st_aurafina | Network

It's extremely excellent to come across a short story completely at random, from someone I don't know at all, and then fall in love with it. (I love reading stories from people I know, too, of course! But in those cases, I already know I'm likely to love the story, whereas when it's by someone I don't know, it's an unexpected surprise.)

"Do You Love the Color of the Sky?" by Rachel Rosen was just such a story. In it, the curator of a museum that collects art and artifacts from the multiverse's doomed timelines (and who has a pet dodo from a timeline where dodos weren't hunted to extinction) is confronted by a thief from one of those doomed timelines who wants to take back what's either a plundered item or a rescued item, depending on what side of museum discourse you fall on. The multiverse is a great place for museum discourse, it turns out!

But beyond that, the story's just got a great narrative voice and some killer lines, such as...

Hadn't this always been the pattern of civilization? Tea and bullets were undeniably intertwined.

and

"But your world is dying."
I hadn't expected her smile. The bullet had been gentler.
"Every world dies," the thief said. "Even yours."

Here's how the thief is described on first appearance:

You can sometimes tell where [a multiverse traveler is] from at a glance. A gleaming bull’s horn on a chain around the throat, or a shangrak tattoo. A Hapsburg jaw or a colony of melanomas, if it’s one of the worse timelines. Not this woman. She had burst from the fire fully formed and innocent of all history.

And the various artifacts themselves, and the possibilities (or tragedies) of the various timelines are great.

Free to read here: "Do You Love the Color of the Sky?"

Rachel Rosen has also apparently written a short story titled, "What if we kissed while sinking a billionaire's yacht?" which short story lends its title to Issue One of Antifa Journal, with this great cover. To read the story requires purchasing the journal, but as an ebook it's only $4.99, so I'm sore tempted.

grayestofghosts

The RAM shortage, which I'm sure people have been hearing about (if you haven't -- AI corporations have already purchased all the RAM that will be made by chip manufacturers in 2026 for datacenters that don't exist yet to fulfill uncertain demand for AI, causing a shortage for everything else that uses RAM, which is... essentially everything, because aside from your game systems, and your personal phone and computer, are also used in non-Ai datacenters that keep online services running, and also every point of sale device, and also in a whole lot of systems that one would not think would use it, like various medical machines etc., because it's easier for devs to just stick software into a Microsoft/Android/etc base than to develop whole new machines, essentially) has gotten me a bit freaked out. It just seems to converge perfectly with the restrictions of all sorts of online services that want to slurp up all your personal identifying information and the only sort-of-not-really-viable-alternative is "make your own server", the parts of which are set to become exponentially more expensive even if you have the know how.

I want to try to get a raspberry pi and set up a server. I'm unsure what I'm going to run on it, but it seems like as good a time to start as any. I was actually going to run out today and grab one but there was a sudden snowstorm that was legit terrifying so I'll probably wait until this weekend. If anyone has any recommendations on how to do this, that would be great. What I want to do is not set in stone but I was thinking of trying to run a matrix instance or a VTT or maybe a blog or static website. I don't know. It just seems like something I should start learning probably.

Current Music: "☆Turtle Islands☀," 猫シ Corp.

sgatazmy

i want to try writing entries daily and see how it helps my mood and how I think about things. I bet it will last maybe two or three days, but I'd like to try for a six day streak. I can do it? Maybe?

I'm still somehow working on Deep Down Below. Seriously? Why is it taking so long. The story was already written 20. years aog! It wasn't supposed to be a current WIP? But I do think the new story is a hell of a lot better than the old one and I want to do it right. Four chapters left. I can do it!

I'm feeling exhausted even though I'm working less. It feels like very area of my life wants attention, but I want to put my attention into writing and reading instead. I've decided I'm just going to have to find time, because without writing and reading...well...life isn't as good without. I've come to a point where fandom is a lot of my joy.

I'm hosting another AO3 writing group in person this Saturday. Every time I mention this to people, they all seem surprised I know enough people to invite to such an event. I suppose I am lucky. I know a few podficcers in person...who I met in person before I knew they did podfic. I know several fic writers, too, in person. So an AO3 group makes sense. I'd much rather socialize with AO3 folks anyway than a lot of people who I don't seem to have much in common with.

I've been lonely. It's strange how in a group of people or while doing activities that I can be so lonely, but I am. Maybe the AO3 group will help. Maybe I just need people around me to not always be upset. Maybe I need to not always feel the crushing weight of everything. Maybe I just need to write and eat and be merry or whatnot.

