My Fannish Corner (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mxcatmoon) wrote2025-09-23 03:12 am
mxcatmoon) wrote2025-09-23 03:12 am
Entry tags:
The Who and Jimmy Fallon
Another fun one I found, posted to celebrate a small victory.
marycatelli (marycatelli) wrote2025-09-22 11:49 pm
marycatelli) wrote2025-09-22 11:49 pmthe long day's journey
It's always interesting, doing a journey.
The interruptions of attacks or broken bridges are one thing, but it's always a trick to convey to the reader that the journey was long and wearisome without the passage being long and wearisome.
The interruptions of attacks or broken bridges are one thing, but it's always a trick to convey to the reader that the journey was long and wearisome without the passage being long and wearisome.
marycatelli (marycatelli) wrote2025-09-22 11:48 pm
marycatelli) wrote2025-09-22 11:48 pmJeeves and the Tie That Binds
Jeeves and the Tie That Binds by P.G. Wodehouse
The continuing adventures. Spoilers for the earlier works ahead.
( Read more... )
The continuing adventures. Spoilers for the earlier works ahead.
( Read more... )
troisoiseaux (troisoiseaux) wrote2025-09-22 07:05 pm
troisoiseaux) wrote2025-09-22 07:05 pmEntry tags:
Weekend reading
Finished my books in progress (Three Men In A Boat, Hemlock & Silver) and read Whip Hand by Dick Francis, the second book in a mystery/thriller series set against a backdrop of horse racing and featuring jockey turned private investigator Sid Halley. I'd read the first, Odds Against (and, perhaps more importantly, the parody fic Odds Abridged) last February and apparently reviewed it solely in a comment on osprey_archer's post, which I am copying here for posterity:
Anyway, Whip Hand certainly continued to put this man into situations.
osprey_archer's post, which I am copying here for posterity:The actual book was entertainingly what it was - having now read two (2) Dick Francis books, I am amused by his apparent quirk of going on super-detailed digressions about, like, corporate takeover law and how boilers work that you just kind of have to ride out until he gets back to the story - but I was, as the kids say, hooting and hollering throughout the fic. So many good lines, but the one that really got me was: where we derailed the bad-guy-capture scene to weigh me on the jockey scales, because we were all united in fucking curiosity at that point.
Anyway, Whip Hand certainly continued to put this man into situations.
michaelboy (michaelboy) wrote2025-09-21 09:09 pm
michaelboy) wrote2025-09-21 09:09 pmSometimes lonely as a Loon
This lake has many interesting birds: Canada Geese, Ducks, Ospreys, Blue Herons, Kingfishers, Bank Swallows, Bald Eagles, Red-Tailed Hawks, but my very favorite are the Loons. They kind of half-sink in the water so that you usually can only see their necks with that characteristic head/beak tilt. They dive under the water for up to a few minutes at a time and are basically loners, except they do gather occasionally..as they have here at "The Long Branch Saloon"
marycatelli (marycatelli) wrote2025-09-21 11:03 am
marycatelli) wrote2025-09-21 11:03 amEntry tags:
vignettes
This week's prompt is:
exclusive 🚢
Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.
exclusive 🚢
Anyone can join, with a 50-word creative fiction vignette in the comments. Your vignette does not have to include the prompt term. Any (G or PG) definition of the word can be used.
marycatelli (marycatelli) wrote2025-09-20 11:45 pm
marycatelli) wrote2025-09-20 11:45 pmkilling off the children
The villains of the story are horrible. In the backstory, they have, two years ago, killed a lot of people. A fair number were children.
I don't have to nail down the massacres in full, but I do have to nail down how many relatives of certain survivors lost their lives. Including their brothers and sisters, who would be children.
grouse
I don't have to nail down the massacres in full, but I do have to nail down how many relatives of certain survivors lost their lives. Including their brothers and sisters, who would be children.
grouse
marycatelli (marycatelli) wrote2025-09-20 11:36 pm
marycatelli) wrote2025-09-20 11:36 pmEntry tags:
Sanders' Rhetorical, or Union Sixth Reader
Sanders' Rhetorical, or Union Sixth Reader by Charles Walton Sanders
An advanced work of elocution.
