Hippity Hoppity Smack in the Face!

[st_aurafina]

Look at me, surviving Easter Thursday retail with only minimal crankiness and snark! *snarls at tourists*

Me Things

I continue to have better days than worse, which I'm putting down here so that I remember when I have a worse one. Yesterday was an anxious day, but today is better. (For new people, I got cellulitis in November, then had an allergic reaction to one of the IV antibiotics, then took a large dose of prednisolone and IV hydrocortisone.

I've been reading about prednisolone, specifically long-term, higher dose prednisolone, to get a better idea of what's going on and what to expect. This was very helpful:
Prednisone Withdrawal Symptoms: How Long Do They Last?
It should be noted that some people report “Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency” as a result of taking corticosteroids like Prednisone. In this event, it has taken people 12 to 24 months before they experience full “recovery” back to homeostasis.

I was on prednisolone, not prednisone, but they're basically the same thing. And man, I had so many of these symptoms. Shaking! Sore joints! Ugh. I just need to remind myself that I'm not making this up. This is a thing I am still recovering from. (As lilacsigil keeps pointing out, I don't get sick, not seriously, and so I am very bad at it. Even though it's kind of my job to advise people about this stuff.)


Livejournal Things
denise said, in a dw_maintenance post, here: "Seriously, though, we're thrilled to have all y'all who are moving in this week, whether as a "I'm just gonna use my DW account to back up the contents of my LJ account in the event of future disaster" all the way along the spectrum to to I AM THELMA AND LOUISE'ING MY LIVEJOURNAL STRAIGHT OFF THE CLIFF, SEE YOU ON DW ONCE THE DEBRIS CLEARS."

I like that there's a spectrum for this. I can see myself sliding closer to the Thelma/Louise end, but I'm not there yet.

Speaking of which, the origin of the name Dreamwidth.

- Via sandrine, Tutorial: Using Flexible Squares at Dreamwidth (Smooth Sailing, Mixit, Nebula) (How to carry your LJ layout across to Dreamwidth, basically.)

- Via forests_of_fire, how to convert your open ID comments to your DW ID (at facebook, but links to Dreamwidth support.)

- via everywhere, but it's an excellent link by promethia_tenk, How to Move to Dreamwidth and Like It
(very sensible step-wise method of easing yourself into DW from LJ. Takeaway message: don't go cold turkey!!)

- by blackmare, How to Get Images into your DW Posts
Dreamwidth has image hosting, I didn't realise! I'm going to try it out. RIGHT NOW!


[A ridiculously photogenic cat, sticking out his photogenic tongue]

Ooh, yeah.


- from rahirah, A work-around for spoiler cuts on Dreamwidth

- from bisharp, a Dreamwidth Starter Kit (A list of tutorials to help with all kinds of DW stuff.)

- from rosefox at 2017revival, Helpful tips for voyagers from LJ-land

- from lots of people, but I saw it first at jo, Russian-Owned LiveJournal Bans Political Talk, Adds Risk Of Spying (a brief rundown of what this all means, at Gizmodo)

A Palate Cleanser of Fun Links
- via springviolets, Sherlock Holmes Is Now A Housewife In Latest Korean Export, Mystery Queen
(It sounds awesome!)

- via spikedluv, Riverdale First Look: Molly Ringwald Debuts as Archie's Mom Mary
For all your eighties flashback feels. (How great is the casting of this weird show? With the parents, it's like, a mega former teen show super-crossover, and I unexpectedly love it to bits.)

- via my facebook addiction to Dance Academy links, The Cast Of "Dance Academy" Then Vs Now
(Because I'm never going to stop talking about Dance Academy. Also, I can't believe it's been seven years between the end of the series and the movie. HOW?)

- I think I found a tiny Yuletide fandom for 2017, Coexisting With The Fair Folk Who Have Taken Up Residence In/Around/Beneath Your University: A How-To Guide.
(I don't know where I saw this, but it was definitely on my flist, so thank you, person!)

- the best live action Beauty and the Beast
Let me give you a hint - it's from the eighties.




OMG GUYS IT'S TIME TO GO HOME! WINE, I AM COMING!!! /waves viking hat

One more photo of Baggins, because he is a hero cat who survived a snake bite.

They don't really hate him. They love him and ask after him all the time.

[Baggin sitting in a lap, looking confused]

(He's confused because I don't have much of a lap, and he only gets to lap sit when my sister comes to visit. And he haaaaates visitors but he loooooves laps.

