laurajv | Reading

Two guys came and measured the space for my new dishwasher and it will apparently fit, but there are as always several - okay, 2 - unexpected wrinkles: 1. the current machine is hardwired into the electric, but the new dishwasher needs a plug, so the installers are going to have to build an outlet? These 2 guys didn't seem to think it was a big deal but it is another $75, which at this point is whatever, fine. Secondly, they were concerned that the installation might damage the drain pipe under my sink, and I was like, can we wrap it in something to protect it from being dinged? and they were like, "Eh, maybe, but if it breaks you're responsible for fixing it." Which, thanks. I suppose I can get under there and wrap a towel around it if necessary.

So we'll see how this goes on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't complete wreck my kitchen!

Speaking of wrecking my kitchen, my current HGTV viewing is "Help! I wrecked my house!" which I'm enjoying, but oh my god, the sheer hubris of some of these mediocre white men, who think they can demo a kitchen or a bathroom down to the studs and then figure out how to put in a new one, and then have to call Jasmine because of course they can't. I don't understand these people, tbh. There is nothing wrong with asking a trained professional to come in and do that kind of work, especially if you're not particularly handy. (And even you are handy in the "can change a washer in the faucet" variety, what makes you think you can install a shower from the ground up??? WTF?) On the other hand, I am really sympathetic to the folks who did hire a contractor who turned out to be shady and didn't do the work properly and stiffed them of their money to boot!

In other news, I am now on vacation and very excited about it! Except shit, I forgot to set up my out of office message. I will have to log back in and do that.

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Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: Find the River - REM

lannamichaels

So I hated the first part of episode 10, and liked the last ~8 minutes, those were great, truly great. But I really didn't need what came before that; I liked how Murderbot slipped away at the end of the first novella. Oh well.

In general, overall, I really enjoyed Murderbot The Television Show, although there were parts of it I had to skip or not watch. They did a really good job at translating a novella into a tv show; the changes were understandable and made sense for the medium, even when they were ones I disliked. The show fleshed out the characters very well, and they had just so so so so much fun with the in-universe tv shows.

If this show has one thesis, it is Murderbot = Gurathin, and with my complaints about the first part of episode 10, I did like how it went so, are you not convinced that Murderbot = Gurathin yet? Here, let me show it to you again.

Anyway, I assume five seconds after the end of ep10, ART says hello. (okay that's probably not ART. But it would make sense to begin s2 immediately after s1 ends)

issenllo

It's been so long since I posted that I will not look for my last post. Suffice it to say that I had plans for Yuletide, then Hikago Day, then nothing. Yikes. I had not quite anticipated how much a big fandom does swallow you up. My heart Hanyu Yuzuru <3

On the other hand, I've also stumbled upon the world of tolerable to terrible Chinese language webfiction, on podcasts via (probably) an AI-generated narrator, on Youtube. Some of them are long-ish, about 1 hr, the ones I'm going for are about 30mins. I set them on the kitchen counter while I cook... this is the level of intellectual engagement they require. On the other hand it's doing a lot for my listening comprehension of Mandarin, especially the ones that (inexplicably) run at about 1.5 speed.

Most of these webfiction (flashfiction?) that come via my algorithms are of broadly three types:

1. set in unnamed/imaginary ancient Chinese dynasty, a young lady's (yes it's nearly always a noble lady) journey to marrying the right guy, finding love and happiness. Plots include some version of evil stepmother or stepsister drama, mother-in-law drama, harem plots, invasion by barbarians and a/an (in)conveniently conferred decree of marriage by the emperor. Eventually she gets rid of her rivals and villains and live happily ever after.

2. Teenager on the verge of gaokao/national examinations, becoming the top scorer in the province, finding love and happiness. Plots include some version of school bullying, evil best friend/sister/stepsister, nearly missing the exam due to plots, switched at birth drama and meeting a tall, handsome boy who is smart, rich and madly in love with her. Eventually they move to Beijing or Shanghai, build a global business empire, and live happily ever after.

3. Either of the above except with rebirth/redo/reincarnation premise, or that they have been pulled into an imaginary bookworld where 1 or 2 are happening. These variants come with the ability to predict what bad guys are doing and getting on top of that, exposing the two-timing boyfriend, backstabber best friend, etc. and getting some vindictive revenge (in the best way!) along the way

They are incredibly addictive given how generic and predictable they are. It's a bit like Mills and Boon. You know how it will end but you can't stop. A few came close to being genre-savvy but most of them have been very earnest so far. Some are pretty funny and a few genuinely made me cry.

