The Invasion Day long weekend (really, just change the date and adopt something less gross for the national holiday) featured three events of note in my life. The first included a short-notice visit from Adam and Lara from Darwin; we went to Balloon Story, which had some amusing moments, but really was something for the kids. It was nevertheless marvellous to catch up, albeit for a shorter time than usual, and I am sure there will be a next time. Afterwards, I ventured out to the Thornbuy Bowls Club, where my friend of almost forty years, Simon S., was celebrating his birthday party. With a collection of over a score of migrant friends from Perth, the cycling and motorcycle community, and various nerdish characters of various stripes (which much crossover), Simon's plan to hold a relatively low-key gathering was stymied by his friendship circle, who came out in spades.

The following day was my own gathering of the same sort (and yes, it included several people from the day before), with the additional theme of South America and Latin America from the recent trip. With over 30 people visiting my apartment throughout the day, I provided a wide variety of dishes from the different countries I visited (plus a couple from Ecuador, which I did not), various favourite beverages, and music. All along with a slideshow of photos from the trip. I actually didn't end up making everything, but have endeavoured to do so in the following days because, as usual, I overcatered. Blessed with an incredible variety of often brilliant friends, the gathering was really quite lively, and I am rather overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm that everyone contributed to the day. Photos will be forthcoming, but for now, "Lev's Solar Orbit, South America and Antarctica Voyage" included the following food, drinks, and music:

Los Platos
- Fainá (Uruguay): Chickpea flatbread with parmesan and mixed herbs
- Aji Amarillo Salsa (Peru): Yellow capsicum with milk, vinegar, lime juice, jalapeño, mustard, garlic
- Llapingachos (Ecuador): Potato cake, cheese and spring onion
- Salsa de maní (Ecuador): Peanuts, milk, onion, cumin, coriander, red chilli
- Torrejas De Espinaca (Peru): Fried tortillas with spinach, spring onion
- Ensalada Negra Inca (Peru): Apichu (golden sweet potato), avocado, black beans, quinoa, and chard (silverbeet)
- Salsa Criolla (Argentina): Capsicum with tomato, onion, garlic
- Pastel de choclo con carne (Chile): Maize with beef, tomato, onion, milk, basil, paprika
- Pastel de choclo sin carne (Chile): Maize with soy TVP, tomato, onion, milk, basil, paprika
- Ceviche (Peru): Ocean fish with red onions, tomato, cucumber, capsicum, lime, coriander, jalapeño
- Empanadas (Argentina): Pastry with gorgonzola cheese and puerro (leek)
- Tortillas fritas con Dulce de Leche (Uruguay): Tortillas, ice cream, milk, sugar, cream, chocolate

Las bebidas
- Café de Galeano (Uruguay): Coffee, dulce de leche, cream, amaretto
- Caipiroska (Uruguay): Vodka, lime, sugar
- Piscola Eléctrica (Chile): Brandy and Pepsi blue
- Pisco Sour (Peru): Brandy, lime juice, egg white, sugar, bitters
- Terremoto (Chile): Pineapple ice cream, red wine, pomegranate juice
- Tierra del Fuego (Argentina): Tequila, Campari, spiced vodka

La Musica
- Jorge Morel (Argentine classical guitar)
- Astor Piazzolla (Argentine founder of nuevo tango)
- Los Prisioneros (Chilean post-punk)
- Los Buenos Muchachos (Uruguayan alt-rock)
- Dengue Dengue Dengue (Peruvian electronic-industrial)
- Föllakzoid (Chilean electronica)
- Vangelis, Antarctica movie soundtrack

Current Location: The Rookery

andrewducker

1. India and EU announce Free Trade Agreement: (tags:india europe trade )
2. Risk of dying from cancer in Scotland at lowest rate on record (down almost 25% in the last few years): (tags:cancer scotland GoodNews )
3. Nigella to avoid Bake Off tent innuendo culture from the moment she opens the flaps: (tags:bakery TV satire funny celebrity sex )
4. Charities shouldn't exclude trans people, regulator says: (tags:UK charity transgender LGBT )
5. How to not revise for exams: (tags:exams funny )
6. Doing the thing is doing the thing: (tags:advice productivity )
7. How the UK became Putin's enemy number one: Britons might be surprised to learn how much hatred their country receives from Russia, with threats of nuclear obliteration now a fairly common occurrence
(tags:russia uk politics )

siderea

Overheard on Reddit, u/Itsyademonboi:

Sorry, Nazis are from Germany under Adolf Hitler, what we have here is Sparkling Fascists.

sparowe

ODB: Hope in Faith

Jan 27, 2026/in Our Daily Bread/by YMI

January 27, 2026

READ: Psalm 31:13-18

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24

Kristin’s son had died from cancer when he was just seven. Now, three years later, her older son was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Friends who were not believers in Jesus grieved with her, but they couldn’t understand why she continued to trust Christ. “How could your God allow this? Why keep believing in Him?” they asked.

