It's winter, which means it's cold-ish and often wet and windy. This by itself makes reading on my morning commute more of a difficulty, but this morning I was also bringing a tote bag of book donations into work. So I haven't been able to get back to "A Steeping of Blood" yet today and it's driving me crazy!

I guess on the plus side, yay I'm really excited to read a book? 😅

Titre : Les demoiselles de Rochefort
Composition : Jacques Demy, Michel Legrand, Gilles Rico
Langue : français
Type : comédie musicale
Genre : comédie romantique
1ère sortie : 1967 pour le film, 2025 pour la version scène

Durée : 2h15 avec entracte
Où ? au Lido

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Les chansons étaient très bien interprétées, l'utilisation du décor modulable impressionnante, les danses et les acrobaties époustouflantes. Sans être aussi fan que le reste de ma famille j'ai beaucoup apprécié l'expérience. Et puis on ne va pas se mentir : le vrai bonheur c'est d'avoir vu ma petite sœur vivre sa meilleure vie cet après-midi ♥ apparemment la grande et les petites nièces sont ravies aussi ?

What can I say about The Young Girls from Rochefort that hasn't already been told..? other than, the film was already an impressive musical ; putting it on a theatre scene is incredible too? and for spectacle's sake we'll forgive the creepy vibes of relationships that aged badly?

It's Tuesday! I survived Monday! Work was bugfuck busy, so I tried to limit the amount of time I spent off the phones doing callbacks. I ended up taking about 50 calls. By the end of that, my voice was drifting. I sounded kinda porn star-ish most of the day, my voice getting progressively more throaty. By 4:30, it was starting to fade out for a syllable here and there. So it would be "thank you for call--- Johns Hopk-- Radiology." It was kinda sad.

Patients were mostly nice though. And we got great news mid day in the form of an email asking if we wanted to do the same thing we did last year for MLK. Technically, we're closed, but because the sites are open, they asked for a few volunteers to work that day. You get time and a half, plus 8 hours of PTO put into your bank. 1. I can always make use of the money. 2. I can damn sure use the extra PTO! I'm going to be cutting it close for the cruise, but an extra day will loosen thing up just a touch. And it'll mean that in 4 weeks when I get that PTO, I can book out both of the Mondays I need. They're harder to get, so I want to do them first up. Then, I'll fill in the rest as we go. I hit reply on that email SO fast, and now I'm scheduled for 10hr that day.

Still feeling like ass today. Coughing, sneezing and congested. I am not enjoying this cold or whatever the fuck it is. It's tested negative for everything. I tried to get an appt last night to just touch base with the doctor, but she never showed up. I sat in the virtual meeting room for 45 min, and no doctor. I'm a little pissed about that. I'm going to call during my break and see what the fuck happened, and ask if my doctor can prescribe something for the nighttime cough. I'm tired of not sleeping.

Wow, the blue/green dress took that poll in a landslide victory! I have one more dress coming, but I think it'll be tough for it to top how flattering the green dress is on me. I'll put up another poll when it gets here, or at least a picture. I had kind of wanted a longer dress, but if I put on some nice tights, It'll look good. Plus, no pile of alterations! Thank you all for voting. (The Black dress will probably be coming on the cruise too for the gala night, so It'll get it's chance to shine.)

I'm debating on dining for the cruise. As part of the Have It All package, Jess and I got free dining credits to the specialty dining. The Morimoto pop up isn't part of the package, so we've got two specialty dining credits banging around. I'm tempted to book something else, but I don't know which one, and on which night. I kind of want to start and finish in Club Orange, which is the special dining room for suite passengers. Which leaves four nights we could do it. First sea night on Sunday, Tuesday in Skagway, Thursday in Ketchikan. Or, I could do it on our last sea night if I wanted to finish with a specialty.

As far as the cuisine, there's the steakhouse, or there's the French restaurant or there's the Asian fusion. Steakhouse would probably be better for everyone, but I also love French Food. I probably would skip the Asian, as we're doing Morimoto on Wednesday. I will think on this and look at menus.

