arysteia | Reading

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

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

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

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

*

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

sage

( books (Forrest, Aaronovitch, Aaronovitch, Hamaker-Zondag) )

dirt
goddamned thrips. Beyond that struggle, the spider plants are putting out babies, the baby thaumatophyllum is up to 3 leaves and needs potting up soon, the money tree is looking better, Grandma's thanksgiving cactus is looking pretty great, the rhaphidophora cutting finally put out some baby leaves, and the terrarium is overrun by red stem peperomia. I need to trim it, srsly.

meditation work
Yesterday I listened to/watched

HealingVibrations' sound bath video on cutting old ties with crystal singing bowls and a windsinger instrument. It was surprisingly intense, or maybe it just hit me right at the time.

natural disaster
my heart hurts over the Hill Country floods. So many needless deaths, so many people claiming there were no warnings. Per Robert Reich's Substack: The San Angelo NWS office is missing a meteorologist, staff forecaster, and a senior hydrologist. The San Antonio NWS office is missing a warning coordination meteorologist (who left on April 30, thanks to DOGE-inflicted early retirement), and a science officer. These people are meant to notify local emergency managers to plan for floods. That said, warnings DID go out but weren't accessible or heeded by the people who needed them. (We don't have flood or tornado sirens or anything here, something the state gvt is saying will change. Though how they'll put flood sirens out in the middle of nowhere is kind of a mystery.) Regardless, it's a tragic loss. Hopefully the news blitz will help get weather warning systems put back into the 2026 fiscal budget for everyone. More personally, my parents' area had nearly all its bridges get washed out, so they're basically stranded until they can be fixed/replaced. They've got food and hopefully no need to go anywhere, so they're fine, but it's all just a completely harrowing situation. The morning of July 5, they had 10+ inches of rain in 12 hours, and that was AFTER the floods hit. I'm just glad they live on a ridge instead of down in the valley or in a floodplain, however hard it is to be stranded. There's so much destruction in their area. It's heartbreaking. Addendum: Dad texted last night that there are teams out on horseback searching for the missing/drowned. Thank gods it's ranch country so horses are locally available. Here's one place you can donate if you feel inclined: https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201

#resist
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Protest/March

I hope all of y'all are safe and doing as well as can be. <333

mildred_of_midgard

Knee getting slightly better, but still oscillating back and forth between the front part hurting and the back part hurting, depending on how exactly I angle my foot when I'm using the computer.

I did manage a little over 29 miles of walking on Friday, but I had to lie down constantly because my back was hurting. I'm sure if not for that, I would have had to stop for other things (right foot, left knee, left hamstrings), but not *this* much! It took 12 hours to cover 29 miles. Even accounting for ice cream, snacks, and bathroom pit stops, it should have been an hour or two less at least.

I'm not sure why my back got so much worse some time between November and May. I hope it gets un-worse soon. I still haven't sorted out the mattress thing (it may be a delusion that I ever will, as in 4 years, I haven't, but I won't give up hope as long as I have new ideas to try out), so it needs to get back to where it was on its own!

Friday's walk: a LARGE cardamom Persian ice cream at the place in Watertown! In fact, so large that the lady thought I wanted a carton to take home. "No, ice cream lady, I will eat it all right here. Hand it over with all speed." :D

I also saw Perkins School for the Blind. When I was looking at the map for the ice cream place, that name jumped out at me in the vicinity, and indeed: it is the same school that Annie Sullivan and Hellen Keller went to. So I walked over there and took a couple pics of the signs. It's a nice-looking campus!

I'm hoping my back, knee, and hamstrings hold up for another long walk this weekend! If I can't run, I at least want to walk. I'd like to get my walks up to over 30 miles. At this point, I think my legs can do it, it's my back that makes it simply take too long to fit in one day (plus my knees' inability to shave off some time by running).

mecurtin

We were on the sofa together watching Murderbot so Purrcy had to come supervise. Not shown: how he was thwapping me with his tail to make sure I knew he was there. This shot makes it looks like he was watching the screen with us but I'm pretty sure he wasn't.

Portrait of Purrcy the tuxedo tabby gazing soulfully off to the left, as he sits on top of a brown sofa with a green pillow in the background. His pupils are quite dark, his whiskers very faint.

Portrait of Purrcy the tuxedo tabby gazing soulfully off to the left, as he sits on top of a brown sofa with a green pillow in the background. His pupils are quite dark, his whiskers very faint.

