A friend’s mom is in the hospital with possible complications from a stroke, and friend lost her dad a couple years ago. I’m not sure what I’m hoping for other than miracles of medical science. Do I hope that if she passes, then she passes around the same time as her husband, so that my friend only has a week or two of bad anniversaries? Or do I hope that she hangs in there to spread out the griefs, even though that would be a grinding misery all its own?

I am sending food to the hospital so that my friend doesn’t have to deal with getting food together or making decisions about anything but her mom’s care. I have offered other forms of support, but those she will have to choose when or whether to take me up on them.

*worries in a major key with discordant minor notes*

$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

mdlbear

I think this was one of those weeks that makes me want to give up on trying to characterize my week. It wasn't particularly good, it wasn't particularly bad, I didn't get a whole lot done, the US had a lot of mostly-peaceful No Kings" demonstrations, but it also had political assassinations in Minnesota alongside other symptoms of its slide into fascism.

Last Sunday was the 23rd anniversary of this blog's founding, back on LJ. Today is the 27th Father's Day since my Dad's death in February of 1999, and I've been kind of wrecked since Thursday. The keyboard I ordered on Tuesday arrived Friday; it's flawed but will do what we need it to. The one I ordered for m has not arrived yet. I may have the start of a toothache.

Thursday was my first, and so far only, Thankful Thursday post ever with only two items. Since then, both of my kids wished me a happy Father's Day, so next week should have at least that many. I had a blood tests and a CT scan done last week, but I won't get to talk with a doctor about them until tomorrow.

See what I mean?

Here -- give a listen to the recordings of my and m's 2-song "set" at DFDF two weeks ago. In keeping with the theme of the week, the first verse and a half of Millennium's Dawn got cut off thanks to technical difficulties.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: unhappy
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: earworm: Sam's Song

flamingsword

Yesterday the headache that I’ve had off and on since Wednesday came back at about 11 AM, so I got to go to a yarn swap but not the No Kings protest. I did call my congress-critters though and had my ex husband divert the extra money he wants to send me to bail funds and the ACLU.

Gonna try the 5 Wants / 5 Hidden Needs thing again.
( Read more... )

lb_lee

I finished textually transcribing and posted Ro and Joanna Piekarski's zine, Trail Cooking: Clean and Green, published in 1995 and seemingly impossible to find. I found it in a free box, and while the Piekarskis are apparently the kind of people who categorize raisins and unsweetened carob chips as "dessert," their thing about light, cheap, vegetarian backpacker food seemed like it shouldn't be totally lost to the void.

Check it out if that interests you!

lb_lee

The winner of the fan poll, supported by fans like you on LiberaPay and Patreon!

Mori goes to Rawlin and says, 'Dunno if I like proper kissing. Can I give it a shot?' Rawlin chuckles placidly. 'Sure.' Mori leans in to kiss her, only for her eyes to go wide and her fur to involuntarily fluff. Not noticing, Mori pulls away. 'Hmm... still not sure... might need more trials... you?' Rawlin touches her lips with her gloved hand and just says, '...I like it.'

Current Mood: groggy

lb_lee

Original posts by Phosphor of Hungry Ghosts here, used with permission: https://nightfeather.cafe/notice/AuOng8NknA7IRvgusi

A janky GIMP pen drawing of Mori shrugging. In her speech bubble is a post from Phosphor of Hungry Ghosts: "'that's like saying God should not treat his creations however he sees fit--' well, you see, if god was real I would simply kill him. skill issue."

A janky GIMP pen drawing of Mori shrugging. In her speech bubble is a post from Phosphor of Hungry Ghosts: "'that's like saying God should not treat his creations however he sees fit--' well, you see, if god was real I would simply kill him. skill issue."

