tv trays in front of them, and we ate a delicious meal. Except Laila, but you know, she's a four-year-old so when she only ate some bread and a bit of carrot and then said she was done, well, that's just being a four-year-old. It's no comment on the actual food.

Everyone told

sashagee that they had a great time and maybe we'll be doing it next year. And I'm not surprised, honestly, since we did all the cleaning and prep work. And

sashagee got to be hostess! Just hopefully next year Laila will eat dinner.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Rhythm and Pixels podcast

dewline

A suggestion to the people currently care-taking for the Star Trek franchise, one that Larry and David Ellison may well try to prevent the heeding of: the writing teams need people who have served in military or NGO contexts, or have survived as refugees and/or dissidents.

Current Mood: busy

dorchadas

Reading a post online of people complaining about Morgoth and it goes like:

"Who are these people who claim he's boring and pathetic? Are they folks who only accept a Dark Lord who's constantly roaring and smashing his enemies left and right, like in a video game or a blockbuster movie? I really hope anyone who's bothered to read the Silmarillion can see him more deeply than that. He's a brilliant character and the opposite of a one-dimensional Great Villain."

"Well, he was called a "craven little bitch" in this very thread."

"Well he's definitely that."

Though admittedly, my main image of Morgoth is him dueling Fingolfin, which he did do, even if The Silmarillion says he only did it to save face in front of his captains, and about how he wore the iron crown with the Silmarils in it even though it caused him horrible pain because it was a symbol of his (supposed) rightful authority.

Metal.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: inentmet - Fingolfin the Brave

conuly

You'd think we'd get snow, but no. Tomorrow's forecast thus far calls for a "wintery mix". The only wintery mix I want is cocoa and marshmallows, not whatever the hell happens to fall from the sky like soggy doom confetti.

19F, jesus. At least it'll be warmer tomorrow. Warm enough to get a fucking wintery mix instead of snow, which is what we really want.

********************

( Read more... )

leecetheartist

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conuly

So much awful stuff happens to the protagonists in the last third of the show that I often don't make it all the way through. It's worth it, though - my favorite character suddenly gets enough growth to become my favorite character, and the villain dies in a very satisfying way, allowing me to say ( Read more... )

******************************

( Read more... )

conuly

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

*********

Link

tcpip

Last night I hosted the annual Murdoch University Alumni meeting for Melbourne at the Arts Centre with plenty of excellent and intelligent conversation, as would be expected at such an event (well-catered too, I must add). As part of the formal proceedings, we held a panel discussion on what Murdoch University meant and how it changed us. Our panel, quite remarkably, had graduates from every decade of the university's existence, including a foundation student, Dr. Trevor Hogan, and the remarkable story from Lem Bagout, who came to Australia as a refugee from Sudan; he now teaches physics.

For my own part (representing the 1990s graduates), I made the point that the radical parts of Murdoch's original educational objectives ("the Murdoch ethos") are now accepted and mainstream: encouraging mature-aged students and lifelong learning, allowing for part-time and external studies, encouraging interdisciplinary studies, and alternative entry based on experience. I also made a point of mentioning Bruce Tapper, who died a year ago on the day; not just because he was such a huge influence on my life, but in particular, because he was such a fierce advocate for Murdoch University's progressive education and egalitarian access.

In many ways, my alma mater sometimes stands in stark contrast with my employer, the University of Melbourne. Prestigious and conservative, the UniMelb is recognised as the top university in the country, which is really due to the excellent and well-funded research sector, standing on the shoulders of giants past. At UniMelb in the past fortnight, there have been two social occasions of note: an end-of-year potluck lunch for Research Computing Services (I brought along the Polish duck soup (Czernina), and an end-of-year social event for all of Business Services, this year held on campus at the Ernie Cropley Pavilion, a better location, and superior catering to previous years.

As another example of contrast, last Saturday I attended the Thangka Art Exhibition on Tibetan Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Development hosted by the Australian ReTeng Charity Foundation, associated with the Buddhist ReTeng Monastery in Donvale. I was somewhat surprised and impressed by the sheer number of dignitaries from the Melbourne Chinese community in attendance, and extremely impressed by the artworks on display. There was some juxtaposition of this aesthetic event, and the one attended in the evening, with Carla BL, at a little bar in Fitzroy to see a group of post-punk musicians (including my favourite local coldwave artists, Cold Regards) perform. For reasons of international travel, this is the end of EoY Melbourne activities - next stop, Santiago!

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: The Rookery

silver_chipmunk

I slept very late today, after 1:00. Then I finally got up and had breakfast and coffee.

mashfanficchick went to Ohio to see Dani and family for Hanukkah but ze texted me the addresses of two more friends I want to send cards, plus I got an email from Frank with his and Maureen's address so I made out those three cards and have them ready to mail.

I also made an appointment with Quest for my blood tests, which is on Friday.

Then I put some Christmas music on Pandora on the computer, poured a glass of eggnog, and got the Christmas tree out from behind the TV and assembled it and set it up.

