dreams_library | Member Posts

It's that time again! More thoughts on media:

The Truth Season 3 case 8 (I think, the numbering is confusing now)— this case featured Chinese style horror, and it was very creepy but in a fun way. I also enjoyed the earthly 20th inspired costumes

I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming— I’m writing about this even though I didn’t finish it because I think some of you might enjoy this. The first bit was really fun! The main character is a wildlife biology PhD student, who when she finds herself on an alien planet is upset that it's full of dinosaurs all from different time periods from each other! (Very relatable really) The book has a very fun voice. Unfortunately it ends up becoming too much sex for me.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh— A Korean inspired fantasy YA novel about a girl who chooses to sacrifice herself in place of the designated Sea God’s Bride and enters a spirit world full of mythical beings and complex politics. (I read this even though the mom is dead, and really there’s no narrative reason for it) This was lovely and very atmospheric, though the ending left me a little dissatisfied. (Content Note: Infant death)

Painted Devils by Margaret Owen— Second book in the Little Thieves trilogy. Very fun and twisty in a similar way to the 1st book.

Kpop Demon Hunters — It's an animated movie about a kpop girl band that are magical girl-sque demon hunters, there's lot of musical numbers.A Koren friend of mine described it as “an American movie set in Korea” and I think that’s spot on. She specifically complained about how the worldbuiling/theology feels too christian. It doesn't fully work through the consequences of all the violence but the flight scenes are very swooshy and fun, and I liked the themes a lot. I also really liked the female friendship aspect.

archersangel

a follow-up to the previous post.

the case arrived a few days ago & the rubber-ish piece was removed. of course the cover over the charging port tore completely on one side as i was removing it.

it looks like this is a darker black than my brother's case. but then, his has about 2 /12 years of wear and exposure to the sun.

the back rubber-ish piece and the light gray hard inner piece look nice together. otterbox should offer it as a color choice. and i could get a cut of sales if they do for suggesting the idea.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: wednesday

redbird

Boston's Orange Line, by Andrew Elder and Jeremy C. Fox. This is a collection of black-and-white photos, going back to the start of the old elevated orange line, with captions. This was for the "explore Boston history" square on the BPL summer reading bingo. If I'd noticed the "images of rail" series title, I wouldn't have borrowed this book. The captions are just about enough to confirm that there's more than enough to be said on the subject to make a book, but this isn't. This has a disjointed discussion of the lengthy "realigmnent" of the orange line to its current route, and a couple of paragraphs on the decision not to run an 8-lane interstate through the middle of Boston and Cambridge, and no suggestion that anything similar had happened elsewhere. Ah, well.

There are suggestions on the library website for some of the squares (including "with a green cover"), but not this one. Searching the catalog for "Boston histpry" got me this, along with, among other things, a book about the Big Dig, a book about the Great Molasses Flood (which is at least mentioned in this, with a picture of damage to the orange line), and Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

althea_valara

Challenge #1

Journaling Prompt: Light up your journal with activity this month. Talk about your goals for July or for the second half of 2025.

Creative Prompt: Shine a light on your own creativity. Create anything you want (an image, an icon, a story, a poem, or a craft) and share it with your community.. 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.

Okay, well, I'm a fiber artist and I *love* being a fiber artist, but the craft is S-L-O-W. I could knock out another coaster or Other Brother Darryl in about an hour, but I've done +checks Ravelry+ at least 16 of the coasters and at least 8 of Other Brother Darryl. I really don't need to make any more. So instead of crafting something for this challenge, I will talk about my crafting plans for July and beyond.

...though if you want to see crafts I've made, you can check out my Crafting Update tab to see the pretties!

Gnomes

I have two nieces and four nephews, and I started a tradition of making them something for Christmas. It started with crocheted snowflakes, but last year I did small Christmas stockings. This year, I'm planning to make them gnomes, because gnomes are popular and fun. I've bought some yarn, and have a pattern picked out. I really should get started on these NOW, because last year I spent 100 hours crafting in December and it wore me out.