A much sketchier drawing of Mori smirking dramatically, one hand to her chest, the other thrown out with a flame at one fingertip. She oversees a burning fire, and her speech bubble contains another Phosphor post: "maybe YOU can't kill god. but lbr. that's a you issue, my friend, not a me issue"

Current Mood: bitchy

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3102/

[desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???

https://xkcd.com/3102/

lb_lee

We were at the nearby Indian grocery store to stock up on yogurt (only they sell it in the giant quantities we require), when Biff noticed something new: enormous Ziploc bags filled with clearly-homemade momo (Nepalese dumplings). There are a few momo joints around here; maybe it's some sort of mysterious shadow kitchen thing?

Anyway, there were tons of these big gallon-size Ziploc bags, crammed full and tersely labeled in Sharpie as to their contents: (halal) BEEF, (halal) CHICKEN, and... VAG (veg).

It's Pride. We bought the VAG MOMO.

And guys, they were delicious. So flavorful! Cabbage, carrot, (probably?) chickpeas, onion, cilantro (we think), herbs and spices. We've bought bags of potstickers from the (southeast) Asian groceries around town, and they tended to be pretty bland. Nice, but bland, so we took to cooking them with sauces to flavor them up. But these? These packed all the flavor they needed. More support for the "ghost kitchen" idea.

They were expensive ($32), but they were so worth it. That bag will last us a long time; we spent half the bag feeding us and two roommates tonight, and we had leftovers, so that's an easy six meals' worth in one bag, a good treat item. And if I'm going to shell out for food, I'm happy to be giving it to my local Indian grocery and this mysterious momo chef!

Current Mood: full

mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

Thomann and Sweetwater. Minor grumps at Thomann for having a US site that looks tempting until you find out that shipping and tariffs are added at checkout. Major grumps at my old standby, Musician's Friend, whose site is totally broken when seen from Europe. Major grumps at ME for not having installed a VPN yet.
Online filk circles. NO thanks to the weird audio problems I was having tonight during Eurofilk. But I got one song (The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of) out. (I wrote it for my father, who died 26 years ago. And Father's Day is this Sunday.)

Not feeling terribly thankful today. Sorry.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: working on it

lb_lee

Hey guys! I read a great women’s sci-fi anthology from 1989 in the sci-fi library. It gave me a lot of new additions to

pluralstories, but one story that really stood out to me (and has no spirited/many-selved content at all) is Barbara Krasnoff’s "Signs of Life." It’s about sign language interpreters in a universe where the Deaf are overwhelmingly the space pilots. Krasnoff had some training in the field (though she didn’t end up entering it) and reading it made my hard-of-hearing ass very happy. I really wanted to share it with y’all, but the Visions and Memories anthology is long out of print and paper-only. Alack!

So I found Krasnoff online and asked about it, and she posted the story on her blog, so now I can share it with everyone! Hooray! Here it is: https://krasnoff.wordpress.com/signs-of-life/

That anthology was really ahead of its time, and I’m glad some of the stories are finding new life (and hopefully new audiences)! I hope y’all like it!

Current Mood: excited

lb_lee

Rogan: so, today was rough, but a kind stranger made it much less bad than it could’ve been!

( Read more... )

Current Mood: grateful

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3101/

If you think curiosity without rigor is bad, you should see rigor without curiosity.

https://xkcd.com/3101/

flamingsword

For folks following RFK Jr's attacks on healthcare and public health, you may know that yesterday he dismissed ALL 17 MEMBERS of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee. He intends to replace them, almost certainly, with people who will go along with his antivax agenda. Public comment is open now for this committee's next meeting. Here are instructions, talking points, and a sample comment folks can feel free to share: Tell the CDC: We Need Broad Access to Vaccines and Science-Based Expert Advisory Committees (by Precaution on Substack)

Public comment to CDC ACIP vaccine committee opened on 6/9, and closes 6/20 at 11:59pm EDT . If you think that sounds bafflingly short, that’s because it is. The current regime changed the rules for public comment periods and didn’t tell anybody, probably to make it sound like the public are less invested in politics than previous administrations, and prop up the illusion of confidence in this regime. 🤬🤬🤬 Fuck THAT noise!