I've been watching Moon Embracing the Sun with

feklar42 and

libitina, which is my first kdrama. I have a question. I know that double eyelid surgery is extremely common in South Korea. Do we assume that most Korean actors/actresses have had this surgery, the way we assume that most (all) Western actors are on diets?

musesfool

I know I had some stuff I wanted to post about but now I can't remember what it was. Oh well.

I finally watched Captain America: Brave New World and it was fine. ( spoilers )

*

RIP Julian McMahon and Mark Snow.

*

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Magpie to the Morning - Neko Case

mecurtin

There was a brief but dramatic thundershower yesterday evening, & afterwards when Purrcy came out of hiding he DEMANDED pets, regardless of where I was or what I was doing. As you can probably tell.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Politics has of course been super stressful, I'll write up something under separate cover tomorrow or something.

Today, all afternoon, I attended the first session of the WSFS Business Meeting, which was as almost as emotionally draining as attending one in person but much more convenient. The Chair, Jesi Lipp (they/them) is a *master* at running a meeting and parsing rules quickly & logically.

Result for me: the Hugo Process Committee is continuing for another year (including me by default), and also stuff that I insisted on digging out & including in our report conforms to the second part of C.2 Dude, Where’s My Motion?, even though it wasn't required yet & wasn't even aware it was under consideration, just because it seemed so obviously necessary. So I definitely can bask, feeling like I made a real & meaningful contribution.

I've pledged the family not to overdo it for Hugo Process Committee 2.0, but I *am* going to maybe be the one insisting that we have regularly scheduled meetings & an agenda.

musesfool

The Old Guard 2 aka 2 Old 2 Guard dropped yesterday. I enjoyed it for the most part. ( spoilers )

*

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Mets vs Brewers on tv

lotesse

Alas that stress also means need for dentist. I think the filling repair my dentist did last month already broke; it might not be the only bit of my dentistry crumbling under the current tension levels. And going to the dentist is so painful and scary :(

mecurtin

I finished taking the laundry out of this basket & put it down on its side for Purrcy investigation. It was worth snooping in, but not really good for long-term use, he found.

What's that in the sky? he wondered, after several days of rain & thunder-growler attacks.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands in a brown cloth laundry bin lying on its side. He peers out and up at the sunlight coming from the skylight above, his whiskers looking long but rather doubtful.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands in a brown cloth laundry bin lying on its side. He peers out and up at the sunlight coming from the skylight above, his whiskers looking long but rather doubtful.

My back continues to be better, while not being anything like *all* better. Prednisone has the reputation of being Side Effects City, my biggest ones so far are dry mouth making my voice all scratchy, and a certain amount of ADHD/mania type behavior, trouble settling & sleeping. Only 3 more days of tapering to go, though.

Amid all The Horrors ramping up & up, here's something that's given me active joy in the past couple of days: Sir Ian McKellan joining Scissor Sisters onstage at Glastonbury Festival:

Watch on YouTube

My god, he's still got that full Royal Shakespeare voice.

It makes me cry a bit with joy at the end there, seeing Sir Ian being able to lead his people in a public celebration of being out & proud. And to see an old man being *venerated*, for once, admired for achievements but in this case also as a symbol of what people like those in the audience can have with age: a *full* life, a *long* life, a life with everything in it, despite what they may have been told. You don't have to be young to be queer, it's not a phase, it's part of a complete human life.

muccamukk

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

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

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

Some thoughts from smarter people:

Rebecca Solnit: Cynicism Is the Enemy of Action.

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

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

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

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

sage

books
Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand And Interpret Your Own Birth Chart by Demetra George, Douglas Bloch MA. Rev 2006. A bit outdated in terms of social examples, but the basics are sound.

not quite finished with: Chiron and the Healing Journey: An Astrological and Psychological Perspective by Melanie Reinhart. 2009 ed. Super creepy case studies, esp Jonestown, pre-De Klerk South Africa.

yarning
Didn't go to yarn group, though I was dressed, packed up, and ready to leave. I just couldn't get myself to get into the car and go. Or to work on the languishing bunnies on my own. It's true that crochet still hurts my shoulder and I haven't kept up my PT for it, but seeing people in person again would have been nice. And good for me.

( healthcrap )

fandom
Interview with the Vampire S3 is filming, and my tumblr dash is full of pics. It's delightful. I watched Murderbot through 1.6 & haven't yet caught up with the most recent 2 eps. So excited, though, to read that Martha Wells is polishing the final edits on the new Murderbot novella!

astrology
I'm studying hard, and it feels really good to be learning (and relearning) so much again.

