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You have lain perfectly still, because the slightest motion would dissipate the fragments of your slumber. Now, being irrevocably awake, you peep through the half drawn window curtain, and observe that the glass is ornamented with fanciful devices in frost work, and that each pane presents something like a frozen dream. There will be time enough to trace out the analogy. You may almost distinguish the figures on the clock that has just told the hour. Such a frosty sky, and the snow covered roofs, and the long vista of the frozen street, all white, and the distant water hardened into rock, might make you shiver, even under four blankets and a woolen comforter. Yet look at that one glorious star; its beams are distinguishable from all the rest, and actually cast the shadow of the casement on the bed, with a radiance of deeper hue than moonlight, though not so accurate an outline.

In the depths of every heart, there is a tomb and a dungeon, though the lights, the music, and revelry above may cause us to forget their existence, and the buried ones, or prisoners whom they hide. But sometimes, and oftenest at midnight, those dark receptacles are flung wide open. In an hour like this, when the mind has a passive sensibility, but no active strength; when the imagination is a mirror, imparting vividness to all ideas, without the power of selecting or controlling them. There is your earliest sorrow, sadly beautiful.

maju

We thought the girls would be back at school today but no, there was some heavy snow this morning so school is cancelled yet again. (So much for shovelling out my car yesterday…) I can hardly believe this whole area has been blanketed in snow for more than a month. Today FB showed me a memory from 9 years ago - a photo of trees in full spring blossom on this date in 2017 (in Maryland). I believe spring was early that year, but from this vantage point in this state it feels impossible that spring could arrive so early.

I slept well last night but I've had a bad headache all day. I wanted to tough it out but I ended up taking some paracetamol which is just barely holding it at bay.

I have no idea why I haven't received any tax documents from Social Security. I've just sent H&R Block the final 1099 from Schwab, so now SS is the only thing holding up my taxes. I've worked out how much they paid me last year so I've asked the tax agent if that would be sufficient for completing my taxes rather than waiting for the official document from SS. I'm very reluctant to call SS because of possible long hold times.

kingstoken posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Ilya/Shane
Content Notes/Warnings: N/A
Medium: Pencil (I think)
Artist Website/Gallery: _deathofseasons_
Why this piece is awesome: Beautiful drawing of Ilya and Shane as Knights, and Ilya cradling Shane
Link: Instagram

melroseee posting in

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[15] robby/abbot icons

See the rest here.

taz_39

**Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.

This post covers Monday and Tuesday.

--- --- --- --- --- ---

MONDAY

It had been snowing when we went to sleep...

And it was snowing when we woke up.

That's the Broad St. view. Here's City Hall from my hotel room, and a close-up of one of the statues that I liked:

I know it doesn't look like it from the photos, but as of 8:45am this morning they'd gotten 13 inches (33.02 cm) of snow! And at time of typing this, it was still coming down. Despite this, our travel plans had not changed. The thought was that once we got out of Philly and start heading west, conditions would improve. I ate breakfast and waited patiently for the charter buses like everyone else. Went down to the lobby at the scheduled time...and the buses had cancelled on us!!

The minute I heard this, I went straight back to my room and got online. There is a Budget rental office just a few blocks from our hotel (it's where I rented my car for the masterclass last week.) I called to make sure that they were open and had cars to rent, then walked over. On the walk I observed that the roads and sidewalks were well cleared. So WHY had the buses cancelled?? A mystery...

I got a one-way rental car for $140. One-ways are always more expensive than if you return the car to the same location, plus I wasn't returning it to an airport which jacked up the cost even more. But I didn't care. This is not my first rodeo, and I could see in my mind's eye what would likely happen next. There would be no buses available to charter today. The company would probably be able to get buses tomorrow, but the drivers would still be required to make at least one stop. Meaning a 6-7 hour trip, meaning even if they left early in the morning they wouldn't get to the hotel until past noon. And that meant arriving in Pittsburgh only an hour or two before sound check and the show. I have experienced this same scenario on other tours.

