tephra | Reading

I am alone at the rental office today, since both Mom Boss and Aunt Boss are taking vacation to coincide with Cornell's February break. I will likewise be alone tomorrow.

This is occasionally awkward since there are various things I'm not authorized and/or just straight-up don't know how to do, but I've been muddling along pretty well.

I got approximately zero free time until roughly 3pm, though, because Things kept happening in a rude and inconvenient fashion. However, I successfully sorted all the Maintenance invoices that the head of accounting had said must -- MUST! -- start coming to her rather than to Maintenance... and then just stuffed into envelopes and ignored for four months and now the head of Maintenance doesn't have references to figure out a bunch of important stuff and therefore put her foot down and said, no, the invoices will resume coming to HER, thank you kindly. (Office politics is wild, I tell you. *wry*) I have also successfully rented one studio and half-rented another, and I've been manually routing around the annoying technical glitch in our package notification system so our package glut is starting to clear out. Those are all good and useful accomplishments.

And now I am going to make myself a second cup of tea (by which I mean a 16oz disposable coffee cup, because let's be real, work is not for the under-caffeinated) and see if I can relax for half an hour before any more Things happen at me.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: rental company office
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1132186.html

jimhines

Cancer Stuff

We got back about a week ago from my wife’s latest round of chemo. She had an infusion reaction and a painful (but not life-threatening) side effect from one of the meds, but otherwise things went pretty well. The oncologist says the lymphoma is responding well to treatment.

In better news, it sounds like they’re going to transfer her care from the hospital in Detroit to a more local cancer center, which means no more 90-minute drives back and forth, and no more needing to stay in the hospital apartments for 1-2 weeks at a time. (At least until we get to the bone marrow transplant part of the process.)

People have asked what they could do, which is very kind and much appreciated. I don’t think there’s much we need at the moment, so my suggestion would be to look into donating blood. Amy needed a lot of blood products at the beginning, and will probably need additional transfusions, and it all drove home how important it is to have a well-supplied local blood bank.

Writing Stuff

On the writing front, I actually got a little work done on Terminal Peace earlier this week. Not much, but it was something. I’m hoping as the cancer stuff calms down a bit, I’ll be able to keep making progress there. But helping my wife to get well again and taking care of the kids is still the priority.

Thanks to everyone who boosted about Terminal Uprising coming out last week, and to those of you who’ve commented how much you enjoyed it and/or posted reviews. I haven’t been able to do as much promo this time, for obvious reasons, so I’m even more appreciative.

I’m still hit-or-miss on emails and such, but I’m trying to catch up and stay on top of things.

Depression Stuff

I’ve talked about my depression off and on. I’d expect, given everything that’s happened these past two months, that I’d be drowning in a nasty brain-weasel flare-up. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen too much sign of that yet.

Yet being the key word there. My response to crisis has always been to focus on helping the person in crisis and doing whatever I can do. I’ve been in that mode for two+ months now.

I suspect sooner or later it’s going to catch up and knock me on my ass. So I’m trying to watch my own symptoms, and to do what I can to take care of myself. Things like letting other people around town help out, or even asking for help when I need it. I also scheduled an appointment with my former therapist for next week, just to come in and talk and vent and see what happens. Then there’s stuff like sitting around and watching the second season of Dragon Prince with my son to relax and unwind a little.

I know I’m keeping some things stuffed down for now to help me function. But I don’t feel like I’m hiding from it. So far, this seems to be working.

Random Cancer-Related Observation

I’ve lost about ten pounds since this all started. This diet plan sucks!

Mirrored from Jim C. Hines.

den

I spent the day having my shoulder MRI'd.

Step 1: dye injection. I lay in front of the CT scanner so they could see where they needed to inject the dye because it had to go right into the joint. The nurse stuck a grid pattern on my back. Then, after some moving in and out of the scanner, she returned and put a tiny mark on my back. Then the doctor came in and explained what would happen.

He would give me a local, then he'd inject the dye,then he'd inject some saline. The local stung a little for a few seconds.

"You won't feel a thing, said the doctor lying to the patient," said the doctor, (actual words by doctor)
Oh?
"Actually, you'll feel a tinge. But first I have to make sure the needle is in the joint," he added.

So he stuck the needle in - I didn't feel anything - and he put a lead-lined hazmat apron so the nurses could move me back into the scanner and scan. Apparently he got it in.

