dusts off dw yet again
2026-05-12 21:48![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
konsectatrixHope everyone is well. <3
Working another season of what was meant to be a temporary/seasonal/secondary type of job vending flowers; I get lots of hours, I know everyone, my route is close to home, and yeah, it's physically taxing, but I'm basically larping a cozy game all day-- and I get all winter off.
Doom!Twin02 will be in Scotland for a semester; they're getting their master's in urban planning.
Doom!Twin01 is still a lab tech at one of Rutgers' farms, developing new varieties of turfgrass. I am still secretly hoping "turfgrass" is code for a tiny mammoth.
They both just got back from their yearly trip to South Korea, hanging out with their other family.
( I think I might've explained them before, but just in case... )
( Mr. Mouse has also been having adventures. )
I am drawing on occasion, most recently for a project by one of our line producer's screenwriting friends. I'm split between that and grumpily trying to work out storyboards for my own project (The music I settled for doesn't spark joy, and I should probably see if there's something I can do about that).
W is looking for new work; I am alternately cheerleading his efforts and having him binge anime with me, while being sat on (or yelled at) by an assortment of cats.
...I really need to work on my front garden beds. But guess what I never feel like doing after all day moving plants and setting up displays? XD
Working another season of what was meant to be a temporary/seasonal/secondary type of job vending flowers; I get lots of hours, I know everyone, my route is close to home, and yeah, it's physically taxing, but I'm basically larping a cozy game all day-- and I get all winter off.
Doom!Twin02 will be in Scotland for a semester; they're getting their master's in urban planning.
Doom!Twin01 is still a lab tech at one of Rutgers' farms, developing new varieties of turfgrass. I am still secretly hoping "turfgrass" is code for a tiny mammoth.
They both just got back from their yearly trip to South Korea, hanging out with their other family.
( I think I might've explained them before, but just in case... )
( Mr. Mouse has also been having adventures. )
I am drawing on occasion, most recently for a project by one of our line producer's screenwriting friends. I'm split between that and grumpily trying to work out storyboards for my own project (The music I settled for doesn't spark joy, and I should probably see if there's something I can do about that).
W is looking for new work; I am alternately cheerleading his efforts and having him binge anime with me, while being sat on (or yelled at) by an assortment of cats.
...I really need to work on my front garden beds. But guess what I never feel like doing after all day moving plants and setting up displays? XD
Book review: How to Love Your Daughter
2026-05-12 18:46rocky41_7 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
booknookTitle: How to Love Your Daughter
Author: Hila Blum
Translator: Daniella Zamir
Genre: Fiction, family drama
Author: Hila Blum
Translator: Daniella Zamir
Genre: Fiction, family drama
The other book I finished during my voyage through the southwest was How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum, translated from Hebrew by Daniella Zamir. This was book [checks notes] #17 from the “Women in Translation” rec list. It’s about an estranged mother and daughter; as the mother peers through the windows of her adult daughter’s house from across the street, she ponders what went wrong in their formerly loving relationship.
How to Love Your Daughter is a cerebral kind of novel that swims back and forth between Yoella’s present, desperately reaching after the daughter who’s walked out of her life, and Yoella’s recollections of raising Leah.
The twists and turns of their relationship are subtle, almost too subtle. Both characters come off slightly neurotic, fussing about every minor interaction and seeming, to me, to invent problems where none really existed. In the end, it’s not so much a long-deteriorating relationship, which is what I expected, as it is Yoella making one decision that forever alters Leah’s perception of her.
“No one warned me my love could destroy her,” Yoella says about Leah at one point and that’s the core of it. Yoella adores her daughter, almost beyond reason. And it’s that very willingness to put Leah above everyone and everything else that eventually pushes Leah away from her, which is such a perfect tragedy.
I saw another review that said this book was both too long and too short, and I think there’s some truth to that. There are drawn out middle sections which don’t necessarily add much, but the ultimate break and subsequent efforts at reconciliation by Yoella don’t get as much room to breathe as might have benefitted them.
However, the ending is an exquisite microcosm of the tension of the whole novel, leaving you wondering about unreliable narrators and perceptions. Some people felt that Yoella gets off too easy—I would recommend rereading the section where Leah talks to Yoella about her reality/fantasy of Dennis writing her a letter.
