alexseanchai | Reading

Wayfinding and sense-making in a fractured world

Many of my friends are now in the 30-something club and facing many of the same existential questions about life and our place in it.

Am I happy? What skills do I need in this changing world? Do I want kids? Should I even have kids, knowing about climate change? What does a meaningful life look like? Should I move closer to home to be with my parents while they’re still around? Should I quit my job and start a commune?

These are great questions, and in general, asking probing questions about your life is an excellent idea. If you're into that,

goals_on_dw is into its busy season December-January when lots of people look at their past year's accomplishments, contemplate their level of satisfaction, identify areas they'd like to improve, and set new goals for the future.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

scintilla10

These episodes dropped during a busy time, so I'm only now caught up. ( Spoilers behind the cut )

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3
Pairings/Characters: Wyll/Astarion
Rating: T
Length: 25,638
Creator Links:

partingxshot
Theme: Amnesty, Black Characters, Characters of Colour, Character Development, Established Relationship, Family, Just Plain Fun, Marriage, Outsider POV, Politics, Post-Canon, Unconventional Format & Style, Working Together

Summary: You are ULDER RAVENGARD.

Your son is completely besotted with his fiancé, but you can’t figure out the appeal. He’s spoiled, and petty, and seems chiefly concerned with draining the Ravengard coffers. You are, frankly, at your wits’ fucking end.

Surely the only solution is to declare an INSANE SECRET WAR on him before he can ruin the MIDWINTER'S EVE BALL. This cannot possibly backfire.

[A choose-your-own-adventure Astarion son-in-law simulator. Happy Holidays! Or possibly the opposite of that.]

Reccer's Notes: This is just so much fun 😄 The notion of how Astarion would fit in at Wyll's childhood home is a common topic for Wyllstarions, and this is such a fun take on it!! It's remarkably coherent no matter which paths you take, and there are so many fun running jokes or weird endings to find! (And also, if you enjoy the writing style... Might I have a particular webcomic called Homestuck to recommend? Because it was very clearly an inspiration :D)

Fanwork Links: Glad Tidings

I need a Baldur's Gate fandom tag please, mods!!

soc_puppet

Social Problems final was today, and this was my project: A short, chutes-and-ladders-style game about information security online.

( Game board under here )

Only one final paper left, and it's not due until early Friday afternoon. I think I'll probably try and get it written tomorrow, when I'm not working on laundry 😂

Current Mood: satisfied

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Blackadder Goes Forth
Pairings/Characters: Blackadder/Darling
Rating: T
Length: 20,605
Creator Links:

nomadicwriter
Theme: Amnesty, Casefic, Cuddling Snuggling & Bed-Sharing, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies Working Together, Forced Proximity, Historical Settings, Just Plain Fun, Old Fandoms, Rare Pairings, Pretend Couple, Small Fandoms, Time Travel, Uncommon Settings, Undercover as a Couple

Summary: Darling's remarkable resemblance to French traitor the Duc de Darling - no relation - sees him unwillingly sent to infiltrate a German-occupied château. Blackadder accompanies him even less willingly, especially when he learns exactly what it is they're looking for.

(Baldrick is also there, but no one bothered to find out if it was willingly or otherwise.)

Reccer's Notes: This is just so fucking good. It has been an age since I last watched Blackadder but this fic brought me all the way back immediately: the character voices are just chef's kiss! It really feels like it could've been a special episode, except with added totally in-character shippiness! 10/10, perfect characterisation, perfect dynamics, perfect silliness, no notes ❤️

Fanwork Links: General Relativity

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/9/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/9/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/9/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/9/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

simplyn2deep posting in

1word1day

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

Magi (noun)
Ma·gi [mey-jahy]

noun plural
1.(sometimes lowercase) the wise men, generally assumed to be three in number, who paid homage to the infant Jesus. Matt. 2:1–12. Compare Balthazar (def 1), Caspar (def 1), Melchior (def 1).
2. (sometimes lowercase) the class of Zoroastrian priests in ancient Media and Persia, reputed to possess supernatural powers.
3. (lowercase) astrologers.