I also got the three bins of decorations out from the corner where they live, and I started decorating the apartment.

The tree has the lights and garlands on it, nothing more yet. I will start putting some decorations on it later, but I may wait til

mashfanficchick gets back to finish. But there won't be a lot of time at that point so... we'll see. I won't do everything in one day, no matter what, it's just too depressing alone. Oldest Brother and I used to decorate my tree, and we had a lot of fun doing it. I miss him so much.

Anyway, aside from the tree I got the banner on the door outside, and the garland and lights on the living room entryway. And I put up some other stuff in the living room, including the stockings.

After I was done with all that I had another glass of eggnog, and it was almost time to Team the FWiB.

We talked for about an hour and a half, and then I had dinner.

After dinner I went to the bedroom and contacted the Kid who finally gave me the information I needed about the beer brewing thing for her boyfriend. So I called

mashfanficchick for a brief discussion of that, and then ordered the thing.

By the time I finished the order it was pet feeding time so I fed the pets, and started here.

I have been reminded that today is the 45th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. I remember it so clearly. I was in college, waking with my boyfriend to the bar, when someone passed us going in the opposite direction and called out that John Lennon had been shot. We turned around and went back to my dorm, which had a TV, and listened. We heard Howard Cossell announce he was dead. Then we went down to the bar and all that was playing on the jukebox were Beetles songs. I'll never forget.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Got the tree up at least and some decorations.

3. Eggnog.

4. Quest appointment was easy to make.

5. The thing for the Kid's boyfriend is ordered.

6. The life of John Lennon.

Current Mood: pensive

duskpeterson

The Emorian borderland, like the remainder of the borderland, is famed for the friendliness of its villagers. Despite that, do not be surprised if you are asked to pay for your room and board. Past foreign visitors have often taken advantage of the villagers in order to escape the high price of inns elsewhere in Southern Emor.

In the westernmost villages, you will find a blend of Emorian and Daxion life; though no bards live here, villagers can often be heard singing. As you travel further east, the singing will slowly cease, replaced by talk of blood-lineages and the seven gods and goddesses. You are now in the portion of the Emorian borderland that lies north of Koretia.

The borderland is the only part of Emor where vineyards can be found. Despite the relative coolness of the Emorian borderland, Emor's wines are among the best in the Three Lands. Especially popular is sweetened wild-berry wine (don't try the unsweetened variety unless you enjoy bitter drinks, which you probably do if you're Koretian) and wall-vine wine, made of a mild-tasting grape that grows only in the Emorian borderland.

Farming is also common here. Eastern mainlanders who farm will find much to interest them in these lands that have been plowed since ancient times.

Travelling east, you will eventually reach a crossroads. To travel on to Emor's capital, turn left.

[Translator's note: Hidden Blade shows life in an Emorian borderland village.]

leecetheartist

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Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Jelaza Kazone

leecetheartist

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silver_chipmunk

Slept late at

mashfanficchick's. Finally got up and had coffee, a bit before 12:00.

Ze got up later, and while I waited I showered and dressed. Then ze got up, and we went into Flushing by the bus.because the subway had the construction meaning we'd have to take a shuttle bus between Mets/Willits Point and Main Street.

We went to the Chinese Rice Noodle place and had lunch of noodle soup. I had the mixed mushroom, which came with an interesting variety of things to add in.

After we finished eating, we went our separate way, ze to zer father's in Great Neck, me home.

Got here in time to join in the Starsky and Hutch creative work session, which started today at 3:30 rather than 1:30 as usual. So I was only about an hour late.

We had a good time chatting until 6:30ish, and then we ended.

At 7:00 I tried to Team the FWiB but had some technical difficulties, but eventually we got connected.

We talked til about 8:30, when I called Middle Brother. He is fine, nothing new.

After that I put in a Shipt order. I was expecting to have to wait until tomorrow, and just wanted to make the order, but to my surprise, they said delivery between 11:00 and 12:00. They must be having holiday season hours at Target.

At 10:00 I fed the pets again (of course I fed them when I first got home) and started here.

Now I'm waiting for the delivery.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2.

mashfanficchick

3. Chinese food in Flushing.

4. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.

5. Shipt and Target are on holiday hours so I'm getting my order.

6. Middle Brother is fine.

Current Mood: chipper

dewline

Current Mood: busy

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Lev Lafayette's journal

Reading

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The Friday Five for December 5, 2025

November reading

More Christmas decorating

Meh

Life lived in dot points

Happy home Thanksgiving!

About that "National Security Statement"?

About the Trek Writers' Rooms?

Morgoth

Brr, it's cold out.

Inkvent 2025 December 9th

Finished a relisten to Wolf 359

Famous by Naomi Shihab Nye

Murdoch Uni and Other End-of-Year Events

Christmas decorating

FIC: Emorian borderland (Tempestuous Tours)

Diamine Inkvent Calendar December 8th 2025

Yummy

Slept late

Musical Interlude: "A Song Is a Weapon" by Stars

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