Not only is this not my first rodeo, I am also inherently selfish, an individualist, and driven by logic and survivalism. There are times when staying with the herd will protect you and save you money...then there are times like now when you yell, "Every man for himself!" and reach into your own pocket to save your own butt :p

This was one of those times. Took my newly-obtained rental car back to the hotel, retrieved my bags, threw them in the back, and off I went. The roads were extremely well cleared and I had no problem or delays. It was a lovely drive. Pennsylvania can be pretty scenic. Here are some pictures:

The snow fell only on one side of this mountain, I thought it looked beautiful!

Around the time I stopped for gas and a break, an email went out with the new travel plan. Which...not to be a snooty booty, but it was exactly as I'd thought. An early morning bus ride but with two required stops, meaning the Pittsburgh ETA was 3pm. And that's with the assumption of no additional travel delays. Sound check is typically at 5pm for a 7:30pm show. I felt bad that the majority of us would be feeling rushed tomorrow...but also, everyone else had the power to make the same choice that I made today, if they wanted.

I pulled up at the hotel a little after 3pm. Check in was easy and my room was great. Dropped the luggage and took the rental car to Whole Paycheck for groceries. Returned the rental car, got back to the hotel, put everything away, unpacked, ate dinner, and was in pajamas typing this post up by 6pm.

Worth it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

TUESDAY

It was squalling when I woke up. Good morning, Pittsburgh.

Watch on YouTube

I visited the hotel's free breakfast, which is "just ok" again but I got some peanut butter and bagels. Back at the room, breakfast and working on Foodie Finds. I got an email that I'm confirmed to do a masterclass at my alma mater, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, on Thursday. Yay! I ran through the presentation and did all right time-wise (48 minutes) considering I've had several days away.

Walked to Target for paper towels and a few household items, popped into Burlington just for funsies. Back at the hotel my Amazon order of a PPT clicker and a backup black fleece jacket had arrived. Unpacked those, ate lunch and packed myself a dinner and snacks for the theater. The rest of the afternoon was spent tweaking my K-12 presentation because that one's coming up too, and reserving a rental car for Thursday.

A little after 3pm I walked to the theater. It's the Benedum and I was here before with My Fair Lady in 2024 (part 1, part 2). I did a lot over that visit including shopping on The Strip; eating at Bae Bae's Kitchen, Gaucho, The Speckled Egg, and Mancini's; and visiting Phipps Conservatory.

The ceiling has a unique octagonal design (photo from my visit in 2024.)

As I was exploring, filling my water bottle, setting up, etc., I saw cast members and management hurriedly setting up their stations. Some of them had brought their luggage with them to the theater (not a good sign!) I found DAR setting up his dressing room and asked when the bus had finally arrived. "Twenty minutes ago!" he exclaimed. Sheesh! I moved on to digging through my trunk until it was time for sound check.

The pit is pretty large, especially with the drums remoted (the drum booth will be in the trap room this city, if I get a chance I'll take a pic so you can see.) Sound check was just fine, and the show was just fine. Audience was really great, and during intermission we had a lot of visitors like we've gotten in some of the Texas cities. Lots of kids asking questions, parents exclaiming over the instruments...it's nice! :)

I dragged all of my trunk stuff to the hotel while other people dragged their luggage. At least everyone got here safely, management was able to pivot in a very difficult situation and get everyone here on time. No one likes to cut it that close, but they couldn't have predicted our buses would be cancelled. Which by the way I discovered had something to do with an ordinance/city government requirement that there be no buses on the street during the blizzard? I don't know the details but on reflection I didn't see any buses when I was leaving, so that must have been it.

Anyway it's over now and we're here! Yay!!

I should also mention that on Monday night, our own Belle (Kyra Belle Johnson) performed at EPCOT in Florida for a special Disney on Broadway concert series event!

They had not only Kyra (the current Belle,) but also Susan Egan (original Broadway Belle) and Ashley Brown (another longstanding Broadway Belle) present, and they sang a specially arranged version of "Home" together!

(both photos from WDWNewsToday)

I can't embed video from Instagram, but please click HERE to hear part of *our* Belle's rendition of "Home." Her voice is AMAZING.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday: One evening show. I'll get up early to do laundry and will do my usual computer work, but otherwise no plans.