Perhaps chiefly useful now for its selections and the light they cast on the era. It has several on the importance of the Union. It boasts of a wide variety, to fit young readers, and it does feature both prose and poetry on many different topics, fiction and non-fiction. I think it has more biographical essays than the earlier books in the series.
(Though it was amusing to read the side note that people used to eat a dish of fried dough known as a doughnut.)
An advanced work of elocution.
Perhaps chiefly useful now for its selections and the light they cast on the era. It has several on the importance of the Union. It boasts of a wide variety, to fit young readers, and it does feature both prose and poetry on many different topics, fiction and non-fiction. I think it has more biographical essays than the earlier books in the series.
(Though it was amusing to read the side note that people used to eat a dish of fried dough known as a doughnut.)
serafaery (serafaery) wrote2025-09-20 01:10 pm
serafaery) wrote2025-09-20 01:10 pmsad days.
been in a state of grief the last three days. this happens sometimes. it's okay. it's appropriate given the losses i've experienced.
spent some tearful moments missing Maru this morning. a cat i've adored since his internet introduction some 18 years ago.
the weather is blissfully perfect and josh wants to come join me at the fairy festival for a little while. i will make myself as comfortable as possible, not too elaborate with costumes or makeup because i don't want to cry off a design and make a mess. i just want to wander around and relax, get some inspiration for future festivals when i am feeling more like myself. which i still have hope is possible. aging isn't a direct flat downward slope, there are rolling hills, and i think things will feel not so dire in the coming few years, between now and 60. i will consider reaching 60 a major accomplishment, if it happens, as my dad did not make it that far.
spent some tearful moments missing Maru this morning. a cat i've adored since his internet introduction some 18 years ago.
the weather is blissfully perfect and josh wants to come join me at the fairy festival for a little while. i will make myself as comfortable as possible, not too elaborate with costumes or makeup because i don't want to cry off a design and make a mess. i just want to wander around and relax, get some inspiration for future festivals when i am feeling more like myself. which i still have hope is possible. aging isn't a direct flat downward slope, there are rolling hills, and i think things will feel not so dire in the coming few years, between now and 60. i will consider reaching 60 a major accomplishment, if it happens, as my dad did not make it that far.
marycatelli (marycatelli) wrote2025-09-20 01:00 pm
marycatelli) wrote2025-09-20 01:00 pmEntry tags:
Fritzi passes the time by imagining great speeds.
click through on this one
serafaery (serafaery) wrote2025-09-19 08:52 pm
serafaery) wrote2025-09-19 08:52 pmquick check-in/update.
have not been journaling. there has been so much going on. Josh and I had an absolutely spectacular time for our little 1 night 20hr vacation on the mountain at timberline lodge, swimming in a mountain pool all by ourselves, soaking in the hot tub, exploring the PCT and hiking up to Silcox Hut (not quite a mile up from Timberline). such a lovely little respite, and so needed. Josh kept saying he felt like he was on vacation. It was perfect.
I re-watched Dirty Dancing Wednesday night. Why have I been sleeping on this? This is the best movie ever. It was funny, I had mentioned in small talk with a customer that I wanted to re-watch it, and she commented that "it didn't age well." I am not going to argue with a paying customer, but I have to assume she didn't understand that it was set in the 60s? Even though it was shot in the 80s. If anything, this movie is even *more* timely than it was 40 years ago, because in the 80s, abortions were still legal, and now, as in 1968, they are not so easy to access and it's getting harder by the day. Women are dying, like they were then, because of this.
Also the dancing is just so good and Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze are so young and sweet and it's just so fun and the music is wonderful and I love the feel of an 80s movie, it's definitely a comfort place for me, I remember when we had no cell phones or internet, it was such a different world.
