missizzy | Reading

Chirp. It was the smoke detector in our bedroom, waking us to inform that the battery needed to be replaced. Or so we thought. Upon inspection, it turned out the battery couldn't be replaced on this one. You had to buy a new detector. Wait for the hardware store to open for the morning, then find one of the same model, so it fit on the same brackets. Sort of. Anyway, it's up and alert now.

Boom. That, I presume, was the sound of the warehouse full of fireworks exploding after it caught on fire, a couple days ago. Although it was after hours and out in the countryside, seven people were reported missing. It may be a while before this can be put out; fireworks keep exploding. At least one local town had been relying on those fireworks for its July 4th show, which has been canceled. Be careful out there.

Smof. It means ... well, it means someone experienced in running science-fiction conventions. One such has written that the unopposed bid for the next Worldcon up is woefully unequipped to do its job. This is the sort of thing smofs often say about Worldcon bids, whether or not it turns out to be true. The smof recommends voting No Award, er I mean None of the Above, so that the Worldcon Business Meeting will decide what to do. Reading the very serious comments on this post, I decided it was better not to post my snarky comment, which would have been, "Maybe we should put the Worldcon on a boat." But I'm not sure how many readers will have been around long enough to remember what that's a reference to.
Update: Worldcon bid in question has responded with a puff piece. This does not instill confidence.

Meow. A cat walking in front of my monitor, hoping for an early breakfast, made it difficult for me to read the announcement of the impending publication of Ursula K. Le Guin's Book of Cats. This is apparently a collection of unpublished or obscure pieces, many of them whimsical, rather than e.g. an omnibus of Catwings.

Speaking of cats ... This was on xkcd a few days ago:

sparowe

I Know that Person

In Luke 24:49 (TLB) Jesus said, “And now I will send the Holy Spirit upon you, just as my Father promised.” Who is the Holy Spirit? God as Father? We comprehend that image. God as Jesus, the Son? That idea is manageable as well. But God as Spirit? That word itself is mystical.

One day, I read the words Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit: comforter and friend. I know that Person. That was three decades ago. I no longer think of the Holy Spirit as “the Holy Who?” I now call him our Heaven-Sent Helper. He is our champion, our advocate, our guide. He comforts and directs us. He indwells, transforms, sustains, and will someday deliver us into our heavenly home.

Read more Help Is Here

Current Mood: thoughtful

dine

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conuly

Moonpie's foot looks better, we didn't end up having to take her for an x-ray at all.

************************

( Read more... )

muccamukk

The whole Diddy thing. It doesn't matter how much proof there is.

Brad Pitt, who is known to have struck his wife and his children then perpetuated lawfare on them for years to the point where several of his kids no longer want contact with him, has the number one movie right now. Best opening weekend of his career. Most of the coverage doesn't even mention the violence.

On the anniversary of Tortoise Media publishing allegations of rape and sexual assault against Neil Gaiman, Netflix is dropping season two of The Sandman. Meanwhile, Gaiman is forcing one of his victims into arbitration. Not because she's libling him, but because she broke an NDA. Everything's gone very quiet, which I assume is what he wanted.

Some thoughts from smarter people:

Rebecca Solnit: Cynicism Is the Enemy of Action.

Tarana Burke: Tarana Burke doesn’t define #MeToo’s success by society’s failure.

Some people want to judge the movement on specific outcomes, so when a case is overturned, Burke said, “people are like, ‘Oh the #MeToo movement has failed.’” Instead, she said, such outcomes are proof of the difficulty of the work.

“It’s not about the failure of the movement; it’s the failure of the systems,” Burke explained. “These systems are not designed to help survivors, they’re not designed to give us justice, they’re not designed to end sexual violence.”

“When we bind ourselves to the outcomes of these cases, we are constantly up and down with our disappointment, our highs and lows,” Burke continued. “What they tell us is just how much work we need to change the laws and the policies but most importantly, to change the culture that creates the people who commit, who perpetrate acts of harm.”

isis

What I've recently finished reading:

Lamentation by C.J. Sansom, the 6th Shardlake novel. This is all about the heresy hunts in the last few years before Henry VIII's death - one faction wanted to go back towards Catholicism, one wanted a radical re-imagining of religion and social structures, and if you wanted to stay in the regime's good graces, you walked the narrow path of "the King is the divinely ordained leader of the Church, and whatever he says goes." Warning for historical burning of heretics, plus canon-typical violence; also for weird religion and contentious legal cases. Matthew Shardlake still has a crush on the queen (Katherine Parr).

