2026
Jan. 5th, 2026 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moon_custaferSo, I’ve avoided posting about this, but just before xmas eve we discovered a bedbug infestation. It could be worse, I suppose—it’s pretty much localized to the bedroom, we threw out the bedspreads and a lot of stuff, and washed everything else, and have been camping out on the folding couch in the living room while we try to prep for the fumigators to come.
This has so far involved throwing out all the boxes that house Andrew’s comics collection—the comic books themselves seem to be ok, but the corrugated-cardboard boxes were definitely providing the ideal hideout for the disgusting critters. I bought thirty plastic bins and we’ve been transferring the comics and many of the books. Andrew’s been keeping it together better than I could have hoped, at least.
In order for pesticide spraying to happen, we need to 1. get as many of the shelves as possible away from the walls, and 2. to get the cats out of the apartment for 4-6 hours. This will be the hard part—Nana can be wrangled into a carrier, but in the five years since we brought her home, we’ve never been able to capture and hold Beatrice.
I guess, living in an apartment, it was only a matter of time. Meanwhile, of course, the wider world continues to be even worse.
In slightly better news, last week I read Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time. An SF novel about large intelligent spiders might seem an odd choice of comfort reading under the circumstances, but I’ve a feeling that in addition to watching a lot of David Attenborough nature films, Tchaikovsky has seen a lot of classic Doctor Who. His spiders are easy to root for, and his desperate human colonists fleeing a doomed Earth are somehow not quite as bad as real-life politics. I’ve also fond of Holsten Mason, the tragi-comic Classicist who, due to only getting woken out of cryogenic suspension when the crisis du jour specifically requires an expert on Old Galactic Empire dialects, is experiencing the whole multi-millenial epic as “a rough few weeks” during which most of the other crew outage him by decades.
I think my own writing is coming back after a rest following my Yuletide fic—I at least managed to make a bunch of notes today for Gentleman of the Shade, which for some reason has decided it needs another flashback, this one set in a 1970s supper club.
This evening’s migraine is being held at bay by rizatriptan, but it included, for the first time in my life, one of those zigzag rainbow auras I read about. Weird.
This has so far involved throwing out all the boxes that house Andrew’s comics collection—the comic books themselves seem to be ok, but the corrugated-cardboard boxes were definitely providing the ideal hideout for the disgusting critters. I bought thirty plastic bins and we’ve been transferring the comics and many of the books. Andrew’s been keeping it together better than I could have hoped, at least.
In order for pesticide spraying to happen, we need to 1. get as many of the shelves as possible away from the walls, and 2. to get the cats out of the apartment for 4-6 hours. This will be the hard part—Nana can be wrangled into a carrier, but in the five years since we brought her home, we’ve never been able to capture and hold Beatrice.
I guess, living in an apartment, it was only a matter of time. Meanwhile, of course, the wider world continues to be even worse.
In slightly better news, last week I read Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time. An SF novel about large intelligent spiders might seem an odd choice of comfort reading under the circumstances, but I’ve a feeling that in addition to watching a lot of David Attenborough nature films, Tchaikovsky has seen a lot of classic Doctor Who. His spiders are easy to root for, and his desperate human colonists fleeing a doomed Earth are somehow not quite as bad as real-life politics. I’ve also fond of Holsten Mason, the tragi-comic Classicist who, due to only getting woken out of cryogenic suspension when the crisis du jour specifically requires an expert on Old Galactic Empire dialects, is experiencing the whole multi-millenial epic as “a rough few weeks” during which most of the other crew outage him by decades.
I think my own writing is coming back after a rest following my Yuletide fic—I at least managed to make a bunch of notes today for Gentleman of the Shade, which for some reason has decided it needs another flashback, this one set in a 1970s supper club.
This evening’s migraine is being held at bay by rizatriptan, but it included, for the first time in my life, one of those zigzag rainbow auras I read about. Weird.
Never Joke With The Customers… Ever!, Part 18
Jan. 6th, 2026 01:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
notalwaysworking_feedRead Never Joke With The Customers… Ever!, Part 18
Boss: "Good morning, [My Name]. FYI, don't make any jokes with the customers today."
Me: "Uh, I don't usually do that, but why are you asking me?"
Boss: "[Coworker] opened yesterday. When one of our regulars was buying his six-pack of beer, [Coworker] joked that due to tariffs, six packs of beer now only contain five cans."
snopes_feedFiona Hill said Russian officials had suggested a "swap arrangement" based on the principles of the Monroe Doctrine.
