Cats and shots

Sep. 25th, 2025 09:10 pm
Elmer seems to be settling in very well in his new home. After only 2 weeks, he enjoys walking the hallway with his new owner (M), keeping M company during the workday (M works from home), playing with toys, and even cuddling with M in bed. When he was young he used to cuddle with me sometimes in bed, but it's been a long time since he last did, and he looked more content in one of the recent photos M sent than we've seen him in ages. We're now wondering whether he is a territorial cat who didn't enjoy having other cats around once he reached adulthood. When we made the difficult decision to re-home him, it was primarily for the safety of other cats—both our own and any others he might live with, which is why we looked for a home where he would be an only cat—but we didn't think he actually minded having other cats around. We assumed he just didn't know how to socialize appropriately. But we're now wondering if he might honestly be happier in a home without other kitties to challenge his dominion. In my sea of emotion, I feel a couple grains of sand of jealousy and sadness that he seems happier with M than with us, but the entire rest of the emotional ocean is relief and happiness that he seems so content.

Mango does not seem to be reacting at all to his brother's sudden disappearance from his life. Megara followed me downstairs a couple days ago when I was doing laundry, which was the first time she'd gone downstairs in several months, out of fear of Elmer. She very gingerly explored downstairs a bit, but when she looked into Shannon's office she suddenly took off like a SHOT in a panicked race straight up the stairs. Mango was in there, so I can only assume she saw Mango from a distance and thought he was Elmer. Now that she has followed me down there, though, we're hoping she'll gradually begin to accept that the downstairs is safe for her, too.

Shannon and I got our latest COVID boosters on Tuesday evening, and I had my flu shot at the same time. We had initially wanted to get the vaccinations at Costco, which is where we usually do such things, but they are currently requiring a doctor's prescription for COVID vaccinations! Our state isn't supposed to be requiring prescriptions, so we were pretty offended that Costco is apparently bowing to the current regime's reign of terror. Luckily, Longs Drugs more appropriately gave us our shots without any questions or trouble. I've been very sick, just feeling like I had a bad case of the flu, but this evening I'm finally feeling better, which is a relief, since I'm leaving for my mini-vacation in Honolulu in about 36 hours! I'm still very tired and might go to bed early again, but I'm feeling enough better that I expect I'll be back to normal by morning.

multitasking

Sep. 25th, 2025 08:42 pm
1) placing this week's pickup grocery order on the store's website

and

2) listening to a lecture on Zoom sponsored by the local public library.

The lecture is by a comp sci prof named Dr. Shaolei Ren, and is on the environmental impacts of AI servers. Which appear to be gargantuan. So much so that Dr. Ren had to keep saying he's not anti-AI, he just thinks we should have a clear-eyed view of their impact. So: gobbling up more water than the rest of the county combined, and spewing carcinogenic air pollutants across borders. Be particularly careful if you're downwind of Loudoun County, Virginia, which seems to be the AI server capital of the country. Downwind of it is Montgomery County, Maryland.

Posted by mugumogu

夢に出て来たまるさん。 この窓辺ではなと並んでいたので、動画を撮ろうとカメラを向けたら、 まるさんがものすごいグイグイとカメラに顔を寄せてきて 猫だからピースはできないけどおでこでピースしてるみたいに前足をおでこに当てな […]

some good things

Sep. 25th, 2025 10:00 pm
  1. Discount raspberry trifle + freshly toasted flaked almonds. Excellent bonus pudding yes.
  2. Social limb-wiggle! Outside, half under the trees, interspersed with The Toddler being Delighted to see us.
  3. Some successful communication debugging, thus far of the "okay, well, we now have a better understanding of the shape of the problem" variety rather than in the "... and we've implemented a solution" sense, which is still useful progress.
  4. Successfully got a bunch of other people's stuff out of my house and headed back to its people, even though this involved both Actually Parcelling It Up and then a whole entire trip to the post office. Good Job Alex.
  5. FRIEND HAS FINISHED ORPHAN BLACK. FRIEND SCREAMED AN APPROPRIATE AMOUNT. I am thrilled she loved it & was willing to yell about it all the way through when I didn't even try to lure her. She got here by herself. I am DELIGHTED. Did I mention I'm delighted? I'm delighted and I've had some Big Feelings and I have ALSO had some brand new-to-me horror from the penultimate episode Revealed unto me! Which is a different kind of delightful!

[ SECRET POST #6838 ]

Sep. 25th, 2025 05:46 pm
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[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6838 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 10 secrets from Secret Submission Post #976.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
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Vibes are not a form of contraception

Sep. 25th, 2025 06:05 pm

And I wonder whether small or even large earthquakes have been noticed in the vicinity of Fishkill.

