kengr

Interview with a Human Services Professional paper: Completed and turned in last night!

Interview with a living ceramicist paper: Completed a few days ago
Accompanying PowerPoint presentation: Completed today! turned in with the paper

Still to do:

Tweak the game I made for Social Problems, due Tuesday (basically done, then just needs printing)

Write the accompanying paper, due Tuesday (there's a template that's basically a walkthrough, I'm not too worried)

Personal Mission Statement for Intro to Human Services, due 2pm on Friday (not started, but I have the most time left for this)

Current Mood: determined

james_davis_nicoll

Another unconscious person on public transit. This guy just seemed to be terribly tired, but when he slumped over, he knocked his stuff on the floor. Several times. I kept putting his stuff back, and mentioned him to the drive on my way out.

lb_lee

Comics we got at MICE! All are great!

BE NOT AFRAID, by LSJM(?) Black, white, and red one-pager that’s like if the angel from Pet was giving you a Trump-era pep talk.
Secret Black Woman, by Ingrid Pierre. Autobio about anti-black racism, anti-Asian racism, passing, and being biracial.
Default, by JCJB. Poetry essay watercolor about fighting empire and suffering. We think Phosphor of hungryghosts would like this!
Prompted: an educator’s response to generative AI in the classroom, by Caroline Hu. Science, chatbots, and college. We think erinptah would like this!
Cannon Fodder, by Eric Alexander Arroyo. Queer mecha pilots in love during wartime. Got it for the sci-fi library; we have now purchased all three printings of this, haha.
Maintenance, by Cryptozoology. “What if a robot liked it when their creator performed upkeep on them (in a sexual way) and they were both girls???” Grabbed for sci-fi library.
Silhouette, by L/V. Navy blue Riso robot porn. May also end up in sci-fi library because the art is so gorgeous.

ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by 1mxddiexx

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75416281

by 1mxddiexx

Hunter thought he was finally adjusting to his new life on the Boiling Isles. He even spent hours sewing his own tuxedo for Grom, ready to finally ask Willow to be his date. But when the Fearbringer takes the shape of the memory that haunts him most, Hunter’s brave front crumbles before the whole school.

Ashamed and feeling exposed, Hunter tries to vanish. But Willow Park isn't about to let him face his demons alone.

A darker, Hunter-centric parallel to Enchanting Grom Fright

Words: 4608, Chapters: 3/6, Language: English

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75416281

dewline

Current Mood: busy

skygiants

The other movie I saw recently -- not on a plane! but in a real theater! -- was Guillermo del Toro's ( Frankenstein (do I need to spoiler cut this? well, let's be safe) )

ysobel

We're on the final boss fight of the campaign. Said boss is hovering over a deep pit -- bad for melee, unless they have some form of flight.

My character rolls the highest initiative.

She is a L20 owlin monk. She has flight. She also has a) 70 feet of movement per turn, and b) magic items (and a feat) that gives extra damage for distance moved in a straight line just before the attack. Oh, and a potion that does bonus

First roll hit a nat 20.

Rolling 20 means damage dice are doubled; if you would normally do 2d6, on a crit you roll 4d6. Between the damage roll (doubled), the extra monk ability I always like to throw in (also doubled, plus poison for a round), and the bonus damage for straight lines (doubled), I did 119 points of damage.

I also have a feat that says if I get a critical hit, all attacks against that creature have advantage until my next turn.

So... a pretty good start.

I love this character.

(...I got a crit the next turn too.)

mecurtin posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Sunday, December 7, to midnight on Monday, December 8 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #33927 Daily check-in poll

Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 12

How are you doing?

I am OK
8 (66.7%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
4 (33.3%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
3 (25.0%)

One other person
6 (50.0%)

More than one other person
3 (25.0%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

lumiosecity posting in

holiday_wishes

Hi, all! (insert enthusiastic waving here)

I'm Callisto, and this is my first year participating here. I found the community through my Network page, and figured it'd be nice to throw my hat into the ring as well as try to fufill some wishes myself! I think that what's been done here is so cool, and I deeply appreciate the whole endeavor. Wishes are in no particular order, as no structure I could think of really felt right, and are as follows:

1. Dreamwidth points! Dreamwidth has a lot of paid services I'm interested in, so this would be a real treat.

2. Art of my South Park and Teen Titans OCs! Even the smallest of doodles would put me absolutely over the moon. You can find a collection of art to use as reference for Rhiannon (South Park) here, and for Evangeline (Teen Titans) here.

