Maybelle
Jun. 22nd, 2025 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
michaelboyStar brought her new fawn. This is her fourth year of having little ones. Fuzz Head was born two years ago but I believe was shot by hunters this past fall- he was a big guy with large antlers but trusted me more than any have. I miss him dearly.
This new fawn, is Maybelle. She is shy and all legs.
2025 Disneyland Trip #43 (6/22/25)
Jun. 22nd, 2025 05:18 pmtorachan( Read more... )
Week notes: June 16-June 22 2025
Jun. 22nd, 2025 12:12 pmsoricelNothing really. Last week of classes, so just babysitting and festivities. I really dislike any part of teaching that doesn't involve just being in a classroom with kids and, y'know, teaching, so weeks like this are always rough. But it's done, yay!
Also played the last session of the year with the little D&D group. I've been stringing together a kinda chaotic little homebrew thing since this handful of kids expressed interest in playing back in 7th grade...I keep expecting they'll lose interest, but they haven't yet, and they just finished 9th grade. Some players have disappeared, but the core group remains, and they remain fairly invested. It's kind of poignant too because I get the sense that they may not actually hang out too much together at this point, and yet they keep coming together for these games. Anyway, right now we're doing an abridged/modified Dungeon of the Mad Mage thing that I've tacked onto the campaign; it's been a bit boring so far, and I find that in the more dungeon crawly adventures the kids kinda default to video game mindset, just wanting to speed-run and clear rooms, but that's to be expected. I also feel like I haven't been doing a great job as a DM in giving them many opportunities for character development and relationship-building...that's something I want to prioritize next year.
Outside of school, did another creative writing workshop at the Artsy Personal Development NGO this weekend. I was sort of dreading it, but I felt good and satisfied afterwards.
Learning:
Slacked off on my DuoLingo Romanian this week, and didn't really read or listen to anything in Romanian either. Did go to another session in the somatic movement workshop series, though, and those are all in Romanian, so I guess that counts. The workshop was fun, and again, brought up some little insights here and there. At one point we got sent into breakout rooms with partners and we were invited to dance, on camera, to a song of our choice. I thought I'd feel much more nervous and uncomfortable with that than I actually did; I enjoyed it, actually. I chose this song. Again, I feel like some Gender Stuff is coming up for me in these sessions, and I'd like to sit down and try to process that a bit more, or, ideally, talk about it with the instructor, but that feels a little dicey--you never know how people feel about that kind of stuff here.
Listening:
Didn't really listen to much music this week, though did put on a Stars of the Lid album as I was reading on the balcony a couple times.
Listened to a bunch of episodes of this podcast Botanical Studies of Internet Magic. As the name suggests, it's a bit twee and woo-y, and it doesn't 100% resonate with me, but it's given me some things to think about in terms of my relationship to my creativity--specifically in terms of how and why I share my creative work, or don't. Maybe I'll write a longer post about it when I get caught up.
Reading:
Finished Doxology. It felt like a *very* cynical book overall, and I was pretty uninterested in the plot that developed in the last quarter or so, but I still enjoyed reading it overall. Like I said last time, I feel like it explores the cultural/ideological differences between Generations X and Z in a pretty thoughtful way. I also really appreciated the dialogue, and the fact that most of the characters seemed to speak in a similar way, with this strange mix of irony and earnestness and referentiality (and often, unfortunately, crass misogyny or ableism) that I found most touching when it seemed like some kind of coping mechanism. It sort of reminded me of this line from Chris Kraus' I Love Dick: "The Ramones give 'Needles and Pins' the possibility of irony, but the irony doesn't undercut the song's emotion, it makes it stronger and more true." And yeah, that all feels very Gen X.