So how are you all?

pattrose

Topics for Dreamwidth.

Ways I Can Take Care of Myself.

If someone says something I know isn't right, I can nicely say exactly what I think. I won't keep saying the same thing, but at least I got to say how I felt about what was said. Years ago I would have just let it go and kept my mouth shut. But now, I realize that people don't always agree with each other. And people are free to say what they want. Who am I to tell anyone they're wrong? Right? I'm rambling. I know how to use pepper spray, and I know some self-defense. But keep in mind I'm much older since I learned those things. I know all about abusive behavior and would gladly take some measure of action towards someone that is hurting a child or hurting an adult for that matter.

Hope about you?

pattrose

2026 60 questions meme.

Who is someone you envy and why?

I don't really envy anyone. Everyone is their own person and we all know how to do something that someone else can't. Be happy with your goals and your life.

pattrose

Not quite 365 days questions meme February

19. Have you ever worn false eyelashes or had eyelash extensions?

Nope, never have. Never will. Boy, tonight is really boring. Not the night, just the questions aren't doing anything for me. It's just one of those nights. I decided I'm going to post a recipe I tried for dessert on hubby’s birthday. It was so good.

pattrose

Pineapple dump cake

Gooey Amish Pineapple Dump Cake
Ingredients: 1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple with juice; 1 box yellow cake mix; 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted; optional whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving.
Instructions: Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Pour crushed pineapple with its juice evenly into a greased baking dish. Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the pineapple without mixing. Drizzle melted butter evenly over the top, covering as much of the cake mix as possible. Top with a fine layer of brown sugar. Bake for 40–45 minutes until the top is golden and the edges are bubbly. Let cool slightly, then serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

This one is so easy. And it's delicious. I don't even care for pineapple and I loved it.

luminousdaze posting in

fandom_icons

95 movie and TV show icons (icons include many variations).

( Fandoms... )

( four more previews... )

View here at

spectral_color

marycatelli posting in

books

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 14 by Kanehito Yamada

Spoilers ahead for the earlier ones.

( Read more... )

landofnowhere

Ties that Bind, Ties that Break, Lensey Namioka. Found in a Little Free Library; I'd previously read the autiobiography of Namioka's mother Buwei Yang Chao, recommended by

osprey_archer, so I was curious to see how Namioka wrote historical fiction about her mother's generation. Our protagonist Ailin is very much not based on Buwei -- Buwei is the sort of person, where if you wrote her life as fiction, readers would not find it believable. (There is a minor character in the book who appears to be based on Buwei, and Namioka later wrote a sequel about her, but based on descriptions it sounds like it goes in a different direction.) Instead this is the sort of middle-grade historical novel that I ate up as a kid, and it is a well-written example of this, but as an adult I don't want the story to stop when the protagonist turns 19.

Chroniques du Pays des Mères, Élisabeth Vonarburg. Yep, you'll be getting updates on this every week, though I'll try to avoid spoilers (we are now almost halfway through). In this week's installment the protagonist starts college in the Big City, population 15,000, and so we get a bit of a fun school story, and also some comparative linguistics.

kitewithfish

What I’ve Read

What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher – Another Sworn Soldier spooky mystery with a creepy cave and inhuman intelligences. I liked it, but I don’t think it’s as interesting as the first two. I’ll probably re-read to see if I continue to hold that opinion later. Kingfisher is always a good re-read.

Latchkey by Goldkirk – Long and self-indulgent Batfam fic focus on a young Tim Drake. None of the bad things have happened yet – Jason Todd makes friends with Tim, and Tim’s parents are awful and he’s rescued. The writing is good and there’s probably more I can say, but it just makes me feel content to see someone recovering from a bad situation.

The Incandescent by Emily Tesh – A magical school story (NOT my thing) where the main character is an intelligent administrator and instructor who’s also a 38 year old woman in a slow rolling life crisis (TOTALLY my thing.) Honestly, this is a great book and the only failure of the work is mine – I have no tolerance for the kind of Potterstalgic Anglophilia that permeates some magical school stories, and so I would have never read this book if my book club hadn’t suggested it. I am not immune to foolish choices. It’s legitimately good and puts enough work into showing the foulness of English hierarchical society that I could actually trust Tesh to not brush over it. I really enjoyed the main character’s sheer unrelenting busy-ness and the complexities of running a larger school appealed, and the way the school kind of eats her until something breaks.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (Scholomance Book 1) – Also an author I trust to look at a magical school and then take a hatchet to the hierarchical bullshit built into it! This is a re-read and I enjoyed it a great deal. This book is about capitalism and hierarchy and aristocracy and all the ways El Higgins grows to realize that she’s rather build something new than choose a safe path. Book club picked this series, and the Incandescent, because we tend to do better with a quarterly book club meeting and we need something meaty and complex. These books are going to make a fascinating set of comparisons. This book has zero teachers in it.