‘Who Am I Without Birth Control?’:

Ms. Hamrick, who was 26 at the time, felt normal. No unusual weight gain, no mood swings. But a couple of questions had wormed their way into her mind and lodged themselves there: Who am I without birth control? Will I feel some sort of difference coming off it? Ms. Hamrick had started taking birth control pills a decade earlier, when she was 15. Now, as she browsed her social media feeds, she kept stumbling on videos of women saying how much better they felt when they stopped taking the pills, content she wasn’t seeking out. The posts typically went like this: a glowing blonde in a workout top — the picture of health! — saying that she had stopped taking birth control pills and immediately felt more clarity of mind. Like an emotional fog had lifted, like she was a brand-new, much happier person. Ms. Hamrick’s doctor was clear with her. If she wasn’t experiencing any side effects, there was no reason to stop taking birth control. Ms. Hamrick wasn’t so sure. The more videos about the pill she watched, the more skeptical she became, and the more she felt drawn toward experimenting. She was, after all, in a moment of change. She had moved, on a whim, from Indiana to Texas. Soon after settling near Houston she met a guy and they started dating, then looking at engagement rings.
Just over a year since Ms. Hamrick decided to stop taking the pills, she has figured out who she is without birth control: She is a mother. Her baby is four months old.

People should really look up the nocebo and placebo effects before doing this sort of thing.

Okay, my own history with the Pill was not wonderful, but I do wonder if the doc I saw at the Migraine Clinic was just a bit too invested in biochemical explanations (in particular, I discovered later that she got very into The Awful Effects of the Pill over a range of factors) rather than, um, things going on more generally in my life. Because going off the Pill may have brought about some temporary alleviation (don't honestly remember) but not much, really.

Anyway, it is probably a bit of an exaggeration to say, this is like going off the TB drugs to experience the full Consumptive Experience (and I have no doubt that there are people around in thrall to the Myth, and it is a myth, of Syphilitic Geeenyus: Sid is falling about larfing liek drayne). But honestly. 'Pure' 'Natural' I spit on that.

On 'pure', I like this on the 'pure bloodlines' mythos Alot: Claims of pure bloodlines? Ancestral homelands? DNA science says no.

And on The Miracles of Modern Science: Huntington’s disease treated successfully for first time in UK gene therapy trial:

The disease, caused by a single gene defect, steadily kills brain cells leading to dementia, paralysis and ultimately death. Those who have a parent with Huntington’s have a 50% chance of developing the disease, which until now has been incurable.
The gene therapy slowed the progress of the disease by 75% in patients after three years.

I am not entirely sure what I think about this: I mean, I am glad that somebody's looking at people doing 'local herbalism', both professional and amateur:
[H]omegrown remedies from locally gathered plants – defined here as ‘local herbalism’ – were still being used to address both simple and complex healthcare needs.

and it's an interesting look at how far this matches historical herbal medicine - but let's say I hope nobody's still doling out pennyroyal.

First Line Friday

Sep. 26th, 2025 09:21 am

It was on a Monday, April second—I was cruising in the vicinity of Betelgeuse—when a meteor no larger than a lima bean pierced the hull, shattered the drive regulator and part of the rudder, as a result of which the rocket lost all maneuverability.

From the Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem

Now free to read!

Sep. 25th, 2025 10:20 am
 In May the subscribers of If There's Anyone Left got to read my short story, The Things You Know, The Things You Trust. Now it's free to read online! Go, read, enjoy!


More stories should dig into the chemistry, biology, and physics of falling in love.

On Writing Romance as Hard Science Fiction


Amid economic downturn and political strife, young American teen discovers her hidden potential.

Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack
Difficult day yesterday & insomnia at night.

I am incredibly isolated here, having absolutely no one to hang out with or do the rough-&-tumble cosmic littermate thing with. But I've been isolated for weeks now without it making the slightest dent in my general bonhomie.

No, I'm thinking this depression has to do with the declining daylight. Hello Seasonal Affective Disorder, my old friend.

Managing SAD is gonna be a challenge this year.

For the past four or five years, I've managed it by staying absolutely blitzed on cannabis for three months, but I can't really do that this year on account of I've been hired by IM Schlock to do taxes, and so must maintain a clear brain.

###

I didn't exercise yesterday. Maybe that was part of the depression.

###

Did manage to write a 1,000 words on the Work in Progress.

Didn't feel connected to what I wrote at all, which means I'm kind of like an airplane pilot flying by instrumental controls rather than by sight. At this point, I just have to trust that craft will get me through it: I am very good with words, and that excellence is there whether I'm emotionally tapped into it or not.

Neal & Grazia have finished meeting. Neal has been properly humiliated for his sexual boastfulness. There is some other moderately sexually explicit stuff.

In the final Chapter 2 coda, we explore the Neal/Grazia friendship. The coda ends with a scene in which Grazia gives Neal a backrub, looks at his naked back, wonders, Should I pounce? And decides, Nah...

Chapter 3 will be Grazia working at the hospital during COVID. I don't have the foggiest idea what happens except it starts with Grazia scoring N95 Respirator masks from a crack cocaine dealer at 4 o'clock in the morning. At some point, Grazia has to have a complete psychological breakdown, and then she has to have some kind of spiritual awakening & recover. Of course, it is actually Neal who rescues Grazia from her psychological breakdown, but she doesn't realize this. The reader must, though.

###

Anyway, apart from Work in Progress, it's all a bunch of Remuneration and tax class slog. Which I must commence with right now.

(no subject)

Sep. 25th, 2025 09:41 am
Happy birthday, [personal profile] anna_wing!