Just about done with Jenny Erpenbeck's novel Kairos. The plot itself is kinda unremarkable: Hans, an older guy with a wife and kid starts an affair with a 19 year old girl, Katharina; they're both infatuated with each other, etc., but then she hooks up with a guy her age and Hans goes berserk with jealousy etc. Except it's set in East Germany in the late 80s, so like T. keeps saying, it feels like there's a metaphor in here somewhere. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the history of post-War Germany to really get it. I do see that the way Hans starts interrogating and surveilling and abusing Katharina, and his obsession with her deceit/betrayal/impurity/selfishness/etc. feels very...Nazi/Stasi-like, and I guess maybe there's something here about all of that cultural conditioning poisoning people's minds and their relationships etc...plus, Katharina's performance of submission and obeisance and contrition, plus her apparently genuine love for Hans, plus her secrecy, etc., feels somehow reminiscent of, I guess, the behavior/mentality of the mostly powerless individual in a totalitarian system etc...but I don't know, I feel like I'm missing something.
Watching:
More Big Bang Theory. The sexism is still pretty hard to get past, but even so, I find myself developing a kind of fondness for this show, and I've actually started looking forward to watching it with T. at dinnertime and bedtime...
It was film festival week here, and I marked a whole bunch of movies I wanted to see, but only saw one: Embrace of the Serpent.
I probably wouldn't have seen it on my own, but my Poetry Buddy invited me, so yeah. I had a bit of a better feeling about it after listening to the director speak during the Q&A afterwards; he said some things about the importance of listening to indigenous voices, and the relevance of the story to contexts like Palestine and Tibet, and so on. I guess the main question the movie asks is how/to what extent can/should indigenous peoples/cultures "heal" the white supremacist imperialist capitalist nightmare system. But yeah, bleak.
Writing:
Wrote a few RP posts, that's it. I also wrote a post on here venting about some family drama, but quickly deleted it. I just don't feel right sharing that kind of stuff here, for a number of reasons. To be honest, I don't even feel totally right sharing *this* kind of stuff (what I'm reading etc.) here, and I constantly question my motivations for doing so. I feel like I keep coming across stuff online (such as in the abovementioned podcast) that celebrates sharing art and ideas, and almost presents doing so as some sort of imperative...especially in the age of A.I. and platforms, the argument seems to go, sharing messy/imperfect/"human" art and ideas, especially on one's own website, or in oldschool paper zines or something, is super important etc. And the impulse to withdraw, to hide, to be quiet, to not share--or to only share in this very closed way, as in a 1x1 RP--seems almost pathological. But this impulse is very strong in me--and I don't think it's *just* because of some neurotic fear of being "seen" or "known." Anyway, more to reflect on as I continue listening to that podcast, I think.
Other stuff:
As I alluded to above, I actually did some social stuff this week! I was really grateful that my Poetry Buddy invited me to the movie; we got ice cream and chatted for a while afterwards too, so that was nice. But related to what I wrote above about sharing things online, I'm feeling a really strong pull right now toward withdrawal from a lot of different areas of my life.
Daily Happiness
Jun. 21st, 2025 08:44 pmtorachan
2. Finally got Carla's Switch 2 set up on the TV so now we can play Mario Kart World together. It's gonna take me a minute to get used to the split screen view, though.
3. Chloe is curious.
Weekly Reading
Jun. 21st, 2025 04:36 pmtorachanA Botanist's Guide to Rituals and Revenge
74%. I have liked the other books in this series and this one is not putting me off the whole thing but it is definitely not a favorite. The whole plot revolves around this guy blackmailing the MC and threatening her family, and the only reason he can do so is because they don't know who he really is and has insinuated himself into their home as he grandfather's doctor. If she would just tell them the truth then he might still threaten her and her family, but he wouldn't be able to sneak around in their home. But she's too embarrassed to tell them that she's being blackmailed and determined to fix things herself. It's really, really frustrating to read.
The Mystery of Locked Rooms
9%. Middle grade book about a group of friends who love escape rooms. When the MC's mom gets an eviction notice, the MC and her friends decide to explore an old abandoned fun house that's said to hold a hidden treasure. Just started it but seems good so far.
Horrorstör
27%.
Riding the Rails
No progress.
How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
57%.
Recently Finished
Break in Case of Emergency
This was less about the MC's relationship with her estranged father and much more about her suicidal tendencies than I'd realized from the blurb. I did like it, though.
