Haikai Fest: "Circadian Cueing"
Apr. 21st, 2025 08:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jjhunter===
even single cells
know the daytime sync and sleep
for wake tomorrow
_
well may the world go when i'm far away
Apr. 21st, 2025 09:56 pmwychwoodI didn't agree with everything he said (of course!) but the work he did on refocussing the Church and particularly the media voices away from spending all their time on ABORTION and HOMOSEXUALITY towards, you know, poverty and injustice and all the things that Jesus spent most of his time talking about was just amazing. Now we're left worrying about who will take over, and what agenda they might have; he's appointed a good share of the current voting-age cardinals, which hopefully means that whoever it is won't immediately undo everything. RIP Pope Francis, and thank you.
Today was my big DAY OFF and I have, on the one hand, done two weeks' worth of ironing, three loads of laundry, a week's worth of washing up, and a fair amount of assorted tidying up; on the other hand, I read a JD Robb book, played an hour or two of Dragon Age: Veilguard, had a nap, and spent enough time in idleness that I feel reasonably well-rested. My dad said to me yesterday when I was leaving to come home, "You're really tired today, aren't you?" and I thought about whether I was tired and spontaneously started leaking tears (always a sure indication!!). I feel much more emotionally stable today, fortunately.
Unfortunately I am now going back to their house for the next two days as part of a rota to make sure that Mum has someone around for a) dinner prep and b) potential crises while Dad's in France making sure the house hasn't fallen down since he had to rush back in January. It should be relatively peaceful - there'll be some assorted chores around stripping, laundering, and remaking beds, maybe a bit of restoring order after the departure of the houseful of guests, but I'm taking several books, a few DVDs, and my booklog file to hopefully make some progress on. But no video games, alas. I'll leave there to go to choir, then back home for work on Thursday followed by book group followed by back into the office on Friday, because the fun just never stops!! but honestly the next few weeks are moderately reasonable.
Monday Update 4-21-25
Apr. 21st, 2025 01:36 pmysabetwordsmithBirdfeeding
Spring Friending Meme
Intro to the Web Revival #1: What is the Web Revival?
Books with Queer Autistic Characters for Autism Awareness Month
Today's Adventures
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Immigrants
Creative Jam
Vocabulary: Ladramhaiola
Join the Fictionfolk Webring
Safety
Read "The Greater Good"
Birdfeeding
Safety
Food
Where are the trans people toilets?
Jug Crafts for Gardening
Frugal Friday
Never Forget
Follow Friday 4-18-25: Graphics
Reality Imitating Art
Navajo Peaches
Birdfeeding
Anosognosia
Hobbies: Creative Writing
Gilda and Meek and the Un-Iverse
Success!
Transgender
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party
"Not a Destination, But a Process" has 127 comments. "The Democratic Armada of the Caribbean" has 75 comments. Joann Fabrics going out of business has 56 comments.
Watch for Three Weeks for Dreamwidth coming April 25-May 15. People will celebrate the anniversary of the platform by posting things only on Dreamwidth and doing other blog activities. Think ahead about what you'll want to post while the traffic is higher.
"Babes in the Pineywoods" belongs to the Big One. It belongs to the Big One thread of Polychrome Heroics. Bo-Art and Creamjeans talk with the Black Doctor.
The weather has been variable and wet here. It rained last night Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a flock of grackles, a flock of brown-headed cowbirds, several blue jays, several starlings, two mourning doves, a male cardinal, a brown thrasher, a robin, and Nipple Squirrel. I've heard red-winged blackbirds and woodpeckers. Squills, pear, forsythia, and serviceberry are done. Currently blooming: daffodils, violets, blue grape hyacinths, tulips, dandelions, trilliums, snowbells, crabapples, lilacs, bleeding heart, redbud, columbine. Peonies have flower buds.
Birdfeeding
Apr. 21st, 2025 01:32 pmysabetwordsmithI fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches, plus a brown-headed cowbird.
I put out water for the birds.
The single yellow violet (which might be a hairy yellow violet) that I planted in the forest garden has seeded a whole new plant! :D 3q3q3q!!!! I am so excited.
We measured from the spigot to the old picnic table and the new picnic table. We'll need to acquire a 75-foot hose.
