Daily Happiness

Jul. 3rd, 2025 11:59 pm
torachan: arale from dr slump with a huge grin on her face (arale)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Three day weekend! I'm looking forward to relaxing and not doing much.

2. I had two interviews today and both of them stood me up, but the good thing is that I was doing them from home, so I hadn't gone out of my way for them and wasn't particularly inconvenienced.

3. We decided to go to Disneyland for dinner. Had a lovely time, though it was a bit more trafficy both going and coming than I would prefer.

4. Suspicious Gemma.

and this guy right here

Jul. 3rd, 2025 08:16 pm
musesfool: bodhi rook (honor the heart of faith)
[personal profile] musesfool
The Old Guard 2 aka 2 Old 2 Guard dropped yesterday. I enjoyed it for the most part. spoilers )

*

Daily Happiness

Jul. 2nd, 2025 09:21 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Today was kind of a long day but I did get stuff done.

2. Just one more day of work this week and then three day weekend!

3. Finished another puzzle today. This is from the multi-puzzle box of Disney 70th anniversary puzzles. I really love this design, and they've got a fair bit of merch using it, too, but sadly not anything I actually need (and not even much that I particularly want).



4. Chloe loves lying on Carla's bed by the window.

2025 Disneyland Trip #46 (7/1/25)

Jul. 2nd, 2025 08:56 am
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
Took an unplanned trip down to the parks for dessert last night. We got down there early enough that we could just go in DCA instead and avoid some of the nighttime event clogs in Disneyland, which was nice. DCA was actaully not very crowded at all (except when we were leaving and everyone else was as well).

Read more... )

Daily Happiness

Jul. 1st, 2025 11:50 pm
torachan: takatsuki & nitorin from hourou musuko (trans kids)
[personal profile] torachan
1. I had two web interviews today and unlike the guy yesterday, neither of them stood me up. Two more interviews on Thursday so hopefully they come through, too.

2. I got my hair cut today. Cannot stress enough how great it is to have that next appointment already scheduled and not have to deal with having to make the appointment when my hair is starting to bother me. It's already in the calendar! And to go to someone who knows exactly what to do without me telling them every time!

3. The tri-tip Carla grilled on Sunday has indeed made delicious sandwiches. And we still have a ton left so there will be sandwiches all week.

4. Carla was having a high anxiety day so as a mood booster we went down to Disneyland for dessert tonight. Had a very nice trip.

5. Molly's got her eye on you.

musesfool: a loaf of bread (staff of life)
[personal profile] 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!

*

the extroverts were right

Jul. 1st, 2025 12:40 pm
cimorene: Cartoon of 80s She-Ra on her winged unicorn flying against cloudy blue sky (where are we going?)
[personal profile] cimorene
I was making smalltalk with the bus driver along with the other guy at the bus stop and he asked if I was a student, lol. (Wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses took twenty years off I guess.) I said, No, but I'm going to driving school!

And he said close enough and gave me the student ticket rate.

Daily Happiness

Jun. 30th, 2025 09:17 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Our back screen door has two out of three broken hinges and the only thing holding it together at the top is the bar that makes it close on its own (idk what that's called), so whenever we open or close it, it takes more work than usual to get it to actually shut, since it's a little askew. I actually bought some hinges, thinking to try and fix it myself, but after I bought them I realized that the part of the hinge that attaches to the screen is welded on there, not just held with screws. So we ended up calling the people we got the door from (it's been over ten years since we installed all the pet screens!) and they came out today to take a look. Apparently these doors have a hinge plate that attaches with all the hinges on it, so they will order a new one of those. The door itself is totally fine, so I'm glad we can get just a replacement part rather than a whole new screen door. Unfortunately it will take a couple weeks to get the part in, but it's still usable as-is, at least, and can't get any worse since the bar on the top is quite sturdy.