Other Word Forms
Magian adjective
magian adjective

Origin: First recorded in 1175–1225; see Magus

Example Sentences
Nobody can tell you whether any of them knew a Magi from a Musketeer, not to mention that the Roman Empire they worked under was a failed administration.
From Los Angeles Times

The Christian feast day of Epiphany, when observers celebrate the visit to Jesus by the Magi - commonly known as the Three Kings, or Wise Men - is widely celebrated in Spain.
From BBC

“It’s an excessive cost to detain a limited number of migrants”, said Roberto Magi, an MP with the left-wing +Europa party.
From BBC

In some traditions, it celebrates the baptism of Jesus and in others the visit of the Three Magi to the Baby Jesus.
From Seattle Times

The 6 January Christian feast day of Epiphany, when observers celebrate the visit to Jesus by the Magi - commonly known as the Three Kings, or Wise Men - is widely celebrated in Spain.
From BBC

scintilla10

My tree is up at

fandomtrees! I always have a blast with these kinds of events, so looking forward to perusing all the trees soon. :D

* * * * *

A trio of epistolary recs for

rec_cember!

#toobadsosad by

DontStopHerNow
Selfie, Eliza/Henry, 1100 words, no archive warnings apply
This is a hysterical texting fic with sharp, funny character voices! And it makes excellent use of timestamps and emoji to add to the story.

Eliza 9:18pm : Freddy and I broke up again. #toobadsosad
Eliza 9:18pm : It's really for good this time.
(Read by Henry at 9:36pm)

A gentle man and a scholar by

isevsianne
Our Flag Means Death, Ed/Stede, 7500 words, no archive warnings apply
Modern AU consisting of a series of emails about letters. Contains outrageous flirting and even more outrageous obliviousness. Very cute and fun!

Stede Bonnet unearths potential evidence that his 18th century ancestor could be the Gentleman Pirate, and contacts a top pirate historian Edward Teach, an expert on the dreaded pirate Blackbeard, to get to the bottom of it. An email correspondence sparks something more than just academic research.

from the mortal realm by

mixtapestar
Dimension 20: A Court of Fey and Flowers, Lady Chirp & Lord Squak, 500 words, no archive warnings apply
Delightfully charming and fun post-canon letter, featuring excellent puns and an excellently frothy Chirp voice.

Lady Chirp Featherfowl's letter to her dearest cousin, Lord Squak Airavis.

but_can_i_be_trusted posting in

drabble_zone

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

but_can_i_be_trusted posting in

100words

Title: 'Sanguine Longings'
Fandom: Original Fiction
Rating: PG (Very briefly implied vampiric activity)
Notes: Crossposted to

genprompt_bingo

( Sanguine Longings )

fred_mouse

Well into 'it's not one thing after another, the damn things overlap' territory here

nominal deadline for my confirmation of candidature to have been submitted has passed without anything from my reviewers (one of three from our school has theirs)
Eldest's quilt has been somewhat abandoned, which is annoying me but I haven't had the cope
Instead I've been working on logistics of Youngest's quilt, which is very heavy in the planning stages (picture quilt, converting it from a photo)
Took a week at home on light duties last week, this week I'm back in the office. Did surprisingly well yesterday. Surgery site looks to have healed on the surface but the internals are still quite sore, so I'm still sleeping with the post-surgery bra.
Middlest and their partners have bought a house. They move in January. There was a messy blow up with the fourth housemate, who has since moved out, so they are learning how they fit together as a trio, and it sounds like things are going well. R's parents are providing lots of important support for the process.
Saw the nurse for follow up on Monday. They didn't like the wound support stuff I'd found in the pharmacy (because it is plasticky) and replaced it with a stiff fabric 'can be washed but blow dry it after' dressing that was so annoying/itchy I took it off last night (and it took off lots of ick; that area has an unsurprising build up of Stuff) and put the second piece of the wound support stuff on. That is so much better -- it is a clear plastic lattice that actually moves with the area, rather than digging in. Also, I'm not reacting to the glue.
My middle sibling and their partner are moving to Perth for two years. D has a job at UWA, K's job will allow 'remote' work from the Perth office. Amusingly, D described UWA as 'not restructuring' and Youngest laughed when reading that out. My comment was that from my perspective it has never not been restructuring, it is just the level that is changing. Plus, there was a leaked minutes from some meeting that suggested they were going to try and get a merger with Curtin, which I learned about when the Curtin Guild sent a 'not if we can help it' email out to all students. Pointed out to sibling that as they and I share a family name there is a non-zero chance they are going to get spotted as related.