#resist
July 4: Independence Day Boycott/Free America Protest/Weekend of Community Events
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action (in honor of John Lewis, who died 7/17/2000)

I hope all of y'all are doing well & we US-ians have a happy Fourth of July weekend! If you go to a protest/march, please be safe! <333

musesfool

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

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

*

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

mecurtin

Purrcy was lying on top of the sofas and then Suddenly a Wild Hand Appeared! With Pets! it was pretty choice for everyone involved tbh

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby leans his head into a white person's hand that's reaching out to rub his face and body, as he sits on the back of the sofas. His eyes are closed in bliss, his whiskers and paws are stretched out, his nose looks very pink & cute.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby leans his head into a white person's hand that's reaching out to rub his face and body, as he sits on the back of the sofas. His eyes are closed in bliss, his whiskers and paws are stretched out, his nose looks very pink & cute.

One of the things I've been doing to deal with stress is occasional binge-reading of book series. Most recently Rivers of London, which I'd never read all of before.

I do like them, and they're cute and all, but I'm forcefully reminded of why I don't read police procedurals any more, or watch TV shows with law enforcement heroes. Because this is really a fantasy of copaganda, as well as a fantasy with copaganda. I mean, the very idea that murders are treated so *seriously*, with huge commitments of personnel & resources ... This has *got* to be a fantasy for the UK, right? It's certainly a fantasy for the US, where almost half of all murders are unsolved.

So I can't really like them unreservedly, I can't *wallow* in them, my disbelief won't suspend that far.

But! Good news today!

I went to the doctor about my sciatica, and he started me on a course of prednisone, and ... it already seems to be working? maybe? Could this be what not being in pain is like?

Honestly it feels very strange. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!

musesfool

Recs update ahoy:

unfitforsociety has been updated for June 2025 with 15 recs in 3 fandoms:

✭ 13 Batfamily
✭ 2 Percy Jackson crossovers

✭

I'm not sure why I went looking for PJO crossovers but I'm kind of glad I did?

Anyway, I took today and Thursday off and I'm looking forward to this 2 day work week. *g*

✭

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Texarkana - REM

mildred_of_midgard

As for what I did with my 20 mile walk:

1. I saw a group of 3 deer very close up in the forest!

2. I gave a dog belly rubs. I went to pet it, and it immediately rolled over on its back and started begging for belly rubs. Friendliest dog ever! <3333

3. I went to the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.

4. I finally got that Persian ice cream all the way over in Watertown! The cardamom was the best, omggg. The place in Westwood that I like and will be moving far too close to :P doesn't have cardamom. Possibly for the best that the only cardamom ice cream is 10 miles from me and I'm injured, but omg, that was so good.

5. A number of American Revolutionary War plaques, signs, and memorials passed on the way. It was my first time walking through Arlington, and yep, they love their plaques. Oh, on the way from the museum to the ice cream, I was made to understand via multiple markers that I was traveling along the route that General Knox took when bringing the artillery from Ticonderoga, New York, to deliver to George Washington in Boston in the winter of 1775-1776, which was instrumental in driving the British out of Boston. (I don't actually know my Revolutionary War history very well; all my eighteenth century history studies have been European.)

mildred_of_midgard

20-mile walk yesterday. It was way more of a struggle than it should have been, and toward the end I was having to spend 8 minutes resting for every 8 minutes of walking (left hamstring pain), but it was better than last week's 13-mile walk.

Lower back pain forced most of the rest stops before that. I had some alarming groin muscle pain on the left side (for the first time since this started), obviously caused by sitting in a position at computer trying to make the knee and hamstring pain go away, but after about 7 miles, it vanished. Thank goodness, because for a while I thought that was what was going to force an early stop.

But, I did manage 20 miles, and the first 13 or so were not too bad. I think the hamstrings might have lasted longer if my route home (a new route I had never taken) hadn't unexpectedly taken me up a couple long, steep hills. The left hamstrings are generally okay on flat surfaces, but uphill is murder. Uphill is a crime against hamstrings, apparently. I think they never really recovered from that.

As for the knee itself, the thing that the hamstring and groin pain are in response to...it's mostly better, but still very much a thing. There was even some popping and sliding today, to the point where I actually broke out my knee brace in the museum and took the elevator (because stairs and knee braces don't mix), but the brace just made the lower part of the knee hurt when walking, so I took it off and took my chances.

So, I persevere. I've spent the last few days trying to figure out a computer position. It's pretty clear that if my foot angle is too dorsiflexed, i.e., toes too close to shin, my hamstrings/back of knee will hurt, and if it's too plantarflexed, i.e., toes too far from shin, my knee will resume hurting and popping.