For Kristin, however, it was an even stronger reason to keep believing. “I don’t understand why this is happening,” she said, “but I know God will help us through this. Only God can give me hope to keep going.”

Such a hope and trust kept King David going when he found himself in overwhelming circumstances. Surrounded by enemies seeking his destruction, he probably couldn’t understand why all this was happening to him. Yet he knew he was following a God he could trust to deliver and bless him in His time (Psalm 31:14-16). This certain hope enabled him to keep submitting to God and to say, “My times are in your hands” (v. 15). And it uplifted him, such that he could also say, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord” (v. 24).

In times when we feel overwhelmed and there seems little to look forward to, we know we can hang on even more tightly to God and the life-giving hope He alone provides.

— Leslie Koh

What do you need to keep going through life’s challenges? How does God’s promise of hope give you joy and strength even in hardship?

Loving Father, You know my struggles and doubts. Please give me the faith to keep trusting in You and the strength to keep going.

For further study, read A Place for Doubt in a Growing Faith.

Source: Our Daily Bread

Current Mood: thoughtful

kaberett

Bloods results from Friday afternoon came in. ( Read more... )

althea_valara

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Challenge #14

In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Let me meme at you:

HAVE YOUR HEARD OF THE
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED MMORPG
FINAL FANTASY XIV
WITH AN EXPANDED FREE TRIAL
WHICH YOU CAN PLAY THROUGH THE ENTIREY OF
A REALM REBORN
AND THE AWARD-WINNING
HEAVENSWARD
EXPANSION
AND ALSO THE AWARD-WINNING
STORMBLOOD
EXPANSION
UP TO LEVEL 70
FOR FREE
WITH NO RESTRICTIONS
ON PLAYTIME?

Final Fantasy XIV is a fantastic game - but it wasn't always. Its first incarnation was considered a critical failure, so what did they do? They rebuilt the game from the ground up while simultaneously releasing updates for the original version. This way they kept the current fans happy while building something BETTER for everyone.

If you want to know more about the history of FFXIV, I can highly recommend watching the NoClip documentaries; the first one is here: https://youtu.be/Xs0yQKI7Yw4?si=s0qkn8zXX-9agX96

What they ended up doing was creating a calamity ingame that gave them the excuse for a branching off point for the new version. The final scenes of version 1.0 can be seen in the trailer for "A Realm Reborn", version 2.0 of the game and its new "base game":

Watch on YouTube

As A Realm Reborn starts, five years has passed since the calamity, and the city-states of Eorzea have rebuilt - but threats still linger. There's the Garlean Empire which tried to take over Eorzea in the past at the Battle of Silvertear Lake, and has a new plan to invade Eorzea now. But there's also the Primal threat - primals being summoned gods of what's then called the beast tribes. One of the threats of the primals is their ability to enthrall subjects, so that the person only does what the primal wants.

As you start the game, you're just another adventurer - but one with a mysterious power called the Echo, which allows you to glimpse past scenes from others' memories. You start off doing things for your local city-state, making a name for yourself, but soon attract the attention of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn - an organization that works to prevent the primal threat.

Will you make the choice to join the Scions? What's in store for you if you do? That's the story of A Realm Reborn. Now, there are those who say ARR is weak story-wise but I personally feel it's a solid story with enough OMG! moments to keep you interested. And it sets up SO MUCH of the future of the game, so it's well worth playing on its own.

When you first start playing FFXIV, you may find yourself overwhelmed. The HUD (heads-up display) will look rather busy at first, and they'll be a lot of NPCs with quest markers to talk to. The most important ones will have this symbol over their heads:

The Main Scenario Quest Marker in FFXIV.

This is the Main Scenario Quest Marker. If you follow these markers one after another, you'll play through the game's main story. Note that the last marker of each individual quest will be green in color, letting you know that talking to that NPC will complete the quest.