3. Ideas on what to do with empty notebooks! I've got a ton just laying around, and I can only write so much prose and poetry. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

4. Comments on my fics! You can find all of my works collected on AO3 here.

5. Digital gift cards! Specifically, to Amazon, the Nintendo eShop, and JetPens. A good email to reach me is radionewvegas AT proton dot me.

6. Nonfiction book recommendations! I'm in a reading slump at the moment, and I think reading nonfiction will help. Some topics I'm particularly interested in right now are movie, televsion, and animation history, space travel, cults, video game development and design, professional wrestling, theme parks, and comics as an art form and an industry.

7. Give back! The holidays can be a rough time for a lot of people. If you've got money, time, or anything else you can give back to your community, through charity, volunteer work, or whatever other avenue you choose, then it would mean a lot to me and to so many others. It's a smidge unrealistic to wish for world peace, but I figure this is a solid step in the right direction.

8. YouTube channel recommendations! Any channels that talk about the things listed in my wish for book recs would be lovely, as would anything centered around media retrospectives and analysis or TTRPG design.

9. 100x100 icons! In particular, I'd love icons of Kenny McCormick from South Park, Tara Markov and Joey Wilson from DC Comics, and professional wrestler AJ Lee. If you need images to use, I can provide them; just go ahead and ask!

10. Kind words! It's been a rough year, y'all, and I don't know about you, but I'm tired. If anyone's got any kind words to spare, I would very much appreciate them.

That's it! Again, if you need my email, you'll find me at radionewvegas AT proton dot me. Thank you for taking a look at my list, and happy holidays to all!

Current Mood: optimistic

psocoptera

About once a year the fancy windowshade by J's desk breaks and we invoke the warranty and replace it. We had been keeping the old ones thinking they might be useful for spare parts somehow but given that this has now happened several times and they always break the same way and it's not a way we can fix, it felt like time to give up on all three broken shades. Eventually we will fall off the warranty and we'll have to decide if we want to actually pay to keep feeding fancy windowshades to the demon who only eats the left tendon of fancy windowshades (or whatever the root of the problem is) or if there might be a lower-cost or lower-waste solution, but that is not today's problem.

chopwood_carrywater_feed

Posted by Jess Craven

https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/extra-extra-127

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

Another week, another slew of difficult news. But in the midst of it, so much more quietly and less obtrusively, has come good bit after good bit after good bit. Will we stop to notice these wins big and small, so that our minds can be filled, even if temporarily, with something other than the awful?

That is up to us.

So let’s make the choice to pause the doom scrolling, take a few deep breaths, and dwell on the many things that went right this week. It matters deeply to our fight that we savor these victories, so that we build and maintain the strength to fight for new ones.

Enjoy, my friends. Please share this list widely. And please, please give yourself a pat on the back for all the ways YOU make lists like this possible. I never cease to be inspired by you.

Read This 📖

This is a great piece about the way individuals in VT are standing up to the Trump regime: Vermonters respond to Trump with chalk, lawsuits and food donations.

Celebrate This! 🎉

Aftyn Behn didn’t win her race, but she did swing her ruby red Tennessee district 13 points to the left! Republicans are panicking about the implications — if every House district in the country shifted left by the same margin Democrats would flip 43 seats next year — more than in 2018. Tuesday’s result means that Democrats have won or overperformed in 220 out of 248 key and special elections this year — a rate of nearly 90%. Even Fox News is worried.

New data shows the hole in the ozone layer shrank to its smallest size since 2019.

An Indigenous tribe in California has reacquired 900 acres of its land nearly two centuries after it was forced off due to settlements and the establishment of Yosemite National Park.

In a massive success in the global movement to end the fur trade, the Council of Fashion Designers of America just announced that it will no longer promote fur at any New York Fashion Week events

Democracy Forward secured a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from carrying out mass terminations of federal workers in violation of legislation passed to end the recent government shutdown.

A Missouri appeals court ordered new wording for a ballot measure seeking to roll back abortion rights, ruling that voters must be told it would repeal reproductive healthcare rights approved in 2024.