Admittedly my algorithms have skewed me towards a certain type of fiction, so I'm drowning in Mary Sues on a wish-fulfilment journey. They have similar names. The male lead and the 2nd male lead also have similar names, and the ability to differentiate them is how you know the skill of the author. For the stories that are reincarnation premises, I'm grappling with the morality of pre-emptive revenge, i.e. you are reborn and you meet the villain who murdered you horribly in your last life, but now that it's a redo and you've just met him and yes, he's still a baddie but right now, he hasn't yet done a thing to you, should you - just go ahead and skin him alive, so as to speak?

Something to consider lol

minoanmiss posting in

agonyaunt

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minoanmiss posting in

agonyaunt

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Current Mood: curious

minoanmiss posting in

agonyaunt

AAM is spicy this week!

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princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: pleased

writtenwordsaloud posting in

fandomcalendar

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dine

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princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: contemplative

ysobel posting in

agonyaunt

Dear Eric: I am 40 and physically disabled. I need a powered wheelchair to get around both outside and inside my apartment. Recently, my tires were popped by some broken glass from a bottle thrown out of a passing car onto the sidewalk. It has been a week since I have been able to use my wheelchair, and I have another 20 days before my new tires arrive.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be infuriated that someone’s litter caused me to spend $200 on replacement tires.

My caregiver disagrees. He says that it’s my fault for continuing and not turning around. He also said that I am overreacting, when the most I have done is complain a little bit for maybe an hour total and make a joking “whoever threw the bottle on the sidewalk owes me $200” comment once.

Am I being too sensitive about this? I think being upset about having to spend $200 that I don’t have to replace something necessary for my continued function in and outside of my apartment due to litter is understandable, but I would like to ask for your thoughts on the matter to be sure.

— Tire’d

Tire’d: Let me get this straight. Your caregiver, who understands the challenges you face navigating a world that is often not accommodating, thinks that you don’t have the right to be peeved about this? Litter, particularly broken glass, is a problem for everyone and any one of us could and should be upset about having to navigate a sidewalk strewn with jagged pieces, even if it didn’t cost us $200 or a temporary restriction in mobility.

What happened wasn’t fair and it had a greater impact on you than it would on someone who could just step to the side or crunch the glass under a boot. Your caregiver needs to acknowledge that some things in the world affect you differently. This is what empathy is. One doesn’t need firsthand experience to be empathetic, but in this case he has to be able to see how hard this one battle has made your life.

I hope that this is an isolated incident in your relationship and he’s able to be supportive in other ways. Because care is about more than physical assistance. It’s also about being willing to say, “I see you. I hear you. What you’re feeling is valid.”

snickfic

- As of July 6th, I'd written more words this year than I had in all of 2024. Mostly this tells you how much 2024 sucked creatively, but also damn, that's a pretty good pace! I'm currently working on something for Summer of Horror and daydreaming about that Liam/Liam/Noel time travel fic that I may finally go back to working on.

- H/C Exchange finally went live! I got Re-Animator mpreg, which was DELIGHTFUL, and I wrote... something completely unexpected, literally on the day of the deadline after I finally gave up on all previous plans.

- I did end up signing up for Battleship. I'll participate for the eight days of it that happen before I leave for vacation. I also prompted a variety of forever OTPs (Liam/Noel) and rarepairs I haven't thought about in ages (Dawn/Illyria). Hopefully someone will be inspired.

- I picked up a couple of things in the summer Steam sale, and thus have done basically nothing the last 2-3 days but play Cult of the Lamb, the cutest little cosmic horror game you ever did see.

garryowen posting in

fancake

Fandom: Star Trek TOS
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: G
Length: 1 min 41 sec
Creator Links:

indeedcaptain
Theme: Working together, outsider POV

Summary: the flagship may not be all it's cracked up to be

Reccer's Notes: Have you ever wondered what it's like to work with a commanding officer who has zero judgment when it comes to the captain and who does shit like almost kill him while under the influence of Vulcan mating hormones? Or how about working under a captain who has zero judgment when it comes to his first, and is always doing shit like risking his life and the ship to save his first's life? This short song captures what that must be like. It's the little things like trying to get your damn performance review submitted to Starfleet.