Blue Plus Sign markers unlock things, like extra dungeons or jobs, and are usually good to check out, too. Any other markers can be ignored.

Gameplay is... well I'm not entirely sure what to call it, but you'll have a bunch of actions, abilities, or spells on your hotbar. Pressing certain actions will open up others for big damage, etc, and often, actions have cooldowns before you can use them again. There's an optimum rotation for each job, in which pressing certain buttons one after another will be the most effective. The game helps you though, by highlighting the next proper action(s) to do.

For those who may be scared of playing with others: there is now Duty Support! This is a system in which you can enter dungeons with NPCs rather than other players. You'll still need to do trials with players, but a large part of the game can be "soloed". But really, most players in FFXIV are pretty nice to play with. For instance, there is a "ready check" mechanism where a party member can ask everyone to indicate they are ready to go ahead with the fight, and this is used a LOT in Raids when you may have newcomers watching cutscenes. The vast majority of players will wait at least a little bit for the newbies to finish the scenes before progressing onto the fight.

The following list is my "starter guide" of resources, originally posted on Bluesky but now posted here as well.

FREE TRIAL - Includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward expansion, and the Stormblood expansion, and allows you to play up to level 70 with no restrictions on playtime. There ARE some other restrictions, though! https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/

SERVER/DATA CENTER - choose a data center close to your region, then choose a server that's open for new characters. Those are indicated by the green person icon next to the server names on the Server Status Page: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/worldstatus/

NEW WORLDS - indicated by "New" on the Server Status page. They offer bonuses such as a leveling buff, FREE GIL!, and more: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/option_service/world_transfer_service/population_balancing/#anchor__001

WORLD VISIT - Couldn't get an account on the server you wanted to? You can visit other worlds and data centers using the World Visit System: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/contentsguide/worldvisit/

STARTING CLASS - pick your Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic starter class. Make sure to do the class quests as you level, and definitely unlock your job at level 30: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Class

STARTING CITY-STATE - This depends on what class you start as. The city-states have slightly different stories to start off, but eventually merge into one grand story line. It really doesn't matter which you start in!

WIKIS - you'll have questions, where to get help? I prefer ConsoleGamesWiki for how fast it loads on my mobile devices: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/FF14_Wiki

WIKIS 2 - The other major wiki is GamerEscape, which I turn to for more indepth guides or to research dialogue/lore: https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Main_Page

DUNGEON/TRIAL/RAID GUIDES - Mizzteq (MTQCapture on YouTube) makes wonderful, entertaining guides for the duties. Highly recommended! (Note: it appears she has retired in the past year but her past guides are still available!): https://www.youtube.com/user/MTQcapture

CONTROLLER GUIDE - Do you play on controller? It's a bit outdated but Squintina's controller guide has LOTS of good tips: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q_i5_X01hecbCOZOIN_71zceuSjWSuaN-OJdU6ZPV6s/edit

(C)HOTBARS - oh gods where do I put all these actions? Let XIV bars guide you! They have layouts for both Keyboard/Mouse and Controller: https://www.xivbars.com

TIMERS - FFXIV has a "weekly reset" and other events. Want to know when exactly that is? Check here: https://xenoveritas.org/static/ffxiv/timer.html

CHALLENGE LOG - Unlockable at level 15, this is a great way to get bonus experience and gil: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Challenge_Log

RETAINERS - At level 17, you get access to retainers, which can sell items on the marketboard for you or go out on ventures to retrieve random (or not-random) items: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Retainers

EUREKA TRACKER - for the Stormblood Relic Weapon farming zone - https://ffxiv-eureka.com

RELIC TRACKER SPREADSHEET - I love a good spreadsheet, and really like Wyn's relic tracker - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11N-u7o2-0cbL4E61rfpXHgAPK2X8S_lwyFUigKAQb08/edit?usp=sharing

RELIC TRACKER SITE - I've played with this, too! https://ffxivrelictracker.com

PVP MALMSTONE CALCULATOR - Calculates how many games you need to play to get all the malmstone rewards: https://belthesar.github.io/MalmstoneXPCalculator/

SQUADRON CALCULATOR - figure out how to train your Adventuring Squadron to level them up and complete missions: https://ffxivsquadron.com

FALOOP! - A website to track hunt marks and World Boss FATEs: https://faloop.app

CENTURIO HUNTS DISCORD - A discord server that can ping you for Hunt Trains, S Ranks, and World Boss FATEs: https://discord.gg/centuriohunts

