Pho pho pho pho fashion

[st_aurafina]

I had pho for lunch yesterday and I will do the same today. It has a fuckton of ginger in it and I have a streaming cold so hopefully it will help. Yesterday, David Bowie came on while I was eating. ETA: Omg so much ginger. So much chilli. *fans face*

I have been quiet! But here and reading and also writing. Australia is (maybe) having a postal vote to determine if we will (finally) have same sex marriage. You'd think that would be a good thing, but the campaign for No is utterly vomitous. Like, I get up in the morning, casually read about how my relationship is the gateway to legalising bestiality, then get on with my job. As you do. And I know there are bigger and more life-endangering crises happening around the world, but that's a nasty and heavy stone to for me carry around. It has been leaving me very wordless at the end of each day.

It is also making me quite tense. AS YOU CAN FREAKING IMAGINE. But there's a stupid platform game where Tony Abbott appears and shoots lasers from his eyes. It's cheap. But it made me laugh: Going Postal

I can tell from my linkspam collection that I went into silent survival mode around the time of the Charlottesville attacks.


Activism and Disaster Recovery
Charlottesville
- Hymn: A New Poem by Sherman Alexie
This was shared on poetry on the weekend of Charlottesville and I was glad I had read it. I've kept "We will be courageous in our love" at the front of my mind since.

- Ten Ways to Fight Hate: A Community Response Guide
via thisfinecrew which has been great at rounding up links these past few weeks.

Southeast Asia Flooding:
Via goats and soda: Epic Floods Challenge Aid Workers On Opposite Sides Of The World
Donate at Oxfam's portal: South Asia floods

Hurricane Harvey:
- via sage:
This ActBlue donation page lets you give to 14 different Texas nonprofits (all of whom are doing hurricane recovery) at once, either dividing your donation equally among them or letting you apportion as you like. It includes Portlight, the Houston, Galveston & Corpus food banks, animal rescues, a diaper bank, Meals on Wheels, etc.
- San Antonio foodbank is pooling its resources with all of South Texas, including Rockport, Aransas Pass, etc. for Harvey survivors.
- Via thisfinecrew again, Here Are Ways You Can Help People During Hurricane Harvey


There's also a fandom auction comm started: harvey_fanaid



Science Links. For Science!
This reminds me: the first ep of Ch 4's Bake-Off was actually pretty good - I mention this under Science because I am currently rooting for the science lesbian who is adorable and hilarious and very, very clearly one of us.

- Heart Rhythm Disorders
Apologies for the facebook link, but this video explaining heart rhythm disorders is super cute. (FWIW, disco sinus is not actually a thing.)

- How do reusable coffee cups stack up?.
Choice did a review of BYO coffee cups. I have a keepcup, which didn't rate highly in terms of keeping coffee hot, but was pretty good otherwise. Also it's super pretty, which has value for me in terms of cheering me up. (lilacsigil's is lilac!)

- Australian Genetics of Depression Study
Fellow depressed Aussies! I'm in this depression study, and it's looking for more people to recruit. You do an online survey and if you meet their criteria for further investigation, they send you a tube which you fill with spit. If you'd like to be in some science, this is an easy and free way to do it.

It was a bit difficult to generate all the saliva they needed for the sample (I think it was 15ml?) because the dose of Pristiq I'm on has been giving me mega dry mouth. But I made a discovery! Sugarless gum really helps me make saliva! I know it's kind of obvious, and it's something I suggest whenever I dispense an initiating script for someone starting an antidepressant, but you know. It takes a while for me to take my own advice. So I've been chewing gum before bed, and it's definitely helped with my morning dry mouth, but it's also unexpectedly improved my eustachian tube function. I'm a glue ear baby, and my ears only pop when I manually do the Valsalva manoeuvre. (And you can hear it across the room, like a really loud click.) But they've started venting on their own since I've been using gum. My sinuses are clear, my crops are watered etc, all thanks to gum. *weird*

- Speech study finds ‘Al’ of a sound in the south-west (I love these old school headlines they use in our paper.)
Apparently my region is developing an accent. lilacsigil and I tried on each other, and yeah, we can't tell the difference between Ellen and Allan. Even though I think I'm making different sounds when I say them. It's interesting because Australia doesn't so much have regional accents as social ones. I can pick an Adelaide person (clipped, a hint of British/German) and Queensland (much more broad than Melbourne, a bit more rural sounding to my ear), but that's about it for regional accents.