Watch out for this video of Venezuelans celebrating Maduro's capture, thanking Trump
Jan. 6th, 2026 12:42 amsnopes_feedVenezuelans have reportedly had mixed reactions to the U.S. operation to capture President Nicolás Maduro.
2025 in Books
Jan. 5th, 2026 04:12 pmstarladyIt's the eleventh day of Christmas and high time to post this roundup.
2025 Reading Stats
I feel like I'm not entirely sure how I managed to read this many books (well, I read six Lumberjanes collections on the trains to and from New York on New Year's Eve, and I ruthlessly read a lot of novellas that had piled up in December), but I'm pleased about it. I'm especially pleased about reading so much manga, and also that I've gotten faster at reading Japanese again. Which is good because I still have so. much. manga to read. And I buy more every time I go to Japan. I'm also pleased about the physical TBR progress, which includes sorting a bunch of books lurking on the bookshelf for years into piles of "read this and then sell it back," which I will continue doing. Sadly Half Price in town closed because of landlord greed, so now I have to go to either Freemont or Pleasant Hill. Other than that, I did de-prioritize new books to focus on older ones, so there's a lot of good 2025 books that have piled up. Too many books, too little time!
Best of 2025
2025 Reading Resolutions
2025 Reading Stats
- 144 books read, of which 12 were a reread
- By gender: 45.5 (32%) by men, the rest by women and other genders
- By race: 62 (45%) by people of color
- By language: 28 (19%) in Japanese, 8 (0.5%) in translation
- New books: 37 (26%) published in 2025
- New-to-me authors: 27
- Read 125 books ==> Success! 144, an all-time high!
- Read 25 physical books owned since 2023 or earlier ==> Success! 29
- Read 35 books by authors of color ==> Success! 62
- Read 10 books in translation ==> Fail
- Read a volume of manga a week in Japanese ==> Well, I got closer than I have before?
- Read all the comics bought before 2025, both physical and digital ==> Fail. But I did buy a refurbished 2021 iPad mini and reading comics on it in Kindle is a pretty good experience, unlike my old iPad which had been blinking off randomly for years. And I think I have done the physical part of it? Except for a few random bandes-dessinées I have lying around.
I feel like I'm not entirely sure how I managed to read this many books (well, I read six Lumberjanes collections on the trains to and from New York on New Year's Eve, and I ruthlessly read a lot of novellas that had piled up in December), but I'm pleased about it. I'm especially pleased about reading so much manga, and also that I've gotten faster at reading Japanese again. Which is good because I still have so. much. manga to read. And I buy more every time I go to Japan. I'm also pleased about the physical TBR progress, which includes sorting a bunch of books lurking on the bookshelf for years into piles of "read this and then sell it back," which I will continue doing. Sadly Half Price in town closed because of landlord greed, so now I have to go to either Freemont or Pleasant Hill. Other than that, I did de-prioritize new books to focus on older ones, so there's a lot of good 2025 books that have piled up. Too many books, too little time!
Best of 2025
- The Witch Roads and The Nameless Land (duology) by Kate Elliott
- Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen
- The Wall Around Eden by Joan Slonczewski
- Tamsin by Peter S. Beagle
- The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
- Metal from Heaven by august clarke
- Fuichin zaijian! (10 vols) by Murakami Motoka
- Absolute Wonder Woman vol. 1 by Kelly Thompson et al.
- Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill
2025 Reading Resolutions
- Read 125 books
- Read 25 physical books owned since 2024 or earlier
- Read 35 books by authors of color
- Read 10 books in translation
- Read a volume of manga a week in Japanese
- Read all the comics bought before 2025, both physical and digital
Three Random Thoughts Make a Post
Jan. 5th, 2026 04:57 pmmuccamukk- I was just thinking, "IDK who would even buy the English language side of LJ at this point!" (Especially with sanctions on Russia. Who could buy it?) Then I remembered hungry hungry data miners looking for things to feed into LLMs/Gen AI, and sighed. I guess they've probably scraped all the public posts anyway, but might be interested in paying for the locked content?
- I'm vicariously delighted by everyone being so bouncy and excited about the hockey blorbos. I aggressively don't like men's ice hockey (except for that one fic), so will pass, but it's fun to see the enthusiasm all over my reading list. I wish you all a very merry time of it. ❤️
- I seem to have found the other half of that one ship in D.K. Broster's "Mr. Rowl". He shows up 48% mark. (Though I can see the point about Mr.
HowardHunter, especially given that farewell). I find the comment,a girl to whom his attention had subsequently been drawn—indifferent though he was to the sex
to be VERY INTERESTING for at least two reasons.