HGXIV - A discord server for player housing enthusiasts: https://discord.gg/hgxiv14

If you're thinking of playing or returning to the game, do let me know! I'll be glad to assist in any way. <3 And if you're thinking, "This sounds great, but I have no time/money to play; can you tell me about the story?" -- LOOK NO FUTHER: https://altheavalara.neocities.org/ffxiv/

Current Mood: enthralled

althea_valara

Challenge #13

TALK ABOUT A COMMUNITY SPACE YOU LIKE. It doesn’t need to be your favorite, or the one where you spend the most time (although it certainly can be). Maybe it’s even one that you’ve barely visited. But talk about that space and how it helps support fannish community.

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.

I kind of did this in Challenge 12! I listed communities and websites that I'm grateful for.

One other community space I must mention is Best Bar. They know who they are and where we hang out. They've been very supportive of me the past few years and I'm very grateful for that.

But really: Dreamwidth is one of my internet homes, and there's all sorts of great communities here! It's about time I post my list of DW community recs again. It was last posted in 2024, after all. Some of these may be dormant now but I'll include them anyway because I loved the idea of the community. HERE WE GO!!

nacramamo is National Craft-Making Month, and is gearing up now to kick off in October. The challenge is to work on some kind of craft every day for 31 days.

100words is a drabble community for fiction of all kinds. They post weekly challenges there.

birdfeeding covers everything to do with birdfeeding, gardening for wildlife, and related topics.

crowdfunding connects creators, patrons, and fans of cyberfunded creativity. Watch for the mid-month Creative Jam with a new theme each time.

reddit_refugees offers resources for newcomers to Dreamwidth.

snowflake_challenge runs in January, and is a way to celebrate fandom and meet interesting people on Dreamwidth. There's also

sunshine_challenge that runs in the summer, but I'm less familiar with that one.

Newly added to the list since I last posted this:

allkindsofdolls is what it says on the tin. If you love dolls, check it out.

ladiesbingo is a bingo challenge to make works focused on the relationship between women, whether gen, femslash, or familial. I'm currently having great fun trying to fill my bingo board!

getyourwordsout is a writing challenge community where you can challenge yourself by wordcount of number of days written per month.

10trueloves is a writing challenge where you pair a character with ten others (IIRC, they don't have to be romantic pairings, but I'm not sure; check the comm for more info!)

1character is a writing challenge where you choose a character and prompt set, then write one line sentences to fill each prompt.

everykindofcraft is what it says it is.

inspiredby posts writing prompts monthly.

makezines is for folks doing just that!

threesentenceficathon is happening RIGHT NOW. People leave prompts, other write short fills of 3 sentences or longer.

The past list of community recs:

communal_creators is a community for creative types! A mini-round for time pledges will be happening this spring. ANY kind of creativity is welcome! We have people writing (both fic and original), knitting, crochet, vidding, storyboarding, baking, making websites... if it's creative, you're welcome here.

ffprompts posts monthly prompts for the Final Fantasy video game franchise. As a big fan of this series, I'd love to see more fills for the prompts happening!

addme_fandom is a place to find friends who share your fannish obsessions.

lyricaltitles is a bingo fest for fanfiction and original fiction centering around using songs for inspiration!

fan_flashworks is a multifandom comm that posts one prompt for the week you use to write a short fanfic.

c_ent is for Chinese Entertainment, and comes highly recommended by a few people.

booknook posts a weekly Read-in-Progress check-in posts on Wednesdays.

reference_library is a place to gather helpful links and share them, run by

senmut.

sweetandshort is a low-pressure community for creating small fanworks / original works each week.

moodthemeinayear is what it says on the tin: the folks there are working on creating custom Dreamwidth mood themes over the course of a year.

1word1day posts a vocabulary word a day!

finalfantasy - of course this would be here, if you know me. It's been very slow there lately, but I'd love to see more activity there.

awesomeers - they make a post for each day of the week in which they challenge the members to comment with Just One Thing you did today that you're proud of accomplishing. Of course you are free to post more than one thing if you'd like! I love the idea of this community, though I haven't been very active in it lately. I hope to change that, if only to congratulate other people. Also: we celebrate all accomplishments there, so something as simple as "I got out of bed" would be acceptable!

do_it - A community for posting to-do lists to make yourself accountable to others.

readingtogether - has seen some activity the past few months. It's not like a normal book club where everyone reads the same thing - instead everyone reads their own thing and posts their progress.