Craft
- Aviator cat hat (Paid pattern, but super cute.)

- Via boing boing, How to make a good lighting rig with a hamburger box and a flashlight

- Knitters wanted as War Memorial plans to unveil handmade poppies display (Also crocheters!)

Joy
- Westeros: trailer for spoof Thrones spinoff set in the 21st century
Via boing boing, this trailer is seriously fun and I would watch the crap out of this show.

- shitduosays. (Shit Duolingo Says)
I am so pleased that it's not just Italian that throws out some really weird stuff. (Italian Duolingo is really obsessed with death.)

- via umadoshi, Black Widow and Elektra fight (or at least their stunt doubles do, and it's AWESOME.)

- there's a Steve/Bucky exchange starting up: stevebucky_exchange.


Fic Recs
Surveillance by nestra
(Person of Interest, G)
Short and bitey Carter ficlet.

It's all fire and brimstone, baby by canadianwheatpirates
(Person of Interest, Root/Shaw, Teen)
AU in which Root is a crossroads demon. I don't usually rec (or even read) wips but what's here is really good.

hush, hush (we both can't fight it) by citadelofswords
(The Penumbra podcast, Juno Steel/Peter Nureyev, Teen)
Just a really goofy, romantic five kisses, set some time before Season Two.

this is how it began (this is the secret between) by notcaycepollard
(MCU, Clint/Natasha/Laura, Mature)
I really like fic where Laura has a job, you know? She's a professional and she knows what she's getting into when you start a relationship with an agent. She's a translator here.

Clint Barton's Wedding Rules by out_there
(MCU, Clint/Coulson, Mature)
For unconventionalcourtship. I love that SHIELD has a wedding season - it's that kind of close-quarters high-danger work environment that would generate such a thing. And Clint is delightfully Clint in this - tripping over the very obvious, creating elaborate plans that are just disastrous. Really romantic and lovely.

It's a Pleasure by willowbilly
(Kilgrave/Jessica/?Will, Hannibal/Will, Mature)
This is a mindfuck of a crossover, and really, really tense. Non-con warnings for the canon level of nastiness that is Killgrave. I love fics that turn Hannibal's tendencies to the heroic without changing his fundamental nature. I found this so satisfying.


Stay safe, people. If you're in a flood-risk area, I am thinking of you and hoping you are high and dry.

If you're an Aussie and you're suffering the onslaught of homophobia that is the media right now, please look after yourself. Remember self-care. Remember you don't have to interact with the garbage that is being spouted in your face. You are beautiful, and valuable and belong here in the world.

Comments

[out_there]

I've hit survival mode of utterly ignoring mainstream media. I just can't. There's house sales and job applications and end of the day, this isn't even legally binding. (Honestly, I can't believe it's making me nostalgic for Howard. I mean, sure, I didn't agree with his policies or scaremongering and I still think the GST is an unfair tax burden on lower incomes, but at least when he changed marriage to "man + woman" the whole thing was done quickly. This whole drawn out maybe-sorta-don'twanna thing is just stupidly tiring.)

[st_aurafina]

Yes, concentrate on house and job things. (Omg, so excited! I hope it comes through for you!!)

I will never forgive John Howard for that man and woman thing because at my brother's wedding it kind of punched me in the face. I wish they'd thought to do to drown it out, but I didn't feel like I had the right to ask, and they obviously didn't even register that I might be uncomfortable with it (I honestly don't think they realised what it meant) and that's what Howard wanted. Ugh.

I will use my fat brides icon to cheer me up.

[nanila]

I have difficulty imagining the mindset that allows one to think campaigning against other people having rights is a valuable use of one's time. :( Fingers crossed for the postal vote going heavily in favour of same-sex marriage.

