The Day in Spikedluv (Tuesday, July 22)
Jul. 23rd, 2025 06:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spikedluvI had a massage this morning, which was amazing! My first in a while and very much needed.
I hit Panera for breakfast (they didn’t have any souffles *sobs* but I got a breakfast sandwich on ciabatta, which elevated the sandwich) and to use their wifi. Between Panera and massage I hit Trader Joe’s, B&N, and Bath & Body, and got in a walk. (Originally I was going to walk inside the mall, but the weather had turned so nice that I was able to walk outside.) I got lunch at Applebee’s after the massage.
I didn’t get many chores done because I was gone most of the day (left ~6am and got home ~3pm). I dried and folded the laundry, hand-washed more dishes, scooped kitty litter, and showered.
I grilled ribs for Pip’s supper, but I accidentally picked up the wrong kind (definitely ~not baby back ribs) and (according to him) they tasted awful. I felt bad and offered to chuck them, but he said he’d eat them at the garage. He had some veg and the moz cheese sticks I brought home from Applebee’s for him to round out the meal.
I finished the Duncan Kincaid book.
Temps started out at 48.0(F) and reached 75.0. There was sun and a breeze. Another perfect day, imo.
Mom Update:
I did not see mom today, but I called her a couple of times. She sat on the porch a couple times (see above re: beautiful weather), walked to the mailbox on her own, and had a visit from her BFF. We didn’t talk about what she ate.
Mom has her port put in tomorrow aternoon (which is now today, Wednesday). All good thoughts welcomed and appreciated.
I hit Panera for breakfast (they didn’t have any souffles *sobs* but I got a breakfast sandwich on ciabatta, which elevated the sandwich) and to use their wifi. Between Panera and massage I hit Trader Joe’s, B&N, and Bath & Body, and got in a walk. (Originally I was going to walk inside the mall, but the weather had turned so nice that I was able to walk outside.) I got lunch at Applebee’s after the massage.
I didn’t get many chores done because I was gone most of the day (left ~6am and got home ~3pm). I dried and folded the laundry, hand-washed more dishes, scooped kitty litter, and showered.
I grilled ribs for Pip’s supper, but I accidentally picked up the wrong kind (definitely ~not baby back ribs) and (according to him) they tasted awful. I felt bad and offered to chuck them, but he said he’d eat them at the garage. He had some veg and the moz cheese sticks I brought home from Applebee’s for him to round out the meal.
I finished the Duncan Kincaid book.
Temps started out at 48.0(F) and reached 75.0. There was sun and a breeze. Another perfect day, imo.
Mom Update:
I did not see mom today, but I called her a couple of times. She sat on the porch a couple times (see above re: beautiful weather), walked to the mailbox on her own, and had a visit from her BFF. We didn’t talk about what she ate.
Mom has her port put in tomorrow aternoon (which is now today, Wednesday). All good thoughts welcomed and appreciated.
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Daily Happiness
Jul. 22nd, 2025 09:21 pmtorachan1. Long day of driving going to San Diego today, but it was a much more pleasant visit than the last few times as things do seem to be improving in the store.
2. The guys came and fixed the back screen door today. I'm so used to dealing with the broken door that it's weird to have it working properly again, but I'm sure I'll get used to that again soon enough.
3. Ollie is such a chonker.
2. The guys came and fixed the back screen door today. I'm so used to dealing with the broken door that it's weird to have it working properly again, but I'm sure I'll get used to that again soon enough.
3. Ollie is such a chonker.
Reading Wednesday
Jul. 23rd, 2025 12:09 amtroisoiseauxFinished Dune! (At least technically; I listened to the last couple of hours on a late flight and suspect I may have dozed off at points? That, or there are some weird time skips, which I also can't discount because there were previously some weird time skips even when I was paying attention— look, I know I've been referring to Paul as Space Jesus, but I really didn't expect an actual resurrection.) My biggest takeaway is that there are fascinating (in a bewildered-to-derogatory sense) things going on in this book, gender-wise: Frank Herbert has written this all-powerful order of, like, magical female Freemasons, and Paul's whole thing is that he's the one (1) guy who can achieve (and surpass/perfect?) their exclusively "feminine" powers, but also I feel like the narrative just has such contempt for the handful of women in it, except maybe Alia...?