I had a hard, hard emotional crash yesterday, waves of grief that felt like drowning. I somehow got through my work day but could not function after. I've spent most of today in unbearable anxiety and struggling with a tummy ache and feeling generally in pain and terrible. I wanted to do some exercise and some crafting and get ready for the festival tomorrow and I've done nothing. I feel so terrible in my body that I just really don't want to get into costume, I don't know how to feel like myself in my faery attire anymore, I'm in so much pain all of the time and my body does not look like I want it to, dealing with aging is just so so hard, at this stage. Such a difficult place. It was like I fell off a cliff and landed all wrong and am still trying to heal all the wounds from the crash and figure out how to adjust to living at this new lower level of functioning and I'm still not fully accepting what my life has to look like, now. Being 50 and riddled with early-onset arthritis after being a high level multi-sport athlete, figure skater, and dancer, is sooooooooooo confusing. There is no consistent messaging for someone like me, I have to just make it up as i go along. I feel unseen and misunderstood and overlooked and forgotten and alone, most of the time. It doesn't feel pretty and I don't want to get dressed up and I don't want attention and I don't want to try to look pretty, it just feels impossible. but I still want to go. Not sure what to do. I need new costumes, a new more subdued, comfortable appearance. But for now, I will just have to use what I have and try to make it work, try to make it as comfortable as I can. We'll see how it goes. I may only go for a short while tomorrow and skip the nighttime stuff. I might go in the rain on Sunday, as the quieter soggier vibe appeals to me. I just want to see people being creative and fun-loving, and I want to get away from reality for a bit.
I'm sad I didn't get to my puppet that I wanted to make, sad I can't prioritize myself enough to set aside enough time for crafts. This needs to change.
Did you know this weekend is the Mothman festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia? I want to go, one day. I just recently a few months ago read up on what Mothman is, after years of swooning over the images/concept of this cryptid, and I am just smitten.
...
I picked up the audiobook of Jennifer Grey's memoir, "Out of the Corner," and it is gripping. I love it. Her life is so vastly different from mine, it's so alien I can't relate and can't even be jealous, it would be like being jealous of a squid or something, I just have no reference point for what it would be like to grow up with love and support and a good education and an astonishing amount of privilege. It's like reading fiction. I was so neglected and isolated and my development was so truncated, I will never really feel like a whole complete developed person. She already was one when she was ten years old.
...
I am really enjoying my Finch app, it is keeping me off of the internet which was the main thing I was hoping it would help me with. I still check in but I don't mindlessly scroll compulsively for hours. I am so grateful. There is so much else it is helping me with, too. I brush my teeth every night, I even floss, I trim my nails and wash my face, I take my vitamins, I check my calendar in the morning, I made a to-do list and check things off as I complete them, I do breathing and grounding exercises when I start to feel horrible, it's just ridiculously helpful for someone with clinical major depressive disorder and "trauma brain," I can't even express how grateful I am for this little thing. It only helps a tiny bit with housework, I still am not decluttering and fall behind on cleaning and laundry, I still struggle with avoiding difficult parts of my work though the scheduling/messaging is getting better, it doesn't help much with exercise BUT it did finally get me on a consistent morning physical therapy routine which is HUGE, so helpful in reducing my foot pain symptoms. And it gets me outside for my evening walk, something I used to do consistently but had let go in the last year or so. So grateful. I am not happier, but I am more okay with not being okay, if that makes sense.
one day I will share vampire ball photos.
I missed the Shadowplay anniversary party and it sounded like a blast, I'm sorry I wasn't there for the fun, but I really needed to isolate and self-soothe some really heavy grief that was too much for me to carry. I toasted myself some tortilla chips with grated cheese sprinkled on them and diced up cherry tomatoes and tossed them on top after pulling them from the toaster oven, this was an ideal dinner for how I was feeling last night and I have no regrets. My body looks like someone who comfort eats but that's just where we are at right now, until I find better ways to manage my pain, since i don't take any drugs or drink, food is okay to indulge in, now and then.
I can still do a pull-up, at least on my good days. That counts for something.