I don’t know that either Yoella or Leah comes off as really sympathetic here, but they do come off very human, full of flaws and self-justifications and irrational reactions. And maybe sometimes it’s just human nature to create a tragedy where there didn’t have to be one.
Tree Crews, M, Garden, Lemon Tree
2026-05-12 18:18ranunculusPG&E's tree crews have been here for the last couple of days. Mostly it has been ok, except for one crew member who managed to park completely blocking the driveway and then run his tracked vehicle up onto my circle skinning back the surface. The second day I believe the same guy managed to ignore company protocol and drop a tree on the boundary line fence smashing it. So much for their vaunted "professional" tree crews.
M came home today, which is very nice. He is here for a month before abandoning me for the rest of the summer to be in lovely Alaska where it won't be hot like it is here.
The garden loves the warm days and is growing fast. My soil amendments this year seem to be working well so far. Planted the old lemon tree today. I bet it is a LOT happier in the ground. I added a mix of compost and coconut coir around it to help keep the soil fertile and light. Looks like the compost was very much needed as there were almost no worms in the dirt. I'll top it with a good thick layer of wood compost and horse manure in an attempt to keep building the soil. That approach is certainly working on the trees at the top of the garden. Hardpan is turning fluffy up there. One of my apples was yellow and sickly last year, but having a thick layer of horse manure compost around it this winter has turned the tree dark green and very happy.
M came home today, which is very nice. He is here for a month before abandoning me for the rest of the summer to be in lovely Alaska where it won't be hot like it is here.
The garden loves the warm days and is growing fast. My soil amendments this year seem to be working well so far. Planted the old lemon tree today. I bet it is a LOT happier in the ground. I added a mix of compost and coconut coir around it to help keep the soil fertile and light. Looks like the compost was very much needed as there were almost no worms in the dirt. I'll top it with a good thick layer of wood compost and horse manure in an attempt to keep building the soil. That approach is certainly working on the trees at the top of the garden. Hardpan is turning fluffy up there. One of my apples was yellow and sickly last year, but having a thick layer of horse manure compost around it this winter has turned the tree dark green and very happy.
Recent Reading: How to Love Your Daughter
2026-05-12 18:46rocky41_7 posting in booksThe other book I finished during my voyage through the southwest was How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum, translated from Hebrew by Daniella Zamir. This was book [checks notes] #17 from the “Women in Translation” rec list. It’s about an estranged mother and daughter; as the mother peers through the windows of her adult daughter’s house from across the street, she ponders what went wrong in their formerly loving relationship.
How to Love Your Daughter is a cerebral kind of novel that swims back and forth between Yoella’s present, desperately reaching after the daughter who’s walked out of her life, and Yoella’s recollections of raising Leah.
The twists and turns of their relationship are subtle, almost too subtle. Both characters come off slightly neurotic, fussing about every minor interaction and seeming, to me, to invent problems where none really existed. In the end, it’s not so much a long-deteriorating relationship, which is what I expected, as it is Yoella making one decision that forever alters Leah’s perception of her.
“No one warned me my love could destroy her,” Yoella says about Leah at one point and that’s the core of it. Yoella adores her daughter, almost beyond reason. And it’s that very willingness to put Leah above everyone and everything else that eventually pushes Leah away from her, which is such a perfect tragedy.
I saw another review that said this book was both too long and too short, and I think there’s some truth to that. There are drawn out middle sections which don’t necessarily add much, but the ultimate break and subsequent efforts at reconciliation by Yoella don’t get as much room to breathe as might have benefitted them.
However, the ending is an exquisite microcosm of the tension of the whole novel, leaving you wondering about unreliable narrators and perceptions. Some people felt that Yoella gets off too easy—I would recommend rereading the section where Leah talks to Yoella about her reality/fantasy of Dennis writing her a letter.
I don’t know that either Yoella or Leah comes off as really sympathetic here, but they do come off very human, full of flaws and self-justifications and irrational reactions. And maybe sometimes it’s just human nature to create a tragedy where there didn’t have to be one.
Recent Reading: How to Love Your Daughter
2026-05-12 18:44rocky41_7The other book I finished during my voyage through the southwest was How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum, translated from Hebrew by Daniella Zamir. This was book [checks notes] #17 from the “Women in Translation” rec list. It’s about an estranged mother and daughter; as the mother peers through the windows of her adult daughter’s house from across the street, she ponders what went wrong in their formerly loving relationship.