EDIT 4/21/25 -- The plumbers have come and gone. We have a working outside spigot! \o/ It has low water pressure for reasons that are not feasible to fix, but at least water comes out of it.
We dug up the old hoses. The yellow ones were in pieces so we threw those away. The green is still attached to a different spigot that it won't come off. But at least the yellows are gone. Progress.
I started working on a new cookie jar terrarium for the potted fern, but other things intervened so I haven't gotten very far yet.
I've seen the tufted titmouse! :D I haven't seen him in weeks, so I'm glad he's still around.
EDIT 4/21/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 4/21/25 -- I picked up more sticks for the firepit.
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
Voter Suppression
Apr. 21st, 2025 01:28 pmysabetwordsmithNo weekend chapter :-(
Apr. 21st, 2025 10:07 amartemisdartOverall, I'm happy with the progress I made. And I also cooked a large meal, entertained, did 2 hours of martial arts class on Saturday, and did an hour of sauna + cold plunge on Easter itself... so it's not like I did nothing at all.
Sometimes I just can't spew out the words on a schedule.
Last year I posted 2 chapters on Easter weekend, so I feel like I have some grace built up for this year, haha.
Do This Today: Call Senators
Apr. 21st, 2025 09:14 amsolarbirdIndivisible reports that these Democratic senators in particular need to hear from their constituents right now to oppose HR22, a bill which would disinfranchise millions of people, mostly women, from voting.
Again, urge these Senators in particular to reject the GOP’s voter suppression bill and protect our freedom to vote:
KELLY (AZ)
WARNOCK (GA)
PETERS (MI)
SHAHEEN (NH)
HASSAN (NH)
CORTEZ MASTO (NV)
ROSEN (NV)
If they aren’t your Senators, give your own a call anyway. You can call directly, or you can use Indivisible’s tool to help you call if you prefer.
HR22 is intentionally a voter suppression bill, and it’s intentionally suppressing votes of married women in particular. You need a birth certificate in person or a passport in person to register, and if you’ve changed your name (by, say, getting married) and haven’t changed your birth certificate to match, and you don’t have a passport (as most people don’t), then last I heard you’re just kinda fucked. You have to get one or the other done, and then get registered to vote, a process which will take months.
This is not an accident. Also, it eliminates registering to vote by mail or online, which is something else they want in order to, again, make it harder to vote.
This lines up with what the far-right openly say that they want, which is either eliminating votes for women entirely or assigning one vote per household, which would be executed by a man (presumably where such exists).
Also, they know that men vote Republican far more than women do, and it’s about making sure they can’t ever lose another election. This is what they’ve done in state after state where they have power, and it’s what they want to do across the country.
This can’t pass. It absolutely cannot pass. Make sure your senators know. Today.
Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.
Maybe I'm being unduly cynical
Apr. 21st, 2025 02:42 pmoursinBut this did sound awfully like that spate of books where people had A Bright Idea to Do Something for A Year and got a book out of it, which was clearly the intention, and this struck my cynical ayfeist self as 'My Spiritual Pilgrimage to a Mystical Experience, Conversion, Faith, and Publishing Deal'.
Could I become a Christian in a year?
(How long did it take St Augustine? asking for a friend.)
For my perpetual Christian road-trip – beginning in the last months of 2022 and ending in early 2024 – I purchased a 21 year-old Toyota Corolla and stocked the glove box with second-hand CDs. I filled up my calendar with Christian retreats, church visits and stays in the houses of Christian strangers all across the highways and byways of the UK – Cornwall, Sussex, Kent, Hertfordshire, Birmingham, north Wales, Norfolk, Sheffield, Halifax, Durham, the Inner Hebrides – seeking out every kind of Christian, from Catholics to Orthodox Christians: Quakers, Pentecostals, Evangelicals, high to low Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, self-professed mystics, focusing on my generation specifically, those in their 20s and 30s, the youngest set of adults in Britain.
70s flashback!!! Only in those days it was people working their way through the various offerings of the 'Growth' aka 'Human Potential' Movement that was flourishing then and I'm pretty sure that people wrote up their memoirs of their odysseys through the various practices/groups/cults on offer.
I was also, in the light of this article today, intrigued that it was two bloke friends who set her on this path: I’m delighted to see gen Z men in the UK flocking back to church – I just hope it’s for the right reasons. So am I. I have a friend who has been involved in the much-delayed and still unsatisfactory response of the C of E to certain abuse cases and some of those seem to have been connected with cultish manifestations which were praised for bringing in that particular demographic.
