On my way home.
Jan. 23rd, 2026 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hannahIt was something of an odyssey to get back from a family dinner in Brooklyn tonight. It should've been a little less than an hour; it was closer to two. Someone pulled the brake on the F line, so instead of riding the F to the 2/3, it was the G to the A to the 2 - more stops, more transfers, more waiting, including nearly a half-hour waiting on the F line for something to happen until someone announced it wouldn't be moving anytime soon.
There was a train directly behind the one that'd stopped in the station, meaning that if there was anyone on that train, they couldn't even get out and leave until the stopped train got dealt with. A small relief to at least be able to find another way home.
For most of the way, I told myself my apartment wasn't going anywhere and while it'd be later than I'd like, I'd still get to my own bed well before midnight. I also asked my dad that, for all the delays and all the trouble, where else in the United States could there be this kind of disruption to regular public transit service where there'd be enough existing infrastructure and alternate routes to still get us back before the end of the night?
In other places, I'd have my own ways of getting around. Here, I rely on the trains. It's something of a minor miracle they work as well as they do, and tonight's hard proof of that.
There was a train directly behind the one that'd stopped in the station, meaning that if there was anyone on that train, they couldn't even get out and leave until the stopped train got dealt with. A small relief to at least be able to find another way home.
For most of the way, I told myself my apartment wasn't going anywhere and while it'd be later than I'd like, I'd still get to my own bed well before midnight. I also asked my dad that, for all the delays and all the trouble, where else in the United States could there be this kind of disruption to regular public transit service where there'd be enough existing infrastructure and alternate routes to still get us back before the end of the night?
In other places, I'd have my own ways of getting around. Here, I rely on the trains. It's something of a minor miracle they work as well as they do, and tonight's hard proof of that.
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
snowflake_challenge 2026: Day 12
Jan. 23rd, 2026 07:31 pmlightbird
Challenge #12
Make an appreciation post to those who enhance your fandom life. Appreciate them in bullet points, prose, poetry, a moodboard, a song... whatever moves you!
Thank you to all of fandom. The creators, the cheerleaders, all the mods of all the communities. You're all amazing.
Previous Days
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Shingles vaccine
Jan. 23rd, 2026 05:07 pmsageSo I got jabbed Wednesday afternoon and the guy warned me the side effects would be bad, like notably worse than a covid jab. He said to expect to feel awful for 48-72 hours. And at 48 hours, I had a fever of 100F, a painful, itchy arm, no energy, and sniffles. (Though the sniffles might be allergies.) All of this is on the information sheet. And the second jab will be in 2-6 months. Happily, it was free at my pharmacy, though it would cost $57 at my clinic. (Weird.)
I'm so tired.
I hope y'all are doing well. Stay safe in the frigid cold. We're due at least a quarter inch of ice tomorrow. :(((
I'm so tired.
I hope y'all are doing well. Stay safe in the frigid cold. We're due at least a quarter inch of ice tomorrow. :(((
10trueloves: Trust
Jan. 23rd, 2026 04:47 pmsenmutAO3 Link | To Heal With Trust (200 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Birds of Prey, Outsiders
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Roy Harper & Dinah Lance
Characters: Roy Harper, Dinah Lance
Additional Tags: Double Drabble, +Modern Age (1986-Present), Post-Crisis
Summary:
"Slow and easy, yes, just like that. I have your head, just let your body float," Dinah said, confident and reassuring all in one.
Roy closed his eyes, his body already feeling less sore as he followed her instructions. When she'd shown up, thrown Ollie out, and told him to stay clear, Roy hadn't known what to expect. Now, living with her, Lian occupied by Oracle and Dinah's teammates, he knew he was in the best possible hands to recover.
The hot tub was set just warm enough to pull his muscles loose, salt-tanged for buoyancy, and she had him. She'd never let him fall under, while his body just floated, easing the stress of his physical therapy away. She pushed when they did it, but not so hard as to build injuries, and then… she always took care of him after.
He wasn't going to fail her, or his baby girl, by wallowing in the fear of the near-fatal shots. He would trust her, as he always had, letting her guide him. When he went back out there, he'd be as strong as he'd ever been.
It was just like when she put him back together from the drugs.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Birds of Prey, Outsiders
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Roy Harper & Dinah Lance
Characters: Roy Harper, Dinah Lance
Additional Tags: Double Drabble, +Modern Age (1986-Present), Post-Crisis
Summary:
Dinah came to manage his recovery from the gunshots.
To Heal With Trust
"Slow and easy, yes, just like that. I have your head, just let your body float," Dinah said, confident and reassuring all in one.