In a humiliating setback, the Justice Department failed to secure an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

An effort to ban ICE agents from wearing masks moved forward in L.A. County.

Climate protesters brought one of the world’s biggest coal export ports to a standstill.

Costco became one of the largest major companies to join a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Trump administration’s tariffs.

California announced an online portal to report misconduct by federal ICE agents.

Studies have revealed that a routine shingles shot may offer powerful defense against dementia.

Americans gave $4B on Giving Tuesday.

Rep. Jamie Raskin launched an investigation into Trump’s 60 Minutes interview edit.

A study in the journal Social Science & Medicine found that fighting fascism—and volunteering in general—slows down aging in retirees! This does not surprise me.

Starbucks was ordered to pay $39 million to employees in a landmark NYC labor law settlement.

A US judge blocked Trump from cutting Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood in 22 states.

The IRS Math Act has passed. Now if you make a mistake on your taxes, the IRS has to tell you what it was and how to fix it.

Akbar Ali won his election and is now the youngest member of the Georgia General Assembly at 21 years old! He’ll be focused on lowering costs, fully funding schools, standing up to Trump, and taking on HOAs.

California Governor Newsom added 2.9 billion gallons of clean drinking water to California’s supply with new investments.

Shocker—the U.S. Department of Energy has approved an $8.6 million grant that will allow the nation’s first utility-led geothermal heating and cooling network to double in size.

The Starbucks strike is growing! More than 3000 baristas are now on strike in more than 105 cities. And this week Senator Bernie Sanders and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani joined the picket line in NYC.

Elise Stefanik is now engaged in “an open war” with Speaker Mike Johnson. Good.

Trump’s approval on health care policy is down to 30% according to a new Gallup poll — the lowest approval rating of any issue polled.

James Solomon will be the next mayor of Jersey City. Solomon, running on a progressive lane with Working Families Party support, easily defeated the establishment candidate Jim McGreevey in Tuesday’s election.

Democrats flipped the mayor’s office in Roswell, Georgia. Congratulations to Democrat Mary Robichaux on her victory!

The head of the Virginia GOP is stepping down after the party’s bruising election losses.

The 3rd Circuit affirmed the illegality of Alina Habba’s appointment.

The Department of Education appears to have resumed processing student loan forgiveness for borrowers in income-driven repayment plans, following a brief hiatus due to the government shutdown.

More than $180 million in medical debt was erased for more than 39,000 Los Angeles County residents.

The New York Times sued the Pentagon for violating its First Amendment rights.

The American Library Association touted a “massive win“ after previously revoked federal funding for libraries and museums was reinstated nationwide.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill that will protect Illinois residents from “junk science“ undermining evidence-based vaccine regulations at the federal level.

The United States added 2 GW of utility-scale solar to the grid in September, bringing total solar installed this year to 21 GW — slightly above the 20 GW installed over the same period last year.

In a landmark move, countries around the world have adopted international protections for many species of sharks and rays that are widely hunted.

A Louisiana prison held its first-ever ‘father-daughter dance,’ reuniting inmates with their daughters.

Wisconsin’s liberal-majority state supreme court agreed to allow three-judge panels to hear two redistricting cases. A favorable and quick result could boost Democrats’ chances against GOP Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil.

Sabrina Carpenter spoke out against the White House using her song in a pro-ICE video, saying “this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.” Yay for her!

The Illinois Secretary of State warned rental car agencies they could be held liable for ICE illegally swapping out license plates.

The FDA issued draft guidance to move down a regulatory path to reduce primate and other animal use in the development of monoclonal antibody drugs.

In one Trump-voting Ohio county a group of suburban grandmas are taking on ICE. LOVE THIS!

The Trump administration is releasing billions of dollars in delayed federal funds to help struggling families pay electric and gas utility bills.

Los Angeles shut down the last coal plant directly powering California, the Intermountain Power Plant in Utah.

Medicare announced price cuts for 15 prescription drugs — a key tenet of President Joe Biden’s agenda. These particular drugs were selected for negotiation in January, while Biden was still in office. Thanks, Joe Biden!

Colorado just set a major new climate goal for the companies that supply homes and businesses with fossil gas.

Another Town Board flipped in NY after a manual recount! The Dem ended up winning by 12 votes!! WOWOWOW!