2. This may be my favorite picture of Tuxie ever. How is that comfortable!? Only a cat would think so.

waiting for the moment to turn

Jun. 30th, 2025 06:24 pm
musesfool: ROBIN (never enough robin)
[personal profile] musesfool
Recs update ahoy:

[personal profile] 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*

Daily Happiness

Jun. 29th, 2025 08:35 pm
torachan: sakaki from azumanga daioh holding a cat, with the text "I like cats" in Japanese (sakaki)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Carla grilled today. Hamburgers and corn and tri-tip. The burgers and corn were delicious, and while I didn't have any of the tri-tip tonigh, it smells amazing and I can't wait to have some on sandwiches.

2. I feel like this picture sums up their relationship very well.

Weekly Reading

Jun. 29th, 2025 04:23 pm
torachan: my glitch character (glitch)
[personal profile] torachan
Currently Reading
Sister Outsider
17%. Collection of essays by Audre Lorde. I have never read any of her writing before, so when this came up on a Kindle sale I was browsing, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I've only just gotten started, but the first essay was about her trip to the Soviet Union in the 70s, which was very interesting.

A Terrible Nasty Business
41%. Sequel to A Most Agreeable Murder, which I liked a lot. This is just as amusing and fun.

Riding the Rails
43%.

How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
69%.

Recently Finished
A Botanist's Guide to Rituals and Revenge
As I mentioned in my last post, I didn't love this one as much because I was so frustrated by the MC's bad choices, but I am definitely still interested in reading more books in the series.

The Mystery of Locked Rooms
This was fun. It looks like there's a sequel coming out later this year, so I'll definitely check it out.

Horrorstör
I think this is the third Grady Hendrix book I've read and they all end up being good but not great. I did like the premise a lot, though.

These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
Dystopian murder mystery novella with clones. I enjoyed this a lot and would definitely read more in this universe.

Linus and Etta Could Use a Win
Cute middle grade novel about a trans boy at a new middle school who makes friends with a girl who's recovering from a bad friend break-up, but unbeknownst to him, her enthusiasm about him running for student council is due to a bet with her ex friend. I really liked this a lot, but was frustrated by the fact that the friend breakup didn't have a satisfying resolution. It was this whole thing about the friend cutting Etta out of her life with no explanation and we never get an explanation!

Dwellings
Graphic novel featuring various horror stories set in the same town. I liked it, but the cutesty art style (kind of Richie Rich/Casper vibes) made it hard to tell characters apart and also hard to tell their ages (I kept assuming people were kids and then realizing belatedly they were adults). It was all right.

Ojisama to Neko vol. 15
Yet another new character whose issues are fixed by getting a cat lol.

Kindaichi Papa no Jikenbo vol. 1
New Kindaichi series, set seven years from the Kindaichi Age 37 series. Now he has a kid who goes mystery solving with him. Still good mysteries.

Kinou Nani Tabeta? vol. 24
This was a bittersweet volume. I love this series.

still a lot of catching up to do

Jun. 29th, 2025 02:56 pm
musesfool: orange slices (orange you glad)
[personal profile] musesfool
So I watched season 4 of The Bear. spoilers )

*

Daily Happiness

Jun. 28th, 2025 08:34 pm
torachan: takatsuki & nitorin from hourou musuko (trans kids)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Between when I was talking about it last week and payday, I totally forgot my bonus was coming, so I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my balance today to pay bills!

2. It was very warm and sunny this morning when I walked up to the farmers market. I usually go around ten so that I can pop in the library, too, but this morning it was already seeming waaaaaay too sunny when I was doing my morning chores around eight, so since I didn't have anything urgent I needed to pick up at the library, I went earlier, around nine, and it was still so sunny and not particularly pleasant. But! At the stand that sells fruit leather that I've been frequenting recently, I spotted that they also had bottles of watermelon lemonade, nice and cold, so I got one of those to drink on the walk home and it was perfect! It reminded me of that delicious watermelon lemonade we were getting a bunch last year at DCA, but alas they don't have it this year. Adding the watermelon just makes it feel so much more refreshing.