How to Love Your Daughter is a cerebral kind of novel that swims back and forth between Yoella’s present, desperately reaching after the daughter who’s walked out of her life, and Yoella’s recollections of raising Leah.
The twists and turns of their relationship are subtle, almost too subtle. Both characters come off slightly neurotic, fussing about every minor interaction and seeming, to me, to invent problems where none really existed. In the end, it’s not so much a long-deteriorating relationship, which is what I expected, as it is Yoella making one decision that forever alters Leah’s perception of her.
“No one warned me my love could destroy her,” Yoella says about Leah at one point and that’s the core of it. Yoella adores her daughter, almost beyond reason. And it’s that very willingness to put Leah above everyone and everything else that eventually pushes Leah away from her, which is such a perfect tragedy.
I saw another review that said this book was both too long and too short, and I think there’s some truth to that. There are drawn out middle sections which don’t necessarily add much, but the ultimate break and subsequent efforts at reconciliation by Yoella don’t get as much room to breathe as might have benefitted them.
However, the ending is an exquisite microcosm of the tension of the whole novel, leaving you wondering about unreliable narrators and perceptions. Some people felt that Yoella gets off too easy—I would recommend rereading the section where Leah talks to Yoella about her reality/fantasy of Dennis writing her a letter.
I don’t know that either Yoella or Leah comes off as really sympathetic here, but they do come off very human, full of flaws and self-justifications and irrational reactions. And maybe sometimes it’s just human nature to create a tragedy where there didn’t have to be one.
also I made scones today and that was nice
2026-05-12 20:29shadarasmm, some things:
1.
Earlier this evening I wandered across the street to pick up a few things for dinner and ended up spending a good five minutes or so chatting with the queers canvassing for ballot propositions, because it's very easy to catch me with one about park funding, especially when they look like a pair of lesbians, which it turned out they indeed are. Apparently they recently moved to the area (one of them coming back, the other to stay with their partner).
Shall see if I run into them again, but they said I should check out the gaming place (when asked "what kind of gaming" I was informed "most kinds!", because despite the on-the-face marketing being minigolf it in fact also has board games and video games and would be cool with people playing ttrpgs there) in the next town over (where they live), so, it's quite possible! This area is, uh. Very small in some ways. (But, as they pointed out when talking about why they came here, generally quite safe for queer people in a way that the more southern state they moved from wasn't necessarily.)
2.
Today is a day where I feel like a person, and mostly that throws into relief how many days I do not, and I find this deeply frustrating but mostly in a "idk if there's much I can do about that?" way. It's very... look when the main problems are fatigue and brain fog, that's not stuff that people tend to have particularly helpful suggestions for?
3.
Slowly catching up on a Star Wars podcast (A More Civilized Age), and at one point the hosts got sidetracked talking about how holocrons (especially sith holocrons) are like AI chatbots, and I cannot get that comparison out of my head. It makes sense and it's hilarious, and also yup sure is a sith vibe.
4.
I mentioned watching the first bit of Maul: Shadow Lord here, and I finished it last week (the final episodes of s1 aired on May 4th, of course). It's very... well, obviously the whole thing needs to be full of set-up/lore for the greater universe, blah blah disney star wars blah blah. But the final two episodes in particular were just "yup, here's the disney playbook".
( Read more... )
Like, I'll watch s2 when it comes out because the animation is great and I enjoy Maul interacting with an apprentice and also girls/women with complicated relationships to lightside/darkside matters. But also, it's a show aimed at people who wanna see cool fights and I keep going BUT WHAT IF YOU HAD CONVERSATIONS AND THEMES. xD I am not the target audience, I know that, it's fine.
5.
I also somehow continue to keep up with Critical Role s4: Araman! It is enjoyable! I adored ep24, which was like 5hrs of talking and roleplaying and scheming with zero combat. I had way more fun than I was expecting with ep25, which was three straight hours of combat with the party that is mostly not statted for combat and who thus need to be CLEVER and STRATEGIC about what they're up to. If I gotta listen to D&D combat, I'd rather have it be the kind of combat where players are trying to figure out how to use unexpected skills and abilities to solve a puzzle that happens to be combat than one where the solution is "I roll to attack" 90% of the time.