ETA: Check out Chewie's bleptacular photobomb in the above photo:

[Brown-faced cat in the corner, tongue out]

Comments

[lilacsigil]

Baggins! So really, really, ridiculously good-looking!

[st_aurafina]

Truly he is the Zoolander of cats.

[sandrine]

Oh, that's a super helpful post! *bookmarks* Thank you for sharing those links.

(Also, wow, your cat is gorgeous!)

[st_aurafina]

You're welcome!

And yeah, he's ridiculously photogenic, Baggins is.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm glad you're mostly having better days! But, blah, it is hard to remember that on the worse days - and that does not sound like fun. *hugs* You sound like you're being v sensible about it, though.

Baggins is indeed very handsome, and I'm glad that he's okay!

[st_aurafina]

Mostly better, as the days go on.

Baggins is a supermodel of cats, I think. We're so lucky to have him after the snake bite thing.

[lurkingcat]

Oh Catherine and Vincent, they are the best live action Beauty and the Beast.

Baggins is so very handsome and I am impressed with Chewie's photobombing abilities.

[st_aurafina]

Weren't they? I had such fannish feelings for Catherine and Vincent, though I did not have the fannish vocabulary to express it.

Chewie is the photobombingest.

[springviolets]

what a handsome kitty!

adjusting to some of the features (or lack thereof) on DW has been rough, ha. i knew they had image hosting but i wish you could upload an image *from* the post you're drafting. also i wish the insert a link/user/etc showed up in comments and not just the new post page. BUT i know they've been around less time with probably a much smaller team, so i can't complain :) and hopefully with the influx of new users they'll work on some new features too.

[st_aurafina]

He is a lovely kitty, he really is. He was very sick in November and we nearly lost him, so he's extra precious to me right now.

DW doesn't have quite as many whiz-bang goodies as LJ, but the platform is much more reliable, I've found. Fewer bugs, and more services being introduced as time goes on. There's a comm for making suggestions for future features, too, if there's something you'd particularly like to see: dw_suggestions.

[kass]

Yay wine! <3

[st_aurafina]

Always yay wine!

[kass]

I have hit the Thelma & Louise place. Adios, lj.

Also, omg beautiful cat!!! My childhood cat was a Siamese. <3

[st_aurafina]

They are the loveliest cats, aren't they?

[dine]

the Elsewhere University possibly came from me? at least a few weeks back I linked to daemonluna's cool fic about the Library there, and think I included a link to the canon, as I figured many wouldn't be familiar.

[st_aurafina]

Oh, yay! Thank you so much for the link!

[lilysea]

So, this may or may not interest you, but someone else on my DW feed,

http://twistedchick.dreamwidth.org/

has just started blogging about their experiences with steroids?

[st_aurafina]

Oh, thank you for the link!

[redfiona99]

Thanks for the links.

Re: college fair folk - and sometimes you stay in one college for long enough that stuff you remember becomes part of the undergraduate mythology, and the difference between the truth and the myth is ... interesting.

[st_aurafina]

and sometimes you stay in one college for long enough that stuff you remember becomes part of the undergraduate mythology, and the difference between the truth and the myth is ... interesting.

Yes, I remember how this was!

[vass]

Such a handsome cat! And his loudmouth brother too. :D :D :D

(As lilacsigil keeps pointing out, I don't get sick, not seriously, and so I am very bad at it. Even though it's kind of my job to advise people about this stuff.)

That's a really good point. I hope your future similar learning experiences are few and far apart.

Look at me, surviving Easter Thursday retail with only minimal crankiness and snark! *snarls at tourists*

Oh man. I am so part of the problem: a perfect storm of disordered sleep, disorganisation, and not checking a calendar resulted in my showing up to my latest-opening local pharmacy looking for antidepressants at 9:45 tonight. I was very much not the only customer there. /o\

I think the pharmacist (or pharmacy tech?) on duty might have been fairly newly qualified -- not that she was bad at her job at all, just that she looked very young and friendly and like the corporate radio and TV ads hadn't driven her out of her mind yet, and she tried to do the whole "have you had these before? are there any side effects you want to talk about? do you have any questions about your medication?" interview even though it was the end of the night on Easter Thursday and it was super clearly not a new prescription.

Congratulations on surviving. I hope you had a good evening of wine and TV and cats and NO CUSTOMERS.

[st_aurafina]

You're not part of the problem - I'd be willing to bet you're patient and polite to retail workers. It's not the arriving at the last minute, so much as the outrage that things might not happen instantly.