3. Posing for her portrait.

2025 Disneyland Trip #45 (6/27/25)

Jun. 28th, 2025 04:06 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
Welp, surprise Disneyland trip last night as there was availability and we decided to go down for dessert and parade.

Read more... )

Daily Happiness

Jun. 28th, 2025 01:25 am
torachan: a cartoon owl with the text "everyone is fond of owls" (everyone is fond of owls)
[personal profile] torachan
1. We had an award ceremony for one of the stores today and I got some cakes for the ceremony and they were really good. Would definitely get from that bakery again.

2. This evening after I got home Carla asked if I'd be interested in going down to Disneyland for an after dinner trip and even though we just went yesterday, I decided going tonight and then having Saturday and Sunday just for staying home and resting would be nice, so we went down there tonight and had dessert and watched the parade. I'm super tired now but I had a great time.

3. It's the weekend!

4. Yawn!

motor vehicle here I come

Jun. 27th, 2025 02:47 pm
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)
[personal profile] cimorene
Driver's license learner permit acquired! Total cost:

Application fee: 25€
Driving lessons: 875€
ADHD tax: 152€

I'm going through the obligatory little quizzes and informational videos about traffic safety and they've been machine translated without proofreading and then dubbed into English with an AI that speeds up or slows down its talking speed sometimes multiple times per sentence to ensure that it takes exactly the same amount of time in English as in Finnish (which means a lot of surreally slow talking that sounds like a tape got stuck in the player and might catch fire soon).

Daily Happiness

Jun. 26th, 2025 09:04 pm
torachan: john from garfield wearing a party hat and the text "this is boring with hats" (this is boring with hats)
[personal profile] torachan
1. I had a nice birthday! Other than going to Disneyland, we didn't really do anything, but Disneyland was fun. And it was nice not having to go to work, though I kept thinking it was Saturday and now I have to go back to work tomorrow (boo).

2. I got a little storage cabinet to organize all our extra legos. The sets usually come with an extra piece for all the small ones. I guess they figure those are most likely to get lost. Up until now we've been putting them in ziploc baggies with the name of the set they belong to, but that's gotten out of hand and also they don't need to be separated by set. I just started sorting them out today and I imagine that will take some time, but it should make everything more organized and save on space once it's done.

3. Love those big Chloe yawns!

Me-and-media update

Jun. 27th, 2025 03:50 pm
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
[personal profile] china_shop
I wrote most of this on Tuesday, and now it's Friday, so some unrepaired time dilation might slip through.

Pandemic life
Protocol slippage. )

Previous poll review
In the Impending doom of the natural variety poll, the most common natural disaster threatening respondents is drought/heat (55.6%), followed by flood (44.4%), then blizzard (40.7%). Twelve of us (including me) are at risk of earthquakes.

In ticky-boxes, hugs won by a landslide with 70.4%, followed by "ticky-box made of Möbius strips and Escher staircases" with 48.1%. Thank you for your votes!

Reading
A little more Neurotribes, but the focus on kids and parenting is not holding my interest. Nothing wrong with it; I'm just not the right audience. A chapter of Guardian. A smidgen more of The Book of Three, and the first few hours of Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm (very heavy on introductions and the nitty-gritty of school administration so far, but I like the POV character - no spoilers, please).

TV & movies
Four episodes of The Expanse season 6 with a friend; we're watching the other two tonight. Murderbot (really enjoyed the last episode). Poker Face (haven't seen the latest). Andor S02E06 (maybe we're watching this too slowly? so far this season isn't clicking for me).

Episode 2 of Stick, which... I enjoyed watching Lydio Ko play on TV, one time, but I just don't know how much golf I can engage with, especially in fiction. Swings all look the same to me, so after the first three or four, there's none of the physical competence porn you get in more overtly active sports. And I don't find Owen Wilson inherently charming or interesting. I think the biggest appeal of the show is actually that so much of it is set outside with trees around, and that's still a very manicured, artificial setting. /fussy /tl;dr, We're in the market for a new show.

Our Unwritten Seoul (Kdrama on Netflix). I'm enjoying this so much! Two episodes and several revelations yet to go.