Incidentally, I participate in a crafting tournament on Ravelry called Nerdopolis. We get themes to craft to each round, that we can then tie to our team's Nerdery for a chance to win a prize. Well, one of the themes this month is Orchard Fruits and cherries, which are red, are orchard fruits. I was going to use red for the nieces' gnomes, so that will work nicely. Just need to sit down and do it.

iPad Mini holder

I crocheted some phone holders for me and mom a few months back, and my older sister was admiring mom's and wanted one for her iPad Mini, so I'm going to bang it out this month. It will fit nicely in the Nerdopolis challenge on Communication, as electronic devices such as iPads can be used to communicate with others.

Sophie Scarf

I started this last month for a Nerdopolis challenge but didn't finish it. I'd like to finish in the next two months. It can be submitted to Nerdopolis' Area 51 which is for completed UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

Secret Project

IT'S A SECRET! I hope to finish this month, but since I am designing it myself, there's a lot of ripping back and redoing to get it perfect. Wish me luck!

Motion Picture Mosaic Cardi

This was supposed to be my January project, but them I effed up my shoulder and couldn't really craft for a while. I did start this in January but HAHAHAHAHA NOPE DIDN'T FINISH. It's a huge project that is taking a lot of time. I mean, not only is it a large oversized long cardigan but it's also large in general as I am a large circumference type person. Getting awfully tired of rows of plain HDC... but I do desire this cardi very much, so I'll keep working on it.

The 42 WIPs (and counting)

...yeah, I have a LOT of projects I started in the past and didn't finish. I did just go through my Ravelry projects today and marked some as completed/frogged if I knew I'd never finish them, but there's still a lot that I'd really like to do someday. So how about making a goal to do, um, I think three is a good choice? by the end of the year? I mean, technically all the ones I listed above are WIPs, but let's face it, I have some that have been hibernating for ages (my oldest WIP is from 2008, yikes) so let's pick a few and get them done.

Current Mood: busy

sage

books
Astrology for Yourself: How to Understand And Interpret Your Own Birth Chart by Demetra George, Douglas Bloch MA. Rev 2006. A bit outdated in terms of social examples, but the basics are sound.

not quite finished with: Chiron and the Healing Journey: An Astrological and Psychological Perspective by Melanie Reinhart. 2009 ed. Super creepy case studies, esp Jonestown, pre-De Klerk South Africa.

yarning
Didn't go to yarn group, though I was dressed, packed up, and ready to leave. I just couldn't get myself to get into the car and go. Or to work on the languishing bunnies on my own. It's true that crochet still hurts my shoulder and I haven't kept up my PT for it, but seeing people in person again would have been nice. And good for me.

( healthcrap )

fandom
Interview with the Vampire S3 is filming, and my tumblr dash is full of pics. It's delightful. I watched Murderbot through 1.6 & haven't yet caught up with the most recent 2 eps. So excited, though, to read that Martha Wells is polishing the final edits on the new Murderbot novella!

astrology
I'm studying hard, and it feels really good to be learning (and relearning) so much again.

#resist
July 4: Independence Day Boycott/Free America Protest/Weekend of Community Events
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action (in honor of John Lewis, who died 7/17/2000)

I hope all of y'all are doing well & we US-ians have a happy Fourth of July weekend! If you go to a protest/march, please be safe! <333

queen_ypolita

Finished since the last reading post
The Blunders of Our Governments, where the passing of time meant no very recent blunders were discussed, but also perhaps has changed the perspective on some of the things considered successes. The chapters discussing reasons for the blunders were perhaps even more interesting than the chapters on the blunders themselves.

How to Survive a Plague by David France, which covers some of the same ground as And the Band Played on by Randy Shilts, which I've read before, but more from a New York City and the ACT UP and related activist point of view. Very interesting, informative, and moving.

Currently reading
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, which has been a good bus read—my bus journey to work isn't really long enough to really get into a book, so anything with longer chapters tends to be a bit frustrating, but this one works really well.

Reading next
No idea—I've got a few books on the shelves I could pick up, some e-books as well, and I should have a library reservation coming my way at some point.

ursamajor

When

belladonna shares a tweet that got screencapped and put up on Insta:

@ madisontayt_: imagining a vegan who won't drink nyc's tap water because of the microscopic shrimp
@ TheWappleHouse: The what now

and I was like "Yeah! There was this whole thing about NYC's tap water possibly being not kosher because of copepods in the water supply a few years back. Which might've meant that NYC bagels, whose lauded taste and texture were credited to the tap water used to boil them, were potentially treyf. But then other rabbis weighed in and said as long as the proportion of these microscopic crustaceans was less than 1/60th of the total volume, it was okay by the principle of בטל בשישים (bitul b'shishim/beteil beshishim), thank you Shabot6000."