I'm not super into filk, but this one is well-written, with fun rhymes and nice progression from beginning to end. It'll put a smile on your face.

Fanwork Links: HR Violations on the USS Enterprise

dine

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silverusagi

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Current Mood: awake

morgandawn

In late 2019, TV, movie, anime, gaming, celebrity, music, and book fans assembled to save Yahoo Groups after Verizon decided to shut down the mailing list service. Approximately 300,000 fandom groups have been saved. The Yahoo Gedden project is working on identifying the fandoms of Italian language mailing lists and can use your help. We need people who can read Italian natively right now to help us identify the Unknown groups. You can work at your own pace and it is a low time commitment. Work is done on Discord, just reading the Italian group description and a few messages and summarizing the messages in English, maybe answering a question of clarification ("is it talking about X or Y?"). No software or other tools needed besides your phone/computer and access to Discord.

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/UyJdffhw2b

musesfool

It's no meeting week at work, which is the best week! And then I'm on PTO next week. I carefully portioned out my to-do list so that I have one main thing to do every day (on top of whatever comes up each day) and it's so satisfying to mostly just cross things off it and not have to go to any meetings (which always add things to my list).

Yesterday, it was so quiet that I was able to read a whole book! Just sitting at my desk and answering email occasionally! So, Wednesday reading!

What I've just finished
Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch, the very latest Rivers of London book. And when I say, "very latest" I mean it was released yesterday. I enjoyed it! ( spoilers )

What I'm reading next
Idk, I'll keep opening books in my library until I find one that holds my interest, I guess.

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Current Mood: mellow
Current Music: Crazy for You - Madonna

hannah

I made a mistake regarding patient charts at work - nothing life-threatening or genuinely harmful, simply highly improper procedure that created twice the work for myself and the practice instead of half the work that would've come from doing it right the first time. When asked about it, I said I could provide reasons and excuses and it didn't matter, I'd done the thing and would fix it.

Besides the lessons of "write everything down at least twice" and "most mistakes can be fixed", the main takeaway is the person who spoke to me about it assumed I was Gen Z and was a little surprised when I said I was a Millennial. Partly that's the nature of the mistake, and I think another part's simply how I look. Granted, he's nearly twice my age so anyone more than 20 years his junior is "young" by that standard. Even so, I'm going to take the skin care compliment.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Fake Empire - The National

ysobel posting in

agonyaunt

Dear Miss Manners: I prepared some hand-dipped chocolate goodies and delivered them to a couple of ladies in my neighborhood. A few days later, one of the ladies called me to tell me she was diabetic and couldn’t eat them.

I was sad that “the thought that counts” must not come into play anymore. I felt her phone call was rude and unnecessary.

Am I being petty, or was she being rude? It will make me think twice next time I try to be thoughtful. This friend certainly won’t see goodies from me again.

Then you will not want to hear that this lady spent the intervening time fuming over the thoughtlessness displayed in putting her health at risk — as if, instead of trying to brighten her day, you had attempted to force-feed her.

Miss Manners recommends saying, “I’m sorry to hear that. Thanks for letting me know” — and then tossing the conversation in the memory dustbin and, as was your plan, not repeating the gesture. This is also an approximation of what Miss Manners would have counseled the lady with diabetes, had she been asked.

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: tired

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etched in stone

the read on the speed-meter says

Murderbot TV, season the first

a sudden update

Ask a Manager: I think my employee is trans -- how can I signal support?

Ask a Manager: Rejecting a candidate for including "servant of God" on their resume

Ask a Manager: Can I Be Fired For Not Using AI?

Murderbot S1 Finale

Hazbin Hotel: VOXTEK Gift Baskets 2025

no matter where you go, there you are

Sad

More for the letter than the answer

fandom things

Filk: Star Trek TOS: HR Violations on the USS Enterprise by indeedcaptain

Truth! Justice! Freedom! Reasonably priced love! and a hard-boiled egg!

The Gilded Age s3 so far

Italian Speakers Need For Yahoo Groups Rescue Project

you're so close but still a world away

Falling through the sky.

(no subject)

minutiae

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March 2025

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