What I’m Reading

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (Scholomance 2) – This book is doing numbers on my head in the scarcity mindset compared to the last book. El finally gets her hands on some RESOURCES and it changes the whole game and also I fully related to how resentful she is of the past ages she spent scraping by. One of the best elements of this book series is El going from an outsider with no leverage and a deep fear of incurring debts she can’t repay, to the linchpin of a vast network of people willingly supporting each other for the good of it. She’s not there yet, but she’s laying down the foundations. It’s wonderful.

Apparently Sir Cameron Needs to Die – so far, so good. Cute and funny, more horny than I realized. Do people like sprayed edges on a book? I find them oddly smelly, and it’s a glue-bound paperback, so it feels a bit like putting your money on a nice paint job for a beater car.

What I’ll Read Next
Viriconium

Wednesday Work in Progress – Happy Sock Madness to all who observe! I have one third of a sock done and I am starting the other before I settle down and do the colorwork heel that is currently intimidating me. The qualifier pattern is called Newspaper - - and while it’s not actually that hard to knit if you’ve got good colorwork technique (and I do) the heel style (flap and gusset) is not my preferred mode and I have to secure myself a few hours to really dig into it. Hopefully I can get far enough that get a substantial amount done over the weekend.

petra

The main post is here.

What I said:

Let's write smut in short words for the spring Fools' Day! This will be a lot of fun. For me. And for you, too?

A list of folks I could write from my works is next. If you see a pair, group of three, or big group that you want me to write, drop me a line!

( Cut for length (that's what he said) )

Current Mood: sneezed on by cat
Current Music: Shall we recombine with the familial gathering in the vestibule?

netbug009 posting in

iconthat

Hello! First post in the community and first time making icons in a while!
Ranma 1/2, 100 Girlfriends, Transformers, and SRMTHG!

( links )

hannah

Looking around the kitchen cabinets and what passes for a pantry, wanting to supplement a half-meal's worth of pasta, thinking about what's readily available. Some cherry tomatoes came my way, a couple onions didn't get used in last week's rice dish. There's sardines. There's an impulse buy can of kidney beans.

With one thing and another, there's tomato-sardine-bean soup that manages to do the trick and then some. Sardines and beans - affordable luxury.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: nothing now

james_davis_nicoll

Evil Milhouse enraged.

mashimero

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

luthien

Ever since I first heard that the TV adaptation of these novellas was going to go ahead, I've been crossing everything that they'd do a good job. The novellas are a great bit of (mostly) contained storytelling in a franchise that is otherwise notable for its narrative sprawl. Plus, I've loved both Dunk and Egg since I first read The Hedge Knight in the Legends anthology back when it came out just before the turn of the millennium.

And you know, as it turns out, the show really, really does not disappoint. First of all, the casting is spot on, starting with Egg. If Dexter Sol Ansell had not existed, they would have had to create him. Like Gwendoline Christie being cast as Brienne of Tarth in GoT, I can't imagine another actor being so perfect for a role. Dexter was still only nine when they shot this, but he'd already been acting for five years. Amazing. Meanwhile, I saw Peter Claffey in an interview saying that many actors could have done justice to Dunk, but only Dexter was right to play Egg. I agree with half of that. Peter inhabits Dunk. At this point, I can't imagine another actor being him. I'm also super happy with the supporting cast, but especially Bertie Carvel as Prince Baelor Breakspear Targaryen and Daniel Ings as Ser Lyonel Baratheon aka the Laughing Storm. I really liked Bertie Carvel in the title role of Dalgliesh and he brings that same sort thoughtful but authoritative calm to Baelor. Perfect. Meanwhile, Daniel Ings has the charisma that the Laughing Storm requires.

I'm also really happy with the script and the direction. ( Spoilery stuff for the end of episode 4 + episode 5 under here )

glitteringstars posting in

writethisfanfic

HI ALL!

How was writing today? Was it easy or like pulling teeth?

moon_custafer

Yesterday I disassembled the too-wide bed frame and assembled a new one that’s the same length but a foot narrower, so Andrew has room to get into it from the side. I then packed the big frame into the new frame’s box, with the instructions, screws, and alan key, and took it down to the recycling room in the basement of our building. There’s a section there for people to leave stuff that other residents might want, so I set it there. Someone else had left a “Phantom-Line 100,” a vintage device for superimposing ruled lines on paper when doing calligraphy. I took it home, on the suspicion that it was a type of camera lucida. It sort of is—I would have to invert it and mount it at eye-level to use it as such, but in the meantime I’ve had some luck with balancing this tablet on it and using it to trace images from the screen onto a surface.
photo of me and Nana

drawing of me and Nana, flipped from the photo

The device flips the image from the original.

Monday Andrew had been watching Blackadder, and I’d remembered that Rowan Atkinson had played Inspecteur Maigret a few years ago—ten years ago as it turns out. I’ve only been able to find two of the four tv movies they did before they pulled the plug. We watched Maigret Sets A Trap, and we’re saving the other for later. Nice work by Atkinson in a serious role. Budapest stands in for 1950s Paris. Very different plot structure from the police procedurals of the last twenty-odd years, in which the murderer is nearly always someone who shows up in the first fifteen minutes—Maigret and his detectives don’t find their suspect till the third act, and then it becomes a matter of how to confirm it.

Mackenzie Crook has ventured further into magic realism with Small Prophets, and I just watched the first episode of…six, I think? The best part so far is Michael Palin as the protagonist’s father, building Rube Goldberg machines in the common living-room of his care home. This is, so far, the kind of show where much of the storytelling is done through the set dressing—there’s a wordless scene that made me say ohh, out loud, because it’s so sad and it also makes it more believeable that the protagonist will (spoiler, but nothing that doesn’t come up in the trailer and most reviews) ( Read more... )

sonia

I posted a while ago about acquiring a FlossGrip floss holder, but it was awkward to use. Since then I've figured out a few things, so I thought I would share.

I use slippery floss because my teeth are closely spaced, so I need to wrap around the posts 5 times rather than 3. It is also easier if there's a tail on each side, so I use about 9 inches of floss (the length of the FlossGrip plus a couple inches) each time. This is about half of what I used with just my fingers.
It's easier to wrap the floss with dry hands, before I brush my teeth.
The FlossGrip is embossed on one side with "FlossGrip", which makes it easier to keep track of which post I wrapped first, for unwrapping.
The little slots that lock in the floss are compressed by wrapping the floss around the posts, which means there is a just-right tension that lets the floss slide in, and then holds it securely.
It helps to angle the FlossGrip to match the actual angle of each gap between my teeth, not what I imagine the angle to be.
It also helps to minimize the pressure I use to get down into each gap, so I don't irritate my gums.

So that's it, what a geeky person thinks about while flossing her teeth.

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st_aurafina

February 2023

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Page Summary

asakiyume - "Do You Love the Color of the Sky?"
grayestofghosts - RAM and Server Garbage
sgatazmy - Thinking
pattrose - Topics for talk February.
pattrose - 2026 60 questions meme
pattrose - Not quite 365 days questions meme February
pattrose - Recipe for Amish pineapple dump cake.
luminousdaze in fandom_icons - icons of multiple fandoms
marycatelli in books - Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 14
landofnowhere - wednesday books about young women
kitewithfish - Wednesday Reading Meme for Feb 18 2025 (and a WIP!)
petra - Erotica 4 Barbarians, or, Smut in Short Words for Spring Fools' Day
netbug009 in iconthat - Challenge 201: texturize 2
hannah - Resource management.
james_davis_nicoll - MP Matt Jeneroux leaves Conservatives to join Liberals, citing 'national unity crisis'
mashimero - Hello Dreamwidth
luthien - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - Episode 5
glitteringstars in writethisfanfic - Check In: Day 18
moon_custafer - More Stuff
sonia - Learning how to use a FlossGrip

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All Saints

Network

Navigation

"Do You Love the Color of the Sky?"

RAM and Server Garbage

Thinking

Topics for talk February.

2026 60 questions meme

Not quite 365 days questions meme February

Recipe for Amish pineapple dump cake.

icons of multiple fandoms

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 14

wednesday books about young women

Wednesday Reading Meme for Feb 18 2025 (and a WIP!)

Erotica 4 Barbarians, or, Smut in Short Words for Spring Fools' Day

Challenge 201: texturize 2

Resource management.

MP Matt Jeneroux leaves Conservatives to join Liberals, citing 'national unity crisis'

Hello Dreamwidth

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - Episode 5

Check In: Day 18

More Stuff

Learning how to use a FlossGrip

Profile

February 2023

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