senmut

AO3 Link | Useful Gathering (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Partners in Crime [TV - 1984]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sydney Kovack & Carole Stanwyck [Partners in Crime]
Characters: Sydney Kovack [Partners in Crime], Carole Stanwyck [Partners in Crime]
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Event - Funeral, Community: ladiesbingo
Summary:

Sydney and Carole are holding a second funeral for their mutual ex, mostly to preserve their business.

Useful Gathering

Sydney carefully adjusted her skirt as she stood up, hand not holding the handkerchief going out to catch Carole's.

"Why did we agree to hold a wake for him?"

Carole gave a reserved smile to one of the businessmen here to pay respects.

"To help us keep the business running," Carole answered after she was certain no one else would be listening. "Besides, were you ever any good at saying 'no' to Jeanine?"

Sydney made an indelicate sound at that, and covered by bringing the handkerchief up to dab at her nose. "Were you?"

Carole had to bite back the unseemly laughter that came with it. "We need his contacts, to get the agency in the black, and start paying off that mortgage."

"Can't just ask some of your old polo pals to lend a hand, oh wait, you just take their pictures now."

That lit Carole's temper, but she gathered it back in check, and squeezed Sydney's hand. "One way or another, Sydney, we can make this work for us. Neither one of us is the woman he married any longer, but I think we can find a place for ourselves anyway."

Sydney took a deep breath, then smiled sadly at another pair of suits walking past them. "You're right, and I'm sorry for the dig. We'll get through the speeches, cut to the meat of promising to help them for standard fees going forward, and make the agency solvent.

"Just, don't leave me alone with any of them? I'll point out the fanny-patters and lewd ones as we mingle."

"And if they're the older ones, I'll tell you how Raymond got his hooks into them," Carole promised in turn, steeling her spine for the possibility of dealing with 'old friends' from the failed marriage.

"We have each other."

tielan

I don't have social anxiety, I have acceptance anxiety. Like, even with friends and people I've known for years, there's a part of me that has major friendship imposter syndrome: "what if they discover that they don't really like me after all?"

--

Tressie McMillan Cottom is a joy:

Behold the decade of mid tech!

That is what I want to say every time someone asks me, "WHat about A.I.?" with the breathless anticipation of a boy who thinks this is the summer he finally gets to touch a boob.

--

I'm so so tired right now. Just in a permanent state of exhaustion.

Yesterday afternoon, I explained to my sister about 'climate change adaptation' and the phase that we're going into. She listened, but I don't think she really heard.

--

I'm in a bit of a bodily self-hating stage right now after putting on about 5kg during my trip. Everything works fine, but the abdominal fat is frustrating me. So is the fact that all the Reformer Pilates classes are taught by women who might weigh 2/3 of me if they were dressed in heavy clothes and soaking wet.

"No, I can't do that move, my belly gets in the way."

Unfortunately, I suspect the only way to lose those kg is through food restriction, which I hate. It would involve removing sugary things entirely, probably for a long period. Ugh.

"Diet starts after new year"?

--

A giant tree in my front yard may be dying. It doesn't seem to be re-leafing as smoothly as it usually does, particularly in the crown, and after a heatwave yesterday, it's dropped a whole lot more leaves, many of them green.

