conuly

I saw a red-winged blackbird!

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 21:45:40 GMT

I didn't get a good look, seeing it as I did out a bus window, but did I have to? They're not that hard to identify.

************************

( Read more... )

comments

This person is looking for English-language poems and poetry collection recs

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:56:19 GMT

The important thing is they have to be accessible, beginner-level poems for people who don't "get" poetry in English (or, perhaps, in any language).

Though I will say now what I only sort of suggested then, which is that I've never thought the point of reading anything is to understand it all. Sometimes it's enough to enjoy it, even if you miss a thing or ten. (This may be why I know so many Shakespeare quotes - from the age of six onwards I made repeated dives into our big copy of his collected works, and you know for sure I did not understand Elizabethan English at that age!)

comments

A Fairly Sad Tale by Dorothy Parker

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 01:26:38 GMT

I think that I shall never know
Why I am thus, and I am so.
Around me, other girls inspire
In men the rush and roar of fire.
The sweet transparency of glass,
The tenderness of April grass,
The durability of granite;
But me—I don't know how to plan it.
The lads I've met in Cupid's deadlock
Were—shall we say?—born out of wedlock.
They broke my heart, they stilled my song,
And said they had to run along,
Explaining, so to sop my tears,
First came their parents or careers.
But ever does experience
Deny me wisdom, calm, and sense!
Though she's a fool who seeks to capture
The twenty-first fine, careless rapture,
I must go on, till ends my rope,
Who from my birth was cursed with hope.
A heart in half is chaste, archaic;
But mine resembles a mosaic—
The thing's become ridiculous!
Why am I so? Why am I thus?

********

Link

comments

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:54:21 GMT

View Poll: Ideal calendar behavior

***************

( Read more... )

comments

What's really dismaying

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 23:22:32 GMT

is that none of this was made up. Truly, I hate this timeline.

comments

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 03:16:35 GMT

comments

Jesus

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:03:29 GMT

Just went to the store, spent over $90 for half a week's groceries just for me.

This is not sustainable, but it's not going to get better any time soon.

I could eat at work, but let's be clear, I don't much like the housekeeper's cooking, they rarely have in stock what I'd need to make my own food the way I like it (other than eggs), and also I have some weird food issues around... I don't really know. Eating other people's food? But not at a restaurant where it's okay? Maybe it's smelling the food? I honestly do not know, that's what makes these issues weird. (But even if I didn't, she boils the poor vegetables to death.)

comments

At a different residence tonight

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 01:51:55 GMT

One of the staff has the same name as one of the residents, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure that out.

comments

Late Bird by Angela Narciso Torres

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 06:32:59 GMT

Count me among the noon risers who stumble,
dazed and bad-haired, from the nest midday,
pecking the crazed dirt for half-torn moth,
pear’s white core, severed worm. I’ve never
been one to trill at chink of dawn, to hop,
skip, chirrup before full sun. I’m better
at picking over crumbs, stitching a quilt
from what’s left, remaindered, given up
for gone. Better at betting the careless
will miss the best. Count me among
the nightbirds who sip starlight, a guitar’s
fading strains. Find me where moondust
swirls in streetlamp glow and stray dogs sleep.
What clings to the bone is most sweet.

***********

Link

comments

Welp, it's allergy season

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:36:31 GMT

Yay.

********************************

( Read more... )

comments

Given E's predeliction for 1990s - 2000s tv, what is she going to watch next?

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 23:57:20 GMT

Edit: fuck, I forgot to include Smallville! Uh, vote for that as the last option I guess.

1. Results will be non-binding

2. I will not watch anything starring anybody who then went on to perform in the God's Not Dead franchise. This isn't even about their abhorrent beliefs, it's about their apparently low artistic standards. I only am barely including Xena on this list because we can just skip crossover episodes. Please do let me know if I accidentally listed a Big Mistake in that regard

View Poll: Old TV

comments

Well, we looked under every last couch cushion

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 15:19:18 GMT

and despite the fact that this is coming out to more than projected we didn't need to ask them to split it into two bills and I still have enough money for groceries!

comments

We have our water heater replacement first thing tomorrow

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:19:57 GMT

And we can barely pay it if we don't pay for a few other things. Maybe they'll let us write two checks.