Materialists at the movies. We went to this because a friend and I have a running conversation about the death of the romcom, and this nominally was one. But it turned out to not really be rom or com, and the title should have clued me in that Andrew wouldn't like it (he disliked the main character and wasn't at all invested in the outcome). It's interestingly structured, and the cast is good, but it's mostly about entitled people approaching dating in terms of checkboxes (age, height, income, etc).
Spoilery things about the structure.The main character, Lucy, is a professional matchmaker in NYC, and the film is in three parts: the first third is a wealth-porn romance between her and Pedro Pascale; he pursues her after they meet at the wedding of his brother, her former client. They go to a lot of expensive restaurants, have sex on satin sheets in his $12m penthouse, and talk a lot of numbers at each other. He wants to take her to Iceland on holiday. The middle third (or possibly third act of four? I wasn't timing it) starts when one of Lucy's clients is sexually assaulted on a date Lucy set up. This all happens off-screen, and I don't think we even see the assaulter. The victim is the nicest, warmest of Lucy's clients, but the film is mostly concerned with Lucy's crisis, as the assault brings home that the checkboxes don't matter. The final third or act is a second-time-around romance with her struggling-actor/cater-waiter ex-boyfriend, Chris Evans. Lucy broke up with him over money, and now at the culmination of her character arc, she decides she loves him enough to make it work after all. Conveniently, he is still extremely hung up on her.

I don't think I've ever seen a relationship movie that starts out focused on one pairing getting together (they feel pretty well-matched, and Pedro Pascale's character is smart, open, attentive and kind), then transitions to another pairing. Huh.


The Wild Robot on Netflix. Okay, this was really cute and funny. I especially enjoyed the possum babies. (I kept missing quips, though -- poor sound mixing, or is my hearing going?) As an aside, I was amused that the corporation was called Universal Dynamics, given Global Dynamics in Eureka (2006) and Massive Dynamics in Fringe (2008). What comes after "universal"?

October Sky on Netflix. Fictionalised biopic about a kid in a coal-mining company town in 1957 who is inspired by Sputnik to create a rocket, learn trigonometry, and get a college scholarship. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, and Laura Linney. It was fine, but wow, I wanted the story to be about overthrowing the company.

Audio entertainment
I spent four or five hours over the weekend listening to Melanie Nelson of Coherent podcast interviewing politicians, academics and a disability activist about the "Let's Make Everything Libertarian" Bill for which submissions closed lunchtime Monday. (Locals, it's not too late to weigh in! Talk to your MP!) Since then, Writing Excuses and a bunch of Midnight Burger. (I bounced off Midnight Burger when I first tried it a year or two ago, but now I'm really enjoying the physics and other science aspects, and the characters are growing on me. Ava is my fav. I'm most of the way through episode 11.)

Online life
Catching up on comments. Still have a billion unread emails, and let's not even talk about my tabs.

Writing/making things
I spent the weekend juggling multiple urgent things. Now I have some breathing space, of course, when I sit down to write (aiming for a combination [community profile] fan_flashworks entry and Guardian Bingo), I can't make sentences.
Whining.A contributing factor is that I'm having another "argh, my prose sucks" crisis of confidence. This happens periodically. You can't be on a roll indefinitely without hitting a bump, I guess. For me, usually it means it's time to read a particular type of literary novel, preferably in paper format. The one I remember being most successful is Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible; the very close, very voice-y rotating POVs, the playful intricate language use, and the thoughtful exploration of context help me to sink into whatever POV I'm writing, rather than skating over the surface and Lego-ing together tired phrases. I wrote some really good fic after re-reading it a few years ago. Whereas re-reading Byatt's Possession just meant I produced endless run-on sentences, heh. Anyway, I guess I should get on that soon...


Finished and posted an old outsider POV writing exercise for [community profile] fan_flashworks's Yield challenge.