The Fourth Girl
I didn't end up enjoying this as much as I'd anticipated from the premise. There were too many unanswered questions at the end. One of the characters even says something like "I guess there are some things we'll never know" and I'm fine with the characters not knowing, but as the reader, I want to know! Especially when the book uses multiple outsider POVs to reveal stuff the main characters are unaware of, but then still leaves a bunch of questions.
Bokura no Hentai vol. 7-10
This really was a great series. I'm surprised I'd never heard of it before but I'm glad I stumbled across it.
Latourelle and Coopey Falls
Jun. 21st, 2025 02:27 pmyourlibrarian posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
common_nature
We drove down the historic 30, a 2 lane road that wound around the hills and which crossed paths with numerous waterfalls. Our first stop was Latourelle, which was just off the road. ( Read more... )
Daily Happiness
Jun. 20th, 2025 10:56 pmtorachan2. Today actually wasn't too bad at work and wasn't a long day. Though I didn't end up getting to everything I wanted to get done, so I had to push a lot of things till Monday. They're not urgent things, so it's fine, but I feel like Monday is going to end up with a lot of things, especially since I have a meeting in the afternoon. But so far I have nothing scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, so hopefully one or the other can be a catch up day if I need it.
3. This is an irresistible spot for cats. A canvas bag on top of a plastic bin, which is itself on top of a pile of other bags, on top of a blanket, on top of a chest. Plus it's got a nice view of the sidewalk!
2025 Disneyland Trip #42 (6/18/25) Pride Nite
Jun. 20th, 2025 10:33 pmtorachan( Read more... )
in the heat of the summer better call out a plumber
Jun. 20th, 2025 07:12 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
wwdn_feedBack in the old days, the good old days, when it was generally accepted that Fascism and Nazis were bad, bloggers would write these posts that were sort of recaps of what we were doing, what we’d been doing, with some links to stuff we liked. This is one of those posts.
Good morning. I’m in Jackson, Mississippi, for the Mississippi Comi Con. Come see me if you’re local! I’m here all day today and tomorrow.
My travel yesterday was basically uneventful, once I was actually on a plane and in the sky. My connection in Dallas was delayed three different times, and each time the airline told me that my gate had been changed from where I was, to the gate that was farthest away in the terminal. So I spent a couple hours walking back and forth, which honestly wasn’t bad at all. I probably got in more steps walking in that terminal than I get on a typical Thursday.
The invention of noise canceling earbuds has made all the difference for me, with travel. I can wrap myself in a bit of a cocoon, and just get where I am going without a lot of sensory overload and overwhelm. Usually, I just listen to one of my playlists, but I have a mountain of Audible credits that I’ve been turning into books. For the last week or so, I’ve been going back and forth between Rip It Up And Start Again, by Simon Reynolds, and Peter Hook’s book about Joy Division1. They are both oral histories of the post-punk movement from around 1976 to 1990, from different points of view. The parts where they overlap are just fascinating. Hookie has his memories of specific events, and Reynolds collects memories from other people who were at the same event. I’m sure there are other books, from other members of other bands, that would fill in even more details. This is one of the reasons I just love history so much, and why it’s so satisfying to track down primary sources.
When I wasn’t listening to those books, I read a short story that’s one of the Hugo finalists2, Marginalia, by Mary Robinette Kowal. It’s featured in Uncanny Magazine, which is where a TON of finalists were published this year.3
I usually arrive hungry (thanks, Anthony Bourdain4) but I did some math in Dallas and realized I wouldn’t be landing until almost 11, and I didn’t want to eat at midnight, even if my body insisted it was only 9pm. So I looked around the terminal and my choices were Starbucks and Whataburger, or some combination of granola bars, a dodgy-looking apple, and a sad Wil. So I chose Whataburger and OMG it was perfect. I don’t usually eat stuff like that, and it was like BOOM COMFORT FOOD from the first bite. It reminded me of the little burger shacks that were in parking lots in the Valley when I was a kid, with those perfect drive-thru fries that you’d eat half of before you got home. My body wasn’t thrilled that I put a burger and fries into it so late in my day, but my body’s been kind of a dick lately, so it can just deal with it.
ANYWAY. I finally got to my hotel. Finally got checked in. Got to my room just around 1130pm, not hungry, but wide awake. Neat.