Today is sure to be another busy day at work. We'll see if my voice holds out! For now, time to consider getting ready for work. Everyone have the very best Tuesday!

QUIET

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. … And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:19, 52)

What next? The rest of Jesus’ childhood seems to have been pretty quiet, with the exception of one trip to Jerusalem (see Luke 2:41-52). Jesus would have learned the things any child learns: how to care for His own needs, how to do chores and help around the house. Mary probably taught Him to cook (see John 21:9-13). He would have learned to make friends in the neighborhood. Jesus probably went to school and learned to read the Hebrew Scriptures. And of course Joseph would have taught Him the work of a carpenter (see Mark 6:3).

I’m glad for the quiet years, because Jesus’ family could use some time to be at peace. We know Mary thought about the events around her Son’s birth; no doubt she told Jesus the stories of the angels and the wise men. Both Mary and Joseph would have looked ahead to Jesus’ future, trying to understand God’s plan—and to prepare Him as best they could for what was to come. For they knew Jesus was the Messiah, and He would save God’s people from the power of sin and evil. And if they understood the Scriptures clearly, they would have seen the troubling prophecies about His suffering, death, and resurrection—for us.

I’m sure they prayed, both for Him and with Him. And they loved Him deeply. It was a good starting point for the One who would love us most deeply of all.

WE PRAY: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for loving me and becoming my Savior. Amen.

Reflection Questions:

• Does it surprise you that Jesus’ growing-up years were so quiet?
• Why or why not?
• What do you think were the most valuable things He learned during that time? Why?

Advent Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo. 

Challenge 3
Today’s challenge is a chance to express your love to fandom, and what better way than a love letter? If you feel really creative, the letter doesn’t have to come from you. You could write as your favourite character, someone completely fictitious or your past or future self - or just as you in this moment.

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers if you wish.

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.


Fandom: More than just expressing oneself creatively by engaging in one's interests. It is a community or group of communities. This allows for support and interactions over those interests. This varies from fandom to fandom, but this is the core of what the experience should be.

Gasp someone got me paid time here! :O Whoever it was thank youuuu, I added my old Girl and Triangle mood theme as a result. |D I should probably redraw parts of it or make a lady one or something but I'm fond of it! I'm so used to it now. I did add a few new little bits to it:



Though shoot I already had one for Determined and just forgot. OH WELL guess what the other ones are for, haha.

It seems like my posts on LJ aren't visible if you aren't logged-in now, which isn't great. It seems like email notifications are still working though. I mirrored some of my old comms over here the other night:

frungylovers - the old Starcon2 comm!
respectawoman - Lady comm
screencappery - The screencap adventure comm I totally forgot about. :O A lot of stuff here if you want to read through some games, haha.

I haven't really done much clean-up or maintenance on them, except turning off comments on one post in the ladycomm that was covered with spam. They're here at least for now!

One thing I'll miss while in the UK (besides family obv) is my PBS Passport that I just got at the start of the year. It's very basic UI design compared to other streaming services, but it's chock full of things to watch. So many shows, some of them my favorites (This Old House) and some I've never even heard of (Travels with Yankee). Lots of British and European murder mystery and historical dramas, of course, but also fascinating craft documentaries, travel shows, history, nature, etc etc. AND no commercials in the middle of an episode-- just at the beginning, and they're all local ones which interest me way more (and there's only like 1-2 anyway).

Apparently PBS doesn't have int'l broadcast rights, neither can you download things nor use a VPN to bypass (apparently), so once I'm abroad I'll be cut off. :(

That said, I MAY have access to some of the British stuff because I'll be...in Britain.....

Maybe I can finish the 1983 Partners in Crime show then.