Link outside the HTML if anyone needs that:
https://precaution.substack.com/p/tell-the-cdc-we-need-broad-access

spacerobotcrew_feed

https://spacerobotcrew.tumblr.com/post/785934668227805184

spacerobotstudio:

Got some requests for larger sizes for this bracelet, so new sizes have been added! :D There are now XL / Small Anklet and XXL / Large Anklet options.
Also my assistant has been hard at work helping.
He is doing his best.
Oh no where did it go it fell on the floor.
(He is Assistant Gravity Tester.)

Please witness the new fuzzy creature who is brightening my life.

(He is not my cat. He is the building’s mousing cat, and a very busy cat with many jobs. But he comes to my room every evening for a warm meal and to spend the night on a fluffy bed, and he has become a good friend. Even if his assistance with my etsy shop is a bit questionable lol.)

Probably still not going to be posting here much on my personal tumblr, I have left most public social media. But I’m going to try to update my shop blog with more personal art/craft projects, and cat photos. :D Follow me there.

https://spacerobotcrew.tumblr.com/post/785934668227805184

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3100/

With a good battery, the device can easily last for 5 or 10 years, although the walls probably won't.

https://xkcd.com/3100/

lb_lee

So, that's two events in a row that've been financial busts, and regrettably, between moves and stuff, we have no Pride events lined up.

So we made a Crisis Planning e-zine, which collates and cleans up all our crisis planning essays (and adds a little new stuff besides) and put it up for sale for $5.

Happy Pride.

lb_lee

Crisis Planning: Legal Stuff: Wills, Organ/Body Donations, and DNR/MOLST/POLST Forms
Series: Essay (Crisis Planning)
Summary: A guide to living wills, health care agents, organ/body donations, and DNR/MOLST/POLST forms (i.e., how to make sure you get the care you want and not the stuff you don't when you're unable to make your desires known).
Notes: Winner of the fan poll this month! If you want to support my work, join LiberaPay or Patreon and get double-weight for your votes. Also, these crisis plan essays have proven so popular (and regrettably necessary) that we have made a whole ebook of them up for sale for $5 here.

Nobody likes to think about this stuff, but seriously, think it over, especially if any of the following is a concern of yours:
• Ending up under the care of your abusers if medically incapacitated.
• Being denied medical care you need, leading to your “merciful” death.
• Making sure your loved ones know what to do if you’re in a coma.
• Donating your body to science.

( Read more... )

( Citations )

Current Mood: busy

flamingsword

I’m going on a journal-cleaning spree. If we have not really interacted in the last six months, I am probably going to unsubscribe from following you. I don’t have enough spoons and free time to follow all the people I still kinda want to. I deeply resent having to prioritize some kinds of human connection below real world practical considerations, but … such is life. 😞

I also will possibly be on here less to keep up with things for the next month or two, so if you have my contact info and want me to see a post of yours, please send me a link? School is going to head back into kick-my-ass mode here in another week or two, and possibly stay there as things move from science-heavy to the business and legal classes I am required to take. 😞😞😞

I have a headache just thinking about it.

numb3r_5ev3n

ICE is rampaging out of control in LA and Southern California.

$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

mdlbear

... so I still haven't done a full con report -- it's been almost a week -- so in the interim I'll just refer you to last week's "Done Since 2025-05-25" (posted on Monday) and "Thankful Thursday" posts. The only parts of the trip it doesn't cover very well are the songs we sang ( "Millennium's Dawn" deserves full S4S treatment), the hotel (the breakfast and dinner buffets, included in the room price), were noteworthy), and the travel.

Right. The travel. Tips:

Don't leave anything in (travel guitar)Plink's case -- it could delay inspection (and did, at Hamburg).
On arrival, stay in the plane until somebody tells you that your wheelchair is ready. Hamburg again.
If you don't look disabled (like m, for example), take a cane and hobble out of the plane with it. This is especially true for Schiphol -- the Dutch tend to be ablist.