Roy closed his eyes, his body already feeling less sore as he followed her instructions. When she'd shown up, thrown Ollie out, and told him to stay clear, Roy hadn't known what to expect. Now, living with her, Lian occupied by Oracle and Dinah's teammates, he knew he was in the best possible hands to recover.
The hot tub was set just warm enough to pull his muscles loose, salt-tanged for buoyancy, and she had him. She'd never let him fall under, while his body just floated, easing the stress of his physical therapy away. She pushed when they did it, but not so hard as to build injuries, and then… she always took care of him after.
He wasn't going to fail her, or his baby girl, by wallowing in the fear of the near-fatal shots. He would trust her, as he always had, letting her guide him. When he went back out there, he'd be as strong as he'd ever been.
It was just like when she put him back together from the drugs.
snowflake day 12: appreciation
Jan. 23rd, 2026 02:25 pmsixbeforelunchChallenge #12: Make an appreciation post to those who enhance your fandom life.
I'm going to call one person out by name, and hope that I'm not putting her on the spot.
beatrice_otter has been my primary beta and person I bounce ideas off of for almost 10 years now and she is endlessly supportive and willing to listen to me flail around, as well as helpful in catching plot holes and telling me when I've lost the plot entirely, and catching my myriad typos and homophone confusions. I'm not sure Pi'maat would exist without her help and occasional gentle head pats telling me it's going to be okay, and I am very glad to have her in my fandom life.I'm also hugely fond of the people in both the Ad Astra and vuhlkansu Discords for having the sort of deep-dive worldbuilding conversations where, to take an actual recent example, you start out with someone trying to make a better representation of a canon map of an alien planet and end up trying to work out how plate tectonics could produce those mountain ranges and figure out what that sort of water-to-land ratio would really do to the climate.
And of course, Dreamwidth is fantastic. It really feels like a town, small enough to have a genuine community vibe, but not so small that you can't find new stuff from time to time. I genuinely appreciate all of you for being here, for listening to me talk about my various obsessions, and for posting about your own interests and creative pursuits. 💛
A lot of the credit for that has to go to
![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
denise and Mark for sticking with this project for 17 years, and sticking to their principles, not taking VC money, not monetizing the community, and generally being pro-social and decent humans, which is sadly not as common as it should be in people who run social platforms.Actually Autistic
Jan. 23rd, 2026 07:22 pmbadfalconSo, after a number of years on multiple waiting lists, I have my autism diagnosis
I don’t really know how I’m supposed to feel about it, but there’s a lot of “oh… that explains everything” and a lot of relief that I’m not a bad or broken person.
I spent a long time thinking I was wrong somehow - cold, lacking empathy, too intense about the “wrong” things. It turns out my brain just works differently.
Right now I mostly feel... buffering. Numb, but not in a bad way. Like my system is quietly re-sorting years of memories with new labels.
I’m not ready to be insightful or inspirational about this. I just wanted to say it out loud.
I wasn’t a psycho. I was autistic, without the information I needed.
I don’t really know how I’m supposed to feel about it, but there’s a lot of “oh… that explains everything” and a lot of relief that I’m not a bad or broken person.
I spent a long time thinking I was wrong somehow - cold, lacking empathy, too intense about the “wrong” things. It turns out my brain just works differently.
Right now I mostly feel... buffering. Numb, but not in a bad way. Like my system is quietly re-sorting years of memories with new labels.
I’m not ready to be insightful or inspirational about this. I just wanted to say it out loud.
I wasn’t a psycho. I was autistic, without the information I needed.
Translation!
Jan. 23rd, 2026 01:04 pmsenmutНа крыльях соблазна (154 words) by WTF Furry Anthro and Xeno 2026
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Gargoyles (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Goliath/Elisa Maza
Characters: Goliath (Gargoyles), Elisa Maza
Additional Tags: Translation, Перевод на русский | Translation in Russian, Fandom Kombat, Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat 2026, Don’t copy to another site, Slice of Life, This Work Is Stolen If Not On AO3, Работа Украдена Если Не На АО3
Summary:
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Gargoyles (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Goliath/Elisa Maza
Characters: Goliath (Gargoyles), Elisa Maza
Additional Tags: Translation, Перевод на русский | Translation in Russian, Fandom Kombat, Winter Temporary Fandom Kombat 2026, Don’t copy to another site, Slice of Life, This Work Is Stolen If Not On AO3, Работа Украдена Если Не На АО3
Summary:
Элиза пользуется тем, что Голиаф слишком много думает.
Book Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Jan. 20th, 2026 06:30 pmbadfalcon⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars)
Insurgent is an interesting but uneven middle book - one that kept my attention without ever fully winning me over.
