karmicdragonfly

First there was volleyball. It was more fun than usual, actually. And then there was elbow coffee which was more boring than usual, actually. And that is some kind of boring, let me tell you. It may be all groups of very old people or just this one, but bring up an ailment and each and every one of them will bore you to tears and forever sharing their own experiences, the experiences of their family members and and friends of second cousins of the neighbors they used to have 25 years ago.

Hospitals are in the business of ensuring you get the worst care possible. Doctors are the stupidest people on the planet and don't even get them started on pharmacists.

It makes for tedious conversation. At one point I caught Bonny rolling her eyes into the back of her head and I nearly lost it in giggles.

But, now it's done for the week. Whew. And I have no more duties today.

I need a few things at the dollar store but I don't think today's the day. I think today is TV and knitting. My dinner order has been entered to be picked up later and I have sandwich makings for lunch.

Everything is under control... for now.

maju

I went for a walk this morning to post a birthday card to Oscar while the post office was open. (I was looking forward to just being able to put outgoing mail in my daughter's mailbox with the red flag raised, but she doesn't have the red flag and her mailbox is locked and there's no place to put outgoing mail anyway, so I still have the situation where I have to go somewhere else to post letters.) Anyway, there was intermittent drizzle while I was out but I had an umbrella so I didn't get too wet. Now that I'm home again, of course the sun has come out and it would have been much more pleasant for walking. Also it's 9C/48F, very mild for this time of year.

The girls are having a busy day with lots of coming and going. My son in law took Violet and Eden to Michael's to buy a birthday gift for Eden's friend whose party is happening today. They came back and then my daughter took Violet out for lunch. Now it's almost 2 pm and my son in law has taken Aria to a birthday party while I stay home with Eden, and Eden will be going to her postponed sleepover party this evening. (I don't think my son in law will be staying at the party with Aria, but I'm not sure. It seems that parents staying at parties with young children, even elementary age children, is the done thing these days, unlike when my children were young.)

I got my lab test results and almost everything is firmly in the normal range except for cholesterol, which is slightly high just as it was a few months ago when my previous doctor had me do blood tests. This nurse also ordered a urine test, and that shows very slightly raised levels of glucose. (The normal range is under 99 units of something, and mine is 101. There is diabetes in my family, both late onset and type 1 so I guess the nurse will be keeping an eye on this.)

oursin

These people are AWFUL: Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world

(And I can't believe that there aren't women who didn't survive, particularly given the whole 'germs aren't a thing' ideology that's mixed up with it. Or at least pretty badly damaged.)

I've always been somewhat side-eyeing Grantly Dick Read and his gospel of 'natural childbirth' without fear and pain, because it was a bit vibes based on anecdotal stuff of his, but at least he was a trained medical professional, and he advocated antenatal classes teaching women what to expect when they went into labour, and giving them breathing exercises so that they could breathe through the contractions and so on and he did not suggest women giving birth alone without support.

This is also - like being anti-vaccine - coming from a very short period of historical time: in this case one in which maternal and infant mortality had plummeted and was no longer something people were more or less used to, or had at least heard cases of within their general circles.

These people are delusional.

Okay, there can be a lot wrong with modern obstetric practice - ?particularly in the USA, for reasons - but nature is so not your friend in this matter.

oursin

Happy birthday,

gwyneira and

ironymaiden!

modzilla in

fffx

This is the beta post for the 2024-2026 round of fffx.

Please comment below if you can offer brainstorming, critique, canon-checking, fact-checking, or tips on structure, perspective, or visual effects for art or stories in this exchange! Thank you to all volunteers.

Sign-up summary of requested fandoms
Requests in the app
Tag set

Please include a way to contact you. Here is an optional template to fill out:

Again, thank you!!

We also have outstanding pinch hits available.

Check-in week for this exchange is November 23-30.

modzilla in

fffx

FFFX stands for Five Figure Fanwork Exchange. It is a multifandom gift exchange for fanfic of 10,000+ words, and for comics of least 10 pages or at least 40 panels. FFFX is part of the Triple Crown multi-event challenge (

triplecrownofexchanges)

AO3 collection | Tag set | Browser app | Canon promo post | Beta post

Current Phase: Check-in week is upon us! Please look out for the check-in post, and either affirm that you're working on your assignment and expect to complete it, or default

Schedule

Nominations start: 18 August 2025
Nominations close: 27 August (11:59pm EDT)
Sign-ups start: 2 September
Sign-ups close: 11 September
Assignments out by: 13 September
Assignment Swaps / FINAL Letter Completion Deadline*: 21 September
Check-in Week**: 23-30 November
Assignments due: 24 January 2026 (11:59pm EST)
Works revealed: 28 February (5pm EST)
Creators revealed: 14 March (5pm EST)

Click/expand this details tag to see more explanations, covering assignment swaps, check-in week, and other topics

*How do assignment swaps work? This exchange allows you to trade in your current assignment for a different one. This is intended as a safety net. Maybe you tried a new fandom to match a request and it didn't work out. Maybe you matched on something safe, but fell in love with something else after assignments went out. Whether you can swap to the new assignment of your choice will depend on several factors, including whether several other people are already creating for it. You can ask for any other assignment before September 21. Between September 21, 2025, and the main deadline of January 24, 2026, you can still trade in the assignment you hold for another one, but only if the one you want is listed as a pinch hit.