Also, I am totally with you on the new Bake-Off. I'm so glad C4 did not tamper with a thing that wasn't broken, and have continued to focus on finding the sweetest bakers ever (aahhhh Yan and Liam, SO ADORBS, CANNOT COPE).

[st_aurafina]

Fingers crossed for the postal vote going heavily in favour of same-sex marriage

Polling vastly in favour at the moment - but postal votes traditionally skew older and more conservative (which is why the government is choosing to do it) so, yeah, fingers crossed. And singing "Just don't look! Just don't look!" at all the homophobic posters and TV ads.

Eeee, Bake off! Yan is wonderful, I have all the heart-eyes for her and her molecular gastronomy techniques. And Liam is omg adorbs - his friends call him Cake Boy! I hope they both go far. They all seem like a good bunch, and I really liked Paul and Flo's verbal sparring. Honestly, the thing I was most worried about was missing Mel and Sue, and I do miss them but Sandi and Noel were great together.

[lilysea]

Thank you for the science links! ^_^

[st_aurafina]

You're welcome!

[andraste]

I'm not personally affected by this FUCKING STUPID POSTAL SURVEY (except insofar as I want everyone to be able to get married) and I tam still reduced to a cauldron of boiling rage every time I see whatever horrible new thing the No campaign have done.

[st_aurafina]

Gnaaaaaaarrrgghh *hulksmash everything* It's giving me reflux, for serious. And the worst thing isn't even how bad the No campaign is, it's the government going "Oh, this is all in the spirit of a fair debate" and letting them put up those fucking fucking posters. And that fucking fucking ad.

Ugh.

I have a lot of Netflix to watch. And a lot of crochet to do. (And a lot of wine to drink, possibly.) And so I will get through this.

[brithistorian]

Thanks for all the links. Here's a poem about Harvey that I've found really useful: How Much.

The cat aviator hat was cute, but also somewhat disappointing: I was hoping for a hat that would turn me into a cat aviator.

I hope the postal vote goes well. The antis on votes like that make me shudder. When we had a similar vote in my area a couple of years ago, I was very pleasantly surprised by some of my neighbors, who I had expected to be antis based on their religion but instead turned out in favor of same-sex marriage. It was still disheartening how many antis there were, and how horrid they were. *hugs* Best wishes.

[st_aurafina]

Oh, that poem is lovely - thank you.

The postal vote will hopefully go okay, but it's a terrible waste of money and the whole thing seems designed to make it fail. On the plus side, I've been very pleasantly surprised by my local region which is normally very conservative - there have been really positive articles in the paper, and business are putting up supportive signs. That's a good thing to know - that there are people out there who are okay.

[lexicalcrow]

Yeah, bloody ~postal survey~ bullshit. I am resilient enough to get by, I think, but man, I am not engaging very much with it to save my sanity. And hoping my bi pride wristband is obscure enough to pass under the radar. (That said, if it goes ahead, and yes wins, I am totally going as a bisexual unicorn to Pride this year. :D)

Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed Duo!Italian is obsessed with death. Sono uomini morti! XD I have learnt more phrases involving death in the year I've spent using duolingo than the five years I spent learning Italian in high school. Woo! :D

[st_aurafina]

I think it's perfectly fine to tune it out. It's specifically designed to hurt and frighten us, so not letting it in is a kind of resistance. *sigh* I just wish that money could have gone towards something useful.

Duolingo gets positively gruesome!!

[redbird]

My news self-care is largely about seeking out foreign-to-me news sources (when not avoiding news altogether): the CBC puts some US stuff into their "world" section, but less and more calmly than if I was getting it from a news organization on this side of the border. You might find that or something similar useful if you want to keep an eye on the rest of the world right now. (www.cbc.ca/news)

[st_aurafina]

Yes! I gave myself a subscription to The Guardian mostly so I'd have another crossword to distract myself with, but also because it does a fairly in-depth news round up from all sorts of sources I've never had contact with before. And that's really good for me in terms of perspective, seeing how we're viewed from the outside.

[jo]

In every single country that has legalized same-sex marriage, the anti arguments were the same. And there are so many countries which have now legalized SSM, and none of those dire (and totally BS) predictions of everything going to hell materialized, so it's mind-boggling that the anti crowd keep resurrecting those totally BS "arguments".

[st_aurafina]

It's so true! You'd think they'd get bored of the same arguments, which are definitely getting very stale by now.

[laurenthemself]

I'm still waiting for the one guy who offered his condolences when I mentioned being bisexual in a comment (news.com.au, I know, I KNOW) to explain what he meant.

Reckon he'll have a hard time doing it without being personally offensive.

[lilysea]

WTF?

"I'm sorry that there is so much biphobia and discrimination against bisexuals, and so much misinformation and ignorance about bisexuality" is an acceptable statement

"I'm sorry you're bisexual" is not.

[singe]

Be of good cheer, if the USA (crammed damn full of whackadoo hatemongers) can push through same-sex marriage then Australia certainly can.

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, it's pretty overdue at this stage!

[colls]

mmmmm... ginger #omnomnom

Good luck on the postal vote! I'll be rooting for your entire country
*crosses fingers

[st_aurafina]

Ginger is supposed to be one of those super foods, so it better do the trick. Lucky it's delicious.

And yeah, thank you.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, I'm sorry. The campaign sounds awful! *shakes fist at the world*

[st_aurafina]

It's so stupid and a waste of time! They could just pass a law - they don't need to spend all that money. They could fix it today! (Well, not today as it's Saturday and no politician would work on the weekend.)

[adafrog]

{{{hugs}}}

[st_aurafina]

Thank you, lovely. *hugs back*

[monanotlisa]

Ugh, sigh. Sending love.

(I had no idea it was THAT bad. :/)

[st_aurafina]

*hugs back* Thing is that Australia is generally pretty tolerant but for shitty reasons the government want to debate whether same sex marriage should happen - and there's no good way to debate that.

Blehhh.

[dine]

mmmm, pho! I love that so much - and I'm long overdue for some. maybe I'll treat myself this weekend

thanks for the MCU recs - I look forward to reading those :)

[st_aurafina]

Yay! I hope you enjoy them.

Pho is, like, my new favourite cold cure. I feel better!

[sholio]

*hugs* Stupid bigots being stupid and bigoted. >:[ I'm sorry you're having to cope with that AND with health stuff on top of it!

That's really interesting about regional accents though - I had no idea Australia doesn't really have them, I guess because the U.S. and Canada both have some really noticeable ones, so I just would've assumed Australia, having a vaguely similar colonial history, would be the same.

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, our accents are weird, and I'd say largely class-based - there's definitely a rural/urban difference, and a working/middle/upper class difference. But geographically, it's really mild, compared to places like the UK or US, where even I can tell the difference between regions on a gross scale. It's so interesting that they're studying how it is slowly changing though.

[redfiona99]

German Duolingo seems to be obsessed with ducks and newspapers. Other highlights include - "you are carrying my fish", "no, I am not a banana", "your bear drinks beer", "your boy eats insects" and my two favourites, "the mice are reading books" and "the ducks are reading the newspaper." It's also wrong about verb positioning in denn clauses but ... I accept its limitations.

Re: Aussie accents - Anglo-Aussie friend enjoys playing guess where from for Aussie rugby league players. He's significantly better at NSW and Victoria (where his Australian family are from) than the rest of the country.

[st_aurafina]

I guess Duolingo writers have to entertain themselves somehow.

I cannot tell NSW from Victoria at all - they're identical to my ear. But Queensland is definitely a drawl, and SA is clipped. It's so weird.

[dancing_serpent]

I'm both chuckling and totally weirded out by Duolingo (Danish). It wants me to translate things like "Where is your daughter's bedroom?" all the time. Or "Can the bear get me some beer?"

I would so watch the 21st century GoT thing!