I watched some YouTube, read some blogs, and finally fell asleep around 1am local time. I slept shockingly well, woke up feeling fully rested, and now I’m trying to find things to do until it’s time to go to work. I’ve actually run out of brain cycles for reading, or even listening to someone else read — does that happen to other people? You really want to keep going because you’re so interested or enthralled or whatever, but your brain is just like, “dude I can’t. I’ve run out of focus and I don’t know what to tell you.” It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.
While I was trying to wind my brain down, I watched this video about merch5, and now I want to record myself narrating a very short …. something … that’s up to about 5 minutes, and release it on extremely indie, extremely DIY, cassettes and vinyl. When Sean Bonner and I did Saturday Night Massacre back in 20176, as part of the Kickstarter one week project thingy, we wanted to do something like this, and I can’t remember if we actually made physical media or not. I don’t think we did, but just because we ran out of time. It looks like it isn’t too difficult to get the things made, though. It’s just the fulfillment that would take some meaningful time.
If I created some bespoke physical media that cost around $30 all-in after shipping, would you be into that? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll prioritize accordingly.
Oh! Speaking of physical things … we have a new enamel Good Morning Nerds pin for you at Stands! Check it out!
And I brought Trek Side of the Moon back at Cottonbureau.
This con marks the official beginning of my 2025 Summer Convention Season. Over the next month or so, here’s where I’m scheduled:
- July 4-5 I will be in Montreal for Montreal Comic Con
- July 11-13 I will be in Knoxville for Fanboy Expo
- July 20-22 I will be in Atlanta for ATL Comic Convention
I think there are one or two others that I’m not remembering, but that’s July. I really should have a page with this information that I can link to, rather than relying on my memory, but I’ve never done more than five shows in a calendar year before now, and my memory has been more than enough to keep them all straight. This year, I’m doing more than I have in a long time because I feel like we need to get out and do the fun things, get together with our fellow nerds in a safe place to express ourselves and see each other, now more than ever. Everything is terrible, but at least we can have a few hours, a couple days, of peace and respite, surrounded by people who love the things we love, the same way we love them.
Community is important in the best of times. It’s VITAL when we have thugs brutalizing, terrorizing, and kidnapping our friends and neighbors, under orders from a wannabe despot who seeks to use the power of the State — power that belongs to the people — to wage war against citizens who won’t accept him as our king. Going to conventions, game days at your local game shop, Neighborhood Nights Out in your community, and gently interacting with other people is a massive bulwark against tyranny7, according to professor Timothy Snyder, one of the leading experts in the world on the subject.
So do your patriotic duty and go to a convention this summer! It’ll be fun! Joy is resistance!
I’m so blessed and so grateful that I attract kind, creative, enthusiastic people when I am at a show. I always get the most surprising and beautiful things, and I love to share them. As always, I’ll be posting to my Instagram stories from the con. Clever is my Kryptonite, and there are always clever people at these things.
Okay, that’s all for today. I hope everyone has the most wonderful weekend possible. Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other.
- He has the most soothing voice, ever. I feel like I’m sitting in a cafe with him while he tells me all about this time in his life. The way he makes me feel as I’m listening to him is what I hoped to give to people who listen to Still Just A Geek.