Yesterday N, m, and I had a good band practice/conference, including more tweaking on "Millennium's Dawn", scripting for several songs that still had only two-person arrangements, and harmony arrangements because we finally have someone in the band who can reliably sing harmony. We're also going to want a keyboard. Or two, since m is leaving tomorrow for Seattle.

Health-wise, I don't think I'm doing all that well, so it's a good thing I have an appointment with a cardiologist soon, as well as with an oncologist.

If you're interested in word origins, check out the Online Etymology Dictionary, which includes some fascinating articles as well as the dictionary entries.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: mostly worried
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: some band practice

lb_lee

Turns out Mary Ellen Copeland has a fantastic psychological crisis plan available for free online (via the Wayback Machine)! Saving this for myself for sure!

lb_lee

by Ro and Joanna Piekarski
Illustrated by Cathryn Clark

* total vegetarian, low fat
* hearty, healthful, and delicious
* lightweight and inexpensive
* quick and easy
* no-soap cleanup
* keeps the garbage out of your body, your pack, and the environment

Copyright 1995
Golden Glow
192 Porter Road
Morrisonville NY 12962

Trail Cooking - Clean and Green

You're about to discover that you can enjoy delicious, healthful, quick-and-easy, "all-you-can-eat" food while hiking, bicycling, or canoeing, without any overpackaged, undersized, overpriced prepared "camping foods." All it takes is access to a good natural foods store or coop and some planning.

Table of Contents:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner:

One-Pot Dinners
Quick-Cooking Grains
Freeze-Dried Tofu
Enhanced Rmane
Other Soup-Based DInners
Instant Taboluli
Instant Hummus
Rojo's Best Burgers and Buns
Cornmeal, Beans, and Salsa

Snacks

Beverages
Dessert

( Breakfast )

( Lunch )

( Dinner )

( Snacks )

( Beverages )

( Desserts )

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3099/

The installation of the pipes on the inside of the insulation can be challenging, especially when the neighbor could come home at any minute.

https://xkcd.com/3099/

lb_lee

Details here: https://www.anti-robotclub.com/event-details/the-marketplace-cambridge-ma-2

Time: Sunday, June 8, 12-5 pm

Location:
The Foundry
101 Rogers st.
Cambridge, MA

We will have a bunch of short-run prose collections, including Perspichor Freelance Explorer (an asexual monster romance), Disabled Cyborgs, and more! Cone say hi!

Current Mood: tired

mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

The folks we met at DFDF, and particularly the concom, for a wonderful convention. Additional thanks to whoever came up with the con's memorable URL.
My nibling and bandmate m.
The two wheelchair pushers at Hamburg, without whom we wouldn't have made our flight home. NO thanks to the security people at Hamburg, nor to the wheelchair pusher at Schiphol, who tried to claim that m didn't have wheelchair assistance.
Myself, for remembering to check under-seat bag size restrictions on KLM, and Red, my little REI backpack that is squishable enough to just barely fit. NO thanks to companies that claim their bags fit under an airplane seat, when they actually don't. No thanks, also, to airlines that keep reducing the available space year after year.
Ticia and, especially, Bronx, for letting me sleep and giving me all the lap-cuddles.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: last weekend at DFDF

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3098/

Ultimately, history would imperfectly record the story of the Foal of Troy.

https://xkcd.com/3098/

numb3r_5ev3n

First: The Rise And Fall of Kitschy 90s Restaurants. This is apropos of nothing, except that I feel like the "fall" of these kinds of establishments and their replacement by the "grey/beige/greige late 2010s Millennial Air B&B Aesthetic" is part and parcel of the 2020s Enshittification Of Everything.

2: This echoes my thoughts exactly right now. And it gives me anxiety that all of the Worst People have truly won, if it means that I am pulling back from Web 2.0 social media altogether. Because, as The Functional Melancholic says, it's becoming impossible to tell what's real, in a way that feels dangerously destructive to civilization as a whole right now. This is literally one of the goals of Active Measures, and it appears to have succeeded.