"Good. Now I'll inject the dye. Tell me if you feel the tinge."
After a few seconds I felt the pain tingle in my shoulder. "Tinge!" I said.
"Good!"
"Good that it's going in the right place? Or good that it hurts?"
"Both!" he said happily.
I could really feel the dye going in now. "Tinge! Tinge! Tingetingetingetinge!"
"Hmm... you really shouldn't feel that." After a few seconds he said "All done! Now I'll inject some saline. It'll feel like someone is pushing a tennis ball into your back.

He was right - it did!

Step 2: MRI. I had to put in some high-density foam earplugs and head phones, then lie on the table and relax completely and stay still while the techs pack foam pieces around me so that I wouldn't move. My shoulder was clamped in a shoulder... clamping... thingy. A panic button was given to me to squeeze if I panicked. Because nothing metal could be in the scanner, the panic button was an air bulb connected to a tube that lead to a sensor outside the room. Music was piped to the headphones the same way. And then into the narrow tunnel for the MRI. The music in the headphones was barely audible over the noise of the MRI. I closed my eyes and spent 20 minutes trying to stay absolutely still. It's very difficult, even clamped in foam and shoved into a long tube.

And then it was over. In the end I was given a DVDR of the scans, and went home.

Medicare covered it all because it wasn't for workplace injury insurance. Which was nice.

Current Mood: sore
Crossposts: https://dewhitton.livejournal.com/1286063.html

murgatroyd666 posting in

girlgenius_lair

Can anyone think of a good reason that Higgs has deliberately not told Agatha that he's one of her Jägergenerals?

edenfalling

Today's randomly chosen theme is: motion

Do I talk about Roberts Rules of Order or physics? Or maybe the Force: always in motion, it is. *wry*

The topic is too broad; I will pick a tiny subcategory. Let me talk about walking.

So, I enjoy walking! It is my standard form of exercise, and one that I have sneakily arranged my life around. Admittedly this began as an arrangement of financial necessity, but it's one I perpetuate on purpose. I could probably afford a car (and car insurance, and parking fees, and gas) if I moved somewhere out in the more rural suburbs of Ithaca where housing prices are significantly cheaper, but Ithaca has a pretty damn good public bus system and as mentioned before, I enjoy walking.

It's also a useful way to get around my own mental stumbling blocks. I am bad at doing exercise as a Thing of its own. But if I've set up my life such that I have to walk everywhere I am interested in going (or at least walk to where I can catch a bus), then I get in a bunch of exercise as a necessary byproduct of doing stuff I have to do anyway.

I'm not as good with hills or stairs as I used to be, though. This is because I have taken to walking into town and catching a bus up East Hill instead of walking into town and then walking up the hill, and also because I live in a ground floor apartment rather than a second-floor walk-up. I keep vaguely meaning to do something about that, but as mentioned before, I am bad at doing exercise as a Thing of its own and my lizard brain is perfectly well aware that there are nice comfortable buses to take me up to Collegetown. *sigh*

Current Mood: mellow
Current Location: ithaca, ny
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1131797.html

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/2114/

Though I do think the tiny vent on one of the boosters labeled "O-RING" is in poor taste.

https://xkcd.com/2114/

murgatroyd666 posting in

girlgenius_lair

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20190220

Also, Monday's page and last Friday's page are now in color.

edenfalling

Things I have done today:

1. Gave blood on my (slightly extended, because why not) lunch break. My hematocrit was 14.7, which I think is the highest I have ever known it. I guess the iron supplements are working? :)

2. Attempted to give one of my clients retirement planning advice when I am not a retirement planner, but she seemed to expect me to fill the role. I hope I convinced her to talk to an actual financial adviser. *crosses fingers*

3. Had my first clients who got well and truly screwed by the TCJA (aka Trump's goddamn stupid tax changes), and had to inform them of their bill. They also got screwed over by our new "simple and transparent" pricing structure, but I was at least able to mitigate a bunch of that. Still, that was not fun. :(

...

Two more hours to kill before I can go home.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: not the irs
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1131651.html

gingerspark

Title: Dreaming of magic
Fandom: Dreaming of sunshine, Naruto, Harry potter
Summary: DOS team 7 reborn into the Harry Potter universe

Previous

Alan

By the time he visited the Black Manor, Alan had mostly recovered from the revelation that Shikako Nara had died with him and been reborn. He had convinced his superiors that Sirius was bound to silence, written a detailed report on the abilities of Shikabane-hime that drew on nothing he knew of the little girl he'd failed. If Shikako was acting against Pettigrew, then he wasn't going to get in her way. Knockout tags and seal knowledge explained how she'd been able to keep him captive. The only question Alan had concerned her reasons for keeping Pettigrew for so long. He had no way of finding out, so he put those thoughts aside in favour of mentally filing the week's gossip for tea with Madam Cassie.( Read more... )

edenfalling

Today's randomly chosen theme is: otters

Otters are cute and adorable!