(BLM going "holy shit I forgot you could do that, uhhhh, okay. I am about to tell you something that I did not think there is any way you could've learned in this combat, this is going to have MASSIVE implications going forward" to the Divination Wizard was genuinely a stand-out moment, and when he got to the reveal of "this is what you were supposed to think happened. this is what everyone else thinks happened. YOU know better, because you touched fate and saw through the facade." at the end it was extremely !!!. This is very hard to pull off in a combat-focused episode, and yet! Kudos to BLM and also Marisha for using her abilities in this way!)
anyway I'm particularly fond of the following PCs at the moment, though tbh I think the whole crew is fun to listen to:
- Hal: Mr Dad Man, whose brother's execution was the start of this whole campaign (orc bard)
- Thaisha: The Mom Friend, Except She's Actually A Mom, who was with Hal for a while (had a few kids together!) but then they split up (orc druid)
- Vaelus: what if you actually leaned into elves being very old and were also sad that your god got killed in the war (elven paladin)
- Murray: tired academic who grew up working-class and it shows (dwarf wizard)
- Kattigan: look sometimes the whole "my dog is my best friend" thing goes a long way when also you're sensible and kind (human ranger)
They just finished the first cycle of arcs, so they'll be drawing the whole crew back together soon. I am excited about this! I want the mixing of parties and seeing them all interact! Also it is going to be SO MANY PEOPLE and therefore a bit exhausting.
6.
Finally finished Max Gladstone's Dead Hand Rule, the penultimate novel in his Craft Wars series. It is very deeply a book about the contrast between being a person and a symbol, and what it means to bear great power, and what it means to choose between being yourself and a vessel for something greater, and also tbh rather much about how personal relationships shape national politics and how hard-and-yet-easy it is to allow yourself to love people.
v excited for seeing how he brings it to a conclusion because well he sure did end this novel by being like "the threat is here and realised and is a ticking time bomb, GOOD LUCK" at his protags. Very much "get your shit together and work together or DIE", tbh, which... okay a bunch of them are necromancers and some of them are therefore undead, so, like, death isn't the threat so much as the subsumption of existence into a colonizing force's clockwork wiles, which isn't great or what any of them want. So. It'll be fun to see them channel the power of gods and souls into a solution that hopefully doesn't blow the world up too much along the way.
Also perhaps I will actually read the entire Craft Sequence again, in chronological order (as opposed to publication order, because that's how I've read them as they release), before the final volume comes out. That'd be fun.
1.
Earlier this evening I wandered across the street to pick up a few things for dinner and ended up spending a good five minutes or so chatting with the queers canvassing for ballot propositions, because it's very easy to catch me with one about park funding, especially when they look like a pair of lesbians, which it turned out they indeed are. Apparently they recently moved to the area (one of them coming back, the other to stay with their partner).
Shall see if I run into them again, but they said I should check out the gaming place (when asked "what kind of gaming" I was informed "most kinds!", because despite the on-the-face marketing being minigolf it in fact also has board games and video games and would be cool with people playing ttrpgs there) in the next town over (where they live), so, it's quite possible! This area is, uh. Very small in some ways. (But, as they pointed out when talking about why they came here, generally quite safe for queer people in a way that the more southern state they moved from wasn't necessarily.)
2.
Today is a day where I feel like a person, and mostly that throws into relief how many days I do not, and I find this deeply frustrating but mostly in a "idk if there's much I can do about that?" way. It's very... look when the main problems are fatigue and brain fog, that's not stuff that people tend to have particularly helpful suggestions for?
3.
Slowly catching up on a Star Wars podcast (A More Civilized Age), and at one point the hosts got sidetracked talking about how holocrons (especially sith holocrons) are like AI chatbots, and I cannot get that comparison out of my head. It makes sense and it's hilarious, and also yup sure is a sith vibe.
4.
I mentioned watching the first bit of Maul: Shadow Lord here, and I finished it last week (the final episodes of s1 aired on May 4th, of course). It's very... well, obviously the whole thing needs to be full of set-up/lore for the greater universe, blah blah disney star wars blah blah. But the final two episodes in particular were just "yup, here's the disney playbook".