I'm very aware that I'm not the target audience for this series, and I think that colours my response here. There's a lot in Insurgent that will work well for readers invested in the characters and the world, particularly the escalating stakes and constant forward momentum.
At the same time, the novel often feels busy rather than deep. The plot is packed with movement, faction politics, and shifting alliances, but emotional beats are rushed through in favour of action. As a result, moments that should land hard sometimes pass by without much impact.
That said, I was intrigued. The world-building continues to raise interesting questions about control, identity, and rebellion, and the series' larger ideas kept me turning pages even when the execution didn't fully work for me. Tris remains a compelling central figure, even if I never felt as emotionally connected as the story seemed to want me to be.
Ultimately, Insurgent is a solid, readable sequel that does what it needs to do to move the story forward. It didn't quite click for me, but I can absolutely see why it resonates with its intended audience.
Insurgent is an interesting but uneven middle book - one that kept my attention without ever fully winning me over.
I'm very aware that I'm not the target audience for this series, and I think that colours my response here. There's a lot in Insurgent that will work well for readers invested in the characters and the world, particularly the escalating stakes and constant forward momentum.
At the same time, the novel often feels busy rather than deep. The plot is packed with movement, faction politics, and shifting alliances, but emotional beats are rushed through in favour of action. As a result, moments that should land hard sometimes pass by without much impact.
That said, I was intrigued. The world-building continues to raise interesting questions about control, identity, and rebellion, and the series' larger ideas kept me turning pages even when the execution didn't fully work for me. Tris remains a compelling central figure, even if I never felt as emotionally connected as the story seemed to want me to be.
Ultimately, Insurgent is a solid, readable sequel that does what it needs to do to move the story forward. It didn't quite click for me, but I can absolutely see why it resonates with its intended audience.
Tags:
Catching up on Snowflake backlog
Jan. 23rd, 2026 05:57 pmdolorosa_12There is no Friday open thread this week, because the snowflake_challenge backlog was stressing me out so much that I needed devote a whole post to catching up with it. That said, if you want to use any of the challenges as a prompt, and respond in some way to it in the comments (either by linking to your own snowflake_challenge post, or by answering it fresh), do feel free to treat it as a Friday open thread.
( Challenge 10 )
( Challenge 11 )
( Challenge 12 )
snowflake_challenge backlog was stressing me out so much that I needed devote a whole post to catching up with it. That said, if you want to use any of the challenges as a prompt, and respond in some way to it in the comments (either by linking to your own snowflake_challenge post, or by answering it fresh), do feel free to treat it as a Friday open thread. ( Challenge 10 )
( Challenge 11 )
( Challenge 12 )
Book Review: A Bit of a Stretch: The Diaries of a Prisoner by Chris Atkins
Jan. 13th, 2026 04:45 pmbadfalconA Bit of a Stretch is funny, furious, and quietly devastating in equal measure.
Written as a diary of Chris Atkins' time in prison, the book is sharply observational and often laugh-out-loud witty, even as it documents a system that is chronically underfunded, overcrowded, and casually cruel. The humour never blunts the reality; instead, it makes the injustice land harder.
Atkins is particularly good at capturing the small, grinding absurdities of prison life - the bureaucracy, the petty rules, the boredom - and showing how they erode people over time. What makes the book so effective is its refusal to sensationalise. Violence is not the point here; degradation, neglect, and indifference are.
There's a clear awareness of the author's own privilege and the ways it buffers him from the worst excesses of the system, and that self-reflection adds weight rather than defensiveness. The book is angry, but it's also humane, empathetic, and deeply concerned with how easily society accepts cruelty once it's hidden behind walls.
The only reason this isn't a full five stars is that the diary format can occasionally feel repetitive - though that repetition arguably mirrors the reality of incarceration itself.
A compelling, important read that manages to be entertaining without ever losing sight of the human cost of prison.
Written as a diary of Chris Atkins' time in prison, the book is sharply observational and often laugh-out-loud witty, even as it documents a system that is chronically underfunded, overcrowded, and casually cruel. The humour never blunts the reality; instead, it makes the injustice land harder.
Atkins is particularly good at capturing the small, grinding absurdities of prison life - the bureaucracy, the petty rules, the boredom - and showing how they erode people over time. What makes the book so effective is its refusal to sensationalise. Violence is not the point here; degradation, neglect, and indifference are.
There's a clear awareness of the author's own privilege and the ways it buffers him from the worst excesses of the system, and that self-reflection adds weight rather than defensiveness. The book is angry, but it's also humane, empathetic, and deeply concerned with how easily society accepts cruelty once it's hidden behind walls.
The only reason this isn't a full five stars is that the diary format can occasionally feel repetitive - though that repetition arguably mirrors the reality of incarceration itself.
A compelling, important read that manages to be entertaining without ever losing sight of the human cost of prison.
Assortment
Jan. 23rd, 2026 03:37 pmoursinDr rdrz may imagine the noises I made when reading this (we get the London Standard free from our newspaper deliver people): Make America Hard Again: is there an erectile dysfunction epidemic?, particularly when I came to '“There have been huge uncertainties about male virility since the rise of feminism,” says Grossman.' and started screaming 'THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF HISTORY!!!!'
Okay, there are some very creepy blokes there.
***
Creepy but in a different way: I was being 'recommended' this on Kobo, Y O Y???? The Voyage Out: A Quick Read edition:
Discover a new way to read classics with Quick Read.
This Quick Read edition includes both the full text and a summary for each chapter.
- Reading time of the complete text: about 13 hours
- Reading time of the summarized text: 20 minutes
The horror, the horror. And really, is Woolf a writer for whom this is an appropriate approach?
***
I'm sorry, but I couldn't help flashing on to the famous phrase 'Normal for Norfolk' when reading this: Archive reveals hidden stories of Queer Norfolk:
Norfolk: That's a queer ol' place
In the depths of the Norwich Millennium Library, there’s an archive dedicated to Norfolk’s LGBTQIA+ history
Doesn't mention that Gurney was a Friend, also disabled as a result of childhood polio.
***
This is rather fascinating: Flap Anatomies and Victorian Veils: Penetrating the Female Reproductive Interior:
Lifting flaps that unveiled the female reproductive body for medical purposes could just as easily be interpreted as a pornographic act imbued with sexual titillation and voyeurism. The ‘obstetrical flap’ was thus understood and used as both a teaching prop and an obscene tool. It functioned as a ‘veil’ of Victorian modesty in the name of new and penetrating obstetrical knowledge and a ‘veil’ of man's apparently underlying and untamable penetrative sexual impulses.
***
One has rather worried about this, and it appears that there are grounds for concern: ‘That belongs in a museum’: The true ‘cost’ of detecting in England and Wales.:
My previous work has discussed various aspects of the hobby of detecting: how the context of archaeological finds is often lost, how private ownership of finds is reducing the archaeological dataset, how our obsession with monetary worth may be fueling an increase in artefact theft and, more recently, the hidden and unacknowledged costs of the hobby of detecting to the wider British public.
The Angsana Tree Mystery (Crown Colony, volume 8) By Ovidia Yu
Jan. 23rd, 2026 10:41 amjames_davis_nicoll
Su Lin dutifully accepts a social obligation, only to find herself embroiled in another murder and further colonial machinations.
The Angsana Tree Mystery (Crown Colony, volume 8) by Ovidia Yu
Nostalgia Isn’t the Same as Happiness
Jan. 9th, 2026 03:28 pmbadfalconOne of the things The Time Hop Coffee Shop does particularly well is sit with nostalgia without romanticising it.
Nostalgia is seductive. It smooths edges. It filters memory through warmth and familiarity, making the past feel safer than the present. We remember how things felt, not how they actually were - and even then, we remember only certain feelings. The ones that comfort us. The ones that reassure us that there was a time when things made sense.
But comfort is not the same as happiness.
In The Time Hop Coffee Shop, the chance to revisit the past isn't framed as a gift without consequence. Returning to old moments doesn't magically restore joy or fix what went wrong. Instead, it exposes something quieter and more unsettling: how easy it is to confuse “I miss this” with “this was good for me.”
There are moments in our lives that glow in hindsight because they belong to a version of ourselves that felt younger, more hopeful, or more certain. But that glow often comes from distance, not truth. When we look closer, the happiness we think we're remembering is threaded with anxiety, exhaustion, compromise, or unspoken hurt. Those things didn't disappear - they were just edited out of the highlight reel.
The book gently suggests that nostalgia is less about wanting the past back and more about wanting relief from the present. When life feels uncertain, heavy, or unkind, the past becomes a refuge - not because it was perfect, but because it's finished. Nothing new can go wrong there.
And yet, revisiting the past doesn't offer the safety we expect. It can't give us the things we didn't know to ask for at the time. It can't make people behave differently, or turn near-misses into fulfilled dreams. What it can do is show us how far we've come, and how much we survived without realising we were surviving at all.
What I loved most about The Time Hop Coffee Shop is that it doesn't shame nostalgia. It understands why we cling to it. But it also refuses to let nostalgia pretend it's happiness. The book treats memory as something to be acknowledged and honoured - not something to live inside.
