Community Challenge & Signup Reminder!
Sep. 16th, 2025 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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And for this year's Community Challenge, we're going retro again. Your collective goal is to treat every participant.
*except for the ones who opt out of treats. do not treat them!
This will be managed in a similar style to the 2021 community challenge (see here) with percentage tiers of success. I'll post the exact tier targets after signups close and we have the numbers.
Get excited, and good luck!
Daily Happiness
Sep. 16th, 2025 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
2. I had two meetings today and both were cancelled!
3. I made an appointment to get my covid shot next Monday, which was the soonest I could get an appointment, though I might drop in tomorrow on the way to work and see if they have any walk-in availability (it said limited walk-ins online), as there is a location offering them close to work.
4. Ollie has such impressive eyebrows.

Video of the Day – Doctor Who: Moments Caught in 4K, 2025
Sep. 17th, 2025 03:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
The post Video of the Day – Doctor Who: Moments Caught in 4K, 2025 appeared first on Blogtor Who.
A little better today
Sep. 16th, 2025 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
today I sat down to tutor one of my students who is so eager to do well and then scared her when I put my foot up on the table and show her where the medial malleolus is under the skin and she see's my ankle
'it's PURPLE' Yes, dear, that's varicose and spider veins. We'll discuss them for the final.
Today was the faculty/staff art show so I can say I have my art in a gallery again. Ha. I didn't stay until we got to see who 'won' the people's choice award. I'm sure I didn't win but that's not why I didn't stay. That nausea had come back. Here's my art

Forest Elegy is the one I've had planned for two years. the first time I tried to do the leaves, they crumpled (2023) then I decided to put them between wax paper, sealing it with an iron, colors didn't stay but the leaves did (2024). In the meantime I had lost my bones and had to borrow these from the wildlife lab.

Ashes of Them was a last minute idea that didn't quite work as planned (ah well) In the ashes are bits of my old poetry about lost love and you can't really see it in the ashes but there is a faux wedding ring. I set off my smoke alarm and nearly blistered a few fingers.
I was sad to see Robert Redford passing today though that was a nice long life there.
Fannish 50, well here are two unrelated fannish things. One is a trailer for Dana Terrance's non-Disney owned indie animation which really does fire shots across Disney's bow (she did The Owl house) It drops this weekend and it looks worth watching (it is horror)
And can I talk about how excited I am that the Halloween Baking Challenge has aired. I am not a baker. Like at all. My grandmother used to bemoan this. When I was injured and in the nursing home, Food Network was one of the few channels I got and I watched the spring baking challenge. It was fun though and then I found the Halloween one and this is up my alley. I was happy to start this tonight (though I'm annoyed AF by one of the home bakers already).
I think one of the reason I like this challenge is there isn't much of the drama, you know, the blaming, screwing each over over, the smack talking. This feels more friendly. I don't need to see the negative b.s. in so many challenge shows and none of the baking challenges seem to have them so those are the shows I like.
Prompt - Week 10
Sep. 16th, 2025 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Which is why you ended up with
Intrigant
The deadline to link your entry back to this thread is Sunday Sept 21st at 8pm ET.
Have fun!
When You Piece It All Together, It's A Love Story (by Berty) (Mature)
Sep. 17th, 2025 01:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Rec Category: AU - no Stargate
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan
Categories: M/M
Words: 10,517
Warnings: none apply
Author on DW:
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Author's Website: Berty on AO3
Link: When You Piece It All Together, It's A Love Story on AO3
Why This Must Be Read: This is absolutely a comfort read for me, and one I hope to reread many times. It's got all the good stuff: a great meet-cute, John as a somewhat fame-averse rock star, Ronon as "Big Ron" his head of security, Teyla as an eco-warrior, and Rodney as his usual genius self, blissfully unaware of the existence of celebrities. A lovely story, go read (or re-read) it!
( the first bit, to get you going... )
(no subject)
Sep. 16th, 2025 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The answer: ... sort of! The lesbians are not technically textual but there's a bit of Lesbian Speculation and then a big pointed narrative hole where lesbians could potentially be. It is, however, without a doubt, Women Being Really Weird About Each Other, to the point where I'm considering it as a Yuletide fandom (perhaps even moreso than the movie, where the women are also weird about each other but in a more triumphant cinematic way and less of an ambiguous, psychologically complex and melancholic way. you know.)
The plot: well, as in the movie, there's a spy, and there's the Japanese Occupation, and there's a Big Haunted House where we're keeping all the possible spies to play mind games with until somebody fesses up. Because the book is set in 1941 China, there are actually three factions at play -- the Japanese and collaborators, the Communists and the Nationalists -- and for the whole first part of the book, fascinatingly enough, we are almost entirely in the head of the Japanese officer who's running the operation and choreographing all the mind games in an attempt to ferret out the Communist agent in his codebreaking division. The result is sort of a weird and almost darkly funny anti-heroic anti-Poirot situation, in which Hihara is constantly engineering increasingly complicated locked-room scenarios designed to get the spy to confess like the culprit in a Thin Man movie, and is constantly thwarted by his suspects inconveniently refusing to stick to the script, even when presented with apparently incontrovertible evidence, placed under torture, lied to about the deaths of other members of the party, etc. etc.
The suspects include several variously annoying men, plus two women whom we and everyone else are clearly intended to find the most interesting people there: quiet and competent Li Ningyu, cryptography division head, mother of two, whom everyone knows is semi-separated from an abusive husband, and who somehow manages to keep calmly slithering her way out of every accusation Hihara tries to stick on her; and her opposite, loud bratty chic Gu Xiaomeng, whom Hihara would very much like to rule out as a suspect as quickly as possible because she's the daughter of a very wealthy collaborator, and who seems moderately obsessed with her boss Li Ningyu For Some Reason.
Both book and movie spend, like, sixty percent of their length on this big house espionage mind games scenario and then abruptly take a left turn, with the next forty percent being Something Completely Different. In the film this left turn involves DRAMATIC ROMANTIC ACTION HEROICS!!!! so I was quite surprised to find that the book's left turn ( involves spoilers )
Week 10 - Twist Reveal
Sep. 16th, 2025 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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All hail the mighty wheel as it spins and determines our fates!
*spins*
Oh. TRIPLE TWIST!!!!
So not just one thing from the wheel, 3 of them!!!
This is going to be interesting.
Oh great wheel, tell us what is to come this week!!
- Survivor Vote. This week contestants will be casting a vote to remove someone from the competition!
- Immunity for the person with the fewest votes last week who was not eliminated. Which is *looks at list*
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
and CASTING CALL!!! Not only is everyone previously eliminated eligible to be back in the competition, ANYONE who wants in is invited to sign up and join in on the fun!!! Oh this is going to be an interesting week. I will provide a thread below for people to sign back up in the competition! (this is an opt in as opposed to other "back in the game" where people are just automatically back in)
Results - Week 9
Sep. 16th, 2025 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Which has led us to a "first", or at least the first since the creation of the byes, where someone taking a bye results in elimination.
I don't think anyone will be surprised that the top number of votes, who will be receiving the antidote - the power of life or death in this game - is
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The two lowest over all aren't the two lowest in this particular poll. This week the cruel hand of fate lands on
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Thank you both for coming out for this utterly insane ride, and I hope that you stick around to see what is happening next, and will jump back in when the Wheel gives you a shot at redemption!
Final Deadline Reminder
Sep. 17th, 2025 03:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Good job to everyone who has already posted, and best of luck to those who are still writing!
21 Memes of Cola-Curious Cats vs Spicy Water
Sep. 16th, 2025 04:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Pop a tab and your feline appears like it heard a summoning bell. Nose boops the can, ears flick at the fizz, and suddenly you've got a tiny beverage auditor inspecting your pawla cola. Cats prefer dignified stillness in their water bowls, but "spicy water" is great theatre. The straw is a wiggly snake, the tab is a miniature cymbal, and the can instantly becomes a percussion instrument for midnight mewsic. One whiff and the verdict is dramatic: too many bubbles for delicate whiskers, but excellent for supervising.
Then comes the performance art. A micro-spritz lands on a whisker and the cat executes a full-body offended shimmy. Tongue blep. Tail poof. The look says you just served Meowntain Doom instead of a proper vintage from the sink. They won't drink it, of course, but they will park directly in the condensation ring and stamp toe-bean watermarks across the nearest keyboard for archival purposes.
In the end, the Fizz Committee agrees: soda is entertainment, not beverage. The case it arrived in is prime real estate, the can is a drum, and the hooman's job is refilling the world's finest drink. Fresh, quiet, majestic water.
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Daily Check-in
Sep. 16th, 2025 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Tuesday, September 16, to midnight on Wednesday, September 17. (8pm Eastern Time).
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 22
How are you doing?
I am OK.
13 (59.1%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
9 (40.9%)
I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single.
10 (45.5%)
One other person.
9 (40.9%)
More than one other person.
3 (13.6%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
To Move Forward (Transformers [Shattered Glass-ish], Megatron & Thundercracker)
Sep. 16th, 2025 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Fandom: Transformers [Shattered Glass-ish]
Pairing/Characters: Megatron & Thundercracker
Content Notes: None
Prompt: September Sixteen - 6 & 8 - bring your own [choice]
( It was the highest platform )
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One half of a pawrent pair left suddenly, ended the marriage by text from across the country, and now wants the cat he's most bonded to. The cats are littermates rescued together and have never lived apart. The remaining pawrent handles vet visits, vaccines, and daily care. These cats are her only furmily where she lives now.
He once said he wouldn't take them, but he's since threatened a lawyer for "his" cat, which would split bonded siblings and force a cross-country move on a skittish animal. She told him no and feels stressed and blindsided. It wasn't her choice to end the marriage, and she doesn't want to lose a cat because he changed his mind.
Keeping the pair intact protects their bond, routine, and continuity with the caregiver they know. Handing one over would break a lifelong attachment for no clear benefit. If he pushes, that belongs in the formal divorce process, not in texts. For now, this pawrent stands firm, documents care, and prioritizes the welfare and stability of both cats.
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27 Weird Cat Pics That Prove Felines Are Just Funny Little Guys
Sep. 16th, 2025 02:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Cats might prance around the household all majestic-like, like tiny rulers of their very own domestic jungle. However anyone who actually lives with cats knows the truth: they are total goofballs! One moment, they are perched regally on the windowsill, gazing out upon the neighborhood like they own everything the light touches, and the next, they're squeezing into a cereal box, staring at a wall for no reason, or making cartoonish faces at you. That is precicely the magic of felines, though. They are equal parts mysterious, graceful, and ridiculous.
If you've ever caught your own cat doing something that made you stop and say, "Why are you like this?" then you'll be feline right at home here. From purrfectly timed photos, to strange perspectives, to cats actually being straight-up weirdos, these 27 weird cat pics capture our fluffy friends at their funniest, strangest, and most delightfully unexplainable.
Is your inbox feline too professional? Add some cats falling off counters. Subscribe here!
Guardian Wishlist sign-ups are closed! All wishlists are live!
Sep. 17th, 2025 12:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Wishlists are tagged for fandoms and media (previous years' tags are labelled with their respective years, so check the plain fandom and media tags at the bottom for this year's), and there's also a spreadsheet for your convenience.
Anyone can write or make gifts for any sign-up, right up to reveals on 6 October (Reunion Festival). All gifts must be hidden from public view until reveals. Post or link gifts in comments on the recipient's wishlist. (Comments are screened.) Gift comments can be anonymous or signed in. You don't need a Dreamwidth or AO3 account to gift.
Rules/FAQ/schedule | AO3 collection | Fandom and media tags | Spreadsheet | Promo text and graphics
tired. so tired.
Sep. 16th, 2025 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Have spent most of the day asleep.
- Attempt #2 at pineapple-from-trimmed-top has NEW LEAVES.
- I am also fairly sure that attempt #2 at lemongrass is taller than it was when we set off on our terrible adventures about ten days ago.
- Actual bed. Favourite mattress.
- I got to make someone's entire day by sending an "... I think I have your object" e-mail.
- Leftovers for dinner: curry from the crew party on Sunday night. Didn't have to think about food. Extremely grateful for this fact.
25 Beautiful Puggy Cats to Make You Feel Better About Your Long Day at Work
Sep. 16th, 2025 01:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
After an arduous day of emails, deadlines, endless meetings that could have been handled with a single message, and your annoying coworker talking to loudly that you want to pull your hair out, nothing soothes the soul quite like scrolling through photos of gloriously puggy cats. These round, plush felines are more than just adorable, they're living, purring babies with the uncanny ability to erase the memory of office chaos.
Imagine a tabby so rotund it resembles a loaf of freshly baked bread, snoozing contentedly on a sunlit windowsill. Or a snow-white fluffball with cheeks like marshmallows, rolling onto its back in a display of pure trust. There's something deeply comforting about their soft heft—their extra curves seem to carry the weight of our collective worries so we don't have to. Take a night to yourself, pour yourself some tea, take a warm bath, and let yourself scroll these cute but puggy big kitties.
Drive-By Update
Sep. 16th, 2025 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
You can't get a biologic at a regular pharmacy; only specialty pharmacies carry them. So right now I'm at the stage where the RX has been sent to the specialty pharmacy and they're in the process of doing the prior authorization and figuring out how much my insurance will pay. I'm just waiting for them to get back to me to let me know if it's been approved and what the copay will be.
Assuming it gets approved and is affordable, I'll be taking once weekly injections of Enbrel.
Anybody here take Enbrel and want to share?