New Orleans residents marched in the rain to protest the planned deployment of ICE to their cities.

Hundreds of protestors gathered in Indiana’s state Capitol to protest against Republican efforts to re-gerrymander their Congressional maps.

A Massachusetts church displayed an “ICE was here” sign in its Nativity scene. A church in Evanston, IL did something similar, showing baby Jesus ziptied, with ICE agents hovering nearby, in theirs.

San Francisco sued 10 major food manufacturers, including Kraft and Mondelez, alleging they knowingly sickened Californians with addictive ultra-processed foods.

Jackson Heights neighbors stood up to ICE in a big way when agents showed up early in the morning this week to try and grab parents walking their kids to school.

The FBI has arrested Brian Cole Jr., a Trump supporter, in connection with the January 6 pipe bomb investigation.

A federal judge restricted the Trump administration’s ability to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants in Washington without a warrant, saying the arrests are only permissible if authorities have reason to believe the person is likely to escape.

Hungary is leading the world in solar adoption.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) became the latest election official to refuse the Trump DOJ’s demand to obtain unredacted voter registration records, calling the request unlawful and dangerous.

The production assistants on The Pitt officially secured their first union contract.

MacKenzie Scott gave Cal State East Bay a $50 million donation. The gift is the largest in the school’s history and will significantly boost its endowment.

While SCOTUS’s decision to let Texas use its mid-decade gerrymander for next year’s midterms comes as a devastating blow for minority voters in Texas, it could also make it harder for the GOP and the Department of Justice to block California’s voter-approved Prop 50 map. [H/T ]

An 88-year-old army veteran will finally be able to retire from his full-time job at a grocery store after people online rallied together to raise over a $1 million for him.

Watch This! 👀

Ten military veterans of different service and rank made their own video in support of U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly and his congressional colleagues.

Leave a comment

https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/extra-extra-127

ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by Annezholic

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75410411

by Annezholic

“Eu sou muito mais velha do que você agora.” Olhou para a lápide, as decorações de flores, desenhos feitos por sua própria amada, meses antes de sua falência. Desenhos esses que se fundiam com as rachaduras.

A percepção começou a tomar conta de Amity.

Não se passaram semanas, ou meses.

Se passaram anos.

Luz havia morrido a anos.

Words: 752, Chapters: 1/1, Language: Português brasileiro

Fandoms: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Categories: F/F
Characters: Amity Blight, Luz Noceda
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Additional Tags: Luz Noceda Angst, Amity Blight Angst, Mentioned Luz Noceda

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75410411

rocky41_7 posting in

booknook

Title: Brahma's Dream
Author: Shree Ghatage
Genre: Fiction, historical fiction, family drama

Brahma's Dream by Shree Ghatage was a book I snatched out of a pile of stuff my sister was giving away last year, but she'd never gotten around to reading it herself, so she couldn't give me a preview. Brahma's Dream is set in India just before it gains self-rule, and concerns the family of Mohini, a child whose serious illness dominates her life.

This is one of those middle-of-the-road books that was neither amazingly good nor offensively bad, and therefore I struggle to come up with much to say about it. That makes it sound bad, but it isn't--I enjoyed my time with it. I thought Ghatage did a good job with exploring life on the precipice of great political change, although the history and politics of 1940s India is more backdrop to the family drama than central to the story. I liked Mohini and her family; because the nature of her illness necessitates a lot of rest and down time, Mohini is naturally a thoughtful child, as her thoughts are sometimes all she has to amuse herself. However, she never crosses the line into being precocious, which was a relief.

Neither did I feel like the book leaned too hard on Mohini's illness to elicit sentimentality from the reader. Obviously, an illness like hers is the biggest influence on her life, and on the lives of her immediate family, and there are many moments you sympathize with her because she can't just be a child the way she wants to be, but I didn't feel like Ghatage was plucking heartstrings just for the sake of it.

Reading the relationships between Mohini and her family was heartwarming, especially with her grandfather, who takes great joy in Mohini's intellect and is often there to discuss the import of various societal events with her.

Ghatage's descriptive writing really brings to life the India of the time, with the colors, smells, sounds, and sights that are a part of Mohini's every day.