Thursday: Driving to IUP to give a masterclass! Then one evening show.

kat_lair

***

Title: every lover's got a little dagger
Author:

kat_lair
Fandom: Wheel of Time (books)
Pairing: Aviendha/Elayne Trakand
Tags: Ficlet, Does This Count As Sibling Incest? Do I Care? Maybe and No, Cross-cultural
Rating: T
Word count: 913

Summary: “Your first-sister grows impatient.”

Author notes: Response to

ourswordsmeandeath's prompt of every lover's got a little dagger in their hand (from 'Love from the Other Side') over at

likealighthouse's Fall Out Boy Femslash February Ficathon. Takes place in Book Nine after Elayne and Aviendha become first-sisters, which is one of my favourite scenes in the whole series. My notes in the book margin say 'I love this and hate that it was about a man' *g* This is unbetaed so if you spot a typo/mistake, please do let me know.

every lover's got a little dagger on AO3

( every lover's got a little dagger )

***

pauraque

This is part two of my book club notes on The Black Fantastic. (Part one is here.)

"Sanford and Sun" by Dawolu Jabari Anderson (2015)

( Sun Ra makes a guest appearance on the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son. )

"A Song for You" by Jennifer Marie Brissett (2015)

( A girl finds the disembodied head of a singing android who lived out the legend of Orpheus during wartime. )

"Tender" by Sofia Samatar (2015)

( A woman who wrecked her life as a human undergoes a cyborg transformation so she can monitor a radioactive waste disposal site. )

"The Malady of Need" by Kiini Ibura Salaam (2016)

( This is the second time I've read this story and I still don't know what happens in it. )

goodbyebird posting in

fandom_icons

01-04 the x-files
05-12 starfleet academy
13-16 st voyager + discovery
17-20 sw prequel movies + mandalorian
21-26 fallout
27-31 comics
32-36 misc tv
37-40 movies (eileen, inside out, batman returns)

H E R E

Current Music: Ane Brun - Fingerprints

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What is your favourite thing to make?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

greghousesgf

I just got an e mail from my bank saying my new credit card will be showing up in the mail in a week. They originally told me four days. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do till then. I also have a bunch of wet laundry sitting around in my bathroom.

Current Music: "Inagaddadavida"

maju

I'm getting really tired (literally and figuratively) from not sleeping well, or more accurately, not being able to sleep enough. I usually sleep well while I'm sleeping, but then I wake up too early or have trouble falling asleep in the first place. It seems to have been happening a lot more in the last few weeks and I have no idea why, since I'm not particularly stressed about anything and have almost zero responsibilities. This morning I woke up not much after 2 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I went to sleep last night a bit after 9 pm so I did get about 5 hours sleep, but it doesn't feel like enough. I've told myself that if I feel like it during the day I'll try to nap, but I hardly ever feel that tired during the day. Plus the girls are off school again so my chances of being woken up if I do fall asleep are good.

=========

A little while after I wrote the previous paragraph (but still before breakfast) I did almost fall asleep for a few seconds. Even that brief nap revived me, strangely, and I haven't felt tired for the rest of the day (so far).

After lunch I shovelled my car out; son in law had shovelled the rest of the drive and their two cars and I think he would have done mine eventually, but I feel bad leaving it to him so I got it done myself. I could tell that it had been windy because there was quite a lot of snow actually under the car.

I always write these LJ/DW entries in my Google Drive account before posting. Violet has been borrowing my computer to write things in my Drive account because she doesn't have one of her own, so now I have documents with intriguing names like "DESERT RUNNING", and "LAMMA PAGAMA MYSTETRYS" (her spelling isn't great yet), and "MYTHICAL CREATURES: nessie". (All titles verbatim.) The only one I've read is the one about Nessie, because she told me not to read the others, but I'm tempted. This morning Eden decided she wanted to write something, so now there's a document with her name on it, but I know there's nothing written in it yet because she sat there for ages waiting for inspiration to strike - and it didn't.