III. Vera of The Council Of Geeks also echoes my thoughts perfectly right now. As well as those of many others, I suspect. This is also my Current Mood for this post. I also just let this loop for like 10 minutes yesterday. That's how spot-on it is.

Also, Sinners is out on streaming, for those who have not seen it yet. Just please, I'm begging you, watch it on a screen bigger than a phone screen if you have any other recourse. I'm serious.

lb_lee

Thanks to everyone who took part in the cat fostering! The day before I moved, I got to run by and finally meet Dude and Skeeter, the fluffballs who have occupied so much of my mental real estate.

( pics of happy kitties at home! )

Current Mood: accomplished

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3097/

Pontoon bridges are just linear open-sided waterbeds.

https://xkcd.com/3097/

$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

mdlbear

This weekend, Thursday through Sunday, m and I were at D.F.D.F. | Das Frühlingsfest der Filksmusik in Hanstedt, Germany -- one of the two German filk cons. We got in a couple of good rehersals, Sunday and Wednesday. We'd signed up for a two-song set in the Main Concert, which is basically a couple of hours of two-fers interspersed with voice auction items. This is f'n brilliant, because the auction items overlap the tech setup for the next concert set, allowing the whole affair to proceed seamlessly.

Our "set" was Millennium's Dawn and Ship of Stone. We'd done quite a bit of hacking and slashing to bring "Millennium's Dawn" up to date (removing the verse that starts "There ought to be talking computers...", taking out the first chorus, and making some minor wording tweaks.) We absolutely nailed both songs.

The open filking mostly started after my bedtime, We did get to perform Gentle Arms of Eden and The Bears (middle-sized and middle-aged). m stayed up later, and their singing was also well-received. We'll be back.

There may be a proper con report in a few days.

The flight back was not fun, with hassles in both Hamburg and Schiphol. And Sunday afternoon and evening were kind of a blur due to ( a health issue )

that had me very worried. Fortunately it resolved this morning.

I note in passing that the song pages for Kaleidofolk are in pretty sorry shape right now and badly in need of troubleshooting. Later this week. I also need to put up a page for our new album (in progress), Winds of Time.

( Notes & links, as usual )

Current Mood: mostly still high from the con
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: DFDF, all weekend!

Profile

Sage Ealy-Silk Drăculea

December 2017

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Page Summary

flamingsword - *worries*
mdlbear - Done Since 2025-06-08
flamingsword - Headaches again and 5wants/5needs
lb_lee - Trail Cooking Clean and Green
lb_lee - Comic: Kissing
lb_lee - Killing God is a Skill Issue
xkcd_feed - Reading a Big Number
lb_lee - VAG MOMO
mdlbear - Thankful Thursday
lb_lee - Signs of Life, by Barbara Krasnoff
lb_lee - Thank you, kind stranger!
xkcd_feed - Good Science
flamingsword - US Politics: Vaccine Advisory Committee decimation.
spacerobotcrew_feed - Please witness the new fuzzy creature who is brightening my life.
xkcd_feed - Alert Sound
lb_lee - Happy Pride, have a crisis zine
lb_lee - Crisis Planning: Legal/Medical Stuff
flamingsword - Unfollowing. Feel free to do the same.
numb3r_5ev3n - This is what's happening right now. #AbolishICE.
mdlbear - Done Since 2025-06-02
lb_lee - Copeland's Psych Crisis Plan
lb_lee - Piekarski and Piekarski's "Trail Cooking: Clean and Green"
xkcd_feed - Neighbor-Source Heat Pump
lb_lee - We are Tabling at Anti-Robot Club in Cambridge!
mdlbear - Thankful Thursday
xkcd_feed - Trojan Horse
numb3r_5ev3n - Three videos for this week.
lb_lee - A new home for Dude and Skeeter (and us)!
xkcd_feed - Bridge Types
mdlbear - Done Since 2025-05-25

Reading

Reading

worries

Done Since 2025-06-08

Headaches again and 5wants/5needs