It reminded me of another book I read about a significant event in Indian history (the separation of India and Pakistan) told through the perspective of a young ill girl, Cracking India.

On the whole, this was a sweet, heartfelt book. It's not heavy on plot, but if you enjoy watching the story of a family unfold and the little dramas that play out, it's enjoyable.

ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by Annezholic

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75410761

by Annezholic

A percepção começou a tomar conta de Amity.

Não se passaram semanas, ou meses.

Se passaram anos.

Luz havia morrido a anos.

Words: 752, Chapters: 1/1, Language: Português brasileiro

Fandoms: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Categories: F/F
Characters: Luz Noceda, Amity Blight
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Additional Tags: Dead Luz Noceda, Mentioned Luz Noceda, Amity Blight Needs Therapy, Everyone Needs A Hug

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75410761

shadowkat

I have to make dinner - but alas, I am procrastinating. Probably due to a late lunch of salad and snickerdoodles (gluten-free softbaked, tiny snickerdoodle cookies courtesy of Trader Joes). I did go grocery shopping and scored Beechers World Famous Mac and Cheese (gluten free), Capullo's frozen almond crust pizza, Capullo's almond dough spinach and cheese ravioli, spicey salad greens, grilled salmon, and almond/coconut creamer.

Managed to watch a bit more of Down Cemetery Road with Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson, it's not as good as Slow Horses. By the same guy, Mike Herron. But it drags in places, Ruth Wilson (Sarah) is getting on my nerves and I can't decide if it is the actress or the role? She's gotten on my nerves on everything I've seen her in - so it may well be the actress? Emma Thompson on the other hand is excellent in it - I'm watching for her. I don't like the plot though. (I've seen it done one too many times, I think?)

Outside of that, haven't done all that much? I did manage to clear a space for the upcoming steam oven/air fryer. That I'm hoping works. It should.
It will help tremendously with the nutritious gluten free cooking - if it does. 98% of cooking nowadays is having access to the right appliance.

December Question a Day Mememage

2. Are there Christmas lights in your local town/city? Post a photo if you have one.

Weirdly enough, not. In previous years everyone lit up the outside of their houses in my area, but not this year.

I do have lights on in my apartment, and they have them on in the lobby of the building - which is insanely decorated. (Not sure that's the same thing, though?)

( Insanely Large and Decorated Lobby of my apartment building )

Think 1920s Pre-War Art Deco, with Christmas Decorations.

3. Have you ever hand made a gift (or a card) for someone?

Yes. From the age of four roughly to the age of 21, my brother and I handmade all the Xmas cards that our family sent. My father joined us in later years, then eventually, my mother printed off a watercolor of my Dad's and sent that out. We were famous for our hand made cards.

We did block prints, finger paints, watercolors, drawings, everything. My brother, myself, and my Dad are all artistically inclined. My mother handled the mailing, addressing, signing, and printing if required, also the coordination of the effort.

I don't do it now. Don't have addresses for anyone to send them to - even if I wanted to do it. People just don't provide addresses any longer - hello social media and the internet.

YMMV.

4. International Day of Banks. Do you use more than one bank for your investments/savings/general bill paying, or is everything in one place?

One bank for all the bill paying. Savings/Investments is in more than one place.

5. Do you own anything with fake (or real) fur trim?

Fake fur trim. I don't own real - can't afford it, and...not a fan. I'd rather spend the money on travel or something/anything else.

6. Do you own a microwave oven? What do you use it for?

Yes, contemplating using it to heat up gluten free mac and cheese at the moment. I use it to defrost and heat up items. Sometimes to steam - but the steam oven will do away with that issue. I usually use it to melt butter, heat up stuff, and do it quickly. Don't use it that often.

7. Have you ever tried an alcoholic cocktail, or a non-alcoholic mocktail? Do you have a favourite?

Yes. Both. Favorite? Either a lime Margarita, or a Vodka Tonic with Lemon.
I used to like Cosmopolitians, and for a while Cranberry and Seltzer.

Now? I don't drink any of the above. Off sugary drinks and alcohol for the most part.

ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by WhaleKingdom (BadFeelin)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75409671

by WhaleKingdom (BadFeelin)

Written by Shadowsnake89 and Shape_Shifter_00002, read by me.
___

Butterfly!Luz AU- Princess Luz Butterfly was a rather peculiar girl, even by Mewman standard not to mention weird. Imagine everyone's shock when the Queen announced that the girl was to receive the Royal Magic Wand. People were less shocked when said princess was to be sent away with said wand. Meanwhile Luz wants nothing more than people to stop judging her.

Chapter 4 has now finished rewrite.

Now has a TV trope page!
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/LuzVsTheForcesOfEvil

For those interested. Here's my twitter account where I sometimes post stuff about the au because I can't figure out how to post images in chapters

https://x.com/Shifter2003?t=o_Qg2qG5cj5hN5oQHYS-xA&s=09

Words: 0, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Star vs. the Forces of Evil, The Owl House (Cartoon)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: F/F, F/M, Multi, Other
Characters: Luz Noceda, Camila Noceda, Principal Bump (The Owl House), Eda Clawthorne, Vee (The Owl House), Lilacia Ponyhead, Gavin (The Owl House)
Relationships: Gavin & Luz Noceda, Angmar & Bria & Gavin (The Owl House)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Adventure, Complicated Relationships, Family Drama, Podfic

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75409671

ao3_theowlhouse_rss_feed

Posted by Kayalar

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75409226

by Kayalar

Hunter felt his breaths going ragged as he stared down at the mess on the floor. They had knocked over a FULL BOOKSHELF. Before he could collect his thoughts and start cleaning, Ms. Noceda walked in. Hunters mind went blank.

She was here.

She could see the mess.

Ans she looked ANGRY.

Without thinking Hunter dropped to his knees, slightly in front of Gus and Willow.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. This was entirely my fault. I am the adult here, and I take full responsibility. I except any correction method you choose. Please don't punish the others."

He waited in silence, head down, ready for whatever pain was coming.

(Spoiler alert, Camilla WAS NOT MADE AT THEM.)

Or, Hunters healing in the human realm! Complete with angst, comfort, found family, Huntlow, PTSD, cuteness, possible chatfic, and more!

(I know I suck at summarizing, plz forgive me)

Words: 1828, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75409226

mellowtigger

Monday after work, I did eventually walk to the store to buy some whisky. That strategy was good. I slept well that night.

Tuesday morning was a "snow day" at my remote job. I logged in for work and saw the notice that it was called off until noon due to local (in Pennsylvania) snow conditions. I also saw a coworker asking for someone to take his shift, because he needed to help a friend with a bad car situation. I (foolishly?) agreed, so I worked the skeleton crew to continue working on tickets that morning. It was another very busy day, though less busy than Monday.

Wednesday had more people on staff all day, but it was still a busier-than-usual Wednesday workload. I was glad when it was over, though, and my "weekend" began.

Thursday and Friday resulted in almost no accomplishments at all (well, some laundry), which was glorious.

Saturday morning, we had half of our crew out sick. And it was still a busier-than-usual day, so the few of us left were busy all day. On weekends, I usually have some free time to read Dreamwidth or the news, and I never opened the web browser that day.

Today, finally, full crew on staff and reasonable workload. "Normal" is such a nice distraction.

kaberett

(Last week's also now exists and is no longer a placeholder!)

Reading. Pain, Abdul-Ghaaliq Lalkhen. I want to be very, very clear: unless you are specifically researching attitudes and beliefs in pain clinics in early 2020s England, or similar, do not read this book. There are bad history and no references, appalling opinions on patients (), quite possibly the worst hyphenation choice I have ever seen, stunning omissions and misrepresentations of pain science, and It's Weird That It Happened Twice soup metaphors. Fuller review (or at least annotated bibliography entry) to follow, maybe.

Some further progress on Florencia Clifford's Feeding Orchids to the Slugs ("Tales from a Zen kitchen"), which I acquired from Oxfam in a moment of weakness primarily for EYB purposes at a point when it was extremely discounted. It is primarily a somewhat disjointed memoir for which I am not the target audience, but hey, Books To Go Back In The Charity Shop Pile but that I wouldn't actually hate reading were exactly the goal, so that's a victory. Mostly. I'm a little over halfway through it, sticking book darts on pages that contain recipes for easier reference when I go back through on the actual indexing pass.

I absolutely needed something that was not going to make me furious and furthermore that was not going to be demanding, and there's a new one in the series, so I have now reread several Scalzi: Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades completed, The Lost Colony in progress.