If you're writing a letter, I recommend you finish it during sign-ups so that your assigned creator can use it right away, but that doesn't always happen. So there's a hard deadline: please complete any linked letters by September 21; if you are matched to a recipient whose letter is incomplete after September 21, you are welcome to ask to swap to any other recipient throughout the exchange.

**What is Check-In Week? This is when you contact the mod on a check-in post at this community to confirm that you are committed to fulfilling your assignment(s). If you do not check in, you will be defaulted.

FFFX follows the pattern of many other Archive-of-Our-Own-based multifandom exchanges. The pool of available fandoms is created by nominations (eight fandoms, with six characters or relationships each, per person, with selective additions possible during sign-ups). When signing up, you can offer and request as few as four fandoms (one for offers), with one character or relationship in each, or as many as ten fandoms, with ten relationships in each. You will match on one of those characters or relationships (OR matching). FFFX allows original works prompts. FFFX does not match on freeform tags or rating.

Because this is an exchange for long works and many creators like to have something to go on, you must fill out your AO3 requests with your choice of the following: prompts, or notes on what appeals to you about a fandom, or general likes, or some combination of these.

Fandom promotion posts and guides to where your canon can be found are encouraged.

The mod can be reached at mod.modzilla@gmail.com as well as through this Dreamwidth community.

Previous sticky posts

conuly

( Even if I don't give the title, it's spoilers aplenty )

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

( Read more... )

conuly in

agonyaunt

Dear Annie: I've always had a complicated relationship with my older sister, "Beth." She's the golden child -- successful, pretty, everyone's favorite. I'm more of the quiet one. I've never resented her accomplishments, but I've spent years feeling like I'm living in her shadow.

Recently, something strange happened. I got offered a promotion at work that would put me in a leadership role over a project Beth's company is contracted on. It's a huge opportunity. When I told my parents, they were polite but not enthusiastic. My mom actually said, "Well, let's hope that doesn't make things awkward for Beth."

Beth hasn't said much, just a text that said "Congrats," with a period. Not even an exclamation point.

Part of me wants to let it go and focus on the win. But another part of me feels really, really sad, like I'm still chasing approval I'll never get. I don't want this old family dynamic to steal the joy from something I worked hard for.

How do I celebrate myself without needing my family to do it with me? And is it worth trying to fix something that maybe they don't even think is broken? -- Out of the Shadow

( Read more... )

flemmings

I'd scheduled a cab to take me down to my appointment at Service Ontario but today was the day those No park signs spraypainted onto the street for the last week came into effect as little bobcats ripped chunks out of the pavement and then filled them up again with asphalt. When I went to check 90 minutes before my due time, cars were able to pass, but there was no guarantee the bobcats wouldn't start on a new section. So I cancelled my cab and hoofed it over to Bathurst (shall be oh so happy when the Christie elevator becomes operational) and so down to College. Where my normal up elevator was out of service but I eventually located one in the labyrinthine and badly signposted MARS building. Up to the street and over to Bay and eventually located the totally unsignposted wheelchair entrance, and by dint of asking a security guard, the minisculely signposted elevator down.

I was early because of course I was, but they called me fifteen minutes after my appointed time and I was out ten minutes after. Found my MARS elevator no prob, empty subway train to St George, and announcements that train would bypass Spadina station because of a police investigation. Well, I wasn't going north, I was going west today, so down to the line 2 platform, black with the unlovely youth of TO and their backpacks and their hockey sticks and their shoving and jostling and loud whoops of glee. Ah well, knew I'd hit the student rush hour, shou ga nai. But the westbound train comes in, I get on, and then a stentorian loudspeaker says EASTBOUND TO KENNEDY, THIS TRAIN IS EASTBOUND TO KENNEDY. Bref, all westbound trains were turning back at St George because the investigation was at the line 2 Spadina station. So forced my way back through the crowd and tried to locate the elevator which was on the far side of the sea of humanity, both sides of the platform. And may I say, guys who stand on the platform edge looking down the tunnel in case the train might come earlier than announced, blissfully unaware of someone trying to pass them from behind, are asking to be shoved off said platform. Made it to the elevator along with many other disabled types with walkers, and mothers with tank strollers, and the elevator showed no signs of coming, and when it did it was full of tank strollers who decided no they didn't want to get off after all. One or two walkers made it on, also an unlovely youth who slid past me before I could move and stood there looking innocently over my head.

