mellicious | Network

Just finished: Censorship & Information Control: From Printing Press to Internet by Ada Palmer. This was really good. Feels like even though it's pretty recent and deals mostly with history, it could use an update as the technology for censorship has advanced rapidly in the past few years, so I hope she/her students are still doing some work around it.

Currently reading: The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Usually in December, after I've hit my Goodreads goal, I read something that's gratuitously long and would otherwise fuck up my goal if it didn't spill over into January (yay for anything and everything in my life being quantified and gamified, love that for me). This year's winner is my high school English teacher's favourite book, which he recommended but said that we wouldn't get until we hit middle age. Well, now I am middle aged so I'm reading it.

It's a curious book. I always hit the literary classics and go like. Oh. Haha. This is stranger and funnier than I imagined.

Me: I guess I will finally read literary classic The Magic Mountain.

Thomas Mann: Allow me to introduce my himbo failson, Hans Castorp. He is pure of heart and dumb of ass.

Am I enjoying it? I dunno, as much as you can enjoy a 1000+ page book which goes into detail about the breakfast, second breakfast, rest period, lunch, dinner, second dinner, etc. of the character. Which is the point, really—the mountain in question is a liminal space where in theory, the tuberculous patients can leave, but don't. But it's a slog.

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

cornerofmadness

That's how my day is moving. Even working with timers I got so very little done and it was suddenly it was time to go to the endocrinologist. I could use another day down here but I'm afraid to go home friday. Thursday is meant to be nearly 60 and raining but then down to freezing again. I'd rather be home to avoid that.

I'm getting to that overwhelmed, gonna cry state. But at least I finally got the damn holiday lights out there (boy that little solar panel battery is something. They turned on immediately after being in a closet for a year. I put the garland on the other side of my porch, the one that's collapsing. I think at this point the garland is gonna be what's holding up the side rail if it get another heavy snow.

It looks like maybe, just maybe I can keep most of my meds and/or qualify for coupons. I make like 200$ too much a month to qualify for medical assistance. Let that sink in for a little while. We're doctors. We're college professors. Our pay is SO low we almost qualify for medicaid. And If I had kids I WOULD qualify. And oh, I signed up for the new insurance with the 9K deductible. It's costing 1100$ a month. Let that one soak in too. FFS. No wonder they won't hire help for my department.

My blood work is not great. My kidneys are working great but with my HGA1C sneaking ever higher. That's not great. I'm unhappy which is only going to make my sugar higher thanks to the stress. At least my hemoglobin is coming up. I still have too many tiny pale red blood cells but they're functioning better than last time. She did agree I'll probably have to start B12 shots. Cries. But at least the evolutionary bullshit adaptation for malaria is behaving itself for now.

From there I went to Gallipolis for dinner and the Christmas lights. I knew the Mexican place (since it's owned by the same brothers as the one in Jackson) would be giving out those envelopes for free stuff in January. I was laughing at the new offerings. One of them is punny. Juan Huge Burrito.

the lights were beautiful. They always are. I didn't upload the pictures yet. I will. but I haven't even showed you anything for months.

I forgot my tea advent again

Day 12 - Rocky Mountains - National Park Tea Black teas, raspberry leaf, raspberry flavor, sage leaf, and raspberry pieces. How did I miss this one? I had a sample box of these ones. either I had gotten a bad sample then because this was phenomenal very raspberry

Day 13 - Rooibos Sweet Sizzlin Cinnamon Herbal Tisane Rooibos, organic cinnamon pieces, sweet sizzlin cinnamon flavor and safflower petals. At least the cinnamon overpowers the rooibos funk.