(And having noted the other day that Witchfinder Hopkins was pretty much in that demographic of young men aged 18-24, I'd really like to know where these Gen Z converts are in relation to issues like ordination of women, LGCBTQ+ inclusivity, etc etc.)
Quick rec
Apr. 21st, 2025 02:22 pmcesyhttps://revivr.bhf.org.uk/?shar=1
Let's be honest:
Apr. 21st, 2025 01:36 pmcyare
(health, cats)
Apr. 20th, 2025 10:23 pmelainegreyI probably get to go home tomorrow -- sorry if silence was worrisome. Thank you for all your support and care.
The schedule for med delivery had me with interrupted sleep all Friday night as every hour or so bottles had to be changed and vitals checked until 5 am. Saturday the treatment started earlier and was done by 1 am. I have had to be very careful about the IV port in the crook of my elbow -- partly because it was oozing blood because of the low platelets, partly just to keep it working, and it is a little uncomfortable, typing hasn't been easy. But the last infusion finished in the early evening today ,and i just need one more dose of steroid pushed through and then the port will be removed: yippee. Lemme type.
I have also had family visits. My sister and dad stayed with me once i arrived at Chapel Hill until Christine came in the evening. On Saturday I was so glad i was not tied down with tubes when my sister in law visited. They have now announced that B-- may only have weeks to live, and it was good to hug her and hold her hand. My sister and niece gave me a lovely visit today, in happy Easter vibes. My dad has visited every day, and Christine as well. My nephew W-- was apologizing he couldn't visit and i told him i would listen to his winter concert again. It was lovely and i am loved, but my computer didn't get my attention. (And it if it did i was reading my chart and researching drugs.)
--== ∞ ==--
On Saturday morning i got a little more clarity about the initial reading: the number of platelets was under the threshold of 3k platelets per unit -- the limit of the lab equipment's capability to count. Depending on your communication style, apparently, one person said 2k (per some unit, which is under 3k) and the ER doctor at the county hospital was "not detectable." And i've grown more appreciative of the risk of a brain bleed at those numbers, although i think the ER doctor would have had is own anxiety driven aneurysm if he realized how many potholes were in the roads between the Siler City and Chapel Hill. I had a cat scan because i had a slight headache.
It's so weird. I don't feel like a fragile china cup.
"When the count drops below 50,000, bleeding can occur more easily after injuries, and counts below 20,000 can lead to spontaneous bleeding" This morning's read was above 20k, they seem willing to let me go above 30k
--== ∞ ==--
I had a new treatment today, Rituximab, which may help me not have another drop for a longer time. Optimistically, from the doctor, there have been patients who reportedly have gone for five years without a relapse. Stats aren't quite as optimistic, but i am grateful that in the past 15 years it seems this treatment has moved from what they fall back to if the splenectomy fails, to use as soon as the second drop
I probably still have a hard time appreciating the spontaneous bleeding risk.
--== ∞ ==--
It's surely been difficult for Christine to have two absences at home. I have a lifelike stuffed toy cat with me, so nurses and nurses assistants have asked if i have cats and i have finally learned to say "two" and not tear up. But i know i will have more tears to cry. I know i cry about Greycie Loo out of the blue still, because we thought we had so much time to still have with her, and the cancer took her so quickly. Luigi has been so fragile-seeming for the past few years - i suppose i expected him to die in his sleep. To have him loose his legs like Greycie Loo did, to have him so bravely try to drag himself to the bathroom, for him to not be distressed but relatively composed, oh sweet old man cat.
--== ∞ ==--
I understand tomorrow will be hurry up and wait as discharge churns through paperwork. I'll have a last dose of steroids so will have this energy boost to get me home. Then i know i will crash on Tuesday. I am not looking forward to work on Wednesday. I hope i'll have recovered from the steroid crash by then.
[TKatB] What Am I Doing Wrong?
Apr. 20th, 2025 05:26 pmhaunted_cherriesCharacters: "Crowe" Ichabod (Canon), Tristan Kimishima (OC)
Rating: Gen
Words: 766
Prompts: Inflicted Prompt: Ink from The Writing Games Pillowfort Comm, Yearning from
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fandomocweeklyNotes: "Trishelle, did you get obsessed with another male yandere game?" YES I DID B/C I AM CLOWN AND IT IS CLOWN HOURS DHSJHDJKS Even crazier that not only did a new OC x Canon ship spawn from this, but a POLYCULE AT THAT (b/c it wouldn't be me if I didn't put Tristan with the unhinged goth men that make his heart skip a beat xD)
(As a heads up, the universe I write this in doesn't have a few of the TWs that the original VN has, purely for my own preference! I like unhinged men, but even I have my limits! xD)
Anways, I have a few more fics coming from this universe, but until then, thanks for stopping by, and enjoy!! ^ o^)/
( Read more... )
vital functions
Apr. 20th, 2025 10:53 pmkaberettReading. I continue to make slow progress with both What An Owl Knows (Jennifer Ackerman) and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke).
Writing. Grumpy e-mails to Labour, mostly? Grumpy e-mails to Labour. Oh, and separately to the DWP courtesy of My UC Journal.
Playing. I have tripped and fallen back into 2048. I do not know why I have tripped and fallen thus. There are other things I would rather be doing. Brain whyyy.
I Love Hue current status: just started The Alchemy/Knowledge/12.
Cooking. Two new-to-us recipes from East: caramelised fennel and carrot salad with mung beans and herbs, of which I am a fan but about which A is a bit meh; and Amritsari pomegranate chickpeas, with the decaf English Breakfast I bought the other week, which I also quite liked but A was mildly dubious of.
Today has featured a different Welsh cake recipe, from one of the charity-shop books I acquired for the purposes of the special interest in EYB indexing. This one includes honey and ground mixed spice; I am decidedly disconcerted by how much they taste like Wrong Texture Mince Pies when cool.
Eating. ... yeah it's been A Migrainey Week, and has consequently contained two rounds of Wagamama. TRAGICALLY I decided on the first of these to branch out and try Not My Usual. Not My Usual turned out to contain The Dread Mayonnaise (I had been lulled into a false sense of security by the number of things called "slaw" I had recently encountered that did not contain mayo). It was mostly salvageable...
Exploring. ADVENTURES in VAN HIRE for the purposes of moving SHED. This involved heading out to Hatfield, because the one fifteen minutes up the road was already Thoroughly Booked. We got to observe MORE FLOWERS and lo they were good.
... I think that's it? I think that's it. (A also went on another adventure to acquire roof box and appropriate rack, but I stayed at home for that one.)
Making & mending. I have not, technically, actually resumed A's pair of gloves, BUT I have now got the information from A I need in order to do so! So that's a progress.
... there has also been. Event prep. So much event prep. The meal ticket booklets for crew are all done; the potions are all sliced and folded ready for laminating (except for the one that needed someone to actually finish writing what it did); ... progress?
Growing. SO MANY SQUASH. Not all of the ones I sowed, but... a lot... have come up.
Somewhat irritated that somebody found my Bravest Dwarf Pea, which had actually managed to find and attach itself to the pea sticks, and severed the stem a little below said attachment. :|
Main infrastructural progress this week was getting all the railway sleepers and shed bits up to the plot (with significant and indispensable help from A). I've not done anything with them yet but they are there, I have plans, necessary hardware is en route, etc.
What else what else? First of the beans are in the ground. I was feeling decidedly surly about my redcurrant but this turns out to have been premature and unfair -- since last weekend it's unfurled a little more and is looking much more promising in terms of potential harvest. The raspberries also seem to be very much enjoying the mulch + semi-regular watering, which is pleasing.
Observing. I totally forgot to mention in last week's section on this topic that on the ride back from Anglesey Abbey we observed Many Cowslips, including at least one that was red!
Tulips continue fantastic. Irises are getting into the swing of things at this point. The bindweed is definitely waking up...
Haikai Fest: "Small Child Adventures"
Apr. 20th, 2025 07:05 amjjhunter===
every wooded path
The Lost Forest, every hole
home to mystery
_
Birdfeeding
Apr. 20th, 2025 02:12 pmysabetwordsmithI fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches, plus a fox squirrel.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 4/20/25 -- I walked around the yard taking pictures.
EDIT 4/20/25 -- We had a friend over to help with yardening and picked up sticks from the house yard.
I am done for the night.