Life/health/mental state things
I got my political submission in (thanks to [personal profile] cyphomandra for beta) and wrote an outraged email to the Prime Minister about the Deputy Prime Minister's engaging in stochastic harrassment.

In general, I've been feeling needlessly stressed and vaguely sick, but today my alarm didn't go off and I slept an extra hour and a half. So much better.

Good things
Un-punctured bike tyre. Kdrama. New intermediate glasses making it easier to do crosswords and to read while I exercise. New bathroom sink taps. [community profile] sid_guardian commentpalooza. I'll probably get back on my writing feet again soon. Andrew and Halle and books and fandom.

Poll #33295 Routine
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 57


Night-time getting-ready-for-bed routine

View Answers

I brush my teeth
48 (84.2%)

I lock up and switch things off around the house
29 (50.9%)

I tend to pets
19 (33.3%)

there are a few skincare- and/or haircare-type steps
18 (31.6%)

kind of a lot of steps, of various kinds
10 (17.5%)

it takes me more than half an hour
14 (24.6%)

sometimes it takes me an hour or more
4 (7.0%)

what routine? I'm always ready for bed
8 (14.0%)

other
9 (15.8%)

ticky-box of it's normal to have strong opinions about taps (AKA faucets)
24 (42.1%)

ticky-box of how stressful it is to ask tradespeople to change things they've done
33 (57.9%)

ticky-box of wondering if today is the day you'll unexpectedly step through a portal into another time or world
23 (40.4%)

ticky-box full of sitting on a mountain ledge in the moonlight, listening to owls
32 (56.1%)

ticky-box full of hugs
43 (75.4%)

2025 Disneyland Trip #44 (6/26/25)

Jun. 26th, 2025 07:34 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
Birthday trip! I don't ever bother getting a birthday badge or anything because I don't need random people telling me happy birthday (and also there's usually a long line) but I do like going to the parks on my birthday.

Read more... )

half an hour earlier tomorrow

Jun. 26th, 2025 10:30 pm
musesfool: a baseball and bat on the grass (the crack of ash on horsehide)
[personal profile] musesfool
Todd Zeile: Pete's been chasing breaking balls
My brain: don't go chasing breaking balls, stick to the sliders and the fastballs you're used to
*facepalm*

*

Daily Happiness

Jun. 25th, 2025 09:07 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
1. I am taking the day off tomorrow for my birthday! (I do have to go in to work on Friday, and it's going to be a busy day, but at least I have a mini break.)

2. Molly!

musesfool: Jason Toddler shows off his new costume to Dick (everybody starts somewhere)
[personal profile] musesfool
In addition to various Spider-Man and Captain America-themed items, I ordered a Batman shirt and a Robin shirt for Baby Miss L and then I was like, but does she know who Batman and Robin even are??? So I went looking for toddler-friendly Bat-stuff, and lo and behold, there is a show called Batwheels on Cartoon Network (and HBO Max) about the Batmobile and other Bat vehicles (the Redbird, Batgirl's bike) coming to life like the toys in Toy Story! With DUKE as ROBIN and CASS as BATGIRL!!! I love this!!! (mainly because I was afraid it was going to be Damian as Robin and Babs as Batgirl and that's just weird.) I don't know if any of the other kids exist, but there is a Batplane they call Wing, so maybe Nightwing is around? I didn't watch it, just read the wiki, but I mentioned it to my niece, so maybe Baby Miss L can get started early on loving Robin, and she can enjoy Tiny Titans when she's a little bit older. (I am still sad and bitter that Tiny Titans was cancelled so unceremoniously because it was the best.)

*
cimorene: closeup of four silver fountain pen nibs on white with "cimorene" written above in black cancellaresca corsiva script (pen)
[personal profile] cimorene
I got a great idea that I was going to make image posts on Tumblr for my top lists of fountain pen ink (favorite inks and inks at the top of my to-buy list), but you need good swatches for that. Or I mean, that was my vision: the whole point is they're pretty.