Success!

Sep. 24th, 2025 08:49 pm
So remember how Booking.com told me our hotel reservation in Aberystwyth was confirmed, but when we got there the hotel had never heard of us? The agent I talked to on the phone on the spot said that if I booked one of the alternative hotels they'd email me, Booking.com would cover any extra cost. I booked one of them, it was quite nice, and it cost an extra £105; but a follow-up "sorry about the screw-up" form email from B.c said that they would refund up to £51.90. (Which is a weird number; I have no idea how they came up with it.) So obviously I was not happy about eating the other £53.10!

Well, it took an hour on the phone with them again today, but I emphasized that the first agent had specifically said that if I chose one of their options I would not face any extra expense, and also used the phrase "Booking.com's error" a couple of times, and in the end I did get the full amount refunded! (Well, they issued it as an in-house "cash credit," but I can withdraw it all to a credit card.) Victory is mine!

[ SECRET POST #6837 ]

Sep. 24th, 2025 06:26 pm
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[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6837 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 20 secrets from Secret Submission Post #976.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

some good things

Sep. 24th, 2025 08:40 pm
  1. Today's post brought THREE of my (latest batch of) books from Oxfam, of which two were non-work-related: Index, A History of the (Dennis Duncan), which [personal profile] recessional mentioned when it was first published and which I am only just now managing to get to, and Chihuly at Kew, the exhibition book for the 2019 installation. I am having so many feelings about getting to flip through professional photography of all this art again. I'm so so pleased.
  2. I mentioned these books to [personal profile] simont, who promptly went "hold on, isn't that the one that has a good Wikipedia article?" Turns out it very much is.
  3. To my delight, despite the fact that I'd not been to the plot in something like two and a half weeks (between ten days away and the post-event collapse seguing immediately into A Cold that A brought home for us) all of the peppers various in the greenhouse were looking perfectly happy with themselves. HURRAH for Svaemskog terracotta watering bits + 2l drinks bottles. This is actually the happiest the chillis have been all year, given my... erratic... ability to leave the house; I am looking forward enthusiastically to the fruits of Expanding The System Further next year.
  4. The ancient spinach seed is coming up! In vast quantities! That I was expecting to be dead and thus sowed all of across half a bed! There is going to be SO much spinach and even I will get to turn some of it into seeds for saving purposes, probably, and much of the rest of which I will go "oh right, I have discovered I like adding fresh spinach to the sad emergency noodle pots" about.
  5. Brought home A Pannier Full Of Food, about which I am feeling very good given the Neglect. I am looking forward to turning a suitable array of tomatoes into part of the ongoing cooking project (at which point I will have some leftover puff pastry, so will also do the banana tarte tatin).

(I have not today achieved my Assigned Reading, by which I mean "30 pages of The Challenge of Pain, with notes", because instead I finished reading the last five pages of yesterday's thirty pages and still need to go back and Make My Notes on, like, twenty of those pages. I am learning so much neuroanatomy good grief. But there is bread, and there is yoghurt, and there is drying laundry, and I went to the plot, and I have started digging myself back out from under my pile of PD e-mails, and there was an excellent sunset.)

 
Make a little nanner bread in your soul ...

I'm your only friend
I'm not your only friend
But I'm a little yellow friend
But really I'm not actually your friend
But I am 🎶


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show review

Sep. 24th, 2025 11:43 am
Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares, Berkeley Rep

Hour-long one-woman show, sort of, by the musical theater star and Melania Trump impersonator. Mostly spoken, but with songs inserted: not greatest hits, but purpose-written songs expanding on what she's been talking about, co-written with her musical director and pianist Todd Almond, accompanied also by bass and drum kit.

It's one of those wryly amusing sample of life things. Her theme is that she's overly anxious to please people (including us, the audience), going back to her earliest days in the theater, where she specialized in being an ingenue. (Definition by examples: "Disney princesses, Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, Timothée Chalamet.") Also why, since premiering at 18, she's never been for any length of time without a boyfriend or husband, some of whom sound pretty awful in her telling. (Song about, Are there any good men out there?) She's been married three times, which she seems to consider a blot on her escutcheon. So did the clerk at the marriage license bureau, who - in an amusing story Benanti tells - wasn't sure whether the fiancé at her third marriage knew that she'd been married twice before.

Anyway, her third husband, whom she's been married to for ten years now (she's 45), seems to be the satisfactory one, and they have two little girls, so she segues into talking about motherhood, covering everything from overcoming your taught aversion to bottle-feeding when it turns out you can't breastfeed (the baby thought the bottle was great, but not the strangers who would see it and come up and say, "You should try breastfeeding") to answering smart-alec remarks from precocious kindergarteners. (Song on the theme "Mama's a liar" - she's trying to reassure her children and hide how broken the world is.)

Last topic, perimenopause. Oh boy. After which, she says, you become a crone and turn invisible. (As in, people don't notice that you're there.) "Well," she says, "I refuse to be invisible."

I saw Benanti play Liza in My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center in NYC six years ago, and I've seen her talk about some of these things in online concerts. So I was a good candidate for this and enjoyed it.
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