Network

Scrape, Scrape, Scrape....

For much of yesterday there was a man sitting nonchalantly on the slope of a neighbouring roof scraping moss off the tiles with a long-handled tool.....

"Do you believe in Banshees?" asked Damian. "Of course," I said. "I believe in everything"

Is the US President really so dumb that he overlooked the possibility that his name might appear in the Epstein Files? I think his extraordinary volte-face might have to do with someone reminding him that it is unwise to annoy the Intelligence Services (for whom Epstein was almost certainly working) and that there was once a man called John F Kennedy.

The have always been wild-men. In Britain we called them wodwos or woodoses or variations thereof. They live in the wildernesses and as the wildernesses retreat so do they. They thrive in the American and Canadian backwoods and you might be surprised at how many people have not only seen and heard them but regularly interact with them.

I think my job at the Meeting House is to be friendly and welcoming- not something I ever used to be- and yesterday I rather overdid it and frightened a visitor off.

"Seek to know one another in the things that are eternal" is a sentence that appears in the Quaker handbook called Advice and Queries. John has been puzzling over it and wanted to know what we thought it meant. To me it has the tang of 17th century English and I'm thinking it has been extracted from one of the early, classic texts and shoehorned in among much later matter. I suggested it meant we should relate to one another as spiritual beings and overlook the quirks of personality that can be so annoying and alienating- and that it comes out of the same mystical mindset as Fox's brilliant line about "answering that of God in every man". Others had suggestions too, but I don't believe John was entirely persuaded by any of us.

(no subject)

Happy birthday,

sciarra!

Friday's comic

"Voila!" "Ta-Da!" "Behold!"

Entry tags:

just one thing

Just One Thing (18 July 2025)

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

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Temperature Flash fic reveals

Terrible Temperature Flash authors were revealed this evening, and I wrote two not at all predictable fics:

A Touch of Warmth (Biggles books, Biggles/EvS, 1000 words)
This was entirely for the mental image of Erich wrapping his coat around a chilled Biggles. ♥

Taking the Heat (Babylon 5, Vir & Londo gen, 2500 wds)
Londo gets heatstroke on Centauri Prime. This was a treat for the h/c of it all.

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meme

if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Clint/Bucky

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

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We grieve the weirdest things

Yesterday, the blokes finally installed our new reverse cycle air-conditioning system. They decommissioned the ducted gas heating (the increase in gas prices and carbon emissions being the reason for the change-over), but also the evaporative cooling system. I loved that damn thing. It was the first major improvement we did on our house back in 2001, and it made the house bearable during the summers. I'm sure I'll get used to the new system and it won't wake me every time the fan starts up, but I'm ridiculously grief-stricken right now. Definition of first world problems, I guess.

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thursday reads and things

I really did intend to post yesterday, but I didn't get to it. Well, it's Thursday!

What I recently finished reading:

The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison, the third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo sub-series of The Goblin Emperor books. I had gone into it with mixed feelings; not that I strongly cared about

spoiler

the Thara Celehar/Iäna Pel-Thenhior ship, but I had heard that the way it was sunk was awkward and issueficcy and felt like "I was going to write this relationship in but it felt pointless after all the fanfiction", and - yeah, it was

but I enjoyed it, overall. I liked the low-ish stakes plot, and the DRAGONS, and the fairly mild author's message of what makes a person a person, and the importance of basic rights and the rule of law, which, let's face it, is a relevant message these days.

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, stand-alone SF. Again, a lot of people whose reviews I follow didn't like it, but I did; Tchaikovsky is hit and miss for me, but this was a hit. A biologist who is also a political dissident on an extremely authoritarian Earth is exiled as prison labor on a planet with native life that is very weird and apparently hostile. This is basically another exploration of Tchaikovsky's Theme, which is at core, I think, "How can we see the Other as a Person? How do we overcome the instinct to be closed and tribal, and instead practice empathy, leading to discussion and exchange?" There are echos of the Children of Time series, in particular Children of Ruin (the second book), I think. There is also the strong contrast between a culture which gives lip service to the importance of individuality, but demands conformity, and a culture which emphasizes the communal and the good of the community. And of course, the importance of resistance, of holding to one's core beliefs even in the face of a terrible horrible authoritarian government.

I mostly enjoyed the style except for a few references which seemed a little too grounded in 21st century reality for this future in which humans are mining multiple far-flung planets. The structure and pacing worked well for me. Warning for a terrible horrible authoritarian government that doesn't give a shit about human lives other than their own, and body horror, and an ending which may strike some people as not entirely happy, but which satisfied me.

sovay, it's very different from Elder Race but if these themes appeal I think you'll like it.

"Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy" by Martha Wells, a Murderbot short story, in which Murderbot doesn't explicitly appear, but ART | Perihelion has recently met it for the first time. It's from Iris's point of view, on a mission with the rest of the crew, and really the mission is just a framing device McGuffin for "Peri has changed because it met someone?!?", and I agree with

runpunkrun's take that there are way too many words devoted to them walking around on this mission which turns out to be not really relevant, compared to the actual point of the story. Still, it's nice to have a bit about Murderbot from not Murderbot's POV.

What I'm reading now:

Just started on the seventh and last Shardlake book by CJ Sansom, Tombland.

What I recently finished watching:

Murderbot! I enjoyed it! I (mostly) appreciate, or at least understand, the changes they made in adaptation. (Not sure why it's not enough for Pin-Lee to be Space Lawyer, but also must be Badass Fighter? And the Arada/Pin-Lee/Ratthi thing didn't seem to have any reason for being and just felt a bit cringe.) I really loved the ending, and Gurathin's whole general arc, and SANCTUARY MOOOOON, and Mensah is chef's kiss perfect.

Speaking of Sanctuary Moon, Murderbot vidded it! Okay, it was really

pollyrepeat, but: RADIOACTIVE by Murderbot [vid]!!!

What I'm watching now:

Arcane, because B watched the first episode during the winter, riding the stationary bike, and decided I might like to watch it with him, so moved on to something else so we could watch it together. Not very far into it yet.

What I recently listened to:

The third episode of S3 of The Strange Case of Starship Iris, which, I really liked this one!

Entry tags:

guardian

Wishlist -- all the prompts!

guardian_wishlist is returning next month, yay! It's my favourite event. It runs like

fandomtrees: people sign up with a wishlist of things they'd like to receive, and then anyone can make them gifts. One of the things I love about it is that every year I make things that would never have occurred to me otherwise: the SID Team writing RPS, Arthurian-inspired AU, tea shop AU, Zhu Hong learning martial arts, Li Qian joining the SID, etc.

I find most of my own prompts revolve, by default, around my main /-pairings, so I try to make a conscious effort to include gen and &-pairing prompts in my signups too. And (speaking not as a co-mod, but as a co-participant) I'd like to gently encourage everyone else to do the same, if they'd like to receive that kind of thing, because I love writing little gen and other-pairing things (as well as SW/ZYL), and prompts are love. :D

Current Mood: pleased

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sunshine challenge: 2025

Sunshine Challenge 2025: #3

Catching up! I've been so absorbed in writing the last couple weeks I've barely been posting. These last couple chapters of Sonata are intense.

Challenge #3
Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?

Everything out of the Redwall cookbook, honestly, especially the scones. I've been cooking since I was very small, and got that cookbook as a birthday present the year I got really into those books (around 10-11, probably? I don't remember for sure). These days I have 2-3 scone recipes I rotate (including a savory cheese-and-chives one I should really make again sometime, it's been a while), but summer as a kid always meant I had lots of free time to make Redwall Stuff.

Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes.

Well, tonight I just made the shortbread recipe out of the Redwall cookbook, if that counts! It's extremely simple, which is nice after a really long day. Mix it, put it in the oven, and ignore it for a while. I don't know if it's my favorite summer recipe all the time, but it sure is today.

( shortbread recipe )

Entry tags:

health,
rl_25

(no subject)

Wind blew in dry air, which was much appreciated, and later cooler air, which is heavenly. May try sleeping with just a window fan tonight because this open windows policy won't last long.

Popped a crown, which is what comes of eating French bread that's both chewy and has a crust. Dentist can see me Monday instead of Thursday, which is as well because Thursday is set, once again, to be steamy and stormy. Really must arrange to not have my 6 month checkups in July because July is now monsoon season in TO. Mind, the rain forecast for today kindly stayed away from my area, which was nice except I'd half-hoped it would wash the seedling scum from the bins.

So went to the library to return the McKay book and also to photocopy my statement of account, from my tax return, which for some reason I didn't do in April. Needed for the property tax deferral form, as also for next year's income tax. Then had sushi at Sushi on Bloor, where kind diners always open doors for me coming in and staff hold them open going out, because the staff, at least, know I pay in cash and tip 40%. Which I do because single diners in popular restaurants need to sweeten the servers.