( Read more... )
Like, I'll watch s2 when it comes out because the animation is great and I enjoy Maul interacting with an apprentice and also girls/women with complicated relationships to lightside/darkside matters. But also, it's a show aimed at people who wanna see cool fights and I keep going BUT WHAT IF YOU HAD CONVERSATIONS AND THEMES. xD I am not the target audience, I know that, it's fine.
5.
I also somehow continue to keep up with Critical Role s4: Araman! It is enjoyable! I adored ep24, which was like 5hrs of talking and roleplaying and scheming with zero combat. I had way more fun than I was expecting with ep25, which was three straight hours of combat with the party that is mostly not statted for combat and who thus need to be CLEVER and STRATEGIC about what they're up to. If I gotta listen to D&D combat, I'd rather have it be the kind of combat where players are trying to figure out how to use unexpected skills and abilities to solve a puzzle that happens to be combat than one where the solution is "I roll to attack" 90% of the time.
(BLM going "holy shit I forgot you could do that, uhhhh, okay. I am about to tell you something that I did not think there is any way you could've learned in this combat, this is going to have MASSIVE implications going forward" to the Divination Wizard was genuinely a stand-out moment, and when he got to the reveal of "this is what you were supposed to think happened. this is what everyone else thinks happened. YOU know better, because you touched fate and saw through the facade." at the end it was extremely !!!. This is very hard to pull off in a combat-focused episode, and yet! Kudos to BLM and also Marisha for using her abilities in this way!)
anyway I'm particularly fond of the following PCs at the moment, though tbh I think the whole crew is fun to listen to:
- Hal: Mr Dad Man, whose brother's execution was the start of this whole campaign (orc bard)
- Thaisha: The Mom Friend, Except She's Actually A Mom, who was with Hal for a while (had a few kids together!) but then they split up (orc druid)
- Vaelus: what if you actually leaned into elves being very old and were also sad that your god got killed in the war (elven paladin)
- Murray: tired academic who grew up working-class and it shows (dwarf wizard)
- Kattigan: look sometimes the whole "my dog is my best friend" thing goes a long way when also you're sensible and kind (human ranger)
They just finished the first cycle of arcs, so they'll be drawing the whole crew back together soon. I am excited about this! I want the mixing of parties and seeing them all interact! Also it is going to be SO MANY PEOPLE and therefore a bit exhausting.
6.
Finally finished Max Gladstone's Dead Hand Rule, the penultimate novel in his Craft Wars series. It is very deeply a book about the contrast between being a person and a symbol, and what it means to bear great power, and what it means to choose between being yourself and a vessel for something greater, and also tbh rather much about how personal relationships shape national politics and how hard-and-yet-easy it is to allow yourself to love people.
v excited for seeing how he brings it to a conclusion because well he sure did end this novel by being like "the threat is here and realised and is a ticking time bomb, GOOD LUCK" at his protags. Very much "get your shit together and work together or DIE", tbh, which... okay a bunch of them are necromancers and some of them are therefore undead, so, like, death isn't the threat so much as the subsumption of existence into a colonizing force's clockwork wiles, which isn't great or what any of them want. So. It'll be fun to see them channel the power of gods and souls into a solution that hopefully doesn't blow the world up too much along the way.
Also perhaps I will actually read the entire Craft Sequence again, in chronological order (as opposed to publication order, because that's how I've read them as they release), before the final volume comes out. That'd be fun.
2026 Universal Studios Trip #4 (4/7/26) Universal Studios Japan
2026-05-12 18:00torachanI originally hadn't been planning to go wait in line before the park opened, but with not being able to get any fast passes, I figured we'd better get in there early, so I went down to the park entrance around 8:30 for a 9am opening. It was super crowded, so I messaged Carla to join me ASAP, but I was wondering if she'd be able to find me in the crowd. Thankfully, while it was a huge mass of people at first, we were funneled into security lines and I was able to get in the line closest to where she would be coming in, so she was able to join me pretty easily.
( Day two! I probably should have split this into two... )
( Day two! I probably should have split this into two... )
Erasing all the streets.