And so I went to my favorite ink review blog, Mountain of Ink, and discovered that she's got a no-rightclick javascript over all her individual ink swatch images. Obviously, since I'm a 42-year-old millenial who has been using computers since I was a toddler, I could get around this, but I don't want to use her images if she doesn't want people to use them. (I would only have done so in the good-faith belief that normal credit and linkback was all that courtesy required. And I would have earnestly recommended her blog too, because that's what I always do!)

So that means I'd have to make and photograph my own ink swatches. Making's easy (if slightly time-consuming), but taking good photos of them is hard! Like here's some swatches I had knocking around in my folder: my favorite CRAZY expensive ink, Sailor Ink Studio 160 (a light minty green); my favorite all-purpose ink, J Herbin Vert Réséda (a bright teal with a very slight leaning towards green); a lovely dark moody ink, J Herbin Poussière de Lune (a saturated reddish plum purple).


click for bigger


See, it's overcast but bright today - the sky is a solid opaque cool milky white. I took these photos two feet from an open window, with my bright light therapy sunlamp shining from the other side at the same distance. And the color reproduction is still not good! You can see it in the whites - everything looks cooler and dimmer than reality.

Sure, I could color correct them with an image manipulation program, but I think that defeats the point of swatches. And I'm not into it enough to, like, sign up for a Skillshare course in photographing art. So IDK. Maybe I will get more into making swatches. I actually bought a glass dip pen for this exact purpose a couple of years ago, only I broke the tip of the pen the first time I used it and then I didn't buy another (I have regular dip pens though so it's not really necessary).

Daily Happiness

Jun. 24th, 2025 10:45 pm
torachan: close-up of a sleepy kitten face (sleepy molly)
[personal profile] torachan
1. Had a good day at work today. No meetings, so I was able to get stuff done. Tomorrow should be the same.

2. In April we had our annual open enrollment for insurance at work and the company switched dental insurance. When I got the new insurance info and checked on their website, it didn't show my current dentist as an option, so I assumed I would have to find a new one. I don't currently have any outstanding dental work that needs to be done, so I wasn't worried about it and figured I'd find a new dentist eventually but I did have a scheduled cleaning coming up this week, so I planned to call the dentist on Monday to let them know I needed to cancel, but they actually called me instead, to confirm the appointment, and when I talked to them they said they do take the new insurance, so I won't have to change dentists after all. The appointment is tomorrow, so I guess I'll find out for sure then if they really do take it or not, but since it's just a cleaning, even if it turns out they don't, I won't be out a ton of money.

3. Today was the first round magic key presale for Oogie Boogie Bash tickets. First round is only for the highest tier keyholders (which includes us), and the general magic key presale is tomorrow, and then they go on sale to everyone on Thursday. Anyway, since today was only Inspire keyholders, it was very easy to get tickets. I'm really glad they started offering that as a perk, and it actually makes it easier for everyone because that's fewer people trying all at once on Thursday. We're not going on Halloween, but rather the Sunday before.

4. I haven't had much chance to catch up on my Bluesky feed tonight but I glanced at it quickly and it seems there's good news out of today's elections in New York. (And maybe other places, too? Like I said, not much time to read thoroughly.) So happy for any bit of good news politics-wise.

5. Tuxie just chilling on these random boards the neighbors left in our planter after repairing their fence a few months back.

too many large crooked numbers

Jun. 24th, 2025 09:10 pm
musesfool: the ocean (your ocean refuses no river)
[personal profile] musesfool
So this morning I updated the board chair on expected attendance at today's board meeting, and she replied, should we just switch the meeting to zoom entirely, due to the weather? So that is what we did! And as much as I would have liked to have had dinner with Friend L this evening, I was much happier not having to schlep into the city in 101°F heat. The meeting went well, and now I can relax for a few weeks.

*

petty and global concerns

Jun. 24th, 2025 03:10 pm
cimorene: SGA's Sheppard and McKay, two men standing in an overgrown sunlit field (sga)
[personal profile] cimorene
A few weeks ago I trimmed my hair slightly too short. My intention is to always be able to tuck it behind my ears, but although I could then when it was all stretched out (right before washing), it shortens a bunch after washing because the front bits are the curliest, and now I have to wear a barrette or a headband constantly to keep it back again.