Day 14 Apple Sage Black Tea black teas, apple pieces, natural apple sage flavoring and blackberry leaf. oddly weak sauce and boring. At least it didn't taste like sage

Day 15 Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Black Tea Blend Black teas from India, Sri Lanka, China and Taiwan and bergamot oil. They have a whole collection of literature inspired teas (Poe is my favorite) What says Dostoyevsky about this? Nothing but it is a nice complex earl grey

day 16 Snickerdoodle Rooibos Herbal Tisane Organic Green Rooibos, organic cinnamon pieces, sweet blackberry leaf and snickerdoodle flavoring. Needs more snickerdoodle/cinnamon

Fannish 50 ( Spoilers for The Amazing Digital Circus episode 7 )

Current Music: NCIS Origins

silver_chipmunk

Got up at 10:00 and had breakfast and coffee. Then before I did anything else I got out a light bulb and my ladder and changed the dead bulb in the living room light. That is always scary and dangerous, and I really shouldn't do it alone, but with

mashfanficchick in Ohio, and Oldest Brother gone, there was no option.

After that I showered and dressed, and played on my phone a few minutes, about 12:20. Then I left for my doctor's appointment.

I got the 44 to start, but when we got to Main and 39th there was a fare inspection, and there was supposed to be a change of drivers too, but the new driver was late, so after we waited quite awhile they told us there was another 44 behind us and we should get on that. So I did, and it was crowded. Luckily I got a seat.

Got to Union Turnpike, transferred to the 46 with no problem. But I'd lost so much time to the 44 that I was really afraid I'd be late, despite leaving quite early!

I got off the 46 and walked to my doctor's as fast as possible, and was just barely on time. Then I waited well over half an hour to be seen! Closer to an hour I think.

But the news was good, I am doing fine, and although he doesn't think I really need it, he put me on a glp 1 drug to help me lose weight. But he said if my insurance didn't cover it, don't worry, do without it, because I have been losing weight, though slowly. I go back in three months.

I texted the Kid to tell her about the glp 1 (her idea) and she was pleased.

I walked back towards the bus, resisting with difficulty the lure of Barnes and Noble, and went to Target for a bag of bows. Got that, and went back to wait for the bus.

And waited. And waited. The crowd grew bigger, and one bus never showed at all. Finally one showed, jam packed of course, and I couldn't get a seat.

Eventually, just before my stop, I got one, and it's a good thing because it took us forever to get from the stop before mine, to mine. It turned out that there was a terrible traffic tie up because Con Ed was doing emergency street work and the Con Ed flag man was directing traffic.

Finally I got off the bus and went to wait for the 20 or 44. The 20 got there first, and although it was full, I did get a seat and made it back to my stop, and got off and walked home.

When I got home, the door has NOT been fixed. I am really annoyed.

In my mail I found that the card I sent to my ex-sister-in-law had been returned addressee unknown, which I don't understand. I got it off anywho and it was absolutely her. Maybe she moved and this is new residents, I don't know. Well, I tried. No new Christmas cards for me.

I got here eventually at 6:30, just had time to get a glass of eggnog and set up the computer before the FWiB Teamed. We talked til it was time for my meeting.

The meeting was very good, M and S were both there.

Then I had dinner, and went to the bedroom to play solitaire until pet feeding time.

I had been hoping to be home by 5:00 and get some wrapping done, but no such luck. Maybe I can fit some in tomorrow.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Got the light bulb safely changed.

3. Good report from the doctor.

4. Glp 1.

5. My meetings and the people there.

6. The Kid.

Current Mood: calm

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: relieved

$radiantfracture: Beadwork bunny head (Default)$

radiantfracture

This was the best of the gingerbread cuneiform. I put the good ones in the freezer to give to pals tomorrow at brunch and will eat the rest, or something. This is one of the maple syrup tables, which were lighter in colour and held the clarity slightly better. (More water, therefore harder texture? Not sure.)

I copied characters from Andrew George's excellent renderings of the tablets, as any photos I looked at were way too unclear. However, I freely skipped tricky characters or sections. Sîn-lēqi-unninni would be pissed.

ETA: Oh, I believe this text is taken from a fragment of the third tablet.

§rf§

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6920 ⌋

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

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #988.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

china_shop

Previous poll review
In the Mind's eye poll, 22.4% of respondents said their mind's eye is as vivid as IMAX (wow!), 20.7% said pretty vivid, 25.9% said they can visualise if they work at it, and 22.4% said it's a bit patchy/vague. Nearly fourteen percent, including me, have no mind's eye. (I do occasionally see things in my dreams, eg, wake up with the memory of an orange cat, so I voted "other" as well.)

In ticky-boxes, spices (56.9%) came second to hugs (67.2%), followed by being able to name characters from Winnie-the-Pooh (39.7). Thank you for your votes!!

Reading
I was trying to write romance for Yuletide, and digressive murder mysteries were not helping my subconscious to deliver the romance beats/pacing, so I stepped away from Murder Must Advertise (Peter Wimsey) for a while and read a Jennifer Crusie instead. Not one of her better ones, but I've read the better ones so many times... I haven't returned to Murder Must Advertise yet, but I will (and I'll have forgotten everything, oh well).

In audio, I'm relistening to The Wedding People by Alison Espach, read by Helen Laser. It's so good! Phoebe's POV is specific and observational. As I said last time I read it, "Give me all the middle-aged women's midlife crises! Warning for suicidal protagonist, but the book is overall life-affirming."

Kdramas
Still loving Knight Flower. It's adorable and dramatic and silly, with many great women. Competent goofballs FTW! And Andrew and I started Jeongnyeon: A Star Is Born, set in the 1950s after the Korean war, about an all-female theatre troupe. It is fabulous, incredibly gay, and I love everything about it. See also "so many great women!" Moon Okgyeong is mesmerising, ahhhh, I totally understand why everyone's smitten with her (or is it him? or them?). We are racing through it (by our standards).

Other TV
We finished Down Cemetery Road, and I want more, especially of Emma Thompson as Zoe. Finished The Lowdown with Ethan Hawke. We're still going on Pluribus, which continues to be fascinating, and Prehistoric Planet. (My Apple+ subscription runs out on Sunday.) We finished the available episodes of Stranger Things, and I have Robin, Will and Max tied for first place as MVP.

I'm having a bit of trouble with season 3 of The Cleaner, but we might watch some more. And then there's Krapopolis, which is mixing things up this season. My sister and I are still watching Fringe and Bluey.

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, Letters from an American, Cross Party Lines, some Brandon Sanderson youtube lectures.

Online life
I am seriously not keeping up with Dreamwidth or my inbox. Sorry! I keep opening things in tabs to read/reply to later, but I'm going to have to give myself an amnesty and just close a bunch of them.

I'm enjoying the hockey show squee on my reading page, and though I don't know if the show will be for me, I plan to take a look at some point, just in case.

Writing/making things
I had a good writing run in November, but we got some bad news and now brain is refusing to brain, stories are refusing to story, sentences are refusing, etc. I ended up defaulting on Yuletide, though there is still a chance I'll finish the fic.

I am enjoying doodling, though -- it's freeing not having a clue what I'm doing. I posted one pic to Tumblr and it got notes and everything, and I just posted another to

fan_flashworks. (I bought an ancient second-hand flatbed scanner for $15, but I couldn't convince my computer to recognise it, so I guess I'll continue to photograph my sketches for now, even though it messes with the colour balance. I don't know how long this art phase will last, so investing in a newer scanner seems premature.)

Life/health/mental state things
I've been staying up too late lately (including to write an angry submission on a stupid roading project), and it's taking its toll. Offline things are a bit stressful and distracting (stuck in a waiting phase). Summer keeps coming and going. Christmas is imminent.

I need to get more active here on Dreamwidth again. *clings to you all*

Goals
Maybe I should make some of these for next year? Hm.

Good things
The boy! The cat! The house! Coloured pencils and a sketchbook and an ArtLine pen. TV that centres female characters. Also: Guardian! The slo-mo rewatch. ♥ ♥ ♥ Christmas mince pies. Early Christmas present bone-conduction earphones (after years of using this kind of earpiece, now I have stereo sound!).

Poll #33963 dance dance revolution

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 52

View Respondents

Have you danced this week?

View Answers

yes, with other people
3 (5.8%)

yes, with a pet or other animal
1 (1.9%)

yes, on my own
15 (28.8%)

kind of / only briefly
15 (28.8%)

no / not yet
24 (46.2%)

other
1 (1.9%)

ticky-box full of "Fighting!" (화이팅!)
10 (19.2%)

ticky-box full of books borrowed from an acquaintance quite some time ago, which really need to be returned but it's super awkward
9 (17.3%)

ticky-box full of enthusiastically and fervently loving what you love
33 (63.5%)

ticky-box full of giant prehistoric otters roaming the savannas
28 (53.8%)

ticky-box full of hugs, so many hugs
40 (76.9%)

beck_liz posting in

doctor_who_sonic

Editor's Note: If your item was not linked, it's because the header lacked the information that we like to give our readers. Please at least give the title, rating, and pairing or characters, and please include the header in the storypost itself, not just in the linking post. For an example of what a "good" fanfic header is, see the user info. Spoiler warnings are also greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Off-Dreamwidth Links
The Doctor Who Companion: Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill to Launch New Doctor Who Podcast, With Steven Moffat as Guest!
Doctor Who News: Black Archive #80: Mawdryn Undead
Blogtor Who: Video of the Day – The War Between The Land And The Sea: Sneak Peek, 2025
Blogtor Who: Review of The War Between the Land and the Sea Soundtrack
Blogtor Who: Video of the Day – Doctor Who: Highlights from The Giggle, 2023
Blogtor Who: Video of the Day – The War Between The Land And The Sea, 2025
Blogtor Who: Review of The War Between the Land and the Sea: The Deep

Fanfiction
Complete
Not That Old by

badly_knitted (G | Clara Oswald, Twelfth Doctor)

Communities & Challenges

dw100 announces Challenge #1070: ballistic

If you were not linked, and would like to be, contact us in the comments with further information and your link.

sanguinity

There's a bunch of reading I need to write up, but there was a little knot of Bujold books in there, so let's begin with those.

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion (2001)

The initial offering in Bujold's Five Gods universe, a set of several loosely-related fantasy series. This particular novel has medieval-Spanish inspirations with an original theology; I can't speak to the others.

I went into this 100% unspoiled, and enjoyed that experience very much. Since finishing the book, I've read a number of jacket blurbs and library catalog summaries and... meh. 1) We're AT LEAST two-thirds of the way through the book before ANY of that stuff happens, and 2) none of those blurbs had anything to do with what I enjoyed about the book.

So let me see if I can say some spoiler-free things I loved right from the beginning.

Lupe dy Cazaril, our protagonist, spends the entire book trying to solve the problem directly in front of him. He's got shit resources, shit influence, and shit big-picture perspective -- in fact, it's not until near the end of the book that he figures out what the plot arc even was! -- but by god he'll solve the problem right in front of him or he'll die trying. I love this for him.
A couple of chapters in, when we started to unlock Cazaril's backstory, I incredulously messaged phoenixfalls: "omg. Bujold took Aral Vorkosigan and broke him. Made him realize the tyrrany of meat. Put him through so much trauma that his only remaining ambition is to live."

And I hold by that characterization of Cazaril: the once noble and principled master strategist, for whom everything, but everything, has gone so wrong that he has surrendered pride and principles and ambition and is grubbing in the mud after dropped coins. He is physically disabled. He has crippling PTSD. He would be content to live life as a kitchen scullion if it meant a guaranteed warm place by the fire to sleep.

(But first he has to solve the problem in front of him.)

It is also worth mentioning that Bujold's plotting is as masterful as ever, and as usual, there is a fine array of worthy female characters across a wide range of ages.

It is probably also worth talking about the theology of this world? Except 1) I haven't really made up my mind about it, and 2) that discussion is nothing but spoilers all the way down.

I already have its immediate sequel, Paladin of Souls, in my hot little hands, although from the state of my reading list, it might be a bit before I can get there.

Lois McMaster Bujold, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012)
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Flowers of Vashnoi (2018)

Read alouds to

grrlpup; re-reads for me and first reads for her.

My reviews from last year, which I still largely stand by.

re Ivan: I still laugh to see Ivan thwarted; I still have fine-but-lukewarm feelings about Ivan and Tej. This time around, I particularly enjoyed how EVERYONE who found out about Ivan's emergency marriage IMMEDIATELY asked the important question: DOES YOUR MOM KNOW YET?? Sadly, the second half of the novel doesn't compel me the way the first half does: the in-law circus just can't live up to all of Ivan's nearest and dearest getting in line to make him squirm.

re Vashnoi: I still think this is a great novella, still appreciate how messy and intractable history is, and still very much appreciate Bujold leaving the ending as an exercise for the reader. Fair warning: this is one of the darker books in the series.

maju

After several days of below freezing temperatures, today the weather is warming up, and will stay warmer for a few days at least. I ventured out for a walk this morning and only encountered a few patches of the road which might have had residual ice because of being shaded. The worst was our own driveway, because, unlike the roads, it had not been salted.

susandennis

I started a chat group for meal reviews. We get new menus every week with different meal choices for lunch and dinner. The new menus start on Mondays. So for dinner and lunch, they will have the same options for a week. (There is a buffet at dinner that is a different menu every night and a cafe that is a different menu every month, so we have lots of options.) Anyway, the idea is if you eat something for lunch or dinner that is particularly good or bad, share it - especially early on in the week. Right now there are only 4 of us but I'm hoping with time, the crowd will grow. Still even with 4, is better than 1.

Last night I had Shoyu Ramen Chasu (pork belly, soupy noodles and a very softly boiled egg). It was fabulous. I will have the rest of it for lunch and have it again for dinner at least once more this week. Martha reported that the grilled ribeye was really thin but tasty. I'll probably give that a go. Oh and all reported the side dishes this week all suck. So I'll get the ribeye to go and have my own sides ready to eat up here.

Biggie is giving in on the treats. This morning, he took one sniff, gave me the WTF side eye and ate them all pretty much right away. He's still peeing and this morning's contribution was a good amount. He has one more antibiotic pill and then it's just up to the Very Expensive food. Julio and Biggie are really going at it this morning. Running, chasing, squealing, hiding. Julio is usually the one who tries to get Biggie to play but today Biggie's leading the charge. They are a pair for sure.

I'm still struggling with how to get some walking, stretching, moving, stamina building, etc, into my life on a regular basis. So far, no scheme I've come up with is sustainable. And, of course, sustainability will be the only way to make it work. My legs are so week and I have no core strength. I can absolutely see the day when I just can no longer move. That alone, should give me what I need to keep up some kind of program but, alas, 76 years of sitting on my ass is a hard habit to break.

My scheme du jour is to walk from here to the lobby at least 4 times a day. I've done one - since the pool is on the other side of the lobby from here, getting there and back counts. It's a hard thing to force myself to do if I don't have a reason to go. But, it's worth a try anyway. I have a package to pick up (that's 2) and dinner to pick up (that's 3) so I'll really only have to invent one other trip.

Plus, shockingly, the car has not yet been vacuumed.

It's house cleaning day. My favorite day of the week.

sovay

On this particularly bright and sleepless morning which began with a formal call from the career center, events otherwise known as

radiantfracture and Existential Comics having conspired to bring the Tractactus to the forefront of my mind, I have decided that the most cursed translation of Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen is "I feel that if a person can't communicate, the very least he can do is to shut up."

Current Music: Tom Lehrer, "Alma"

mallorys_camera

My newest game involves pretending I am a researcher at the North Pole, in Antarctica, on the frozen surface of Mars. I am here to do field observations! (Today, Hideous White Stuff fell from the sky.) I am quite alone. I keep in close contact with a battalion of fellow scientists through phone & text, but I will continue to be isolated from all human contact until the thaw...

After all, this is the coldest December in many years. Or so we're being told.

###

RTT shared my sadness over Rob Reiner's death. "The Princess Bride was my favorite movie growing up!" he told me. Which I kinda don't think is true, but I appreciated the solidarity.

Ichabod, the implacable social justice warrior, was sniffier. I don’t want to yuck your yum, he texted, and it is sad…and I get that celebrities and rich people mean more to us as a culture than pretty much anybody else besides friends and family…but there’s just so much including death that feels sadder and more tragic to me right now.

(Yuck my yum??? I'm in ❤️LUV❤️)

I tried explaining it to him.

No, I'm not stanning. At least, I don't think I'm stanning.

I don't feel like I knew Rob Reiner. Though I do kinda feel like I stood next to him on an elevator once, and we exchanged pleasantries.

It's more like Reiner repped what I might call the consumate Boomer ethos. And I am a Boomer. His work spoke to me. It was a far less personal conversation than the one I might have with, say, Fellini (La Strada), or Joseph Losey (The Go Between), or Truffaut (Les quatre cents coups). Reiner didn't know anything about my soul. But he knew a lot about my circumstances.

Reiner was no auteur!

The only film of his that broke any kind of precedent was This Is Spinal Tap, which more-or-less invented the mockumentary genre.

He had no signature visual style. Cinematically, you could call him a Steven Spielberg wannabe.

His films were often humorous, but then, he directed scripts by funny screenwriters, William Goldman, Nora Ephron. (Though, reportedly, I'll have what she's having—the funniest line in When Harry Met Sally—was a Reiner ad lib.)

But his films—more craft than art, as I say—were kind of like a series of dioramas in some great museum of Boomer Life.

###

Take When Harry Met Sally..., which I watched last night.

I don't know whether Ichabod has ever seen When Harry Met Sally... but I'm certain he would dislike it. Its basic thesis—Discuss: Men & women cannot be friends!—would not strike him as mischievous or playful at all, but as abhorrent. He would sit patiently through the closing credits and then announce, Gender is an artificial concept. Which, of course, is true.

Attitudes change.

We are biased in favor of the attitudes that informed our youths (roughly defined as that time in our life when we first realized we could manifest our own opinions. For most people, that's the early 20s.)

But if personal growth is a goal, one realizes that the social/cultural matrix has evolved into a different thing than it was during our youth. And we change our attitudes.

Those early attitudes continue to survive, though—even thrive—in the music and movies we love.

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

mizkit

I was trying to get up to 50K written in 2 weeks (for reasons, and I succeeded), but I didn't have enough brain to write my book, so I asked for fic prompts and someone suggested a Kpop Demon Hunters prompt of "How Sussie ended up with Derpy's hat" and I thought, I can do that!

In an ideal world, you would go read this over at my Patreon and become a member there if you're not already, but nobody's going to strike you down for reading it here. :)

( Read more... )

muccamukk

Which included a bunch of American Political movies, watches/rewatches of said being inspired in part by current events.

Dave and Independence Day: When the East Wing got it, in memory of the White House, and a time when we expected presidents to be non-terrible, or at least rational. Also, Nenya hadn't seen them.

Good Night and Good Luck: Following Keith Olbermann turning out to be the real villain in the Olivia Nuzzi scandal, and me remembering that even when I agreed with his takes (circa the Bush administration), I thought he had a hell of a lot of nerve to use that sign off. Also, Nenya hadn't seen it. Also, I couldn't find a good quality copy of the 1986 biopic I grew up watching (though I see there's a passible one on YouTube).

A Few Good Men: Because a man made a lot of art that mattered to a lot of people, and that should still mean something. Also, I'd never seen it.

chez_jae

Cat's Claw by Amber Benson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

I only had the epilogue of my “work” book to finish; therefore I brought it home this evening and read that last bit. The book was Cat’s Claw by Amber Benson (from Buffy!), and it’s the second in her urban fantasy series “Calliope Reaper-Jones”.

Callie is Death’s daughter, rendering her immortal. However, she chooses to forego that part of her life in an effort to be as human as possible. She works a ho-hum job, lives in a cramped apartment, and buys designer knock-offs. Because she owes a debt to Cerberus, one of the guardians of Hell, Callie is tasked with finding what became of a deceased ancient Egyptian named Senenmut, whose soul never arrived for processing. Callie has 24 hours to deliver Senenmut to Cerberus, or else she must take over his position as a guardian of Hell. Callie soon finds herself on an epic adventure that takes her to Purgatory, Target, and ancient Egypt. By the time all is said and done, Callie ends up in a throwdown showdown with an ancient goddess—one who wants to possess her immortal body.