They are also ruthless predators, and have been known to gang up and intimidate alligators. As with cats, don't mistake cute for harmless.

...

On a tangential note, is that meme about otters that look like Benedict Cumberbatch still a thing? Because that was hilarious. :D

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: not the irs
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1131323.html

edenfalling

Today's randomly chosen theme is: benign joys

A brief and non-comprehensive list:

1. Walking beside running water
2. Being in a boat on a lake
3. Reading a good book
4. Reading good fanfic
5. Browsing the internet for lovely items (earrings, socks, home decor, art, etc.) that I have no intention of buying
6. Watching rain or snow fall from inside a nice warm house
7. Looking at tangible evidence of a task completed and saying, "See! I did that!"
8. Smiling at babies and having them smile back
9. Gardening
10. Singing (alone or in a group)
11. Eating good food (alone or in company)
12. Long conversations with people one enjoys spending time with
13. Waking up and actually feeling rested
14. Petting cats and dogs
15. Hugs
16. Finding exactly the right word
17. Solving a math problem and feeling that lovely intangible weight of an equation in perfect balance

There are many others, but I think that's a decent start. :)

Current Mood: good
Current Location: ithaca, ny
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1131162.html

athlum posting in

style_system

Hey, I have a few questions I'm hoping somebody can help with!

I'm using Tabula Rasa Plain, with this custom css. There's three things I want to do but am not sure how/can't get to work.

1. I want the "network" link removed from the navigation without leaving a gap. Leaving the text box in the "Text" area blank left a gap, so I tried adding:
.module-navlinks .network {
display: none;
}

as I found that in another post, but the gap is still there.

2. How can I make the "edit/tags/memo/etc" and the "link/#/reply" at the end of entries all display on one line?

3. Down at the bottom under the Profile module, (how) can I hide the "subscribe/post entry/tell someone" links? (that I assume are only visible to me, but they still bug.)

I used to do layouts on LJ, so I have some understanding of CSS, but that was 10+ years ago and I've never done any on DW. I feel like I have no idea what I'm looking for. I also have a paid account and so can make layers if necessary I guess, but that's also been a good 10+ years since I did any on LJ and I would need to be walked through it.

Any help would be appreciated!

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/2113/

If physics had a mafia, I'm pretty sure the BICEP2 mess would have ended in bloodshed.

https://xkcd.com/2113/

calzephyr posting in

crafty

It's been forever since I knitted something! It took me about two weeks to knit this ~26x60" shawl with super bulky Copenhagen yarn from Michael's on a long Knifty Knitter. It's their store brand yarn and it was on sale for $4.77. I don't need more yarn - but how could I go wrong at that price? A lot of the colours in this line are not to my taste - there was an aqua, maroon and grey combo along with grey and lime green. Somehow someone came up with this pink and blue combo and it was easy to see the project take shape.

However, every ball was different. The first ball produced only solid colours. The second and third balls had a good balance of variegated blends. I wanted to finish the shawl off in solid colours and I could not find another ball like it :\ I ended up buying a whole bag and cannibalizing the balls for the solid parts :-D

( Pic behind cut )

edenfalling

Today's randomly chosen theme is: your moral boundaries

...

...

I can't shitpost about this, sorry. And I can't do a proper post either, because I don't have the time and anyway these things are somewhat conditionally dependent.

Which I guess is sort of an answer? In that I am leery of moral absolutes, because people are messy and do not fit neatly into tidy lines and boxes. Generally my approach is to try to treat people how they want to be treated, except insofar as that harms me and/or other people around them/us (or is something I can't promise to follow through on reliably, in which case I can at least inform the person that I can't be reliable on the issue and they can decide what they want to do from there) -- though that's more of an abstract ideal than something I'm considering every moment.

Mostly I just want to have some basic decency and not be an asshole, and have other people extend the same courtesy to me. It is a work in progress.

But I don't think I can give you any hard and fast lines and say, "This I will not under any circumstances do" (or forgive, or rationalize, or whatever), because life is messy (understatement!) and people are mutable (especially under stress) and as I said above, I am leery of absolutes.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: ithaca, ny
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1130861.html

wafflelate posting in

dreamingofsunshine

A gift exchange is a kind of fanwork challenge where everyone gifts and receives one fanwork. Typically they're limited to just fanfiction and fanart, but if you have another medium in mind, I'd love to hear about it on the interest survey.