Also in my attempts at shrinking myself, have lost two pounds plus or minus since Monday. Was wondering when the too too solid flesh would melt because I've been melting for weeks with no effect. So it begins, I hope.

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New series!

(Whoops, forgot to cross-post this! Seems a good time to remind y'all that you can subscribe to my Wordpress site to always get notified when there's a new post -- including all the weekly Patreon announcements that I keep not cross-posting ever since my plugin broke.

(Now, the actual post:)

There will be a more formal, industry-oriented announcement of this later, but since I announced this at BayCon the other day, I am delighted to say: I have sold a new series to Angry Robot!

Part of the reason the formal announcement will come later is that we need to figure out what the actual title of the series and/or first book will be. Right now my working title is something in the vein of The Worst Monk in the World Goes on Pilgrimage -- and if that sounds semi-cozy to you, you're not wrong. The elevator pitch is that a Buddhist-style monk with incredibly bad karma embarks on a famous pilgrimage in an attempt to make things better, and (of course) runs into complications along the way.

I'm currently over halfway through the draft of the first book, but due to Angry Robot's promotional plans for this series, it's likely that it won't launch until 2027. Don't worry, though; you'll have The Sea Beyond to entertain you until then!

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daily

Daily check-in

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Thursday, July 17, to midnight on Friday, July 18 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #33371 Daily check-in poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 27

How are you doing?

I am OK
16 (59.3%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
11 (40.7%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
9 (33.3%)

One other person
12 (44.4%)

More than one other person
6 (22.2%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

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quotes

Productivity

From Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, chapter 4:

As Marie Curie understood, our default stance is to measure our actual accomplishments against all the things we could, in principle, still do.

This is the lesson we insecure overachievers could do with getting into our skulls: actions don’t have to be things that we grind out, day after day, in order to inch ever closer to some elusive state of finally getting to qualify as adequate humans. Instead, they can just be enjoyable expressions of the fact that that’s what we already are.

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medical issues

Knee update

My knee has been doing a bit better in the last week, as well as my hamstrings. Once the weather cools off a bit (it's been in the low to mid 30s Celsius), I'm hoping to try another long walk. I'm fine with shorter walks at those temperatures, but 12 hours is a bit much.

Speaking of which, my partner and I had this funny exchange:

Me: Hopefully no thunderstorms this weekend.
Me: It's hard to plan 12-hour walks if you know it might lightning on you.
Her: yeah
Her: i mean, i believe you, i don't really know what 12 hr walks are
Her: even as a concept, it's a bit like "not even light can escape a black hole", ok I trust you, but I don't understand
Me: 😂

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[embodiment] ... well that's just rude

Beginning of last week: experimented with dropping my amitriptyline dose from 75 mg to 50 mg, after a week of having been really fairly good at actually taking it at or around 9 p.m. rather than... later... as an experiment in "does this reduce daytime sleepiness?"

(Prompted by the all-nighter I pulled filling out the EHRC consultation and trying to get the house to cool down overnight during the 35 °C weather: in service of same I did not take my amitriptyline and... felt weirdly good all the following day? With no naps? Like, not even sleep-dep euphoria, just... relatively cheerful and with it and so on and so forth?)

And, see, I'd been aware that last time I tried dropping the ami dose my insomnia got much worse again, so I was alert for that, but after the first night of Fretting I've actually been doing remarkably well! It is possible that I have more or less learned how to go to sleep! I'm super proud of myself!

... and then at the beginning of this week I started going "huh, I'm getting a bunch of endometriosis-y abdominal twinges. that's... interesting. like, it's about six months post-op, and that's when pain commonly recurs, but this doesn't feel like my pre-op pain at all, so what's... going on?"

WHAT IS GOING ON IS THAT I HAVE REDUCED THE DOSE OF MY ONE AND ONLY PAINKILLER.

But the really unfair bit, right, the bit I am actually aggrieved about?

... is that apparently last time I tried this my pain also kicked up a gear and I was also surprised then and I had completely forgotten about this. I remembered the insomnia!!! I did not remember the increased pain. How dare I produce evidence that Sometimes Painkillers Work. :|

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news

Two more things to read [news]

It's important to learn about examples where people have been successful in reducing violent crime. The methods might not be all that surprising, and yet there are still many places that could stand to better implement some of what's described in this article about Baltimore.

https://popular.info/p/the-secret-to-baltimores-extraordinary

Next up, today I encountered an essay by the Tufts graduate student who was abducted by federal agents because she had helped write an op-ed in the student newspaper. In this essay, she has written much more extensively about her experiences in "detainment" in this country - as someone who was ultimately released relatively expediently because the charges against her were horribly flimsy. Accounts like hers are important to read, because many of the people who go through experiences like hers never have a chance to be heard.

https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2025/07/op-ed-even-god-cannot-hear-us-here-what-i-witnessed-inside-an-ice-womens-prison

Who owns these prisons, anyway?