︎ - I have this idea to narrate all the finalists in the short story category for my podcast. I don’t think we’ll be back in production in time to do this before the awards are handed out, but it’s something I’d love to do next year, and every year after that, if they’ll let me. ︎
- Have I mentioned that Lynne and Michael Thomas, who edit Uncanny, found all the stories I read in the first season of It’s Storytime? If I can afford it, I’m hoping to work with them again. They are amazing. ︎
- May his memory be a blessing. ︎
- As it relates to DIY and indie creators. This guy is as enthusiastic about this kind of thing as I am, and loves to make fun stuff just because it’s fun to make. There are a lot of ancillary benefits, as he observes, but even if you’re not someone who would enjoy (or is looking for) those particular benefits, his excitement, enthusiasm, and creativity shine though. I can see how just making this thing he thought was silly and fun affected not only his creativity, but the whole band’s creativity. ︎
- GodDAMN was this project fun. The history, the Kickstarter, all of it. It’s one of those things we did because we wanted it to exist, and we didn’t care if a hundred people or zero people liked it. As it turned out, 138 people liked it. That’s a nice, even, 140 when you count both of us. ︎
- 12. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life. ︎
Photos: Charleston Library Butterfly Gardens
Jun. 20th, 2025 04:03 amysabetwordsmith posting in common_nature( Walk with me ... )
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June 20th, 2025: Today and this weekend I'm in in Utrecht for Heroes Dutch Comic Con - the biggest con in the Netherlands! I have never been to the Netherlands so please do send me all your SECRET NETHERLANDS RECOMMENDATIONS, and I hope to see you there! – Ryan | ||
Daily Happiness
Jun. 19th, 2025 10:20 pmtorachan2. For some reason this week has felt so long. Like every day I've felt like it must be Friday. Even Monday! And now tomorrow is finally Friday! I'm excited about that. Taking next Thursday off for the aforementioned birthday, so it will be a short week, too. (And then the week after that I get that Friday off for 4th of July, so two short weeks in a row!)
3. Tuxie looks so contented.
lift every voice and sing
Jun. 19th, 2025 05:37 pmwwdn_feedLift every voice and sing,
‘Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on ’til victory is won.
I did not know about Juneteenth until I was in my 40s. I recall how embarrassed and ashamed I felt, but it just wasn’t taught to me in school, and America doesn’t exactly go out of her way to teach privileged white kids like me about the horrors our ancestors inflicted on generations of human beings. Hopefully, that has changed.
In the extremely unlikely event you are hearing about this for the first time: “Juneteenth, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday’s name, first used in the 1890s, is a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth, referring to June 19, 1865, the day when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War.”
As the institutions and corporations that influence so much of American culture draw shamefully away from celebrating and honoring marginalized communities, including communities of color, it falls (as it always does) to us, the people, to step up and use our collective voice to speak out so our friends, neighbors, and fellow humans who do not have the same privilege that so many of us have are seen and heard.
Here’s LeVar Burton reading the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Google put this on their doodle a few years ago. Today, there is nothing. Shameful. My bad. My VPN autoconnected to the UK, and when I reset it to the US, I see that Google is honoring Juneteenth. I regret the error.
Hello (I don't know what else to put here)
Jun. 19th, 2025 05:37 pmsetnox1 posting in addmeAge: 20.
I mostly post about: Not sure yet but probably whatever's on my mind at the time. Daily life, insights, events, ideas, not in any specific order. Don't expect anything too shocking though. Inside thoughts should stay inside or in a paper journal at most.
My hobbies are: Dungeons & Dragons, drawing, maybe writing if you're generous with vague periphery interests that stuck around for months. I'm trying to get into sewing and other clothing DIY shenanigans.
My fandoms are: None. Maybe Percy Jackson if you count lurking in the art/headcanons corner of Tumblr as participating in a fandom.
I'm looking to meet people who: Share snippets of their mind and life and enjoy exchanging music recommendations. Seriously, send me songs, I love exploring new artists, especially the smaller/independent ones.
My posting schedule tends to be: Probably sporadic. Knowing myself, I'll try to keep a regular schedule, then forget about the schedule, then have a big buildup of stuff to say but can't find the words for them, and when things finally click int place I'll share a crap ton. I love my executive functionality (cue lightheartedly sarcastic sigh).
When I add people, my dealbreakers are: Focus on sexual stuff and gore. I don't mind them in small doses but god forbid it becomes the main point of conversation. Also, ny form of queerphobia! Pardon my English but you're not 'phobic' or 'scared' of anything, you're just a douche, or raised by one at best.
Before adding me, you should know: I overanalyse quite a lot behind the scenes, possibly because of something neurodivergent that I've not yet discovered. For the same reason I might come across as plain or sarcastic eve when I don't intend to. Whoops. I'm also a very queer soul. Go enjoy your life without me if you're looking for a neurotypical, cishet-normative experience.
Daily Happiness
Jun. 19th, 2025 02:34 amtorachan2. Special delivery!