Got to the street eventually and then walked home. The one good thing being that Wieners was still open and I could buy fruit fly traps. Guy recommended fly paper but I've dealt with fly paper before and don't care to repeat the experience. So 8000 steps today and a temporary health card and the real thing if and when the post office agrees.

The odd thing being that both my health card and ID date from four years ago and I seem to remember going down to Bay St to get them, pandemic or no, but I have no record at all of doing so.

andrewducker

We have a Spotify family account, so I thought I'd add Sophia to it.
Turns out that because she's under 13 she's incredibly limited in the music she can have access to, and has to be in the special kids app.
So, YouTube for music it is!

(Seriously, they didn't even have the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack. Utterly useless.)

oursin

Meet-up with visiting person from US institution of renown which I have visited in the past, and BBL (who I realise I have known for getting on for 40 years as we first met when I gave the first paper on my PhD research), whom I have not seen in person for yonks though we have talked on the phone.

While the reason for this was rather sad as it involves scholar we both knew and liked a lot who died unexpectedly last year, and left various projects unfinished but in a fairly advanced state, it was also a very lively and stimulating and enjoyable meeting with lots of mutual appreciation.

Also it looks like there may be a very interesting project coming out of this to finish off one of the projects which is bang in my wheelhouse/ballpark/whatever.

However, though not surprised or shocked, saddened to hear that things are, indeed, and fairly predictably, not well with the institution in question.

thewayne

There are several things interesting about Zork. It was one of the earliest imagination games that didn't have set winning conditions, instead you explored and tried to figure things out. It also was perhaps the first multi-platform games. They developed the Z-Machine, sort of a virtual environment that allowed the game to run on IBM Dos machines, Apple IIs, and others. That was extraordinarily revolutionary for the time!

And now you can download the source code for free. You can also download Z-Machine implementations for free. There's also CRT emulators that you can download if you really want to go 1980s old school!

And if you don't want to bother with all that, you can buy the game at Good Old Games for $6, but it's Windows-only.

One thing that I'm kind of curious about, though: when did Microsoft acquire the rights to Infocom IP? I don't recall that. While this is a cool thing for Microsoft to do, the source code for Zork and pretty much all the other Infocom games has been available for a few years, I downloaded them ages ago.

https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11/20/preserving-code-that-shaped-generations-zork-i-ii-and-iii-go-open-source

https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/11/20/1942250/microsoft-open-sources-classic-text-adventure-zork-trilogy

susandennis

I learned yesterday, quite by accident, of yet another misstep by Timber Ridge marketing. They told me a fair number of things as truths that turned out not to be. Mostly small things, but some big ones, too. Ex. They told me the pool was salt water. It was not and never has been. They told me not to worry about choosing a carpet to mask pet stains as housekeeping would treat for all stains. They do not and this carpet, which was very expensive, has stains all over it. Lots of examples.

But, yesterday, I learned that they did NOT tell me there was a free, secured, internet available to me.

Turns out there are two wifi networks for residents. 1 is open and requires not password. It's the one I've been using for 2 years. But, because my printer and my web cams need a secured network, I've had to do work arounds which have been problematic. My latest one - a $40 a month Xfinity account which requires a modem and a router - has been failing regularly and I've been looking for alternatives. I was almost to the point of giving up my printer and web cams.

And then yesterday, I found out that there is another free wifi network that is secure. Each apartment has their own password. I was supposed to have been given the password by marketing when I moved in. Once I found out about the network, it took 2 mins to get my password. Those marketing fuckers.

So much of yesterday was spent moving everything to this new (to me) network which turned out to be non-trivial. The printer was the most problematic. But, I finally got it done. Then I had 18 other things to move to the network one by one. Interestingly, the hub that runs the shades was the easiest and it took the shades with it. The Echo products were very annoying. But, finally, I got everything moved. And unplugged the modem and the router.

I am in the middle of a call to cancel Xfinity (again) now. Their website does not have a phone number but fortunately Google does. Their website wants you to schedule a call back and the first available they offered was next wednesday at 5 am and then the page errored out. I called the Google number and now I have a person who, I hope, is going to do the job. There is now annoying music so Yeah but when she goes off to do her thing, there is the deadest air. She now says the job is done and she'll send me an email today. I'm not convinced. But, I'm willing to wait and see.