I've also had a very quick flick through the mentions of Descartes in Joanna Bourke's The Story of Pain, which is my next Pain Book. She does better than everyone else I've read, but I still think she's misinterpreting Treatise on Man. (Why do I have strongly-held opinions on Descartes now. CAN I NOT.)

Playing. ( Inkulinati, Monument Valley )

Cooking. SOUP.

smitten kitchen's braised chickpeas with zucchini and pesto, two batches thereof, because I had promised A burrata to go with and then (1) the supermarket was out of it and (2) the opened part-pack of feta wound up doing two days quite comfortably, so the second batch was required For Burrata Purposes.

I have also established that the pistachio croissant strata works very well in one of the loaf tins if you scale it down to 50% quantities because there were only 3 discount croissants at the supermarket (... because you had to wait and watch the person who got there JUST ahead of you taking Most Of Them...), which also conveniently used up the dregs of the cream that I had in the fridge.

Eating. Tagine out the freezer (thank you past Alex). Relatively fresh dried apple. A very plain lunch at Teras in Seydikemer, which was apparently the magic my digestive system needed to settle itself down! And I am very much enjoying my dark chocolate raspberry stars. :)

ioplokon

Sorry for keeping you all in suspense on this one; been a bit overwhelmed with work and health stuff. So, how was the inaugural 2-in-1 spectacle of Professional Opera and Interpretive Wrestling that we call OperaMania? Well, the fact that I am optimistically appending they year in hope of repeat productions should be a good hint. I loved it! All of the performers were great, the show was quite cleverly assembled, and the (standing-room-only) crowd was hot. What more could you ask for? Other than to do it all again next year!

When I saw the flyer for OperaMania (November 26 at Tom Longboat Hall, a fun two-story venue that used to be a gym), I knew I had to go. I adore professional wrestling and am a "casual" opera fan (I watch whatever the COC is staging, but don't really go out of my way to learn about new operas or listen to recordings), so the thought of opera and wrestling together is a dream come true. However, I'd be lying if I said I had any idea how OperaReview and Junction City Wrestling were actually going to pull this off!

What we got was Master of Ceremonies, Gregory Finney, leading us through a variety show where the singers and wrestlers brought to life the most dramatic moments of Carmen, Rigoletto, and Lucia di Lammermoor (with some "one off" set pieces mixed in).

The evening started out with OperaReview's Danie Friessen singing the Canadian national anthem (will I learn the full English lyrics before my citizenship ceremony, or will my Habs fan brain continue to rewrite it into French?). But she was rudely interrupted by ~~Alexander Hajek~~ Donald Trump, ranting and raving (though the boos were so loud, I have no idea what he actually said). Undeterred, Friessen procured a steel chair and handily dispatched him. This is when I knew the whole thing was going to work. Not because of the cheap heat setup, but because Friessen and Hajek were actually mixing it up in the ring. I went in worried that the whole night would be a disjointed alternation between singing and wrestling because... If you were a professional singer, why would you want to get thrown around or have someone hit you with a chair? But from minute one, you could tell Hajek was willing to put his body on the line to make this show a success - and, really, that's what us sickos who love professional wrestling want to see.

( Act 1 )

( Act 2 )

Overall, it was a great show. I really appreciated that they put some thought into how to play to both audiences. Where it mattered, we got explanations for the different opera. And they broke up the wrestling matches (I don't think any went more than ~5 minutes), so there wasn't much risk of the opera fans getting bored. Comedy and general good will filled in any remaining gaps, and what came out was a really special and unique night out.

Wrestling and Opera came together and met in the middle: vaudeville. Why does it work? I think wrestling and opera both have a connection to the music hall or popular performance tradition (maybe there is a good pun around "Opera Buff-a" to be made here?). In addition, both of them have a kind of maximalist aesthetic and prefer a non-naturalistic style of acting. I also think they both rely on similar story structures and have a similar understanding of morality. A lot of people who aren't wrestling fans find it deeply unsatisfying if the babyface (hero) wins by a fluke or just gets beaten down utterly by a cheating villain. But this is precisely the kind of story we see in opera as well.

All in all, it was probably one of the most memorable evenings I've had this year. So, OperaMania, please come back!

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