More than anything else, this is stressing me right now. I don't know how old the tree is, but it's been there since we moved in, a giant bulwark against the south and the west. Just on top of everything else, it's unnerving seeing the bare upper branches of it.

kaberett

Item the first: the 1972 Harvard University Press Treatise of Man, translated by Thomas Steele Hall. This translation is quoted by two of the other books I'm working with, Pain: the science of suffering by Patrick Wall (1999), and The Painful Truth by Monty Lyman (2021). It is also an edition that, as I understand it, contains a facsimile of the first French edition (1664, itself a translation of the Latin published in 1662). My French is not up to reading actual seventeenth-century philosophy, but being able to spot-check a couple of paragraphs will be Useful For My Argument.

Item the second: Descartes: Key Philosophical Writings, translated by Elizabeth S. Haldane and G.R.T. Ross (1997). This doesn't contain Treatise on Man, but it's the translation of Meditations on First Philosophy that's quoted in The Story of Pain by Joanna Bourke (2014).

Meanwhile the Descartes essay, thus far composed primarily but not solely of quotations from other works, has somehow made it north of 4500 words. I think it might even be starting to make an argument.

( Read more... )

I am resisting the urge to try to turn this into a Proper Survey Of Popular Books On Pain, because that sounds like a lot of work that will probably involve reading a bunch of philosophers I find profoundly irritating, and also THIS IS A TOTAL DISTRACTION from the ACTUAL WORK I AM TRYING TO DO. But it's a distraction that is getting me writing, so I'll take it.

luzula

Aaand an alibi sentence, which I wrote late at night. But the sentence did open the door to how to continue tomorrow, I think. How about you?

Tally:
( Read more... )
Day 8:

china_shop,

badly_knitted,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora,

goddess47,

cornerofmadness,

garonne,

sanguinity,

chestnut_pod

Bonus farm news: Geeked out with my tomato spreadsheet, analyzing what categories of tomato we need to complement the ones we grew this year. Such as, we need an early paste bush tomato that tolerates cold conditions, we need more types of winter tomato, etc. No need for recs, really, I have the opposite problem of being spoiled for choice...there are TONS of tomato varieties.

shadaras

ah yes I should show y'all a picture of my precious darling tucked into the couch blanket <3 (sometimes she is ENTIRELY UNDER this blanket and I send a photo of a round lump to my friends and helpfully label it "catte".)

( cat photo under cut )

elisem

So, just a few minutes ago in one place or another, I was reading what someone had to say about style. In the course of exploring a particular writer's habits and style, they said that they themselves weren't sure they knew what style was.

A long time ago, a sentence came into my possession that has been both comforting and humbling by degrees. It is this: "Style is what you can't help doing."

The comforting part is that if you can't help having style, or doing style, or whatever sort of verbing of style is accurate for you and your work, then you might as well stop any worrying about style and get on with the work. Saves a tremendous amount of time, really.

Thoughts?

thisbluespirit posting in

allbingo

Finally got a bingo on this card, which I've been chipping away at for ages, but got stuck on a couple of last squares.

Fandoms: Doctor Who, Dangerous Corner, Sapphire & Steel, Original Work
Prompts; Borage - Bluntness, Lady of the Storm, Bouquet of Withered Flowers - Rejected Love, Daisy - I'll Never Tell, Any Duchess Will Do

( Links to fills under here )

( 9 stray fills in Time Master, Towers in the Mist, No Wind of Blame, Miss Scarlet, Craddock & Co, Glorious 39, Doctor Who, Pilgrim, Wish Me Luck, Discworld, Enigma )

goodbyebird

Sooooo… if you read a spectacular fic but at the end see it has 880 whopping comments (🤯), is it still cool to add it to your rec list and assume there’s actually a person that hasn’t read it yet? Asking for a friend.

Toootally unrelated, I’ve been watching Welcome to Derry and my brain’s been having a great time being a bastard and making AUs where Claudia and Louis don’t make it to Europe but wind up in Derry instead. Bonus Armand in the sewers to be extra bastard about it.

❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️
Rec-cember Day 9

Santa Clarita Diet
what all the troubles are for by

thegatorgood (1,961 words). Aw man I miss the Hammonds, and this had me laughing repeatedly.
Dad cleared his throat. "How's your foot, honey?"