The author did a fair job of providing enough backstory that I wasn’t floundering for reading book 2 in the series first. That being said, I wasn’t all that enamored of the story. Callie is quite immature, shallow, and self-absorbed. I had difficulty connecting with her. She did step up and stand up when the chips were down, however. Characters were portrayed well. As for the plot, it was a long book to have taken place over the course of 24 hours.

Favorite lines:
♦ Little did I know then how badly I was gonna get creamed in overtime.
♦ Abject terror is a great motivator. It kept my feet moving long after the rest of my body had already given up.

Not really my cuppa tea. Three stars

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Sleigh Ride"

cornerofmadness

I mean I had a decent day and I'm sitting down to my dinner of crunchy roll sushi and I dropped my plate. It hits my pint glass of water. The water hits and destroys 100$ worth of coupons I would have used, destroys a pile of research articles. Sushi sails everywhere. It gets cat hair on it and I have to pick it out because that's all I have for dinner. Gah.

I got my blood drawn. It was easy and she left no marks. I had time to go to the coffee shop for breakfast and coffee.

Look how cute that is

Went to the school, got the stuff printed that I needed and got my plants into the greenhouse and signed up for my shit new insurance before I forgot.

And then somehow it was dinner.

And then I saw this latest insult from the monster in charge ( cut because not everyone wants to see what Trump tweeted about Rob Reiner )

Music Monday - the prompt this week is A song you like from a movie soundtrack

One of the few things I liked from this movie

Watch on YouTube

Ditto this movie

Watch on YouTube

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Holiday Baking Championship

silver_chipmunk

Got up this morning at 10:30, had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed. I got a phone call from Middle Brother's group home about some paperwork I had to take care of, and she told me how well he was doing.

The mail came early today, so I got it and got three Christmas cards, two of them being from people that I was pretty sure were going to send me cards but whose addresses I didn't have to send them cards first. And one I wasn't expecting at all but was delighted to get, from

lauramcewan. Thank you!

Then I went out to Flushing to Duane Reade and got wrapping paper, which I was out of, and package labels, and something for Middle Brother's stocking.

Then I came back and made out those three cards, and I got Elissa's address from

mashfanficchick so I got her card made out too. And that finishes my Christmas cards unless I get another unexpected one.

I got a load of cardboard recycling together, and took it out and went around the block and mailed the cards. So that's taken care of. And they were working on the front door lock!! So maybe it's finally gonna' be fixed, after all my complaints.

Then I set down to wrapping. I got all of Middle Brother's things wrapped, and a few others as well. I also got all the presents sorted out and in separate bags so I can know how much there is for everyone.

Then I puttered online for awhile and then went into the bedroom and played solitaire for awhile, until it was time to Team the FWiB. But we had to wait awhile because he hadn't charged his earphones, so while he did that I used the private messaging on Ship-of-fools to send a message to Croesos, just to keep in touch. Hope he answers.

Teamed the FWiB for an hour and a half, then had dinner, and went to the bedroom to lie down til pet feeding time. Came out then and fed the pets.

The one downer of the day, discovered that a lightbulb in my living room ceiling light has blown out. It's dim in here now. Have to replace it tomorrow, not fun. Really miss Oldest Brother helping me with that.

But anyway, that was the day.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Got Christmas cards.

3. Maybe the door's going to be fixed.

4. Some wrapping done.

5. My cards are all sent.

6. Nice warm apartment.

Current Mood: good

Profile

mellicious

December 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Page Summary

Style Credit

Base style: Crisped by timeasmymeasure
Theme: Barren Winter Trees by flatlanders

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Dec. 28th, 2025 02:35 am

Catchy Name Needed

Looking for a name since 2003

Network

Reading Wednesday

Just One Thing (17 December 2025)

Warp nine

Doctor's appointment

Good news!

as widely requested

[ SECRET POST #6920 ]

Me-and-media update

Tuesday, 16th December 2025

Recent Reading: Lois McMaster Bujold

(no subject)

Tuesday

It's time to change partners again

Yucking My Yum

Just one thing: 16 December 2025

Fic: How Sussie Got His Hat

Finally Updated My Media Tracker

Book 116, 2025

Could have done without that

A good day

Profile

December 2025

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags