tozka: Dawn (from Buffy) reading a book with a starry background (buffy dawn with stars)
[personal profile] tozka

Book Info

A Trip of One’s Own: Hope, Heartbreak, and Why Traveling Solo Could Change Your Life by Kate Wills (2021)

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel

LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/28155352/

Acquired from: Little Free Library, [undisclosed location], USA

Started reading: September 19, 2025

Finished reading: TBD

Bookmark: California bookstore (came with book)

Notes

Page 0: I already travel solo extensively (in fact, full-time for years) but this seems more like a travel memoir than a how-to so I think it’ll be good to read.

She’s following the travels of one of the early travel writers, Egeria, who went on a pilgrimage which means visiting Israel and other nearby sites. In fact this author starts right off in Israel, just fyi.

Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

tozka: title character sitting with a friend (lady lovely locks & friends)
[personal profile] tozka

Book Info

Cover of The Forest Unseen

Genre: Nonfiction, Natural History, Ecology

LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/11720259/t/The-Forest-Unseen-A-Years-Watch-in-Nature

Acquired from: Little Free Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA [see log]

Started reading: August 17, 2025

Finished reading: September 2 (DNF)

May come back to this later (in ebook version) but it’s not holding my attention and I don’t want to carry it around waiting for it.

Reading Updates

Title Page: This copy is signed by the author!

Page xii:

Indeed, the truth of the forest may be more clearly and vividly revealed by the contemplation of a small area than it could be by donning ten-league boots, covering a continent but uncovering little.

Page 8: Somebody did a lot of underlining in pencil but stopped after the second chapter. Guessing they DNF’d this, but I’m enjoying it so far. It reminds me of Seasons of the Wild but more satisfyingly science-y.

Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

ADHD roadblocks

22 Sep 2025 04:01 pm
cimorene: A small bronze table lamp with triple-layered orange glass shades (stylish)
[personal profile] cimorene
I have been thinking about the ADHD struggle, and I decided I should buy the Barkley book on adult ADHD and also a copy of How To Keep House While Drowning; I added them to my cart at the online bookstore, then didn't order them because I didn't have the executive function to do that yet. I found some potential replacements for the charger of my laptop that just broke as well, but didn't manage to finish comparing them and decide.

Other stuff I need to do and have been unable to start includes:Read more... )

I think a lot of what's blocking me from several of these things in the last month, anyway, is that they feel like projects that require planning and stamina, but so much of my bandwidth has been going to anxiety about the driving test (two days from now) that there wasn't space. This is extremely normal for me and obviously a fallacy, but I guess I've been feeling like the time until the test was mostly short enough that I should just try to minimize anxiety and worry about all the other stuff after. And I didn't want to take my adhd meds in between.

Daily Happiness

21 Sep 2025 08:14 pm
torachan: arale from dr slump dressed in a penguin suit and smiling (arale penguin)
[personal profile] torachan
1. For lunch today we walked up to the neighborhood independent market, which does grilling in the parking lot on weekends during the summer. Well, I guess summer is officially over as they were not set up today. :( We'd been hoping to get a tri-tip sandwich, but I guess we'll have to wait for next summer. Instead we went a few doors down to the restaurant I went to yesterday, and got another grilled cheese, this time (since we'd already been in the mood for a hearty beef sandwich) a grilled cheese with short ribs and pickled onions. It was so good! So we're two for two on that place now.

2. I had some nice snuggle time with Ollie this morning. Actually both yesterday morning and this morning. He just hopped up on my lap and napped for a while. *_*

3. This is a new box. Exactly the same shape as two other boxes we already have in the living room, but everyone is super into it, so I guess we can't get rid of this one now lol.

conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
Black and white and so friendly and tiny, too. Definitely not a feral!

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


Read more... )
tozka: title character sitting with a friend (lady lovely locks & friends)
[personal profile] tozka

Life Updates

Well, that was a longer gap than I meant to do! From my last update to now:

  • have left my Ann Arbor catsit
  • flown to California to visit parents and sat in a SoCal heatwave for a week
  • bought new suitcase, repacked items, swapped out clothes, etc.
  • flew to new catsit in undisclosed location (in the Western part of the US, anyway)
  • settled into new catsit for about a week, then
  • became vaguely ill for a week and
  • only now picked up laptop and felt energetic using it

I’ll do a more precise (friends-only) catsit update to introduce y’all to the new kitties, but overall I’m really enjoying this new location– though I miss the garden from Ann Arbor! I do have a balcony with a view of the river with an enormous amount of ducks here, though.

Read the rest of this entry » )

Crossposted from Pixietails Club Blog.

[syndicated profile] otw_news_feed

Posted by therealmorticia

The Pinky and the Brain Page, a Pinky and the Brain fanfiction and fanart archive, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).

In this post:

Background explanation

James, the archivist, used to run and maintain a Pinky and the Brain fandom site from around 1995 to 2000. When he recently found some of the stories in an old hard drive he searched the Internet for some of them, but his searches came up empty. Rather than letting those stories sit unread he thought he would rather they be shared on the AO3 for people to enjoy and remember.

The purpose of the Open Doors Committee’s Online Archive Rescue Project is to assist moderators of archives to incorporate the fanworks from those archives into the Archive of Our Own. Open Doors works with moderators to import their archives when the moderators lack the funds, time, or other resources to continue to maintain their archives independently. It is extremely important to Open Doors that we work in collaboration with moderators who want to import their archives and that we fully credit creators, giving them as much control as possible over their fanworks. Open Doors will be working with James to import The Pinky and the Brain Page into a separate, searchable collection on the Archive of Our Own. As part of preserving the archive in its entirety, all fanfics and fanart currently in the The Pinky and the Brain Page will be hosted on the OTW’s servers, and embedded in their own AO3 work pages.

We will begin importing works from The Pinky and the Brain Page to the AO3 after September 2025. However, the import may not take place for several months or even years, depending on the size and complexity of the archive. Creators are always welcome to import their own works and add them to the collection in the meantime.

What does this mean for creators who had work(s) on The Pinky and the Brain Page?

We will send an import notification to the email address we have for each creator. We’ll do our best to check for an existing copy of any works before importing. If we find a copy already on the AO3, we will add it to the collection instead of importing it. All works archived on behalf of a creator will include their name in the byline or the summary of the work.

All imported works will be set to be viewable only by logged-in AO3 users. Once you claim your works, you can make them publicly-viewable if you choose. After 30 days, all unclaimed imported works will be made visible to all visitors.

Please contact Open Doors with your The Pinky and the Brain Page pseud(s) and email address(es), if:

  1. You’d like us to import your works, but you need the notification sent to a different email address than you used on the original archive.
  2. You already have an AO3 account and have imported your works already yourself.
  3. You’d like to import your works yourself (including if you don’t have an AO3 account yet).
  4. You would NOT like your works moved to the AO3, or would NOT like your works added to the archive collection.
  5. You are happy for us to preserve your works on the AO3, but would like us to remove your name.
  6. You have any other questions we can help you with.

Please include the name of the archive in the subject heading of your email. If you no longer have access to the email account associated with your The Pinky and the Brain Page account, please contact Open Doors and we’ll help you out. (If you’ve posted the works elsewhere, or have an easy way to verify that they’re yours, that’s great; if not, we will work with the The Pinky and the Brain Page mod to confirm your claims.)

Please see the Open Doors Website for instructions on:

If you still have questions…

If you have further questions, visit the Open Doors FAQ, or contact the Open Doors committee.

We’d also love it if fans could help us preserve the story of The Pinky and the Brain Page on Fanlore. If you’re new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the new visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.

We’re excited to be able to help preserve The Pinky and the Brain Page!

– The Open Doors team and James

Commenting on this post will be disabled in 14 days. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding this import after that date, please contact Open Doors.

[syndicated profile] ao3_news_feed

The Pinky and the Brain Page banner

The Pinky and the Brain Page, a Pinky and the Brain fanfiction and fanart archive, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).

In this post:

Background explanation

James, the archivist, used to run and maintain a Pinky and the Brain fandom site from around 1995 to 2000. When he recently found some of the stories in an old hard drive he searched the Internet for some of them, but his searches came up empty. Rather than letting those stories sit unread he thought he would rather they be shared on the AO3 for people to enjoy and remember.

The purpose of the Open Doors Committee’s Online Archive Rescue Project is to assist moderators of archives to incorporate the fanworks from those archives into the Archive of Our Own. Open Doors works with moderators to import their archives when the moderators lack the funds, time, or other resources to continue to maintain their archives independently. It is extremely important to Open Doors that we work in collaboration with moderators who want to import their archives and that we fully credit creators, giving them as much control as possible over their fanworks. Open Doors will be working with James to import The Pinky and the Brain Page into a separate, searchable collection on the Archive of Our Own. As part of preserving the archive in its entirety, all fanfics and fanart currently in the The Pinky and the Brain Page will be hosted on the OTW's servers, and embedded in their own AO3 work pages.

We will begin importing works from The Pinky and the Brain Page to the AO3 after September 2025. However, the import may not take place for several months or even years, depending on the size and complexity of the archive. Creators are always welcome to import their own works and add them to the collection in the meantime.

What does this mean for creators who had work(s) on The Pinky and the Brain Page?

We will send an import notification to the email address we have for each creator. We'll do our best to check for an existing copy of any works before importing. If we find a copy already on the AO3, we will add it to the collection instead of importing it. All works archived on behalf of a creator will include their name in the byline or the summary of the work.

All imported works will be set to be viewable only by logged-in AO3 users. Once you claim your works, you can make them publicly-viewable if you choose. After 30 days, all unclaimed imported works will be made visible to all visitors.

Please contact Open Doors with your The Pinky and the Brain Page pseud(s) and email address(es), if:

  1. You'd like us to import your works, but you need the notification sent to a different email address than you used on the original archive.
  2. You already have an AO3 account and have imported your works already yourself.
  3. You’d like to import your works yourself (including if you don’t have an AO3 account yet).
  4. You would NOT like your works moved to the AO3, or would NOT like your works added to the archive collection.
  5. You are happy for us to preserve your works on the AO3, but would like us to remove your name.
  6. You have any other questions we can help you with.

Please include the name of the archive in the subject heading of your email. If you no longer have access to the email account associated with your The Pinky and the Brain Page account, please contact Open Doors and we'll help you out. (If you've posted the works elsewhere, or have an easy way to verify that they're yours, that's great; if not, we will work with the The Pinky and the Brain Page mod to confirm your claims.)

Please see the Open Doors Website for instructions on:

If you still have questions...

If you have further questions, visit the Open Doors FAQ, or contact the Open Doors committee.

We'd also love it if fans could help us preserve the story of The Pinky and the Brain Page on Fanlore. If you're new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the new visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.

We're excited to be able to help preserve The Pinky and the Brain Page!

- The Open Doors team and James

 

Commenting on this post will be disabled in 14 days. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding this import after that date, please contact Open Doors.

Volunteer social thread #157

21 Sep 2025 03:29 pm
pauamma: Cartooney crab wearing hot pink and acid green facemask holding drink with straw (Default)
[personal profile] pauamma posting in [site community profile] dw_volunteers
As advised by my lawyer, I'm claiming August was cancelled by the UN.

How's everyone else doing?

Daily Happiness

20 Sep 2025 08:19 pm
torachan: sakaki from azumanga daioh holding a cat, with the text "I like cats" in Japanese (sakaki)
[personal profile] torachan
1. It was pretty nice weather today. Mostly overcast and cool. Verrrrrry muggy, though. I took two walks this morning, one around lunchtime, and one this evening, and only the final one didn't leave me drenched.

2. Carla is mostly over her cold (kept testing negative the whole time, so feel pretty confident saying it was not covid) and I still haven't come down with anything, so I am tentatively considering myself safe. I do think the ventilation in the summer makes a big difference.

3. We got lunch from a new-to-us restaurant nearby. It's a place we've walked by for years and just never actually checked out. One recent time when we were walking by we looked at the menu (it's a brunch and lunch place, mostly sandwiches and salads) and everything looked really good, so we decided we should make an effort to actually go there. Carla didn't feel like going out for lunch, so I walked up there and got a sandwich to bring home for us. It was a grilled cheese with fig jam and was soooooo good. Definitely want to check out more from their menu.

4. Kind of disappointing morning at the farmers market as the place I get fruit leather from had no fruit leather (though they did have watermelon lemonade, which had been sold out last week by the time I got there since I went late) and the almond stand was not there at all, which was especially annoying as I am fully out of their delicious orange almond butter so if I want toast this week I'll have to have jam (which is fine, as we actually have a ton of jam that should get used up, but the almond butter is more filling). Hopefully they're back next week. I did get some new tasty desserts, though, including passionfruit bars (like lemon bars but with passionfruit).