I re-watched Dirty Dancing Wednesday night. Why have I been sleeping on this? This is the best movie ever. It was funny, I had mentioned in small talk with a customer that I wanted to re-watch it, and she commented that "it didn't age well." I am not going to argue with a paying customer, but I have to assume she didn't understand that it was set in the 60s? Even though it was shot in the 80s. If anything, this movie is even *more* timely than it was 40 years ago, because in the 80s, abortions were still legal, and now, as in 1968, they are not so easy to access and it's getting harder by the day. Women are dying, like they were then, because of this.
Also the dancing is just so good and Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze are so young and sweet and it's just so fun and the music is wonderful and I love the feel of an 80s movie, it's definitely a comfort place for me, I remember when we had no cell phones or internet, it was such a different world.
I had a hard, hard emotional crash yesterday, waves of grief that felt like drowning. I somehow got through my work day but could not function after. I've spent most of today in unbearable anxiety and struggling with a tummy ache and feeling generally in pain and terrible. I wanted to do some exercise and some crafting and get ready for the festival tomorrow and I've done nothing. I feel so terrible in my body that I just really don't want to get into costume, I don't know how to feel like myself in my faery attire anymore, I'm in so much pain all of the time and my body does not look like I want it to, dealing with aging is just so so hard, at this stage. Such a difficult place. It was like I fell off a cliff and landed all wrong and am still trying to heal all the wounds from the crash and figure out how to adjust to living at this new lower level of functioning and I'm still not fully accepting what my life has to look like, now. Being 50 and riddled with early-onset arthritis after being a high level multi-sport athlete, figure skater, and dancer, is sooooooooooo confusing. There is no consistent messaging for someone like me, I have to just make it up as i go along. I feel unseen and misunderstood and overlooked and forgotten and alone, most of the time. It doesn't feel pretty and I don't want to get dressed up and I don't want attention and I don't want to try to look pretty, it just feels impossible. but I still want to go. Not sure what to do. I need new costumes, a new more subdued, comfortable appearance. But for now, I will just have to use what I have and try to make it work, try to make it as comfortable as I can. We'll see how it goes. I may only go for a short while tomorrow and skip the nighttime stuff. I might go in the rain on Sunday, as the quieter soggier vibe appeals to me. I just want to see people being creative and fun-loving, and I want to get away from reality for a bit.
I'm sad I didn't get to my puppet that I wanted to make, sad I can't prioritize myself enough to set aside enough time for crafts. This needs to change.
Did you know this weekend is the Mothman festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia? I want to go, one day. I just recently a few months ago read up on what Mothman is, after years of swooning over the images/concept of this cryptid, and I am just smitten.
...
I picked up the audiobook of Jennifer Grey's memoir, "Out of the Corner," and it is gripping. I love it. Her life is so vastly different from mine, it's so alien I can't relate and can't even be jealous, it would be like being jealous of a squid or something, I just have no reference point for what it would be like to grow up with love and support and a good education and an astonishing amount of privilege. It's like reading fiction. I was so neglected and isolated and my development was so truncated, I will never really feel like a whole complete developed person. She already was one when she was ten years old.
...
I am really enjoying my Finch app, it is keeping me off of the internet which was the main thing I was hoping it would help me with. I still check in but I don't mindlessly scroll compulsively for hours. I am so grateful. There is so much else it is helping me with, too. I brush my teeth every night, I even floss, I trim my nails and wash my face, I take my vitamins, I check my calendar in the morning, I made a to-do list and check things off as I complete them, I do breathing and grounding exercises when I start to feel horrible, it's just ridiculously helpful for someone with clinical major depressive disorder and "trauma brain," I can't even express how grateful I am for this little thing. It only helps a tiny bit with housework, I still am not decluttering and fall behind on cleaning and laundry, I still struggle with avoiding difficult parts of my work though the scheduling/messaging is getting better, it doesn't help much with exercise BUT it did finally get me on a consistent morning physical therapy routine which is HUGE, so helpful in reducing my foot pain symptoms. And it gets me outside for my evening walk, something I used to do consistently but had let go in the last year or so. So grateful. I am not happier, but I am more okay with not being okay, if that makes sense.
one day I will share vampire ball photos.