... and then I realized "a few years back" was 21 years ago.

Current Mood: silly

althea_valara

I didn't post one of these last month, because I had been working on a secret project. I intended to finish that project in June, but it was not to be, partially due to busyness but mostly due to the fact that I am designing my own thing and ran into snags. Here's hoping I can finish in July!

(Some folks around Dreamwidth know what the secret project is; I'm keeping it secret HERE though so if you comment here, please don't give it away? Thanks!)

[click pics to embiggen]

A pivot table, showing I crafted for 40 hours in May and 32 hours in June on four projects.

[Image Description: A pivot table, showing I crafted for 40 hours in May and over 32 hours in June on four projects.]

I had hoped to finish several projects in June, not only the secret one. I did manage to finish the Capybara. It's pretty big! And it was for a Nerdopolis challenge. The theme was "Rodents", and of course I chose a Capybara because there is a capybara mount in Final Fantasy XIV, so perfect nerd cred tie-in.

A crocheted capybara, done in the African Flower technique.

[Image description: a stuffed crocheted capybara, done in the African Flower technique. It is made up of different shaped motifs crocheted together. It is largely a light brown in color with creamy white on its neck, belly, and rump.]

The Mosaic Cardi is still in process. I'm on the right front now. It's kinda a weird construction, not one I have encountered before, and I can't say I'm really enjoying it because long rows of HDC are (a) LONG, (b) boring. Can't wait until I get to the mosaic part.

The Sophie Scarf was supposed to be done this month for another Nerdopolis challenge. The theme was "How do the fine folks in your Nerdery travel?" and of course I chose the chocobo, so the scarf is yellow in color. I just, you know, ran out of time. I might finish it this month, we'll see.

Current Mood: bored

forestofglory

I have been sewing a lot recently! It's really fun!

( many pictures )

dhampyresa

So I have tendinitis in my wrist, which means I now need to wear a brace. This is really annoying because it gets in the way of doing anything. I can't draw with it on :( Even typing is a fucking hassle. Wearing it in the heat makes me feel like a sausage. A sweaty, sweaty sausage.

redbird

Today's trip to the farmers market was successful and satisfying.

I left the house as soon as I'd had my morning tea, and went to a market that opens at 10 on Sundays. I got there at about 10:20, before they'd sold out of anything I wanted, or might want.

What I particularly wanted was raspberries, and I bought two small boxes of those (totalling about a pint).

Busa Farms had a bin full of nice-looking shell peas, and I bought almost two pounds, because Cattitude is very fond of fresh peas. When I got home, he told me that he'd thought he had missed the local pea season this year. I also bought a bunch of red radishes, because they caught my eye while I was in line to pay for the peas. (Busa had both red and purple radishes, which somehow made them more appealing than if there'd only been one kind of radish.)

Hi-Rise Bakery was there, and I bought a small loaf of their concord bread, which is the right degree of crusty for the three of us. (They also have a thicker-crust "luce.")

The raspberries are from Kimball's, where I also bought a few diva cucumbers.

Stillman's Farm didn't have lamb sausages, but when I asked about it, the vendor said "probably next week" and asked what kind I liked. She is going to report back that they had a request for merguez sausages. I don't know whether we'll get to the same market next week, but it sounds like there will be lamb sausages at the other local farmers markets soon.

A lot of other things looked good, but I decided I didn't need lettuce (multiple varieties), cherry tomatoes, or fish.

Current Mood: satisfied

ursamajor

hyounpark and I wrapped up our extremely concert-filled June last weekend with two shows in Wine Country, backing up Andrea Bocelli and friends. Three rehearsals in ten days with almost entirely new-to-me repertoire - it felt good to have that kind of intensity of practice again. It's different from regular rehearsal, where we have a month, two, sometimes even three to slowly, steadily polish a single piece. Harder to cram into daily life, but always worth it.

Saturday was also Hyoun's birthday, so I was highly amused when the sound check opened with La donna è mobile from Rigoletto. Because I originally learned that melody in fourth grade as a birthday song!