"It's funny," said Mom, "but it reminds me of that time your mother took us out to that French restaurant right before we got engaged, do you remember? There was a cheese that tasted like this."

She chomped down on a toe. Abby decided it was time to check in with Eric.

"You did what?" he asked, when she told him about their latest run-in with the law.

Et tu, nerdus? "I don't get what's such a big deal about it. I mean, Dad pointed a gun at someone's head for the tenth time, but somehow I'm in trouble for grabbing a can of Pringles."

"Because," said Eric, his face in the Skype window so worried it was almost cute, "in west Texas pulling a gun out is like saying, 'Hi, I have a gun!' But if you pull a gun out and take stuff they put you in jail for years."

"It was just a bunch of junk food!"

"So what, Jean Valjean? Armed robbery is armed robbery."

Current Music: King Princess - Covers

dialecticdreamer

Plans for the Forgotten
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1270
[early December of 2016]

:: Frank wants to throw a holiday bash for his new people. He gets help from a surprising source. Part of the City Engines story arc, written for the December of 2025 ongoing prompt call. Thank you to all of my fantastic readers! ::

On to part two

“Frank,” the city treasurer told him kindly, “you’re representing some of the poorest people in the city. Why are you checking out the rules for private gatherings? And the catering companies used for city council nights?”

Frank turned, tucking his hands behind his back, aware of the oil still trapped under his fingernails despite scrubbing his hands for half an hour this morning. “Have you ever been the one staring at the window of the candy shop with pockets so empty there’s not even any lint in them?” he asked softly. “Worse, have you ever been the foster kid sent to ‘respite’ care so the foster parents don’t have to buy you a present, even one, for the biggest holiday in the American calendar?”

Wanda Scudderling winced. “Ouch. No. So you want to what, put together a catered meal for your constituents? A neighborhood block party?”
( Read more... )

Current Mood: awake

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Never Unmindful

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Page Summary

ysabetwordsmith - Questions
scintilla10 - Stranger Things 501-504
22degreehalo in fancake - BG3: Glad Tidings by partingxshot
soc_puppet - DON'T Play with Internet Safety
22degreehalo in fancake - Blackadder: General Relativity by Nomad
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
simplyn2deep in 1word1day - Tuesday word: Magi
scintilla10 - Epistolary recs!
but_can_i_be_trusted in drabble_zone - Bittersweet (Challenge #479: To The End) [Original Fiction]
but_can_i_be_trusted in 100words - [Challenge #472: Sanguine] Original Fiction: 'Sanguine Longings'
fred_mouse - Life lived in dot points
senmut - LadiesBingo: Funerals and Wakes
tielan - life's bits and pieces
kaberett - a confession: today I have bought two more translations of Descartes
luzula - Write every day: Day 9
shadaras - (no subject)
elisem - reading about writing, thinking about art
thisbluespirit in allbingo - Bingo (Valentine's Fest 2023)
goodbyebird - It's kind of ironic: the more care you put into a murder, the harsher society judges you.
dialecticdreamer - Plans for the Forgotten (part 1 of 2, complete)

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Base style: Tranquility III by branchandroot
Theme: Shallows by dancing_serpent

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Page generated Dec. 10th, 2025 03:14 am

if you trust your rebel heart, ride it into battle

don't be afraid, take the road less traveled

Reading

Questions

Stranger Things 501-504

BG3: Glad Tidings by partingxshot

DON'T Play with Internet Safety

Blackadder: General Relativity by Nomad

Birdfeeding

Tuesday word: Magi

Epistolary recs!

Bittersweet (Challenge #479: To The End) [Original Fiction]

[Challenge #472: Sanguine] Original Fiction: 'Sanguine Longings'

Life lived in dot points

LadiesBingo: Funerals and Wakes

life's bits and pieces

a confession: today I have bought two more translations of Descartes

Write every day: Day 9

(no subject)

reading about writing, thinking about art

Bingo (Valentine's Fest 2023)

It's kind of ironic: the more care you put into a murder, the harsher society judges you.

Plans for the Forgotten (part 1 of 2, complete)