What I'm reading now:

My hold on Katherine Addison's The Tomb of Dragons came in, so that. Just barely started.

What I recently finished watching:

American Primeval, which, huh, I've never before encountered media in which the Mormons are the bad guys. (This is not a spoiler. It's pretty clear from the get-go, but it gets more pointed and cartoon-villainy toward the end.) Definitely violent and gory, though also it felt very clearly written to Tug The Heart Strings (and then, often, deliberately kill the character it's just tried to make you care about) at which at least for me it failed to do. I liked Abish, Two Moons, and Captain Edwin Dellinger, and James Bridger amused the hell out of me, but - I mostly enjoyed it, but I don't feel it was superlative. I got tired of the filter to wash out colors so it looked almost old-photo sepia.

I did enjoy the historical setting of the Mormon War; as I mentioned last time, I researched it for my Yuletide story, and I think it's just an interesting time, the settlement/colonization of western North America.

What I'm about to start watching:

Murderbot! We always wait until enough episodes are out that we can watch ~every other day and not have to wait.

What I'm playing now:

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, which was recommended to me as a "spooky atmospheric puzzle game", and I'm enjoying it a lot. You play as a mysterious woman who has come to a mysterious hotel full of locked doors in what might be Germany in 1963, at the request of a mysterious man for reasons of ??? I told my brother about it because it's cheap in the summer sale at Steam, and he decided it sounded good so he is playing it now, a bit behind my progress but because of the nonlinearity he's ahead of me in some things. We're trying to give each other elliptical hints when needed.

conuly

Ugh

*****************************

( Read more... )

conuly

On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.

On the day the world ends
Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night.

And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.
As long as the sun and the moon are above,
As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,
As long as rosy infants are born
No one believes it is happening now.

Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet
Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
There will be no other end of the world,
There will be no other end of the world.

Warsaw, 1944

***

Link

edenfalling

Note: I am repurposing my stock Yuletide letter here, which is why some of the sections may seem slightly off-topic for a single fandom exchange.

Hi, and thank you in advance for writing a story for me! I'm pretty easy to please -- unless you write context-free porn, I'll be thrilled just to get a response to one of my prompts. *grin* But I realize that's not terribly helpful, so here's the (very!) long version. (I am sorry for the tl;dr, but I like to talk about things I love and I figure more details are better than fewer.)

---------------

( General Information )

Okay. On to specific prompts.

---------------

( Jadis & the Gods of the Narnian World )

---------------

( The Secret Life of Lasaraleen's Pet Monkey )

---------------

( Arthuriana & Morgan Le Fay )

---------------

( Telmarine Aeneid )

---------------

( Journey to an Alternate Charn )

---------------------------------------------

And that is that.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: new brighton, mn

edenfalling

Hey, quick update: I am IN MINNESOTA!

More specifically, I am in my parents' basement, because apparently this is my current millennial life milestone to hit. *wry*

Anyway, the U-boxes were delivered on Monday, we sorted and packed Tuesday and Wednesday, and then decided to order a third U-box because my dad was uneasy about the weight limits. So on Thursday the delivery guy (who is also apparently the local warehouse manager) picked up one box that we had completed and dropped off an empty replacement. We finished packing both boxes that afternoon and moved on to packing the cars and cleaning. Friday morning the delivery guy picked up the two remaining U-boxes, we finished cleaning, and I turned in my keys to Landlord Dude in return for my security deposit refund.

(I stayed in my parents' hotel room Wednesday and Thursday nights, since we packed my bed on Wednesday.)

Then we drove from Ithaca to the Twin Cities in two days (Friday and Saturday), which was kind of a lot and included two stints on local city streets in downtown Chicago because of a nasty traffic jam on I-90. My mom kept going through stoplights just as they turned yellow so I had to follow on red; it was extremely stressful. But we made it!

I have spent the past few days changing addresses with assorted companies and getting my license, car title, and car registration switched from NY to MN. Today I may or may not see about getting a local library card and visiting a Verizon store to see if they can clear some unwanted apps off my phone (I would do this myself but they came pre-installed and don't seem to have a delete option) and also ask about international calls to/from Canada. Also I will try switching my car insurance and AAA membership to MN -- I couldn't do either of those before I got my car paperwork dealt with.

We have been eating down some food brought from my fridge and freezer, since my parents' freezer was very full already. I have seen Vicky briefly when she picked up Alfie (her dog) Sunday evening -- my parents were watching him while Vicky and some friends were staffing a booth/table at a local Pride festival. Also my dad had a colonoscopy yesterday, my mom had a cardioversion this morning (for her afibrillation), and my aunt should currently be getting knee replacements. It has been a medically exciting week!

I believe I still have one refill left for both of my prescriptions, and my Ithaca pharmacy said that although they can't mail medications, I can have a Minnesota pharmacy contact them and they can transfer the authorization. So that is a relief, though I should still find a local primary care doctor sooner rather than later.

Oh! And signups for the 2025 Narnia Fic Exchange are open until July 11, so if you have any interest, please check that out over at

narniaexchange!

Current Mood: productive
Current Location: new brighton, mn

sparowe

ODB: From Glory to Glory

Jul 2, 2025/in Our Daily Bread/by YMI

July 2, 2025

READ: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18

We . . . are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Living in a coastal town, Valerie loved warm weather, wildlife photography, and being in the water. Above all, she loved watching the sunrise over the ocean. Every morning, she woke up before dawn to catch a view of the water. Val estimated that despite cloudy weather or travel, she still managed to see more than three hundred waterfront sunrises each year. She never tired of watching them. In her eyes, the sunrise held a glory she didn’t want to miss.

In Exodus 34, we read about Moses’ radiant face literally reflecting his glorious encounter with “the Lord” (vv. 29-35). Paul said that since Jesus came, there’s an even more glorious ministry than what Moses experienced (2 Corinthians 3:7-8). It’s the ministry of the Spirit, which brings righteousness (vv. 8-9). God’s plan of salvation has permanent glory, surpassing anything that came before (v. 10), and we get to participate in it. The apostle said, “We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (v. 18). That ever-increasing glory is not dependent on how well we perform but on the Holy Spirit. We, like the clouds at sunrise, just reflect a little more and a little better each day the glorious work that He’s doing.

— Karen Pimpo

When is it more difficult to see the work of the Holy Spirit in your life? How do you know He’s still there?

Dear God, You’re doing a glorious work within me! Thank You for transforming me into Your image.

Source: Our Daily Bread

Current Mood: thoughtful

sholio

Technically this was yesterday, but I climbed a hill and had an eagle fly past me. (The hill is the Bodenburg Butte in Palmer, AK.)

Photo from a high vantage point, looking down on farms and fields stretching to blue mountains with their tops covered in clouds. Small figure of an eagle is visible against the clouds.

I realize the eagle is more like a dot, but if you've tried to take a quick photo of a bird, this is without zoom (I was just trying to snap a fast shot without completely losing the experience of having an eagle flying in front of me) so it is actually very close! After it flew past, I turned around and two teenage guys were standing above me, having just descended from the top and watched it too. "Sick," one of them said in obvious delight, and we nodded at each other.

I'm down in Southcentral doing Mom Things. Mom has been moved out of the rental where she was living since last August, and she was supposed to go home via helicopter today, but the weather was a problem. But that's why I reserved two extra days at the Airbnb beforehand, just in case. Tomorrow we try again! She was very respectful of my space today - I think she recognized that I was planning on having the evening to myself tonight and it didn't happen - and I wrote both fanfic and original fiction, and took a long walk to sort some plot things out in my head. Thursday I go home, and perhaps drive the Denali Highway on my way, if the wildfire smoke isn't too bad.

dine

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musesfool

Last night I watched a cute movie on Netflix called Nonnas about that restaurant on Staten Island that hires grandmas as chefs. Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire, and Susan Sarandon play the nonnas, and Vince Vaughn plays the guy opening the restaurant. It's kind of a nice mellow detox from The Bear in terms of a bunch of Italian-Americans yelling at each other in a restaurant kitchen. *g* Plus a really horrifying rendition of capuzelle, which is a roasted (or baked?) sheep's head, which is one of those dishes I try to forget knowing about. Anyway, the restaurant still exists, and now it has grandmas from all different backgrounds who cook there (a review of the real restaurant).

Today was my Monday, and tomorrow is my Friday at work. I could get used to a 2 day work week!

*

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Sugar We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy

chestnut_pod

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twistedchick

Some thoughts on Republicans, food and a lack of candidates.

dewline

Just a reminder that Hey.Cafe exists. It's Canadian-based and Canadian-owned. It's an alternative to Twitter and the rest - however well-behaved they are - just in case.

My account is here:

https://hey.cafe/@dewline

Yes, I plan to try Gander as well once it opens up.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Home-for-now

settiai

First of all, relax! I'm far from being picky, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll love whatever you decide to create for me. These are nothing but guidelines, for you to take to heart or ignore to your heart's content. Also, hey! You're writing me fic or drawing me art! That's automatically a good reason for me to love you, no matter what. So, please, keep that in mind. Trust me, you can pretty much do no wrong.

( More details under the cut. )

Current Mood: hopeful

dine

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annapods

Personal info
Anna, she/they. Find me at:

Annapods on ao3,
Annapods on discord,
Annabelle-myrtille (main blog) and annapods (podfic sideblog) on tumblr,
Annapods on bskye,
Annapods @federatedfandom.net on mastodon,
annabelle.myrt@gmail.com by email,
Annapods on dreamwidth.

Media
I'm requesting visual and audio stuff only.
The exception is mixed formats, which I'd be delighted to receive.

Fandoms
This is a long list of fandoms where I'll be happy to receive stuff and able to at least vaguely understand what's going on, or fandoms I'm thinking of getting into soon. Please feel free to ask me to edit my requests to add characters or relationships! I couldn't nominate the "any" tags in all of them.

Bleach (Anime & Manga)
Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Naruto (Anime & Manga)
Persona 4
SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
残疾暴君的掌心鱼宠[穿书] - 雪山肥狐 | The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish - Xuě Shān Féi Hú
괴담에 떨어져도 출근을 해야 하는구나 - 백덕수 | Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story I Still Have to Go to Work - Baek Deoksoo
내가 키운 S급들 - 근서 | S-Classes that I Raised - Geunseo
데뷔 못 하면 죽는 병 걸림 - 백덕수 | Debut or Die - Baek Deoksoo
DCU
DCU (Comics)
KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
ATEEZ (Band)
The Boyz (Korea Band)
SEVENTEEN (Band)
Stray Kids (Band)
Any Fandom I Agreed To On Discord
Original Work
KinnPorsche: The Series (TV)
White Collar (TV 2009)
Twisted-Wonderland
Zenless Zone Zero (Video Game)
原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
崩坏：星穹铁道 | Honkai: Star Rail (Video Game)
鸣潮 | Wuthering Waves (Video Game)
Jeff Satur - Works & Related Fandoms
K.A.R.D (Band)
Club Icarus | ARTMS (Album)
OnlyOneOf (Band)
Triple H (Korea Band)
Mamamoo
방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
IVE (Band)
K-pop

On top of these, you can do anything to my works, as long as any co-creators also give their approval:

Art of Any Works I've Posted To AO3
Fic Remix of Any Works I've Posted To AO3
Podfics of Any Works I've Posted To AO3
Recursive Works of Any Original Works I've Posted To AO3
Recursive Works of Any Works I've Posted To AO3

To add

Jeff Satur - Works & Related Fandoms.
My Hero Academia,
K-Pop,
Monsta X, TXT, BTS, Mamamoo, Triple H, KARD, OnlyOneOf, ARTMS, red velvet, IVE
The Next Prince

Story likes

Platonic affection and commitment
- Gen, or close to it
  - Pre-slash?
  - Only 100 words of romance in a sea of plot?
  - Filthy, tender and loving but totally platonic porn?
  - All good.
- Stuff that ~feels~ aro to me
  - QPRs,
  - Ace/aro stories,
  - Strong friendships,
  - Found and chosen family,
  - Sensual attraction,
  - Touch hunger,
  - Touch as a love language or a communication method,
  - Cuddling and snuggling,
  - Loneliness-induced angst and hurt/comfort..
- In terms of fic, this translates to:
  - A lot of group polya,
  - Gen fic or could-be-gen-could-be-polya fic,
  - Some supernatural or a/b/o AUs (pack, coven, etc),
  - All the skinship.
World exploration
- In general
  - Canon divergence,
  - What-if,
  - Trope in/subversion,
  - Crack and crack treated seriously,
  - Non-standard worldbuilding,
  - Meta disguised as fiction,
  - Take your fandom to work,
  - Deep dive into someone’s lived experience,
  - Take your fandom to therapy.
- That means I'll love anything about:
  - Fandom culture and/or media in-universe,
  - Culture, language, sociopolitics.