I missed the Shadowplay anniversary party and it sounded like a blast, I'm sorry I wasn't there for the fun, but I really needed to isolate and self-soothe some really heavy grief that was too much for me to carry. I toasted myself some tortilla chips with grated cheese sprinkled on them and diced up cherry tomatoes and tossed them on top after pulling them from the toaster oven, this was an ideal dinner for how I was feeling last night and I have no regrets. My body looks like someone who comfort eats but that's just where we are at right now, until I find better ways to manage my pain, since i don't take any drugs or drink, food is okay to indulge in, now and then.
I can still do a pull-up, at least on my good days. That counts for something.
marycatelli (marycatelli) wrote2025-09-19 03:42 pm
marycatelli) wrote2025-09-19 03:42 pmEntry tags:
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves
Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
The continuing adventures of Jeeves and Bertie.
( Read more... )
The continuing adventures of Jeeves and Bertie.
( Read more... )
My Fannish Corner (mxcatmoon) wrote2025-09-19 12:05 am
mxcatmoon) wrote2025-09-19 12:05 am
Entry tags:
15 Writing Questions from @tellshannon815
Getting back to more pleasant topics, been meaning to do this one that I found awhile ago, from tellshannon815
1. Which of your fics is your pride and joy?
Not sure I can choose, but I have to say that my 'pride and joys' are fics that I'm personally happiest with rather than the popular ones (which aren't necessarily the same thing). Writing is a personal thing for me, which is good because most of my fandoms are long dead.
2. What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?
Humor, introspection, and friendship. Which makes sense, because those are things most of my stories include, no matter what type of story they are.
( rest of questions and answers... )
tellshannon815 1. Which of your fics is your pride and joy?
Not sure I can choose, but I have to say that my 'pride and joys' are fics that I'm personally happiest with rather than the popular ones (which aren't necessarily the same thing). Writing is a personal thing for me, which is good because most of my fandoms are long dead.
2. What are your top three most commonly used tags on AO3?
Humor, introspection, and friendship. Which makes sense, because those are things most of my stories include, no matter what type of story they are.
( rest of questions and answers... )
asakiyume (asakiyume) wrote2025-09-18 07:18 pm
asakiyume) wrote2025-09-18 07:18 pmNot One of Us issue 84
I have a flash story in the current issue of Not One of Us, and what a great issue to be in! I'm sharing the table of contents with Patricia Russo, Sonya Taaffe, and Jeannelle Ferreira--all writers I've loved for a long time--along with Devan Barlow, whose work I've only gotten to know recently, but I enjoy, and others whose work is totally new to me but whose literary acquaintance I'm pleased to make, like Zary Fekete.
Let me share a little (and then a lot!) about my own story first, and then some about the other contributions. Mine is called "The Moon in His Eyes," about a young woman who marries a water buffalo, only to fall in love with the moon on her wedding night. Curious about what happens? Well, you can buy a copy of Not One of Us here.
... or, if you don't mind being read to... I read it aloud here. It's literally just me sitting in my study reading into my desktop computer's camera and microphone all in a single take because I know nothing of video editing and am much too lazy, at present, to learn.
And now let me say a few words about the rest of the zine.
( I really enjoyed this issue! )
So yeah! Get your hands on a copy of the zine here, and listen to me read "The Moon in His Eyes" here. ;-)
Let me share a little (and then a lot!) about my own story first, and then some about the other contributions. Mine is called "The Moon in His Eyes," about a young woman who marries a water buffalo, only to fall in love with the moon on her wedding night. Curious about what happens? Well, you can buy a copy of Not One of Us here.
... or, if you don't mind being read to... I read it aloud here. It's literally just me sitting in my study reading into my desktop computer's camera and microphone all in a single take because I know nothing of video editing and am much too lazy, at present, to learn.
And now let me say a few words about the rest of the zine.
( I really enjoyed this issue! )
So yeah! Get your hands on a copy of the zine here, and listen to me read "The Moon in His Eyes" here. ;-)