justcreate - has weekly check in posts where you can update everyone on your creative progress. All kinds of creativity are celebrated there, including fiber arts, drawing, writing, and more.

get_knitted - is similar to

justcreate but posts daily check-ins. The folks there are GREAT about commenting on each other's comments. It's not just for knitting, either - there are people there who do scrapbooking and jigsaw puzzles.

drawesome - has drawing challenges. I haven't taken part yet because I am a very sucky drawer, but I hope to start there in the future.

genprompt_bingo - for the writers! They generate bingo cards of prompts, with all the prompts being gen. You can, of course, write a shippy fic from the prompt; it's just the prompts themselves aren't meant to be shippy. I'm currently working on a bingo for my last card, wish me luck!

allbingo - They do all sorts of bingos, mostly writing-related but I think they've had some crafting ones as well. There's new challenges monthly!

agonyaunt - critiques letters to advice columnists and the answers the letter writers get. I love this community because it is filled with smart people that I am learning a lot from. I'm a person of a certain age, and I know because of the timeframe I grew up in I have a lot of inherit biases and whatnot. I try to be above those biases, but sometimes I don't recognize them. Reading the other commenters to

agonyaunt helps me recognize those biases and better myself.

holiday_wishes - active in the last two months of the year. People post their holiday wish lists there, and others fill them! I really was blessed one year - I got a bunch of cards, some yarn, some chocolate, and some other sweet treats. ♥ I couldn't do much in return but I did send back cards to everyone who sent me things.

thisfinecrew is a social justice community focused on the USA. It doesn't get as much action as it once did but there are still informative posts there once in a while.

thissterlingcrew is the UK equivalent.

3weeks4dreamwidth is a thing in which people post/interact more on Dreamwidth, to show love for the platform. ♥

your_favourites is an icon making community that migrated over from LiveJournal. Looks like they have themes for members to create icons for, and then take a vote for best icon. I've joined it in hopes of finding more icons to add to my own journal.

addme and

findingfriends are communities to help you find people to add to your Dreamwidth circles. The latter has a set questionnaire to use, and asks that if you use it elsewhere you include a link back to the community.

journalsandplanners - what it says on the tin: for those who use a journal or planner to organize their lives. There's also

bujo for bullet journalers.

anime_manga has seen some activity lately!

fandomtrumpshate raises money for charity by creating fanworks.

getting_started is a community with resources for those new to Dreamwidth.

indie_games sometimes sees activity, and in the past, we did a play-together of A Short Hike which was really fun.

common_nature is a photo community to share nature pics from your area, and has been active recently.

followfriday recommends people/communities to follow each Friday.

iconthat is another icon challenge community.

signalboost is for getting the word out to others about people needing help in some way.

twitter_refugees is for folks migrating to Dreamwidth from Twitter.

bnha_fans is for fans of Boku no Hero Academia. It's modded by

vriddy who I got to know during a

snowflake_challenge!

comment_bingo is a bingo challenge community for commenting on all those fanfics you read.

womansplace is a community that holds dual purpose: 1) Celebrate characters who identify as women or who are aligned with womanhood in transformative fan works. Events include community recs, a prompt fest, and a vid exchange. 2) Raise funds via a vid auction

kittens_and_spitefic's goal is to prompt fan content by acting like a total troll and pretending to bash what you want to see up one side and down the other. Commenters then engage with the supposed "troll" by spamming them with cat (and other animal) macros and/or content that caters to everything the original poster professes to hate.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I think that's it! If there's any interesting communities you know about that I've missed, feel free to drop them in the comments! And also feel free to share this post, I'll make it public so you can pass it around.

silveradept

snowflake_challenge would like us to recommend to others a way in to finding a place in a fandom that we're already part of.

Challenge #14

Create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom.

The two of those things are quite different, I might note. The promo is about trying to get people into a fandom based on the strength of the canonical materials (whether the smart writing, the intricate plot, or the hotness of the actors), and the rec list is about getting people into a fandom (or at least the transformative fandom part) based on the fanworks that are available to someone. Neither of these methods are inherently wrong, but depending on your approach, someone might get into the fandom with radically different ideas of what the source material or the fandom is about. (This is not necessarily a bad thing, but approaching something from the fannish side might make you suspect there's more nuance and depth to the source material than there actually is.)