Story dislikes

These are dislikes, not DNW. I might skim your gift and leave a shorter comment, that's about it.

The expected romantic experience
- Kid fic (exception: the kid is canonically a kid and a main character), deaging,
- Pregnancy (including mpreg and impreg),
- Marriage and weddings,
- Proposals,
- Meeting the parents,
- Romantic milestones as a focus in general,
- Romantic curtain fic.
Gendered expectations
- Focus on traditionally “feminine” tasks like childcare, household chores, etc for female characters, omegas or whoever else stands in for women in this world,
- Unquestioned fantasy gender essentialism in a/b/o or D/s AUs.
Romance dubcon
- Soulmate AUs,
- Sneakily dating someone,
- “How could you not realize we were dating”,
- Dating under false pretenses,
- Fake dating or friends-with-benefits with pining and “it’s not enough but I’ll take what I can get”,
- Strong, unquestioned power imbalance,
- Betting on relationships.
Other random dislikes
- Homophobia as a quick relationship plot point,
- Mundane high school or college AUs,
- Religious (mostly christian lbh) themes,
- Miscommunication that could be solved by blurting it out, no character development in sight,
- Heavy psychological vi
- Case fic.

Do Not Wants

Apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic and dystopian AUs,
Internal POV of bigotted or cruel characters,
Dub/noncon that isn’t treated seriously by the narrative,
Unhappy endings,
Incest.

On smut

I like
- Praise,
- Edging,
- Oversensitivity,
- All the nice feelings.
- Pure porn is great, using sex to tell a story is also lovely.
I dislike
- Piss/scat,
- Daddy/mommy kink,
- Humiliation,
- Noncon or heavy dubcon that's supposed to be sexy, including as fantasy/role play,
- Pet play,
- Meh on role play in general.

Audio tastes

Experimental or non-traditional stuff
- Stuff that’s a personal challenge for you
  - Character voices,
  - Accents,
  - Other languages,
  - Music,
  - Sound effects,
  - Soundscaping,
  - Cover art,
  - Multivoice,
  - Collaborations,
  - …
- Non-traditional text formats
  - Phone calls,
  - Epistolary,
  - Poetry,
  - Script formats,
  - Made for audio,
  - Notfic and chatfic,
  - Dialogue-only or dialogue-heavy,
  - In-universe media,
  - Annotated versions,
  - Just plain interesting formatting,
  - …
- Non-traditional podfic formats
  - Podvids,
  - Adlib and oral notfics,
  - Color commentary,
  - Multiformat stuff,
  - Audio zines,
  - Remixes,
  - Playlists,
  - Filks,
  - Abridged versions,
  - Podfic excerpts,
  - Heavily adapting the text,
  - …
Low standard, low effort: I do not like the idea of you having a bad time with it, or feeling like you have to reach a certain length or quality. I do like the idea of a personal challenge to lower your own standards.
- Super short podfics,
- Unfinished WIPs,
- Random podfics recorded three months ago,
- Podfics you’re not that proud of,
- No cover,
- No music,
- No workskin,
- Raw unedited podfics,
- All the background noise,
- All the breaths,
- All the clicks,
- ...

Art tastes

I don't have a lot of experience with art as a medium in exchanges, so I'll leave this open to you.

Profile

missizzy

June 2025

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Page Summary

calimac - chirps
sparowe - UpWords - Max Lucado: [From] 1 July 2025
dine - I am not young enough to know everything
conuly - Weather's cooled down a bit, that's nice
muccamukk - Not a GREAT week when it comes to ending sexual violence.
isis - wednesday reads and things
conuly - Bleeding
conuly - A Song on the End of the World by Czeslaw Milosz
edenfalling - Dear NFE Writer!
edenfalling - wherein Liz has moved!
sparowe - YMI -- ODB: 2 July 2025
sholio - Start July as you mean to go on
dine - I’m not weird, I’m limited edition
musesfool - a loaded god complex, cock it and pull it
chestnut_pod - I'm here; I'm queer; I have a very tardy review of Chris Wheeldon's The Winter's Tale (ABT)
twistedchick - New Substack post
dewline - Social Media Note: Hey.Cafe
settiai - Dear Black Emporium Creator,
dine - (no subject)
annapods - Annapods' Battleship 2025 dear creator letter

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