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Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West, by Kelly Ramsey

Kelly Ramsey became a hotshot - the so-called Special Forces of firefighting - with three strikes against her. She's a woman on an otherwise all-male crew, a small woman dealing with equipment much too big for her, and 36 years old when most of the men are in their early 20s. If that's not enough, it's 2020 - the start of the pandemic - and California is having a record fire year, with GIGAFIRES that burn more than ONE MILLION acres. At one point her own hometown burns down.

The memoir tells the story of her two seasons with the Rowdy River Hotshots, her relationship with her awful fiance (also a firefighter, on a different crew), her relationship with her alcoholic homeless father, and a general memoir of her life. I'd say about three-fifths of the book is about the hotshots, and two-fifths are her fiance/her father/her life up to that point.

You will be unsurprised to hear that I was WAY more interested in the hotshots than in her personal life. The fiance was loosely relevant to her time with the hotshots (he was jealous of both the male hotshots and of her job itself), and her alcoholic father and her history of impulsive sexual relationships was relevant to her personality, but you could have cut all of that by about 75% and still gotten the point.

All the firefighting material is really interesting, and Ramsey does an impressively good job of not only vividly depicting hotshot culture, but also differentiating 19 male firefighters. I had a good idea of what all of them were like and knew who she meant whenever she mentioned one, and that is not easy. You get a very good idea of both the technique and sheer physical effort it takes to fight fires, along with plenty of info on fire behavior and the history of fire in California. (She does not neglect either climate change or the indigenous use of fire.)

This feels like an incredibly honest book. Ramsey doesn't gloss over how gross and embarrassing things get when no one's bathed for weeks, you've been slogging through powdery ash the whole time, there's no toilets, and you're the only one who menstruates. She depicts not only the struggle of trying to keep up with a bunch of younger, stronger, macho guys, but how desperate she is to be accepted by them as one of the guys and how this causes problems when another woman joins the crew - a woman who openly points out that flawed men are welcomed while every mistake she makes is taken as a sign that women can't do the job.

I caught myself wishing that Ramsey hadn't had an affair with one of her crew mates as many readers will think "Yep, that's what happens when women get on crews," and then realizing that I hadn't thought that about the man who had the affair with her. Even I blamed Ramsey and not the equally culpable dude!

Ramsey reminded me at times of Amy Dunn's vicious description of the "cool girl" in Gone Girl, but to her credit, she's aware that this is a persona she adopted to please men and fill the void left by her alcoholic dad. Thankfully, there's a lot more to the book than that.

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Sunshine Revival Challenge #5

sunshine_revival's next challenge is:

Carnival Barker
Journaling prompt: Be a carnival barker for your favorite movie, book, or show! Write a post that showcases the best your chosen title has to offer and entices passersby to check it out.
Creative prompt: Write a fic or original story about a character reluctantly doing something they are hesitant about.

My favorite show is, as it has been since 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's my go-to comfort watch. I'm not big on blanket recommendations since, hey, I don't know what you like! But here are five of the things I love about it:

Competence porn. These people are the best at what they do and excel under pressure. I never get tired of watching them work together like a well-oiled machine.

A crew that loves each other. The chemistry among the crew just gets better as the show goes on and they grow into their relationships and comfort with each other. Interesting friendships, earned respect and trust, and a lot of different kinds of love.

An optimistic future. The core premise of Star Trek is that in the future humans will stop fighting each other, learn to value diversity, and travel into space on missions of peaceful exploration. I need this kind of hope in my life.

Ethical dilemmas. How do you write stories with conflict when everyone likes each other and is on the same side? Ethical quandaries! Some of my favorite scenes involve people who respect each other seriously discussing and/or passionately arguing about what the right thing to do is, and the answer isn't obvious. This is catnip for me.

Nostalgia. The show was a fixture of my childhood (and adolescence, since reruns are forever) so that's obviously going to be a factor! As decades have passed and we've entered the era of streaming prestige dramas—which are great in their own way, don't get me wrong—I find that revisiting an earlier era of lower budgets and leisurely season lengths has an increasingly appealing old-school charm.