The girls have another snow day today, so their father took them to the mall for a while after lunch while their mother was having a meeting.

bill_schubert

I love that they have a schedule conflict.

maju

We had a blizzard overnight. I couldn't hear anything down here in the basement, but my son in law said it was very noisy with the wind blowing around the house. It was apparently blowing in all directions, as the windows on all four sides of the house are partly covered with snow. It's still snowing, although it's a bit hard to tell the difference between snow falling and snow being blown off trees etc by the wind. Of course the girls have another snow day, and I suspect they will have a delayed start tomorrow.

My son in law has been working to clear some paths at the side of the house leading out to the cars; he needs to clear enough space so the girls can walk out to the school bus tomorrow, but his work is made very difficult by the mountain of snow thrown up by the snow plough at the top of the driveway.

I feel like I'd only just got my car completely shovelled out after our last big snowstorm and now there's snow banked up all around it to the level of the bottoms of the doors. Luckily just yesterday I moved it forward several inches so I don't have to think about moving it again for about a week.

kay_brooke

First books post of the year! Sorry it's so late. I finished seven books in January, no DNFs. It was a fairly good reading month, with no books that I absolutely hated.

For new people, this is the general format of the books post: each individual book is under a cut, which is for length and not for spoilers. Any spoilers will be warned for outside of the cut. Under the cut I'll have a quick summary of the book's premise followed by a short review. Some of the reviews will be longer, especially if I'm ranting about a book I didn't like.

( 1. Under the Rainbow by Celia Laskey - 3 stars - Maybe spoilers, but I prefer to think of them as trigger warnings, because the book certainly doesn't give you any )

( 2. I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton - 4 stars )

( 3. The Carnival of Ash by Tom Beckerlegge - 4 stars )

( 4. Lone Women by Victor LaValle - 3.5 stars )

( 5. A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham - 3.5 stars )

( 6. The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller - 4 stars )

( 7. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King - 4.5 stars )

sarajayechan posting in

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Teasers:

Full set here

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

greghousesgf

Well, I got the phone bill taken care of, the lady who worked for the phone company was very nice and helpful. I still have to get ahold of the phone company and give them the new numbers when I get my new credit card, and DSL too but my DSL bill isn't due for about a week and a half so I'm not worried about that.
I AM worried about this asshole who works in my apt bldg. I reported a theft (not my credit card) to him and he said he reported it and he didn't. I'm getting real tired of this fucker.
Also I had to do laundry and I only had enough on my card to wash it and not dry it because I have to use my credit card to put more $$ on it. If I could run into one of my neighbors I'm on friendly terms with they might be able to help me out but they seem to be out.

Current Music: ACDC (there's no lightning bolt on my keyboard)

summerstorm

I woke up enjoying the sunshine, and then my mom told me not to use up too much hot water and I like, inwardly spiraled? I'm still recovering from the irritability/frustration/sadness. I put music on largely to make myself cry, which worked when combined with me avoiding isolation by telling people how I was feeling. But the music is still on and I'm on my laptop and that's kind of a red flag for how I'm feeling at any point in time to be honest. I don't usually listen to music. I'm trying to do it more, because I used to at least shower with music until my sister, many years ago, decided I couldn't do that anymore, but I still only tend to listen while I update my planner.

I... took two hours to do things just with notebooks. And then I got on my laptop and I still haven't turned it off. I'm touch-starved, I've known for a long time, but I think I am also appreciation-starved. It rears its ugly head when I decide to speak back to my sister and my sister takes it poorly and starts insulting me. I don't know. I wanna be told I'm pretty. I wanna be told I'm funny, and that I did a cool thing in a game if I did one, and that I'm good at, I don't know, whatever anyone sees me being good at, other than persevering.

Anyway. Haven't seen last week's The Pitt yet, but I have been playing Dragon Age: Veilguard like my life depends on it. I'm just really into it and it's taken over my brain a little bit. I'm trying to enjoy it instead of feel guilty for the stuff I'm not doing. I'm keeping up with chores and talking to people, so it's not that bad.

( Veilguard babble. )

Current Music: Beautiful Mess by Olivia Ellen Lloyd

adore

I posted here about Amazon behaving oddly with my KDP account. I have since got wind of more information about Amazon and some recent choices it's been making.