I keep hoping to find the exact right 90-degree angle that appeases them both, but so far I've only found an angle that makes them both hurt a little bit. I suspect one needs greater than 90 degrees and the other needs less than 90 degees, at least temporarily to heal.

Still hoping to figure something out there. At the very least, attempting to keep it close to 90 degrees has resulted in some dramatic gains. I'm capable of sleeping on both sides now, at least, and of course the 20-mile walk.

Still haven't quite figured out the mattress for the back pain; hoping I can make that work and don't have to give up on it, because after that, I'm not sure I have any ideas. I need to sleep with my shoulders unrounded, I know that, but I'm struggling to make it happen.

Fingers crossed for the knee issue. I just need to figure out some all-day and all-night angles that don't aggravate it, and then it will presumably heal. The fact that this has been on-again off-again for 4 months is clearly related to the angle of repose during the day (esp. at the computer) and at night.

musesfool

So I watched season 4 of The Bear. ( spoilers )

*

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: The Mets losing again

eggsbenedict

Garden update is going great shakes, ahead of a huge "weather event" arriving this week.

In other news... MORE HATHAWAY, FINALLY

Current Mood: productive

mecurtin

During the heat wave this past week there was no Purrcy on the bed, but I woke up to him at my feet again yesterday and this morning. Lookit that face! Lookit how I touch that paw with a single finger!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby wriggles on the bed to gaze lovingly at the camera human. His pupils are blown wide, his paws are in bunny position on his white fluffy tummy, one back paw is stretch forward toward the camera where a human hand reaches to touch a toe with a single finger.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby wriggles on the bed to gaze lovingly at the camera human. His pupils are blown wide, his paws are in bunny position on his white fluffy tummy, one back paw is stretch forward toward the camera where a human hand reaches to touch a toe with a single finger.

I haven't been Purrcy-posting regularly for a while, because I've been tired and distracted and didn't have time -- because of the fascism, but also because of sitting outside in the spring and listening to birds. I'm trying to get back into it now, as you can see, but it's hard to keep in focus.

Also, my sciatica has been acting up, which means a lot of time just lying in bed, dozing or reading. I'm going to the doctor on Monday, hopefully I'll get a steroid injection or something similar & things will be better for a while. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

mecurtin

The other day I heard Purrcy scrabbling in the corner between our bedroom & the laundry room, and then hissing. When I went over to see what was up his tail was all puffed up, as he confronted a new experience:
a milk snake!

( cut for snake pic )

Purrcy was very excited, but wary--he clearly has a "snake instinct" that says this isn't normal prey, but something possibly dangerous. We weren't able to catch the snake, but we're pretty sure it went out the way it came in, it was pretty scared of us (& Purrcy).

Purrcy spent the next half week sniffing & searching for it everywhere, & also being v suspicious of all the cords & any long or snakelike toys. It's like his "snake instinct" was dormant & had to be activated.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby looks warily at a fuzzy blue, yellow and gray 'snake' toy where it lies next to the baseboard, wondering for the first time if it might be a real snake

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby looks warily at a fuzzy blue, yellow and gray 'snake' toy where it lies next to the baseboard, wondering for the first time if it might be a real snake

The bad part about Our Inside Snek Adventure is that I mentioned it to the housecleaner ... who turns out to be *horribly* snake-phobic. So much that just knowing there'd been a snake in the house, she was too scared to come this week. We're blocking up the Snake Holes, hoping that helps, & she'll try to come back next week.

I'm not going to tell her that this is the 3rd *species* of snake we've seen close to the house, which is made of stone, 100 yrs old, on a stony NJ hillside (others are garter & black racer). Mr Dr Science & I love it! He in the Atlanta suburbs, I in Champaign, IL, we were the kids who caught snakes & brought them in for show & tell in elementary school.

Gloria, our housecleaner, grew up in Jamaica, but she's a city girl through and through. She's prob. too old for snake therapy, I hope this works.

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Victoria

October 2020

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Locus Classicus

"I'm just interested in men who ruled the world before they were thirty"

Reading

you're so close but still a world away

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Walk

Purrcy; kdrama

don't let this fading summer pass you by

Purrcy; WSFS

and this guy right here

(no subject)

Purrcy; Pride

Not a GREAT week when it comes to ending sexual violence.

What I'm Doing Wednesday

a loaded god complex, cock it and pull it

Purrcy, Rivers of London, my back

waiting for the moment to turn

Fun day

Update

still a lot of catching up to do

(no subject)

Purrcy in the morning

Purrcy and the snake

Profile

October 2020

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