5. Tuxie enjoying the shade this morning.

(no subject)

20 Sep 2025 08:58 pm
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly


The camera angles work really hard to make the dogs look vicious and dangerous, but they can't fool me! Those are some happy, friendly puppers!

Weekly Reading

20 Sep 2025 05:25 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
Currently Reading
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science
32%. Middle grade book written by Kate McKinnon of SNL. Three sisters have been kicked out of every etiquette school in town and are about to be shipped off to one in Austria when they get an invite to a new etiquette school they'd never heard of, which turns out to be a school for young mad scientists in disguise. It's amusing so far.

Lone Women
6%. Historical horror about a young black woman who has to flee after her parents' deaths, with a mysterious trunk in tow. I've only just started but it seems very interesting so far.

The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
19%.

Recently Finished
The Murder Next Door
I enjoyed this. Definitely will read the sequel.

A Gallery of Rogues
This was fun. I hope there are eventually more books in the series.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
I really liked this! And it was great as an audiobook, too, read by Kate Reading who also does the Lady Sherlock books. The daughters of Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde team up with the daughters/creations of Dr Moreau, Victor Frankenstein, and Dr Rappaccini (from a story I was not familiar with), along with Holmes and Watson, to solve a string of murders in Whitechapel. This was so much fun and there are two more books in the series that I'm really looking forward to reading.

The Phantom of New York
Very mediocre middle grade book about a boy who moves into a hotel in New York in a sort of half-hearted witness protection program after his father discovers his boss is doing shady things. The boy eventually finds out that he is descended from the Phantom of New York, a superhero from a hundred years ago who protected the city. Not going to bother with the rest of the series.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru vol. 1-2
Cute high school f/f manga about a girl who starts dating another girl in student council, despite feeling like she doesn't really understand love. These were on a free promo on Amazon Japan, but I'm not sure I was that into it that I need to get the rest of the volumes (eight in total).

Bibliomania
Horror manga about a girl who gets sucked into a book that will kill everyone once it has sucked in 666 people (she's 400 something). There is no way out except to go through each page of the book to the beginning, but that causes mutations and eventually death the closer you get. She chooses that anyway. Interesting twist towards the end, but I can't say I particularly enjoyed it. It was okay.
watersword: Two women holding hands. (Stock: Holding hands)
[personal profile] watersword

I impulse-made pasta dough in the stand mixer last night, and then today, I:

  • went to the farmer's market, where the good sourdough vendor was in attendance and recognized me, and I also picked up an apple tasting flight (Macoun, McIntosh, Honeycrisp, and Gala) and honey for Rosh Hashanah Tuesday, as well as a dozen gorgeous multicolored eggs, a purple cauliflower, and various other vegetables;
  • meandered around the neighborhood in perfect early-fall sunshine, following the treasure map of local yard sales, and one house was giving away their stuff, including an adorable little pitcher and stationery and stamps and linen napkins I'm going to turn into embroidery projects;
  • did some gardening and met up with a friend and her kid, and hung out with them for a few hours and made play-doh shapes;
  • came home and rolled out half the pasta dough and made ravioli and took a hot bath.

And now I'm going to drink some mint tea and lie on the couch and read a book and cuddle my cat. Tomorrow there is a block party and more fresh pasta to roll. This all feels suspiciously idyllic.

Daily Happiness

19 Sep 2025 09:17 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
1. It's the weekend! And I was able to come home early today, too, which was nice. A lot of the tasks I was working on this week are now in the hands of the IT team for the next step, so while I had a few little things I could do today, I just went home after my afternoon meeting around three or so.

2. We got two multipacks of the new Across the Spider-Verse Lego minifigs in the mail today. Carla's had some good luck with the last few sets of blind box minifigs and got hardly any dupes (I think one set was actually no dupes at all) but this time we did get a few.

If anyone wants these figures, I will ship them anywhere in the US for free. Just let me know.



3. Gemma loves being in Carla's desk chair when it's pushed under the desk. It's so secret.

Purrcy; grumbles; Murderbot

19 Sep 2025 06:01 pm
mecurtin: A dodo, captioned Not My Best Day (dodo)
[personal profile] mecurtin
I have a set of baskets made to hold paper bags to collect paper for recycling. They're also a VERY useful for collecting cats!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby looks up at the camera from inside a paper bag inside a basket. His eyes are wide, his whiskers spread.




One of our very best friends from college lives close to us. Or rather, we all still (or again) live close to college--I say that "like the salmon, we came back to spawn." She's had breast cancer, was in remission, now it's back ... metastasized. Kind of a lot. I've been to see her, she looks pretty good so far, we had a good time talking about my kids' life changes and about books. But I have a crushing pain in my chest, y'know? And I woke up this morning with my shoulders aching, and I've been *gnawing* on my night guard in my sleep ...

Meanwhile over on Bluesky there's an ongoing multiday ... thing ... because we're asking people to register for the #NoKings protest on Oct.18th, and a BUNCH of high-profile accounts don't understand why & are going on about OPSEC ... and I *do* understand why, I can explain, but it would take so much energy ...

One of the good things in my life is that [personal profile] sholio has been posting Murderbot recs! I will double her rec (if you can stand WIPs) for Robbing the Hood by [archiveofourown.org profile] Rilleshka, a canon-divergence Space Pirate!AU where Murderbot teams up with a *different*, non-verbal bot pilot before it ever meets PresAux, and things spiral from there. It gets particular praise from me because [archiveofourown.org profile] Rilleshka addresses with the *big* implausibility in canon (shut up), which is that human neural tissue is actually incredibly fussy, & keeping it functional must involve, at minimum, *nutrition*.

So, where can I get some Murderbot icons?

wtfff???

19 Sep 2025 04:06 pm
twistedchick: watercolor painting of coffee cup on wood table (Default)
[personal profile] twistedchick
WTF is in Smarties? I thought it was sugar and citric acid. I had 3 little rolls of them yesterday; I'd found them in a bag in the front closet left over from Halloween.

This morning -- ewwwwwwww

It has been like the worst of PMS, as if all the PMS that I might have had since my hysterectomy nearly 20 years ago decided to gang up on me all at once and say WE'RE BACK--SEE WHAT YOU MISSED???

That and no energy, which is actually a godsend because in this mood I'd be more likely to do drastic unforgivable things than not, like look up my infamously terrible ex-boss from years ago and tell her exactly what I thought of her then and still think of her.

Oh yeah, and the trots.

Meds have helped. Chocolate has helped. Coffee with molasses has helped. Toasted whole-wheat flatbread is helping. I'm no longer mad enough to fight the Goauld and winning without a staff weapon (if I had the energy).

But sheesh. I wanted to get things done today and when I stand up I'm a bit too wobbly to go anywhere.

I'm off Smarties forever at this point.
twistedchick: watercolor painting of coffee cup on wood table (Default)
[personal profile] twistedchick
This is a prayer for the Witches’ Thanksgiving. This is a prayer for Resistance.

This is a prayer for mead and cider, for cornbread and collards. This is a prayer for Resistance.

This is a prayer for visits, for gratitude, for families. This is a prayer for Resistance.

Mabon is an act of Resistance, the deliberate decision to establish connections, to reach out, to take joy in watching others eat. This is a prayer for Mabon.

This is a prayer for wheat sheaves and pumpkins, for turkey and turnips. This is a prayer for Resistance.

This is a prayer for taking stock, for settling in, for facing the dark. This is a prayer for Resistance.

Mabon is an act of Resistance, the courage to say, “There is a place set for you at our table,”* the fire to fight for what we love, the refusal to allow hunger to win. This is a prayer for Mabon.

This is a prayer for cheeses and ale, for cherries and chestnuts. This is a prayer for Resistance.

This is a prayer for re-establishing balance, for reaching out, for doing more. This is a prayer for Resistance.

Mabon is an act of Resistance, the belief that bounty should be shared, that people should be fed, that “only justice can undo a curse.”** This is a prayer for Mabon.

This is a prayer for squashes and pies, for and rhubarb and roasts. This is a prayer for Resistance.

This is a prayer for the act of sharing, for sitting with guests, for stories by the fire. This is a prayer for Resistance.

May your Mabon be blessed. May you continue to Resist. This is my prayer for you.

-- Hecate Demeter

LEP 19.9.

19 Sep 2025 08:00 pm
yvannairie: :3 (Default)
[personal profile] yvannairie

My other birthday present -- an Elgato capture card -- arrived today and I'm honestly delighted by how much of it is packed in cardboard. The only plastic thing in the package was the capture card itself, having a plastic casing, and a die-cut sticker I slapped on my PS2 b/c why not. The clamshell the card and cables were in was cardboard, and even the ribbons holding the cable rolls closed were cardboard instead of plastic.

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