focaccia with zucchini and potatoes
Jul. 11th, 2025 08:27 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
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smittenkitchen_feedMore Questions...
Jul. 11th, 2025 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chicating(at some point, have gotten away from my journal apart from this and the writing-goals things...)
This week's questions were suggested by [livejournal.com profile] silent_r_infork.
1. What was the most sick that you've ever been? When I was eleven, I had roseola, which is usually a disease for very small children(Not sure how I got it) that comes with spots and high fever. When I was twelve, I got chickenpox, which was exceedingly itchy and long-lasting at about two weeks. I was stupid and once ate a whole package of Oreos(Which I didn't even really want, as such...just wanted to throw caution to the wind or something, and it bit me on my bony disabled ass, like, instantly.) never have felt the same about oreos, but I feel worse that I ruined them for my mother, who cleaned up.
2. What disease are you afraid of getting?COVID, esp. long-form, dementia
3. Are you a big baby when it comes to taking medicine/shots for your illnesses? kind of. really don't like.
4. Is going to the doctor really THAT bad? Mostly, I don't like them. I had one in high school, though, that I got a crush on and was really glad I saw him for muscle pain, instead of something gross.
5. Would you have the flu twice a month if you were paid $1,000 for having it? Nothing with puking or diarrhea. I guess I'd be stuffed-up if someone paid, somehow, but I'd want some money up-front--time is, like, the one thing you can't replace.
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
This week's questions were suggested by [livejournal.com profile] silent_r_infork.
1. What was the most sick that you've ever been? When I was eleven, I had roseola, which is usually a disease for very small children(Not sure how I got it) that comes with spots and high fever. When I was twelve, I got chickenpox, which was exceedingly itchy and long-lasting at about two weeks. I was stupid and once ate a whole package of Oreos(Which I didn't even really want, as such...just wanted to throw caution to the wind or something, and it bit me on my bony disabled ass, like, instantly.) never have felt the same about oreos, but I feel worse that I ruined them for my mother, who cleaned up.
2. What disease are you afraid of getting?COVID, esp. long-form, dementia
3. Are you a big baby when it comes to taking medicine/shots for your illnesses? kind of. really don't like.
4. Is going to the doctor really THAT bad? Mostly, I don't like them. I had one in high school, though, that I got a crush on and was really glad I saw him for muscle pain, instead of something gross.
5. Would you have the flu twice a month if you were paid $1,000 for having it? Nothing with puking or diarrhea. I guess I'd be stuffed-up if someone paid, somehow, but I'd want some money up-front--time is, like, the one thing you can't replace.
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
Hi
Jul. 11th, 2025 12:06 amblancfortune So, hi.
It's typical for me to vanish for, like, half a year. Which sucks since I have signed up for Fannish 50, of which I've only done 1 so far. Might do a comparison of the How to train your dragon animated vs the real life action one, since I watched the the second one two days ago.
And I have thoughts.
That said, reason for not going on dreamwidth?
Man, the usual. Depression, not wanting to feel pressured, out of sight out of mind, forgetting my password .... and so on.
Otherwise? Just had my June month of the No Writing Academia discord server's fic fight, which I've just realized was a missed opportunity. I could have knocked off 8 of those 50 since I wrote 8 fics. That means this year has been my most successful NWA fic fight since 2022. I only wrote 2 fics in the NWA fic fight 23 and only one in the NWA fic fight 24. The NWA FIc FIght 22 I managed 76 fics. And in the first fight in NWA fic fight 21 , I wrote 90 fics in the span of six weeks ( it had been stretched to six weeks).
Imagine. 180 000 words in six weeks. Never managed that again, lemme tell you. NWA fic fight 22 was four weeks long and I managed 115 000 words across 76 fics then.
So 8 fics for NWA fic fight 25 isn't too bad.
On another note, though. Am I tripping or have all bnha fandom calendar / events blogs stopped their work? Like, bnhafandomcalendar on tumblr hasn't updated since November 2023. bnhafanevent and bnhafandomevents on tumblr both don't exist.
I even ventured to bluesky and bnhafandomevents hasn't updated since May 2024 there.
It's typical for me to vanish for, like, half a year. Which sucks since I have signed up for Fannish 50, of which I've only done 1 so far. Might do a comparison of the How to train your dragon animated vs the real life action one, since I watched the the second one two days ago.
And I have thoughts.
That said, reason for not going on dreamwidth?
Man, the usual. Depression, not wanting to feel pressured, out of sight out of mind, forgetting my password .... and so on.
Otherwise? Just had my June month of the No Writing Academia discord server's fic fight, which I've just realized was a missed opportunity. I could have knocked off 8 of those 50 since I wrote 8 fics. That means this year has been my most successful NWA fic fight since 2022. I only wrote 2 fics in the NWA fic fight 23 and only one in the NWA fic fight 24. The NWA FIc FIght 22 I managed 76 fics. And in the first fight in NWA fic fight 21 , I wrote 90 fics in the span of six weeks ( it had been stretched to six weeks).
Imagine. 180 000 words in six weeks. Never managed that again, lemme tell you. NWA fic fight 22 was four weeks long and I managed 115 000 words across 76 fics then.
So 8 fics for NWA fic fight 25 isn't too bad.
On another note, though. Am I tripping or have all bnha fandom calendar / events blogs stopped their work? Like, bnhafandomcalendar on tumblr hasn't updated since November 2023. bnhafanevent and bnhafandomevents on tumblr both don't exist.
I even ventured to bluesky and bnhafandomevents hasn't updated since May 2024 there.
media update? nah
Jul. 10th, 2025 12:51 pmomensNothing to report re: media, as I'm in the middle of a book (Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid) and nothing else! (Aside from a lot of language stuff, many many many language stuff.)
But! Ghost was by! If you recall, I was very worried about her super swollen face last time I saw her (the 21st) and on the 7th she was by, finally. All healed up and everything!
LOL the haze is the petunias she's standing behind - fucked my white balance, but I thought it looked cool anyway:
It has been chaos around here lately, but HIIII
But! Ghost was by! If you recall, I was very worried about her super swollen face last time I saw her (the 21st) and on the 7th she was by, finally. All healed up and everything!
LOL the haze is the petunias she's standing behind - fucked my white balance, but I thought it looked cool anyway:
It has been chaos around here lately, but HIIII
The Big Idea: Sara Omer
Jul. 10th, 2025 03:30 pmwhateverjohnonly_feed
When you see a possibly terrifying mythical creature, is your first thought, I’m totally gonna pet that? If so, then Sara Omer, author of The Gryphon King, might have something in common with you.
SARA OMER:
At its core, The Gryphon King is about a horse girl on a quest for vengeance versus a man with cat-related PTSD. But before I can get into the infernal horse and lion biology at play, I have to gush about the monster-riding story more generally.
Just as children wish for puppies, children reading fantasy books wish for dragons. The unbreakable bonds between fire-breathing beasts and reluctant heroes populate epic fantasy stories, but if giant flying lizards aren’t your style, there’s any number of mythic monsters that might be mountable (monster romance implications of that statement aside). I love a dragonrider story as much as the next person, probably more than most people, but there’s a whole ecosystem of underutilized fantastic monsters out there that deserve some time in the spotlight. In the empire of Dumakra in The Gryphon King, there is at least one stable full of flying horses that didn’t ask to be ridden into battle or form lifelong bonds with power-hungry morally gray disaster princesses, but we can’t always fight the fate we’re dealt.
Growing up, having my own horse was as much a fantasy as having my own dragon, but I like to think I lived a tangential horse girl experience. I wasn’t yet in kindergarten when I learned to ride horses, taught by the grandfatherly carriage driver Mr. “Grandpa” Clint, who drove his carriage around the town square. After learning how to drive a carriage at an age that was definitely not road legal (to the chagrin of many other children), Grandpa Clint taught me how to ride a horse at his stable. The horse for the job was an ancient old white gelding living a life of comfort in retirement, and who I enthusiastically urged to a flying gallop my first time on the trail. I had a wonderful time as my mom and Mr. Clint raced after, concerned I would be terrified or die, probably. Surprise, I lived. I think everyone should experience that exhilaration, and a few hundred feet off the ground while you’re at it.
I had a formidable collection (army) of Breyer horses, although unlike Nohra in The Gryphon King, I didn’t grow up with an imperial stable. But some family friends had their own horses and boarded them nearby. Sometimes I would get to go ride or hang out at the stable and in the pastures. Rambo, their stubborn paint gelding, was barely tall enough to even be considered a horse rather than a pony, and I vividly remember a time he got kicked, presumably for being an asshole, and the bloody branding of the hoof that slowly healed. For this and other reasons, I’m convinced every horse is a little like a dragon.
There are multiple breeds of mythic horses I added to the bestiary that is The Gryphon King. Because why stop at sky horse when you can have water horse? And when I really got to thinking about the biology of pegasuses, I wanted to explore their avian side. What better way to celebrate the incredible Eurasian horses and the birds of prey in the region than combine them into one omnivorous monster that has an appetite for blood? As if horses weren’t already dangerous enough, now they really, really want to eat your fingers and the barn cats. And—oh, look—the battlefield became good grazing once the fighting’s quieted down. Really, pegasuses are a little terrifying, and they’re not even the most threatening strain of horse in Dumakra.
The moral is that if you make a bird big enough, humans begin to look like the small animals scurrying through the tall grass, evading tooth and talon. And what’s more terrifying than horse-eagle? Lion eagle.
I have utmost respect for anyone who can make a big cat with a massive wingspan seem docile and friendly; I just think, considering the injuries a falconer could incur and compounding those with what might befall your average lion tamer, you should have to sign a few release waivers to approach a gryphon.
Maybe I made all my animals ferocious because nature is ferocious and dangerous, and when people play at power, they don’t come close to the might of beasts. But their actions have often irreparable impacts on nature nonetheless.
Fear and respect can coexist. Add a little human curiosity, and I would never fault anyone who decided to ride a murder horse. The Gryphon King is for the readers who would go out of their way to pet a man-eating monster, who would risk it all to bond with a creature that could kill them a few different ways on purpose or by accident—I’m a little scared for your wellbeing, but I respect the drive and share the dream.
The Gryphon King: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powell’s
What Am I Reading Wednesday - July 9
Jul. 9th, 2025 09:33 pmlebateleurThe first six months of this year really tanked my standard reading pace, but as it seems to be picking back up in recent weeks, let's get back into the swing of:
What I Finished Reading This Week
The Twelfth of Never – Ciaran Carson
Although I'm much more of a lyrics person, I will read Ciaran Carson's poetry any day of the week. The 77 linked sonnets in The Twelfth of Never are as trippy and beautifully written as anything he's ever penned, and I'll definitely need to read this once more to get a handle on everything that's going. As a bonus, the volume also contains some vintage 80s "Japan is just so weird" goggling, apparently occasioned by a junket Carson took to Tokyo.
The Party and the People – Bruce Dickson
The first half of this book is excellent: Dickson's writing is crisp and informative. Unfortunately, the quality—in terms of proofreading, thoroughness, and argumentation—drops precipitously in the later chapters, as if Dickson was forced to rush through them, or possibly even author them.
Scotland's Forgotten Past – Alistair Moffat
I was worried this book would be superficial listicle-style content. My concerns were misplaced. Scotland's Forgotten Past is engaging and informative. Moffat touches on geography, politics, culture, and more, focusing on both the good (e.g., the Scottish Enlightenment) and the bad (e.g., antisemitism) with a deft and objective touch. I'll definitely read this one again and look for more by this author.
What I Am Currently Reading
How To Dodge a Cannonball – Dennard Dayle
It took about 100 pages for this book to find its footing, but it's pretty enjoyable now that it has.
The Third Revolution – Elizabeth Economy
Economy also has a wonderfully crisp and informative style; I'll probably finish this book by the end of next week.
Under the Nuclear Shadow – Fiona Cunningham
Cunningham, by contrast, does not. There's some thought-provoking stuff in here, but dear god are her sentences convoluted.
The Woman's Day Book of House Plants – Jean Hersey
It's interesting (and occasionally perplexing) to compare Hersey's notes on plant care with the guidance circulating in the 21st century.
Mother, Creature, Kin – Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder
In a month of extreme weather (both locally and in the news), this book is hitting hard.
What I'm Reading Next
This week I picked up Zen at Daitoku-ji by Jon Covell and Yamada Sōbin, and Recorder Technique by Anthony Rowland-Jones.
これで以上です。
What I Finished Reading This Week
The Twelfth of Never – Ciaran Carson
Although I'm much more of a lyrics person, I will read Ciaran Carson's poetry any day of the week. The 77 linked sonnets in The Twelfth of Never are as trippy and beautifully written as anything he's ever penned, and I'll definitely need to read this once more to get a handle on everything that's going. As a bonus, the volume also contains some vintage 80s "Japan is just so weird" goggling, apparently occasioned by a junket Carson took to Tokyo.
The Party and the People – Bruce Dickson
The first half of this book is excellent: Dickson's writing is crisp and informative. Unfortunately, the quality—in terms of proofreading, thoroughness, and argumentation—drops precipitously in the later chapters, as if Dickson was forced to rush through them, or possibly even author them.
Scotland's Forgotten Past – Alistair Moffat
I was worried this book would be superficial listicle-style content. My concerns were misplaced. Scotland's Forgotten Past is engaging and informative. Moffat touches on geography, politics, culture, and more, focusing on both the good (e.g., the Scottish Enlightenment) and the bad (e.g., antisemitism) with a deft and objective touch. I'll definitely read this one again and look for more by this author.
What I Am Currently Reading
How To Dodge a Cannonball – Dennard Dayle
It took about 100 pages for this book to find its footing, but it's pretty enjoyable now that it has.
The Third Revolution – Elizabeth Economy
Economy also has a wonderfully crisp and informative style; I'll probably finish this book by the end of next week.
Under the Nuclear Shadow – Fiona Cunningham
Cunningham, by contrast, does not. There's some thought-provoking stuff in here, but dear god are her sentences convoluted.
The Woman's Day Book of House Plants – Jean Hersey
It's interesting (and occasionally perplexing) to compare Hersey's notes on plant care with the guidance circulating in the 21st century.
Mother, Creature, Kin – Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder
In a month of extreme weather (both locally and in the news), this book is hitting hard.
What I'm Reading Next
This week I picked up Zen at Daitoku-ji by Jon Covell and Yamada Sōbin, and Recorder Technique by Anthony Rowland-Jones.
これで以上です。
Into the Woods
Jul. 9th, 2025 09:11 pmwhateverjohnonly_feed
Krissy is off visiting friends for a couple of days, and so it falls to me to take the dog for her daily walk through the local nature preserve. I mean, I could not do it, but then I would disappoint Charlie, and, look, you just do not want to disappoint a dog. She will look at you all mopey and sad for the whole rest of the day. No thank you. A walk is vastly preferable. Plus, you know. I need the exercise too.
How has your Wednesday been?
— JS
Fourth Break
Jul. 9th, 2025 03:36 pmsoc_puppet posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
moodthemeinayearAnd so beings our fourth break!
As usual, if you've been following the Minimum Track, you're done for now! Same if you've been following the Medium Track; you've got a good set of moods ready to go. If you've been following the Maximum track, you've got a week ahead of you before the official schedule starts again. And if you've been doing your own thing, you probably know what's up better than I do 😉
Some options for this week:
- Upload your images and install your mood theme, or as much of it as you have ready
- Go back and revisit any moods you're not quite happy with; maybe you can come up with something better?
- Look ahead to future moods; there might be some you want to get a jump on, especially to make the rest of the track you're on shorter...
- Stop by any moods you may have skipped because you were having trouble with them; now's the perfect time to take another look
- Just legitimately take a break; making a mood theme is hard work, and you've earned it!
However you spend this break week, I hope it goes well for you!
As usual, if you've been following the Minimum Track, you're done for now! Same if you've been following the Medium Track; you've got a good set of moods ready to go. If you've been following the Maximum track, you've got a week ahead of you before the official schedule starts again. And if you've been doing your own thing, you probably know what's up better than I do 😉
Some options for this week:
- Upload your images and install your mood theme, or as much of it as you have ready
- Go back and revisit any moods you're not quite happy with; maybe you can come up with something better?
- Look ahead to future moods; there might be some you want to get a jump on, especially to make the rest of the track you're on shorter...
- Stop by any moods you may have skipped because you were having trouble with them; now's the perfect time to take another look
- Just legitimately take a break; making a mood theme is hard work, and you've earned it!
However you spend this break week, I hope it goes well for you!
What I'm Doing Wednesday
Jul. 9th, 2025 02:09 pmsage( books (Forrest, Aaronovitch, Aaronovitch, Hamaker-Zondag) )
dirt
goddamned thrips. Beyond that struggle, the spider plants are putting out babies, the baby thaumatophyllum is up to 3 leaves and needs potting up soon, the money tree is looking better, Grandma's thanksgiving cactus is looking pretty great, the rhaphidophora cutting finally put out some baby leaves, and the terrarium is overrun by red stem peperomia. I need to trim it, srsly.
meditation work
Yesterday I listened to/watched![[youtube.com profile]](https://youtube.com/favicon.ico)
HealingVibrations' sound bath video on cutting old ties with crystal singing bowls and a windsinger instrument. It was surprisingly intense, or maybe it just hit me right at the time.
natural disaster
my heart hurts over the Hill Country floods. So many needless deaths, so many people claiming there were no warnings. Per Robert Reich's Substack: The San Angelo NWS office is missing a meteorologist, staff forecaster, and a senior hydrologist. The San Antonio NWS office is missing a warning coordination meteorologist (who left on April 30, thanks to DOGE-inflicted early retirement), and a science officer. These people are meant to notify local emergency managers to plan for floods. That said, warnings DID go out but weren't accessible or heeded by the people who needed them. (We don't have flood or tornado sirens or anything here, something the state gvt is saying will change. Though how they'll put flood sirens out in the middle of nowhere is kind of a mystery.) Regardless, it's a tragic loss. Hopefully the news blitz will help get weather warning systems put back into the 2026 fiscal budget for everyone. More personally, my parents' area had nearly all its bridges get washed out, so they're basically stranded until they can be fixed/replaced. They've got food and hopefully no need to go anywhere, so they're fine, but it's all just a completely harrowing situation. The morning of July 5, they had 10+ inches of rain in 12 hours, and that was AFTER the floods hit. I'm just glad they live on a ridge instead of down in the valley or in a floodplain, however hard it is to be stranded. There's so much destruction in their area. It's heartbreaking. Addendum: Dad texted last night that there are teams out on horseback searching for the missing/drowned. Thank gods it's ranch country so horses are locally available. Here's one place you can donate if you feel inclined: https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201
#resist
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Protest/March
I hope all of y'all are safe and doing as well as can be. <333
dirt
goddamned thrips. Beyond that struggle, the spider plants are putting out babies, the baby thaumatophyllum is up to 3 leaves and needs potting up soon, the money tree is looking better, Grandma's thanksgiving cactus is looking pretty great, the rhaphidophora cutting finally put out some baby leaves, and the terrarium is overrun by red stem peperomia. I need to trim it, srsly.
meditation work
Yesterday I listened to/watched
natural disaster
my heart hurts over the Hill Country floods. So many needless deaths, so many people claiming there were no warnings. Per Robert Reich's Substack: The San Angelo NWS office is missing a meteorologist, staff forecaster, and a senior hydrologist. The San Antonio NWS office is missing a warning coordination meteorologist (who left on April 30, thanks to DOGE-inflicted early retirement), and a science officer. These people are meant to notify local emergency managers to plan for floods. That said, warnings DID go out but weren't accessible or heeded by the people who needed them. (We don't have flood or tornado sirens or anything here, something the state gvt is saying will change. Though how they'll put flood sirens out in the middle of nowhere is kind of a mystery.) Regardless, it's a tragic loss. Hopefully the news blitz will help get weather warning systems put back into the 2026 fiscal budget for everyone. More personally, my parents' area had nearly all its bridges get washed out, so they're basically stranded until they can be fixed/replaced. They've got food and hopefully no need to go anywhere, so they're fine, but it's all just a completely harrowing situation. The morning of July 5, they had 10+ inches of rain in 12 hours, and that was AFTER the floods hit. I'm just glad they live on a ridge instead of down in the valley or in a floodplain, however hard it is to be stranded. There's so much destruction in their area. It's heartbreaking. Addendum: Dad texted last night that there are teams out on horseback searching for the missing/drowned. Thank gods it's ranch country so horses are locally available. Here's one place you can donate if you feel inclined: https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201
#resist
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Protest/March
I hope all of y'all are safe and doing as well as can be. <333
Wednesday Reading Meme
Jul. 9th, 2025 09:37 amosprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
I mentioned last week how much I was enjoying Hilary McKay’s The Time of Green Magic, and I continued to enjoy it all the way through. Just the kind of children’s fantasy I like: an old house all covered in ivy, magic that is strange and lovely and just a bit scary (as unknown and unknowable things should be), and just enough real world issues (in this case, the children in a blended family learning to get along) to give the story some emotional ballast without making the magic a mere metaphor for anything.
I also finished Marilyn Kluger’s The Wild Flavor, part food memoir and part foraging manual for wild foods in the Midwest and Northeast. Morels! Persimmons! Hickory nuts! And more! An inspiring read for anyone with foraging aspirations, and an appetizing read for anyone who likes reading about food.
What I’m Reading Now
I’ve begun Lord Peter, a collection of all of Dorothy Sayers’ Peter Wimsey short stories. The second story begins with Peter Wimsey admiring a comely French girl who turns out ( spoilers, if anyone cares about spoilers for a hundred year old short story? )
What I Plan to Read Next
I’ve got the Max in the Land of Lies! How will our twelve-year-old spy handle himself in Nazi Germany?? Tune in to find out!
I mentioned last week how much I was enjoying Hilary McKay’s The Time of Green Magic, and I continued to enjoy it all the way through. Just the kind of children’s fantasy I like: an old house all covered in ivy, magic that is strange and lovely and just a bit scary (as unknown and unknowable things should be), and just enough real world issues (in this case, the children in a blended family learning to get along) to give the story some emotional ballast without making the magic a mere metaphor for anything.
I also finished Marilyn Kluger’s The Wild Flavor, part food memoir and part foraging manual for wild foods in the Midwest and Northeast. Morels! Persimmons! Hickory nuts! And more! An inspiring read for anyone with foraging aspirations, and an appetizing read for anyone who likes reading about food.
What I’m Reading Now
I’ve begun Lord Peter, a collection of all of Dorothy Sayers’ Peter Wimsey short stories. The second story begins with Peter Wimsey admiring a comely French girl who turns out ( spoilers, if anyone cares about spoilers for a hundred year old short story? )
What I Plan to Read Next
I’ve got the Max in the Land of Lies! How will our twelve-year-old spy handle himself in Nazi Germany?? Tune in to find out!