* didn't do much for Solstice
* amusingly, both Aunt Tish and V got me the same slipper-socks for Christmas
* pear + green tea perfume was extremely relevant to Thorn's interests, even straight out of the bottle
* got my pill boxes filled for the coming quarter
- started the desk top cleanup for that a little before Just In Time
- did the morning pills first, which always gives me a little grace period to get the evening pills done the subsequent day
- ran out of my joint supplement after the first five weeks were done, but that did allow me to put the first five weeks away and start using them
- Belovedest picked up the missing pills in a very short turn-around, yay
* NYE cat pilling results: Yellface deigned to swallow, finally, after several very polite arguments in favor of spitting the pill out; Mila was too sharp to be pilled
* watched the festivities up at the Space Needle from the comfort of bed, with Belovedest and Thorn and sparkling cider (Belovedest dipped into the Faygo stash also)
* legs still awful
* did not lose the second set of black teardrop beads for the crochet projects
* made an OTC meds order from the usual supplier (Wellspring Meds) despite the sale having expired
- if your household needs industrial quantities of Imodium and you hate blister packs with a passion, consider this vendor: 200 pills in a nice little safety cap bottle, no peeling or shoving required

Dear fandom,

I don't think I'd have the life I have without you.

That's not hyperbole.

You've been one of the most consistent threads in my life, even when everything else has shifted around you.

I found you young, in my teens, when being intensely passionate about fictional worlds and Australian pop stars was all I knew. At school, I had basically no friends - I was into the wrong things, the things that marked you out as odd rather than interesting. I listened to the wrong music, watched the wrong TV shows, and wore the wrong clothes, and I liked reading.

I know now that I'm autistic and non-binary, but I didn't know it then - I was just... weird. I wasn't like the girls, so they didn't want to know me, and the boys who liked sci-fi wouldn't talk to me because they thought I was a girl.

But online, I found you. And I found people who cared about the same things I did, in the same way. You were where I learned how to talk to people, how to connect, how to build relationships around shared enthusiasm instead of small talk. You gave me community when I didn't have one.

Honestly, I don't think I'd have any friends without fandom. I met everyone in my life either through bands or TV shows (mostly Good Charlotte, Supernatural and Leverage) - all of us blogging our fears, our hopes and dreams on LJ.

I even met my partner through fandom, via commenting on her kinky SG-1 fanfic on AO3 - which has somehow, five years later, turned into a whole life together. It still feels slightly unreal when I stop and think about it. We're having a civil partnership ceremony in April, which we affectionately call “not getting married”.

You've been there through so many versions of me. Younger me, who needed you desperately. Older me, who wanders off sometimes and then finds their way back. You've changed shape over the years - different platforms, different cultures, different rules - and not all of those changes have been easy. Sometimes you're messy. Sometimes you're exhausting. Sometimes you're sharp in ways that hurt.

And yet

You've given me joy that doesn't need to justify itself. You've given me people who get it, who speak the same strange shorthand, who understand why caring deeply about fictional characters or real-life athletes can matter so much. You've taught me that enthusiasm is not something to grow out of, and that loving something - openly, thoughtfully, obsessively - can be a form of resilience

These days, fandom looks like tennis feelings and fic, like small, niche corners of the internet where a handful of people care just enough about the same things I do. It looks like late-night rabbit holes, shared jokes, collective gasps, and moments of tenderness I didn't know I needed until they appeared on my screen.

I don't love you uncritically. I know your flaws well. But I love you honestly, and I'm still here. You've shaped my friendships, my writing, my sense of self - and even my romantic life.

Thank you for growing with me. Thank you for waiting when I wandered off. Thank you for still making room for me now. Thank you for the people. Thank you for the connections. Thank you for still being here, and for letting me still be here too.

✔ Read 45 min. per day.
✔ Drink something while reading. (Coffee.)
✔ Log reading/thoughts on DW.
✖/✔ Read an owned, unread book. (1. Owned, but rereading. 2. Owned & unread)


Current reading: "A Tempest of Tea", by Hasfah Faizal
Minutes read: 26
Pages read: 27
Progress: 100% (Of rereading the end of the book.)

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Current reading: "A Steeping of Blood", by Hasfah Faizal
Minutes read: 43
Pages read: 34
Progress: 7.8% 

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