Finished The Angel Experiment - book one of James Patterson's YA series about Maximum "Max" Ride, a teenage avian-human hybrid on the run from mad scientists and also her destiny to Save The World - and ended up reading the equally if not even more batshit sequel, School's Out Forever (2006). (The School is the laboratory where Max and the rest of her "flock" were created and spent the first two to ten(?) years of their lives as twisted science experiments (!); Patterson apparently really likes the "school's out" joke because he used it in the first book, too, although this one does also feature an actual school.)
( Highlights )
Currently (re-)reading The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian, which so far is the second book I've read this year to feature extensive info-dumping about the 19th century whaling industry. Also started reading The Book of Love by Kelly Link; I'm only a few chapters in but it's already, like, heart-bursting-ly good.
Finished The Angel Experiment - book one of James Patterson's YA series about Maximum "Max" Ride, a teenage avian-human hybrid on the run from mad scientists and also her destiny to Save The World - and ended up reading the equally if not even more batshit sequel, School's Out Forever (2006). (The School is the laboratory where Max and the rest of her "flock" were created and spent the first two to ten(?) years of their lives as twisted science experiments (!); Patterson apparently really likes the "school's out" joke because he used it in the first book, too, although this one does also feature an actual school.)
( Highlights )
Currently (re-)reading The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian, which so far is the second book I've read this year to feature extensive info-dumping about the 19th century whaling industry. Also started reading The Book of Love by Kelly Link; I'm only a few chapters in but it's already, like, heart-bursting-ly good.
that's 21 straight successful stolen bases
Jul. 22nd, 2025 09:18 pmmusesfoolToday was my first day back at work after my vacation and I did not sleep at all well last night, despite, you know, working from home and didn't have to get up early or anything. I was tossing and turning until sometime after 4 am, at which point I finally fell asleep.
Work was fine - busy, and kind of a lot, but not difficult despite the lack of sleep - but then I sat down on the couch after dinner to watch the Mets and fell asleep for about 40 minutes. *hands*
I'm really glad I took yesterday off too. I 100% recommend adding an extra day onto your vacation if you can - especially if it's a Monday, and doubly so if you actually went away. It makes it easier to get back into the grind, at least for me. I had 333 emails to sort through this morning, and there is way too much going on, as usual, but I timed it so that all of my regular meetings happened while I was out, so this week should be fairly quiet.
On the home front, I've had my new dishwasher for a week now and it is working really well, though I am still learning how to load it. The tines are much closer together and shorter than in my old one, which makes it difficult to get stuff in between them. But it's so quiet! And it doesn't leak! *knock wood* It does take 2.5 hours to run the full normal cycle, but I can live with that.
On the TV front, I finished Murderbot and enjoyed it - Mensah is still my favorite and I wish Bharadwaj had had more to do because I liked her as well.
I also finished the last 2 available episodes of My Life Is Murder because I read they are doing a new season, though who knows when it will be available here. I enjoyed the s4 2-part finale, and I do kind of low-key ship Alexa and Madison, though I also like that they have not had any real romantic interests for Alexa, and those 2 episodes really focused on her lingering grief for her husband.
In other news, Baby Miss L went to Sesame Place this past weekend and the videos of her vibrating with joy over meeting Elmo and Grover and Cookie Monster are amazing!
*
Work was fine - busy, and kind of a lot, but not difficult despite the lack of sleep - but then I sat down on the couch after dinner to watch the Mets and fell asleep for about 40 minutes. *hands*
I'm really glad I took yesterday off too. I 100% recommend adding an extra day onto your vacation if you can - especially if it's a Monday, and doubly so if you actually went away. It makes it easier to get back into the grind, at least for me. I had 333 emails to sort through this morning, and there is way too much going on, as usual, but I timed it so that all of my regular meetings happened while I was out, so this week should be fairly quiet.
On the home front, I've had my new dishwasher for a week now and it is working really well, though I am still learning how to load it. The tines are much closer together and shorter than in my old one, which makes it difficult to get stuff in between them. But it's so quiet! And it doesn't leak! *knock wood* It does take 2.5 hours to run the full normal cycle, but I can live with that.
On the TV front, I finished Murderbot and enjoyed it - Mensah is still my favorite and I wish Bharadwaj had had more to do because I liked her as well.
I also finished the last 2 available episodes of My Life Is Murder because I read they are doing a new season, though who knows when it will be available here. I enjoyed the s4 2-part finale, and I do kind of low-key ship Alexa and Madison, though I also like that they have not had any real romantic interests for Alexa, and those 2 episodes really focused on her lingering grief for her husband.
In other news, Baby Miss L went to Sesame Place this past weekend and the videos of her vibrating with joy over meeting Elmo and Grover and Cookie Monster are amazing!
*
Drabble #1
Jul. 22nd, 2025 05:39 pmmargarksSo, I know only like 2 people are probably reading this journal right now and I have only posted sporadically 3 or 4 times in the past few months, but I really miss writing, so I'm going to try to pump out a few drabbles here and there at least.
I used to do this daily on livejournal a million years ago. If anyone feels like leaving me some prompts I can try my hand at those. I don't know if these will be posted daily, weekly, or randomly (probably randomly), but yeah. Anyway, my fandoms are still basically the same as 10 years ago, I don't think I know anything new enough to actually write in current shows. So, like any buffy, angel, firefly, xfiles, stargate (mostly atlantis, but sg1 too), star trek aos, ncis, criminal minds, pretty much most of the marvel cinematic stuff, maybe harry potter? If there is another you want to prompt me for feel free to ask, I might have missed something.
Here is one to start. Just a Bucky POV internal monologue after the end of the Thunderbolts.
Title: Drabble # 1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe; Thunderbolts*
Author: Margie
Rating:PG-13
Pairing: None
Spoilers: Thunderbolts*
Word Count: 100
Summary: He’s pretty sure he’s made a mistake.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. And I'm totally not making a profit.
Author's Note: Just trying to write again.
~~
He's pretty sure he's made a mistake. What was he even doing here? An Avenger? New or otherwise, Bucky knew he wasn't any type of hero.
There was a reason Stevie hadn't given him the shield.
It takes more than just wanting, or even trying, to do the right thing to be Captain America.
And here he was working with (for?) one of the most corrupt people he'd ever known outside of Hydra. He can't help wondering what Steve would have to say if he'd still been here.
He doesn't want to know; hopes he never finds out.
Fucking Valetina.
I used to do this daily on livejournal a million years ago. If anyone feels like leaving me some prompts I can try my hand at those. I don't know if these will be posted daily, weekly, or randomly (probably randomly), but yeah. Anyway, my fandoms are still basically the same as 10 years ago, I don't think I know anything new enough to actually write in current shows. So, like any buffy, angel, firefly, xfiles, stargate (mostly atlantis, but sg1 too), star trek aos, ncis, criminal minds, pretty much most of the marvel cinematic stuff, maybe harry potter? If there is another you want to prompt me for feel free to ask, I might have missed something.
Here is one to start. Just a Bucky POV internal monologue after the end of the Thunderbolts.
Title: Drabble # 1
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe; Thunderbolts*
Author: Margie
Rating:PG-13
Pairing: None
Spoilers: Thunderbolts*
Word Count: 100
Summary: He’s pretty sure he’s made a mistake.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. And I'm totally not making a profit.
Author's Note: Just trying to write again.
~~
He's pretty sure he's made a mistake. What was he even doing here? An Avenger? New or otherwise, Bucky knew he wasn't any type of hero.
There was a reason Stevie hadn't given him the shield.
It takes more than just wanting, or even trying, to do the right thing to be Captain America.
And here he was working with (for?) one of the most corrupt people he'd ever known outside of Hydra. He can't help wondering what Steve would have to say if he'd still been here.
He doesn't want to know; hopes he never finds out.
Fucking Valetina.
Julé! 22/31 - two links and some music
Jul. 22nd, 2025 09:17 pmkat_lair***
I was aware of the phenomenon but not that it had a name: heterofatalism/heteropessism (viacorvidology)
If you're in the UK, please email your MP about the EHRC Code of Practice being drafted behind closed doors (viaapiphile)
A slow evening song from my 2025 Faves playlist.
***
I was aware of the phenomenon but not that it had a name: heterofatalism/heteropessism (via
corvidology)If you're in the UK, please email your MP about the EHRC Code of Practice being drafted behind closed doors (via
apiphile)A slow evening song from my 2025 Faves playlist.
***
Media Round Up: Strong Women
Jul. 22nd, 2025 11:24 amforestofgloryI thought I would have gotten father with my pile of graphic novels form the library by now since I think of them as such quick reads, but I guess I've been reading other things.
Women of the Conquest Dynasties: Gender and Identity in Liao and Jin China by Linda Cooke Johnson —Read for my FTH bibliography. This didn’t have a huge amount about textiles but it did have a lot about interesting and badass women.
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite —A murder mystery novella set on a space ship. Very much in the style of classic murder mysteries, complete with an older woman detective. There's a bunch of interesting memory based tech in here including something like a replicator that works off memories which is a cool idea but replicating the thing you remember exactly how you remember it doesn’t seem like it would work out for most people. Fabric is mentioned as something that’s easy to replicate, but I don’t remember even fabric I’ve sewn with that precisely. Most of my memories are just not very precise – I would just end up with a lot of blobs if I tried this.
This kind of mystery really depends on the quirky cast, and I liked the characters but felt like we didn’t really get to know them, I think it would have benefited from being longer so the characters could be a bit more developed.
This makes it seem like I didn’t like the book, but actually it's very charming. I especially liked the the main character is a knitter and there are lots of yarn details.
Hovergirls by Geneva Bowers —One of those graphic novels I mentioned checking out from the library. Cousins Jalissa and Kim have recently moved to a new city and have to deal with challenges like working at a coffee shop and fighting mysterious glowing fish. This was fun! I really liked the art style, which was very bright and colorful.
The Moth Keeper by Kay O'Neill —Another graphic novel by the author of The Tea Dragon Society books. This one is actually written before A Song for You & I and it’s not quite as good as that one, there’s few places where it's hard to follow the action. I did really like all the night time desert landscapes, and the moths though!
( Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors, My Uncanny Destiny )
Women of the Conquest Dynasties: Gender and Identity in Liao and Jin China by Linda Cooke Johnson —Read for my FTH bibliography. This didn’t have a huge amount about textiles but it did have a lot about interesting and badass women.
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite —A murder mystery novella set on a space ship. Very much in the style of classic murder mysteries, complete with an older woman detective. There's a bunch of interesting memory based tech in here including something like a replicator that works off memories which is a cool idea but replicating the thing you remember exactly how you remember it doesn’t seem like it would work out for most people. Fabric is mentioned as something that’s easy to replicate, but I don’t remember even fabric I’ve sewn with that precisely. Most of my memories are just not very precise – I would just end up with a lot of blobs if I tried this.
This kind of mystery really depends on the quirky cast, and I liked the characters but felt like we didn’t really get to know them, I think it would have benefited from being longer so the characters could be a bit more developed.
This makes it seem like I didn’t like the book, but actually it's very charming. I especially liked the the main character is a knitter and there are lots of yarn details.
Hovergirls by Geneva Bowers —One of those graphic novels I mentioned checking out from the library. Cousins Jalissa and Kim have recently moved to a new city and have to deal with challenges like working at a coffee shop and fighting mysterious glowing fish. This was fun! I really liked the art style, which was very bright and colorful.
The Moth Keeper by Kay O'Neill —Another graphic novel by the author of The Tea Dragon Society books. This one is actually written before A Song for You & I and it’s not quite as good as that one, there’s few places where it's hard to follow the action. I did really like all the night time desert landscapes, and the moths though!
( Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors, My Uncanny Destiny )
Photos!
Jul. 22nd, 2025 08:42 amspikedluvI took some photos the other day. Most were of the pumpkin patch. (Pip has planted pumpkins of which he says that family can take some, but no one else, because they’re for the deer, lol!)
Wide view; with bonus Ti!
( 8 more back here )
Wide view; with bonus Ti!
( 8 more back here )
The Day in Spikedluv (Monday, July 21)
Jul. 22nd, 2025 07:55 amspikedluvI can’t believe we’re this close to the end of July already!
I hit Walmart and CVS (for mom’s potassium) while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I threw a load of laundry in the washer and hand-washed dishes before I headed downtown and hand-washed more dishes when I got home. I also went for another short walk with Pip and the dogs before lunch and cut up chicken for said dogs.
I visited mom after lunch and stayed until my usual time of 3pm. I stopped at Stewart’s for milk and gas on the way home. Coming home meant yet more hand-washing of dishes, tossing the laundry in the dryer and folding it, later tossing another load in the washer, scooping kitty litter, and shaving.
The other day mom suggested that I take a day off to get things done and it put a thought in my head. So today I called and scheduled a massage for tomorrow (aka, today!). It was sudden, but my thought was that I might need to spend more time with mom on Thursday, after her port procedure, and next Tuesday (my usual massage day) would probably be out because it's the day after chemo.)
I started the next Duncan Kincaid book.
Temps started out at 61(F) and reached 76.1.
Mom Update:
Mom was doing okay. ( more back here )
I hit Walmart and CVS (for mom’s potassium) while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I threw a load of laundry in the washer and hand-washed dishes before I headed downtown and hand-washed more dishes when I got home. I also went for another short walk with Pip and the dogs before lunch and cut up chicken for said dogs.
I visited mom after lunch and stayed until my usual time of 3pm. I stopped at Stewart’s for milk and gas on the way home. Coming home meant yet more hand-washing of dishes, tossing the laundry in the dryer and folding it, later tossing another load in the washer, scooping kitty litter, and shaving.
The other day mom suggested that I take a day off to get things done and it put a thought in my head. So today I called and scheduled a massage for tomorrow (aka, today!). It was sudden, but my thought was that I might need to spend more time with mom on Thursday, after her port procedure, and next Tuesday (my usual massage day) would probably be out because it's the day after chemo.)
I started the next Duncan Kincaid book.
Temps started out at 61(F) and reached 76.1.
Mom Update:
Mom was doing okay. ( more back here )
Daily Happiness
Jul. 21st, 2025 09:52 pmtorachan1. I had a lot of stuff to get caught up on at work after the weekend, but I got caught up.
2. I kept seeing ads for one of these blanket hoodie things and although it's not the season for it, it did look very comfy, so I ended up ordering it and it arrived today. It is indeed very comfy and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this during colder weather.
3. We had a nice evening at Disneyland.
4. Gemma!
2. I kept seeing ads for one of these blanket hoodie things and although it's not the season for it, it did look very comfy, so I ended up ordering it and it arrived today. It is indeed very comfy and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this during colder weather.
3. We had a nice evening at Disneyland.
4. Gemma!
2025 Disneyland Trip #52 (7/21/25)
Jul. 21st, 2025 08:45 pmtorachanToday was a first. Carla drove down to Disneyland from home, and I met her there after work. (Usually if we go after work, either she rides with me and then takes the car to do whatever while I'm doing work stuff, or I go back home after work and pick her up then head back down.)
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
When your kid is a bookworm...
Jul. 21st, 2025 09:18 pmbrithistorianOne of my friends on FB was talking about the experience of having a daughter who's a bookworm (at her birthday, as soon as she opened a present and saw she got books, she wanted to go read). It reminded me of this story from my past:
One of my mom's favorite stories to tell about me was that the Christmas I turned 7, one of my gifts was a stack of books (Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). As soon as I got those, Christmas was over as far as I was concerned - I opened Alice in Wonderland (because it was at the top of the stack) and started reading. In the back yard was a new swingset that my dad, my uncle, and my grandfather had spent all day Christmas Eve putting together. They had to drag me away from my books to go see it. I played for about 10 minutes or so, then went back in and went back to reading.
