My household needs a new spatula.
But actually we went to GIR.co because Spatula City doesn't have an outlet in ourstate decade timeline.
But actually we went to GIR.co because Spatula City doesn't have an outlet in our
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The baby shower had two games: one where you guessed how long various animal pregnancies lasted, and one where you guessed who was who in baby pictures. The second one was supposed to have been done by watching a slideshow, writing guesses down, and then learning who was who.
"Wouldn't it be more fun to shout it out?" I asked.
And the entire rest of the party agreed with me.
Overall, I had a decent time. I arrived early to help set up, which included deciding how to arrange the table for maximum flow throughout the apartment, considering whether the plates and cutlery should be on this side or that based on how people are going to be moving and where the drinks will be. Nobody got in anyone's way, even when the room was crowded, so I take that as a small victory. I had a handful of genuine conversations with people, and the watermelon tonic I brought was a success. There were a few unpleasant moments - someone talking about generative programs as a positive thing, one of the guests not flushing the toilet after they were done in the bathroom - but overall, even with those moments taken into consideration, I'm fairly glad I went.
"Wouldn't it be more fun to shout it out?" I asked.
And the entire rest of the party agreed with me.
Overall, I had a decent time. I arrived early to help set up, which included deciding how to arrange the table for maximum flow throughout the apartment, considering whether the plates and cutlery should be on this side or that based on how people are going to be moving and where the drinks will be. Nobody got in anyone's way, even when the room was crowded, so I take that as a small victory. I had a handful of genuine conversations with people, and the watermelon tonic I brought was a success. There were a few unpleasant moments - someone talking about generative programs as a positive thing, one of the guests not flushing the toilet after they were done in the bathroom - but overall, even with those moments taken into consideration, I'm fairly glad I went.
Walking down the stairs to the subway platform, a group of what I assume are tourists are standing right at the bottom, talking and not moving. The train's pulling in and I don't have time to think: I tap my knuckles against the back of the one right in front of me like I'm knocking on a door.
Amazingly, it works perfectly.
What also worked perfectly was twice tonight, getting into the station and to the platform within a minute of the train pulling in, where I walked down or walked up and it's arriving just as I am. It's now something where I have to stop saying it never happens and go to saying it almost never happens. Because it's now happened at least once.
Amazingly, it works perfectly.
What also worked perfectly was twice tonight, getting into the station and to the platform within a minute of the train pulling in, where I walked down or walked up and it's arriving just as I am. It's now something where I have to stop saying it never happens and go to saying it almost never happens. Because it's now happened at least once.
In which Gaal unleashes her inner Hari, and lots of revelations happen in all plotlines.
( Spoilers need to get the plan back on track by any means necessary )
( Spoilers need to get the plan back on track by any means necessary )
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Leaving for Brooklyn a little early today fully knowing I didn't need to be at the client's house until a little later than usual left me able to walk around a bit and explore the neighborhood. Mostly walking under an elevated subway platform and peeking at the flowers and butterflies in a large fenced-off industrial lot that's largely been left to its own devices for the last few years. I didn't go down to the Gowanus Canal, and any temptation to do so was tossed aside when I realized it smelled like a fertile beach at low tide. Then I decided to savor the smell of a beach at low tide for a while and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I wandered through a nursery and made my way over to a sandwich shop that doubles as a grocery and picked up some spicy jarred peppers, then went across the street and had an ill-advised espresso. I found a used record store that made the hard call to stop at cassette tapes, and spent a little while watching a pair of crows up in an old leafy tree. I don't think I'd want to make the move out there, and moments like crows up a tree make me consider it as a charming fancy.
I wandered through a nursery and made my way over to a sandwich shop that doubles as a grocery and picked up some spicy jarred peppers, then went across the street and had an ill-advised espresso. I found a used record store that made the hard call to stop at cassette tapes, and spent a little while watching a pair of crows up in an old leafy tree. I don't think I'd want to make the move out there, and moments like crows up a tree make me consider it as a charming fancy.
Since because of Foundation I'm currently watching Apple plus again, I also marathoned the first season of Silo, which I didn't have the chance to do last time I watched Apple. In the meantime, I had watched the series Paradise over a the Mouse Streaming Service, and in reviews, comparisons to Silo had been made, which enhanced my curiosity. (Now that I've seen the first seson, I know why, though I would say the shows are far more different than similar, even the resoective premises. At best, you have some parallels in some of the conditions and in one of the results. Which is why I still think it was a mistake to not conclude Paradise (which had a good season, don't get me wrong, but I think the quintessential core story is told within it) as opposed to giving it another season, whereas I look forward to Silo's second season (because while the first one has a concluded main story arc, it is very much written as the start of a larger story).