2026-05-12 20:35hannahSomeone canvassing for an upcoming local election talked to me today, and not wanting to walk off in the middle of a sentence, I stopped to talk to them for a bit. She didn't know if her candidate had a stance one way or another on compost or the proposed pied-à-terre tax, and encouraged me to check out a Youtube video. I pointed out if I couldn't look up her candidate, find the website, and find the link to the video on the website, she'd need to have a talk with the campaign manager.
I also said I wasn't going to watch the video, I was going to read the transcript since I can read faster than they can talk. I also said I wasn't going to go to any local debates, just look up the candidates' positions and track records and vote from there. She asked why I wasn't concerned with interviews or debates, and wanted to know why I didn't want to hear about their passion.
I told her passion was what cost Carter a second term.
From the look on her face, she wasn't at all prepared for me. Not for someone who didn't want passion informing their vote and not for someone to cite Carter. Especially when she said she hadn't known anyone who voiced wanting to vote Reagan in 1980.
I agreed the hostage situation was a factor, and suggested that if he'd been harsher in the debates - "Hey, Reagan, did YOU piss radiation for six months?" - it would've helped, but passion was no small part of it. So I didn't want to expose myself to any of it and would rather judge the candidates by their actions and political alignment.
I don't know what she hoped to find, and I don't think I was it. Nevertheless, I got some entertainment out of it, so I can't say I'm all that upset about having been waylaid this afternoon.
I also said I wasn't going to watch the video, I was going to read the transcript since I can read faster than they can talk. I also said I wasn't going to go to any local debates, just look up the candidates' positions and track records and vote from there. She asked why I wasn't concerned with interviews or debates, and wanted to know why I didn't want to hear about their passion.
I told her passion was what cost Carter a second term.
From the look on her face, she wasn't at all prepared for me. Not for someone who didn't want passion informing their vote and not for someone to cite Carter. Especially when she said she hadn't known anyone who voiced wanting to vote Reagan in 1980.
I agreed the hostage situation was a factor, and suggested that if he'd been harsher in the debates - "Hey, Reagan, did YOU piss radiation for six months?" - it would've helped, but passion was no small part of it. So I didn't want to expose myself to any of it and would rather judge the candidates by their actions and political alignment.
I don't know what she hoped to find, and I don't think I was it. Nevertheless, I got some entertainment out of it, so I can't say I'm all that upset about having been waylaid this afternoon.
Write Every Day: Day 12
2026-05-12 17:06sanguinityIntro/FAQ
My check-in: A paragraph, so far.
Day 12:glinda,
Day 11:acorn_squash, badly_knitted, china_shop, cornerofmadness, dswdiane, glinda, sanguinity, sylvan_witch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
Day 10:acorn_squash, badly_knitted, china_shop, cornerofmadness, dswdiane, goddess47, sanguinity, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme
( More days )
When you check in, please use the most recent post and say what day(s) you’re checking in for. Remember you can drop in or out at any time, and let me know if I missed anyone!
My check-in: A paragraph, so far.
Day 12:
glinda, Day 11:
acorn_squash, badly_knitted, china_shop, cornerofmadness, dswdiane, glinda, sanguinity, sylvan_witch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilmeDay 10:
acorn_squash, badly_knitted, china_shop, cornerofmadness, dswdiane, goddess47, sanguinity, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, ysilme( More days )
When you check in, please use the most recent post and say what day(s) you’re checking in for. Remember you can drop in or out at any time, and let me know if I missed anyone!
520 Day Reverse Exchange - 24 hours to deadline!
2026-05-13 02:00trobadora posting in sid_guardianThe 520 Day Reverse Exchange deadline is tomorrow! Please post your completed assignment to the AO3 collection by 11:59PM UTC Wednesday 13 May! (What time is that for me?)
Your work must be complete to fill your assignment. It's fine to keep editing until reveals, but the first and each edited version must be a work that stands on its own.
If you have any questions or, for any reason, you can't make the deadline and you haven't contacted us already, please let us know NOW by replying to your assignment email (don't change the subject line) or commenting here. Comments here are screened.
General info, schedule and minimum requirements | Posting instructions
Thank you to everyone who's already submitted their entries, and good luck to everyone else for the final stretch! *\o/* *\o/* *\o/*
Your work must be complete to fill your assignment. It's fine to keep editing until reveals, but the first and each edited version must be a work that stands on its own.