(no subject)
Jan. 5th, 2026 07:19 pmflemmingsMore snow, of course, if not the dump other places got. When I finally got out I discovered that SND's fiancé had shovelled my sidewalk, front walk and steps, so I was happily spared that task. Dull grey dank made things hurt enough that I wasn't looking forward to it. Temps are supposed to rise in the next few days, with rain of course, but it may clear the snow the way the warmup a week ago did. Or we might get freezing rain, which I shall hope also avoids us.
Otherwise sat indoors and did nothing but a dark wash.
Otherwise sat indoors and did nothing but a dark wash.
Does anybody have old magazines?
Jan. 8th, 2026 07:23 pmconulyI’ll pay shipping costs. They just have to be picture heavy.
Hm. Maybe I should see if a local dentist or doctor was planning to weed soon….
Hm. Maybe I should see if a local dentist or doctor was planning to weed soon….
Do more text, dumdum.
Jan. 6th, 2026 12:53 amgoodbyebirdsenmut's post at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
cultivativity about considering why you make what you make and what you enjoy about it, made me think of icons and text. The more icons I made, the less text they had, because I'm straight up terrible at text. Best outcome to hope for is it doesn't actively make the icon look like crap. But text is fun though! I'd really really like to make a return to being a bit more of a smartass in my iconning. And get some more quotes in there! Maybe that'll be my iconning resolution for the year?As a reminder to myself: ( icons slathered with text )
Miscellaneous holiday and post-holiday scraps
Jan. 5th, 2026 04:06 pmazurelunatic* didn't do much for Solstice
* amusingly, both Aunt Tish and V got me the same slipper-socks for Christmas
* pear + green tea perfume was extremely relevant to Thorn's interests, even straight out of the bottle
* got my pill boxes filled for the coming quarter
- started the desk top cleanup for that a little before Just In Time
- did the morning pills first, which always gives me a little grace period to get the evening pills done the subsequent day
- ran out of my joint supplement after the first five weeks were done, but that did allow me to put the first five weeks away and start using them
- Belovedest picked up the missing pills in a very short turn-around, yay
* NYE cat pilling results: Yellface deigned to swallow, finally, after several very polite arguments in favor of spitting the pill out; Mila was too sharp to be pilled
* watched the festivities up at the Space Needle from the comfort of bed, with Belovedest and Thorn and sparkling cider (Belovedest dipped into the Faygo stash also)
* legs still awful
* did not lose the second set of black teardrop beads for the crochet projects
* made an OTC meds order from the usual supplier (Wellspring Meds) despite the sale having expired
- if your household needs industrial quantities of Imodium and you hate blister packs with a passion, consider this vendor: 200 pills in a nice little safety cap bottle, no peeling or shoving required
* amusingly, both Aunt Tish and V got me the same slipper-socks for Christmas
* pear + green tea perfume was extremely relevant to Thorn's interests, even straight out of the bottle
* got my pill boxes filled for the coming quarter
- started the desk top cleanup for that a little before Just In Time
- did the morning pills first, which always gives me a little grace period to get the evening pills done the subsequent day
- ran out of my joint supplement after the first five weeks were done, but that did allow me to put the first five weeks away and start using them
- Belovedest picked up the missing pills in a very short turn-around, yay
* NYE cat pilling results: Yellface deigned to swallow, finally, after several very polite arguments in favor of spitting the pill out; Mila was too sharp to be pilled
* watched the festivities up at the Space Needle from the comfort of bed, with Belovedest and Thorn and sparkling cider (Belovedest dipped into the Faygo stash also)
* legs still awful
* did not lose the second set of black teardrop beads for the crochet projects
* made an OTC meds order from the usual supplier (Wellspring Meds) despite the sale having expired
- if your household needs industrial quantities of Imodium and you hate blister packs with a passion, consider this vendor: 200 pills in a nice little safety cap bottle, no peeling or shoving required
Investigating claim Venezuela's Delcy Rodríguez fled to Russia after Maduro's capture
Jan. 5th, 2026 11:48 pmsnopes_feedPosts citing Reuters claimed that Rodríguez fled to Russia, but later reporting and denials complicated the story.
(meme, health, work, us, observe)
Jan. 5th, 2026 06:44 pmelainegreyDisclaimer: my new year for goals and growth and change starts at the beginning of March because, ugh, darkness.
But happy new year! (Again) Because this is the first day back to work and so on, the year feels restarted even more today.
I celebrate that using strong ("Super-potent Ultra-high") steroids and antibiotics have brought great relief. I am cautiously optimistic, although i look forward to seeing the relief persist in the summer and in the midst of work stress.
I celebrate an insight from therapy that i may be bringing the sense of last year -- emergency on emergency -- to this year with C's upcoming surgery and the trip to Ohio. Instead of interpreting the energy of my colleagues as urgent critical -- thus emergency -- energy, i might try to interpret it as excitement enthusiasm.
Christine and i took a slightly delayed junket to Raleigh for a little more anniversary observation. The Gregg Museum of Art + Design had some powerful exhibits. The "In Search of Thoreau’s Flowers" wasn't as cool as i had hoped, but the cyanotypes on glass with gold gilding -- https://www.leahsobsey.com/thoreaus-flowers -- by Leah Sobsey were wonderful, as were also all the insects and pines that graced the entrance. I suspect my botanical interests wanted more; Christine thought it was great.
I hadn't expected ‘the halls of a changing sea’ and WORDS = POWER to be as moving as they were. WORDS = POWER was probably moving more in a meta-impression: queer and trans focused works up in a state (affiliated) institution stirred hope. ‘the halls of a changing sea’ also was a strong meta resonance with strong connections to plants and soil as well as queer identity. I look forward to experimenting with the soil of this place in my own way. Currently, what i want to do is carve a large chunk of the saprolite, rock so chemically weathered it is almost clay, soft and cuttable, yet still distinctly not clay. I want to set it on a raw log plinth and photography it regularly as it dissolves in the weather.
The museum had not existed when i was at State, but i had helped raise funds for it (as an undergraduate participant in the visual arts committee of the student activities program). As an undergraduate employee i did data entry, with the Avon perfume bottle collection most memorable. They still have them: http://searchgreggcollection.arts.ncsu.edu/mDetail.aspx?rID=1983.004.127a-b&db=objects&dir=GALLERYOFART&osearch=avon&list=res&rname=&rimage=&page=1
We also stopped at the used book store and exchanged a box of books we'd been hauling around, and then went to Krispy Kreme, which no longer has the diner-like counter, which i will always remember due to a poem someone wrote about meeting their best friend Jim Beam at the counter, and the professor Not Getting It. Much memory, very fun.
From oursin:
Grab the nearest book. Turn to page 126 The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026.
Phenology, Theresa M Crimmins "You can do this at your home by tracking daily temperatures and calculating accumulated growing degree days..."
Nifty!
Memage - January Question a Day (and Buffy/Angel Rewatch)
Jan. 5th, 2026 06:20 pmshadowkatQuestion a Day Meme:
4. Do you have any travel plans arranged for this year?
Well, kind of? But nothing really planned or definite at the moment - due to continuing health issues from 2025 - specifically my cranky knees (which aren't cooperating with me and deteriorating at the ripe old age of 58). My plan was to go to Chicago in the Spring with Mother, maybe a train trip in the fall, and possibly a short excursion to see her in Hilton Head. Now, not sure what I'm doing.
5. Are you looking forward to any TV shows this year?
* The Pitt S2 - HBO
* Diplomat S4 or is it 5 - Netflix
* Lanterns - HBO
* Slow Horses S5 (I think - the next season in any event) - Apple +
* Second Season of Dept Q - Netflix
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale (assuming of course Hulu shows the pilot and any new episodes post-pilot) - Hulu
***
Oh, Angel/Buffy rewatch?
The Angel/Cordelia and Buffy/Spike romances are ...frustrating? In many respects I prefer them to Buffy/Angel, but they are still frustrating to watch?
Neither Angel nor Buffy know how to communicate, while Spike and Cordelia are kind of no-nonsense, and say it like it is.
Also, the writers don't appear to know what to do with Xander and Gunn. They are in holding pattern with Xander/Anya. Poor Anya appears to be stuck in the Magic Shop either planning her wedding, working, or researching with Xander at night. Xander and Gunn are similar characters - "dudes" - and the writers have no idea what to do with them.
Buffy and Spike - need to talk more? I actually feel more for Spike than Buffy this season - mainly because he just wants to talk it out. And she refuses to. She likes to talk at him - basically complain about her life, or lack thereof, but not discuss their relationship, or his role in her life. It's hard not to identify with Spike in this situation. Which while insanely interesting and rather innovative from an overall narrative/ story-telling perspective, it's also a touch messy from a plot perspective? Because I know where this is headed? And I'm not sure it works - if I'm rooting for Spike? Worse - I'm rooting for Spike to be redeemed without a soul and get Buffy. And that's against the story-thread and the canon. We're supposed to rooting for Buffy to get away from Spike, to see he can't change, and be shocked that he goes and gets a soul - and think, but of course, and then realize no he still can't have her - but at least he gets it now, and finally can be redeemed? But it's not quite being written that way entirely - because I think the writers being rather existentialist were on the fence about it? (I mean let's face it - where's the fun in writing this sort of thing, if you can't break your own rules?) Also the story-thread is kind of predictable and boring, so the writers decided to be a bit more ambiguous about it, and let both Spike and Buffy think, well, maybe, he can be? That's great - but it can prove to be problematic.
I think S6 fascinates me - because it's so subversive, and indecisive, and filled with risks. Honestly, it and S4 - they writers had a lot of fun breaking a ton of television writing and trope rules. And I had a blast watching them do it. They did manage to change the medium in the process - because other writers, actors, creative types saw it - and got excited, and decided to do it too. I'm not sure we'd have BSG, RT Davies Doctor Who/Torchwood, Lost, Vampire Diaries, Interview with a Vampire, Veronica Mars, Grey's Anatomy, Bridgerton, etc without Buffy. Whedon had fun breaking rules, and god bless them, the network let him do it.
4. Do you have any travel plans arranged for this year?
Well, kind of? But nothing really planned or definite at the moment - due to continuing health issues from 2025 - specifically my cranky knees (which aren't cooperating with me and deteriorating at the ripe old age of 58). My plan was to go to Chicago in the Spring with Mother, maybe a train trip in the fall, and possibly a short excursion to see her in Hilton Head. Now, not sure what I'm doing.
5. Are you looking forward to any TV shows this year?
* The Pitt S2 - HBO
* Diplomat S4 or is it 5 - Netflix
* Lanterns - HBO
* Slow Horses S5 (I think - the next season in any event) - Apple +
* Second Season of Dept Q - Netflix
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale (assuming of course Hulu shows the pilot and any new episodes post-pilot) - Hulu
***
Oh, Angel/Buffy rewatch?
The Angel/Cordelia and Buffy/Spike romances are ...frustrating? In many respects I prefer them to Buffy/Angel, but they are still frustrating to watch?
Neither Angel nor Buffy know how to communicate, while Spike and Cordelia are kind of no-nonsense, and say it like it is.
Also, the writers don't appear to know what to do with Xander and Gunn. They are in holding pattern with Xander/Anya. Poor Anya appears to be stuck in the Magic Shop either planning her wedding, working, or researching with Xander at night. Xander and Gunn are similar characters - "dudes" - and the writers have no idea what to do with them.
Buffy and Spike - need to talk more? I actually feel more for Spike than Buffy this season - mainly because he just wants to talk it out. And she refuses to. She likes to talk at him - basically complain about her life, or lack thereof, but not discuss their relationship, or his role in her life. It's hard not to identify with Spike in this situation. Which while insanely interesting and rather innovative from an overall narrative/ story-telling perspective, it's also a touch messy from a plot perspective? Because I know where this is headed? And I'm not sure it works - if I'm rooting for Spike? Worse - I'm rooting for Spike to be redeemed without a soul and get Buffy. And that's against the story-thread and the canon. We're supposed to rooting for Buffy to get away from Spike, to see he can't change, and be shocked that he goes and gets a soul - and think, but of course, and then realize no he still can't have her - but at least he gets it now, and finally can be redeemed? But it's not quite being written that way entirely - because I think the writers being rather existentialist were on the fence about it? (I mean let's face it - where's the fun in writing this sort of thing, if you can't break your own rules?) Also the story-thread is kind of predictable and boring, so the writers decided to be a bit more ambiguous about it, and let both Spike and Buffy think, well, maybe, he can be? That's great - but it can prove to be problematic.
I think S6 fascinates me - because it's so subversive, and indecisive, and filled with risks. Honestly, it and S4 - they writers had a lot of fun breaking a ton of television writing and trope rules. And I had a blast watching them do it. They did manage to change the medium in the process - because other writers, actors, creative types saw it - and got excited, and decided to do it too. I'm not sure we'd have BSG, RT Davies Doctor Who/Torchwood, Lost, Vampire Diaries, Interview with a Vampire, Veronica Mars, Grey's Anatomy, Bridgerton, etc without Buffy. Whedon had fun breaking rules, and god bless them, the network let him do it.
ICE didn't accidentally send Maduro back to Venezuela
Jan. 5th, 2026 10:49 pmsnopes_feedIn early January 2026, the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and transported them to New York.