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writing

Writing, writing, writing

There was the story I was planning to write, and then there was the much more out there (and potentially much longer) story idea that came up in conversation with a friend last night - when I foolishly said: "I could write that."

Guess which one I've now got 1500 words of?

*sigh*

The word "fuck" has been coming up in my online conversations quite a bit today, mostly coupled with "you". She's an utter menace.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Lady Gaga - Hold My Hand

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Book Log: Our Moon: A Human History

Rebecca Boyle's Our Moon: A Human History was a fun read! Clean prose but also poetic in places, with sometimes cheeky delivery that doesn't fully spell out the joke or the implications. She says things like, "The Apollo missions were designed to use the Moon as a tool. It was an instrument of might, just as surely as it was for the stone circles of northern Scotland, the Nebra sky disk, and the temples dedicated to Sin. Americans walked up there to show they could do it, and in doing so, demonstrated what glory was possible through democratic republicanism and white Protestant Christianity, rather than Soviet communism and godlessness." A journey of meaning, in a chain all the way back to the earliest times.

The book is split into three sections:

How the Moon Was Made, detailing the physical characteristics of the moon, what it's made of, how its physical characteristics are different from Earth, the Theia hypothesis, and a general overview of its movements in the sky;

How the Moon Made Us, detailing the hypothesis of how moon helped evolution via the tides which forced our sea ancestors into amphibious environments, and then of how the moon helped our human ancestors conceptualize time and time-keeping and future planning, which eventually led to civilisation;

How We Made the Moon, detailing our projections of religious, emotional and scientific meaning onto the moon, culminating in modern and future moon exploration, feat. the usual suspects of Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, etc.

Lovely journey of exploration and very readable, though I did have to look up some things for better understanding, like the synodic month. I have such difficulty picturing such things in my head! And have to constantly correct the mental picture I have that the moon moves with the night sky, when we can literally see the moon in the sky in daytime. For me, it's somewhat similar to the perception of up and down, which gets tossed if I stand outside at night in low light pollution and the huge huge night sky makes me feel like I could fall into it.

There's also a section about how the moon may actually affect our health in very subtle ways, with reports on possible links to depression and anger. I initially doubletaked like, is she talking horoscope-type effects? But then I remembered how atmospheric pressure does cause migraines and arthritic symptoms, and I myself feel a stinging pressure along my old surgery scars when there's a thunderstorm coming. We are made of lots of liquid, after all.

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.admin

Day 7 Theme - The Lover

Today's theme is The Lover.

Here are some ideas to get you started: She is the type of person that people want to be around. She has a passion for life and wants to connect with others. How does she express this love? What is her love language? Or conversely, is love something that she shies away from?

Just go wherever the Muse takes you. If this prompt doesn't speak to you, feel free to share something that does. You can post in a separate entry or as a comment to this post.

Want to get a jump start on tomorrow's theme? Check out the prompt list in the pinned post at the top of the page. Please don't post until that day.

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weekly chat

Weekly Chat

The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?

Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or

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Festive Round-Up

Was looking through the Yuletide and Festivids 2025 collections earlier and came across two baihe-related entries:

A Deadly Thread, a Legend of Yunze fic by sephstone
Vigor & Valor, a Couple of Mirrors vid by comm member extrapenguin

Let me know if I've missed anything from this or other festive exchanges!

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Interesting Links for 07-02-2026

1. Only 3% of people post toxic messages online. But they produce 1/3 of the messages.: (tags:discussion psychology harrassment )
2. Grima Wormtongue's links to Saruman the White 'didn't raise alarms' during vetting process: (tags:lotr politics uk satire )
3. Epstein Backed 'Billionaires' Dinner' Network of Prominent Anti-Trans Figures: (tags:LGBT transgender bigotry OhForFucksSake )

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Crossed #7

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(no subject)

Oh man, I didn't mean to let almost a whole month go by between posts. To be fair, it's been a busy month. I'm even struggling to keep my physical journal updated, since whole days go by without me even sitting down at my desk!

The course I've been attending is almost over. Monday will be our last day together. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.
On one hand, there have been times when I've felt immensely out of place, and interacting with the people there always meant I needed to put up a mask of sorts. On the other, we've been together for almost three months. They're not bad people in any way, and we've shared some really emotional moments. I think I'm gonna miss them, but we're all such different people, in such different places in our lives, that I don't think we're gonna keep in touch all that much.
We're also all pretty exhausted by the rhythm of the course, so I do look forward to being able to relax a little... but I have to admit that having that kind of structure forced on me makes me function better. From Tuesday on, I'm gonna have to come up with my own specific structure, as I'm gonna have to start studying for something. I hope I can do it.

Since the start of the year, we've spent almost all mornings during the weekend at my aunt's place. My grandma moved there a few weeks ago. Well, "moved" isn't exactly the right word, but she's there now. Which means that it almost feels like a normal family reunion when we're all there, although (thank fuck) a few relatives are missing. It's insane how chill those occasions can be if you just take some people out of the picture.

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Torchwood: Dazed and confused (Challenge 487 - Stars)

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audiodrama/podcasts

January top 9

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Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: yikes imma need to go to bed here now

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the icon is for the fic i have been failing to write for seven years now

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Watched A Man on the Inside with Jenn

That's a pretty good show, although she ruined it by guessing all the plot twists.

( Teensy spoiler for second season )

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( Read more... )

Entry tags:

memes,
reflection

friday five

1. What did you want to be when you were a kid?

A kid. Really.

2. What is your proudest accomplishment so far?

I've lived long enough that surely there could be more than one? Perhaps it's knowing when not to respond directly to this question, which invites humblebrags.

3. What is your dream job?

Something lower stress than my previous jobs.

4. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I've always found this question (common in certain kinds of interview) to say more about the asker than the answerer. It's bullshit. Ten years before I passed my PhD quals, I had no idea I would apply to grad schools. Ten years before I was part of a team that published an award-winning scholarly bestseller, I had no idea I would work as libstaff. Those were good things to do, but I didn't plan for them.

5. What does it take to make you happy?

Accidental inversions or juxtapositions, and bits of space for contemplation. When I'm very busy, it's harder to notice anything---a thing I noticed after I began protecting time during grad school to take walks and look at random plants.

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Deadline has passed!

The deadline has officially passed. Anyone who does not have an extension or have submitted a completed work will be defaulted. There will be a list of post deadline pinch hits posted within the next 24 hours.

Please make sure that your assignment is not in draft mode. If it, you will be considered defaulted as well.

If you have changed your username since assignments went out, please reach out via email at rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com so the records can be updated.

Many people have extensions so don't worry if you don't have a gift and aren't on the upcoming pinch hit post. However, you are more than welcome to reach out via email if you want to make sure or have any other questions/concerns.

In the meantime, if you are a Pinch Hitter who didn't sign up or want to treat a pinch hitter, you can check out the Pinch Hitter's Prompts Post.

There's also the AO3 app to find others to treat as well.

Any questions can be left here too - anon is on, but screening isn't so please don't give out any details that will de-anon you.

Good luck to those still working!

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.fanart

Fan Art, Day 6, Frances Neagley from Reacher

Title: Tough as They Come
Fandom: Reacher
Character: Frances Neagley
Prompt: Day 6-Her own personal code.
Rating: Teen (Just because she’s tough as nails.)
Summary: I love her even more than Reacher.
Need Tag for Reacher.

( Neagley )

Current Music: Lark in the Clear Air by Cara Dillon

Day Three Theme - Like the first dewfall on the first grass (BtVS)

TITLE: Like the first dewfall on the first grass https://kerk-hiraeth.dreamwidth.org/22329.html

PROMPT: Day Three - The Caregiver

FANDOM: Buffy the Vampire Slayer {AU}

AUTHOR: kerk_hiraeth

RATING: PG-13

LENGTH: 1,000

CHARACTERS: OCs; Fatima El-baz & Sofia Blazhevich

SUMMARY: The duties of a Chaplain, whatever their religion are many and varied; sometimes causing reflection on their own lives.

A/N: This story is dedicated to Father Francis Mulcahy, as played by William Christopher on M*A*S*H between 1972 and 1983. That character heavily influences my conception of the Muslim, appointed by Buffy to be Chaplain to all the Slayers; (full name ~ Fatima Amastan Sultana Sara Tirzah Elbaz (or El-baz).
The background to her full name and their histories will, should my muse permit, be revealed in further stories but briefly, her family is from the Atlas Mountains of Tunisia; has mostly Amazigh & Hebrew origins, with some Arab threads as well. Her wife is Jewish from a conservative Orthodox sect. The Slayer is Russian but Roman Catholic, rather than Russian Orthodox.

Goddess be with you,

Father Francis Mulcahy, as played by William Christopher

Father Francis Mulcahy, as portrayed by William Christopher

kerk

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JLE/Scavengers Crossover: JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE #15-16 (JLI 54)

Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones, and Bart Sears do this whole storyline. Warning for OTT violence and nuclear apocalypse. Which, okay, is another kind of OTT violence.

The Silver Sorceress and Bluejay have blamed their world’s destruction on nuclear weapons. They neglected to mention the gang of badass villains who set those weapons off.

Five of those villains are still hanging around their dead world. When they lose their last living human prisoner, they’re on the verge of turning on each other. Lucky for them, that’s when the Silver Sorceress stumbles back into town. From her comings and goings, they know she’s found a new world for them to conquer.

( She tries telling them she just went on a coffee break, but they know that’s bullshit because they destroyed all the coffee shops too. So you see why they’re irritable. )

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Torchwood: Fanfic: Celebrity status

Title: Celebrity status
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 779 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 504 - Star
Summary: Jack has a problem with the local interest in a fly by night popstar.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: nothing now

Weather anticipation.

I'm geared up for another cold snap, with this Sunday looking like the nadir of the coming week. Tomorrow's going to be cold, and it won't be quite as harsh as Sunday seems like it'll be. It doesn't change many of my plans, since I didn't plan on much to begin with, but it's kind of nice to have the framework to assess potential plans. Like imagining which movies I'd go to, if I were to go to the movies.

Most likely, the movies will come after the job's wrapped up. Catching a matinee as a way to say the gig's done.

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Three Sentence Ficathon Roundup, the Sequel (Our Flag Means Death + Once a Thief)

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