( Spoilers don't know who built the Silo, or why )
( Spoilers don't know who built the Silo, or why )
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If anyone wants to call RFK Jr. to complain about him not funding vaccines, the phone number is 202-690-7000. I called during office hours (8:30-5 Eastern time) and got voicemail. The message asked for a phone number, and claimed someone would call me back.
If anyone wants a script, my message was:
My name is Vicki Rosenzweig. I’m calling from Boston, to demand that the secretary restore funding for MRNA vaccines. He must make the fall covid and flu boosters available to everyone. I’m immune-compromised, and my safety depends on my family being vaccinated and not giving me a virus. My phone number is [your number here]
Edit as appropriate.
If anyone wants a script, my message was:
My name is Vicki Rosenzweig. I’m calling from Boston, to demand that the secretary restore funding for MRNA vaccines. He must make the fall covid and flu boosters available to everyone. I’m immune-compromised, and my safety depends on my family being vaccinated and not giving me a virus. My phone number is [your number here]
Edit as appropriate.
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I don't think I've mentioned before (well, because I never post, so how could I have) that I'm going to WorldCon this month, because it's in Seattle and I figure this is the only chance I'd ever have to do that. I don't have any particular interest in the Hugos or things like that, but I've been going to SF cons since attending my first Norwescon back in 1983, I think, although that definitely tapered off after I discovered what we used to define as "media fandom" back in the day. It was a way to separate SF cons, which were primarily literature based in the olden dayes, from the kind of fandom as we know it now, which encompasses a much wider array of stuff, especially TV/movies. I'm so old, I remember the sneering way the gatekeeper wannabes talked about people who were at cons for Star Wars and Trek or even Road Warrior or whatever. Kind of ridiculous, when you think about it.
ANYway, I'm actually pretty nervous about it. I'm only going on Friday and Saturday, and of course it looks like a lot of the panels I want to see are in the late afternoon/evening (especially![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wickedwords ' fanfic panels). So that means I'll be basically without any place to rest or relax (I don't know, maybe they'll be better than Emerald City Comic Con, but there was literally no place to sit and rest if you were less than perfectly abled, or even sit and eat most of the time, and there will be a couple thousand more people at WorldCon than ECCC) except on a floor or what have you, and since I live here, I'm just going to take a lyft in or maybe the water taxi. And my fatigue has been through the roof lately; I've been trying a new drug and it's making things actually worse, plus this month is turning out to be just bananas crowded for me. I just need time to regroup but there isn't any.
I thought about getting a hotel nearby, but I'm not sure it'd be much better; when I hurt, I hurt. The room blocks are all sold out, too, so anything would be pretty pricey, plus I'd have to wait to check in, and then check out, when I'd be doing con stuff, so it seems fairly pointless.
I do wish I could go to some of the other days' events, sincemarthawells is the GoH this year, but, well, cancer always has other ideas. WorldCon does seem kind of different in that they don't frontload all their best stuff on Fridays and Saturdays; it's a long con, and I would love to go to a couple other days, but that's not in the cards. I also wish so much I could go to nighttime events, especially because I love masquerade contests, but I know my limitations. I will have to look into whether having a day pass for Friday will allow me to see the streaming masquerade event...
I'm hoping to seemecurtin, and I think a few other fellow fans here on DW are going, so if you might want to meet up at some point (I honestly don't know what to expect about going through reg on Friday, I had a horrendous experience with Sakura Con years ago, where I was trapped in line for six fucking hours and it left my body broken in a way I've never recovered from, but WorldCon does have an accessible line so fingers crossed), I would love to see people, just because I'm afraid of being lonesome--and also, being able to see people will help with the stamina part, I think. And of course, if you want someone to roam the dealer's room, I will definitely be looking to do that.
ANYway, I'm actually pretty nervous about it. I'm only going on Friday and Saturday, and of course it looks like a lot of the panels I want to see are in the late afternoon/evening (especially
wickedwords ' fanfic panels). So that means I'll be basically without any place to rest or relax (I don't know, maybe they'll be better than Emerald City Comic Con, but there was literally no place to sit and rest if you were less than perfectly abled, or even sit and eat most of the time, and there will be a couple thousand more people at WorldCon than ECCC) except on a floor or what have you, and since I live here, I'm just going to take a lyft in or maybe the water taxi. And my fatigue has been through the roof lately; I've been trying a new drug and it's making things actually worse, plus this month is turning out to be just bananas crowded for me. I just need time to regroup but there isn't any.I thought about getting a hotel nearby, but I'm not sure it'd be much better; when I hurt, I hurt. The room blocks are all sold out, too, so anything would be pretty pricey, plus I'd have to wait to check in, and then check out, when I'd be doing con stuff, so it seems fairly pointless.
I do wish I could go to some of the other days' events, since
marthawells is the GoH this year, but, well, cancer always has other ideas. WorldCon does seem kind of different in that they don't frontload all their best stuff on Fridays and Saturdays; it's a long con, and I would love to go to a couple other days, but that's not in the cards. I also wish so much I could go to nighttime events, especially because I love masquerade contests, but I know my limitations. I will have to look into whether having a day pass for Friday will allow me to see the streaming masquerade event...I'm hoping to see
mecurtin, and I think a few other fellow fans here on DW are going, so if you might want to meet up at some point (I honestly don't know what to expect about going through reg on Friday, I had a horrendous experience with Sakura Con years ago, where I was trapped in line for six fucking hours and it left my body broken in a way I've never recovered from, but WorldCon does have an accessible line so fingers crossed), I would love to see people, just because I'm afraid of being lonesome--and also, being able to see people will help with the stamina part, I think. And of course, if you want someone to roam the dealer's room, I will definitely be looking to do that.
So I've been a SNW skeptic since it was first announced, and have never been impressed by the show. But I've gotta say, I've seen six episodes of the third season, thanks to screeners, and we are so far yet to hit a good episode. We have, however, hit several repetitive m/f relationships, multiple love triangles, weirdly a lot of antisemitic subtext, and the decidedly bad look of Pike trying to stop his girlfriend from consenting to life-saving medical treatment.
Mostly I think this is because Akiva Goldsman is a hack who doesn't understand Star Trek or subtext, but also I wonder how much is because the seasons are being filmed back-to-back, and so there's no opportunity to see and respond to criticism. Ironically I think part of Discovery's problem was that it was too responsive to fandom, but Goldsman can't be left alone to pursue his creative vision because he doesn't really have one.
Anyway, at this point I'm only watching because I have a podcast, and also out of a sick eagerness to see if Pike will have to murder his girlfriend and have manpain about it, or if she'll sacrifice her life to save him.
(I've seen people theorise that the problems this season are due to the show pivoting in a more conservative direction to appease Skydance, and I am sorry to say that these scripts predate the 2023 strikes. Like, there was time for the writers to go back and think, "Oh, there's some dodgy stuff here, we should fix that!")
Mostly I think this is because Akiva Goldsman is a hack who doesn't understand Star Trek or subtext, but also I wonder how much is because the seasons are being filmed back-to-back, and so there's no opportunity to see and respond to criticism. Ironically I think part of Discovery's problem was that it was too responsive to fandom, but Goldsman can't be left alone to pursue his creative vision because he doesn't really have one.
Anyway, at this point I'm only watching because I have a podcast, and also out of a sick eagerness to see if Pike will have to murder his girlfriend and have manpain about it, or if she'll sacrifice her life to save him.
(I've seen people theorise that the problems this season are due to the show pivoting in a more conservative direction to appease Skydance, and I am sorry to say that these scripts predate the 2023 strikes. Like, there was time for the writers to go back and think, "Oh, there's some dodgy stuff here, we should fix that!")
After a day in which I received yet another depressing work email, I tried to give my brain some happy chemicals by watching Local Hero (1983) and live-texting roaratorio about it. This is a delightfully weird little movie, in which Peter Capaldi is a BABY and has several extra limbs when he runs, everyone's hair is VERY fluffye and they all wear beautiful tweed, the Scottish landscape is beautiful, and the conclusion is an anticapitalist fairy tale. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. (My brain is still pretty unhappy, but there's only so much a two-hour movie can do against the hellscape we currently live in.)
I have successfully killed my first spotted lanternfly and am rewarding myself with the last of the blueberries I picked last weekend. Blueberrying with a three-year-old is an excellent experience, do recommend. Both of us had a great time. (Did his mom have a great time? She says so and I'm choosing to believe her.)
Today I was woman enough to take myself to the garden after work and I was thusly rewarded with the cosmos, finally blooming. I do think I should give up the other garden plot; it's expensive and I just don't go there enough to keep the plants happy. (But the raspberry patch! my heart wails. Self, you missed the raspberry season entirely.)
(hermionesviolin posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisfinecrew Aug. 6th, 2025 01:09 pm)
hermionesviolin posting in thisfinecrew Aug. 6th, 2025 01:09 pm)For anyone registered to vote in Massachusetts -- you can sign up to get reminded when it's time to officially sign papers to put on the Massachusetts ballot a measure to repeal the Massachusetts constitutional amendment that took the right to vote away from people serving felony sentences.
From an email from Progressive Mass:
From an email from Progressive Mass:
Unlock Democracy in Massachusetts
In 2000, Massachusetts passed a constitutional amendment that took away voting rights from people incarcerated for a felony conviction. This stripping of rights was in response to political organizing happening in prison. The Empowering Descendant Communities to Unlock Democracy project and allies aim to get voting rights restoration on the statewide ballot. If you are a registered voter in Massachusetts, please take a minute to fill out our pledge form now: https://tinyurl.com/uvrpledge. Once the Attorney General approves the language, organizers will reach out to those who filled out the pledge with dates/locations for nearby signature collection efforts.
The EDC to Unlock Democracy is is committed to ensuring that democracy does not stop at prisons and jails in Massachusetts. It is a collaborative project between the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition, the African American Coalition Committee at MCI-Norfolk, Healing our Land, Inc., and more. To get in touch email EDCtoUnlockDemocracyMA@gmail.com.
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2.25 miles in 30 minutes and two seconds this afternoon, which is proof that steady, regular practice is boring until you see the results and have proof it's been working all along. And after, you feel better about doing more of it tomorrow.
Other minor accomplishments include figuring out a workaround to buy another movie ticket - the webpage with the movie listing and the link to buy a ticket wasn't working, but the page where I could buy the ticket by itself was still around, so I checked my browser history until I got it - and getting back to the ongoing original project after a couple of weeks away from it. I'm slowly planning the next project, and the fics to work on in between. A sense of ongoing momentum is always a good way to help get out of bed in the morning.
Other minor accomplishments include figuring out a workaround to buy another movie ticket - the webpage with the movie listing and the link to buy a ticket wasn't working, but the page where I could buy the ticket by itself was still around, so I checked my browser history until I got it - and getting back to the ongoing original project after a couple of weeks away from it. I'm slowly planning the next project, and the fics to work on in between. A sense of ongoing momentum is always a good way to help get out of bed in the morning.
July was a quieter month on the community, with four posts:
On July 17,gingicat posted about virtual Good Trouble Lives on rallies.
On July 22,executrix post about a Womens March program on feminism and fan culture.
Also on July 22,gingicat warned about apparent voter registration shenanigans and linked to a place to check your registration.
On July 30, I posted about a call for public comments about gender-affirming care.
Thanks to everyone who posted.
Here's a poll to tell us what you've been doing:
As always, everyone is free to make posts about any issues and actions they think the comm should know about. You can also drop some information into a comment to our sticky post if you'd like the mods to do it.
If you're looking for information on anything else, you can use our tags to check for any ongoing actions or resources relevant to the issues you care about. I try to keep the tag list up-to-date. If you need a tag added, you can DM me.
On July 17,
gingicat posted about virtual Good Trouble Lives on rallies.On July 22,
executrix post about a Womens March program on feminism and fan culture.Also on July 22,
gingicat warned about apparent voter registration shenanigans and linked to a place to check your registration.On July 30, I posted about a call for public comments about gender-affirming care.
Thanks to everyone who posted.
Here's a poll to tell us what you've been doing:
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17
Since the last check-in, I....
View Answers
called one of my senators
4 (23.5%)
called my other senator
4 (23.5%)
called my congressmember
4 (23.5%)
called my governor
1 (5.9%)
called my mayor, state rep, or other local official
1 (5.9%)
did get-out-the-vote work, such as postcarding or phone banking
0 (0.0%)
voted
1 (5.9%)
sent a postcard/email/letter/fax to a government official or agency
6 (35.3%)
went to a protest
4 (23.5%)
attended an in-person activist group
3 (17.6%)
went to a town hall
0 (0.0%)
participated in phone or online training
3 (17.6%)
donated money to a cause
10 (58.8%)
worked for a campaign
1 (5.9%)
did textbanking or phonebanking
0 (0.0%)
took care of myself
10 (58.8%)
not a US citizen, but worked in solidarity in my community
2 (11.8%)
did something else (tell us about it in comments)
4 (23.5%)
committed to action in the coming month
2 (11.8%)
As always, everyone is free to make posts about any issues and actions they think the comm should know about. You can also drop some information into a comment to our sticky post if you'd like the mods to do it.
If you're looking for information on anything else, you can use our tags to check for any ongoing actions or resources relevant to the issues you care about. I try to keep the tag list up-to-date. If you need a tag added, you can DM me.
After thoroughly rainy four weeks, I finally had the time to upload my photos from a very sunny week at the start of July, dealing with two islands in the Northern Sea. I was staying on one, and for the first time had the chance to visit the other. Which is worth a little pic spam.
( Photocut alert )
( Photocut alert )
.