Anyway, since I am both not very good at collecting new fandoms and not very good at getting and remembering works in the fandoms I have, this would normally leave me in a pickle about what to do, except I have plenty of older fandoms and recommendations for you that will make up for my utter lack of newish fandoms for you to experience.

( Pern, RWBY, Into the Woods, In Other Lands, Long Live Evil )

Current Mood: rejuvenated
Current Music: "Weird" Al - Your Horoscope For Today

catness

Snowflake Challenge: A warmly light quaint street of shops at night with heavy snow falling.

Challenge #14
In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom.

I don't know how to do promotions / convincing, so here are my entirely personal reasons why I love The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. (Currently a trilogy: Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth, with the 4th book forthcoming.)

* It's set in a world where high technologies, such as space travel, coexist with magic, specifically necromancy. The necromancy is not an old-fashioned "raising the dead through obscure occult rituals" - there are many different types of necromancy, described in precise technical details, and this magic is actually an essential base for all the scientific progress. And then, there are also sword fights!

* The story is complex, richly detailed and always intriguing, with crazy mind-boggling twists. Curiously, each book is written in a different genre! The 1st one is simultaneously a Locked Room Mystery and a Deadly Game, set in an eerie semi-abandoned space station, which reminds me both on Hogwarts and the Portal game labs. (I'd love to see a computer game based on it!) The 2nd one is a psychological horror mindfuck thriller which puts everything you know into question and makes you doubt your sanity. The 3rd one is a character drama in a hardcore dystopian world, with a charming child-like protagonist whom I absolutely adore even though I'm usually not into easygoing and optimistic characters.

* The language is sophisticated and witty and sharp, incorporating biblical references and pop culture references and Tumblr memes. From elaborate to silly to morbid to technical to poetic, it covers everything.

* The 9 Houses fall into the Grouped For Your Convenience trope, although it's not Sorting by personality traits, but rather, people's personality traits are largely determined by the House they grew up in, and the kind of necromancy they had learned. But of course the sorting addicts can play with the sorting quizzes ;) I sort myself into the 6th House - the Emperor's Reason, the Master Wardens. Their planet is a big library, which contains most of the Empire's knowledge and research.

* There are numerous characters, and it takes an effort to learn all the names (there is actually a list in the beginning ;) But almost every character is memorable and has their own unique personality and voice, and some of them are extremely relatable. Their relationships are complicated and dynamic, often horribly twisted. I appreciate the lack of explicit romance, though there's enough romantic tension, and fanfic writers have plenty of material to work with ;)

* The common tagline for the series is lesbian necromancers in space. Though I'm not much into any kind of romance, queer or het, one thing I admire about these books is that sex and gender are so completely unimportant and irrelevant for the story. Any character can pursue any profession, job, position, hobby or relationship. Well, of course it depends on their abilities, their House, their affiliations etc, but never sex. There is no concept of men being better warriors or women being better scientists etc, and also, there's no preaching about gender equality, discrimination and such - these issues are just never mentioned! Same for a physically male character hosting a female's conscience and vice versa, it's simply not a problem and not an issue. That's the world I want to live in...

* And on a more personal note, these books are big on the themes of grief and loss, and I found a deep, multifaceted and inspiring concept (Lyctorhood) to provide a powerful metaphor for an actionable approach to coping with grief.

So, if you're unfamiliar with the series and think that they might be your thing, get Gideon the Ninth and dive in! The 9 Houses await.

"Two is for discipline, heedless of trial;
Three for the gleam of a jewel or a smile;
Four for fidelity, facing ahead;
Five for tradition and debts to the dead;
Six for the truth over solace in lies;
Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies;
Eight for salvation no matter the cost;
Nine for the Tomb, and for all that was lost."

~~ Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth.

Current Mood: impressed

juan_gandhi

Каждый раз, когда в Америке кого-нибудь убьют, вылазят какие-то суровые иммигранты, у которых в подвале оружейный склад, и начинают рассказывать, перевирая всё, урби эт орби, как всё правильно силовики делают, так им, террористам (как их называют аятоллы в Иране) и надо, потому что нечего возражать органам: you must comply!

Я б тут спросил, а хер ли вы сами-то съебали, а не complied, или что, вы по СССР заскучали, когда он "развалился"? Хер их знает; а может быть, эти люди в маразм уже впали, а мы теребим, теребим...

Конечно, разговаривать с ними нет смысла; это, кажется, те же самые люди, которые, лет 20 назад учили понаехов, что нельзя заводить кредитные карточки, потому что банки облапошат, и нельзя покупать дом, потому что на моргидж все деньги уйдут. Потом эти придурки позатихли, и, наверно, сидят уже на своей social security, посасывают лапу - но тут ишь! Леваки начинают своё мнение высказывать! Нельзя!

Я таких мудаков ещё в СССР на самом деле наслушался. Когда на всякое полусвободное слово была дружная партийная реакция: "это антисоветчина!!!"

Короче, надо понимать, что это за кадры.

tropicsbear

💀 The self-inflicted psychic damage of reading old journal entries and seeing one where I talked about lending my EHD to a coworker and forgetting that my doujin folder was there. I have no idea what she saw and she never mentioned anything, so. A memory I'd like to lose to the sands of time.

💼 A work meeting went around an hour over the allotted time. It was definitely past my end of shift by the time we wrapped up, but I can at least claim the time as credits for time off in lieu. I ended up having to cancel my gym session, though, because my stomach was screeching at me and I could feel the creeping fingers of an impending headache.

📺 Finished SPY×FAMILY S02! I need to set aside some time and gather my thoughts about the first two seasons, but they can be summed up as, "TWIYOR RAAAAARGH SO CUTE," "Why does Anya have so many weird faces lordt," and "I will stab anyone who attempts to hurt Bond."

👧🏽 While on the way home, my tricycle drove past a family on a motorcycle (little girl squished between her parents). With a complete deadpan face and her mouth slightly open, the little girl waved at me. I decided to wave back. The mom blinked at me in surprise then smiled when she realized her daughter was waving at me and I was returning the gesture.

ysobel

The FOP "fun" continues... the prednisone helped a little but there's still lump and swelling and I can still only open my mouth so far.

Meet with a FOP specialist today via telemedicine (yay) and he suggested a second, longer course (though much of the "longer" is taper) because submandibular flares can be stubborn (and risky given the potential to affect breathing and swallowing). So ... more prednisone it is, sigh.

ink_13

The parents have successfully returned from a week in Grenada. Only delayed by a day: owing to weather, their flight yesterday was cancelled and rebooked for today. Air Canada just...left the plane on the Grenadian tarmac for nearly a full day. Given how many hours those are supposed to spend in the sky (Internet sleuthing tells me it was scheduled to fly YYZ-MEX-YYZ-ORD-YYZ in the time it was sitting then returning to YYZ) that must have been an expensive call.

They were also on the hook for finding their own accomodation for the extra night. Naturally, they got bounced from the resort they were staying at: the inbound flight came in from Canada, and so the place was fully booked. Thankfully they found a place, but it was not cheap. They're hoping their credit card's travel insurance comes through.

It's nice to have them back, not least of all because now I don't have to tackle the remaining 70% of the driveway unassisted tomorrow. I managed to clear a trail from front steps to road, but we'll have to widen that to have any hope of getting at least one car down the driveway.

sparowe

ODB: Mercy and Our Mess

Jan 26, 2026/in Our Daily Bread/by YMI

January 26, 2026

READ: Jonah 2:1-2, 7-10; 3:1-5

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. Jonah 2:1

During Sunday school, my patience with three-year-old Peter was wearing thin. He was unhappy, unkind to the other kids, and absolutely refused to be content, even when we offered him the most coveted toys. My pity turned to annoyance. If he stubbornly persisted in being difficult, then fine, I’d send him back to his parents and he would miss out on all the fun.

Too often I find my compassion has conditions. If someone ignores my advice or refuses my help, then they don’t deserve it anymore. Fortunately, God doesn’t act that way toward us. The prophet Jonah experienced His great mercy after a time of stubborn disobedience when God commanded him to travel and preach to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2). Defiantly choosing the opposite direction, Jonah was caught in a terrible storm, set adrift at sea, and then swallowed by a great fish—a self-made disaster (vv. 4, 15-17). When Jonah finally “prayed to the Lord his God” (2:1), God was still listening to him, ready to forgive His reluctant prophet. Jonah was delivered from the fish and graciously given a second chance to go to Nineveh (3:1).

In little Peter’s case, a trip to the playground consoled him—a brilliant idea by a helper with more patience than I had shown. How beautiful is mercy that continually seeks us out, even in the middle of our own mess.

— Karen Pimpo

Why do you sometimes struggle to offer mercy to others? When have you seen God’s love seek out even the most difficult recipients?

Dear Jesus, thank You for loving me with such long-suffering love. Teach me, please, to do the same.

Source: Our Daily Bread

Current Mood: thoughtful

wychwood

176 books read in 2025 - just under the long-term average (182) but my highest since 2020.

( stats ) ( awards )

My book of the year

A tough one! I'm not sure anything really stands out. But I think I've spent more time thinking about Augustine the African than the others, so maybe that.

juan_gandhi

Stackoverflow, mathoverflow, and the like.

For years I've been having to fight some idiots, fresh PhDs on math, or fresh grads from some software engineering, disqualifying my questions, giving my answers '-1', and the like - that's in parallel with some very meaningful discussions with very respectable scientists.

But now it seems like most, if not all, idiots are gone. They are not earning points anymore on the website that is not popular anymore. And suddenly some of my questions that were having like '-1' ("is there a category of all categories?" (the obvious answer is "no", but there were a bunch of idiots trying to imposed a set-theoretical view, etc.))

So, I observe a couple of good results:

1) the general educational level of the general public might have improved, thanks to AIs that dominate the opinions;

2) idiots gone, we can talk now.

(And I'm still trying to find an example of a topos not having an underlying boolean topos. It's probably in the Elephant Book.

andrewducker

In a slightly more sensible world this would be a perfect time for the One Nation/Moderate Conservatives to say "Thank goodness all of the far right monsters have left the party, time to pull the party back towards the center".

But I'm not convinced there are more than a few of them left.

tropicsbear

🏛️ Was on leave from work today to run some errands related to government paperwork. I'm old enough that there wasn't a way to track your social security payments online when I first got my social security number, so I immediately ran into a wall when I attempted to make an online account last year because I didn't have any of the requirements to even set up an account. Fortunately, I got that all sorted this morning.

🌺 TIL that TWINENGINE (the anime's producer) has been uploading weekly chibi Jigokuraku extras! They're pretty short but they do give additional insight into characters' relationships with one another. Ju Fa and Tao Fa seem to be favor one another more than I thought they did, and it was nice seeing Choubei teasing Touma like the gremlin older brother that he is.

🎨 Ended up spending an inordinate amount of time this afternoon/evening fiddling with my layout. Turned all my entry links into rainbows (1) to represent the zone as it's portrayed in Sk8 since I decided to go TadaAi with the layout images and (2) because why not? Implementing the gradient took me long enough, then I had to fix everything I accidentally broke in the process (entry tag colors, crosspost link colors, etc.).

❄️ I think I'm going to give up on trying to catch up with the rest of the snowflake_challenge days. I wasn't able to keep up with the regular responses because Life Happened and I've lost the drive to go back and answer the prompts for the days I missed.

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tcpip - The Age of Aguardiente
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 28-01-2026
siderea - Terminology [curr ev]
sparowe - YMI -- ODB: 27 January 2026
kaberett - [embodiment] in which I am Officially Anaemic
althea_valara - Snowflake Challenge 2026 - Challenge 14: Fandom Promo
althea_valara - Snowflake Challenge 2026 - Challenge 13: Community
silveradept - Snowflake Challenge 02026 #14: Primers and Recommendations
catness - Snowflake Challenge #14 - fandom promo
juan_gandhi - суровые русские иммигранты
tropicsbear - Sometimes I'm Slightly Okay with kids
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 27-01-2026
ysobel - Flareup update
ink_13 - Reunited
sparowe - YMI -- ODB: 26 January 2026
wychwood - wychwood's 2025 book awards
juan_gandhi - overflows
andrewducker - On the current set of politicians leaving the sinking party
tropicsbear - Roundup
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 26-01-2026

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The Age of Aguardiente

Interesting Links for 28-01-2026

Terminology [curr ev]

YMI -- ODB: 27 January 2026

ODB: Hope in Faith

[embodiment] in which I am Officially Anaemic

Snowflake Challenge 2026 - Challenge 14: Fandom Promo

Snowflake Challenge 2026 - Challenge 13: Community

Snowflake Challenge 02026 #14: Primers and Recommendations

Snowflake Challenge #14 - fandom promo

суровые русские иммигранты

Sometimes I'm Slightly Okay with kids

Interesting Links for 27-01-2026

Flareup update

Reunited

YMI -- ODB: 26 January 2026

ODB: Mercy and Our Mess

wychwood's 2025 book awards

My book of the year

overflows

On the current set of politicians leaving the sinking party

Roundup

Interesting Links for 26-01-2026

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