If you don't know much about exchanges, you may want to check out the fanlore article Gift Exchange or take a look at the schedule and rules for the 2019 BSD Spring Fling, which is a small fandom exchange that our exchange would probably look a lot like.

Take the interest survey here.

A little more information:

Participants will probably match on a character or relationship and a fanwork medium, like BSD Spring Fling.
We will need pinch hitters and betas.
I would like to encourage treating.
I'll probably run it out of this community and on the Dreaming of Sunshine discord.

edenfalling

For anyone out there who reads Chinese, I would like to mention that

SeptimaSoung has translated Cast a Long Shadow (We All Meet in the End) into Chinese!:)

Here is the link to the translation.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: ithaca, ny
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1130651.html

turk187 posting in

girlgenius_lair

Is it okay to post threads when the new pages show up through the Sneaky Gate, or should we wait until the official update?

I like reading the page on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights rather than remembering to read the new page in the morning before heading off to work. And, in order to do that I check the Sneaky Gate before I go to bed. I used to make it a point to post here if I found it and especially if I felt like commenting on the page, but lately I've been getting grief about this. I only posted about Mondays page because it was 3 days early.

Am I doing something wrong by posting early pages?

edenfalling

So, over the past couple-three weeks I accidentally fell down a hole into Silmarillion fandom.

The surprise is that it's taken me this long, really, since The Silmarillion was always my favorite part of Tolkien's Middle-Earth stories, ever since I read it when I was 10 years old. I think this is for precisely the reason a lot of people find it weird: namely, that it reads like an old-fashioned, formally-phrased collection of myths/legends/fairy-tales from some not-quite-European culture, and I lived for that kind of book when I was eight to twelve years old.

I have also started rereading The Silmarillion itself, which is a fun rediscovery since after rereading it dozens of times from age 10 to roughly 18, I hadn't opened it for nearly twenty years. I think I really must get my hands on the rest of the "apocryphal" works both because writing process is fascinating, and because conlangs are fascinating. That may take a while, though, since I do have a bunch of other stuff going on in my life.

Anyway, this is probably not going to be a writing fandom for me, but I am having loads of fun reading through decades of other people's work. And that's one reason I've been a little distracted for a while. :)

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: rental company office
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1130486.html

edenfalling

I skipped a week, but whatever!

Today's randomly chosen theme is: the first white paper of chance

I believe a "white paper" is some kind of technical government term, but I am just going to talk about paper in general.

So, coincidentally, I was talking to Nick about paper colors on Wednesday near the end of our long conversation, and it turns out we have radically different feelings about white paper. I find white paper intimidating (unless it's computer paper I'm folding and cutting into snowflakes, because in that case the whole point is to mangle it). But for writing, white paper tends to jam me up in a sort of... panic is the wrong word. But I feel that white paper means anything I put on it must be CORRECT, and so I get... performance anxiety, maybe?

I get around this in various ways. One is to use scrap paper, because then it's already ruined so who cares if I mess up more. The other is to use colored paper. This is why all my little notepads are yellow, because it's a friendly color and if I cross stuff out, or misspell things, or add things in weird places after the fact, it doesn't matter.

Nick, conversely, finds that using white paper means he doesn't worry about making mistakes because the white paper sort of purifies them so they don't matter, because the paper itself is so lovely. For him, colored paper jams him up because it will only compound his inevitable goof-ups instead of salving them.

So we both have this notion that white paper is somehow good or pure, but I feel that my mistakes ruin it and therefore feel guilty, whereas he feels that the paper uplifts his mistakes and therefore feels comforted.

...

The whole thing is, of course, ridiculous, but cultural expectations are powerful things and we all interact with them in idiosyncratic ways. *wry*

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: rental company office
Crossposts: https://edenfalling.livejournal.com/1130068.html

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The Shadows on My Wall Don't Sleep

Reading

wherein Liz holds down the office

Updates and Stuff

Cancer Stuff

Writing Stuff

Depression Stuff

Random Cancer-Related Observation

MRI

A Question ...

February shitposting, day 20

Launch Conditions

Wednesday's comic!

things and stuff

[Fic] Dreaming of magic: Chapter 8 - Cassiopeia

February shitposting, day 19

February shitposting, day 18

(no subject)

Physics Suppression

Pink and Blue Chunky Loom Knit Shawl

February shitposting, day 17

Dreaming of Sunshine gift exchange check + info

[Rec] TRANSLATION of "Cast a Long Shadow (We All Meet in the End)" -- Harry Potter

A question for the group...

elves behaving badly :)

February shitposting, day 16

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December 2018

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