Oh. Ok, their website seems to reflect the change to done. And now I owe them -$32.00. Ok, so nice. They do have the slowest website on the planet.

It is actually lovely and luxurious to just have all the internet I need available without any hardware (and its eccentricities). Even better than electricity, really. I don't even need outlets. Just wifi everywhere. And my printer is WAY happier than it was. I can now print from any device and actually from anywhere in this complex!

I'm glad I got it all moved over yesterday.

Today, I think I'm going to skip swimming this morning. No good reason. I just feel like it. Bonny wants to go to Costco, so steps. I don't really need any Costco but heck that may change when I get there. Plus I can check on my ham and cheese croissants which I'm pretty sure they have discontinued but maybe...

I do need to trot downstairs to pick up the menus for next week. Oh, I may actually get to be on the Food and Beverage Committee next year. I was asked this week if I was still interested and I said YES, Please.

Biggie and Julio are snuggled up together on the couch. Biggie appears to be asleep but Julio is clearly awake and just enjoying the cuddle and happy that Biggie hasn't kicked him off. So cute.

maju

Well, I survived the wait for the blood draw and was very happy to sit down to my belated breakfast afterwards. Of course things didn't go completely smoothly getting there; I knew exactly where the entrance to the carpark was, but it was blocked off as they are resurfacing the area so I had to go past and find the next entrance, but since I'm not familiar with getting to that lab I overshot the next driveway and had to go quite a bit further along to find a place where I could turn around and go back. Then, inside the lab, there was no receptionist, just a couple of machines where you were supposed to check in. I couldn't find my appointment number but I could use my phone number and date of birth so that was ok, except that the machine was extremely slow and at times just seemed to freeze up. The final step was to scan your driver's licence and I wasn't sure that mine had been scanned because it's a photocopy and didn't fit exactly into the space. However, eventually I got myself checked in. There was another woman next to me having exactly the same problems and muttering "I hate these things!" but she eventually got through the process as well.

When I came out of the lab and approached my car, I saw that there was an identical car parked a couple of spaces further along (with no cars in between), so I was checking the other car to see if it really was identical. Then when I went to get into "my" car I saw an unfamiliar drink bottle in the holder and realised that the "other" car was the one which was mine. I don't often see cars exactly the same as mine; there are plenty of the same model Honda Accord but not many in burgundy like mine.

A bit later, just after I'd finished my breakfast, I had a call from the lab to say I'd dropped a copy of my driver's licence so I went back to get it, and once again, overshot the necessary driveway and had to find a place to turn around.

I think the rest of the day should be uneventful.

maju

14. How many hours a week do you spend online? Let's just say a lot and leave it at that.

15. What do you love to do? Spend time online. Walk, run, read, knit, crochet, spend time with my granddaughters.

16. What specific character trait do you want to be known for? Integrity.

17. Are you more like your mom or your dad? In what way? I'm a lot like my mother in ways I don't particularly like, such as being very nit picky. I'm like my father in having a good sense of direction and being good with my hands.

18. What is the number one quality that makes someone a good leader? Knowing how to motivate people.

19. What bad habits do you want to break? I can't think of any.

20. What is your favorite place on Earth? I have more than one place where I love to be, and I can't narrow it down to just one.

21. What do you love to practice? Learning new things.

maju

I'm starving! My fasting blood draw this morning isn't until 9:40 am, and I can hardly wait to get home again and have something to eat. I didn't think I'd mind missing breakfast, but turns out it's harder than I expected.

spikedluv in

smallfandomfest

Today, Friday, November 21, is the last day to get your prompts in for this round! If you've got more prompts to submit, or you've been putting it off, head on over to the Prompt Submission Post and prompt away!

oursin

Happy birthday,

booksandtea!

profile

karmicdragonfly

November 2025

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summary

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"O seguro morreu de velho, mas o desconfiado ainda está vivo." -- "The safe one died of old age, but the suspicious one is still living."

Karmic-Dragonfly

Queer, (mostly) vegetarian, Buddhist-Pagan who lives with a very old Mulberry

network

Busy morning but all done now

(no subject)

Drown them in a pail of caudle

(no subject)

Interesting Links for 22-11-2025

Beta Post for Round 6

Round 6 Schedule and Description

Schedule

The protagonist of this book forgave his terrible family far too easily

(no subject)

My great big transit adventure pt 3

Life with two kids: Limited Musical Choices

That was very pleasant

Microsoft releases the source code for Zork I, II, III

All switched

(no subject)

365 Questions 2025

(no subject)

SFFest38: Prompt Submission Reminder

Interesting Links for 21-11-2025

(no subject)

profile

November 2025

links

summary

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