On the other hand, if the USA decides drop nukes during the installation, probably the company won't trouble themselves too much about payment. We'll be home free! Well, assuming nobody retaliates on NYC specifically....

**********************

( Read more... )

comments

Welp, one of the water heaters just went

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:04:11 GMT

And the water doesn't seem to want to turn off for the heater - it *is* lefty loosey, righty tighty, isn't it? - so I may have to get it for the whole house overnight.

comments

I was reading and I came across the word "pilfer" and I asked myself

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:14:36 GMT

"Huh. I wonder if that word is related to the word pelf" and, sure enough, it is! Probably!

Pelf sure is a stupid-sounding word, though.

*******************

( Read more... )

comments

You ever think that cardinals sound like space invaders?

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 05:21:30 GMT

"Vree! Vreeeee! Pew pew pew pew pew!"

********************************************

( Read more... )

comments

Awaking in New York by Maya Angelou

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 19:14:47 GMT

Curtains forcing their will
against the wind,
children sleep,
exchanging dreams with
seraphim. The city
drags itself awake on
subway straps; and
I, an alarm, awake as a
rumor of war,
lie stretching into dawn,
unasked and unheeded.

*****************

Link

comments

I swear, there is something about living in suburbs that rots people's brains and risk assessment

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 19:05:36 GMT

Neighbors fretted that the garden was a security issue: “I am worried about normalizing the presence of many different people in front yards during potentially all hours of the day without any kind of restrictions put on access.”

Oh, the horrors, people in front yards!

This isn't quite as absurd as the time an entire LJ comm told me that they'd be "scared" if they got a piece of mail in their mailboxes that hadn't been postmarked (I suggested hand-delivering a late-sent birthday invitation to the home rather than risking it not arriving at the house until after the party date, apparently this was very frightening), but it's more absurd than the time a whole community of people joined in to tell somebody with a stalking history that rubber duckies showing up at her daughter's college dorm were something to be alarmed over rather than reassuring her that it was probably just her friends playing a prank. (The latter was my suggestion, and I was right. I really chewed them out over that one too, pointing out that they had regular monthly freakouts over "somebody is parked in front of my house and I'm scared" or "somebody turned up my driveway and then backed out and drove off and I'm scared" and yet, nothing bad ever happened to anybody!)

This sort of nonsense is what gets people shot in America. Well, that and access to guns, but people buy guns because they are quite irrationally scared of their neighbors. Your neighbors aren't gonna kill you in your own home! If anybody kills you, it'll be a family member or maybe yourself. The worst thing that will happen if your neighbors have a vegetable garden is that they'll dump a load of zucchini on your porch. Believe me, you'd rather they give it away to people who want it!

comments

Oops!

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 03:05:11 GMT

I forgot to mention that Young Sherlock went to Constantinople. Naturally, I was legally mandated to recite all the words.

So sorry, I should've posted this when we finished watching the first season.

comments

The Pond by Amy Lowell

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:15:17 GMT

Cold, wet leaves
Floating on moss-coloured water
And the croaking of frogs—
Cracked bell-notes in the twilight.

*******

Link

comments

I don't know why I didn't expect it

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:12:31 GMT

but I did not expect this audiodrama to have a random jab at Robert Moses five minutes into the first episode.

***********************

( Read more... )

comments

Welp, we've finished the first season of Young Sherlock

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 03:12:22 GMT

And I have some thoughts.

( Read more... )

******************

( Read more... )

comments

Okay, is there a searchable TV / movies corpus?

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 18:07:30 GMT

Or several corpuses? (Corpora?)

I’m just getting tired of people claiming that “nobody” says things that I’m certain I’ve recently heard on contemporary lowbrow media. But I just can’t prove it! And I can’t make them prove it either!

Even fansites with searchable scripts would be something.

comments

I finally caught up on Only Murders in the Building

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 20:35:38 GMT

( Minor season 5 spoiler )

I actually have a similar thought about the most recent episode I watched of Young Sherlock, ( Read more... )

************

( Read more... )

comments

And my Robert Moses counter increments up yet again!

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 17:32:27 GMT

In a random reddit thread this time.

Truly, people will never, ever stop complaining about the man.

Also on reddit: "This is an old book" but also "snapchat was mentioned". Uh....

**********

( Read more... )

comments