Because happiness isn't a place we can return to. It's something that has to be built, slowly and imperfectly, in the present we're standing in now.
Sometimes the most meaningful thing the past can offer us isn't a second chance - it's permission to stop chasing one.
Nostalgia is seductive. It smooths edges. It filters memory through warmth and familiarity, making the past feel safer than the present. We remember how things felt, not how they actually were - and even then, we remember only certain feelings. The ones that comfort us. The ones that reassure us that there was a time when things made sense.
But comfort is not the same as happiness.
In The Time Hop Coffee Shop, the chance to revisit the past isn't framed as a gift without consequence. Returning to old moments doesn't magically restore joy or fix what went wrong. Instead, it exposes something quieter and more unsettling: how easy it is to confuse “I miss this” with “this was good for me.”
There are moments in our lives that glow in hindsight because they belong to a version of ourselves that felt younger, more hopeful, or more certain. But that glow often comes from distance, not truth. When we look closer, the happiness we think we're remembering is threaded with anxiety, exhaustion, compromise, or unspoken hurt. Those things didn't disappear - they were just edited out of the highlight reel.
The book gently suggests that nostalgia is less about wanting the past back and more about wanting relief from the present. When life feels uncertain, heavy, or unkind, the past becomes a refuge - not because it was perfect, but because it's finished. Nothing new can go wrong there.
And yet, revisiting the past doesn't offer the safety we expect. It can't give us the things we didn't know to ask for at the time. It can't make people behave differently, or turn near-misses into fulfilled dreams. What it can do is show us how far we've come, and how much we survived without realising we were surviving at all.
What I loved most about The Time Hop Coffee Shop is that it doesn't shame nostalgia. It understands why we cling to it. But it also refuses to let nostalgia pretend it's happiness. The book treats memory as something to be acknowledged and honoured - not something to live inside.
Because happiness isn't a place we can return to. It's something that has to be built, slowly and imperfectly, in the present we're standing in now.
Sometimes the most meaningful thing the past can offer us isn't a second chance - it's permission to stop chasing one.
Book Review: The Time Hop Coffee Shop by Phaedra Patrick
Jan. 8th, 2026 03:07 pmbadfalcon⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
The Time Hop Coffee Shop is a gentle, heart-warming novel about second chances, nostalgia, and the quiet realisation that the life we imagine isn't always the one we want.
Greta Perks once embodied the perfect TV wife and mother in a series of glossy coffee commercials. Years later, her real life feels far messier: her marriage is faltering, her relationship with her teenage daughter is strained, and her career feels firmly in the past. When she stumbles into a mysterious coffee shop and wishes for the life she once portrayed on screen, she wakes up in Mapleville - a town that looks like perfection poured into a mug.
What works so well here is the way Patrick lets that perfection slowly unravel. Watching the cracks appear in Mapleville as Greta begins to question what she truly wants is handled with warmth and care. The novel gently explores the idea that fantasy often smooths over the hard, human edges that make life meaningful.
The plot is predictable in places, but in this case, that felt like part of the comfort rather than a flaw. The themes - be careful what you wish for, the value of second chances, and choosing reality over illusion - are familiar, but they're delivered with sincerity and emotional intelligence. The ending, in particular, feels earned and true to the characters.
This was my first Phaedra Patrick novel, and it made me smile more than once. A cozy, uplifting read that understands both the pull of nostalgia and the courage it takes to let it go.
The Time Hop Coffee Shop is a gentle, heart-warming novel about second chances, nostalgia, and the quiet realisation that the life we imagine isn't always the one we want.
Greta Perks once embodied the perfect TV wife and mother in a series of glossy coffee commercials. Years later, her real life feels far messier: her marriage is faltering, her relationship with her teenage daughter is strained, and her career feels firmly in the past. When she stumbles into a mysterious coffee shop and wishes for the life she once portrayed on screen, she wakes up in Mapleville - a town that looks like perfection poured into a mug.
What works so well here is the way Patrick lets that perfection slowly unravel. Watching the cracks appear in Mapleville as Greta begins to question what she truly wants is handled with warmth and care. The novel gently explores the idea that fantasy often smooths over the hard, human edges that make life meaningful.
The plot is predictable in places, but in this case, that felt like part of the comfort rather than a flaw. The themes - be careful what you wish for, the value of second chances, and choosing reality over illusion - are familiar, but they're delivered with sincerity and emotional intelligence. The ending, in particular, feels earned and true to the characters.
This was my first Phaedra Patrick novel, and it made me smile more than once. A cozy, uplifting read that understands both the pull of nostalgia and the courage it takes to let it go.