( Archiving the lyrics here because I know I was able to find it on the internet at some point in the past, but no longer. )

( the rest of the Bocelli concert experience )

And now, my Wednesday nights are free for a (very) few weeks! (Summersings start July 23, and then after that we're right into rehearsals for Verdi; I hope I'll be able to cram in one or two Wednesday night Friends With Bikes rides during the time off, but we'll need to see.)

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: ride e canta nel sole l'infinita nostra felicita // gloria a te!

redbird

I learned this morning that

acelightning has died. She was one of the people I only know online, but feel like friends because we have real conversations (in her case, here on Dreamwidth and previously on LJ).

duskpeterson

A long, windowless corridor leads into the royal sanctuary. The corridor's entrance is next to a walled-up gateway that originally led directly into the courtyard of the royal residence. The corridor itself is kept deliberately unlit, to recreate the circumstances under which captives were led here before being enslaved. Just walk toward the light at the end of the corridor to reach your destination.

[Translator's note: A chase takes place in that corridor during Death Mask.]

redbird

One book finished in the past fortnight: Aftermarket Afterlife, by Seanan McGuire, the 14th volume in her InCryptid series of fantasy novels. I was disappointed by this one: there were too many ghosts and too few cryptids, and the ending seemed abrupt, even given that this is number 14 in a loose series. I'm not a big fan of ghosts, and the book is narrated by Aunt Mary, the Price family's ghost babysitter. The ebook also contains "Excerpt from Mourner's Waltz," about a bit of Verity's life, as the superintendent and only human resident of a Manhattan apartment building. The novel and short story both contain massive spoilers for at least the two previous books in the series.

I gave up on Twelve Trees (mentioned in the previous post) because the printing was hard on my eyes, and since it's a hardcover rather than an ebook, I can't change the font or print size, and I have to take it back to the library.

sage

( books (Abulafia, Greer, Tesh, Edington, Arroyo) )

astrology
I'm refreshing my knowledge. I used to be GOOD at it, and it's a thing I don't have to be healthy to do. I don't have to keep normal office hours. The trouble is most of my books are paper and reading paper is a migraine trigger. So it's slow going.

dirt
The thrips are srsly going after the rattlesnake beans, and it's making me crazy. Interestingly, they're less fond of the ornamentals. The bougainvillea sent up a new shoot that is thick enough to propagate, so I'm planning to do that in a week or two. The struggling spider plant is recovering. The teeny tiny leaf of the string of turtles has grown a nearly microscopic leaflet and a root inside its rooting bag of sphag & perlite. Maybe one day it'll be a real plant!

healthcrap
Skin clinic tomorrow. Cancelled botox for migraines on Monday, due to bureaucratic shenanigans I'm partly responsible for. Continuing to be in bed for 12 hours and sleep on and off for 7-9 of them. Little REM, little deep sleep, little rest, all thanks to the fibro. I've had PTSD triggers happening for the past week or more, I realized, which is getting me down. Good that I identified it, though, so at least I can point to some reasons for being a ball of anxiety and avoidance

yarning
I went to yarn group Sunday, go me, and had a nice time. I still feel little impetus to crochet or do anything else creative. I wish I did.

food
Started taking a big kid dose of a children's multivitamin in hopes of feeling better, and I do! I bought a ton of groceries after only doing one trip last month. The prices have gone up significantly, grrr. But now I have healthy options that aren't too hard to cook and will hopefully not find myself living on trail mix again...even though I bought fixings for that, too. Made mujadara again and upped the lentil to rice ratio. Again used 2 giant sweet onions bc anything less isn't near enough.

#resist
June 27: Stonewall Anniversary Protest
June 24 to 30: McDonald’s Boycott
July 4: Independence Day Boycott/Free America Protest/Weekend of Community Events
July 17: Good Trouble Lives On Day of Action (in honor of John Lewis, who died 7/17/2000)

althea_valara

So next Monday, I'm going to start a Four Job Fiesta run of Final Fantasy V, whee! Problem: I am really torn on what kind of run to do.