If you have any questions or, for any reason, you can't make the deadline and you haven't contacted us already, please let us know NOW by replying to your assignment email (don't change the subject line) or commenting here. Comments here are screened.
General info, schedule and minimum requirements | Posting instructions
Thank you to everyone who's already submitted their entries, and good luck to everyone else for the final stretch! *\o/* *\o/* *\o/*
Daily Check-In
2026-05-12 18:02starwatcher posting in fandom_checkinThis is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Tuesday, May 12, to midnight on Wednesday, May 13. (8pm Eastern Time).
Poll #34586 Daily Check-in
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 11
How are you doing?
I am OK.
7 (63.6%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
4 (36.4%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single.
5 (45.5%)
One other person.
3 (27.3%)
More than one other person.
3 (27.3%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
5/11/2026 Del Puerto Canyon
2026-05-11 18:47mrkinchWe took our annual drive through Del Puerto and while there were several amazing moments, I at least was a little disappointed. Didn't help that it was very hot, which kills my energy, and very dry so that places that have been birdy were not. There've always been changes year to year, but since last May someone tore out the admittedly long-failed orchards along the east end of the road that were the only trees for miles. We saw seven Western Kingbirds, expected in years past, now with nowhere to nest. We assume they moved on to a better location. A little further on we had our first amazing moments. We stopped near some cottonwoods, by the creek of course, heard singing, and found a pair of remarkably chill Rufus-crowned Sparrows. I don't think any of us had ever has as good or as long a view of this species. A real treat. At Owl Rock we saw two fully-grown Great Horned Owl chicks in one of the Rock's many caves, but nothing else up there this year. At two places where we always stop we saw single Lewis' Woodpeckers, very exciting since there had been no reports of them along Del Puerto or San Antonio Road this Spring, and last year we saw none. The pond near the Junction was very low with only a family of American Coots swimming around, but we could hear the Tri-color Blackbirds in the reeds. What a grating call they have! We got our Lawrence's Goldfinches for the trip in Frank Raines picnic area and also in the campground. I did not see them, but I heard their wonderful, tinkley song. We drove out San Antonio Road as always, but the creek we had fun at last year had dried up and we saw nothing anywhere along the road. ( The list )
We may schedule our trip a few weeks earlier next year.
We may schedule our trip a few weeks earlier next year.
[ SECRET POST #7067 ]
2026-05-12 18:35case posting in fandomsecrets⌈ Secret Post #7067 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Climate Change
2026-05-12 18:06ysabetwordsmithSome seas may soon be trapped in near-permanent heatwaves, scientists warn
Seas recover. That’s the working assumption behind most marine conservation planning – heatwaves arrive, fish flee or die, then the water cools and the count resets.
A new study of 19 enclosed seas found that resets after heatwaves may stop happening. Some are on track to spend more than 330 days a year locked in heatwave conditions. Not a temporary extreme. A new permanent state.
This isn't "maybe," this is "definitely." The world's oceans are absorbing carbon dioxide and heat. Those sinks will eventually fill up. The oceans will become much more acidic, large parts will become anoxic, and most of the water will get hotter and stay that way until the climate shifts again. We know this because it has happened before.
Does "The Great Dying" ring a bell? The oceans then became hot and anoxic, wiping about almost everything in them. And it's happening a lot faster now than then. The current mass extinction looks to be faster than anything except the massive meteor strike of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. This might be considered a problem.
Seas recover. That’s the working assumption behind most marine conservation planning – heatwaves arrive, fish flee or die, then the water cools and the count resets.
A new study of 19 enclosed seas found that resets after heatwaves may stop happening. Some are on track to spend more than 330 days a year locked in heatwave conditions. Not a temporary extreme. A new permanent state.
This isn't "maybe," this is "definitely." The world's oceans are absorbing carbon dioxide and heat. Those sinks will eventually fill up. The oceans will become much more acidic, large parts will become anoxic, and most of the water will get hotter and stay that way until the climate shifts again. We know this because it has happened before.
Does "The Great Dying" ring a bell? The oceans then became hot and anoxic, wiping about almost everything in them. And it's happening a lot faster now than then. The current mass extinction looks to be faster than anything except the massive meteor strike of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. This might be considered a problem.