Firstly, I subscribe to the I Heart SapphFic newsletter. They spotlight sapphic fiction and queer authors, and keep the lights on through user donations, author ads, but mostly Amazon Affiliate links. Well, turns out that Amazon has recently taken to removing queer books and books they guess are steamy from their Affiliate Program.

Amazon has also "suppressed their findability" as I found out via a newsletter from Lissette Marshall, a romantasy author. Lissette and several other romantasy authors made a charity anthology to fight book bans (the proceeds go to PEN America) in response to these changes at the Zon and other tech giants. The anthology, Romantasy Rebels, was banned twice by the Zon, and the second time, they terminated the KDP account of the author uploading it.

Not only was Romantasy Rebels unavailable a second time, but my good friend Vela Roth, who had volunteered to host the anthology on her account, lost her entire livelihood between one moment and the next.

Between you and me -- I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life.

The upside is that, as always, the bookish community stands up for each other! Thanks to friends with helpful connections, from Amazon reps to legal advice, we've managed to reverse the (unfounded) decision on their end and get Vela's books and our anthology back 🔥 (But my goodness, it was a long, long 24 hours that I hope to never experience again.)

Reading that and imagining myself in Vela's shoes, I feel indescribable. Anger, terror, and I don't know the words for what else. Vela Roth is in Kindle Unlimited, and she's a full-time romantasy author, which means her entire livelihood was on Amazon. And Amazon just deleted it all, just like that. I'm so relieved that the bookish community was able to help her and that her books and livelihood are reinstated now. Quoting Lissette again:

Amazon fuckery took down our charity anthology twice, and almost ended a wonderful author's career in the process. In addition to all else, the experience has been a frightening reminder of just how dependent indie authors are on a very small number of tech companies who don't particularly like spice, or marginalised people, or, you know, democracy.

So, yeah. That's what's going on. I feel better about having to unpublish Bloodhunt Academy now, because it was a queer book and Amazon is clearly not a home for it.

As for Romantasy Rebels, it's being sold wide (so it's on all the major ebook retailers, not just Amazon) and will be available until the end of the month. Proceeds will go to PEN America. There's also a charity auction organised by romantasy authors, called The Books They Can't Burn, and its proceeds will also go to PEN America. The charity auction has a variety of items that one can bid on, including ebook omnibuses, signed special editions, Zoom chats with authors, etc. I even saw a fight scene consult with a martial artist, how fun. It looks like several people are bidding on everything so I'm glad it's going well!

Current Mood: discontent

greghousesgf

I miss when I didn't have to worry about this shit. I have autopay on my phone and they usually take the $$$ out on the 23rd. I tried to call their office to warn them about my card having to be shut down and that I will give them the necessary info about the new card when I get it but that office is closed on the weekends. I hope to fuck they won't cut me off, I will try to call them tomorrow.

Current Music: "Golden Teardrop"

maju

Great excitement in the house this morning because my daughter came back from her conference in NYC. She was planning to come back later today but decided she'd better travel before the forecast blizzard strikes.

It started snowing about an hour or so ago. At first the flakes were tiny and almost invisible, but now they're bigger and it's looking more blizzard-like although nothing seems to be sticking on the road yet.

=========

Now, a few hours later, the snow is starting to stick, but we've still only had a very small amount especially considering it started falling about 4 hours ago and considering the NWS is giving us a blizzard warning.

Only after disaster can we be resurrected.

Network

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I’m coming to thee cottage by _deathofseasons_ (SFW)

the pitt; robby/abbot season 2 icons

Pittsburgh, PA 2026 part 1: Blizzard Travel; First Show in Pittsburgh

WoT Ficlet: every lover's got a little dagger

The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories, ed. andré m. carrington (2025) [part 2]

multi-fandom post

Check-In Post - Feb 24th 2026

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They have to shampoo their hair

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January 2026 Books

Fate Grand Order and Stay/Night Icons

Check-In Post - Feb 23rd 2026

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I've got my reasons to complain

The Zon is up to more nonsense + romantasy authors resisting

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