[cadenzamuse]

*drive-by hugs for you*

[st_aurafina]

Thank you so much! *hugs*

[lurkingcat]

*sends internet hugs*

Look after yourself. I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with that level of horrible every day. I really, really hope the postal vote goes in favour of same-sex marriage.

[st_aurafina]

Thank you! I hope so too. General opinion is vastly on our side, but the government is doing everything it can to sabotage its own vote. They've declared it not legally binding, which, I mean. Why do it, then? (There is no good answer.)

[heartonsnow]

I have never understood homophobia and I don't understand why people don't agree with gay marriage - because nobody is telling them who to marry so why do they think they can tell others???!!!

Garlic is also good for colds!

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, I find it hard to fathom, too. But it's there, sadly.

I miss garlic! I can't eat it anymore - too much digestive upset. It makes me a sad Italian.

[everchangingmuse]

I'm sorry that the negativity and homophobia is so high around your home right now. We had that a few years ago in Virginia, when the state voted on a statewide constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage - and essentially negate any contract entered into by two adults of the same sex, but no one really talked about that part of the wording. It was overturned by the state supreme court about eight months before the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, but for the decade or so we had the ban, it was not fun. The anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment was such that I didn't like to be openly out in public. Now that I've got legal protections (and I'm older and thus give fewer cares) I'm a lot more open.

I hope the vote goes toward the right side of history, and makes it easier for the people in Australia to love one another openly. There are a lot of us in the US that are sending positive thoughts your way.

[st_aurafina]

I'm really lucky to live in a tolerant and accepting town - it's otherwise politically conservative but my girlfriend and I have had no problems, and we're out. It's really frustrating to me that we're even having the vote - it's unnecessary. Such a waste of money.

Thank you - the homophobia this is flushing out is really horrible, and it takes a toll. As you obviously know. *hugs*

[finch]

I remember dealing with something similar when Washington state was debating same sex marriage a few years back and it's completely exhausting to have to summon up the will to go about your day wondering which of the people around you thinks you're subhuman. I hope the polling goes well and the assholes fade into the questionable wooden paneling of history.

[st_aurafina]

Yes, that's it exactly! Not knowing whether the people I see are waiting to tick that box that will deny me and lilacsigil equal rights, even though they've lived with us for nearly two decades. It's really tiring.

The local paper has been really scathing of the decision to have the vote at all, and while I usually never read the comments, those have been very positive too. It's been heartening, at least.

[vass]

*offers hugs*

We are beautiful pink Trojan horses according to the fuckheads. I don't know about you, but I like being a pink Trojan horse, and I hope the government gets the sack because of this.

Thank you for the chewing gum tip.

I was digging through my Tumblr tags for something else, and found this Texts from the Machine reblog that made me think of your Sentinel AU: Shaw vs business attire and fluorescent lights.

[st_aurafina]

I would love to be a glittery pink Trojan horse. I will open up my tummy and a big queer army will pour out and... wow this metaphor really went to somewhere weird.

Chewing gum is so good. I am surprised. And the wastepaper bin beside my bed is really minty.

*hugs you* Thank you for the tumblr link! I heart Shoot. (I use smush names now, it's the end times)

[halotolerant]

I always remember when the Conservatives here brought in same sex marriage, and I got a leaflet through my door from a local anti group which informed that gay marriage was bad because values and tradition and also IN FACT GAY PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO MARRY, WE TOTALLY ASKED ONE. God I wished they would have followed that up with a doorstep visit so I could yell (although actually I would probably just have been sad) Anyway, we got marriage, fingers crossed for everyone else

[st_aurafina]

My MP came to meet me (because I'm a small business owner and therefore definitely voting for the Right) and I pulled lilacsigil from her office and introduced her to him and said that I want to get married. (We call it the SURPRSE LESBIANS moment - he never came in again.) But about a week later he was in the paper saying that same sex marriage wasn't something his electorate was concerned with. And I mean, I know. Politician. Made of lies. I just wish I'd squished his hand harder, Trump-style.

Thanks. It'll pass, if not now, then soon, but the process is really so much more painful than it should be.