( putting under a cut because slight spoilers for Final Fantasy V gameplay )

Current Mood: indecisive and curious

archersangel

so, about 2 1/2 years ago we got our very first smart phones. and in order to protect them we got otterbox cases from their defender line, which have a hard inner piece with a textured rubber-ish piece on the outside. well, about 2 months ago i noticed the cover over the charging port was tearing where it connects to the main body of the rubber-ish piece.
i don't know why this happened. we charge the phones at pretty much the same rate & don't open the covers to an extreme angle to take the charger in and out. the one on my brothers case is fine.

since otterbox has a warranty, my brother looked into what you have to do to file one. he did a chat with an otterbox representative to get going on that. they don't have the color that i got, fort blue, which i don't mind. i didn't really care for the color, it looks more purple in most lighting conditions. they just have black now, which is what my brother has. so i'm keeping the hard inner piece piece that i had, which is a light gray, in order to tell the difference between our phones (his is black.) and i'm going to put a piece of tape in the top edge/back so when i have both of our phones in my backpack (i put them in the cushioned area meant for a laptop) so i can feel to tell them apart especially when it's dark.

the otterbox representative asked my brother in the chat if we still had the phone the case was for. he was like ....yes. apparently we are two of the few people that keep their phones for longer than 2 years.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: hell, it's so hot
Current Music: the fan trying to keep me cool

redbird

Cattitude took the cat in for her follow-up appointment, and the nurse said she's doing just fine, and cleared her to start eating crunchy things (which include her favorite cat treats). She hadn't been eating much in the previous few days, so they sent Cattitude home with two medications to improve her appetite. The cat has her appetite back, and headed right for the bowl of kibble, and ignored the bowl of wet food. She also informed us at dinner, when offered Greenies, that those were her proper treats, thank you very much. The other cat, Molly, is also pleased that we are once again giving them kibble and the familiar treats; there was no practical way to give Molly kibble and Kaja only wet food, so neither cat got anything crunchy for ten days.

We may be going to London last month, to sort through some of Mom's stuff, including papers and photos. (Mark needs to be there, and I want to, even though it will mean a lot of time masking, and probably a lot of takeout meals eaten in a hotel room. I emailed the cat sitter,

I checked this afternoon, and my inherited share of Mom's Vanguard account is in my account. Separately, there's a life insurance policy that seems to have asked for another form after my brother sent in what he thought was everything they wanted. In addition to the Vanguard account, there are some UK bank accounts, which Mark thinks will take several months to go through probate. All of this is a little weird, and I want my mother, not her life insurance.

Boston (along with much of the eastern United States and Canada) is in the middle of the sort of heat wave where they advise everyone to stay indoors if possible, not just people who are particularly sensitive to the heat. Both the NWS warning and the Boston heat emergency are only through this evening, but they're predicting that tomorrow will also be hotter than I find comfortable.

dhampyresa

One of the books I'm reading right now is Anne Crignon's Une belle grève de femmes: Les Penn Sardin, Douarnenez 1924 (A women's strike: The Penn sardin [1], Douarnenez, 1924). I'm two-thirds of the way through and it has been really good book so far.

[1] "Penn sardin" is Breton for "sardine head"; it's the name of the headdress for women of Douarnenez and, by extension those same women.

There is one thing, though. Because of the time/place the book is set in (Brittany, 1920s) the book occasionally uses Breton -- the dominant language in that era/area -- to transcribe the exact words of slogans, songs, announcements, etc. Now. I speak a little Breton. A very little Breton, but enough to know that "Pemp real a vo" did not translate directly to "twenty-five sous per hour" -- "pemp" means five, not twenty-five. It bugged me enough that I eventually went and got my Breton-French dictionnary: a "real" is worth five sous. A literal translation would be "Five five-sous we'll get" (the "per hour" is implied).

There was another moment where I also had to fetch the dictionnary because I got tripped up by sentence structure in the Breton vs the French translation. So I would appreciate literal translations as well as accurate ones -- though possibly this is mostly because or where my language skills are: were I better or worse, I'm not sure I would have cared or noticed.

What is your preference for in-text translations? Literal, accurate, both? A secret other option?

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Dream's Library

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Dream's Library

Member Posts

Meida Round Up: Girls and Demons

phone case update

Wednesday reading

Sunshine Revival #1 (aka, I like journal challenges)

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Wednesday reading

(no subject)

Crafting Update, May and June 2025

More Doll outfit pictures!

A sweaty sausage

farmers market

the squirrels are in the tree

acelightning has died

The Royal Sanctuary: The corridor (Tempestuous Tours)

Wednesday reading

What I'm Doing Wednesday

everyone loves a poll (FFVFJF2025)

it's always something

updates

Additional literal translations, yes or no?

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October 2014

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