And I've done that whole 'explain the medication like it's new' thing - it's falling back on habit when you're overloaded and don't want to miss anything.

Anyway, Easter's over now, and now I only have to survive my family's weird clustered birthday season and I'm done till August.

[thistlerose]

Aw, what a handsome boy.

[st_aurafina]

He's so very handsome and I suspect he knows this.

[senmut]

+hugs all the way round+

Prednisone is ... oh so difficult.

[st_aurafina]

*hugs hugs hugs*

I'm getting there with the pred, but I keep underestimating how it has affected me. I'm crap at healthcare for myself, unfortunately.

[eglantiere]

such awesome, dignified cats :D

[st_aurafina]

Baggins is all about the dignity, that's for sure. *snorts*

[heresluck]

KITTIES.

(I know there is other stuff in this post. But: KITTIES.)

[st_aurafina]

KITTIES ARE BEST. <3

[wendelah1]

A true beauty of a hero-cat.

Thank you for that tutorial about using Flexible Squares at Dreamwidth. I am a member of that community and I missed that post. All of my LJ journal styles are Flexible Squares. I loved Flexible Squares.

[st_aurafina]

Yay - I don't know much about layouts, but I thought it would be handy for people who do.

[rhoda_rants]

Whoever is in charge of DW's maintenance account is a STAR. Huge difference in the way things vibe over here, and that's part of it. (Also on the Thelma and Louise end of things.)

Heh, my grandmother had that same poster from Beauty and the Beast on one of the walls in her kitchen. I come from a long line of unrepentant fangirls. (Although I did really enjoy the Disney one.)

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, Dreamwidth has a really nice vibe - it really has a fannish heart and it shows.

my grandmother had that same poster from Beauty and the Beast on one of the walls in her kitchen.

Omg, now I feel old! But how nice to come from a line of unrepentant fangirls - I had to be the first one in my family.

[adafrog]

Glad you're getting better, even if it's slowly.

Kitties!

Did the pictures easily crosspost to LJ?

[st_aurafina]

Yes, they crossposted perfectly - I'm really pleased with it! It's going to save a lot of messing around with tinypic.

[lark_ascends]

Why oh why did I not know you could upload images here???

[st_aurafina]

Well, I sort of knew, but the tutorial helped me actually do it. The upload is really fast, though.

[umadoshi]

Such lovely kitties! *^^*

[st_aurafina]

They are lovely, and in this weather, the snuggliest.

[ayebydan]

Praise you. What a golden post.

[st_aurafina]

Hee! Thank you!

[batmarg]

Hoping for a speedy recovery.

I'm not doing a full move from LJ, but I'm being more diligent in my lj backup/crossposting. And I'll probably be on here a bit more often since the handful of people I only know on here has gone up a bit.

Ooh! I've got to check out the image hosting!

[st_aurafina]

It's not a speedy recovery but it is a recovery, and for that I'm glad.

I've been crossposting since 2009 but I'm wondering if it's time to stop, or at least to remove comments over there. I don't know.

[tinny]

Dreamwidth has image hosting, I didn't realise! I'm going to try it out. RIGHT NOW!

Yeah, it's pretty new (a few months or something). The only bad thing is that they're not going to write an importer like they do your journals.

I asked denise, and she explicitly said that they won't do it (because they think it's technically impossible, which I am in no way convinced is the case, but whatever).

So what am I going to do with the thousands of icons I have hosted on LJ? About half my posts are icon posts, and they're going to be sad, empty shells if LJ goes down. *cries*

[st_aurafina]

I'm pretty sure I saw a link that lets you batch transfer your images? Let me have a rummage in the bookmarks...

a method to batch export your livejournal images by ironymaiden.

I don't know if that's helpful? But maybe?

[gokuma]

I've decided I didn't want to wait any longer and last week I mirrored my LJ to DW. I still have my LJ account but I won't be updating it anymore - so I'm glad you're here too

[st_aurafina]

Yay! I'm slowly mirroring all my comms and bringing them over too.

[fosfomifira]

I'm sorry it's taken me ten days to say anything, but yay you for feeling better! Prednisone withdrawal sounds exhausting, but yay you indeed. You've earned all the yams in the world.

Your cats are too adorable for words, derpy tongue and photobombing creatures that they are.

I'll be bookmarking this post for all the dw links. As usual, you're a fountain of knowledge.