This has been an exceptionally cool summer so far. I think the season has been drifting later though, and we can probably expect the warmest part to be in the end of July and August again, so maybe it will even out. But right now it's past Midsummer and I have only worn shorts outside twice, and one of the times it was too cold and I had to go in and change. Having the warmest winter ever and then following it with a cold summer... it's weird. It's more pleasant than record highs though, probably (which are still not hot like my childhood in Alabama, but unlike there, there's very little air conditioning here, and there's also a lack of cultural knowledge and preparation for heat: people don't dress appropriately or take advantage of shade, for example, and employers don't make allowances or arrangements to help people cool off). It's definitely better than long droughts like we had a few years ago, but it's still uncanny.

In my dream last night I was trying to remember the correct route through Turku's student village (lived there my first year in Finland and walked all around it with the dog) and stumbled into a bunch of political gatherings both for and against the establishment of a new community of nuns in Finland (lol) that were going to be in the student village (impossible because they're not students), and were causing controversy, among other reasons, because their habits were too sexy (?), only then I walked by them in a procession and they were just wearing normal shapeless floor-length black robes but with yellowed lace tabards over top that looked like someone's granny crocheted them as a table runner.
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
[personal profile] china_shop
I finished off an old writing exercise for the Yield challenge on [community profile] fan_flashworks:

Title: Supplanted (1541 words) [General Audiences]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Characters: Xiao Quan (Shen Wei's student), Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan, Jiajia
Additional Tags: Episode Related, Canon Scene, Canon Dialogue, POV Outsider, Episode 9 roadtrip, Zhao Yunlan is my blorbo, but sometimes he's a bit of a dick, Xiao Quan don't get no respect

Summary:

The responsibility for getting them back on the road rests on Luo Quan’s shoulders—and when he achieves it, the glory will be his, too. Jiajia will clap her hands and promise to buy him a drink when they get back to Dragon City. Professor Shen will give an approving smile.

Daily Happiness

Jun. 23rd, 2025 08:37 pm
torachan: a cartoon owl with the text "everyone is fond of owls" (everyone is fond of owls)
[personal profile] torachan
1. I did not get all my work tasks done today because there were so many and so much other stuff kept popping up, but I got the ones that had the highest priority done, and both tomorrow and Wednesday are pretty much free days with no meetings, so I should have plenty of time to work on all these little tasks.

2. The new store is set to open in just about one month and unlike the store that opened in December, I have not had to do any of the hiring except for a handful of interviews a couple months ago. The total staff is less than it was for the last new store but still, I am very relieved and impressed that the management team for this one has been able to do it all themselves and I haven't had to spend all day every day doing interviews.

3. Ollie is such a cutie guy.

i will lay me down

Jun. 23rd, 2025 05:37 pm
musesfool: "You think you know Nightwing. You don't know Dick." (you don't know dick)
[personal profile] musesfool
Mets just signed a guy named Dicky Lovelady! I am not making this up! Apparently he asked to be called Dicky instead of Richard. I am here for it! (Unless he's a truly terrible pitcher.)

In work news, after a while where I thought I might have to spend tonight baking cupcakes to bring to my board meeting tomorrow, I do not. Whew. I would have done it! But luckily someone else was like, "lol no, I'm buying a cake!" so whew. 😅 But this is the kind of last minute, half-assed nonsense our C suite does. If they had told me last week, I could have added a cake to our catering order, but nope! (Meanwhile, my boss: "Now I'm disappointed we don't get your cupcakes!" Me: "maybe next time I come to the office...")

*

this is the third day in a row of it

Jun. 23rd, 2025 05:33 pm
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)
[personal profile] cimorene
I can't believe with all our technology there's not a solution to the way low pressure fucks up my brain.

Profile

phineasjones: (Default)
phineasjones

July 2020

S M T W T F S
    1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags